Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-09-07
AROUND ABOUT UTAH.
An Enormous Lead Ore Bonanza in the
Viola Mine, Eastern Idaho.
Plenty Of Gold In the Sweet Grass
Placers, But No Water to
Wash It Out.
A Bedrock Flume in the Ceur d'Alene
to Cost Half Million.
At Ntcholia. Eastern Idaho.

The confidence displayed in the Viols
mine is evidenced " the Improvements
being made in Nicholia. The immediate
cause of the local boom in Nicholia is the
building Of large smelter by the Viola
Mining Company. The prosperity OF
Nicholia will depend and be dependent
on the successful operations of this large
company.
The famous Viola mine is located about
two miles north of east of Nicholia. 1t is
a monster deposit of mineral. 1t is, per-
haps, the most wonderful deposit of lea
ore ever discovered in this country. The
Viola mine is extensively opened, and
the immense ore body has been thor
oughly developed by shafts, tunnels,
raises, crosscuts and drifts. The ore de-
post ranges in thickness from forty to
seventy-fve feet, and in length, going
southwest, the end of this huge deposit
has not yet been found. Last year the
Viola ore was shipped to Kansas City for
treatment. The mine developed into
such an immense ore bonanza that the
company concluded to put in smelling
works here, and the works are now being
built under the superintendent of expe-
rienced furnace men.
In order to get the ore out cheaply, the
tunnel to tap the Viola mine is being
driven from the west through the top of
the mountain. The tunnel is now adj
vanced 40 feet, and it is being driven
rapidly ahead by the use of Ingersoll
drills. This tunnel, when finished. will
be 700 feet in length, and it will run
under the ore body depth of thirty feet,
thus enabling the company to mine the
ore economically and expeditiously. The
size of the tunnel is 6x6h feet, and it is
intended for double track whenever
needed.
From the mine to the smelter, Hal.
Idle wire tramway, now in course of con-
struction, will be completed in thirty
days. The tramway will be 1900 feet in
length-the second largest tramway in
the United States for mining purposes.
The tramway will have an easy grade
eleven degrees from the mine to the
smelter. Its Importance may be estimated
from the fact that it will have a daily
capacity Of delivering 200 tons of ore at
the smelter.
The smelter is located at convenient
site a short distance from the town of
Nicholia. 1t is one patterned after the
Kansas city smelter. The water-jacket
furnaces, two in number, are 60x42 inches
at the tuyere. Each furnace will have a
daily capacity of reducing forty tons OF
ore. The building, now being erected,
will be large enough for stacks, its di-
mansions being 1874 feet. NJ. E. Smith,
lately of Kansas city, is putting in the
plant. 1t is modelled in excellent shape
and is of very substantial character. 1t
is confidently expected that the furnaces
will be fired up and in active operation
by November LIST. The machinery for
two stacks is all that can be placed in
position this fall. Two boilers, "a inches
in diameter by Is inches in length, will
provide the steam for a Westinghouse
engine of sixty horsepower, which will
drive the machinery.