The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1892-01-29
SILVER MINING IN MONTANA

OF the uIlHlHS SU"'0S VA -
There have not been the wild STAN
nedes. excitements and subsequent
pricking of inflated booms' such as
days gone by have made much OF
the romantic history of mining in the
west. Montana quartz camps have
from careful investigation, %conserva-
tive judgement and practically ap-
nlied experience, from which the
element Of chance has as much as
possible been eliminated. The
Growth of Butte has perhaps been
rapid compared to that of most aggri-
cultural towns, but compared with
any of the other great silver bearing
camps it has been slow and gradual.
Its record of production has been
n of gradual increase. And the
same to a lesser extent may be said
of most of the larger camps OF the
state. Many of the prominent min
ing men of Montana have had their
early mining experiences where, IN
der the stimulus of excitement. in
cident to the discovery of bodies of
rich ores, vast sums have been squan-
dered in useless experiments or on
PROPOSITIONS that with later exper-
fence would have been considered
almost hopeless. A few specimens
rock no longer creates the wild fur
mixed = vvos wont TO a few wears
back. Consequently the history of
quartz mining in the stata shows
less failures and more than
hat of any other state in the west
There are comparatively few hung
up mills and idle smelters. Mon
lana has proftted much from the
experience of other states. Twenty
five wears or less ago there were few
men in the west with practicalknowl-
edge Of quartz mining. Since then
a class of mining men have grown
up posted on the history of past fail
ures. who are conservative but ener-
petic. cautious in their investiga-
tons. but bold in surmounting the
difficulties that must be met in the
c of developing all new mining
camps and the United States no
longer looks across the eastern ocean
for mining experts.
The mines of Montana are more
noted for their great size of the ore
bodies than for extreme richness OF
the ores. Mines containing large
bodies Of ore of a grade which a few
ears since would have been below
the margin of profit, have became
the most remunerative; while small
rich veins. which at the time of dis
covery created sensations, have many
of them ceased to be heard of save in
"reminiscences of some ancient pros.
pector, who sighs for the early days
Much of the success of the present
day is the result of tire splendid
adaptation of concentrating machln
cry. The concentration TO- IN us
is a marvel of simplicity and efhclen
cy. The quartz operators dream o
treating ore for so cents a ton ha
been realized. In times gone b,
every fake chemist was seeking
capitalist willing to back him i
some secret process of treating fc
$50 cents a ton, sir" These secrt
processes which, according to tt
originator, were going to revolution
ize mining, are most of them TO
gotten visions, born of inexperiene
andimperfect knowledge. Much {
the machinery hat has effected tn
reduction in the cost of treating orc
has been constructed on principle
that were applied in the primiti,
methods of the early miners. Jig
round tables and other concentratin
machines now in use have bee
evolved from appliances worke
centuries back. They r but mod
fcations of what might have bee
found among the Cornish hills Ion
before mining was heard of in tt
United States. Sudden and redic
changes have seldom been ~successfu
and successful laboratory experime
have not always been found appli
able in the largest fields of actual o
treatment.
As transportation lines are exten
ed, as developments proceed on Il
numerous prospects and mines, it b
comes evident that Western Montal
and Northern idaho must depel
largely on concentrating machine
in preparing their ores for t
smelter, and at the present writl1
some of the largest concentrators
the world are in Northern Ida
Occur d'Alenes) in successful OPP
alton. 1t is claimed that the cost
concentration in the Bunker II
and Sullivan mill, reducing five te
to one, is Is cents per ton. Throus
out Western Montana are numere
mines and prospects that from pr
ent developments and surface she
ings indicate that vast bodies of c.
ce~ntrating ore are awaiting the m
allurgist, and that in-the near fut
the production of this class of G
will rapidly increase. The gr
field for the production of this c!
of ores is here. OF the many c
centrating mills that have b
erected in the Occur d'Alenes