New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-10-24
MINING IN MONTANA.

LOW THE wAIER-LEvEL--GENERAL CoNcLU-
sIONs.
IPRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRihUSE'l
prrrrr CITY. Mont. Oct 1.-The "Orginal
Lode of this camp is the first, above town. OF
those rich quartz lodges which have described IN
n former letter, on which good mines have been
opened and is the richest of them all, believe us
far as IL has been explored 1t VIII never be known
who was the discoyerer of this wonderful lead. The
old prospect-hole found by the first miners OF
whose presence here there is any record. seemed 70
be several years old at that time, and may have
been dug by some old trapper who Wintered ON
Silver Bow Creek before the fame Of the mines OF
Montana reached the States. The rough mountain
GERS who supplied the great fur companies Win
skins campcd on the streams Of thls Territory more
than Gfiy years ago. and even now, IN unirequeh'e"
canous b. the side Of old bcavcr-dams, may occa-
siouaiy be seen the ruins of their rule huts-not
ouc-hall a. comfortable or substantial as the log
cabin of prospcoior
The miners who next came here, thirteen or four
teen years ago. staled ont claims along the whole
loncth Of tine Original Lode. bat the minority Of
then. even. .tampcdcd AT the FIRST excitement over
PLACER Gfvairgs that occurred i'm the vicinity, and
very Few 81 taem ever returned to make good their
titles. Three years ago. even, the mines On this
VEIN ,.cgc 1908 held very high esteem. The then
owi..rs of 10 Gagnoa Mime. which covers the rcb-
est ,-1rad Goa toe lode. oic--d out-tArd interest
in t.er property 10 gentleman IL. d. would perform
IT, hlndi % doi,ais worth 81 work which w', le-
au;r- b. Law in order .or Tnein 10 reiain Their tir.
Th- history of this mne since that oiirr Wa made
Is very Interesting enc. 10 saows how some men
bluGecr into fortune, while others get very i'u'
reward for long years # toil.
7ae last location of TIE G2.uon Ninc was made
by tuo Canadian Freuchncn. Gaauon and &aher.
Il am moi sire that tAe ilsr name * spelled c'I-
Iectlv. az have been unable - find any one Wio
knows its sd, biography. TAey vc,e poor, shift l.ss
fellows to, lazy 10 wor@ on their mime themselves,
and too poverty-strcken 90 hire any one else.
Finally Nahor got into debt in Butte TO the extent
Il about $50 aud was strongly pressed by his
cradUoIs to pGy mp. lie had 10 money. and finally
oa.sed ls interest IN tae mine in hqni-
d4.ion If the claims "a INST him. His
c1cJljors-Nr. Roseu,ial, whom he owed
for board. Kelly. q cook i,f loscnthal. Who mad
LEM hiin 90 Little money. aad Ransom. saloon
keeper. wh, had trusted MIN for whi-kcy-prot"sted
ih,l tley wanted tAe cash. AMI only consented re-
luc'auflv 90 take one-half the mine when they
fouut th.t in mo- o,hcY way were they likely 20 get
Their pay. .httie development after this disclosed
acosi e able body of rich ore AMI 6agnou sold ont
lii orc-al'i interest for $4,000. with which suil
he rc.ulu.i g. Canada a happy man. Tie ground
covered hy the mine was included IN q claim
located On or twelve years ago. the tile OF which,
whsicger l.; was worth. WAS held D. Colonel
Thornton, q prominent lawyer II tbs county and
the new ov ser-. rather than ,age ia law snic,
compromls,d with Colonel Thornton. who now
owns alcu' ou,-Aalf of th~ property. Very small
Interests 70 ilc mine have Tcccltl been sold on
valuation .l ..3 d f.o. o. Ohec'ain extending only
375 .ecl ou .ic lJlri az Che .a.e u $4,000 for
tic whole mine.
TLcGac.ou s. probably the best mine he
CueiuaI Lode. altloIs. Tire Original. the National
Niu.ng Company, and perhaps one or two others.
ar also excellent prsper:,s. In most particulars
6cscl ption ~ tho Gagnon viii convey correct
i'll a of the general features ot the others. The
n,ine has very little al owe ground that is worthy of
notice. The sh1f-hOusc and holse-whim by winch
The ore sud waste rock are raised from the mine In
a .ck,t and tie flinders are lowered, are rather
rude affairs. and can have cost only few
HUNDRED dollars. There il also small mill, now
undergoing repairs, in which tie surface ore is
cushcd.
CHARACTER or THE ORB.
Tho pay ore Begins at tn very grass roots, aud 10
sd,pth OF NIT, feet is decomposed sulphuret OF
silver clrrgin. "a litte copper aad enough oxide of
iron to stain red II looks like red clay. and is
very ttls harder 20 that il Is very easily mined II
mills very freely. Below the wator-iinc, which Is
aJou. ly feet from the surface, the ore changes III
character and appearance. becoming black, hard
and uni, for milling purposes. Is composition Is
SILVER. copper some ri lc, and the glngae is spar.
This orr j. nov reduced III the smcliIng works
which mentioned IN ny last letter. though Tor
merly II wa, shipped to D,rver swansea and Frey
BERG The vein in this mine rs a wide onc-how
wide on IN average it i impossible 10 say because
in very few places has IL been worked throu IN to
the granite hanging wall. The streak of frst-clasN
ore averaging from so to 100 Ounces to the ion, Is
. . f.at tvtI. IN Ia of
large bodies OF 10 aud 12-ounce ore that are left IN
The mue. on the 1OO-fo0t level a crOss-cnt has
been made through this low-grade ore toward the
hanging wall for a distance of eighteen feet. but
the wall Was not reached.
While The ore has not averaged to yield more
than from 50 to 100 ounces of silver 20 ton,
soioe Of that shipped out of the Territory has run
as high as 700 ounces 10 "a ton. and considerable
ouantites have run above 800 ounces The best
ore vet found has been taken from the 15O-foot
level at the bottom Of the minc-a depth at which
in many other mines of this camp the ore has been
of very low grade The mine has been worked with
q view r. the realization of the largest possible
present profits rather than for the purpose of deye!-
opment and to insure large production in the fu-
ture and no work has therefore been done III II
that has not brought Immediate returns IN cash.
In spite of the great cost OF shipping ores 10 Denver
and EUROPE not a foot of shaft mas been sunk nor
ward Of level driven the ore from which has not
been worth at least twice much the cost oil the
work The product of the GagnOn Nine, as gwen
me BY one Of the owners has been $500 tons of ore
shipped away aud q. 600 tons reduced here IN Butte
The former has carried large percentage of copper
Considerable bodies of still remain in sight IN
the mine.
One remarkable feature of the MINES on the Org
inal Lode Is the presence N nearly all OF them of
large posils Of black spar ore. which Is full of
white flakes of free native silver. Some specimens
which picked up the dump. and others which