I want to pass on information I have recently collected on this particular lost mine in skamania washington.
I collected information thru the county couthouse and correlated this information. The conclusion will be
based upon the content of rock samples from the quartz creel area.
Plamondon bros formed a mining company complete with stock in 1934-35. They registered the company
in Olympia wash. The first claim was at the mouth of Straight creek on quartz creek. Here they must of believed
the rocks in this area contained gold as they filed assessment papers with the county until 1954. Close to here
a number of claims were located from oct 1934 to june 1838
The most interesting part of this timeline was a group of individuals located about 8 claims at the mouth of French creek. I
have personally hiked into the french creek canyon and found a vein of quartz about 1/4 mile up form quartz
creek trail at the right of a 50' waterfall. I could not find any records of a claim on french creek.Who dug in this vein?
It wasn't until a month ago that I decided to crush the sample I had in my possession all these years.
The quartz contained gold in the fractures.
I have prospected above French creek all the way to the head waters of quartz creek. There are some surface scratches
here and there but thru assays the rocks are low temperature and contain calcite and barite. This is not a good sign for gold.
The most likely place for a lost mine would be in the vicinity of French Creek. If the old claims at the mouth of French cr contain
gold this would help narrow the search along the quartz creek drainage.
There are occurances of pyrite along boulder creek and scattered places along the upper lewis river but no rocks
I have crushed contained any gold, but there is a lot more area I have never visited. The rocks in the bed of the lewis above road n90
have iron oxide staining but no noticable mineralization.
I hope this information helps someone who has been there and can use this information to further their search.
I collected information thru the county couthouse and correlated this information. The conclusion will be
based upon the content of rock samples from the quartz creel area.
Plamondon bros formed a mining company complete with stock in 1934-35. They registered the company
in Olympia wash. The first claim was at the mouth of Straight creek on quartz creek. Here they must of believed
the rocks in this area contained gold as they filed assessment papers with the county until 1954. Close to here
a number of claims were located from oct 1934 to june 1838
The most interesting part of this timeline was a group of individuals located about 8 claims at the mouth of French creek. I
have personally hiked into the french creek canyon and found a vein of quartz about 1/4 mile up form quartz
creek trail at the right of a 50' waterfall. I could not find any records of a claim on french creek.Who dug in this vein?
It wasn't until a month ago that I decided to crush the sample I had in my possession all these years.
The quartz contained gold in the fractures.
I have prospected above French creek all the way to the head waters of quartz creek. There are some surface scratches
here and there but thru assays the rocks are low temperature and contain calcite and barite. This is not a good sign for gold.
The most likely place for a lost mine would be in the vicinity of French Creek. If the old claims at the mouth of French cr contain
gold this would help narrow the search along the quartz creek drainage.
There are occurances of pyrite along boulder creek and scattered places along the upper lewis river but no rocks
I have crushed contained any gold, but there is a lot more area I have never visited. The rocks in the bed of the lewis above road n90
have iron oxide staining but no noticable mineralization.
I hope this information helps someone who has been there and can use this information to further their search.
