Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-01-29
MINING AT SILVER REEF.
a steady output Looked For If the
silver Question he Fayorabiy
settled.

Scttteus
Silver Reef has livelier appearance
at present than it has borne since the hal
cyon days of the camp, with Stronghold
cations OF the squirt Of activity becoming
permanent. There has hardly day
passed for the last few weeks but what
the stage from the north has brought in
a load OF commercial travellers, specu-
lators and mining experts, while Main
street is crowded with prospectors and
miners who have come down from the
north in order to winter in this mild
climate. Including teamsters, wood
choppers, coalburners, mill-hands and
miners, there are between $50 and 400
men at work in and around Silver Reef,
and ii plans for contemplated enterprises
are carried out, as expected, this force
will be doubled within this year. Every
dwelling-house and cabin in town has
an occupant, and all the old shacks
around camp that have been deserted Tor,
years have been patched up and made
temporarily habitable, while the Harrison
House is crowded with transients, which
state OF affairs has sent real estate up 90
per cent within the last three months.
The active companies here are running
on very close margin at present. Ii the
price of silver will hold above 81 per
ounce the mines end mills will in all
probability continue to run; but ii 1t
should go below that figure, it would not
surprise lis to hear something drop. If,
on the other hand, silver takes a rise, as
it is apt to do after Congress has laid out
the national bankers and gold sharks, we
confidently look for boom.
The great problem that our mining men
have been trying to solve is a process by
which low grade ore can be worked to an
advantage, for without exception there
is more OF this character of silver rock in
sight on the dumps and in abandoned
slopes in this district than there is in any
one mining camp on the coast. You can
pick up piece OF country rock anywhere
on the Buckeye or White reef that will
assay from three to four ounces, while
there are thousands OF tons OF ore
scattered through the waste dumps in
camp that will sample Is ounces per ton.
The Stormont and Christy companies
have been working ore right along during
| tlle ItSI year ltliit uOcS iOt dNCiaSO ~
ounces, while until few months ago the
chlorder could get nothing for rock that
went less than $50, as the mills OF the
present two companies were the only
places in this part OF the country where
custom ores were crushed. Sine the new
teaching works have been nearing com
pletion, however, the Stormont and
Christy companies have been offering bet
ter terms to chloriders, as many OF them
were piling up their ore on the dump and
holding it in reserve until such time Il:
the new teachers operated.
The rev teaching works will have
turned on steam by the time this reache:
you, when its progress will be carefully
noted by our resident mine-owners, who
devoutlv wish to see it succeed. The new
plant is located in the old Leeds mil
building, about one mile from town
The teaching and precipitating tanks arr
made of California redwood, and thu
other parts OF the apparatus are con
structed OF the best quality OF material
The tanks have capacity OF 100 tom
OF slums, and the managers are confiden
that they can easily handle seventy-fiv,
tons OF ore every twenty-four hours
The company has been working failing,
during the last year, in comparatively
small works, with such success that the,
were induced to erect this new leachc
on grand scale. The Russell process
will be used, as the managers have dur
ing their past experience found out it:
advantages and obtained the sole RICH
of using it in this county.-Cor. Pioch
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