Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1897-04-16

esting information respecting the
resources ofhis county (Idaho.) He
is thoroughly familiar with them
all, and his thorough going loyalty
to- his own section leads him to
spread news of it's riches wherever
he goes. Talking yesterday about
the quartz mining interests there,
he said:
! III have kept q close eye on the
quartz interests of the Elk City
country for the past IL years and
am W filing to stake my reputation
and judgment ON the proposition
that only capital and development
are needed to make it the greatest
gold quartz camp in Idaho. The
formation and character of the ORD
is identical with that of Grass Val
ley in California, while the lodges
are more abundant and larger in
size and the ore of more uniform
value. The company in which 1
am a partner has expended up
wards of $15, 900 in exploiting two
of our ten claims with results which
assure us that with deeper develop
ment we shall develop great prop
erty. Our surface work shows an
ore chute about 500 feet long, and
for the past two years we have
been driving permanent working
tunnels as rapidly as our means
would permit, intending to under
cut, at a depth Of 800 feet, the ore
shown on the surface. We have
erected q ten stamp mill building
and put in small prospecting
mill and concentration and run
through enough ore to demonstrate
the facts that the ore carries the
value and that we can save it all.
With these assurances we are now
putting the company in shape to
operate more extensively with the
view of speedily realizing on our
investment. A saw mill also forms
part of our equipment.
Capitalists from Butte have with
in the past year invested heavily
in Elk City quartz properties and
are pushing development as fast as
men and money can be worked to
advantage. Last year they bond
ed some prospects or Big creek,
eight miles east of Buffalo Hump,
and with an expenditure of &c.,
900 they have shown up $50, 900
worth of ore. Eight miles east of
Big creek is the Dixie district, on
the Salmon river slope. Here, too
a lot of development work is being
done by a Chicago company. The
placing Of quartz mills on all these
properties is an assured fact this
year. But these are the larger
operations. In addition individ-
ual miners are pushing work slow
ly but surely on a number OF
claims of undoubted merit.
"TwO great mineral zones trav-
erse that section SO far as known
one embracing the Elk City coun-
try and the other the Big Creek
and Dixie districts. The charac-
ter of the ores is practically alike,
all being gold bearing, with more
or less iron sulphurets which re-
quire concentrating. The tests of
our ores made at our mill last year
demonstrated the fact that we
saved 80 per cent of the value on
the plates. The ores of that sec
ton are gold exclusively"
Being asked to talk further
about the excitement in Florence
district Mr.. Parker said: You
may say that pretty nearly all you
have heard and read about the
fabulous value of some of the Flor
ence quartz is true. This fact has
long been known and it is one rea-
son why so little attention has
been paid to quartz mining in that
camp. 1t was taken for granted
that this rich ore existed only in
pockets, and it was further sup
posed that these pockets did not
60 down. But it has been dem
onstrated not only that the lodges
do go down, but that the ore is
just as rich in depth as on the sur.
face. The camp is young and not
enough development work has been
done to speak with absolute Ger.
tainty as to it's future; but the in
dications are all favorable enough
to justify the belief among con.
sentative mining men that Flor
ence is all right and good place
in which to invest money in legiti-
mate mining propositions. We
have kept the wagon road between
Grangeville and Florence open all
winter and an enormous supply Of
freight has been shipped in. Steam
hoists for the Banner-Gold Bug
group, Toledo, Hi-yu and Oregon
mines were hauled in over the