Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-07-14
A SALINE HOAX.
How = Waggish Butteite Set Helena
Wild With Excitement.

HOW VSSSlSu 0utlelte SCI 0et6uS
Wild With Excitement.
Helena is bowling with rage over a crue!
hoax that was played upon it the othe1
day by iacetious citizen OF Butte. Fol
lowing Is the story:
Frank Nelson, a Helena barber, has a
mania ftr prospecting, and for the past six
months has delved with pick and shove
on sundry occasions in the mountains
around Helena, hoping to find some quartz
that would repay him for hi- trouble. AT
one place in particular, mountain sid.
about Ave miles southwest from Helena
he sunk several holes. none OF them over
three feet deep. At every place he encoun
tered crystalline substance which he sup.
SO perfect that he brought some OF them
to the city, when the discovery was made
that they we're rock salt. Analysis by
competent chemist confirmed this
conclusion, and Nelson at once
went out to locate the ground,
which he did through the assistance OF
Judge Sterling, taking up sixty acres. The
news of the find spread like wildfre, and
all the smart fellows of Helena-they are
legion-rushed in to get u slice OF the salt
bonanza. The Helena Herald OF Saturday
furnishes the rest OF the narrative:
1.-THE ea.ine sensation stirring the Capital
City is rumored nothing more nor Il SIS than
clever sell perpetrated by Silver Bo.
wag at the expense OF some OF his Helena
friends. As the story goes to-day, the
the train at Butte for Helena, grabbed up
q handful OF Utah salt from one of the
loaded cars sidetracked ed at the station, and
on his appearance here, in furtherance OF
his little pleasantrv, placed it where the
smart ones could get an eaey nibble
Federal officers, bankers, bonanza kings
and others are OF those who tasted and
tried to learn all about the reported saline
find. No one need to 60 down to the sea
when the air about Helena is SO strongly
impregnated with salt as during the past
twenty-four hours
A weekly mining journal published at
Helena failed to ''tumble" to the hoax,
which is treated very gravely in its last is
sue. 1t says: "Miners and Others interest
ed in mining are wild with excitement over
an alleged discovery OF q salt mine by
Frank Nelson, up the gulch. and we were
shown last evening q specimen OF the salt,
which was undoubtedly native rock salt
and of q very excellent quality. A deposit
of rock salt in the vicinity of Helena would
indeed be remarkable, for the reason that
with all the springs, hot and cold, with
which the country abounds, none OF our
water contains chlorine, and there are
hardly any known salt deposits of any ex-
tent which are not the source OF numerous
salt springs and lakes. Salt Lake is itself
remarkable, covering as it does an area oi
1000 square miles, and lying near
the summit of the Rocky Mountains
at an altitude OF 4,2O0 feet above sea
level. Most OF the sources of salt in the
United States come from under the red
shale underlying the coal measures, and it
is sometimes found associated with eyp-
sum and with sandstone. Salt for the
mills in this vicinity now costs from. SIS
to $50 per ton, and the same figures pre-
vail at Butte, the supply being drawn
almost entirely from Salt Lake City, where
it 10 worth 81 per ton. 1t needs but a
consideration of these figures and the
amount of salt needed in milling opera
tions to see of what importance the g.
coyery of large deposits in our Immediate
vicinity would be both to our mining in
dustry and also to stockmen. Salt like
that Of the specimen shown US would, after
mining. need no further treatment than
crushing to be ready for use in milling, and
for feeding to stock it would need simply
to be dissolved and evaporated. The de.
posit is said to cover acres in extent and
lie conveniently situated for mining