Idaho semi-weekly world. (Idaho City, Boise County, Idaho Territory) 1867-1868, 1867-09-04
A TOUR OF BOISE BASIN.


hurried tour Of this Basin. We visited in the
order Of going and returning the chief mining
camps Of Centerville. Placerville, Granite
Creek and Pioneer City. The direct trip
through to PIacerrilIe was first made. and at
ter hearty dinner at Davison's International
Hotel there, we went, in company with Mr..
Jas. M Classen, to take a look at the Pioneer
quartz mill and ledge, up Granite creek, three
miles from Placerville, and two miles from the
camp of Granite Creek. From this latter
camp a road has been made up the creek to
the Pioneer mill, by the Company, this season,
and very good piece of work it is, all things
considered.
The Pioneer ledge was discovered and To-
Gated in the Spring of 1868. It came into the
possession of Company in San Francisco, and
in the following year Col Raymond put up
ten stamp mill some distance below the ledge,
to crush the rock from it. He ran the mill I'M
til the succeeding year, by which time he had
crushed about one thousand tons OF rock aud
obtained product of about $4,000. By a
course Of speculation and general nlsmanage-
ment Col Raymond became involved, the mill
susDended operations, and the work on the
ledge ceased. Things remained in this condl-
ton until since the opening of the present year,
when Mr.. Vim M. Lent. of San Francisco, a
well known great mining operator OF Nevada,
together with Mr.. Classen, took hold Of the en-
terprise and resolved to push it through, and
to thoroughly test the value of the ledge. With
this purpose they bought the splendid new 25-
stamp quartz mill put up few miles above
here on More's creek, two years ago by Rich
ardson, for New York Company, and known
as the Chlckahoniny MILL which had been run
barely enough to test its power and high excel
lence. Under the supervision of Mr.. Classen
the mill was taken down-machinery frame,
and everything, as it stood-and hauled by Mr..
Phillips, an old resident of Placeryille, to the
site selected for the mill close to the new tun-
mel sunk into the Pioneer ledge, on Granite
creek So carefully was all this difficult work
performed that we are assured by Mr.. Clas-
sen, not bolt, not nut, not the smallest ar
ticle to be saved, was found missing when the
last load was hauled and the whole job was
finished.
The new building was nearly completed, ana
the machinery is rapidly being put in order.
1t is expected that in from twenty to twenty
FIVE days-but by the first of October at the
farthest-the mill will be in active operation
upon the ore from the ledge. When completed
it will be the most thorough, largest and best
quartz mill in Idaho Territory. It certainly
surpasses any mill that we saw in Owyhee last
year. The building is eighty-fve feet front by
sixty-fve feet deep, and is constructed in the
most substantial manner. Space is left to add
ten more stamps to the batteries, if found nee
lessary. and in every feature care has been
taken to provide for whatever alterations or
additions there may be required in future. The
engine to drive the machinery is of 80-horse
power, and the boilers and furnaces are of the
best material and manufacture.
The ledge of the Pioneer Company is per-
haps the largest so fai, known in the country.
It's average width is fully twenty-five feet, and
all through it prospects from fairly to extrava-
ganty-in the average very satisfactorily, The
ore is sort of calcined, decompOsed quartz,
through which are found frequent exceedingly
rich cross-veins Of sulphurets, of from q few
inches to a foot in width. Assays from some
of these have given product of tlpeaty thoMs-
and dollars per ton! The course of the ledge
| is from the creek back into the hill--which is
| very high and steep--and is regarded by expe-
rienced quartz miners as very favorable. The
former company sunk tunnel into it, at The
upper end, reaching from the creek to depth
of one hundred and thirty feet. They also
opened up kind of surface drift along up the
hill side, at an elevation of about fifty feet, and
had sunk shaft Of seyenty-ive feet into the
old tunnel. In all these the ore yielded the
same good average. The present owners open
ed tunnel near the battery floor of the mill
| three weeks ago, and on Saturday it was pierre
ed depth of eighty feet. The men are to
work in it, night and day When pierced about
one hundred and fifty feet, shaft will be sunk
and from that point the old tunnel viii be In
ltersected, and q clear line of excavation be
given from the mouth of the old tunnel to that
4 of the new one, and the ledge can then be adj
vantageously worked III both directions. The
new tunnel is a masterpiece of work The