Elk City mining news., March 26, 1904, Image 1

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

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E1K City Mining News
J
Elk City, Idaho, March 26, 1904
$3.oo The Year
Vol. I, No. 13
TiTe 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 489,8 Waa made the basis of one
of those Wild and woolly mining booms
for which the western mining states are
noted. The boom was shortilivsd, how
ever, for when the snow meltèft- 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 recefit 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 'ät no,cfistant day.
The Buffalo Hump district probably
holds the- record for receiving the high
est, price for a ten foot hole in the
whole mining history of Jthe state.
Mr. Charles Sweeny»"'"Who recently
launched the big thirty rftfllion dollar
merger in the Coeur d'AleneS,« offered a
quarter of a million dollars casivfor 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 1 'of monster fikéure
veins of quartz that stands nearly -Ver
tical and strike almost due north and
south.
1 Well posted local- miners say that
' this belt contains a "quartz vein from
workable size up to 60 feet wide for
eVery six hundred feet of its width, and
after studying the surface of the belt
for awhile one will easily come to the
conclusion that the statement is not an
exaggeration.
-.The surface appearances of these
gt^at fissures are not attractive, owing
t6 the excessive local ice action which
ha® worn the veins down even with the
enclosing granite walls, and at the
présent center of the district, including
ttxe 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. f ;
The Big Buffalo ledge, owned by the
Buffalo Hump Mining Company, is lo
cated oh- the west side of this basin and
forms tbb bed of one of the tributaries
of- Sheep creek, which has cut a V
shaped trough along the soft wäll of
the vein for four thousand feet, expos
ing a succession of'fine ore shoots for
that distance; then the grad$ of the
country drops off very rapidly,' 1 ^ and at
thè first big drop an adit tunnel has
been started on the vein which' is al
ready in several hundred feet. It
the intension to drive this tunnel • back
on the vein to the north which will de
velop the We shoots as it goes along
and undercut the discovery shoot,'at
This
t
1
• vertical depth of nearly six hundred
feet. f f
This property was opened by a shaft
located at the discover^, on a little
swampy bench near Hump town,
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
age.
ishing rich native gold spedmen ore,
pieces v of which äre still s'éferi" 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 arid sixty
fqét long and is locälly reported to have
produced gold bullion to the -fralue 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 vVds 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 vfein over two
dollars a ton should be ne\ 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 tjie 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 pre-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, neariât hand.
The great quartz ore shoots of this
district are usually quite thibkly 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 v*in; it is richly sprinkled with iron
sulphides, but shows occasional colors
of native gold. The milling results save
sixty per cent of thé total value as free
gold, fifteen per cent in the form of
high-grade concentrâtes, 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 refnaining values. Practically the
same results as'aBove were obtained on
Cracker Jack ore, some of their higher
grade material showing a little less free
gold extraction, "tHit just as good results
on cyanide tests. 1
The country immediately adjacent to
Sheep creek basin is very rugged 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 frohx 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 fiftÿ 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 then shut down 1-November first,
pending the installation of electric
power. The four stamp mill at the
Jumbo was increased" to fourteen in
0ctobel% and again t0 . twenty-four on
Dece mber 25; the last ten are expected
ftQ be 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 completed 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 Pelton
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. )
Lake News of
the Hump
Four feet two inches of good ore has
been cut in the Del Rio showing free
gold in liberal quantities and the own
ers are jubilant as a result. It was not
expected to find an ore shoot short of
500 feet, so the present strike is very
gratifying.
Ore has also been cut in the Oro
Fino, twenty feet being in sight but no
values can be learned.
The Ajax north drift is now getting
into the ore, it having been run 145 feet
and crosscut 45 as well as 140 feet south
and 25 feet crosscut.
The Atlas company are sinking stead
ily but owing to the large size of the
shaft slow progress is seemingly being
made.
Work on the Old Bfll and Solo group
is being pushed as • apidly as weather
conditions will permit and if surface
showings are any criterion good ore will
be shown.
The Crackerjack and Jumbo mines
and pounding awây stèadily, the form
er making a splendia showing and the
machinery working as smoothly as
clock work.
Immense quantities of freight are
coming in daily as preparation is being
made for the spring break up. D. D.
Shaw is putting in a stock for his spring
trade, where you can buy anything
from a darning needle to a first class
hoisting plant.
Diamond Hitch
is Bonded
Frank Brown Gets Tlie
Property. Is Located
on Guartz Creek, near
Orogrande.
''The
The Lewiston Tribune says:
Diamond Hitch group of mining claims
located in the Elk City district, was
yesterday bonded by Orin Lamb to
Frank Brown of the" Jumbo Mining
company. The bo'd embraces three
quartz claims, the Diamond Hitch placers
and the water right. The price could
not be learned but is understood to be
Stiff one.
''"When seen yesterday Mr. Brown
stated; 'T have secured a bond on the
Diamond Hitch property because I be
lieve the property a very promising one
and only needs development to make
mine. There are three ledges running
parallel and we will start tunneling on
these ledges simultaneously. This work
will commence as soon as the supplies
can be' moved in, which will be very
soon, and the active work of developing
the property will then be Vigorously
prosecutéd. It is expected that about
1600 feet of punneling will be run
this property, during the coming summer
which should give a fair idea of the
character of work to be done,"
''The Diamond Hitch group was dis
covered by Orin Lamb about two years
ago and from the amount of work done
I
ALBERTAS CROUPIS SOLD
Capitalists,, From Jackson, Michigan Buy Property in this
District.— J. A. McEachran of Spokane to Commence De
veloping the Property at Once.
J. A. McEachran 'arrived in camp Sunday, after spending the
greater part of the winter outside. He came in to begin develop- y
Hient work on the Albertas Group, which will be carried on extensively
the compning season. This group comprises eight claims, the
Albertas Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the Spotted Deer Nos. 1 and 2, and the
Moose Horn Nos. 1 and 2. Upop; seven of these claims are quartz
ledges .varying from three tg eightyfeet in width and açe explored by .
300 feet of tunnels, shafts and crosscuts showing values running
from $2 to $4Q,perjton.
The othqc daimds an immense dykepsimilariip all rèspects,.to the
great Hogàn property, ^.Porphyry .QueeP, Ben-Hur apd 5 others. In
many places tibe surface erosion pans rich.in freej'gold, while the
auriferous- mass assays from $1 to $4 pier-ton. The ores on these
claims underwent a series of .tests which demonstrated their worth
to Mr. Potte of Jackson, Michigan, who with GeojW- Carter and
other Michigan capitalists have taken over enough'stock to enable
the Company to not only develop the property thoroughly, but.'to
install any sized mill desired. As a preliminary step in line with
the extensive development projected, a shaft will be sunk 100 feet
on the quartz veins of Albertas Nos. 1 and 4 and enough drifting
will be done to enable the Company to arrive at an intelligent
estimate of what other preliminary woyk is,needed upon these claims
before installing their mill. Upon the Spotted Deer which com- '
prises the dyke, a 500 foot crosscut tunnel will be run besides drifts
By running in from the Red Éiver side of the *
mountain, a depth of 1000 feet can be secured on this dyke in a
distance or 1500 feet. Ample water power can be secured from Red
River to run any number of stamps up to 1000, the fall of this stream
will exceed 100 feet to the mile. This promising group was formerly ,
controlled by the McEachran Brothers and James Slavin of Spokane,
all of whom it is understood still retain a heavy interest.
Mr. J. A. McEachran will be general manager, which is equivilant •>
to saying that every dollar expended will be placed whtere it will do -*
the most good, the kind of management, by the way, which the
camp needs and all that it needs. v
'.it
Üb
and surface work.
Yellow Jacket Has Rich Ore
Ur ;
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 sulphide?; it is alêb 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 iri this camp, that is to say, the values increase witli ' '
depth. The development work thus far has been confirtëd' to the
Yellow 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
nel is among the improvements intended in the near future.
has made a remarkable showing. This
property is listed in the mining bureau
as one of the most promising prospects
in the Elk City district.. The property
lies between Elk City and Buffalo Hump
and is believed to be one of the richest
deposits in the district. Mr. Lamb has
opened the three veins in several places
and in every instance rich ore has been
taken ouf
''The deal is considered of vast im
portance by mining men as thé gpening
v of the property will, create an in
tex-est in other px-operties in the district
that must be developed by outsidé cap
ital on account of the limited me^ns of,
the present owners. "
This should mean a good deal for the
Elk City District, when a man of Rrank
Brown's prestage, wpll earned as his is,
goes into a mining district it means that
that district is well beyond the experi
mental stage. We believe the time is
near when those who's faith in the Elk
City district never wavered are about to
reap the reward justly due their per
severance. It is to be hoped that Mr.
Brown's luck will not desert him in his
up
a
a
rf
new field.
Movement»
_' ' •
"v In a-letter to the miners' and busl
ness mens'committee, Senator Dubois
The Reserve
■
says: "I am sending you herewith a
letter from the Forester, Mr. Pinchot,
relative to the modification of your
boundary lines, acknowledging the af
fidavit of Mr. Whitaker, and enclos
ing ä portion of the map, showing the
Bitter Root Forest Reserve in Idaho.
You will note what he says in his let
ter, relative to the consideration which
he desire,to give to this matter. He
has not forgotten his letter of date of
December 5th. j, and I am convinced that
as soon t as conditions warrant, they will
do soihething tangible regarding your
PropP^ijon- \ <w . «.* •. Lv.W
I.am keeping close track pf
possible to lie done, and 'sincerely r )jop-Ô.
that I may succeed^ in . njateifyflly de
ducing thé bounds of the reserve,
which, from your explanation, does hot
appear to be germane to the purpose,
which the act.creating the forest re
serves, seems to contemplate. Let me
hear from you at any and all times."
i
The Diamond Joe.
John Olsen of the Diamond Joe came
in Monday and returned to camp the
j same day. Mr. Olsen reports an ex
tremely fine body of ore in the last cross
cut four feet of which is heavily impreg
nated with galena and copper sulphides
and ten feet of high grade iron sulphide.