Mohave County miner., 1883-05-27
OUR MIN ES. Lost Basin District. A Wonderful Mining Country Once Lest but Found Again. In,me nse Gold Ledges Ise-Dis- covered with Shafts, IT mn mel and other evidences
 of mining done years
 and'years ago.

] l 3 rEnD6 or llOuDGdlnS DJIUoil4G OAA UAS
 Colorado river near Pierce's Ferry, who's whereabouts was known to but few, wh' finally disappeared leaving no evidence of the existence of such place beyond fabr-
 lous stories of the wonderfully rich golc
 Iedges it was supposed to contain. Flo
 years and years several p}rties searched ln
 vain for the Lost Basin,'' and made lonl 1 and wearlsome trips through an almost uI | explored country i'll search of 1t. Ina
 this country has been visited by miners il. years past is abundantly proven by the many traces of their work since discovered | iii the shape of tunnels, shafts and old work i ings, not on Jle lsl g5 aIole but on mlny, showing conelusively that numbers of meI 1 formerly worked there and for consider able time Most of these old shafts ant tunnels arc filled up with rubbish and drift sand and dirt, the accumulationS of years but not trace of any of the ore takel from these workings has ever been discoS- cred and what was done with it and how was worked and the gold extracted from Ii whether by araStras or whtt tler 1t Wi ] be known. The story, as rel& ted by the ol settlers here, is that this work was done b party of Mormons who came down fror Utah some thirty years ago ana crossed th' the river at Pierce's Ferry. where they wan dered of the road and came across one o: the lodges on the divide between the uppe' and lower Lost Basins, about six mile from the southern boundary of the district Here shaft some 30 feet deep was sunl and other werk done by this party, but Il record remains of whc they were or of hOE many the party was oompo33a CT what be cane of them. Some fous or five years age q party composed of T. k. Mackenzie, ? Hach and Charley Byers prospected thi country in search of this Mormon mine, o which they had heard so much, and foun' this same shaft and located it and severa ledges. We believe that to this party l due the honor of Ending the Lost Basin an' adding one more to th9 number of minin, districts in this great county of Mohave Tlns party prospecyed several days in ths upper basin, but did not penetrate the lowe DASlls NulGu was HUI GlSOONSlC0 b1l' the fall of 1881 when Tom Burns. A. J. Lcngstreet, N. Scanlon and others pros pected it and located several lodges. Tn next parties to visit this district after t., Mackenzie party were w. B. Ridenour, A. Smith J. s. Curtis and Otto F. Kuencer and after them many others. The Mac kenzie party found rich float, showing fire gold at the foot of the range, and following it up came on the old Mormon workings and made 1evcral locations Tn it's irnmeGiat neighhorhood. Locations were also mad, by RidenOuT and others but very little woTi was done until April 6th 1852, when the dIs trict was regula afly formed unl9F the uaLle of Lost Basin district, which included i'll its boundaries both the uppsr an1 lower basins. IL is supposed by many that thf lower basin is merely continuance of tn upper one, the general direction. size ant pitch of tine lodges in the lower basin beine almost identical with those in the upper. .
 The boundaries of the district are as fol lows: Commencing at the center of Wall phi wash where said wash runs into t. Colorado river and running thence easterl, or nearly SO along the south bank of tn Colorado river to PierGe's Ferry on Sai: river; thence up along the main wash ana wagon road leading from the Ferry to Gras; Spring ill soUtherly direction 2 miles thence westerly to Patterson's well on tn wagon road leading from Grass Springs tC the Fl Dorado mine; thence further west t. the eastern boundary of Gold Basin distric and from thence northerly along the east ern boundary of Gold Basin district to the center of Wallapai wash and place of bepin- ming.
 There is no wood of any kind in the dis trict but mining timbers, etc., can be pro cured ct Grass Springs, distant some ten or fifteen miles, or they may be hoatad dowI the river. For water the district depend, entirely on the Colorado, which furnishes aI inexhaust.ble supply for any purpose. The river is distant from four to six miles from the most prominent mines.
 The ledges i'll the Lost B ,sin district as q general rule are large and strong, the crop pings showing plainly above the s,rfaoe. dilu LdL16 HUH buIO0 to buIIGy 4SoG WiuC the ledge matter consisting of hard flint quartz, sometimes white but more generally rose colored and carrying free gold ill all its forms In some lodges there are streaks of rose colored honeycombed quartz and where these are found, there ss.lso will be found plenty of wire gold. As a rule these ledges carry little or no silver, and where silver l. found it Is only to the extent of from five to ten dollars per ton. There are numerous large copper lodges i'll this district, notably some located by Ridenour, Grant and Pif fard, but as get little work has been done on them and very little is known of their value. There are also numerous small led ges of ealena, carrying about $l0 per ton n silver, but none have been located as vet. So little is known about the mines i'll this isolated district, except hy those living in their immediate vicinity, that deSerip- tion of some of the more prominsnt ones cannot fail to be interesting to our readers. Probably the best known claim, and one which has gained some notoriety from the fact that one-third interest ill it wrS lately sold by tbe locator for about SS0O0, which considering that as yet it is only prospect is good big price, is the
 MAUD AsHBRooK,
 located April 4th, 1882. by II. $. Deyine and w. H Gam. This claim shows we'll de-
 fined ledge abont four feet wide. which can