Old Ruby State Park Heritage Site History

A visitor to Old Ruby State Park Heritage Site is likely to find themselves alone among tall ponderosa pines gently swaying in the breeze. But if one could travel back in time to the late 1800s, there would have been a bustling town with a population of more than 1,000 on the site. Ruby City was one of the most consequential silver mining locations in the history of Washington, and its development generated intense excitement just as Washington became the 42nd state in the United States.

Shiny Metal at a Geological Contact

The minerals that were sought at Old Ruby formed as much as 90 million years ago in deeply buried rocks as they were being intruded by molten magma from even deeper within the Earth. As the magma rose from its source, it slowly cooled. Silver is one of the least reactive elements, so it is less prone to precipitate out of solution to form solid minerals as the magma cools.

In the last stages of cooling, pressurized watery fluid enriched with silver molecules was concentrated at the margins of the solidifying magma, where it came into contact with the older rocks. Some of the fluid was injected into fractures in the older rocks. Eventually, the metals precipitated from the fluid, forming thin veins (6” to 40” thick) of quartz and silver ore minerals: tetrahedrite, galena, and chalcopyrite.

Indigenous Lands

Old Ruby lies within the traditional territories of Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. For thousands of years these foothills of the Cascade Mountains and the creeks and rivers that flow through them have provided habitat for a diverse community of life that forms the basis of their cultures.

Most members of the tribes occupying this area were not represented at the Walla Walla Treaty Council held by Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens on June 9, 1855. Subsequently, an Executive Order of President Rutherford B. Hayes on April 18, 1879 created the Columbia (or “Moses”) Reservation, roughly covering the same area as today’s Okanogan County west of the Okanogan River extending southwest to the north shore of Lake Chelan.

Non-tribal miners living in the area protested the order. On July 4, 1884, the reservation was dissolved, and the land returned to the public domain of the US federal government. On May 1, 1886, the area was formally opened for mineral claims and settlement. Tribal heads of households who wished to remain in the area were allotted up to 640 acres of land. Forty allotments were issued, covering about 25,000 acres.

Prospectors and Entrepreneurs

Even before the formal opening of the former reservation lands, mineral prospectors had begun to explore the area, looking for telltale signs of possible mineral deposits. Experienced prospectors looked for contacts between different types of rocks—in this case the points where exposed granodiorite (the long-since-cooled rocks of the intruding magma) was found next to older, metamorphosed sedimentary rocks. Streaks of red, indicating oxidized minerals, were especially sought as a clue to the location of mineralized veins.

Only four months after the area was opened to prospectors, Fred Wendt located the “Nevada” vein a short distance north of what would become Ruby City. Wendt convinced investors to join him and incorporated the War Eagle Mining and Milling Company to develop the prospect. Within a month, John Cluman and James Milliken staked the “Last Chance” claim.

The “First Thought,” destined to be one of the major mines at Ruby, was also located in October 1886 by three miners—J. Kladisky, R. Dilderback, and P. McGell. The First Thought would eventually feature over 4,000 feet of underground mine adits (horizontal passages to mineral veins) on three levels and produced silver ore valued at over 2.5 million dollars (2025 value).

Dilderback also discovered and claimed the “Fourth of July” mine in April 1887. This mine was one of the first to ship mined silver ore to a smelter for processing into pure silver. Beginning in 1889, 10 tons of ore were being shipped each month from the Fourth of July mine to a smelter in Helena, Montana. The mine produced 1.3 million dollars of silver by 1893.

John Oleson staked the “Arlington” claim in the fall of 1887. The Arlington mine would become the largest producer of the Ruby mines, netting nearly three million dollars.

Every prospector hoped to strike it rich by locating a valuable mineral vein, but others found entrepreneurial opportunities providing services to the many people who swarmed into the region hoping to profit by extracting its resources. William Singleton and Thomas D. Fuller claimed 160 acres of land on Salmon Creek on January 6, 1887. They organized the town of Ruby City on the land, running from the creek up the steep valley sides.

On their plat of the town, Main Street paralleled the creek, with Ruby Street to the west and Salmon Street to the east. Perpendicular streets were numbered, beginning with First Street at the north end and Tenth Street at the south end. Singleton and Fuller began to sell lots, mostly 50’ x 110’. Some sales came with restrictions: Chauncy Carpenter was sold four acres on the condition that he would set up a sawmill and mill timber cut from Ruby City lots.

Interestingly, it was discovered that Singleton and Fuller did not actually own the Ruby City land that they were selling to others. On January 30, 1888, Ruby City miners gathered to sign a resolution requiring the developers to obtain title to the property. They also determined the pricing of future lot sales: $75 for those fronting on Main Street, $50 for all others. They also resolved to prohibit speculation by requiring lot holders to begin buildings on their properties by April 1888 or forfeit them to the highest bidder. The ownership issues were not fully resolved until March 17, 1892.

Establishment of Okanogan County

Part of the difficulty in establishing clear land title stemmed from the fact that Ruby City residents had to travel to Colville to reach the seat of local government, as Stevens County stretched from the crest of the Cascade Mountains all the way to the Idaho border. Travel was slow—a trip to Colville to transact minor government business could take several days.

To improve the situation, the Washington Territorial Legislature approved the creation of Okanogan County on February 2, 1888. Subsequently, Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens appointed three residents of the county to serve as County Commissioners. On March 6, 1888, the three commissioners met to organize the county government. According to Commissioner Guy Waring, a delegation of “whores, thieves, and drunkards, and other notorious citizens” of Ruby City gathered outside the homestead cabin of John Perkins where they were meeting, making it “difficult for anybody inside to hear himself speak.”  The commissioners selected Ruby City as the county seat. In an election later in the year, county voters chose to move the county seat to Conconully.

Greatest Mining Region in the State of Washington

Advertising for the Ruby Land Company in 1890 touted the city as the “business center of the greatest mining region in the State of Washington.” Its promoters backed up their claim with the following highlights:

• There is more business done in it than in all the remainder of Okanogan County.
• There is a payroll of $10,000 per month at present.
• The town is incorporated, is out of debt and has money in the treasury.
• The First Thought Mining Company has secured a mill and tunnel site and are now running a tunnel from a point within five blocks of the Last Chance which will tap their mine at a depth of 2,000 feet.
• This company now offers to investors the finest lots for business or residence in the city.

They also had a warning for skittish investors-- “you made a mistake by not investing in Spokane Falls. Don’t make the same mistake a second time. Ruby is the commercial and business center of the Okanogan Mining Country.”

Life in Ruby

Despite the economic activity surrounding the mines, Ruby remained a very remote outpost. Residents made several efforts to bring rail service or decent roads to the area, but none ever materialized.

Due to the time and expense of freighting goods to Ruby, many businesses developed homegrown solutions. Sam Lichtenstadter opened the Bank of Ruby, complete with a safe and cashier’s cage. What he didn’t have much of was actual US cash. Instead, he issued distinctive pink checks. At one time, nearly $300,000 worth of Bank of Ruby pink checks were in circulation, freely used throughout central Washington and British Columbia.

Then, as now, hunters found plentiful mule deer in the hills and valleys surrounding Ruby. Venison jerky was often cited as the protein source of choice amongst Ruby residents. Ruby residents joined with residents of Conconully and ranchers from surrounding areas to hold community dances. Jerky, cake and coffee was provided, local fiddlers and guitarists played music, and the events lasted well into the night, as babies and kids slept on benches or boxes.

Reiniger and Grieger’s Ruby Brewery provided a variety of beverages and, along with liquors imported from other microbreweries and distilleries, they supplied anywhere from six to twenty saloons in Ruby. Notable establishments included the Mother Lode Saloon, the Office Saloon, The Silver Corner, the Snug Saloon, and the Bachelors Saloon. Even banker Sam Lichtenstadter got in on the liquor business as a side hustle.

By all accounts, Ruby City residents worked hard, played harder, and sometimes violence ensued. County Commissioner Guy Waring recorded one such occurrence in March 1888:

On this particular afternoon the town was in the heat of excitement over the latest of its many notorious murders which, as I soon learned, had occurred early that same morning. It seems that one of Ruby’s more lecherous citizens had attempted shortly before dawn to gain admittance to the town’s chief bawdy house in a state of complete intoxication. When the mistress of the house, greatly annoyed at being diverted from her business at such an hour, refused to permit him to enter, the gentleman, according to the report I gathered, took a swing at her. Thereupon the mistress, not to miss having the last word on the doorstep of her own establishment, returned to her room for a revolver and shot the gentleman through the heart, killing him instantly.

Waring was further repulsed by the fact that he heard the story from the county auditor, who casually mentioned that he had been in the brothel at the time of the incident and stumbled over the dead body of the victim as he left the establishment.

Bust

Within a decade of Ruby’s founding, limits to its growth became apparent. The ancient veins containing the silver ore were found to extend for only limited distances. While optimistic miners and investors kept hoping to unearth a “mother lode” that would extend their operations, the actual extent of the resource was constrained by the geologic reality that the veins only occupied the small fractures found at the margins of the granodiorite intrusion.

The loss of the Okanogan county seat and the attendant activities of local government to Conconully shifted the center of regional activities to that town, reducing Ruby’s importance.

The continued high cost of transporting mined ores to markets severely reduced the profitability of producing mines. Typically, ore shipped from Ruby was hauled by wagon 45 miles to Brewster, where it was transferred to river boats for an 80-mile voyage to Wenatchee, where it had to be transferred again onto rail cars destined for smelters in Tacoma or Montana.

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act, enacted by the US Congress on July 14, 1890, increased the amount of silver the federal government was required to purchase and mint into coins to 4.5 million ounces per month. This gave a boost to silver mining and prospecting in Ruby City and throughout the western states. An unforeseen consequence was a large increase in the amount of circulating dollars without growth in the government’s gold stocks to back up the money. This eventually led to a precipitous drop in the market price of silver, which along with global economic trends, brought about the Panic of 1893. Over 15,000 companies and 500 banks in the United States failed and unemployment rose to nearly 20%. Mining operations in Ruby City went bust.

Ellensburg mayor Austin Mires passed through Ruby City in August 1899 and noted that “the town was entirely deserted. The buildings were all intact, but there was not a single inhabitant.” By 1904, only a few buildings, “riddled and tottering,” still stood.

In the early 1920s, mining resumed at the Arlington, First Thought, and Last Chance mines. Several shipments of ore were completed, but the high cost of freighting the ore made the operations unprofitable, and the mines soon shut down again. In 1936, a concentrating mill was built at the Arlington Mine to provide initial processing on-site to reduce shipping costs. Mining continued until 1940 before shutting down.

Becoming a Park

Beginning in the late 1950s, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (WSPRC) began to take on the systematic task of identifying and preserving the state’s historic sites and buildings. On November 7, 1972, Washington State voters approved Referendum 28, the Public Recreation Facilities Bond Measure, by a vote of 56.7% in favor. The measure authorized $40 million in bonds for recreation and preservation projects. Section 4 of the new law allocated 30% of the proceeds for the improvement of existing state parks and the acquisition and preservation of historic sites and buildings.

The Washington State Legislature included $50,000 for the purchase up to 35 acres of the Ruby City site under the terms of Referendum 28’s Section 4 in the 1975-1977 biennial budget. On January 17, 1977, the WSPRC affirmed the desirability of preserving the historic character of Ruby City. Park staff were directed to prioritize properties for acquisition jointly with the Okanogan County Historical Society.

In May and June of 1977, the WSPRC purchased portions of nine blocks of the former town of Ruby from four different sellers for $44,300. The properties border on the town’s former Main Street, between Second and Fifth Streets, and include the sites of many of Ruby’s businesses and residences.

No standing structures remain, and the only development of the park site is an interpretive sign maintained by the Okanogan County Historic Society.