Weber Mines

The Weber mine, situated near Lakeview, Idaho, at the southern end of Lake Pend d'Oreille, was located between September 27 and October 8, 1888, by W.A.D. Bell, Peter Steinmetz, and Albert Chamberlain for Frederick A. Weber and Simon P. Donnelly, grubstakers. Of the eleven claims located, only four, East and West Chloride, Eagle Town, and Iron Dollar, were patented. By 1925 the family retained only four of the remaining unpatented claims, Southern Cross 1 & 2, North Star Placer, and Quartz. The first car of ore, 40 tons, was shipped to Great Falls, Montana in January 1889. The yield was 47 oz. silver, and $1.80 in gold. In 1889 Stephen Flemming bought a one-half interest in the mine, with Weber and Donnelly each holding one-quarter. Flemming died the following year and in 1891 Weber bought his half interest from his widow, Mary.

A 30 ton capacity mill was built at Lakeview between the years 1894-1895, but soon fell into disuse. In 1896 a forest fire destroyed all timbering and buildings at the mine and Weber and Donnelly borrowed from Messrs. Campbell and Hyman to rebuild.

About 1900 the property was taken over by a Chicago based company, the Pend d'Oreille Mining and Milling Company, but little capital was expended and eventually the project reached the courts. Due to a row with Donnelly, the Weber mine was closed down from 1901-1906. In 1905 Weber made a trip to the east to bond the property, and in 1906 a three-quarter interest in the mine was sold to Standard Development Co. of Chicago for $250,000, with a $50,000 down payment, thus enabling Weber to pay off the Campbell-Hyman loan. Standard Development never paid the other $200,000, but instead tried to steal the property by organizing a new company. Weber worked the mine for them from 1907 to 1908, then they took over. In 1912 they started the bottom level and shipped 15 tons of 160 oz. silver ore. Actual work at the mine ended about 1917 and litigation which had been started several years before was finally concluded in 1920. In 1921 Frank Weber, nephew of Fred, supplied funds to reopen the mine, but it remained idle except for an unsuccessful effort in the 1930s by Harold Drummond, Cliff Moore, and R.S. Handy to treat the ores by a leaching process. Several attempts were made to sell the mine in 1930s and 1940s; one of those initially interested was Henry L. Day. No sale was made and the mine was operated by lessees.

The interest of Frederick Weber descended to his nephew, Frank Weber, and Frank's daughter, Caro Lou Weber Bastian. The Donnelly interest was eventually acquired by W. Garvin Bastian, Caro Lou's husband. In 1948 Robert B. Austin of Spokane acquired a lease, known as the Austin-Meyer lease, on the Weber Mine and commenced operations in May of 1949. This operation, limited to the surface exposure, continued until the fall of 1965 when the ore body was depleted. In 1951 he subleased the portion of the property below the No. 3 tunnel level to the New Rainbow Mining Co. Considerable money was expended in reopening caved-in workings to reach areas indicated on assay maps resulting from the work prior to 1922 as having some ore zones. This work continued through 1957 when operations were curtailed because insufficient ore was uncovered to justify operations. The mine was sold to the Shoshone Silver Mining Co. in 1985.

Frederick A. Weber, a pioneer mining man in the Lakeview district, was born in Berne, Switzerland about 1846 and immigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of two. The family settled in Madison, Indiana, where he was raised and where he remained until he was 21. He then engaged in the hat and fur business at Evansville, Indiana for about 10 years. In 1876 he attended the Centennial exposition at Philadelphia and became very interested in the mining exhibit. He came home with the idea to make mining his future business, but he was unable to leave Evansville until 1880, when he went to Leadville, Colorado and commenced his career as a mining man. In 1883 he was in Salt Lake where he had an option on some mining property at Little Cottonwood, some 30 miles west of Salt Lake. While there, in the fall of 1883, the newspaper story of Pritchard's great gold strike in the Coeur d'Alene district was printed. He came to the Coeur d'Alenes, by way of Butte, Montana in 1885, settling in the town of Eagle, then travelled north to Lakeview in the fall of 1888 with Al Chamberlain, Peter Steinmetz, Billy Bell, and Si Donnelly. Weber died December 11, 1928.

Frank C. Weber, nephew of Frank Weber, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 29, 1876. At the age of 15 he travelled to Idaho to help his uncle at the mine. In 1901 he moved to Lakeview for the mining season, then in winter he would return to Indianapolis to keep his real estate business going. He married Louise Marguerite Hereth in Indianapolis on January 5, 1910; she died May 20, 1938 in Lakeview. His daughter, Caro Lou was his partner in the mining enterprise. He died March 27, 1962.

Carolyn Louise Weber Bastian, daughter of Frank Weber, was born April 7, 1914 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and graduated from Tudor High School. She married William Garvin Bastian, then in the navy, in San Diego on June 3, 1943; they separated on June 15, 1958 and were divorced May 21, 1962, although they continued as partners in the mine until his death in 1972. On November 27, 1990 she was taken out of Lakeview by helicopter and she died March 10, 1991.

For a more detailed history of the mine and the Weber family see Edwin Fulwider's book Caro Lou: the miner's daughter (1993).

From the guide to the Papers, 1872-1991, (University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives)