New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-02

months here experimenting the development OF n
mine for a Galveston company, 20 Il me the other
day that he had caused ASSAYS to be made OF at
least one hundred samples Of tine trachyte rock
found in what Is known here as the chloride belt
and never failed to find that 1t contained some sii-
YER He selected some Of the most barren-loOklng
pieces of rock he could ind. matefia that no miner
would think of saving and which showed no me
taihc stain Of any kind, and even this found to
carry from two ounces upward of silver to ton.
Where the rock is stained with oxide Of iron and
manganese. it is invariably rich IN silver which can
frequently be uuOn the surface of fracture
in the form OF n green scale which being rubbed
with q knife-blade shows metallic ustre. Oc-
casonally the Of chloride of silver IS great
that it appears in little gobules of horn silver and
found III the workings of the Racine Boy mfne an
accretion of this horn silver. in a cavity two or
three inches long AMI half an inch wide, that, il
collected together in one mass would be as large as
lady's thimble This mass if broken off from the rock
To which IL attached and assayed By itself would
" run" rs the miners say, more than twenty thous-
and ounces Of silver to ton, and ton OF IL at the
current rates for silver bars would be worth about
T23 600 Such specimens are very frequently
found the Racine Boy and other mines on the chic
ride belt While the rich ore is discovered in large
masses surrounded by eaner or less valuable rock.
there is nowhere in the chloride belt anything that
looks like a vein. The rock inst covers the entire
face of the country area two miles long and
a half mile wide and the whole mass OF It IS
ore; that is. all of 1t contains at least sinai guam
THY of silver The ore IN only small portion Of 1t
has yet been proved to be rich enough to make the
mining and reduction OF it profitable, but this por-
ton a great many mines which believe VIII
become very valuable properties.
REMARKABLE GASEOUS DEPOSITS.
The theory of the geOl0gsts and the one generally
accepted by the miners here IS that the trachyte,
after il became sOiidlfied, was shaken and broken
up by some great CONFUSION and tnat simutane-
ousiv or atterward, silver iron, manganese and the
other metals Of which traces are found IN the rock
were disseminated through the crevces either III
water solutions OF zedin the form of gases.
These solutions gases are supposed TO have come
up through cracks IN the earths crust Such de-
post is called IN the old world stockw0rk,' and
Professor Newberry. in writing recently OF The
Origin and Class alton Of Ore Depos ts," mentions
this "A one of the two most important exam Jes OF
this kind of deposit that have come under his obser-
walton. The other is the gold deposit in Bingham
Canon, Utah None of the Oldest miners ever saw
before any ore that looked like this at Silver Cliff
and this explains their failure to discover ITS value
until recently The same Is true Of the quartZlte
gold ore in Bingham Canon The miners worked
for years there getting out silver-leaG ores. bat
threw aside the gold waste, not dreaming Of
its value.
TRUE FI~sURrs AND Observation-Disclosures VEINS
Bur the mineral belt winch have described and
bounded in the earlier part of this letter contains
other classes of mines. At ROsita Jhis beautiful
name means Little Rose'l IN the PocahOntas-
Humboldt lode, the trachyte instead OF being shat
tered and impregnared 50 that the entire mass Of
asunder and a true hssure formed in 1t which has
been led with gray copper, gaena. zinc 0iende.
iron and copper pvrires and heavy spar-all carry
ing sulphide of silver These form a narrow pay
streak from one to eighteen inches wide and the re-
mainder Is lied with 4 gangue rock generally of a
trachvtle formation. This vein is a remarkably
persistent one-that is extends fora long distance
through the hills and across the g1iches and Is H.
closed by walls that are as clearly defined as those
of "a room Other smaller veins of the same char
acter have been found the country north Of
Rosita, and some of them valuable mines have
been located and developed.
still another class of mines in the same mineral
belt remains TO be mentioned. These are what
Professor Newberrg has called the mechanically
flied - veins and theY include the Blssck and the
Bull Domingo. The former is suppose to be a true
assure VEN in the trachyte rock, the cavity OF
which after the rocks were rent asundar. was
filed with wel-rounded pebbles and bOulders, gem
orally similar in constitution to the country rock.
The interest ces IN this mass nave been flied with
teurides of gold and silver free gold zinc blende.
galena and the pyrtcs Of iron and copper carrying
silver These materials surround the stones in thin
shells. the pebbles and boulders forming nuclei
about which the metallic substances crystallized.
In the Bull-Domingo situated in the granite tongue
winch | have described. the stones are generally
| granite or sienlte and the cementng substance IS
argentiierous galena, which not only surrounds the
stones. but in many cases entirely fills up the lrreg-
! ular spaces between them. In both Of these cases
II is supposed that the metallic matter came up
from below IN the form of 4 hot solution.
/ From this birds-eye view OF the Hardscrahble
mining district 1t viii be that it is one Of the
most interesting. If not Of the most important.
regions IN the West. We have here three distinct
classes of mines two of which are almost unique.
The ore which they produce is in some respects diff
ferent from that found elsewhere. and presents
questions in mining and reduction that are to some
degree new. On the successful solution of these
questions as well the opening up of the large
ore bodies that are believed to exist but which
have not yet been uncovered, depends the future
4 prosperity of these camps and of the cOmpan les
winch are investing their capital In them. vi whaJ
has already been done at some of the more import
ant mlucs and Of what 1t is proposed 10 DO I'D the
future snail write in subsequent letters.
z. L. W.
Il II - -