The record-union., 1892-02-10
THE IDAHO MINE.
Grass Valley Has the Richest Gold
Mine in the World.
Permanence and Value of the Quartz
Lodes in the Grass Valley
District.


cage, and in less than two minutes was
I f2,0C0 feet beneath the sod. Six feet is all
that the man who "shutI1es off this mortal
coiP' asks for, but he who is following
the tickle goddess in her dips, spurs and
angles, stops not as long as machinery
| can keep his shaft free from water, and
a gold-bearing quartz veinis in sight.
Two thousand feet, The deepest gold
mine in the world, the Idaho, one that
has made many millionaires, and to-day
is the greatest gold producer on the con-
Jinent!
The Grass Valley EUening Telegraph a
few evenings since contained the follow
ing item:
ION Monday evening the Idaho Min
ing Company declared a dividend Of 81
per share on the capital stock. This
makes 260 dividends declared by the COM
pany. The mine is looking well through
out, and is destined for long life YETI
Two hundred men are employed in ex-
tracing the rich body of ore. The shaft
is almost vertical, bat the machinery is
OF such stable character that one trusts
| himself to the yawning dark depths with
| little or no fear of accident. Many men,
! however, have gone down in the Idaho in
! the full Vigor of manhood, who were
taken out bleeding and mangled corpses.
/ More men have lost their lives in this
richest of all gold mines III the world
than i'll any other similar working in the
State.
Three dollars day. It is good wages.
and the man who keeps steadily at it
supports his family well. educates his
! children and lays aside a snug little sum
! for old age or a rainy day. The neat lit
tie homes OF the Grass Valley miners in
dlcate a degree of prosperity seen in but
few places upon the coast.
County Surveyor Uren, who knows the
value OF every mine in the district better
than any other individual, who has sur
Yeyed all their tunnels, drifts and slopes,
! says that the Idaho is mine that in ali
probability viii pay dividends to its for
tunate owners for many years.
1t IS owned by Edward Coleman, John
/ Z. Coleman of Grass Valley, Judge Miles
! OConnor of San Jose and George d. Nc
Laine of San Francisco. 1t has produced
over Sl3,000,000 in bullion, more than
/ tWo-thirdS of which has been profit to the
! fortunate owners. Edward Coleman is
! Superintendent and one OF the best
posted miners on the coast. He made "A
start at Iowa Hill in gravel mines in the
early tifties, and has always been sue
cessful in his mining operations.
The Idaho Is situated on the south side
| OF Wolf Creek, one mile south Of Grass
! Valley, at an altitude of 2,450 feet. The
! course OF the vein is east and west with
a dip to the south, varying from 30 to 70
During the years Of 1889 and 1880, thirty
nine thousand two hundred and twenty
five tons OF ore, valued at $40 per ton,
! were eX tracted.
1t may be stated that there never has
been time since quartz mining began in
the Grass Valley District, forty-two
years ago. but that one or more quartz
mines have been worked at a profit,
while similar statement canhot be made
OF any other mining district on the Pa
cltlc Coast. From the best obtainable
data it is estimated that the quartz mines
of Grass Valley have produced over $780,
00O,0 900 in gold bullion. This is sufficient
to Indicate the value and permauence OF
the quartz lodes of the district and its
mining prospects for the future.
The idaho mill has forty stamps, six
! teen concentratorS and the finest water
! power in the county, having a pressure OF
over 500 feet. John Carter, an expert
| enced miner, has been foreman for wears,
A sketch of the Idaho without refer
ence to the Eureka would be like writing
Hamlet with the Dane left out. The
! Eureka was located in 1851, Just across
! Wolf Creek from the Idaho and work ed
! by different parties with poor success, the
ore near the surface being low grade.
In 1863 the mine was sold for 100000, and
| the Eureka Company was Incorporated.
/ The mine had only been deyeloped on
the surface. The new company sent
down shaft, aud in the next two years
took out 81 100000, and the mine con-
tinued to pay large dividends for years.
It's dividend record was 81, ,I34, 900, and its
pay chute dropped into the Idaho and the
| Colemans got it.
The Eureka was so rich that extensions
were considered valuable. Judge A. B.
| Dibble-well known in Sacramento-the
leading attorney in Nevada County to-
day, was one of the original locators OF
the Idaho, and at one time owned a con-
trolling interest.
William Watt, the leading man in the
Eureka, did not think that the pay chute
/ passed into the Idaho, and he advised
/ Dibble to sell, which he did. 1t was the
advice of friend. and Dibble hastened to
I get rid Of his stock. That advice cost the
Judge some millions, but he treasures no
lll-will toward his advisor, whose mem
| ory is revered in Grass Valley, and as a
| token of their respect for the dead they
| have erected magnificent monument to
the big-hearted miner who never took
advantage of any one and whose purse
| strings were always loosed for charity.
His widow lives in Grass Valley, at the
old homestead. j. II. NJ.