The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1896-08-01

yellowish hue. At Billings the ratio
is about even. while in Miles it resolves
itself into a Is to l proposition-I6 gold
men II every silver advocate.
Mrs. Ras Rochester died in Butte
about two weeks ago after a lingering
illness. Mr.. and Mrs. Rochester lived
tor many years at Laurin and have
friends all over the county. to whom
the sad news will be a most disagree
able surprise. The sympathy of this
and other communities Of the county
are with Mr.. Rochester in his sad be-
reavement. Mrs. Rochester was a
most estimable lady, beloved and re-
spected by all who knew her. Besides
her husband. she leaves q family of
three children to mourn her loss.
The e hosting plant at the Easton
has been in operation for the past five
days. Major Filing visited the mine
yesterday aud was very much pleased
with it. 1t is what is known as the
LedgerwOod combined friction drum
and brake and reversible link motion
hoist. with spirally grooved drum, and
IS q most desirable combination for
either double Or single compartment
shafts or inclines. as it unites the quail
tiles of the reversible and friction
drum engines. In the single shaft all
the hosting of ore may be done by the
engine in the usual way and the empty
a and cage or bucket. lowered bv
means of the brake: while for hosting
Or lowering the men the drum may be
thrown into gear and the engine used
as d reversible engine, handling the
load by steam. The hoist is a great
Improvement and will greatly tacili-
tate the handling of the Easton ores.
1t is operated by an SO horse power
engine. The building Of the shaft
house is being pushed as rapidly as
possible.
Jack Huber, the jolly driver of the
Virginia City and Norris stage is likely
to become Il millionaire gold bug. For
some years Jack has been working a
quartz mine on the north fork of Mead
oW Creek. up near the foot of old Badly
mountain. He did a lot Of work on it
ana got out piles of quartz. There is
n dump that contains at least five
hundred tons of ore and another of a
hundred or two. The ledge is from 10
to II feet wide. It is a biz One. There
are two tunnels in the mountain. one
OF which is in three hundred feet. and
other development work was done, but
somehow the gold did not show up.
and. for a time, the work was aban-
dOned. Lately, however. the atten-
ton Of some eastern mining men was
called to the claim. an examination
was made and careful samples taken
from the entire ore bodies. There was
surprise party when that 800 ton dump
showed an assay value of about $500 in
gold per ton and the other dump
about $3.50, all gold. Charley Mead
done the assaying and it was sure to be
correct. 1t is a curious fact that the
men in this mine had never discovered
the real value of the ore; in fact lad
never Deen able to find any gold in it.
PrOba bly, the action Of the weather,
rains. storms and snow, had the effect
OF disintegrating the quartz and expos
ing gold, or the gold might have been
in a sort of liquid state and was pre-
cipitated by exposure. no one knows.
but it is surely in the ore now, for not
only is it shown by the assay but few
tests show great traits of gold nuggets
as large a. pin heads. Jack Huber is
to be congratulated for he is a right
good fellow and can quit the notorious
business Of driving a stage and 90 at
the shipping of his valuable ore
which will soon net him a fortune.