Lewiston Morning Tribune - March 25, 1941
Pioneer Miner Dead, Clarkston
Charles Carson Miles Succumbs After Short Illness At Age Of 76
Charles Carson Miles, 76, one of the original locators of the now-famous Sunshine mine of the Coeur d'Alenes, died at his home at Fifteenth and Elm streets, Clarkston, yesterday afternoon at 3 after a short illness. He had lived at Clarkston since he retired 14 years ago.
He was born in a covered wagon near the Cowlitz River in Oregon territory, Oct. 1, 1864, while his parents were en route to Dayton where they settled in the nearby Blue mountains. He spent his boyhood there. With his father he operated a flour and feed mill at Dayton for several years.
In the early 'nineties he joined a surveying crew made up of Dayton men who were employed by the Great Northern railroad in laying out the route through Montana. Returning from the job several of the crew decided to prospect and found rich ore on which they staked claims. They all sold out before they realized the extent of the ore bodies which later developed into the Sunshine mine and others in the vicinity.
He mined at Wardner and Wallace and later went to Pierce city with his brother, Frank, during the second gold rush in 1891. He later returned to Dayton where they homesteaded and farmed and raised cattle until he retired and came to Clarkston.
He is survived by his wife and a daughter, Mrs. R. E. Lusk, Clarkston; five sons, Dale, Ahsahka; Virgil and John of Weippe; Cecil, Spokane, and Delbert Miles, Bellingham; two brothers and two sisters and four grandchildren. The body is at Merchants funeral home. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Transcribed by Jo Frederiksen, 2014