Portage Lake & Bisbee Development Company started work in April of 1903. It was a reorganization of the earlier the Portage Lake & Calumet Development Company. By June of the same year the shaft had reached a depth of a 120ft. At this depth about five gallons a minute of water was entering the shaft and work was temporarily suspended until a pump was installed.  On October 16, 1903 a premature blast badly crippled Bob Bowdish and O.M. King, both miners working on sinking the shaft. O.M. King was also a famous hand driller. The accident was widely recorded, due to the heroic rescue of the men by Bert Warner. Bert was the son of Charles Warner a mine foreman for the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company. The residents of Bisbee raised money to purchase a gold medal for Bert. After the money was raised Bert Kindly requested that the money instead be given to O.M. King who had been blinded by the explosion. In 1904 the development work appeared to be largely diamond drilling and by July 1904 the operations became dormant.