The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-07-12

near that Of the JOHN Arthur ard on the
same ore chute
Mineral HIN Development.
The greatest development IN mis- Sec
ton Of the district. however. WAS On Min-
eTal hEi. where & party Of Br.1geport.
Loan-s peeple organized the rf1geport
Milling & AirinE Company. and bought
the Thompson. Nevada. Montana, Column
bsa and frankie Boy. Douhla cosnpart-
fraent shafts we're sunk Is feet en- the
Thompson and IL feet on the Columbia
ard on the latter claim q tunnel was
run 20 feet OF the hill above the shaft
Shafts were also sunk On the Nesada.
Montana ard Frankie Boy. A pair or
hosting engines. boilers. air compressor
and two machine drills were put On the
Columbia and a gawnn1ll on the Thorup-
son. besides the buildings. the whole prop
srty representing an expenditure ~ xsa.-
90 on mines and machinery. Al the
claims have iscEes three 20 six feet wide
OF high-grads s&igSr-iead ore. OF which >
ten-ton shipment ran .s5g9 s2n % this be-
ing gold and the balance silver. Picked
specimens assayed az high as 81 gold.
10 ounces silver.
The Ruekhorn. adjoining the frankie
Boy On the west. Is owned three-4sIarter >
by the bridgeport company and one-eaar-
ter by a G. Cowherd. one Of the owners
Of the Ivanhoe mine. and has a ledge
forty 20 fifty feet wide On the surface
Among the noted rich claims Oh Mn
eral hlll Is tho La Euna. located by il. r
HArgTcye, Robert stokesberry ard Jack
Lemons. who soIi II 10 T. l. Nixon. OF
Tacoma. for fI11a. TX has a small ledge
Of very rich ore. OF which q flve-ton ship
ment gave returns OF rs ounces per ton
Mr.. Nixon sank a shaft forty feet and
turned over the claim 70 has wife.
Mineral bin also boasts OF the Mohawk.
for which If. G. Lawrence refused an Of
fer OF $4,000 and on which a tunnel DO
feet has shown three-foot ledge of high
grade ore. running over go ounces silver.
On the Independence, John Stech. OF Se-
attic. who paid 81 900 for IL, has a 100
foot shaft on a four-foot ledge OF similar
ore TO that in the Bridgeport group, and
is keeping up his assessment work. In
the Pointer. adjoining the Tough Nut on
the south, Messrs. Hargrcve and Stokes
berry have fsye-foot ledge. running 10
TO 80 ounces silver on which they have
a ise-foot tunnel They are keeping up
their assessment work, and recently
struck some very fine ore
IL was about the time that the first
discoveries were made OF Mineral hill and
IN the other mountains bordering on the
Salmon river canyon just north OF the
Conconully. that the late ex-lieutenant
governor, Charles + Laughton. appeared
on the scene. He went 10 the different
rline-owners with a proposition 20 organ
lie a company which should build con-
centrator TO treat heir ores II they would
deed IL one-tenth interest in their claims
as a bonus. Then he went 10 outsiders.
and on the strength OF this interest in
the claims. secured money 10 put In his
plant. lie erected a building in The cam
yon between the Tough Nut and Lone
Star mines and put UP plant consisting
or rock crusher. set OF rollers TO pull
yeFizs the rock. drum screens TO size the
material, wooden iigs and wooden bump
er-vsnners. The plan OF operation was TO
take the ore from the screens and put
ting II In the figs. shake the mineral TO
the bottom and let the lighter material
wash over the ends. He then treated
the tailings from the jigs on bumper
vanners and dried the concentrates In a
long iron chamber by means OF hot air.
But much OF the mineral escaped with
the taillngs, so that the latter were richer
than tho concentrates. less than half the
value being saved. About City tons from
the Tough Nut and q little from the
Homestake were concentrated, and then,
as the assay value failed 10 show up.
the mine-owners refused 10 furnish more
ore. and after a two weeks run IL 1883
the machinery stopped. never to run
again. Some time later the machinery
men foreciosed their mortgage and Allen
C. Mason bought the mill but has never
run IT, He has sold some OF the shafting
aud parts Of the machinery. ANY person
visiting the mill can pick up a handful
of the tasIngs and see silver all through
them with the naked eye. Mr.. Laughton
built nice house and stable adjoining
the mill at the min companys expense
on property owned by himself, and his
gilt sign. "Chas. T. Laughton, Mining
Lawyer" may stu be seen on the Office
at one end OF the building.
Along the Lime Belt.
In the limo belt the principal group Is
the Silver Bluff OF ten claims, owned by
the Silver Bluff Mining & Milling Com
pany. OF which III. III. Mccartney. Of Salt
Lake. IS manager. and In which y. c.
Chilspn of IsoomIsten, Is Interested. on
the surface the ore in this group runs in
great lunches Of high value. and large
amount of prospecting has been done In
the rndeavor TO find where IL lies In the
country rock below. Work was going on
last summer. and ono carload was ship
ped which Melted over 800. The Belcher
Is another claim on the lime belt. owned
bv the Belcher Mining Company about
one and one-half miles from the Silver
Bluff A shaft has been sunk IS feet and
drifts run az the il0-foot level and at the
bottom.
That Salmon river cuts some free gold
lodges IS evidenced by the discovery Of
course In the summer Of 1894 Charles
II Ballard. one % the pioneers OF Con-
conullv and brother Of N u. Ballard OF
Seattle, and ]. r. Wallace found gold in
the sand Of q hench about a mile square
one mile below Conconuly and took out
80 ln prospecting a. The ground carries
from one-tenfh az a cent 10 10 cents 10
the pan, and would make good hydraulic
ground Eight miles above town. az n
rlace called the meadows. on the North
fork or salmon river. Layton $. Baldwin
l. irwin Baldwin. r. A. Wilder. John
Armstrong. OF Conconuliy. and J. 4. Ciea-
son. % Seattle. located claims ON a bar
which appears 20 he an old river led
ana where the dirt carries shot gold 10
the amount Of 10 10 Is cents = cubic yard.
TIE owners are preparing 60 put IN a
hydraulic plant. for which they have am
pie water.
The failure Of the Laughton MIL and
the disastrous Loop Loop deal" as Il Is
commonly called. were followed by such
a rapsd decline IN the market price Of
silver IN fSas that. with the present c0s.ly
means Of transportation and no early
prospect 81 the construction OF Il railroad,
Il became Improbable TO mine silver ard
al the mines stopped operation May
OF the claims had been patented, so that
there was no immediate cause for dong
any work ~ all. and The work done since
that date has been almost pareiy assess
uent work required 20 hold the claims.
The experience q the past has proved
that the ordinary methods OF concentrate
ing ore are not suitable 20 tho ores Of
this district. and that some ieecAing pro-
cess must ha adopted. unless the cost o.
tranznortA ficn should he reduced BY the
construction CT a railroad 50 rs 20 make
u profitable 70 ship ore % the shelters.
The rnlme-owners are now waiting until
a abroad IL bullt. or until silver rises
In price sufficiently 70 make its proaac-
49,, r,-,nslfahle That they hava iarr.