Holden Mine History: Discovery to Production
We are grateful to the photographers Larry Penberthy and Ray Baker, and their descendants for allowing us to use their images. To view the full set of mining period photographs, click here.
In 1896, on July 24, while hunting, James Henry Holden, known as Harry, discovered an outcropping of copper ore on Copper Peak, in the Railroad Creek Valley near the north end of Lake Chelan in Washington State.
For three years prior to this discovery, Harry had prospected the shores of Lake Chelan to no avail with his friend Victor Denny, a nephew of Arthur Denny, the founder of Seattle. In the spring of 1896, the two were prospecting again, but Victor was called back to the family mine on Gold Creek near Snoqualmie Pass, and Harry proceeded on his own into the Railroad Creek Valley to prospect alone. Harry’s discovery would later lead to the Holden Mine, the largest low grade copper mine in the Northwest.
It would be 42 years before a barge loaded with 200 tons of copper, gold and zinc concentrate made its way down Lake Chelan. The remote location of the ore body presented a formidable challenge to development of the mine. Long winters with snowfall measuring up to 600 inches and a steep approach from the lake to the mine made access difficult and development costly.
Harry Holden raised money through various partners and investors to promote and develop the mine until his death in 1918. Unfortunately for Holden, the only people who benefited during these years were the miners and road-builders. Finally, in 1928, Howe Sound Company acquired the property, through its subsidiary, Britannia Mining and Smelting Company, which operated another copper mine at Britannia Beach, British Columbia. By that time, a railroad connected Chelan Falls with the smelter in Tacoma. The only remaining transportation problem was the route from the mine to Lake Chelan. Trucks were now a cheaper alternative than construction of a costly railroad.
From 1928 to 1931, Howe Sound, with the management and engineering staff of the Britannia Mining Company, did extensive drilling and tunneling, and work crews started to resolve milling, transportation, environmental, townsite location, and power challenges. The company employed a workforce of 105 men during these years and paid miners $5.05 a day. The mine closed in 1931 because of the Depression, but Howe Sound had no intention of abandoning it; the company had spent over a half million dollars and created a potentially productive mine. When copper prices improved and Howe Sound could obtain a permit for construction of a power line to the mine, full-scale mining would begin at Holden. Newly developed mining methods would assure the company of an uninterrupted flow of ore from a labyrinth of underground stopes and tunnels. Engineers had estimated an ore body of over 2 million tons with an assay of 5 percent copper ore.
While one crew widened the existing road to the mine, another crew constructed an incline tramway to overcome the 1100 feet of elevation from the lake to the road. The 2,000-foot long incline track was built on a grade that varied between 52 and 75 percent. A 75 horsepower hoist operating two flat cars in balance provided the power to move heavy equipment and supplies to the top of the incline where the road to the mine began. This tram was in use until 1937 or 1938, after the current switchbacks were constructed.
In January 1937, Howe Sound announced that the mine would be put into production “as fast as climatic and other conditions permit.” The company would spend over $3 million developing the mine and employ 100 men by spring. Men, machinery and supplies arrived to the mine in a variety of transportation systems. There were tramways, diesel tractors, gas-driven trucks, diesel-powered tugs, battery-driven locomotives and large diesel cranes. The mining camp included dormitories, cookhouse, change house, drying room, and a well-stocked commissary and recreation room. Workers constructed small, family cottages, an assay laboratory, and warehouses near the creek in the valley below.
Experts selected the site for a mill, and design work began to assure that reagents used in concentrating the copper would not destroy the water quality and stream life below the mine. The Department of Conservation and Development, the Fisheries Department, and State Game Commission raised objections. Local sportsmen associations expressed concern that the forests and streams would be destroyed and polluted beyond repair. When production began in 1938, their concerns were confirmed when the tailing dike broke, and the water between the mine and lake became unsafe to drink. However, the state took no action to stop the mining even though the State Game Commissioner had assured citizens that production would be stopped if the mine polluted the water.
Further environmental obstacles faced the company in providing power and transportation to the mine. The State denied the company’s application for water rights, stream diversion, and construction of a powerhouse in Copper Basin. The Forest Service objected to the company’s planned right-of-way for a railroad from lake to mine but did grant a right-of-way limited to use by trucks, tractors and cars.
