The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1897-04-06

Une ullIerenJ camps along the en-
tire length Of this belt.
The newest champion of mod
ern development in this class of
is the famous Trade
Dollar mine in Owyhee county,
Idaho, which has within the past
month shipped 12-ton car load
of ore to a Denver smelter that
yielded $4,000 worth of gold
and silver bullion, and it is safe
to say that further development
in this class of formation in many
of the old camps on this zone and
on the numerous promising pros
poets which may be found in the
intervening space between them,
will continue to bring to light
other rich and extensive bodies
of mineral. When a large ore
deposit occurs we'll within a wide
zone of true igneous or-complete-
ly metamorphosed formation, it
must in the nature of things have
the same permanence and deep
seated origin as it's enclosing
walls, and is consequently apt to
continue down with depth, al
though it's exhibitions of rich
mineral may depend upon local
conditions at different horizons
in the formation, and as matter
of proof, contrary to the usual
theory that gold deposits carry
their richest ore at the surface,
and get poorer and baser as depth
is attained, in this particular
class of wall rocks they very
generally improve and getricher
with development in depth.
Take front sectional view of
the Comstock lode for instance,
and it will be seen that while the
lode crops quite continuously for
about four miles, q very limited
proportion of its rich ore bodies
came through to the surface, and
that its richest bonanza mines
derived their greatest profits
from an horizon more than a
thousand feet below the crop
pings. This theory is being
amply borne out by recent ex-
perience in similar rock forma-
tions at several new camps espec-
tally at Cripple Creek, Colorado,
where very rich strikes have
been and are continually being
made at considerable depth be-
low surface groupings of compar-
atively lean ore.
Commencing at the summit of
the Rocky Mountains at a point
a little to the east of Salmon City
there is a zone one mile to twenty
miles wide, consisting of an in
finite variety of igneous forma-
tions that can be followed like a
great vein, with slight Interrupt
tions, in q well-defined south
westerly course for a distance of
$50 miles, cutting through the
high ranges and deep canyons of
primary formations that form the
principal part of Lemhi and Gus
ter counties, and there is eviden-
ce to indicate that it may be in
timately related to the porphry
and other igneous effusions of
Owyhee county, for not only are
the mineral and metallic contents
of its ores the same, but like in
the igneous rocks of Owyhee
county there can be found along
this belt great diffusion of sill
cious crystals, goodies, hyalites
and opals, and at short intervals
a rapid succession of hot mineral
springs. The writer discovered
some magnificent specimens of
fire opal about a year ago in a
dyke of grey trachyte near the
north side of this belt on Silver
creek in Lemhi county which
were examined by Geo. Kunze
of New York, and by him fully
described in the 18th annual re-
port of the United States geolog-
ical survey, where they are con-
sidered as being of equal quality
with the product of the best
Mexican mines.
Near this opal deposit ON Sill
yer creek there is located a group
of patented lode claims now own
ed by Senator Geo. l.. Shoup
and others, that promises great
results. The group carries a
system of large parallel fissure
veins 10 to so feet thick, in a belt
of light grey phonolite one-quar-
ter of mile wide that is more or
less cut up by angling dykes of
other variously colored igneous
rocks. These veins can be trac-
ed for several miles, and where
they have been opened show a
filing of crushed granular quartz
gangue which has been re.
cemented in places and shows
enclosures of blua iaSDerv ouartz