PORCUPINE UINING DISTRICT
(Ihe following article has been prepare 1 by the assistant editor of this
paper, Oeorge T, iiasury, to satisfy a ienanl for information about the
mining inlustry in this vicinity. It is in no ^my an advertisement of any
companies operating in this locality, as to the financial status of which
this paper has no information.)
After a lapse of nearly eight years, aggressive nining operations
will again be resumed in Porcupine, this coming Springy by Mr* Tom Vogel*
Mr. tfcgel, before leaving for the "States'1 sail thct as soon as $be Wells
Hoad opened inthe Spring, he would arrive with about twenty tones of ma
chinery and supplies,, these to be freighted into Porcupine in order that
mining activities could get an early start.
The following extract from Bulletin 699, Dept, of Interior,1919,
gives a brief history of this district as follows: "Gold was first dis
covered in the Porcupine district in 1898. Ihe following year, raining
operations frere begun on Porcupine Greek and the great number of prospec
tors who assembled staked claims on other creeks of the district. Though
gold bearing gravels were fcuni on Bear Creek, on several tributaries of
the Salmon and on the head of Takhi n Kiver, productive operations up to
the present time have been aimo£ entirely limited to Porcupine Creek and
its tributaries."
ii|e goad production of Porcupine Creek and its tributaries from
1898 to 1903 is given as follows by C.U.Y/right, TJ.3h Geol. Survey:
1898#..*1,030 1900•..^50, 000 1902...0140,000
1899....9,000 1 9 33 ..*110,000 1903...0150,000
Ihe production of these creeks is sail to have continue! at the
rate of 1150,000 a year until 1905, Ahen the principal works were des
troyed by an unusual f3 ood# From 1907 until 1909 large operations 'ere
discontinued, and the oily production was made by a few laymen, who work*
ed small lots of ground by manual methods* Production on a large scale
was resumed in 193 0 and it is estimated that an averaged yearly produc
tion of 150,000 was ;aaintaine 1 until 1915, when another disasterous flood
occurred, The total output for the district from 1898 until 1916, inc.,
estimated on the basis of very incomplete data, is 11,200,000.
In 1908, the Porcupine mining Company was organize! to exploit the
placers of the main Porcupine on a large scale. It was financed in East
ern states and in view of the equipment installed, in the next few years
it must have had a large investment fund. The first move of the new com
pany was to construct a flume a mile long, 24 feet wide and 6 feet deep,
supported on piles, to carry the waters of Porcupine Creek past the plac
er grourid worked. This piece of construction, which squired nearly a mil
lion feet of lumber and several thousand piles, wa3 completed late in the
summer of 1909, and mining vas began on die lower end of the caryon. This
company operate! until August, 1913, .ifoen the lower part of the flume was
demolished and the pits filled in by fdood. during the last few years of
operations the work was loxie under a receivership but with the same local
management.
After the disasterous flood of 1915, the property and holdings were
taken over by the Ai ask aC ay oration. In 1916 this company repaired the up
per section of the old flume, constructed a new high line flume to deliver
water to tbE. giants, and began the re-excavation of the buried workings.
lir. Vogel has had a crew working this year clearing up and expects
to continue until next month, when it is -presumed he will lay them off un
til Spring, due to we it her conditdons. The opening of this district will
enable the members of the Post to see a placer gold uin in active operation
and as the climate in summer is salubrious, the scexiery along the Chilkat
and Kl eh ini Aivers excellent, this mining district 3hould prove a popular
week end trip by auto alonj the new Haines-Pleasant Camp road.