Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1896-01-02
Florence Again Prominent.

Florence is attracting more attention
just now than any other undevelob0d
quartz district in the northwest. The
source of the gold which was taken out
in that camp in the early ZOOS has long
been Il mystery. The placer deposits
were found in a basin on high noun
tain. The gold was in decomposed
quartz and not in washed gravel, as is
usually the case. The quartz had ey-
identity rotted away and left the gold
III the sharp sand and decomposed
rock. The deposits have been traced
recently and the lodges from which
the gold had been separated, have been
discovered. The following from cor
respondent of the Washingtonian is a
good description of the camp:
Nearly all locations are east or west
and where the north and south water
courses cut through the ridges is where
they look for the float quartz, which
followed up leads to the ledge. There
are not many locations east of Florence,
for the placer ground did pot reach far
that way; but north one mile is the
Fisher Smith mine, the first one to
bring ore, and the yield was SD per
ton. Near them is the Ozark, then
owned by Rhodes 4 Fitzgareld and
since sold for 5000. The yield was
ST. per ton
Three miles south of Florence and
one and one-half miles south of the
mill is the mine of Dwlgh: & Mclean,
which gave up $40 per ton. Near this
is the celebrated Gold Bug, of Cone &
Wells, which gave $50 per ton after
they had taken out $50 per ton with Il
rocker, making $50 per ton in all and
the best in the camp.
southwest of the mill is the Red
Bird, of Overlunder a. Co., which
went So, and near the mill is the Wa
verify, which gave S25. These were all
actual mill tests, the ore weighed in
and the gold weighed out at $l2 per
ounce. These are the only mines that
had been through the mill test when !
came away. or those that look well
and show up we'll under the mortar
pestile gold pan method, the woods are
full of 'em.
think the best mines will yet be
found on the low ground. Either this
has to be the case or the veins must
pinch out as you go down. The eX-
pense of raising the water out of a
shaft is keeping many good mine
from being worked / believe more
gold will vet be taken from the quartz
than was taken from the pIacers in the
sixties. 1t may take longer to do it,
but it will come all the same or the
mines must fail AS you go down.
When we take into consideration
the fact that free milling quartz can be
worked anywhere that pack train can
go it seems incredible that section of
country of shout two townships and
now within fifty miles of three prosper
Gus towns, should remain for fity wears
with no one to raise the question of
where did all this placer gold come
from.
John Clark has lived i'm Florence "a
years, saw the rise and fall of the carp,
keeps store and hotel in the summer
and goes to Iowa in the winter, and
yet a. late as last August he did not
like to give credit to anyone who was
hunting quartz. All this will change
now, for six hundred locations are of
record and there is no telling how
many there are that are not recorded.
OF these six hundred but few are being
worked. The rest are ten-feet hole i'm
; the ground waiting for someone to
come along and buy them. As many
of these locations will be free to any,
one to take after Jan. LIST, and a greater
number after Il year from January, the
chances for poor man to pick up
something good are promising.
Miners wages are IS per day; ordi-
nary labor 81, and board 30 cents per
day. Miners Were in demand but 9th.
ers not so much.