The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-18


For year past miners have been at
work in the Little Rockies southeast Of
Chinook, Mont, with results most
satisfactory, as evidenced by recent
shipments of over $4,000 of free gold
ore to Great Falls for treatment. Mines
on two belts or mineral zones, have
been opened up, the Gold Bug and
Hawkeye, each series yielding rock
bearing gold and silver, assays running
as high as $40 ton in gold. A new
town named Landusky has been laid
out and already contains twenty bust
ness houses. Experienced men are of
the opinion that the new mines will
develop into one of the
FINEST GOLD CAMPS
in that state The Little Rockies are
the first mountains seen in Montana,
and are in plain view from Great
Northern trains, lying off south Of the
track.
Three peaks or buttes are prominent
land marks on the northern boundary
Of Montana, about 100 miles east Of the
main range of the Rockies. They are
known as the Sweet Grass hills, so
named on account of the excellent char
acter of the grass in the surrounding
valleys and slopes, which make that
region a favorite of the stock grower.
Placer gold and free milling quartz,
been found, besides the finest lodges
of marble known to any part Of the
West.
The eastern slope of the Rockies, un-
til recently a part of the Blackfoot
reservation, will soon be open to min
eral explorations, and miners familiar
with the territory predict that fine
properties will be developed.
Much interest has been aroused Of
late at gold discoveries on each side
of the Kootenai river in the Flathead
country, in Northwestern Montana. All
the numerous tributaries of the river
show gold. At Fort Steele in British
Columbia on the head waters of the
Kcotenai the placers have yielded sew
eral million dollars worth of the prec-
ious dust.
The Fort Steele country is reached
| by stage from Kalispell, Mont, and
| during the season of navigation by
! steamer on the Kootenai from Jennings.
Last season three steamers were en-
gagged in carrying ore to the Great
! Northern. The trip from Jennings to
| est, If not exciting. 1t takes SO hours
| to go up and 8 hours to return. Be-
/ tween Kalispell and Fort Steele the
| stage route crosses the valley of Elk
river in which the most
MARVELLOUS COAL DEPOSITS 81
of America are located. Upwards of
$50 feet of coal is exposed in the hills,
| In veins from six to thirty feet thick,
one above the other. Petroleum is
found floating on the springs in the
| same locality
In the valleys of the Yakt and Moyie
streams coming in from the north to
the KoOtenai in Montana, placer gold is
| being gathered. Large deposits of free
milling quartz have been discovered,
and a 10-stamp mill is at work on the
Keystone mine, cleaning UP $500
! gold brick every week. Two more
mills will be put up this season, and a
hydraulic plant will operate on a COM
pany placer claim of 100 acres.
On Libby creek south Of the KoOtenai,
a mineral belt has been traced for
thirty miles, and hundreds of claims
has been made. The largest develop
ment is on the Snowshoe group, where
| seventy men are at work. This prop
! erty belongs. to the Chicago & Montana
| company. A 150-ton concentration is
busy night and day on ore yielding
| gold silver and lead. The Silver Gable
mine, a mile from the Snowshoe, is a
gold proposition with ore averaging $50
ton. After the Snowshoe the Shaugh-
messy Hill group-is next in development,
and has just been bonded to an Eng
| lish syndicate.
offer. greater opportunities than gold,
! silver and copper mining for the profit
! able investment of capital and labor,
and no section of the continent affords
better advantage to mining investors
! or prospectors than the states of Mon
! tana, Idaho and Washington and the
| Kootenai country. There is a home
market for gold.
| Z The market may be glutted with
! everything else, but the yellow metal
| has ready sale. Every country will
! exchange it's best products for gold
In the early days of mining attention
| was directed entirely to placers and
quartz was passed unnoticed, on ac-
count Of the labor and capital neces-
sary to properly develop a mine, but
now quartz is being worked with
! profit.
While there has been no large hy-
! draulic enterprises in the plans named
as in California, yet the future has
much in store. Many small streams
/ and gulches have not been prospected,
| or have been hurriedly gone over, and
there is little doubt that many large
| placer claims, which can be profita-
bly, worked by hydraulic methods. are
! yet to be found. Nearly all the
| streams leading from the mountain
ranges show traces and prospects A
! small hydraulic has been at work on
| the Columbia river at Virginia City,
near the mouth of the Okanogan, for
some time past.
The Okanogan country in Washing
/ ton is
FULL OF GOLD DEPOSITS,
both quartz and placer. The Methow
| river district is the present center Of
! activity, and stories of rich discover
! les are constantly reported. The
! SQuaW Creek country and the north
| end of Lake Chelan are making rec
! ords. The Columbia river gives gold
| in every pan of sand taken up. Hy-
! draulics and fumes will in time help
wrest the yellow dust and nuggets
! hidden away in the hills and mount
aims of this region.
At Wenatchee, Wash, small stamp
mill has been at work on free milling
ore from a ledge hundreds Of feet
| thick, which yields about So a ton.
! All through the eastern slopes of the
Cascade mountains of Washington
| this low grade ore exists, and the fut-
ure will find it worked to great profit
1t is believed that the bottom of the
! Columb river and tributaries is mar
Velously rich with gold washed from
| the vast beds of quartz In surround
| ing mountains, which have slowly
| disintegrated during the past centuries
and found it's way into the rivers, and,
being heavy, went to the bottom. On
| the Okanogan river boat equipped
with powerful pumps has been at work
| for some time pumping up sand and
washing out the gold with handsome
| results.
A similar device has just been put
| on the Similkameen river. This de-
vice of a centrifugal dredger, planned
and operated by Capt. Henry Finch,
! Is placed on a craft that is self-pro-
| polling, 100 feet over ALL and a 20-foot
beam, and fitted up with lodging quar-