The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-25
Another Mining Section Close to Hell
ana Which Needs Only Cap
ital to Develop It.
Come OF the Properties and What
Has Been Done on Them
With Limited Facilities.
Coupcil Blum Capital in the Dogtown
D~istriot-Deer Lodge Placers-
Champion Outlook.

Fifteen years or SO ago a lead was discov-
cred in that locality in which a rich pocket
Of cold ore was uncovered. The news of
this strike spread like wildfre and a STAN
rede to Seven Mile from adjacent camps
vas the result. The new arrivals went
there, az was too often the case in those
days, with great expectations of finding
profitable mines with little or no labor.
They spread out over the hills and wan
dered through the gulches, tickling the
ground here and there with their picks, but
Is old mother earth did not at nee laugh
with q golden harvest in response they be-
came disguised with the prospect and
pastures new. Few, if any, of the
early explorers of that section fol-
low mining now, but no matter where they
are or whatever occupation they pursue,
they seem to make it part of their business
10 cry down Seven Mile and n%eighborins
camps. If one chances to speak of the
mining possibilities of thot section in the
hearing of any of thesescroakers, ones ears
are apt to be assailed by a speech running
something as follows:
sThe country is no good, I tell you. I
prospected it early in the seventies. There
have been a few rich pockets found there
and that is all. There ere no mines there
and never will be any" The upshot of this
unjust and persistent Misrepresentation of
that mineral belt has been that 40 capital
ist would touch it with a ten foot pole"
or in other words could be induced to in
vest in its mines no matter how good the
showing might be until quite recently. This
pluck OF the few prospsctors who staid with
their claims, together with the positive mer-
It's of the claims themselves have at length
beaten down the wall of prejudice built
round that camp which kept out capital.
Yes, moneyed men are going into that long
neglected and much abused district now
and are swapping up everything In sight.
The M. A. p. was the first claim in that sec
tion to feel the magic touch of capital.
This mine is now under bond to Helena
parties. A day and a night shift are at
work. The lode occurs in granite, and is
not large. The ore is rich, however. and is
said to be paying the expenses of develop
ment. The Volcano, half a mile west of
the M. A. p, has been purchased by min
ing men from Castle. Operations will be
commenced at once. The shaft, which is
feet deeper, and drifts run north and south
from the bottom of the same a considerable
distance along the lead. When this has
been accomplished the owners feel conf
dent that a large amount of ore will be ex-
posed in the shaft and drifts. The lode.
is four II feet vide. and dips to t't the
west but slightly from the vertical.
The ore is a carbonate, fairly rich in silver.
About 5000 feet north of the volcano group
lies the Baker, consisting of three full
claims. This property belongs to Joshua
Spain. The Baker is a copper lode. Assays
of the ore shows that it carries from Is to
IN mar canS e0ppar and from civ fo I'M
ounces in silver per ton. There is quite a
lot of ore on the dump at the Baker, which
will average high in both the white and the
red metals. The vein is from four to SIX
feet wide and lies in the contact between
slate and granite. The Baker group is IN
ern company is negotiating for it.
Half a mile northwest of the Barker is
another group known as the Dandy. The
Dandy proper has just been purchased by
Feldberg & Co., clothing merchants of
Helena, from b. Kinsley, of st Paul. These
gentlemen are quite elated over their new
acquisition and are now negotiating for
other claims of the group. This lode is
strong and we'll defined, and shows in the
shaft, which is sixty feet in depth, from one
to two feet of carbonate and sulphide of
lead.
One very remarkable feature about this
vein is that the country rock for forty feet
I'LL ClbACA oA0C VI GAO hh4 ~ 1ol luOIG
than 1900 feet along its strike n to an
unknown depth, is heavily charged with ga
lena. And all the cracks and %crevices
within the desceibed area are filled with
Jumps of carbonate. The hill on which
this group lies has been aptly called c
mountain of lead ore. 1t is not positively
known AT present whether OF not tho strait
is rich enough to pay to concentrate. Som
miners think it is, while others are of al
opposite opinion. A thorough test of thu
rock will be made ere long. and the matte;
settled. An eminent mining expert wh'
examined this mine some years ago is re
ported to have said regarding the same
1T has little commercial value at present
but in years to come, when simpler ant
cheaper methods of concentration ant
treating low grade ores are introduced, a
there certainly will be, then this propert
will prove q veritable bonanza to its own
ers."
On the summit of the divide which separ
Rtes Seven Mile valley from Silver creek, a
an elevation of nearly 5000 feet above tn
level of the sea, and one mile west of tn
Dandy, is situated the Golden Crown grouI
four locations in all. This is the best de
veloped and most promising mine in all tn
country round, and is owned by John an
s. q. Hudson, VIM. Duncan and Joshu
Spain. The improvements consist of a we
tlmbered shaft 100 feet deep, from the bot
tom of which there is a level running sout
along the lead more thar 100 feet in length
There are drifts also extending north an
south from the shaft, fifty feet below tt
surface. There are several known shut
or chimneys of ore in this mine. Thu
seem to dip to the south at an ang
of forty-fve degrees from the horizo
They are short and narrow near the su
face, but grow longer and wider as dept
is attained. The pay streak followed
the shaft was about five feet long and te
inches wide. where it outcropped. Wht
cut in the fifty foot level it was found
have heightened to over twenty feet al
widened to eighteen inches. In the i
foot level it is thirty-fve feet long and tv
feet thick. The ore from this shute. whit
is said to closely resemble that taken fro
near the surface of the famous GRAM
Mountain, assays from thirty to 800 ounc
per ton, and will average about $40 D
ton, The vein is six feet wide at the bottC
of the shaft and lies between syenite wa!
of remarkable s~moothness. The vein sto
is seporate from the walls by a clay gang,
There are two other leads in this proper
running parallel with and not far from t
defined, quite wide and contain lead matt
similar to that found in the principal 10,
Wherever they have been opened alo
their course these veins disclose buncl
and streaks of ore exceedingly rich in *
and silver. A few of the many experienc
mining men who have lately visited this
teresting group hold that these two vel
are separate and have no connection W
the other, but the majority seem to be
the opinion that they will all come togetl
in depth and form a lode of great wild
and predict the uncovering of extraordin,
mineral riches at the point of juncture.
IL