Editing North Cascades National Park (section)

=== Mining, logging and dam construction ===
[[File:Ross Lake Dam, North Cascades National Park, Washington - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Ross Dam in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area|alt=A curved concrete dam, viewed from slightly above. On the left is a steep forested valley, and on the right is blue-green water. The reservoir is almost full.]]
Mineral prospectors entered the North Cascades region, and by the 1850s were doing [[placer mining]] along the banks of the Skagit River in search of gold. In the 1870s, placer mining also commenced along [[Ruby Creek (Washington)|Ruby Creek]], and hundreds of miners came to the region even though it was difficult to access. Most mining activity along Ruby Creek had ended by the 1880s, but was soon replaced by [[Underground mining (hard rock)|hard rock mining]] for silver and other minerals.<ref name=luxenberg1/> This second period of mining lasted from the 1890s to the 1940s, but was only marginally more lucrative.<ref name=thompson5>{{cite web|last=Thompson|first=Erwin N.|title=Mining|publisher=National Park Service|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/noca/hbd/chap5.htm|date=June 11, 2008|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref> Miners were hampered by short working seasons, difficult terrain, low quantities of ore and a lack of financial investment.<ref name=miners>{{cite web|title=Miners|url=http://www.nps.gov/noca/historyculture/miners.htm|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref> Miners built some of the first trails and roads into portions of the backcountry, some of which involved intricate engineering, including bridges over the numerous streams and dynamiting rock ledges above steep gorges during trail construction.<ref name=luxenberg1/><ref name=build>{{cite web|title=The Builders|work=History and Culture|publisher=National Park Service|url=http://www.nps.gov/noca/historyculture/the-builders.htm|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref> One mining company built a series of [[flume]]s, the longest of which was over {{convert|3|mi}}, to transport lumber and to supply water for use in their [[hydraulic mining]] operation.<ref name=luxenberg1/>

During the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, larger operations mined silver and lead in addition to gold, mostly with little or no profitability. The demand for metals was not constant, and so prices tended to fluctuate too greatly for mining to be viable.<ref name=luxenberg1/> Once the region became a national park, some privately owned mining inholdings remained. One such inholding, the Thunder Creek mine, was still privately owned as of 1997.<ref name=louter1>{{cite web|last=Louter|first=David|title=Land Use and Protection|work=Contested Terrain: North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Washington An Administrative History|publisher=National Park Service|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/noca/adhi/chap1.htm|date=April 14, 1999|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref>

Unlike in many other regions of the Pacific Northwest, logging had little impact on the future park.<ref name=thompson8>{{cite web|last=Thompson|first=Erwin N.|title=The Public Domain|work=North Cascades History Basic Data|publisher=National Park Service|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/noca/hbd/chap8.htm|date=June 11, 2008|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref> The ruggedness of the terrain and the existence of more economically viable timber resources that were closer to transportation routes largely dissuaded the timber industry from logging in the area. In 1897 the [[Washington National Forest|Washington Forest Reserve]] was set aside, preserving the forestland that would later become the park. By 1905, the management of the reserve was transferred from the [[United States Department of the Interior|Department of the Interior]] to the [[United States Department of Agriculture|Department of Agriculture]]. The [[United States Forest Service|Forest Service]] was subsequently created to administer these forest reserves nationwide, which were redesignated as National Forests.<ref name=luxenberg1/> Though the Department of Agriculture allowed commercial enterprises to log the forest with a permit, most of the timber taken from the region was used only locally for the construction of cabins and similar small-scale enterprises. Logging expanded when the [[Skagit River Hydroelectric Project]] was commenced by the public utility [[Seattle City Light]] in the 1920s.<ref name=build/> Almost {{convert|12000|acre}} of timber would have been left underwater by the completion of the [[Ross Dam]]. A contract to extract the timber was awarded in 1945 and the project was completed in 1958.<ref name=luxenberg1/> None of the dams or areas that were extensively logged are within the current boundaries of the national park, but they are in the adjoining [[Ross Lake National Recreation Area]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Protecting The Natural Environment with Low Impact Energy Generation|url=http://www.seattle.gov/light/Skagit/|website=Skagit River Hydroelectric Project|publisher=City of Seattle|access-date=May 18, 2018}}</ref>