The Helena independent., 1893-07-13
Special to The Independent.


and Shooter took separate ways. Ourral
going up Rulch made luck
find and located the Homestake cop
per mine. The four miners wofks
there through the summsE. ceming 70 Kal
ispsll in the fall with specimen proofs an
the story OF their mineral auloh. their lea
being from twelve 10 twenty and thirt
feet vide on the surface. Lawyer Heide
man o;ganizsd the prospsotors into An In
corporated company with small working
capital. set them to digging shaft &
ascertain what they actually had. Las
year they penetrated sixty fest into th'
lsde. taking out ore running from 20 10 s.
per cent copper. eight to eighteen ouncei
silver and 81 10 ga in gold per ton. Thu
lodges broad surface, % they tunneled in
was found 70 hold . vein Of eighteen "a
tventy inches solid ore. in places branching
for one season." said Mr. Heidsman. "Thia
year W are going straight ahead. Tho dis
covsrers arc the principal stockholders in
the company. We organized the South
Fork Mining and smelling company on
this basis: One million shares capital
stock. one-half to remain treasury stock to
Be disposed Of a. . fund q ona for devslopmsns
cents. II the drss $1,000 shares
result we'll. ws shall advance the nexs
10000 to 10 cents. We haven't sold dol
lars worth Of stock outside this valley. and
emily interested local parties are in it. Every
dollar obtained has been invested in -four
and bacon, picks and powdsr. Supplies
have 70 b packed in By horse and mule
back up the river we'll into the mountains
the Homstake lies. Various other claims
belong to the company; tho Kicking Horse,
Flying Eagle. Silver Bolt. Early Bird. Ibex.
and others are extensions on the three main
parallel veins. We have the water right
On the adjacent creek and In time shall
mining camp"
Tho north fork Of the Flathead holds it's
riches. An old Hudson bay trarper was the
first TO ind its coal beds. Trapping for
beaver he came to bend in the stream
where the bottom and sides we're black.
He came down the valley. talked OF his coal
find, while others went up and located
claims. This 10 part Of long coal forma-
tion." explained George Stannard. extend
ing from Elk river, British Columbia
southwark along the north and south fork
Of the Flathead. Thirteen distinct veins
have been traced. They dip forty five de-
Rrees and are from three to thirteen feet
thick. Experts pronounce the deposit on
the forks bituminous Ignite. suitable for
than any at present mined in this state"
These fields are expected to supply Flat
head valley, the RAILROAD, and cause re-
duetion works to be erected at Kalispell.
Where there are suoh coal deposits oil
naturally follows. and miners frequently
come upon petroleum oozing out of the
ground and floating upon the surface of
streams. KalispeIl and Missoula parties
have formed q company to locate and tap
the springs. Gas stories are rife. pros
psotor saw jet of gss issuing from q rock.
He lighted It and it burned all night. Evi-
dences of the remarkable coal fields are
found at this Townsite company's Office at
pieces of shining black GOAL. This region
OF promise and surprise lies far up amolg
the bills. Somewhere in this charmed oom-
bine of valley. hill, lake and river is the
center of a mineral belt.
A student of minerolosy and chemistry
IL of the opinion that between Lake Nc
Donald and the North Fork there is dis
tinct contact caused by the formation of
one side granite and the other slate-be-
tween the two mineral deposits always
exists. This con6Ruration was traced two
years ago. The ground 10 now being gone
over and claims located. In other dIrec-
tions, to the north and west, the tide of
prospectors is setting g. "On the Kootenai''
is the cry at the miners start for the great
river that bears that name. 1t is ropeti-
tion of the Frazer river and old Fort Steele
excitement of ten and twenty years ago.
but with more tangible prospects. For
now the quartz lode mines as we'll es the
plaoers established all through this region
afford chances fer men to pay their way
and make discoveries on their own account
There are novel features in this stampede
for the old ptospectots who have YEARLY
tramped over the moahtains of Colorado
Nevada. Idaho and southern Montana,
Like the hrRonauts of '49, they embarked
on steamer and sail ntTrily on
TO the new Eldorado from Jennings
on the Kootenai river north and to Tobacco
Plains and Fort Steele just beyond the Ca
madam line. This is the only plnce in the
Rocky mountains where the mines are ae.
csssibIe by steamboat. Copper is king
in our district. Here is as pretty a speoi-
men Of peacock copper az you ever saw
said Frank Jenison. producing from his
pocket RlisteninR blush bit of ore, then q
Rresnish gray rock. "These are the kind
Of pebbles We pick up on the surfacs-M Dor
cens copper, seven per cent better than the
Anaconda mine Of Butte in its best veins,
Up IN the hills of Tobacco Plains county.
hundred miles north of here near the
British line. is my mine. This is how |
struck It: An old prospsctor tackled me in
money TO stake. He agreed to show me a
gold quartz claim. So got two oayuses
and pack mule and ws set out. isoon
found found my new psrd cozld not follow
the trail and was taking me on a wild
goose CHASE just to get grub out of mo. Al
the first settlement l dropped him
and took another man. We ran on
TO this copper noas. concluded ~
would be gold mine to a, located our
claim. did some assessment work, and this
year ! am going to sink more shafts and
tunnels. Three miles north the Canadian
Pacific will pass. building TO the Elk river
coal mines. We are not alone in that big
country now, the boys are pou, ing in this
season."
Beyond. ACROSS the boendnry, 10 old Fort
Steele. Wild Horse oreek, four miles away.
vas the gold mecca of tho early sixties.
After tho first flush times they were aban-
donsd to tho Chinese who have worked
them until tho forming of an English syn
dicate. which is putting In . hydraulic
plant for further development II now
transpires that there are ethsr equally rich
placer diQginRs On Wild Horse creek that
have never besn worked 40 we'll ~ on Wea-
YER and Niger creeks. These regions are
now being gone over and covered with loca-
tions. The money made from the plaeers
instead OF going ont of the country is being
devoted to finding and Openiu0 mn unartZ