|
Though rumors of gold and silver in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains date to near the Civil War, it wasn't until a
carpenter named Noah Kellogg, with nothing but a borrowed burro, discovered the outcropping of galena ore which
eventually became the Bunker Hill Mine that the largest silver rush in American history got underway. The year
was 1885. Within five years, prospectors, con men, and camptown ladies descended on the picturesque glen in
north central Idaho in search of the metal which would cause this 5-mile long piece of ground to be renamed
"The Silver Valley" and become the home of over ninety mines, yielding up over five billion dollars' worth of metal
(and a billion ounces of silver) in a little over 100 years. At least three mines have produced over one hundred
million ounces of silver each over that period.
Across the state line in Washington, the rush also
spawned the storied Spokane Stock Exchange in 1890, which
operated for nearly one hundred years and featured companies with such unique names as Bunker Chance, Oom Paul,
and Saint Elmo. For the most part, they were stakeholders, owning the claims and leasing them to larger,
better capitalized companies for a percentage of the profits. But some of them, like Coeur d'Alene Mines
and Hecla, became household names as the nation's demand for silver in industrial and investment applications
(combined with market shenanigans), drove the price of silver from a low of $1.29 in the 1960s to a high of
over $50 in 1980. Many of the companies which mined silver fared well, as CDE rose from penny stock
status (.02 in 1967) to an NYSE-listed, $60 per share stock in 1980. In fact, the average share on the
Spokane Stock Exchange rose in value nearly 16000% (yes, sixteen THOUSAND percent), as America could not
get enough of silver and silver stocks. As the market cooled and a silver bear entered its 20-year hibernation,
many of those same companies fell back to pre-mania levels, and when the Spokane exchange closed in the late
1980s, most of the companies which flourished there
disappeared to the Over-the-Counter Market, or to oblivion.
Silver is a metal which does not rest, and with demand
outstripping supply for the past decade, the Silver
Valley is stirring with those seeking silver. This time, instead of borrowed burros, modern prospectors are
employing technology to find the deep silver which was not discovered during the past silver rushes. And as
most of the old companies become merger candidates or die away, Sterling is picking up their claims, signing
leases, repairing the old portals… we are getting ready for the rush that will come, when America falls in love
with silver once again.
The Silver Valley is the home of the oldest, deepest,
and richest silver mines in North America, consistently
producing nearly 40% of the nation's silver. It is also our home base, because we believe that the potential
for another 100 million ounce deposit still exists. We're drilling, we're staking, we're prospecting, and when
the world again comes looking for silver, we'll have it
waiting for them right here.
We invite you to join us.
|
Webworks by
Greg Marsh, Ph.D., at Marsh Scientific Services