The Anaconda standard., 1899-10-23
MAKING OREGON FAMOUS
Montana Men in the Baker CITY
District.
THE COMING GOLD SECTION
Celebrated Sumpter Country Has Star
tied the World With It's Immense
Wealth - Some OF the
Properties.

merit in the consideration given to the
comparatively new mining districts
which are making Oregon famous.
| Less than four years ago Baker City,
Ore, invited the prospec.or to come for
ward and help himself to the gncd
things which the adjacent districts CT
fered, and many Butte and Anaconda
men of enterprise and pluck followed
| the star and struck upon something
pretty good. It would be difficult to find
any number of men who left western
| Montana at that time for the inviting
field who have returned with any other
| than first-class reports of the country.
They all say that it is the coming gold
1 mining section of the great Northwest
Within the last few years the famous
| Sumpter district has come into promi-
nence and startled the world with its
| immense wealth. The Golconda mine
six miles from Sumpter. has recently
yielded ore that goes $4,000 in gold to
the ton. The gold can be seen sticking
| out of the ore in great nodules. Sump-
| ter is 80 miles from Baker City and is
| reached by the Sumpter Valley railroad.
| Sumpter district is subdivided into the
| following districts: Bonanza, Green
horn, Robinsonville, John Day. Quartz
| burg and Susanville. The largest pro
ducing mines Of the district are the Bo-
nanza. $SoO,o0O per annum; Red Boy,
100000; Columbia 5000, 900; North Pole
| S200,0O0. The Goconda is installing
Bryan mill; the Cougar, 1OO-ton cyan
| ide plant, the May Queetn a 1O-stamp
mill: the Little Giant. 10-stamp mill;
! the Magnolia, 10-stamp; the Maidens
| Dream. 1O-stamp, and the Great North
ern. 5-stamp. The Ibex people are con-
| templating the erection of 2O-stamD
mill and several other companies are
figuring on or have ordered mills.
| w F. Cobban of this city recently
visited the Sumpter district and will re-
| turn there this week. He declares that
it is the most inviting field for invest
ment he has seen, in any of his recent
| travels. He is going into business in
Sumpter and become one of its citizens.
| Edward E. Young, writing to the
Portland Oregonian, says that a raral-
lei may be drawn between the gold
| fields of the Transvaal and those of
Sumpter, Strange as it might seem,"
says he. "many points of resemblance
are to be brought out, and the compari-
| son will not reflect unfavorably upon
| the mineral zone of eastern Oregon.
THE South African gold deposits are
| restricted to an area of about 30 miles
| in length, and whose breadth varies
! from five to 20 miles. 1t is somewhat
in the shape of an ellipsis, or. an elon-
gated egg. The dip of the. veins or,ysed-
! imentary deposit carrying gold varies
in degree with depth and the different
| reefs are pierced at various depths
| THE Sumpter gold fields practically.
have length of 100 miles and width
of from FIVE to Is miles The veins
| come to the surface. and free gold con
tinues at the lowest depth yet reached
in this section. There are but few
points of comparison between the ores
in the eastern Oregon mineral belt ard
| those of South Africa, but they are alike
| in one essential feature They are both
| free milling to a degree. and, in the
| opinion of all experts who have fami-
| iarized themselves with both localities.
values in eastern Oregon will continue
| with depth as they are doing in South
| Africa, where the shaft has been sunk
| on the Jumpers-Deep mine to depth
| of 5000 feet.
I'm conversation with two thoroughly
experienced and intelligent Englishmen
| from South Africa, who have spent
years in the Transvaal country, your
| correspondent cleaned information
which can be construed as an earnest of
great mining development soon to &C.
| cur in the Sumpter gold fields. There
was very little progress in South Afri-
| can mining until about 1890. The devel-
| opment beginning about that time c,n-
| tinued SO RAPIDLY and spread so extern
| sively that by the close of 1894 over
| 100000 ounces of gold, worth $40 an
| ounce, had been mined. This increase
| has continued with accelerated rapidity
| until the statistics of this year shaw
that more than 1000 900 ounces of gold
| represents the annual output from The
| Transvaal country. This is equal to $780,,
900. 900.
Perhaps the one fact of greatest i'm
| portance in the unprecedented develop
| ment of the South African gold fields
,f ;,, -
| amount of ore crushed from month TO
| month. A system was soon establish I'd
whereby authentic data could he Sc
| cured from the mines, and a reliable
record of the "crushings" was kept;
| each month breaking the record of the
preceding month. The news went on
| the wings of the wind. and London cant
| tai rushed into the Transvaal in larger
amount than had ever previously been
| invested in any one mining district. At
present good authority places the
amount of British capital invested in
| the Transvaa1 mines at e20O. OOO COO
sterling. or $1,000, 100000.
''The Englishmen who give these data
| are firmly convinced that if the amount
| of ore crushed in the Sumpter rold
| fields each month could be made bnown
to the world through some reliabIe
channel, it would do more than any
| other one thing vastly to augment the
|
| Such facts speak more to the expe--
| fenced mine managers than anything
| else could.
"When any mining section continues
for given time to increase its output
| with uninterrupted regularity it is sure
! to attract the attention of the outside
mining world. This has been the his
tory of the Sumpter gold fields for the
past three years; and, if authentic da a
| had been preserved the ecords here
would show an increase proportionately
| as great, no doubt as was recorded for
! the first few years of the South African
| development.
| This section has the advantage of
| South Africa. also, in the matter of
! freight and timber. The enormous
transportation charges paid by the
| Transvaal miners will appear when it
| is stated as fact that they can i'm
| port goods from America and have them
| transported to the borders of the Trans
Vaal at q cost for transporta ton not tx