Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1878-05-09

IOLD quartz uillluS OllelS VIC pcsI opeu-
ing for men of moderate means of any
branch OF mining to be found in our Terri
tory. Collaborating leads checker our hills
in every direction, and may be possessed for
the bare trouble of claiming, provided the
work Of development is to be begun within
a reasonable length of time. Many OF these
leads are well defined, and claimants may
taking out paying ores from the
beginning, and the process of reduction is
so simple that it will require but a small sum
TO put a mine upon a paying basis. Water
powers are numerous and usually convent
emit. and it requires but a few months labor
and a few hundred dollars to rig up a small
mill. or an arastra may be built at even less
expense.
Gold quartz occupied considerable attention
in an early day, and a large amount Of mon
ey was squandered by inexperienced miners
erecting machinery, prospecting leads, etc.
But wages in those days were from So to so
per day, freight on machinery from the
States from S to 80 cents per pound, and the
mills which to-day might be built and run
for a few hundred dollars, then cost as many
thousands. and those early experiments
were, with a few exceptions, failures, since
it required fabulously rich ore to pay under
such circumstances. Thus this branch of
industry got a backset from which it has not
fully recovered to this day. The impression
was created that our gold quartz could not
be made to pay, and even old miners are yet
reluctant in attempting it. Notwithstanding
they are fully aware that the failure of those
who first attempted it is cue to the enor-
NOUS cost entailed, and which may now be
avoided. Leads that will yield ores, which
will mill from 81 to S12 dollars pei, ton are
considered good property in any other coun-
try but this, and are yielding fortunes to
their owners. while here such leads are un-
Numbers of mines have been abandoned
which go So per ton, and which could be
made to pay if properly worked
The mania tor the past few years has,been
for silver leads. The poor prospector, with
only a months grub, when he goes into the
mountains, goes in search of, silver leads.
though well aware it requires thousands to
work such a mine, after. it, is discovered.
One-half of the silver mines in Montana are
lying idle from the want of adequate ma
chinery to reduce the ores. Such is not the
case with our gold quartz mines. Every
where leads are being developed the rock
is being reduced, and the miner is receiving
his reward regularly. 1t is true gold leads
are not as a general rule as permanent. as.
silver leads, bGt,more liable to cap. the pay
being in pockets, .schutes and chimneys, yet
they offer a good field for operation to the.
poor man, as they are much easier develop
cd, and the pay, the great essential, is soon
er obtained. while the chances of striking a
pocket and becoming suddenly rich are bet
ter than in any other class of mines. There
are more free gold quartz lodges. in Mon
tana undeveloped and unclaimed than, there
are people within our border, and the day is
drawing nigh when they will be worked.
Some of these will prove to be spurs, some
will dig out soon, but gooGlF portion will
prove true tissnre veins, as has been the ease
i'm all other gold bearing countries, and
when these veins, of almost unlimited extent
and value, become to be worked, there will
dawn upon us an era OF wealth and prosper
ity such as no other Territory or State has
ever experienced.
Qua predictions that the rivers of Mon
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