Mineral City is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Snohomish County Snohomish County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. With a population of 827,957 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous county in Washington, after nearby King and Pierce counties, and the 72nd-most popul ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Location

Mineral City is situated on Silver Creek, four miles (6.4 km) north of

Galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crysta ...

. The Silver Creek drainage area is rugged and difficult to navigate. Monte Cristo is accessible to the north via Poodle Dog Pass. Mineral City was established in 1892 on the site of a previous settlement, Silver City, which was established in 1873 by Theron Ferguson (1840-1918), but abandoned by the 1880s.

History

Mineral City lies on a speculated route between the territory of the ''bəsx̌əx̌əx̌alč'' band of the

Skykomish Skykomish is a town in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 161 as of the 2020 census, down from an estimated peak of "several thousand" in the 1920s. Located in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, 49 miles east ...

, based in Index, and the Sauk to the north. The first mining claims in the area, the Silver Creek Mining District, were located by George White and Hill Tyler in 1871. Hans Hansen recorded the Norwegian Claim along Silver Creek in 1874. Monte Cristo stakeholders considered building a railway passing through Mineral City to Monte Cristo via a tunnel under or switchback over Poodle Dog Pass, but this was ruled out as too expensive. Later, in 1935, a road was proposed by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA) from Mineral City to Monte Cristo. However, this road was never built. The Silver City Mining Company's boarding house served as a voting precinct in the

1880 presidential election The following elections occurred in the year 1880. Europe * 1880 United Kingdom general election * United Kingdom general election, 1880 (Ireland) North America United States * 1880 New York state election * 1880 South Carolina gubernatorial e ...

. Prospector Joseph "Joe" L. Pearsall (1855-?) discovered the more successful Monte Cristo site via Mineral City. The plat for Mineral City was filed on June 20, 1892 by Elisha Hiram Hubbart (1839-1895). The town site consisted of 15 blocks, and was located in the Anna Quartz mining claim. At its peak, it had 2 hotels, 2 saloons and 2 stores. After a 1980 storm, a quarter-mile (0.4 km) length of the ridge between Galena and Mineral City collapsed, washing out the road. The route remains impassable by vehicles.

References

Ghost towns in Snohomish County, Washington Ghost towns in Washington (state) {{Ghost-town-stub