The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-26
BELT MOUNTAIN COUNTRY.
The Outlook Wa Never SO Bright as 70
the New Year,

The Outlook Was Never SO Bright as FOL
the New Year.
At no time since the discovery of ore il
this camp has the feeling of confidence beer
SO strong as at the present, says the Bel
Mountain Miner. Since the advent of the
railroad, capitalists and smelter men have
come in and looked the field over, and il
every case have been favorably impressed
Developments have been pushed until there
is no longer any question as to whether
Barker can produce ore. 1t has been proven
that there are vast bodies of rich metal il
the mines. Some properties are pushing
development and constantly shipping ore
Others are making arrangements to com
mence operations and before March l. 1892,
we expect to see at least ten cars of ore
leave this camp every day. Visitors al
agree that no district in the state has finer
looking property than the May g. Edna,
Garter, Top. Hand. Pa agon, Wright q
those properties is wonderfully good while
in many others it is becoming better. Never
before has the value of properties here
been so we'll known and appreciated nor
has there been SO much confidence in the
future of the camp.
Referring to the Dry Fork country. the
same Taper says: The Dry Fork Mining
COtuphly OWLS sCNtu CldlklS, LILO SlaTd,
Franklin, Mary +. Marmion, Rapid City.
B. and NJ, Cross Lift and Eta, all of which
form a solid group of lao acres of mineral
liant IN which, at present development, is
found eleven distinct and separate leads.
Through the group running with the coun-
Try formation from northwest to southeast
10 a boggv zone or vein of rcd II gray
sand quattzite varying in width from 80
10 JU feet and from specimen assays, rum
from a trace to sixteen ounces in silver.
Many of the mineral veins appear to spring
from it, but none of them cross it, as the
character of the quartz veins and formation
on either side of it are entirely different.
whether it ID the mother vein as is sup
posed is yet to be determined. Should it
prove a mother vein, which depth must tell,
the Dry Fork company would be raised
among the highest ranks of any mining
company in the world. On the Eta claim,
where most of the development work has
been done, the shaft is down seventy-two
fest and at the bottom a vein is. disclosed
about two feet wide of which twelve inches
is pay streak of solid galena ~assaying on
future work of 1892 viii be done on
this claim in sinking down the
shaft AS far as possible, and extracting and
shipping the Gre. The Rapid City claim
joins the Eta on the south, and is an ex-
tension on the same lead; on this claim the
ore ID the same character. Eight tons of
1t was shipped to Great Falls in '89. and
Melted SCI per ton. The development work
consists Of q shaft only eighteen feet deep,
On the east is the Marmion claim, devel-
oped by an incline twelve feet deep. On
the dump are about twenty tons Of ore that
resembles the ore of the Florence mein of
kelhatt. On the west liz the b. d NJ. claim.
IN 1T is a lead of quartz eight feed wide,
thick!y l~mpregnated with galena, some
GUEclmEDS at the GQFfpca ppea VIM f,.r%v- G,,o
ounces in silver, Sc in gold, and 40 per cent.
IN lead. On the west Of the b. d NJ. is the
Cross Lift. On this claim is n lead three
feet, seven inches of which is of galena
quartz, specimens showing black ~sulphurets
and assaying thlrty-five ounces have been
taken out while slnking a shaft that is now
down twenty feet. On the east of the Eta
- the Clara Franklin claim. in which is a
lead OF solid lead spar ten inches wide and
specified with brittle silver. The Mary e..
claim joins the Clara Franklin on the
north, and is a continuation OF the same