The Montana post., 1868-12-25
MINES OF MONTANA.
THE LAY OUT.

prize from the strongholds of the earth.
she geological theories of formation are
secondary TO this, the all absorbing ques.
tioa. what does il pay" In an article
therefore intended to give a practical
idea OF one mine of Montana, that
takes precedence of many others merely
because IL has been developed TO a
greater extent and in such manner as
practical sense and experience dictates,
we propose to give facts and figures in
plain terms, leaving to other pens or
other times the glowing burnish of SUI
perlatives and profouno disquisition on
the relative merits of Werner's theory
of aqueous deposition, Hutton's igneous
injection and Won Buch's conservative
ideas of cooperation which Brigham
Young has recently carried into the
green grocery business and clothed in
she sanctity of prophetic enunciation.
THE SITUATION.
Four and half miles from Helena, in
a summit gap of the range that forms
the western boundary of the valley of
the Missouri, and juts out it's granite
cliffs, protecting Helena, nestled at the
base. from the fierce attacks of shriek~
ing nOr'westers, is an outcrop of gigan-
tic boulders, a few feet wide, extending
northwest and southeast, which the
eye can trace for miles, dipping down
into valleys, perhaps hidden beneath
the soil. and beyond, again on the hills
projecting boldly. The line IL perfectly
straight, however. showing that what-
ever convulsiOn of nature threw aloft
this mountain range. did il in syste~
nAtic and orderly manner. without any
subsequent Encouragement. Extend
ing parallel with this line OF bOulders
e. .L- ~. s.
of it are the Whitlatch Union, Parkin-
son, Gouu, Walrussia and Park lodes,
upon which. in the various departments
of development. reduction and accessory
labor are employed throughout the year
from GOO to 200 men. These mines all
come under the general designation of
the WhitlAtch Union. that lode having
been the original discovery, and the 9th
ers extensions upon it.
THE DISCOVERY.
N September of "a. miner, with
several years experience in Colorado
and Nevada, having prospected. devel-
oped and superintendent some of the
best mines of those localities, and met
with financial misfortune, turned his
steps towards Montana with quartz on
the brain" and after prospecting the
summit, Hot Springs, Ramshorn and
Mill Creek districts. finally invested his
last SINNERS in galena silver quartz,
located at the head of Prickly Pear, but
which proved intractable from the pres
ence of antimony and copper. Burst
ed, he yoked up and journied To Last
Chance Gulch tor winter quarters, and
camped his "outfit" on what are now
Taylor & Thompson's claims. Believing
chat quartz is the mother of placer gold,
and incited by the richness of Last
Chance, the little party of eight men
passed up Last Chance and Grizzly
gulches, and, locating in Grizzly gulch
below the Park, erected cabin, and
proceeded TO prospect for quartz. Weeks
sped on without success, while the
placers below yielded fabulously. All
save "old indomitable" were discour~
aged, and a day was fixed. after which,
If no quartz was found. the attempt was
to be abandoned. The day appointed
came. the hills had been traversed in
every direction, the seven miners had
gone cheerily To the cabin in the even>
ing, anticipating the release from their
engagement and the fortunes in store by
gulch mining. But " old indomitable"
tagged behind. A fragment of quartz
caught his eye, the blows of the pick
fell fast, and ere the hour had gone the
'Whitlatch-U L nion" mine was discov-
cred. To-day the pick handle. broken
Dy the vigorous, nervous blows of that
hour, lies by the gopherhole where
Jim Whitlatch" conquered fate and
began work on the mine that has added
more than a million dollars to the pro-
duct of Montsna. and made the first
opening on a lead from which 10000
IONS of rock have been crushed.
DEVELOPMENT.
The lead where first discovered was but
one foot in width, and averaged about
$40 per ton. During the winter of
'64-5 the incline was run to a depth of
130 feet. The first forty feet the lead
averaged only eleven inches, and then
pinched entirely out, leaving but a seam
of clay or slickensides twenty feet
farther it was struck again twenty
inches in width, and increased to three
feet but although in other shafts inn
mense bodies of ore, fifteen, twenty and
twenty.one feet in thickness. have been
struck, the original shaft has never had
a creyice of over three feet, an encour-
agement TO those who do not strike the
best pay in the first shaft. AT the
present time the deepest shaft is
that on No. west, Il Y l. Company
407 feet. Over two miles of shafts, adits,
and galleries, 1o560 linear feet, have
been run within the 1900 feet opened
on the mine. The stopping down"
would more than double the amount of
excavation indicated by these figures,
while more than as much ore as has
been taken out Is open 20 access- The
mine throughout has been timbered in
the most substantial manner. and an
earthquake would have some difficulty
IN making trouble TO the miners
THE YIELD.
The fi-st ore crushed from the Union
Whitlatch b mine was crushed in the Ma
Gonal Mining and Exploring Company's
mill in September. 1866. The Turnly
mill and the Hendrie mill. each. began
reduction IN December. 1886; Sensen-