[IanB]

I finally paid a long-anticipated visit to the High West shaft yesterday. What an icebox! Standing outside on the doorstep was broiling sun - ten feet in was a wall of hard snow blocking most of the height of the tunnel and icicles hung from the ceiling! What a serious commute the miners had! I think it took about 1.5 hours from the lake all the way up there. In a couple of places along the way, you could detect old, sawn-out sections of what must have been their original path. The way is brushy, but still getting use by wildlife and maybe an occasional hunter. That cirque is definitely no-man's land. Vertical walls completely ring the basin. I started calling it the "Cul-de-sac" - I wonder if the miners had names for this and any other features up there? (I was, in fact, able to pick a line up and out of the cirque to the northeast of the mine shaft, but the crux involved squirming out from under an overhung crevice onto a convex slab with the potential for a 15-foot fall. The final move required sinking the pick of my axe into a clump of alpines and pulling myself up the shaft. That got me on to the ridge north of Copper Peak, and then from there I traversed over to the summit of Worthington, and then looped back down to the lake from the saddle with Iron. It was great to cover so much of the mountain in one hike - but I'm not sure that I would try this route again. At least not anytime soon. ) Anyway, RP, any additional info about place names and the locations of shafts? (Besides the main tunnel, the High West shaft, the one at the junction with the Tull Canyon trail, and the one halfway up Tull Canyon facing east?) Kibler's panorama photo marks a shaft below the Worthington-Iron saddle, but I've looked twice and found no evidence. I've also heard that there is something behind Tull City??

[trestle]

I am planning to head up that way next week, IanB, the curiosity has been killing me; guess it got to you as well. Any chance you'd PM me directions from the lake?

[RPBrown]

Lake, Apologize for taking so long to respond. The Ivan Hjelvik you are talking about is probably the gentleman that passed away about 2007, Eivind H. Hjelvik. I knew him quite well as I had several encounters with him over the years at his store in Brinnon – Yelwicks. I’ll just say he was a pretty unforgettable character. E.H. Hjelvik was really the second family from Eivind K. Hjelvik, the blacksmith of Tubal Cain. I’ll tell you what I know. E.K. Hjelvik was born in Norway in the late 1800’s and came to America to join the Klondike Gold Rush. After spending 8 years up north he eventually settled in Brinnon, WA. He returned to Norway to marry and bring his wife back to Brinnon. They had a son, Eivind who was born in 1910 and died at 18 years of age in 1928 from Typhoid Fever. E.K.’s wife died about the same time from a stroke. So, the poor guy lost his wife and only child in the span of a few months. In 1931 E.K. married Ethel Swanson. All of us locals knew Ethel as “Ma”, such a nice sweet lady. She worked at Yelwicks Store for 50 or 60 years I think. They had two children, one of which was Eivind H. Hjelvik mentioned above. Confused now? So, to recap, there were three “Eivind Hjelviks”…at least that I know of. I’ve collected historic pictures all my life and have a pretty good batch now. The Tubal Cain photos were left to me by my late great aunt who wrote the booklet, The Lure of Tubal Cain. We spent many days discussing the old days and visited a lot of the mines together. She was quite a lady. I’m not sure about the Duckabush mine you mentioned. Fred Karnes had several mines in the area but most were in the Dose drainage. Yes, there is an “Upper West-Side Tunnel” above the main Tubal Cain mine. That upper tunnel was actually the main tunnel, started first about 1903. There’s a report by Ian in this thread about the upper shaft.

[RPBrown]

More photos from my collection. As mentioned previously, the quotes are original photo inscriptions including spelling. Enjoy! Photo 1. "Copper City: Bunkhouse; Cook House, Wood Shed, Root House, Barn-Machine Shop + Guest House with a good sized Blacksmith Shop at the mouth of the tunnel. You see there is a little snow on the ground. 10th of October 1906".

The above was taken from near the mouth of the tunnel, looking towards the Castle. Photo 2. "More snow. The first trip in with 3 horses. Now we have 6".

Photo 3. "Entering the big snow cut 9 to 12 ft deep - in the "Big Basin"

Unbelievable what people used to do to make a living. The mining season started in March, when I think this photo was taken. Ian, you asked what they called the canyon where the upper shaft sits; the Big Basin.

[LadyÆsa]

Beautiful old photos, thanks for sharing!!

[RPBrown]

More.......A long damn time ago! Photo 1: “Mr. Hanford takes a rest on the Veins of Manganese. East Side.

This was probably taken on Mt. Worthington near a couple of shallow pits still visible today. As I mentioned before, Frank Hanford was the President of the Tubal Cain conglomerate. According to my aunt he ran the Lowman and Hanford Stationary and Printing Company in downtown Seattle, located at 1st and Cherry. Tubal Cain’s main office was located in the Colman Building. Related, Frank’s older brother Cornelius was the first territorial judge in the Territory/State of Washington. He would later be forced to resign during impeachment proceedings. The town site of Hanford is named for the same family. Photo 2: “Pack train on the ridge. June 1904.”

4 labels

This was taken from Dirty Face Ridge. The Devil’s Elbow and Needles can be seen in the background. Photo 3: “The cabin on the Katy Claim at Iron Mt. 9th June 1904.”

Later called Tull City, this was the first cabin built; Hotel Grand.

[trestle]

The Devil's Elbow....have I missed something? What is it?

[IanB]

The Devil's Elbow is Peak 6257, north of (or part of?) The Castle. It is the northernmost prominence on the Copper Divide.

(Hope I have that right, RP?)

[trestle]

So is that the obvious prominence on the ridge above the river that is visible when driving up the Dungeness valley on FS 2860? I've always thought it looked like an antler and part of why Buckhorn peak is named thusly even though it's nowhere near Buckhorn peak.

[IanB]

I think the "antler" is the 5900' prominence right on the Clallam-Jefferson county line. (Just under one-half mile north of Devil's Elbow.) I've been thinking a nice day loop would be to head up toward the antler from the Dungeness TH, follow the divide to Marmot Pass, and return down the Dungeness.

[RPBrown]

Ian & Johnson, The DE is the prominent basaltic thumb/tower north of the Castle. It is easily visible from the Mines trail as well as from the Dungeness as pointed out by Johnson. Splitting hairs here Ian, but I don't think the DE is exactly the point on your map (6257) but in the vicinity of there. My point is that it's not the high point in that area. But anyway, you have the idea and I'm sure you both know what I'm talking about. Also, Buckhorn Peak was not named for a deers antlers as described by Woods. Buckhorn was named for buckhorn iron sights on turn-of-the-century rifles. It makes a lot more sense if you think about it. Rich

[IanB]

Thanks for following up on this Rich! On the photo from your last post, below, I've labeled 6257 and a guess about the Devil's Elbow. (If I've tagged it correctly, it does look like it is the northerly 5900' tower.)

4 labels

Maybe you can confirm my guess, or move the label if need be?

[RPBrown]

Ian, yep, exactly right with your labels. Referencing your question about other mines in the area, remember that the TCCMM (Tubal Cain Copper and Manganese Mining Co.) filed on 40 claims. Ed Brown who worked in the same area probably had half that number. Off the top of my head I’ve been to 12 or 13 tunnels in that area. Yes, there are a couple shallow diggings behind the Tull City cabins but the main “East-Side” tunnel was towards Tull Pass from Tull City, the obvious tunnel you can still see from within Tull Canyon. More photos….. Photo 1: “Mr. Tull, I.A. Nadeau, Judge Aubertson, Mr. Knapp, the expert, and Frank Hanford, Pres. at Tull City”.

Photo 2: “The “Boys” Frank Hanford, Jr., C. Hanford, and W. Denney of Seattle”.

The infamous Olympic Club of Copper City. Note the connection with the prominent Denny family of Seattle. Charles L. Denny was Vice President of TCCMM, at least for a time. Probably have some octagon barreled rifles there with buckhorn sights :>). The other two boys were sons of the president. Nice bear skin and maybe even a cougar hide there; also an old set of elk antlers. Photo 3: “Judge Aubertson + Frank Hanford on the ridge”

This was probably taken the same day as the cabin photo. I doubt the Judge made more than one trip to the area. Judge Aubertson was a pioneer of Seattle in the early years and served as one of the first judges. He was also involved in (quelling) a Chinese uprising in the late 1800s.

[RPBrown]

More....Happy New Year! Photo 1: Unlabeled

I recognize the man on the right as Bert (Albert) Macomber, prominent pioneer family of Brinnon. Bert was the main packer for Tubal-Cain. What he managed to haul with his string of burros was talked about for many years in Jefferson County. Here he is packing in the half-mile of wooden culvert that ended up going from the dam (where the modern day trail crosses Copper Creek) down-stream to the extensive power plant. You can see it looks like they were staging (off-loading) some of the culvert when this photo was taken. It was 18 miles one-way to Copper City and most of the time Bert did the trip in one day, spending the night at the cabins and going out empty in one day. Bert’s father Julius came out to Brinnon from back East (Vermont if memory serves) in the late 1800’s. He served as Postmaster of Brinnon in 1888 and Sheriff of the county after that. Photo 2: Unlabeled

The original photo was very over-exposed. It looks like it might have been snowing. You can see why they tried to take advantage of the snow for sledding large, heavy items on the flat sections of trail. Hauling more of the wooden culvert for the power-plant. Photo 3: “Standing where the trail is supposed to be. 10 feet of snow or more. Elevation 5400’ ft."

The original is a little double-exposed. This looks like the area just below the Little River Summit. If you zoom in you can see this gentleman is wearing a hat and has a rifle in his pack sack. I’m fairly certain this is Bert Macomber.

[trestle]