Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1879-09-25

cOnnect1On with Two araSrraS, Is being Dull
to work ore which yields $1C0 to $3.50 per
ton. Harman Gray is working a leased
claim there which assays on an average
$1,000 per ton in gold and silver. A lot'of
only paid about $50 per on. He is taking
out a large quantity Of ore and proposes to
ship Last, where he can get a full return
for it's value.
is quiet, and to look about the half deserted
town, one would think it was dying by
inches, but ouch is not the case. The rush
is over, and now it is settled down to a reg
ular slow, but sure business. The business
is confined to two stores, a blacksmith shop
and two hotels. In point of comfort for the
weary traveller, the hotels are ahead Of
many larger Montana towns. Both the
Reele house and Aliens hotel would be cred
table houses in any Of our cities. The pro-
prietor of Aliens hotel carries on the black
smithing business and is also Interested in
farming. Mr.. Reele, OF the Reele house, de-
votes his attention to the developing of his
various quartz mines, and Mrs. r. superil-
tends the hotel. Of the half dozen quartz
mills at Pony only one l0-stamp was in OPP
Grafton. The other mills FOR various rea-
sons are idle. One cause of the slowness of
operations here is the tough iron pyrites
which is found low down in the mines.
This iron is hard to work and for some
cause or other the operation in it has not
been successful. Another cause of the
quietude is the want of teams to haul ore,
but probably a more reasonable cause is the
lack Of nerve by the owners of the best
mines and mills. l I'M convinced that the
stupor OF things is not on account of the
want of rich ore, for ! learn that there are a
number of mines that pay 800 and up
wards to the tom. OF these / may name the
White Pine, Mead, Willow creek, Key
stone, Clipper, Brooklyn and Idogo. Thos.
Car,nan is working the White Pine, and his
clean-ups seldom fall short of 800 to the
ton. Mr.. McKaskel is working the Key
stone, and at the time of my visit was rum
ming out 800 and upwards to the ton. But
with these statements let me say that with
all of this wealth in lead property easily
worked and quickly realized. these men en-
ploy but few hands, apparently feeling con-
tented with a slow lifetime job of hard
knocks with their own hands. This is an
other reason why Pony looks dull, shatter-
ed and shabby. The Atlantic and Pacific
leads are probably the largest paying veins
in the Pony country. Their width is about
so feet. Some of the lead matter is hard
but stratas of soft decomposed rock follow
through the vein which is exceedingly.rich
One run oaover 100 tons went 5000 per ton.
The ore is easily extracted, and the mill
site and other advantages are so convenient
that it is estimated that So ore could be
worked with profit. Hon. FL. III. Mood is
one Oh the principal owners of these leads,
and | would not be surprised that he may
develop a bonanza in them one of these
days.
WILLOW CREK
is skirted by several thousand acres OF fine
farm land and probably a dozen farms and
homes already taken up. The most desira-
BILE spots j. j. Boyer & Bro. are first at the
upper end of the valley. They have a nice
location for their business, dairying and
stock-raising. My visit there was both
pleasant and instructive. At Ell. H. Moods.
which is next below, I spent some hours in
looking at fine horse stock. This is one Of
the best improved farms on upper Willow.
In the Stroll about the premises to look at
fine stations, mares and colts, we crossed
nearly a halt-doZen pastures from which
timothy hay had been NOW this season.
and were putting forth green and beautiful.