The herald., 1897-04-16
AT a Center of Increasing
Activity
srRINcER DISTRICT MINES
PROMISE GOOD RETURNS FOR
EXPERT WORK
No Houses, No Water and Only One
Woman in the Camp, But All
Will Come

Special Correspondence to The Herald.
JOHANNESBURG, April 1.-THE
stringer district, about five miles south
east OF this place. bids fair from present
indications to be one of the richest gold
bearing sections of California. Yes
terday your correspondent spent
some time in an examination Of
the. various mines and was shown some
exceedingly rich ore. One piece. picked
up at random, fairly bristled with parti-
cles of gold as large as pin heads. Over
12b men are at work on the various
claims, and a little town of twenty-five
or thirty tents has lately sprung up.
The group known as the Napoleon,
Santa Ana and Mercedes Is owned by
the Munson Bros of Los Angeles, Geo.
Pridham, Wells, Fargo & Co.. agent at
Randsburg, and Mr.. Layton. The latter
is superintendent Of the group. The main
working shaft has reached q depth Of 85
feet. and the vein is from one foot TO
18 inches In width. This ore mills from
three to four ounces a ton. There have
been several surface open cuts made on
other portions of the property and con-
siderable excavation ct various points
This is a splendid property, and with
further development will undoubtedly
show wider and continuous veins of rich
ore. The Merced mine. owned by Scott
& Co., has a 70-foot shaft and a we'll
defined pay vein three feet wide. This
ore mills on an average one ounce to
the ton, while richer streaks will yield
over 800. There are several leasers
working on this property. and some of
the stringers or small veins. have proved
exceedingly rich. There il much free
gold. and one specimen. half the size OF
a mans fist, will probably yield IS In
gold. While no very heavy bodies of ore
have yet been uncovered, there are indi-
cations that as depth Is gained the veins
will widen. A prominent mining engin-
eer. in looking over the Stringer district,
advises that shafts be sunk as near the
great dixie as practicable, as he believes
that valuable and continuous veins will
be found long the strikes OF the dikes,
or where stringers come in contact with
the dikes
Other good properties are the Matte,
Bully Boy. Lucky Boy. Rose, Yucca
Tree and Gold Bug. There is no water in
the camp. all the precious fluid being
f. obtained at Kramer or at the wells be-
yond Cuddebach lake. There is but one
woman in the Stringer district, Mrs.
Hun Of Los Angeles, whose cool, COM
Portable tent offers generous hospitality
to callers.
The Butte mine has been sold to Frank
Wilson Of Butte. Mont, and Col. John
Doyle of San Francisco. the lat
ter an old-time mining man. who
has already made several for
tunes In mining In various parts of the
state. The first payment of $4,000 on
the purchase price has been made They
will at once sink to the depth Of $50 feet
from the collar of the shaft, giving en-
ployment to an additional force of men.
The Butte joins the Wedge on the east
and IL one Of the largest producers in
the district. A full force of men is at
work on the Wedge and development is
most satisfactory. Recently a drift on
small seam was started, running dag
onally from the main ledge to the north,
and after drifting a few feet, a very
rich body Of ore, eight feet wide was
opened up. Mr.. Rogers has also opened
up ore in the first and second levels.
which will give additional ore backs and
virgin ground to pull ore from. The ].
]. c.. owsied by Messrs. Brown & Shinn
of Denve;, Col. is pushing work rapidly.
The main shaft has reached a depth Of
Is feet, and they have cut the contact
and are running a cross-cut drift, This
property employs large number OF men
and at present 10 working three eight
hour shifts. Massre. Brown & Shinn are
also sinking another accompaniment
shaft on the Excelsior, which they own.
The Val Verde group, lying half mile
west of Johannesburg, Is the scene OF
great activity at present. Most Of the
development work is being done on the
Val Verde proper. The main shaft is
100 feet deep, with considerable drift
to the east. A shaft Is also being sunk
on another vein underlying the main
shaft, and a very fine body of ore has
been developed, the pay vein being eight
feet wide. Gold is thoroughly asslmil-
ated throughout the entire body of
quartz, many specimens showing plen-
tiful sprinkling Of the precious metal.
Several prominent mining men made
thorough examination of this proerty
Monday, and they pronounce 1t one Of
the best in the district. This company
owns Val Verde No. g. Val Verde No. 8.
the Luna, 6ola, Zephyr and La Monte,
all Of which lie on the same gold zone as
the Rand group, the mines which have
made the camp famous. controlling about
40 acres Of mineralized land. On the
10th Inst. the first load OF ore was hauled
to the company's mill. which has recent
y been erected at Cuddebach lake. II
miles from the mines. The mill is in good
working order and has capacity Of 70
tons day. Col. Pender, president and
superintendent of the company. intends
to increase the capacity OF the mill at !,
once One well has developed a supply
Df water sufficient to run the mill. ana
another well Is being sunk few feet dis
tant. A fair body Of water has been
struck at the depth Of 200 feet,
A bold robbery occurred In the San
Joaquin Valley saloon at RandsburR
on Sunday morning. A masked man en-
tered the place and ordered the man in
charge, WIN. H. Hevren. to throw up
his hands. and relieved him OF $500 in
coin, which he was counting. The safe
was open and Mr.. Hevren omitted the
usual precaution Of taking outsthe re-
volver, and was completely at the mercy
Of the intruder. The safe contained
large amount Of money and diamond
stud which the thief failed to discover,
The property of alnen No clue has
been found that Wopld i1ad to the iden-
tifloa tlphs ~ ~ rebber.
,The Little Buttss s&ioh ad5olnp the