HERE IS WILBUR'S SIGNATURE

THE MAMMOTH COPPER MINE

This is where Wilbur worked as a diamond drill but operator :



Way up on Iron Mountain, between Little Backbone and Squaw Creeks, is the now-silent Mammoth Mine.

It was once one of the largest copper mines in Shasta County. In addition to copper, it mined gold, lead, silver and zinc.

The mine's smelter was at the bottom of the mountain near the mouth of Little Backbone Creek, in Kennett. Kennett is now in the deepest part of Shasta Lake, supposedly at a depth of 425 feet when the lake is full. A combination of wagon roads, aerial tramways and rails connected the mine with the smelter.

In 1882, the mine was located by a Mr. Frazier. That same year a Mr. Neslon was the first known man to mine for gold at the mine. In 1900, the mine was purchased by Rudolph Saeltzer and Associates of Redding. In 1904, it was purchased by the Mammoth Copper Mining Co., the company that made it a rich and famous mine.

A smelter was built at Kennett in 1905 to process the ore. It was enlarged in 1907 and when it was finished it replaced the Coram smelter as the largest and most modern on the Pacific Coast. It held that distinction for many years. The smelter smokestack was 12 feet in diameter and 150 feet high.

Many deaths and injuries occurred at the mine from cave-ins and dynamite blasts. A hospital was built near Backbone Creek to care for the injured miners.

Mine equipment consisted of compressors, a sawmill, various shops, an aerial tramway, railways, (both electric and steam at the smelter), ore bins, employee dwellings, dormitories, etc.

An elaborate electric railroad ore transportation system with 25-ton locomotives and a fleet of flat cars was built to carry ore from the mines over the rugged terrain down to the Kennett smelter.

Houses of prostitution were near the smelter on the hillside near Little Backbone Creek and employed approximately 100 women. John Balma, sheriff of Shasta County for 36 years, lived in Kennett as a child, where his parents owned and operated a hotel. He told me he knew some of the prostitutes on Little Backbone Creek when he was a young boy. They trusted him enough to deliver notes to the miners, which he did.

The mine and smelter once employed 2,300 workers who came from around the world. Most of the workers lived at a settlement perched on the side of the mountain near the mine.