“When Captain Hooper first took reins of the old Victoria property in 1881 he found a mine in disarray. Not only was it flooded, which was too be expected, but all the mine’s timbers had rotted away, the adit level had partially collapsed, and the shafts were crooked and haphazardly sunk. It was such a mess that Hooper was forced to abandon the mine and work first on acquiring the additional funding required to repair and rehabilitate the mine first. That endeavor would take another 19 years.

Finally in 1899 Hooper returned the Victoria with funds in hand and began the long process of rehabilitation. The most difficult task was repairing the No. 2 shaft, which while the best shaft of the bunch was still horribly crooked and irregular. The process took a full year, but by the turn of the century the Victoria rose again with the No. 2 shaft as the center of it all.”