Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1875-08-21
SILVER.
The Iron River Silver Mines--Good Results
and Hopeful Prospects.
CORRESPONDENCE of the Detroit Post.


s4 MARQUETTE, July %, 1875.
The excitement in regard to the new
silver mines on Iron River, which has
been quietly smouldering for some time
back, has now broken forth into quite a
flame. AS already announced by tele-
graph. the first silver trick from Iron
River arrived here Tuesday last, and was
the cause Of considerable excitement
among all classes. The office of the On
tonagon Silver Mining Company was
thronged for several hours by crowd of
exciled men, many of whom have been
very skeptic,tl heretofore, but now almost
everybody surrenders to the brick. and
all Join in the mania for specializing in
Silver stocks. The brick weighs Thirty
six pounds avoildupois, and is $50 fine,
which is five per cent. finer than the
trade dollar, and is remarkable degree
of purity, and, so Ear as 1 know. is a
greater degree of purity than has been
attained in obtaining the silver from any
other silver mine in the world. This
fist brick was obtained from twenty-five
tons of the Oltonagon COmpany's rock,
which was taken f.om the vein about
Two years ago. aud has been exposed to
the elements for that time-which, it is
claimed partially decOmpOses and car
ries away The sulphuJ ct of silver, of
which the Iron River veins cal:y con-
siderable percept.:ge-and to the depIe-
dations of the specimen hunters, who
have been very numerous III the vicinity
of the miues during the last two seasons.
and have carried off almost ,eye.y piece
of rock in which the silver was visible to
the naked eye. As the rock pile was not
large, the loss of a few Thousand Of the
richest specimens must make material
difference in the yield as shown by this
first result. The brick is worth S732.25,
and it is estimated by Mi. Crosby, the
superintendent of the mill and reducing
wo, Ks, that the pans carry from $500 to
500 worth Of silver. making the yield
from the twenty-five tons OF rock at least
81 900 which result will doubtless be
hereafter atiai0ed. as the pans are now
filled. and the silver from any rock which
NAV now be run through the mill will
all be found in the b. ick, so the next test
of the OntOna2On ComDany's rock will
be the best one liOm which to Judge OF
| its value. The rOcl, which this company
now have in their stock pie was fdthef
cai elessly selected, aud the result, as Oh
tained lrom lis led lctiOL, is scarcely a
fair showing of the vein. The mine is
being separated from the lean. The
richest part of the vein at the OhtoJa-
gOn mine is louud near the hanging wall,
and is about twelve inches in thickness,
the balance Of The vein, which VI; les
from sefenteen inches at the surface to
| thir:y-s:x inches at the depth ci l20 feet,
carries silver. out not in Such large q,lan-
titles. The two g.sijes of a,Seiiti,e. ous
rock will be reduced separately, the bet
| tel 0 enable the superintendent ana dl-
recto.s &c assertion the true value OF the
| VEN. This ii. 1T result deInnnsti ate: ne
| ayei,lIe value of the vein rock TO be about
SIS per ton. and ;s it only costs ABOUT 80
per ton 20 extract the silver, this viii
| leave handsome profit 10 the Stock
holders. Within q lew hOu-s alter the a. :
rival of the brick at he company's Office
here the stock o. the Ontona2On Com
pany. which had been neuishing at So
and S6. went up 10 $40 per share, a0d it
is stated that there is no ODionagOn stock
to be bad for less than $25 per share. One
gentleman, who is one of our best bGsi-
ness men, offers to take all the OltOnagOn
COmpauy's Stock al $40 per share. AS
some nafive copper was visible i'll the
vein rock, it was supposed the brick
would contain considerable quantities of
that metal, but the copper and other
mineials ue expelled during the process
OF reduction: leaving only slight tiaces Of
copDer ar d lead. The vein, or veins,
where revealed i'm the beds of Iron and
Little Lou Rivers, i'm 10 two places strikes
or dipsin the same direction, which gives
rise to many theories, the most common
lv accepted of which is that it is all one
vein and has been thrown into its present
crooked shape by some geological con-
vuls ions in which the cOnglOmerate of
| the region seems to have played an i'm
portant part. Whether the mining Op-
erations which ae being carried on, or
that viii soon be inaSuraied. will prove
the "twis;; ing theory" to be correct or
f;lllacious remains to be seen. The drift,
which consists of stiff red clay, is from
l6 to 20 feet i'll depth. and renders the
work of exploring and tracing the vein
of great expense and extreme difficulty.
The Indians have probably long known
of this and other deposits of silver in the
region of the POrcupine Mountains, but
through fear of the anger Of the ManitOu,
they refuse to reveal anything to the
while man, and the yet undiscovered de-
posits will be obliged to wait for acciden-
tai discovery by some wandering white
man. That silver, in paying quantities,
exists at several points in OntonaSon
county, is undoubted, but there seems to
be great difficulty in obtaining clue to
the locality of the deposits.
The present stamp-mill has daily ca
pacity of about eight tons Of rock, which,
with a moderate outlay, can be increased
to "a tons. At present there is only one
battery. of five ''he;ds," but it will soon
be reinforced by two additional batteries
of the same capacity. AS this mill Will
soon be run almost exclusively on the
company's own rock, the other mining
companies will either be obliged to build
mills of their own, or take the rock to 9
custom mill. if such mill should be built
A very favorable locality for the erection
of stamp-mill is at the falls of Iron Riv-
er, about half a mile below the OntOnagOn
: COmpany's mill. A mill erected at this
!, point could be run by water power, anC
would probably have all the business II
could comfortably do. The capital nee.
essary to construct such a mill would bf
, about $4,000, and if the rock averages
$40 per ton, and the mill could handle 3;
or 30 tons of rock every day, say make ;
thousand dollar brick every "a hours, il
is evident the business would be gOOC
one, and there is not much doubt but the
above result could be reached by mod
, crate outlay and strict attention to tht
business.
At the present writing the mill is a
work on Scranton rock and the result vii
: be made public in few days. Nearly
: all the companies now organized to worl
lthe Iron River silver mine are engaged