Gallery #3--MINES
Mammoth Mine. Hoist above and mill below. June 24, 1902.

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Collection Hawley, Brooks
Photographer Cowden, John W.
Date of photo 1902
Description Mammoth Mine. Hoist above and mill below. June 24, 1902.

Brooks Hawley note: The trestle, center of picture, leading to mill was still standing when I was there in 1960.

The Mammoth is the first quartz claim in the Sumpter district being staked out in 1866. The Monumental is also one of the oldest, about 1870, and they also had the earliest mills, a 20 stamp mill at the Monumental started Oct. 1879 and a 5 stamp mill was built at the Mammoth in 1879. The three oldest mines are the Mammoth, the Monumental, and the California, about 1873, all before the big mines were located at Bourne, even before there was any wagon road to Bourne. The original road to the Mammoth was up the ridge between McCully Fork and Spaulding Gulch, much of which is still in the original shape and is barely passable in a Jeep as Everett Boorse and I made it through on the old road Aug. 28, 1960, about 3 weeks after the Spaulding Gulch fire. This was the original way to get to the California mine, too, before there was a road up Cracker Creek and Silver Creek.

A state mineral report claims the Mammoth, including the Belle of Baker claim, produced $450,000. There has not been any activity there for a long, long time.

The Mammoth and Monumental, both so old, are both high up in the mountains, about 6 miles apart but no connection between, on opposite sides of the mountain with Mount Ireland in between, at the end of their roads and they aren't bothered with much traffic.
Object ID 1992.1.520
Place Cracker Creek District, 44.82194 -118.2575
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: Credit Baker County Library, Baker City, Oregon

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Last modified on: December 09, 2017