The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1893-07-01
Depth Required.

10 the non mining who buys
prospect the inducement is too often
held out that it will pay right from
the start. That some mines have
done this it is true, but they are
rare in comparison with the num-
ber upon which many thousands of
dollars have been expended before
paying results were obtained. There
is but one class of mines that have
paid uniformly from the start and
they were the old time placer, and
small percentage of the free gold
quartz mines that were worked, out
of the many that had expensive
machinery put upon them and were
afterward abandoned. 1t is a safe
proposition that if a gold quartz
mine will not pay from the start
it had better be abandoned at once,
lie: When it has been provided with
every necessary gold saving appli-
ance and economically handled.
With silver the case is different
and the rule with free gold will not
hold good with the latter. Take
we'll defined veins in silver dis
trict, and the probabilities are that
although it may not assay even a
trace near the surface, the chances
are that if depth is obtained rich
ore bodies will be opened up. A
notable case of the kind is that of
a mine in the Ceur d'Alenes when
the owners tunneled eleven hundred
feet following the vein which was
barren for that distance before they
came into ore, and it is said to be
"the richest mine in that country
to-day" The tyro in mines will
naturally ask show did they ever
have the nerve to push work that
distance? for that length of tunnel
means the expenditure of q large
sum of money" Simply because
in the Ceur d'Alenes it is a we'll
grounded fact certified to by mining
engineers, that depth is required in
order to obtain the best results, and
if a strong vein is followed up ore
of commercial value will be OBJ
tanned. In that section the Sulli-
van, Bunker Hill, Poorman and
Tiger mines are often cited as in
stances of ore being had from the
surface in paying quantities; these
were the exceptions, not the rule.
And upon these large outlay was
required to make them dividend
paying, and the depth now obtained
in them has been to their benefit.
The dry ore belt Of the same mining
country is fast proving the value of
depth in obtaining the best results,
and we venture the assertion that
enormously rich bodies of ore will
be struck in the mines on that belt
when sufficient depth has been OBJ
tanned, as every indication shown
by the work done warrants this be-
lief. The best plan is if you have
prospect that you have faith in,
founded on the best evidence OBJ
tainable, is to dig, dig. get depth.
You can't mine and make success
of it except at an expenditure Of
money and labor, and the sum total
may be a large one before the re-
turns come in.
The new beginner in mining who
has bought a aattering prospect
may think that the expenditure Of
few hundred dollars will bring
him great returns, but the real truth
is that it may cost him thousands If
he has the nerve or ability to stay
with it before the desired result is
reached. Therefore when one buys
into a prospect let him calculate
that he must obtain depth and that
costs money before he can hope to
be repaid for his venture, and cal
culating to this affect may in the
end save money and much disap-
Observation-Disclosures Review.