The Apex mine of the Money Creek Mining District  lies in a glacial cirque at an elevation of 3800 feet. 

The Apex deposit was discovered during 1892 by John Maloney, an engineer for the Great Northern Railway.  It was one of the first discoveries in the district.

The mine has a checkered history of production owing to periods of changing ownership and its isolated location in mountainous country. Accumulations of 6 to 9 feet of winter snow and demanding trail access to the mine, contouring around steep cliffs, mandated construction of an aerial tramway to facilitate production.  

The 3200-foot jig-back aerial tramway connected adit 4 to a lower tram terminal and millsite.  From there, four-ton cars were lowered over narrow-gage rail to a point on the Miller River for shipment to American Smelting and Refining Company’s Tacoma smelter.

In 1936, W. J. Priestly, manager of the property from 1915 to 1943, conducted a comprehensive sampling of the vein material exposed in adits 2, 3, and 4. Ninety-one samples averaged 1.2 ounces of gold per ton and 7 ounces of silver per ton.   

From its discovery in 1889 until closure in 1941 under War Production Board order L-208, the mine produced about $300,000 at historic metal prices.

Source WA DNR Report 2001-2
Fritz E Wolff, Donald McKay Jr. David Norman