GOLD MINING IN CENTRAL WASHINGTON. 
By George Otis Smith. 
HISTORY OF THE DISTRICT. 
The three principal gold-mining districts of central Washington are 
included in the Mount Stuart quadrangle. This area has been sur- 
veyed geologically, and the descriptive folio is in preparation. The 
Peshastin placers were discovered in I860 and have been worked inter- 
mittently ever since. The Swank placers have been worked rather 
more steadily since their discovery in 1808. Gold-bearing veins were 
fust located in the Peshastin district in 1873, and in the Swank in 
1881. The mineral veins of the Negro Creek district constitute a con- 
tinual ion of Ihose in the Peshastin district. Swauk Creek is a tribu- 
tary of Yakima River, and Peshastin Creek of Wenache River, so 
that both disi riots are on the eastern slope of the Cascade Range. 
Mining in these districts has been conducted by small owners, and 
it is impossible to secure any definite data regarding production. 
The output of gold of Kittitas County for the years 1884 to 1895, as 
reported by the Director of the Mint, aggregates $764,163. About 
$5,000 of silver was reported from that county for the same period. 
The Peshastin district is now included in Chelan County, but during 
this period was a part of Kittitas County. The years 1892 and 1891 
were seasons of maximum production, and the area would have prob- 
ably steadily increased its output had it not been for the exodus of 
miners to Alaska. In view of the activity in these districts in the 
years preceding 1884, as well as the production of the last seven years, 
it seems that $2,000,000 would be a conservative estimate of the total 
gold production of the districts. In the last five years companies 
with larger capital have purchased the claims of the small operators, 
and mining operations will now be conducted more economically and 
with a probable marked increase in the gold production. 
AURIFEROUS GRAVELS. 
Swauk district. — The Pleistocene gravels along Swauk Creek and 
many of its tributaries are gold bearing. These alluvial gravels form 
the terraces, which are especially- prominent and extensive at the junc- 
tions of Swauk and Williams creeks and of Boulder and Williams 
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