The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-10

Mr.. J. D. Dillenback, staff cogrespon-
7enf of the Denver Daily Mining Rec
ord, who recently visited Mercur, has
WRITTEN an article for his paper, as fol-
lows:
Mercur, Utah, Aug. 81 found the
trip from Salt Lake city to this camp
interesting and pleasant, but somewhat
tortuous. Leaving Salt Lake at 7:40
a m. on the Union Pacific line south,
which extends down TO Frisco, We'll in
TO the southern part of Utah, was car
ried % miles to Lehd, where L changed
cars for the Eureka line, going 20
miies on this line to Fairfield junction.
At Fairfield Junction l transferred to
the Salt Lake and MeTcur railway,
extending between 10 and IL miles
from Fairfield to Mercur. The last four
or five miles is a remarkable speci-
men of railroad climbing as 1 ever saw.
In that distance the railroad climbs up
wards OF 1000 feet in tangle of short
curves among the steep, rounded noun
tains OF the OquiTTh range. 1t brings
to mind Black Hawk and Central, and
the tallest climbing of Otto Mears'
Rainbow Route.
Tile line from Salt Lake city passes
through the Salt Lake valley 80 the
s.Narrows," where it crosses over to
Cedar valley, leaving which 1t cll1npS
up Manning Gulch to Mercur, affording
wonderful views Of Cedar valley, and
over the low mountains to Utah lake.
Cedar valley is not much settled, ow-
ing to lack of water.
Mercur itself is in a narrow valley
q Of 1aOPlxpT in l.
tains, which rise high, steep, but smooth
and severed with low shrubbeTy. on
every hand Lewiston canyon extends
from Mercur down to Rush valley,
opening UP toward the Great Salt
lake The altitude &C Mercur and its
mines is from $500 to something over
1000 feet The climate is described
as delightful, both in summer and win
ter, there never being snow enough to
interfere with work.
The Mercur mining district is roughly
described as upwards of ten or twelve
miles long and six or seven indies wide
Like Cripple Greek, its limits are yet
TO be defined.
The Sunshine mine. four miles south
of Mercur, is one of the great properties
OF tine camp, and one of the five great
mines now producing ore, the others be-
ing the Mercur, Marion, Sacramento
and Geyser. The Sunshine was opened
some three years ago by Hon. William
4. Sherman, Charles H. Jacobs and F.
II. Officer, of Salt Lake city. 1t has
perhaps a mile of workings, and lis
mill, which is now treating 60 tons Of
ore a day, is being enlarged to a. ca
pacity OF 100 tons or upwards.
The Marion one on the great mines
at Mercur, belongs to a, close corpora
ton, OF which Joseph Smith is general
manager. Although I have not been
able to get figures in regard TO It's out
put, it is one of the large producers
which give character to The camp.
The MeTcur, the best known mine in
the Camp. is also the largest producer
Its ore houses and other buildings are
IN plain view ON the hill rising directly
from the town on the south The daily
production of the mine is about $50
tons, which is treated in the companys
mill, four miles distant by the railway
The property is under the management
OF Mr.. z. H. Airs, who, l believe is
the largest owner. 1t is apparently
conducted in a very systematic and
business-lf}1e manner, as we'll as upon
large scale. The company pays regular
dividends of $25, 900 a month.
I visited the mill of the GeySer COM
pany, on the other side of the town,
close at hand. This company is mining
and milling 60 tons a day, although en-
company in regard to valuab BILE terri
tory.
The Sacramento mine lies beyond the
Mercur properly and west of it. Here
/ found immense ore bodies, but no
great development, the ore zone, with a
din Of some fifteen degrees havinfr a
thickness Of about 100 feet, rs Of which
Is said TO be pay ore. The mill is now
tlse.-e---- FGU .-as a DAY, but viii soon
be enlarged 10 a capacity Of 100 tons.
The great Golden Gate group to the
east of the Mercur property, is owned
by Captain ]. r. De Lamar. It is not
now a producer. but is said to have
some 1900 feet of tunnel work in ore.
Some twenty men are doing develop
nleoDt work in the mine. Manager H A
Cohen is supposed TO have perfected
plans for a, 5o0-ton cyanide plant, which
he has taken TO New York to submit
20 Captain De Lamar.
Lying east OF the aforementioned
property is the East Golden Gate which
has a shaft down 460 feet and is at
work with a ten-inch drill, such as
is used in the johannesburg district
of South Africa. The drill is going
down So feet a day, and it is proposed
to prospect to the depth of 5000 feet
This enterprise will be watched with
much interest, as its revelations wifi
have an important bearing in detsrmin-
ing the depth of the mineral bearing
formation
ON first arriving at Mercur, one is
speedily impressed with the extent and
continuity of the ore bodies Yesterday
Mayor Hall took me to the top of a, hill
IN the eastern part of town and
pointed cut the principal properties