Elk City mining news., March 19, 1904, Image 1

About Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913

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$2.oo The Year
Elk City, Idaho, March 19, 1904
Vol. I, No. 12
The BUFFALO HUMP CAMP
Robert N. Bell, State Inspector of Mines, in His Report on the
Hump District, Gives Much Interesting Information
Relative to the Formation and Value of the Ore.
The discovery of the Buffalo Hump
veins in 1898 was made the basis of one
of those wild and woolly mining booms
for which the western mining states are
noted. The boom was short lived, how
ever, for when the snow melted off the
stories of great wealth, it was found
that to win it would evolve no small in
vestment of money, muscle and time,
but the snow did not melt the big led
ges of gold-bearing quartz, which are
still there, and just as big as ever, and
their recent development is such as to
warrant the anticipation that the glow
ing fairy tales told of their riches will
be justified by the facts and actual bul
lion- at no distant day.
The Buffalo Hump district probably
holds the record for receiving the high
est prite for a ten foot hole in the
whole mining history of the state,
t Mr. Charles Sweeny, who recently
launched the big thirty million dollar
merger in the Coeur d'Alenes, offered a
quarter of a million dollars cash for the
Big Buffalo vein, when its development
did not exceed ten feet in depth, which
figure was refused by the owners; he
afterwards bought the property, when
the excitement had died down a little,
for about half that sum.
The Buffalo Hump summit is a sharp
hog back elevation of bare granite,
which, viewed from some directions,
roughly resembles the outline of a buf
falo's back. The culminating point, or
hump, has an elevation of eight thou
sand eight hundred feet above sea level;
it is situated on the divide between the
South Fork of the Clearwater river and
the main Salmon river and is the high
est elevation in a region of mountain
country fifty miles square.
The country rock at the Hump dis
trict is practically straight eruptive
gray granite of medium coarse grain.
There are no dike rocks exposed over
the present central area of the district,
covering a belt of country six miles
long by two wide, but this belt contains
a parallel system of monster fissure
veins of quartz that stands nearly ver
tical and strike almost due north and
A
south.
Well posted local miners say that
this belt contains a quartz vein from
workable size up to 60 feet wide for
six hundred feet of its width, and
every
after studying the surface of the belt
for awhile one will easily come to the
«"inclusion that the statement is not an
exaggeration.
The surface appearances of these
great fissures are not attractive, owing
to the excessive local ice action which
has worn the veins down even with the
enclosing granite walls, and at the
present center of the district, including
the Hump postoffice and Concord post
office settlements, some of the biggest
ore bodies are situated in a broad flat
glacial basin full of little benchy flats
and swamps that form the head of
Sheep creek, in which situation the big
veins are naturally eroded even with
the enclosing formation and inconspic
uous.
The Big Buffalo ledge, owned by the
Buffalo Hump Mining Company, is lo
cated on the west side of this basin and
forms the bed of one of the tributaries
of Sheep creek, which has cut a V
shaped trough along the soft wall of
the vein for four thousand feet, expos
ing a succession of fine ore shoots for
that distance; then the grade of the
country drops off very rapidly, and at
the first big drop an adit tunnel has
been started on the vein which is al
ready in several hundred feet. It
the intention to drive this tunnel back
on the vein to the north which wilt de
velop the ore shoots as it goes along
and undercut the discovery shoot at
vertical depth of nearly six hundred
feet.
This property was opened by a shaft
located at the discovery, on a little
swampy bench near Hump town. This
shaft is reported to be two hundred and
fifty feet deep and in a crosscut at the
bottom level is said to show sixty feet
of quartz between walls that carry over
ten dollars in gold per ton on an aver
This shaft produced some aston
ag<
ishing rich native gold specimen ore,
■ pieces of which are still seen around
' the camp, that are nearly half gold.
A ten stamp mill was put on this
property and run on a body of oxidized
ore that was mined above a sixty foot
level in the shaft. This ore body was
mined seven sets wide and seven sets
high by about one hundred and sixty,
feet long and is locally reported to have
produced gold bullion to the value of
$250,000. From a part of this opera
tion a tailings pile was saved said to
contain 6,000 tons and average value of
five dollars per ton in gold.
Owing to the enormous expense of
pumping a shaft located in a swampy
creek bottom, this operation was dis
continued until the ground could be
opened by the new drain tunnel now in
progress.
The company's managers claim that
the operation of the property did not
pay, which is probably true under such
adverse conditions, but the report that
they have secured seventy claims in the
district would indicate their faith in the
future. After it is properly developed
and equipped with the necessary mill
ing capacity, run by water power, of
which the company has plenty available
and near at hand, all the gold won out
of the ore of this great vein over two
dollars a ton should be net profit.
The veins of the Buffalo Hump are
very clearly defined when opened under
ground, and the ore shoots range from
fifty to five hundred feet in length; the
walls are usually smooth and hard, fre
quently polished, and the ore shoots are
filled with a rather ribbony banded
white quartz next to the walls that
shades into a more massive variety
towards the center with small vuggs
lined with glassy crystals; they have
evidently been formed by ascending
mineral solutions that filled pfe-exist
ing fissure spaces. This district is the
highest in the region, has suffered less
erosion than the adjacent country and
the values are more likely, for this rea
son, to extend to greater depth than in
a placer district, the erosion of whose
veins have produced millions of dollars
worth of placer gold, like those of Elk
City and Florence, near at hand.
The great quartz ore shoots of this
district are usually quite thickly sprink
led at a short distance below the sur
face with banded lines and rich dissem
inations of iron pyrites, together with
a varying mixture of copper, lead and
zinc sulphides with free gold, The lead
mineral here, as is usual in most Idaho
gold mines, indicates the richest gold
values.
The free milling tests obtained in this
district vary from different veins, and
in fact from different parts of the same
vein. The deepest ore now being mill
ed in the district is from the Jumbo
vein. It is a straight hard white quartz
from a depth of five hundred feet on
the vein; it is richly sprinkled with iron
sulphides, but shows occasional colors
of native gold. The milling results save
sixty per cent of the total value as free
gold, fifteen per cent in the form of
high grade concentrates, and the bal
ance going into a tailing pit for future
treatment by cyaniding, to which meth
od it is said to yield ninety per cent of
the remaining values. Practically the
same results as above were obtained on
ç; rac ] ter j ac ]< 0 re, some of their higher
is
a
grade material showing a little less free
gold extraction, but just as good results
on cyanide tests.
The country immediately adjacent
Sheep creek basin is very ruggqd and
abrupt, a succession of deep cut can
yons carrying large creeks and whose
steep slopes are densely timbered. This
topography will be appreciated by the
statement that from the head of Sheep
creek at Hump town to where the
creek joins the Salmon river, the dis
tance is only fourteen miles and the
fall is fifty seven hundred and fifty
feet. These conditions mean a great
deal for the economical development
and operation of these veins.
The only properties producing in the
Hump district during 1903 were the
Jumbo and the Cracker Jack mines;
their combined milling capacity was
equal to about one ten stamp mill and
their total bullion yield was one hund
red and twenty-six thousand dollars.
The five stamp mill at the Cracker
Jack was increased to ten in August
and thfen shut down November first,
pending the installation of electric
power. The four stamp mill at the
Jumbo was increased to fourteen in
October, and again to twenty-four on
December 25; the last ten are expected
to be in commission by the tenth of
January.
The new mill building at the Jumbo,
built during the year, is of thirty
stamps capacity, and the remaining six
stamps will be put in during the winter
to make it complete. This is one of
the most substantially built and most
conveniently arranged mills in the west,
and contains, besides the stamp and
vanner floors, a three drill air compres
sor and electric light plant, the whole
run by water power using two Felton
wheels fed by sixty inches of water
under a head of six hundred and eighty
feet.
(Note.— The remainder of Mr. Bell's
report on Buffalo Hump will be pub
lished next week.)
Concise and
to the Point
The Imperial Corona Gold Mining
Company, or agents, have been delug
ing the Standard with literature pro
testing against being classed as mining
sharks. One of the letters demand the
publication of several yards of rot,
their defense in the matter. The Stan
dard has at no time characterized the
company as a swindle. It has said
some vigorous words about sharks who
trade on the good name of reputable
mining communities. If the Imperial
Corona people choose to wear the shoe,
and the shoe has tacks in it, why, it's
their foot, of course. The company
would better spend its time and money
in developing the mine that it alleges
will pay $800,000 a' year for a 20-stamp
mill, than in seeking an apology here,
for there is more probability of that
yield than of the apology.—Grangeville
Standard.
Committee
Meeting.
The republican central committee of
Idaho county, Idaho, is hereby called to
meet at Grangeville, Idaho, on Satur
day, the 26th day of March, 1904, at 2
hall,
o'clock p. m., in the I. O. O.
The selection of county delegates to at
tend the republican state convention at
Pocatello to select state delegates to
attend the national republican conven
tion to be held at Chicago, June 21st,
1904, will come before said committee,
as well as other regular business.
John E. Jaques, Chairman.
T. H. Bartlett, Secretary.
Grangeville, Idaho, March 9, 1904.
Jake Rice
L-OS6S Suit
Judge Kennan yesterday ordered en
try of judgment dismissing the com
plaint of Jacob N. Rice against R. M.
Sherman, the American Eagle Consoli
dated Gold Mining company and the
Fishhawk Consolidated Gold Mining
company. The action has attracted a
great deal of attention on the part of
mining men since it was commenced
year ago.
The contention of the plaintiff was
that a copartnership agreement be
tween Messrs. Rice and Sherman, made
m September, 1898, extended to owner
- , ,
ship of stock in the two défendent cor
... , , , - . .
porations and a large number of mining
. T11 ... . ,,
claims in Idaho, which contention the
défendent Sherman denied, alleging the
fact to be that in some of the instances
recited his purchases and Interests were
entirely without the partnership agree
ment. . *■
In delivering his opinion, Judge Kon
LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS
Williara Campbell, Who Left Thunder Mountain February 12
For His Ranch on Salmon River at Campbell's Crossing,
Has Probably Perished During the Last Storm.
A letter from Henry S. Hazlitt to this office last week giving the
news of the probable loss and death by exposure of William Camp
bell, of Campbell's Crossing on Salmon river, below Dixie, has been
confirmed by Sherman Whitaker and Fred Roesch, who arrived here
from Roosevelt, Tuesday, the 15th inst. It appears Mr. Campbell
left Roosevelt the 12th of February, for his home on Salmon river
and stopped a day or two at the Gold Bug cabin at Raimy ridge,
leaving there the 16th, since which date he has not been seen, thus
leaving no reasonable doubt as to his fate, which is sad in the ex
treme.
Messrs, Whitaker and Roach came through to Elk in five days,
each had a. fifty pound pack, and, as there is no travel over that
route this time of the year, of course, they were compelled to break
the trail. They report the camps Over there as being enthusiastic
for the Dixie route for the mail. There is considerable work being
prosecuted in and around the Thunder Mountain country. The
Dewey is working 36 men, the Sunnyside, 20, the H. Y., 12, and
the East Dewey, 12. These companies would probably employ more
men but for a shortage of supplies. Speaking of the projected mail
route via Dixie, those gentlemen endorse everything which has
been urged in the past by every man who has been over all the va
rious routes, to the effect that the Dixie route is the only safe and
feasible one thus far discovered. The boys do not intend to return
to Thunder Mountain before July. They report an important strike
of free gold ore on the Gold Bug group, on Raimy Ridge, about
thirty miles from Dixie on the Thunder Mountain trail.. This strike
is second in importance to Elk City only on account of the numer
ous strikes made in this district. This should stimulate the efforts
of our citizens, if they need stimulation, toward securing that mail
route from Dixie to -Roosevelt. We believe the department is dis
posed to look with favor upon this route already. We are informed
fififther that the route has been reported upon favorably by one
route inspector but was not acted upon, more for lack of energy on
the part of northern Idaho citizens than for any other rerson. See
to it that this lack of public spirit is remedied.
Yellow Jacket Has Pick Ore
H. P. McCarthy, manager of the Yellow Jacket, came in from
that group, Wednesday, and reports a phenomenal strike-.in shaft
No. 2, of two and a half feet of very rich ore. In proof of his state
ment, were proof necessary, Mr. McCarthy brought in a piece of
rock, weighing about eighty pounds, which fairly glitters with na
tive gold, copper pyrites, and iron sulphides; it is also heavily im
pregnated with a brown hematite (oxidized sulphide). There is
besides a redish brown oxide which appears to belong to copper.
Altogether it is one of the handsomest specimens thus far produced
in Elk City. Mr. McCarthy shipped it to Spokane to Mr. Lusk, of
the Badger Improvement Co. This strike was made at a depth of
thirty two feet and reproduces the characteristics of so many other
fine properties in this camp, that is to say, the values increase with
depth. The development work thus far has been confined to the
'Fellow Jacket No. 2, and consists of shafts Nos. 1 and 2, which
are 1200 feet apart. No. 1 is down fifty feet and shows good and
increasing values with every foot of depth attained. A 250 foot tun
ne j j g amon g the improvements intended in the near future,
1
Jack Chesebro Heard From.
G. V. Herrington received a letter from J. G. Cheesebro this
week which seems to indicate that Jack is having the time of his
life down among the orange groves of southern California. He tells
ranch of 50,000 acres which he
a v * s * t to Luck y Baldwin's
thought seriously of buying till he learned that only small tracts
were for sale to any one person. He also writes interestingly of the
San Gabriel mission which boasts of 130 years,—which, by the way,
is two years older than the "Great Republic" itself—and paintings
that belong to the church, which are 400 years old; of three bells
which, he says, are hanging on the same rawhide with which they
I were hung 130 yèars ago. He adds that there used to be five but
Lucky Baldwin stole two, which is probably true, if they were fas
tened with nothing stronger than rawhide 130 years old. That
j would be easy for Lucky. Jack describes Los Angeles at some
length and gives her credit for 163 schools, 41 banks, 133 churches,
and 400 saloons. This rather throws Elk City in the shade for
schools, banks, and churches. He also saw a fine old residence which
covered two blocks.
!
j
j
nan said: "The plaintiff failed to sus
^
tain the allegation of a general partner-i
b ® . 1
ship and community of interest with
1 r J 1
j
Sherman in the American Eagle Con- j
solidated Gold Mining company, and ac- j
cordingly judgment will be entered dis
missing the complaint. "
Testimony has been taken in the
court here in Spokane at different times
for a period extending over several
„ . . , . ..
months. Depositions were taken in New
, , , . T , .
York and at several places in Idaho,
, ,
The attorneys for the deiense are
Graves *& Graves and A. E. Gallagher,
while the interests of the plaintiff have
been in the hands of Allen & Allen, T.
Waldo Murphy, and F. W. De wart.
Attorney Murphy said yesterday that »
he would appeal, from Judge Kennan V
order.—Spokesman Review.