The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-06-07
TIE LA SALE FOUNTAINS.
A Country That is Rich in Its Min
eral Deposits.

The Grand Valley Times published
at Moab has the following to say
relative to the La Sale mountains in
southeastern Utah.
In COMPANY with W. A Shafer and
/ Grant CoOkingham, the Times man left
I Moab last Saturday, morning for a few
days inspection of the La Sale noun
tains at that point known as the head
of MIL creek, about % miles by the
trail from Moab. Considerable atten-
ton has been given to the mineral
prospects of this district in years past.
Considerable work having been done
there in placer mining about 20 years
ago.
The raise of FIVE or six thousand feet
above Moab is overcome with the usual
trailing about and effort of mountain
climbing. It is better understood by
experience than description. The snow
was found very deep yet in the tim
Der shaded gulches, north slopes and
the peaks. yet not to interfere much
with prospecting as there is plenty of
virgin ground that is clear; the ex-
perience of wading several hours
through snow on the last day of May
was enjoyed by u.s.
The first impression of the La Sale
mountains are their similarity to the
mountains and canyons of Clear Creek.
Gilpin and Boulder counties, Colorado.
known the world over for their rich
mines The mountains are covered
with a slide OF trap rock of the nature
of quartz trachyte making prospecting
difficult. Mineral bearing veins crop
through in places, standing perpen-
dicular and cutting through the noun
tains northwesterly and southeasterly,
and can be traced for miles from one
/ peak to another, ali having the same
general bearing.
Float rich in gold is found through
out the gulches and in large pieces,
showing that it has come but a short
distance One piece found by Robert
Thompson last summer near the head
of Mill creek. he had assayed at Den
yer and obtained return of over S14,-
600 per ton.
In the few days inspection given this
section we were satisfied of its rich
mineral promise and well worthy of
the efforts of the practical prospector.
Although the ground has been done
over for years and numerous claims
staked and promising assays obtained
there has been little practical work
done. y claim in which Mr.. Shafer is
interested covers more practical work
than all others we visited Here a
tunnel has been run in onto a vein
of unknown thickness of a hard gray
ism white quartz scanned with iron
pyrites. carrying principally silver, as
says showing from 20 to 80 ounces to
the ton; the side wall passed through
being a reddish brown porphyry
Across the mountains at the head
of Mill creek, for several miles, runs
what is known as the Mammoth vein.
which from the surface indications APP
pears to be several hundred feet vide.
This is a hFrd reddish brown porphyry
and assays from different parts taken
from the surface gave $3.50 to ST. free
gold.
The reason why greater developments
have not been made in the past is
plainly seen. prospectors vino have To-
Gated claims in this region have tried
! to see how many claims they could
hold; the result. gopher holes for as
sessment work. II all this work had
been centralized at one or two points
a rich producing camp might now be
the result. One producing mine would
give a cash value to neighboring claims.
The character and formation of the
mountains, the rich float scattered
throughout the gulches all indicate the
rich mineral character of these noun
tains. Some heavy tunneling must be
done to uncover the veins. Heavy
forests of pine and spruce are
on all sides. Heavy grass for
feed for pack and draft ami
mails, the very best of water
and game in abundance