Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-26
WEALTHIN THE WEST
Accurate Reports from All of the
Leading Mining Centers.
THE LOST TREASURES OF MEXICO
viii be Eagerly Searched for by Pros
pectors This Season.
DISCOVERY OF A MOUNTAIN OF COAL

. ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO DIbPATCHl
NEW YORK, May 25.-The following re-
ports have been received from the leading
mining centers of the West:
IDAHO CITY-Movements in quartz min
ing have taken a start, and several Eastern
companies are making arrangements Tor In
vesting in this country, with prospects OF
getting hold of some of our very best mines.
During the past few months Henry Whit
ney disposed of some mines on Big Muddy.
near Pioneerville, this county, to Boston
men, who placed him in charge. A
sawmill has been ordered to cut
mining and mill timbers, and ten-stamp
gold mill will soon be ordered. These
mines are considered very valuable proper
ties and will do much toward attracting
Eastern capital to our mines. Twenty-Five
miners are now at work in the mines at At
1anta, Elmore county. Some of the richest
mines of that county are just above the town
of Atlanta, but owing to the extreme depth
of snow, for which the miners were unpre-
pared, work was almost entirely suspended
curing the winter 1t is expected that oper-
ations will be carried on with considerable
vigor the coming summer, and that the Ia
homa and Buffalo mills will be kept run
nlng.
A COAL MOUNTAIN.
TACoMA-The railroad engineers, who are
surveying for a line from Vancouver to Ia
coma, have found coal mountain between
Cowlitz and Natehez Passes in the Cascade
Mountains. 1t was the original intention of
the engineers to run the lines through one of
the passes, but as the expense of laying rails
III aiF g fha,,, MI ho
they began to explore for another route.
Coal had been found at the base of the noun
tain, but no further investigation had
been made. The Union Pacific surveyors
made borings, and found that the mountain
was practically a great block of good COAL
The officers of the road decided, upon the
report of the engineers, to tunnel straight
through the mountain, and it is estimated
that the coal excavated will more than pay
the entire cost of tunnelling and laying
rails. A Boston syndicate has bought for
$500, 900 an interest in the group of mines
at Wanicut Lake, owned by Okanogan
Smith, the pioneer of okanogan county.
IMPROVED METHODS.
SAN FRANCISCo-Improved methods of
mining are being adopted slowly in the
more remote districts, and mines that would
not pay expenses under the old system are
being made profitable. lingo county miners
are putting in concentrations, and new gig
ging machine has just been put up at the
Defnance mine at Darwin. There is enough
ore on the dump and in sight in the Darwin
mine TO keep the gigger running for year.
A ton Of concentrate is worth about
Sl20, and the cost of extracting,
working and shipment is about S6O
Hitherto only the richest of the ores have
been taken from the lingo mines, and as
these were sorted by hand the working was
expensive. In lodges 10 or 20 feet thick the
narrow vein of high grsde ore only was
worked or sent away, the great mass of rock
taken but in drifting being thrown away on
the waste dump. But the miners have
learned that the large bodies OF low grade
ore contain the profits, and that the way to
work a mine is to utilize all the rock that
will pay expenses. The concentrating
process simplifies the problem for miners
who have no mills and are obliged |
to ship their ore to San Francisco, |
and the improvement also leads TO more |
thorough development of the mines and in |
creases the chances of finding rich pockets. |
Some years ago a company of miners tried |
TO find the blue gravel channel on Mooney |
Flat, Nevada county, They run q tunnel |
through very hard rock, and, after spending |
$3.50, 900 on the work without finding chan |
mel, they gave up in disgust. They had al |
most touched the golden treasures, but did |
not know it. And now Mr.. Aver, years |
after. has sunk a shaft 62 feet and struck |
the channel The gravel pays from $40 to |
$50 per ton, and no bottom has been found |
at y feet.
ACROSS THE BORDER.
SILVER CITY-Several parties of pros
pectors have crossed the border and gone
into the Sierre Madre Mountains in Old |
Mexico this spring, and more are going
There has never been such a rush of miners
.e Sierra Madres before, and it will
" strange if some very rich strikes are
not made there this summer. The pros
pecting parties have little to fear of
hostile Indians, as there are only
bout a dozen known to be out, and
the Mexican troops are giving them few op-
portunities to commit depredations Until
very recently it has been unsafe for pros
pecting parties, unless large and we'll
armed, to 60 into the Sierra Madres, con-
but little prospecting has been
done in a region known to be among the
richest on this continent. The comparative
naccessibility of this region has been
4 serious obstacle in the way
IF discovery and development, but
now railroad communication is assured and
.he rapid development of this region may
be looked for. Records of fabulously rich
silver mines in these mountains exist in the
Did churches in Mexico, where all such
records are kept, but many years have
elapsed since the Indians overran the coun-
.ry, and the workings have been filled up,
70 thst there is little probability that they
will be found by adventures looking for
ost mines.
A CHANGE IN NAME.
DENvER-For several years past jim
own has been the home of a small colony
II miners. A few days ago there was big
'riEe, and yesterday the papers announced
hat hereafter the camp will be known as
Jamestown. Several years ago a German
named Won Devier located a sill
yer mine in the Bald Mountain district in
Crook county, Wyo. A country assayer at
hat time told him that the metal uncov-
red was worthless, and miners said it
vas not silver. The vein was a thick
me and the rock pretty, but it was abandoned.
rhe Texas State Geologist a few days ago
aw specimens of Devier's claim. He at
nee pronounced the ore uranium and told
he German prospector that his claim was
worth more money than any silver mine on
he hills. The metal is two colors, green
md brown, both of which run more than an
,unce in god. Mr.. Emery has Just arrived
n Laramie from the Hurley mining district
# Colorado. He reports a rich find in the
for mine. The ore exhib-
ted shows free gold quite large in quantity.
The discovery is near the noted keystone
nine. There are already nearly half hun
lred strangers in the hills, and excitement
5 running high. The mines around Umay
re being worked with vigor. The Scotch
SirI shaft has now reached a depth OF 800
str of |