, 1889-10-10
THE KOOTENAI MINES.
surprise In an Agreeable Dirccticn--
Great Activity Expected to Com
mcnce Next spring.

mcnce Next Spring.
lspECIAL CORRESPONDENTS OF THE REVIEW /
WARM SPRINGS, B. G., oct. with
the approach of winter most mining
| camps get little dull. especially on the
frontiers, but not SO with the Kootcnai
country. Every day brings forth new
| strikes, and the properties which are
being developed are getting richer with
II rapidity that is astonishing The
Warm Springs camp, the one visited by
your correspondent this week, presents
u suihcicncy of new and interesting ica-
lures, which, if all presented, would
take up too much of your space, hence |
will only mention the most important.
II il Il fortunate feature that the SUR
prises relating to the mines are, so far,
all in the right direction. THUS 1t came
to pass the Other day that A. ID. Wheel.
er by accident made the discovery that
on ono of his claims, the krao, lie had
been putting tons and tons of ore on tho
dump which Is worth $500 per ton, much
OF 1t containing native and ruby silver.
Your correspondent was shown speci.
mems containing both, and thosc con-
tanning the ruby silver are the finest we
ever saw. Mr.. John Davenport under.
went n similar surprise on the Little
Donald mine not long ago. He had
been shipping ore which averaged
him in the neighborhood of $40
per ton in silver. On the dump
was a large accumulation of red, inno-
cent looking stuil, which, by the fore
man, was considered too poor for ship
mcnt. A certain individual asked Mr..
Davenport why he did not ship this as
well as what he sorted out, assuring him
that il was equally rich, If not richer
The pile was sampled, u shipment made,
A..
per ton more than the brilliant article
preferred before. Surprises of this ma
turc arc not calculated to strike terror
into u miners heart, and the only sad
feature is that they too frequently oc-
cur in the wrong direction. So far there
has not been single failure on any OF
the properties developed in the Warm
Spring camp, and the further develop
ment operations are prosecuted the more
encouraging is the outlook. Mr.. Wheeler,
who L. most vigorously engaged in sink
ing operations at this camp, is at present
having forces on the krao, the Skyline
and the Gallagher, each one of which is
worth more money to-day than the
whole camp was considered worth twelve
months ago. MIR, Wheeler is himself
astonishcd at the results and though lac
always had the utmost confidence i'll the
llnll outcome of the camp, he never cN-
pocted 10 see the results he Is ex-
periencing this fall. There are hundreds
of other properties with equally tine
showings ON the surface and in the same
formation, which, il developed, would
unqucstionably produce like results.
The workmen engaged in sinking
deeper the shaft on the Spokane are get
ting along nicely with their work and
every day the lead Is getting larger and
the ore richer. Tho depth attained ut
present Is about seventy five feet, and
a.
crations to the depth of 100 feet.
1t will be remembered by many read
crs of the REVIEW that the No. mine
was bonded by q, Is. Wright, who had
Portland capitalists associated with him,
and that after large amount of So
called development work had been done
AN expert was sent to examine the prop-
crty who gave an adverse report and be-
cause of which the bond was not taken
up Tie report did not condemn the
mine SO much rs ii did the manner in
which it was worked. At amy rate the
property could not lie bought to-day for
spot cash for the amount for which IL
had been bonded. Never III its history
did the mine look so promising us now
and its original owners were extremely
lucky to get it back. II might with pro-
pricty bc remarked here that the
average expert docs not know enough
about mineral to tell the difference be-
tween u galcna ledge and the ruins of
the Frankfurt block, and the man who
takes the judgment of the cooked hat
gentry in preference to that of an cx-
perIencod miner will in the majority of
cases get left. The case relating to the
No. | is only one out of Il hundred.
Dr. HcndryN, who has been engaged
for some time driving tunnel into tho
Blue licll,' commenced striking the
vein to-day and lie feels quite jubilant
over the result. He had gone to consid-
cradle eNpciisc in making this improve.
ment and he is deserving OF the most
conspicuous success.