(Click on picture to view larger image)
"Spokane and The Spokane Country - Pictorial and Biographical - Deluxe Supplement." Vol. II. The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912. (No author listed.) pgs. 202-205.
CONRAD WOLFLE, president of the United Copper Mining Company, and also interested in the Florence Silver Mining Company, was born in South Dakota, September 27, 1871. His father, Conrad Wolfle, a native of Germany, is now living retired in Portland, Oregon, where he established his home in 1890. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Anne Mayer, was also born in Germany and is a resident of Portland. The sons and daughters of the family are as
follows: Conrad, of this review; F. R., who is his associate in business; David H., professor in the high school at Bremerton, Washington; E. A., a resident of Ainsworth, British Columbia; Marie, residing in Portland; and Barbara, who married William Fredericks, of Irving county, Alberta.
While a resident of his native state, Conrad Wolfle began his education in the public schools and afterward continued his studies in Oregon. He first engaged in farming, leaving home in 1889, and later he worked on the railroad, his time being thus taken up with different pursuits until 1895,
when he first arrived in Spokane. He went from here to Rossland, British Columbia, where he became actively connected with mining interests. He worked in the mines and acquired property and again in 1897 he came to Spokane. He reported on mines all over the western country from Arizona to British
Columbia, including Nevada, Idaho, Montana, California and Oregon. He organized the Golden Monarch Mining Company in British Columbia which was incorporated with Mr. Wolfle as president and man-ager; F. E. Robbins, vice president; and C. H. Claudius, secretary and treasurer. They own property in Ymir, British Columbia, and after the successful organization and development of that company, Mr. Wolfle extended his efforts in other directions, organizing in 1905 the United Copper Mining Company of which he also became president and manager, with W. G. Collins as vice president and Gale Smith as secretary and treasurer. They own mines at Chewelah, five miles northeast of Spokane, there being ten claims in the group. Over six thousand feet of underground work has been done, including tun-nel, shafts, drifts and upraises. The deepest work is six hundred feet and the width of the ore vein ranges from six to twenty-five feet. It has copper and silver values and of the low-grade ore six hundred tons shipped realized ten dollars per ton, while the high-grade ore brought from one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred dollars per ton. They shipped to Granby, Northport and Trail, making shipment to the last named place owing to a shut-down of the other two. The average output is one hundred tons per day. They have just completed a one-hundred ton mill for low-grade ores and their property is well equipped with all kinds of machinery, electric plants, shops, etc. The company also owns three hundred and twenty acres of timber land adjoining. Nearly all the work has been done on the ore and there is now being made a tunnel of thirty-five hundred feet which will give a depth of one thousand feet, and of this five hundred feet have been completed at the present writing. Mr. Wolfle is also interested in the Florence Silver Mining Company, owning property three miles north of
Ainsworth, British Columbia. There are four claims containing a splendid body
of ore, of galena, silver and lead values. Its property is a promising one on
which twelve men are now working, and shipment will begin in the spring of
1912. The United Copper Company has on its pay-roll from thirty-five to fifty
men and is a close corporation, the greater part of the stock being held by
Mr. Wolfle, Mr. Collins and Sidney Rosenhaupt. The company has made a number
of displays at the Spokane and Seattle fairs and has been awarded a number of
prizes for their exhibits every tune they have been placed on display. The
copper averages from two to three per cent in low-grade ore and in silver from
eight to fifteen ounces, while in the high-grade ore the copper averages from
eighteen to twenty-five per cent, from two hun-dred and fifty to three hundred
and fifty ounces in silver, and from two to five dollars in gold. The recent
ore chutes now opened, how-ever, are averaging better than those formerly
worked. Mr. Wolfle is interested in other mining ventures and owns in
different parts of British Columbia several large tracts of land.
On the 29th of October, 1899, Mr. Wolfle was married at Ritzville to
Miss Pauline Cook, a daughter of the Rev. Cook, minister of the Congregational
church. Two children were born unto them but both are now deceased. Both Mr.
and Mrs. Wolfle are members of the Westminster Congregational church, in which
he has served as a trustee for a number of years and in the work of which they
are both actively and helpfully interested. Fraternally Mr. Wolfle is
connected with the Maccabees and he is also a member of the Inland Club. His
activities touch the general interests of society and he is known as a
cooperant factor in many projects relating to the social, intellectual and
moral progress of the community as well as to its material development. His
ideals of life are high and he shapes his course in harmony therewith.
Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton
* * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individuals featured in the biographies.