Two Gentlemen about to duke it out in front of the
Blue Ribbon Saloon, Dillon, Wyo., 1904
Dillon was
named after Malachi W. Dillon who was involved in various mining ventures beginning with
coal in Carbon in the mid 1880's and apparently ending with a gypsite mine in the
Seminoe Mountains about 1915. Dillon may have been an itenerant prospector. He was apparently born in
California in 1864 and was in Carbon County by 1886. In 1892, a Malachi W. Dillon was found guilty of
voluntary manslaughter in Utah.
Dillon, Wyo., 1904
Dillon was the headquarters for the Pluto Gold & Copper Company organized in 1902. The Company in its promotional material referred to
Dillon as the "hub of the copper world." The town received notoriety as a result of
sydicated columns written for newspapers about the country by Grant Jones. Following his graduation from Northwestern in
1897, Jones became a
national writer for the Chicago Times-Herald, covering among other events, the national Republican convention at which
William McKinley was nominated. He was a popular after dinner speaker. His career, however, went
into decline as a result of excessive booze. He first went to Colorado and
then to the Encampment District where he founded the Dillon Doublejack for which every miner in town was a
"special correspondent." [Writer's note; "doublejack drillings" is a method of hand hardrock drilling.
One man holds a steel drill bit while the other grasping a six to eight pound sledge hits the bit. After each blow the
first man turns the
bit. The one holding the bit must have extreme confidence in the one driving the bit. If the second one
misses there is likely to be major injury.] Jones wrote columns about mythical animals, perhaps
similar to "pink elephants," including the one-eyed Screaming Emu and the six-legged Coogly Woo. He died in his cabin
on June 19, 1903, in an incident involving the injection of morphine whilst intoxicated. His fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, Illinois Alpha Chapter,
in its memorial politely referred to
his death as "sudden."
The Dillon Stage
Because of the depth of the snows in the winter, Dillon boasted of a two-story outhouse. Dillon was the alleged headquarters for
Stemp Springs Coal & Power Co., formed by Ole Granberg and Henry O. Granberg of Oshkosh, Wisc. Granberg was also involved with
the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Co. By 1906, letters to the mining company were being
returned "unclaimed." Granberg is
now remembered as having purchased a fake 1804 silver dollar from a Pinkerton Agent for $100.00. If
real it would have been worth a fortune. It was in reality a more common 1800 silver dollar whose date
had been altered. In the rush to the mountains to sell stock another Oshkosh residence who profession was
formerly shown as a bartender and propriator of a sample room found himself as the president of the
Hahn's Peak Gold Mining and Milling Co. The Pluto Gold & Copper Company did slightly better. It actually opened a mine with
five shafts, the deepest of which was 100 feet, and had some 2,000 feet of workings and a 40 hp. steam plant. By 1909, representatives of Local
No. 189 of the Western Federation of Mines, wrote the National begging off from paying the $77.00
national assessment because the mine had closed before the assessment could be collected and most of the men had departed town.
Battle, Snowshoe Party, approx. 1904
Other companies attempted to promote themselves by reference to the apparent success of the
Rudefeha. As an example, a prospectus for the Great Lakes Mining and Smelting Co., allegedly located
five miles south of Encampment, boasted of the number of loads of ore being shipped. What
the prospectus failed to advise gullible investors was that the loads were for the Rudefeha Mine and not
its own from which no ore was being mined. Thus, promotional material for such companies compared themselves
to the Rudefeha even though little more had been done than provide glowing assays. As
another example the only developmental work for the Island City Copper Mining Co. was the
digging of a 15 ft. hole. Of a similar nature was the Calamet Mining &
Milling Co. whose development consisted of a 16 foot hole. The company claimed that
its ore assayed out at 70% copper. Most of the companies were gone by 1907.
Battle, approx. 1904
From the cloudy crystal ball department: in 1907, the State Geologist Henry C. Beeler reported as to the
mines featured on this page:
The two mines of the Penn-Wyoming Copper Company,
the Ferris-Haggarty and the Doane-Rambler, are in active operation.
In the former some' new ore shoots have been opened and the mine bids
fair for a greater production than ever, as it has been put in
first-class physical shape and the ore handled at a less cost per
ton. Diamond drill prospecting has been going on in the lower levels
of this mine this year, exploring the adjacent formations for parallel
ore shoots, but the results have not yet been given to the public.
In the Doane-Rambler mine, work has been confined to reopening the
working levels, putting them in shape for a large production and
connecting the mine with the sixteen-mile overhead tramway, which
transports the ore from the Ferris-Haggarty mine to the Encampment
smelter and the railroad. There is no reason, why an active production
campaign should not be made, and the management of this enterprise is
to be congratulated on what it has accomplished, in the face of what
appeared to be almost insurmountable difficulties, in the way of fires,
scarcity of labor, financial depression and an arbitrary and needless
decline in the price of copper, which occurred just as it had completed
its new works and was prepared to produce at a handsome profit.
This new smelter and railroad have made the future of the Encampment
district a certainty, as there has never been any doubt as to the ores
here, and new work is going on all over the district.
Rambler, approx. 1904
The mines closed the next year. The Penn-Wyoming Company was over extended with the cost
of the infastructure, several fires at the smelter and a reduction in the price
of copper. In order to promote the sale of its stock, the company resorted
to the declaration of dividends when it was making no money. The assets were
sold to the United Smelters, Railway & Copper Company, but to no avail. A receiver
was appointed and the assets foreclosed upon.
When the shafts of the Rudefeha Mine were sealed no provision
was made for drainage and the shafts are now flooded with some seepage poluting nearby
steams.
Rambler, Wyo., 1898
Rambler, located in the Grand Encampment Mining
District of southern Carbon County, was established by Rumsey, Deal, Ferris amd Haggarty
 as a part
of their copper mining operations. The Rudefeha Mine was the most important in the area. The Rambler was
the second most important in production following by the Kurtz-Chatterton. (Bird's eye view of Rudefeha Mine, to right. Tramway terminal in
tall building at right of photo).
In 1998, The Wyoming State Geologic Survey, noting that the New Rambler mine
had in the early 1900's, in addition to copper, mined some platinum-group metals (PGM), reported
that there has been some renewed interest in exploration and claim staking for
PGM in the state. The renewed interest is borne out by the application of
Broken Arrow Mining, LLC to conduct exploration at the Lost Cabin Mine site in the former
Grand Encampment Mining District. The site, itself,
dates back to 1899. The company proposes to examine minerals in the existing pits. A draft
environmental impact statement was issued in October of 2003. A portion of the
proposal would require a limited reopening of the historic road to the site, but only for
employees of the Company.
The Lost Cabin Mine is not the legendary Lost Cabin Mine in the Big Horn Mountains. Just as Arizona has
the Lost Dutchman's Mine in the Superstitions, Wyoming has its Lost Cabin Mine. According to the legend, in 1863, three men named
Cox, Jones and Herlburt were traveling east from Walla Walla and discovered a rich deposit of placer gold someplace in
central Wyoming. They constructed a small cabin and stockade and proceeding to
gather the gold. The cabin was attacked by Indians and only Herlburt escaped. He made his way
to, depending on the source, South Pass City or Fort Fetterman, with the news, but he was unable to find his way back.
Note: Fort Fetterman and South Pass City were not established until 1867. Again depending on the
source, the mine was either in the Wind Rivers, the Big Horns, or along Crazy Woman
Creek. Other embellishments are sometimes added to the legend. According to some, Jim Bridger while
guiding the Raynolds Expedition "rediscovered" the mine, but was sworn to secrecy by Reynolds out of fear
that all the men would take off to mine for gold. Bridger guided the Raynolds Expedition in
1858. It is, thus, difficult to conceive that Bridger could have rediscovered the mine before
it was originally discovered. Others claim that Father Pierre DeSmet, Roman Catholic missionary to
the Indians, knew the location of the mine.
But regardless of the uncertainty of location, in August, 1893, J. C. Carter, a prospector, arrived in
Casper with the startling news that he had found the long lost mine in the
Big Horn Mountains. Several citizens accompanied Carter back to the lost cabin and the mine. They turned out
to be an Indian hunting blind. Alfred Mokler in his History of Natrona County, R. R. Donnelly & Sons, Chicago, 1923,
noted that C. T. "Rattlesnake" Jones also claimed to have rediscovered the mine. Rattlesnake was so-called
from his proclivity of keeping rattlesnakes as pets. Mokler
recalled an occasion when Rattlesnake gave an exhibition of his pets on the
floor of Kimball's drug store. According to Mokler, "A man could step into the adjoining Wyoming
saloon, take a few drinks of squirrel whiskey and without waiting for the slow
action of the booze, could in two staggers fall into Kimball's store and see the
snakes." [Writer's note, "squirrel whiskey," a homemade whiskey made with excessive amounts of sugar, guaranteed to
give a splitting headache.] Thus, if there ever was a Lost Cabin Mine, it remains lost.
Next page: Silver Crown Mining District.
|