Durham, N. N.  "Spokane and the Inland Empire; History of the City of Spokane
and Spokane County Washington."  Vol. 3.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912.  
p. 556.
 
JOHN M. SCHNATTERLY

     John M. Schnatterly is the president of the Idaho Gold & Radium Mining
Company, with offices in the Eagle building in Spokane. He was born in McDonough
county, Illinois, February 13, 1872, but during his youth accompanied his
parents on their removal to Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he pursued his
education in the public schools. He began earning his living through employment
in the steel mills and afterward engaged in the hotel business. In 1893 when a
young man of twenty-one years he returned to Illinois and for eight years
continued a resident of that state. Prompted by the favorable reports which
reached him concerning the northwest he resolved after careful consideration to
make Spokane his home, and since 1901 has resided in this city. He is now
concentrating his energies upon the development of the mining property owned by
the Idaho Gold & Radium Mining Company of which he is president. This company is
organized and chartered under the state laws of Washington and has a capital
stock of two million shares of the par value of one dollar per share, fully paid
and nonassessable. Five hundred thousand shares of the capital stock were placed
in the treasury of the company to be sold or disposed of in amounts and at
prices to be fixed by the directors, the proceeds therefrom to be used in the
development of the properties and the promotion of the best interests of the
company. The holdings comprise six hundred and forty acres of placer ground and
sixteen quartz claims at Leonia, Idaho, in the Kootenai valley and in the very
heart of the mineral belt which has made Idaho and Montana famous as the largest
gold-producing states in America. It is surrounded on every side by rich and
productive mines which indicate that this property, too, must have in it
splendid gold-bearing ground and ore. Gold was first discovered on this placer
property on Boulder creek in June, 1905, by F. L. Fry, a pioneer prospector, and
W. G. Stagner, an old '49er and placer mining expert of sixty years' experience.
A prominent mining engineer, speaking of the geological conditions surrounding
Leonia said: "I cannot too strongly impress upon you the very great importance
of the fact that three chief geological periods, of which Leonia is the
commercial output, surround your locality and there is a very large area of
plutonic rock north, east, south and west of Leonia. The plutonic rock comprises
granites, schists, some of them foliated; also porphyry, gneiss and syenites
(all acid rocks), and I feel confident that you must have something of value.
The area of plutonic rocks near and around Leonia are rendered more interesting
because of the foliated schist and granite in which important discoveries will
sooner or later be made. The quartz mines of the company are: the Golden
Triplets, Nos. 1 and 2; and the Golden Triplets Extensions, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7 and 8. There are four known mineral veins in the property within the
company's lines running parallel for a distance of nine thousand feet and the
size of these and the geological conditions indicate that this will become one
of the big gold mining properties of Idaho.
     The placer properties of the Idaho Gold & Radium Mining Company consist of
six hundred and forty acres of one of the most perfect auriferous deposits of
the northwest, rich in gold. There is not an acre of this ground that does not
give good results with gold panning and the company plan to work it with
hydraulic pipes and giants under a four hundred and fifty foot head. The company
has everything to their advantage—the lay of the land, the richness of the
deposits and the abundant water supply necessary for mining. There is also an
abundance of timber on the ground and the property is within three miles of one
of the great transcontinental railways with a fine wagon road leading to it at
Leonia. It means that the problem of cheap mining and transportation of the
product has been solved in advance. The company is now busily engaged in making
the necessary preparations for obtaining and carrying off the gold. They are
installing a sawmill and planer of sufficient capacity to cut lumber for fluming
and all necessary mining purposes and built four miles of ditch through which to
divert a sufficient amount of water from Boulder creek for hydraulic waste water
and all other mining purposes necessary to operate a four foot bed rock flume
and three thousand feet of thirty-six inch pressure pipe running from penstock
to the point of operation near the falls of Boulder creek. Experts have examined
the property and speak in most glowing terms of its possibilities. In his work
Mr. Schnatterly is calling to his aid thoroughly experienced mining men and the
work is being prosecuted on a scale and with rapidity that promises soon to
bring substantial returns. The other officers of the company are: Wallace
Hayworth, vice president; and J. E. Angle, secretary-treasurer. With M. L.
McCormick they constitute the board of directors.
     On the 4th of June, 1891, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, Mr. Schnatterly
was united in marriage to Miss Carrie L. Renshaw, of that state, and they now
have three children: Gabie V., the wife of James E. Angle, secretary-treasurer
of the Idaho Gold & Radium Mining Company; and Chloe M. and Leona Irene, at
home. Mr. Schnatterly has never been interested in politics nor held public
office. He is, however, an exemplary member of Tyrian Lodge, No. 96, F. & A. M.,
and belongs also to the Modern Woodmen camp. With belief in the future of the
northwest and with splendid business ability to aid him in the accomplishment of
his projects, he is working steadily toward the goal of success and if the
property which he owns carries out even in a small measure any of its splendid
promises it will prove a valuable factor not only for individual success but
also in the development of the district.

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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in April 2010 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.