Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1883-04-26
THE BITTER ROOT MINEa.
We find the following in the L;isso,

1
the Sweat House On the west side Of the
Bitter Root, the hardy miner has struck
his pick to such effect that he dreams of
wealth and all his ideas have silver lin
ing. On high ridge south of the
Sweat House creek several locations have
been made, but with the exception Of the
Pleasant View, but little dcvclopement
work has been made. The Pleasant
View mine is now opened to depth Of
100 feet by an incline shaft and fifty feet
and one hundred feet levels are being
| driven both ways along the vein. The
hosting is now being done by a horse
whim, which greatly facilitates the work
Of development. The immediate vein
matter followed is three to four feet wide
carrying seam Of quartz rock from six
to thirty inches thick The ore is found
in the quartz and consists Of antimony,
copper, arsenic and silver mainly, in COM
bination with sulphur. The prcdomina-
ting bases seems to be antimony and cop
per- The ore is of dark almost black
color, without lustre, stained With oxide
of copper and iron. In places the ore
approximates ruby silver very nearly,
both in appearance and richness and
when freed from the gauge is Of great
richness The course of the vein is east
erly and westerly, dipping to the south at
the surface. On the surface the vein
has been explored about 400 feet by
trenches and open cuts and shows uni
form width of quartz Of great average
richness. AT the surface good deal of
the silver is in chloride form, but as
depth is gained the chlorides disappear.
At fifty feet the west level is being run
on quartz averaging from six to twelve
inches thick which by rough hand sort
ing produces ore of high grade, avcrag-
ing over 200 ounces of silver per ton.
The vein matter is badly broken up at
this point. No east fifty foot level was
being driven when was there in March.
Below the fifty foot level the incline
grows sleeper, and at the one hundred
foot level is vertical or showing pitch
north into the mountain. The sumpt ex-
tends about twenty feet below this level
and shows decided pitch to the north
which would indicate that the true pitch
of the vein had been reached. The 100
foot level, east, had been driven fifty feet
! at the date of my visit and showed by far
the strongest ore body in the mine The
quartz seam was from twelve 10 thirty
inches, and as far as l could judge was at
J least one half high grade ore-that is, by
} sorting out one half the balance would
average over 200 ounces per ton in silver
and run well in copper. Assays taken
across the vein every two feet indicate q
5 much higher average, but 200 ounce ore
is good enough to base operations on
e As compared to the fifty-foot level th'
i, Improvement in quantity and uniform
!, quality was very marked and very Aatter
ing to the minc The ore-dump outside
a also bore tangible witness to the improved
: quantity and quality in the shape of a rap
r idly increasing amount Of ore.
!, The 100 foot west level was but fairl,
c started from the shaft at my visit. Tn
r change in the dip of the vein brings wha
J. has been the hanging wall now the foo
It wall, and the ore mined lies next thi
IS wall or on the south side of the Gssure.
n saw no evidence of the north wall Of tn
t. mine, and am of the opinion that judi
# cious cross cutting will develope other or
> seams, or at least tapping seams OF roe
that will largely increase the rroducin
s, capacity of the mine. This mine ha
lie the pioneer developemcnt of the distri'
IN and there is nothing on which to bas
&c opinions as to the existence or contin'
ance of the bodies, except as holes I'll
he driven into them The formation is
j. porphyritic foot wall with granite to IL
at north. In this | assume the south Va
a will be the foot wall below the 100-fo
IN level. The immediate vein matters
nd which the ore is found is talcose ma
~ badly broken and mixed with albumin
"A North of this is a mass of fclspathic ro
ng that dccomposes very quickly after c
of posure to the air. This is of unsnov
IL thickness, and is probably part of Il
nd filing of the fssure proper, and back
re- this and next the hanging wall, 9th
nd mineral chutes are liable te be found.
to the prospects Of this mine on deel
in developement, | can say as far as dev
d) oped character of the ore and formati
ak are both favorable, but solid formati