Mining Lemons
One of the mates of my great uncle Al Nicholson in the mountain gold mining town of Liberty, Washington a century ago, Ollie Jordin, had mined with his brothers but left to marry and work a “real job” in Spokane with Washington Water and Power Company. But mining gets in the blood, and on his birthday in 1932, he decided to return to Liberty to rejoin his brothers for a bit.
While out prospecting on Swauk Creek he ran by chance into Roy Lilne who had a claim on Flag Mountain that he had salted so it looked promising. Ollie agreed to buy it for $700. He paid $200 down and had three days to come up with the rest. Where to get $500 was a huge problem. He wired his boss in Spokane for a loan but was turned down. But people trusted people in those days and Ollie was finally able to scrape together loans for the balance, not knowing that Lilne after a few drinks in Liberty had bragged how he had sold Ollie a lemon of a mine.
Supported by his wife Lela who had a good feeling about both Ollie and his quest, Ollie worked his fingers to the bone in that so-called mine for about three weeks until the young couple was down to their last four bits. The Ellensburg Capital newspaper (Ellensburg might have become the capital of the new state of Washington in 1889 had not most of the city been destroyed in a fire on 4 July 1889) tells the story:
“Ollie Jordin uncovered the richest gold in the Swauk area in more than a quarter of a century. In less than two hours, in a pocket two feet long and eighteen inches wide, the man took out twenty-six one to four pound avoirdupois pure gold nuggets estimated at $10,000 [Note: 285 oz, worth US$775,000 today] and took it to the Cle Elum bank. The gold is heavy wire gold so pure it needs no refining. In addition, Mr. Jordin placed in the vault many fruit jars filled with gold not so pure and three hundred pounds of gold ore. Armed guards are protecting the property night and day.”
Over time Ollie took out from $70,000 to $80,000 worth of gold from the mine (worth about $7,500,000 today). Ollie often told the story and laughingly recounted how on the day after his big strike he encountered Roy Lilne in town while hauling big nuggets in both hands for safekeeping and cheerfully told him he had picked all the lemons out of the mine.
Addendum: Liberty is famous for its very large gold nuggets, the largest nuggets in Washington State. Many old claims are still being worked on a smaller scale by individuals. For example, my Uncle Al (1875-1961), a dairy farmer, had his own underground mine between his house and barn that he had worked "just enough" each year. You'd think the area would be mined out after 150 years but the mother lode, the source, has never been found.
