The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1895-11-12

and little left for Bob and the
Indian, and he did not feel like
doing much prospecting as he
anticipated as rough trip to
get out as they had to get in,
and thought he had better not
waste any time for fear of being
caught in the snow. They came
out by the way of Musgrove
creek, Prairie Basin and the
Lake and landed back at the
Springs on the ninth day. Bob
called the location the Indian
Claim, and the title to it has
since been kept up and the rep
resentation work done regularly.
1t is located centrally In the dis
trlct on Indian mountain and is
now surrounded ON both sides
and ends by other fine locations
1t carries 5-foot vein of native
shot copper ore, and 1O-inch
pay streak on one wall, carrying
ore that assays 60 per cent cop
per and up to $50 per ton in gold,
besides a light assay in silver
and trace in tin. Blackbird
creek was named by Sam James.
who in company with old Bluch-
er was prospecting up in the
canyon for placers. He dug
several holes at the main forks
of the creek about five miles up
from the mouth and found as
high as five cents to the pan, but
the ground was too rough and
rocky to pay to work 1t while
he was in camp there that o
blackbird used to come hopping
around the camp while Sam
would be eating, and he became
so tame as to come up and eat
crumbs out of Sans hand When
he left Sam decided to honor the
bird by giving the creek his
name. That was about the sum-
mer of 1885, and Mr.. James liked
the appearance of the formation
as it carries a great deal of iron,
and he always talked of going
back there to trace the creek out
to its source; so when his Pine
creek stocks began to slump and
finally got down to clear chloride
of assessment, Sam determined
to follow up his design, and see
what was at the head of Black
bird After tediously picking
his way through the rocky can
yon for seven miles up the main
creek he came to what is now
called Meadow creek a small
branch putting in from the north.
After reaching this point it was
plain sailing, for the ground ON
both slopes of this fork is strewn
with float and Mr. James and his
partner, Joshua Brown, COM
menced to take their pick of the
veins. which were easily discov-
cred as they came boldly through
to the surface, and the ground is
soft and easy to dig. Since then
there has been great advance
in the material development of
the camp. A new district has
been laid OFF that promises to cut
quite figure in the economy of
Lemhi county before another
year rolls around. 1t is already
dignified by a seperate deputy
recorder and about 80 active,
hard working prospectors. The
camp already boasts half a dozen
substantial log buildings, belong
ing to the different claim owners
who intend to push development
on their claims this winter in a
substantial way. There is also
a sale on the way of the original
Uncle Sam group, owned by Sam
James and others, to Joseph o.
Swift, of Wood River, one of the
most energetic and conservative
mining men in the State, who
has made substantial cash pay
ment on the property and viii
have crew of men at work in
few days to further develop the
mine before erecting machinery.
Mr.. Swift is SO well known in
connection with big mining en-
terprises that the simple fact of
his taking hold of it's principal
groups is almost guarantee of
the camps merits A most in
teresting, and I think important
feature in the Blackbird district.
is the close grouping and contin-
uity of the mines. There have
been fifty locations made in the
district so far, and remarkable
thing about them is that with
one or two exceptions they are
all connected in one solid block.
The veins are large. from 9 to Is
feet thick, and some of them can
be traced throughout the entire
length of three full claims; and
some of the claims carry two and
some three parallel veins. The
u