Evening star., 1896-09-12
Our Biggest Silver Camp.

LAZY est HliHe, no" JuSt ABOUT ready Tor
working. and other .:aines which have
large deposits of silver.
Our Biggest Silver Camp.
You reach Parke City by Il branch Of the
Union Pacific. 1t Is situated in the
Wasatch mountains. just about a mile and
a half above the sea, and within thirty-two
miles Of Salt Lake City. The town has
about 1000 inhabitants 1t lies along both
sides Of gulch. and i.s main street Is filed
with dust in the summer and mud in the
winter. All around 1t are silver mines and
the town lives upon silver. In its palrniest
days its pay roll has amounted to millions
year, and the Ontario mine alone pays
out now more than" 500. 600 annually in
wages. The Ontario property Is situated
just back of the city,. When the mine WAS
discovered its surroundings were those of
bleak, bare and desolate hifis. Now i'm
nense frame buildings. with steam pipes
and smoke stacks. are seen scattered over
the mountains. and, big four-horse waR-
ons travel from daylight until dark
up and down the valley with loads Of silver
ore. In going up to the mine you pass
mere and there enormous bins or square
buildings. into which the ore, dragged from
the bowels Of the earth, Is emptied, pre-
paratory to loading It on the wagon. These
buildings have many mouths or holes at
the bottom, so arranged that by the lifting
or board they can be opened and the ore
will fall down into the wagons on the road
below. You pass boarding houses devoted
to the feeding Of the army of men in the
mines, and go on until you reach the big.
harn-lke shaft houses They seem to be
rudely built. and you would never imagine
that they represent a product Of $4,000 600
They contain however, little more than
the hoisting machinery. The real work.
shops OF any mine are underground.
How u Great Mine Looks.
But let me give you in simple words
some idea Of this enormous silver mine.
When discovered, 1t was, you know merely
a mountain Of rock, through one part of
which ran little streak which the pros
pectors thought carried ore values They
broke some of the rock in pieces. 1t looked
not much different from any piece of
broken granite which you might pick I'D on
the roadside. but to their experienced eyes
1t contained silver. They laid out their claim
ana dug shaft or well. They found the
prospects grow richer as they went down.
ward. and at last the hole was sold to Sem
ator Hearst, Lloyd Tevis J. B. Hagyin and
other mill1onaires, who put IN expensive
machinery to get the ore out. This was al
NEST twenty years ago. and 1t has in that
time produced tho enormous amount of
silver above stated. These men took the
well or hole made by the prospectors and
they have sunk 1t more than 1900 feet
down through that mountain Of rock. They
have made of it what Is known as the
Shaft which is little more than a hole WALL
ed with boards five feei wide and fourteen
feet long, running for more than a quarter
OF mile straight down into the earth.
This shaft was sunk just beside the vein
CT silver rock, and a. intervals Of 100 feet
en- the way downward they have run off
tunnels into the vein and have taken out
the ore. Each Of these tunnels Is from four
to six feet wide. and from six to nine feet
high. 1t is walled and rooted with timbers
Logs as big around as your waist are braced
Dy the walls against the roof to keep the
dirt and rock from coming down upon you as