The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1895-04-13
4 SPLENDID MINE
~LEITERVlLLE'S GROUP OF
PROPERTIES.
What Energy and Application Has
AccOm plished-ane Of Madison Bus
lest Camps-The History of u Fa-
nous Property.

u
over the country, a short sketch OF the
Letter property may no be uninterest-
ing. While many owners of gold and
silver mines rush a~nXiously into print
with marvellous tales of the wonderful
and ~ineXhaustable riches enclosed with
in the rocky boundaries of their lOca-
tiOns. others who are not in the held
for speculative purposes. 60 quietly
about their work. making no more
noise thar that occasioned by the o a
of the stamps and the thunder of the
blasts in a hundred different slopes.
drifts and shafts where the precious
ores are daily extracted. The Letter
property is seldom mentioned in the
newspapers and outside of Madison
county. few know of it's existence. but
that it does exist. and on a compare
lively large scale. and has been ener-
%getically worked with an average force
of one hundred men for the past three
years is a fact beyond dispute and un-
less all signs fail. will continue to be
profitably operated for many years to
come. demonstrating at least in n
case, the stability and value of Madison
county gold mines. Notwithstanding the
general idea that seems to have gained
credence over a large portion of the
state that Madison county is no good
The property of the company consists
of fourteen mining claims. one placer
and three mill sites. all patented and
situated at Leiterville on the left
fork of Wisconsin Creek. about eight
miles north of Sheridan. reached by a
good wagon road traversing some very
pretty mountain scenery.
The early discoveries were made in
1877 by Jerry Sullivan on the Sheridan.
Grey Eagle and Daniel lodes and the
summer seasons of the following three
Years was put in. in developing the
prospects,. most of the work having
been done on the Sheridan. which gave
promise of great richness. the other
claims while large and strong We're
considered too low grade to be of much
value. In 1880. the four claims We're
sold 10 Hamilton and NlcCranor who.
n turn transferred one-half interest to
Ii. Letter of Chicago. and again in
1885. one-fourth interest TO T. Benton
Letter and in lS92. the last one-fourth
belonging to Dave McCranor. became
The property Of /. T.. Letter. in whose
hands it has since remained.
In $50 a five stamp mill u by wat
er power was built. about one-fourth
mile above the site OF the present one,
now in operation. and was run at odd
times for over ten years during the
summe. months. making but a very
Insignificant return for the capital in
vested. the main efforts having been
directed towards the development Of
the property. During this time oyer
5000 feet of tunnels and crosscuts were
driven, connecting the Grey Eagle.
Champion and Sheridan lodes. the lat
ter vein running nearly at right angles
to the former, connecting with. AID
loosing it's identity with the Grey
Eagle vein. The main tunnel was
started on the Champion lode, drifting
along that vein about 1000 feet and
30Ofeet into the Grey Eagle. Beyond
A small bunch of ore about 100 feet
from the mouth of the tunnel nothing
of any value was encountered. On the
Grey Eagle a large body of ore was de-
veloped, but very base and low grade.
$50 that for a time, it seemed but little
could be expected from these three
claims, the hope OF the property was
therefore vested in the Sheridan lode.
which so far had proxen up very salts
~factorily, disclosing on the main level
an ore body searly 2oG feet long, from
2 to 1 feet wide, fine milling ore
varying in pr:ce from $40 to 500 in
gold per on.
In April 1892 Mr.. T. Benton Letter
joined Mr.. Dave McCranor, who had
been managing the property since 1880
to assist him in tle endeavOr to place
the place the property On q paying bas-
Is anu w esccI d lafGeI feuuction pant.
During the summer. q modern mill to
accommodate twenty stamps was erected
under the direction of Mr.. Bert Rev
on plans furnished by Messrs Frazer
and Chalmers OF Chicago. and by the
end OF July. ten stamps aud four few
vanners. driven by water power. were
actively engaged day and night in ex-
4ractinp the yellow natal Tho odd