The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-02-03
IN WALLACE.
An Attempt to Work Deep Piacers in th
Occur d'AIenes.


Occur d'AIenes.
Special Correspondence of the Standard.
Wallace. Idaho, Jan. 31.-A serious
attempt is now about to be made to
| work some Of the deep placers of the
| Occur dAlenes. The method viii be
! the dredge, which has proven so sue
! cessful in Warrens, Elk City and other
| cid placer camps. 1t is not known here
! who is interested in the undertaking,
! but it is understood to be an Eastern
! syndicate, everything being done here
! by an agent named Johnson, who has
/ been at Murray several months, during
which time he has secured IL claims.
| covering the whole bottom of Prichard
| creek for upwards of two miles. the
| machinery for the plant has been or
/ dered and the first carload is already
! here. from whence ii Will be hauled
| over on sleds. Two more carloads are
| expected soon, and It is all to be got
| onto the ground while the snow lasts.
/ Although millions of dollars were taken
| from the old placers of the Occur
d Alenes in the first few years follow
ing the discovery in 1883. and upwards
of $250O00 is still produced annually, 1t
| is the universal opinion among men ac-
quainted with the situation, that the
| richest ground is yet untouched. The
| lower part of Eagle and Beaver creeks,
! and all of Prichard that was gold
/ bearing, were too fiat to work by ordi-
| nary mining methods, and are to-day
as truly virgin ground as when An
drew Prchard first started into the
| Occur d'Alene mountains. Here ana
there someone has put in a pump and
| gone to bedrock, invariably hnding
gold but not in quantities TO pay by
| any such method.
After the first craze was over and
mining became an established business,
a company was formed and bedrock
flume put in. 1t commenced way down
Eagle creek, following up that stream
and Prichard several miles. 1t was on
the latter stream that mining was done
and it was continued until there was
no longer sufficient fall. when 1t was
abandoned. This company paid out
over 81 900, 900 for labor and material.
and yet the undertaking was financial
success, although the company mad
worked what should be the poor ground
on the creek.
From the upper end of the bedrock
fume company's work to Raven, a dis
tance of seven miles, placer work has
been carried on wherever the condi-
tons would admit. but the creek bot
tom is all untouched. The gulches
which made the Occur d'Alenes famous
Dream, Wesp, Conger. Buckskin. AL
der Gold. Missoula ana others, all put
into Priohard creek in this part, and
for ages they have been pouring gold
dust and nuggets into water too slug
gish to move the treasure further,
nature boarding it up under conditions
which have heretofore kept ii securely.
Ages before the Prichard creek of this
day there was another and mlghtler
stream draining the same country. Its
old channel is first found near Raven,
from whence ii runs in generally
western course along what is now a
mountain side nearly parallel with
Prichard creek and some half mile dis
tant il is traced and worked. Neering
little more to the north 1t crosses
Eagle creek and farther west the north
fork of the Occur d'Alene. A short
! distance west of this it is lost again
, the country from there on to coeui
d'Alene lake being but little known
This old channel, either that of a gla-
cier or a stream coming from afar off
! as is proven by its gravel furnishing
| stone of a different character from any,
thing in the Occur dAlene, is rich II
gold. having been worked in many
!. places both by hydraulic and drifting
Through that old channel all these ole
gulches cut their bottom being now
far below what was bedrock when Inc
old stream flowed over 1t, annd WITH
: out exception they were all much richer
below the old channel than above II
e But greater many times than the Ole
: channel gold which these gulches nave
stolen and placed in Prichard creek fol
e safe keeping. is the gold which ina
, stream has itself taken from the noun
7 tain The lodges in that section are
+. standing nearly upright. In the wei
!. nifty of Murray there are at least three
E of these blanket veins, and that aver
: age would probably hold good for th'
: entire seven miles Their combined
c thickness would be not far from elgh
l feet and the seven stamp mills crush
: ing their ores have shown that IL sci
dom runs less than $40 per ton. Whil
: rich pockets are frequent running a.
high as $1,000 and even higher. For
: distance of seven miles east and ives
and more than n mile north and south
1 Prichard creek has washed away thes
: veins while its water was not swift
y enough to carry the gold away. To-da.
their broken edges crop along the side
! of the mountains. which form the wall
/ of the CANYON, while the gold whicl
: was once in them lies in the bottom o
1 the valley hundreds of feet below.
: The bedrock in this bottom is covere'
$ by from 20 to 50 feet of dirt-probabl.
: 80 feet on an ayerage-and the tall L
q the creek is barely sufficient FOR goo
t drainage. That the whole bottom Woul
. pay for working is not to be supposed
/ but there must be many places III
which would make klondike blush
Il Several previous attempts have bee
II made 10 get control of some of tines
a bottom claims that they might b
worked by machinery. but they hay
4 / always run up against some obstinat
n owner. who wanted il all ana wanted
/ in advance. There is now more gen
e eral willingness Ia be reasonable. nc
; only by holders further up Prichar
/. creek but also on Eagle and Beavel
: where similar conditions prevail, and
; tins enterprise proves one-half as sue
: cessful as the conditions justify one l
a expecting. il is likely that companit
\ viii he formed II work other streams j
; the Occur d'Alene gold belt.