The Helena independent., 1893-12-23
M|SSOULA COUNTY MINES
An Important Discovery Of Ore at
Whippoorwill. in the Bitter
root Country.
The Belt Coal Field Output to be
Used by tho Anaconda
Company.
a DIe Tunnsl 70 he Ran From the ri.
Metallic t. the Mill-Jsnsrson
County Notes.
Special to The Independent.

Special to The Independent.
M1ssouLA, Dec. 22.-What ID probably II,
most important discovery OF ore that Aal
bssn made anywhere In the vicinity o.
Missoula during tho past year was recently
made in ths Whippoorvil nine. Thi'
property 10 In the Bitter Root valley. and
jsins the famous CuHlew mine ON the west.
Since high grade ore was discovered in ths
Curlsw . great deal Of prospecting and
much work has been dsns In the search TO,
ore outside the Curlew ground. Numerous
shafts. tunnels and levels have been run BY
ownsrs Of surrounding claims but they
have generally beea almost totally barren
Of favorable results. Nothing resembling
The high grade ore Of ths Curlew mine has
been heretofore struck outside The lines OF
the mine. except In very small and disson-
nsctsd fragments.
In 1883 The owners Of the Last Chance
and WAippoorwill clsSns incorporated m
der the nsms Of The NhippooIwill Mining
company, with q capital stock Of 200. 600
shares. Work was prosecuted from time
10 time % the stockholders wore. willing and
able 10 put mp the necessary funds. In this
way large amount Of sinking and drift
Ing vas accomplished. Whatever merits
the proposition was supposed to have
rested largely on the fact that profitable
ore bodies had been discovered and worked
IN he Curlsw adjoining Last September
the company leased the Whippoorwill
claim 10 two miners. Frank ThoFnburgh
and sy Nichols. They recently discovered
small streak Of ore near tie surface
which continued TO widen With sin king un-
I'll At the present depth Of seventy feet IL IL
i've feet in depth. The ledge has good
walls, 10 evidently in place and 10 nearly
vertical In pitch. In most Of these charac-
tsEistiss IL differs from the Curlew. The
ore contains considerable Qalena which
bly, high grade. running from 200 to 800 ounces
and the whole body appears to be even At
the present low prices Of silver and lead
profitable and high grade orc. Mr.. Buck.
one OF the largest stockholdsra was in Mis-
soula to-day and stated that there was
large quantity, Of orc on the dump and
quantity In the nine. The shipment Of
ore to the smelters will b commenced i'm
msdiately. The discovery of this ore
body on Q claim which had been for sew
sysl years quite extensively prospsoted
should cause renewal OF work on other
properties In she vicinity of the Curlsw. It
10 also important from the fact that its
future development may and probably will
solve some Of the problems which have al
ways to greater OF less extent puzzled she
management Of the Curlsw mine itself and
enable them to carry ON their prospecting
work on the mine with a greater degree of
certainty than they have heretofore been
able to do. ,-
Tho resunption Of work on tho Nine Mile
Mining cempany's property on Monday
was somewhat unexpected and pleasing
event. II will materially strengthen the
resources of Missouls and assist In dispell-
ing the prevailing hard times. Tho COM
pany employs sixty men when in full oper-
alton. besides giving employment to num-
bsr Of woodohoppers and teamsters. It's
successful operation Is source of encour-
aaement to the owners of several other
promising mines in the vicinity.