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V15 2012 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 15, Number 14, April 1, 2012, Article 8

THE PROPOSED U.S MINT AT THE DALLES, OREGON

Holabird-Kagin Americana March 2012 sale Lot 1001 Last week I asked, "What is the fleeting connection of Dalles, OR with U.S. numismatics?". Here are our reader's responses. -Editor

Phil Iversen writes:

It was supposed to become an Assay Office, but never came to fruition.

Joe Boling writes:

The Dalles had an almost-US branch mint - construction started, never finished, and authority withdrawn.

Ken Barr writes:

The formal name of the town is "The Dalles", Oregon. From Wikipedia, "The name of the city comes from the French word dalle (meaning either "sluice" or "flagstone" and referring to the columnar basalt rocks carved by the river."

And of course the numismatic connection is the never-quite-completed U. S. Mint authorized for construction in that city ... nice pictures and brief history at www.wasco-history.r9esd.k12.or.us/comm/td/mint.html

An E-Sylum readers writes:

The San Diego Numismatic Society enjoyed a lecture about this facility given by Jim Hunt, entitled "The Mint That Never Struck Coins," crediting an article written by SDNS member Paul Whitnah, at its March 2011 meeting.

From the club bulletin:

The Program for the March Meeting was given by Jim Hunt, based on an article by Paul Whitnah on "The Mint That Never Struck Coins." The Dalles Mint in Oregon was at the end of the Oregon Trail, and in 1849 The Dalles was a military outpost. Gold had been discovered in Oregon shortly before its discovery in California. Construction was started on a mint building, but it was never finished. The appointed Mint Director, Logan, was lost in the wreck of the Brother Jonathan. Although the building featured in several fires, in one of which the interior was destroyed, the building still stands.

John Mutch writes:

The Dalles, OR was intended to become a mint, but the facility just made it to the "assay office" stage. The local talk here in Boise at the time was that we should also have a mint, but, like The Dalles, we ended up with an assay office. Our Assay Office sits on a city block east of downtown and is in a great state of preservation. It is now owned by the Idaho Historical Society: history.idaho.gov/shpo-hours-location /

Mint at The Dalles

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: HOLABIRD-KAGIN AMERICANA WESTERN STATES TOKEN AUCTION MARCH 2012 (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n13a16.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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