Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-04-29

English syndicate. Tue ore provej 10
! very "p0ckety," and after building
mill, spending about S7OO,OOO and
clearing only about SlOO,OOO, Tue COM
psDy suspended operations.
Soon after the Sparrow Hawk dis'
covery, a rich strike WAS maize 10 the
Carrie Steele. 1t is said that FROM 'nis
pocket few men took out about
| $50, 600 In three months. Other etrikes
followed, and in 1872 and 1873 the hills
were swarmipg with prOspeotors. Iht
town OF Lewlston was built on the
| present site OF Mercur, and wassooh
| n iull.nedged mining camp, with the
attendant typical saloons, gambling
houses and dance houses. But n
steady producing mines were loun
| the excitement began to die away,
| and Lewiston, which hal grown a.
n town OF some 1900 people. by 1880
had dwindled dowu TO one house an
| TO one inhabitant, Moses Manning,
who remained to work out his OWL
and others' assessments. 1t IL
estimated that during tuie excite.
ment only about $3.50. 600 were taken
| out, and that many tunes that amount
| was expended. Machinery, supplies
|
$8l ore to pay.
o. April 80, 1870, German named
Arie Pine1O locaIed the Mercur ioie,
believing he had discovered valuable
vein OF cinnabar, and naming tnt
cain after the German word for
mel cury-Mercur. The claim was rot
patented uutil early In 1853. Some
cinDabar was found, but not IN paying
| qusutitiee, ana finedO coon aban-
doned the olsim and left the country.
Other prospeciors DIR ted In, and about
1888 the gold ledge wac discovered.
The assay returns slOwed the yellow
metal TO he present Ia paying quaint.
tiee, but after numerous ntt,mp at
panniny with never a color, the pros.
pectOrs gave 1t up.
In March, 1889. Captain Joseph
SmHh put up mili on tho MaTlOD
grouD1 ior the purpose OF wOrking tue
oliver ore anu failing dumps. This
wac email amsls amazing mill o.
abJut twelve toGs capacity. Alter
sfeDding 5000 or $4,000 with no
substantial Iesu,is, CspIsi- Smith was
forced to abandon the idea OF making
the silver ores pay. He remembered
the stories oil cinnabar and gold being
found in the Mertur ore, sam Jlea tne
1
good returns in goii. All thought oil
mining for silver or DIN 1Hoar vanished,
~ d during the winter OF 1859 80 somt
work was done on the Metcur lode. A
hve.ton 1t Of the ore was brought
acrsss the canyon 10 the Marion mill
and treated with apparent success.
Messrs, q. S. PeytOn ADD ii. w.
Brown associated Themselves with
Captain Smith In Msfcn. 1890, anu
lpcJtporE ed the Msrcur GuiI Mining
anu Milling company, with capital
stock S. 900, 900, divided Into 200, 00O
SHARES; $4,000 was paid to Pinned
flr the Mercur claim, 80, 900 shares
OF the treasury stuck were sJlI
to Mossrs. Jonn bern, h. II. Airs
and John ii imricn OF Nebraska, at 81
per snare. o tnis amount S25.UuO
were spent unuer the direc on .. Cap.
tain smith In building m II near a
spring ut what is now calleu Manning,
about halfway betwesu Mercur AM
Eni field station. This WAS an ANAL
gama;ing mill, like the one previously
built or Marion ground. The femaiu.
Ing 5000 we're spent IN ping the
niue anu fixing upon the wagon road
from the mine to the mill. The at.
tempt to treat the ore by anal samation
proved a failure, however, and once
again the hopes OF geltiDr any money
out OF the ores OF Camp f oyd district
were blasted. About ], $40 tons were
put through the mill that by careful
sampling had averaged about SIS per
ton. Assays of the tsilings showed an
xtrection OF about so per cent, tut the
cleanup, instead OF amounting to
sbou, S2l, 800, proved TO be lees than
5000. ~ niIe oil p1ta SUM had been
useu ior cleaulne the QUICKSILVER, anu
subsequent experiments proved that
the gOIu had been dissolved and car.
ried III by the cyaniue.
About this time the successful treat
ment OF gold ores by the cyaniu.
rocess became generally known, and
1t was deciIeu TO give 1t trial. A
carload OF ore Was ehjpptd to Denver
Tor q practical test. Al extraction OF
about so per cent was obtained by this
test, AID In the summer OF 1859 the
mill at Manning was remodele and
turned into a cyanide plant, by which
the orc was successfully treated. Cap.
tain Smith, having severed his con-
nectioA with the Mercur mine, then
turned his stteniiou to the develop.
nent OF the gold ledge in the Marion
group OF elaine. He r. modelled and
aided 10 the amslgamating mill
previously built, anu by June, 1898
started up the second cyanide plant
In Mercur. The successful treatment
OF The gold ores being assured, pros.
pectors again ewarmed in. Two OF
them, Messrs. Arthur Murphy anu G..
L.. Preble, located two claims on the
old site at Lewiston, stukeu them out
into Town lots, and the town OF Mer.
Ger has since grown to be about
the came size rs was Lewiston in lite
paimy days-sb0ut 500 Inhabitants.
AT present Merour is regularly orga.
nized municipality, with water
system, fire department, and the
prospects OF an electric light plant in
the near future.
ATTENDING To PRELIMINARIEs.