The silver blade. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1895-1903, 1899-04-22
MINES AND MINING NEWS
OUR NORTHWESTERN MINES.
Items Cleaned From tho Late Reports
All Districts Are Being DevolOped-A
Prosperous Year IL Predicted-Mining
Notes and Personals.

| ALI Dlstr1cts Are Being Oovo1Ope0-A
Prosperous Year Il Predictsd-Mining
Notes and Personals.
| Curious changes occur in the char
aster of mine and Its product. It is
very common occurrence that q gold
mine, at depth, becomes a silver mine;
and silver mine runs into copper,
and that poor expectations run into
unexpectedly rich realizations, an in
stance Of which is the experience Of the
Utah Consolidated; as gold mine its
stock sold at $3.50 per share; now 1t is
a copper mine and its stock sells at $50
per share.
Green McKeever has started to build
a $50, 900 dredging plant at Old's Ferry
four miles east of Huntington, Oregon.
They are placing material on the
ground and will commence active op-
erations on the boat this week. They
intend to dredge the bars of the Snake
river below Old's Ferry for distance
of four or five miles.
A rich strike of copper ore Is report
ed on the Highland King claim, recent
assays going $211 in gold, silver and
copper. The property is situated on
Diorite creek, % miles from Fort
Steele.
1t is announced that w. 8. Stratton
has sold his famous Cripple Creek
mine, the Independence, to company
of London capitalists. The price it not
stated, but Is believed to be not less
than $20,000,0O0.
The directors and some of the princi.
pal stockholders of the Amador Copper
Mining Company have returned to
Wallace from visit to the company's
property, near Iron mountain. They
were so we'll satisfied with the pros
poets there that they located five more
claims on the same ledge, giving the
company seven quartz claims and one
placer-the latter being equivalent to
good mill site.
A correspondent was up to the "Six-
teen to One" near Wallace, during last
week, and found that there had been
no exaggeration in the previous re-
ports, but that it was even greater
than had been represented. In fact, it
is unknown as yet how great 1t Is, as
the ledge has never been crosscut.
The largest tin mine in the world is
believed to be that on the island of Su-
10 Brani, in the bay of Singapore. pro-
ducing monthly over 1000 tons of tin.
Among other unique forms of gold
mining" will appear this season a
force of miners working in diving
suits in the Sacramento river, Cal, be-
tween Redding and Kerswick.
The steady advance in the price of
materials that go into the manufacture
Of machinery must necessarily have
the effect of raising the cost of this
machinery, though no particular ad-
vances are as yet noted.
The output of Capt. DeLamar's Mer-
cur (Utah) mines, that has already
reached 600 tons daily, is to be in
creased to 900, and to that end the en-
largement of the roasting plant is to
be commenced within a few days.
The report is current in the copper
country that the Calumet & Hecla is
going to cease sinking and adding new
levels, and will confine it's efforts to
the stopping of ground already opened.
AS the report goes, the company has
enough ground opened to keep them
busy for ten or twelve years, and they
will rush production while copper is
selling at high prices. The bulls prob
ably have been too enthusiastic in cred
iting the mine having enough territory
opened to last dozen years without
opening new ground. Calumet & Hec-
la sends out not far from 100000
tons of rock annually. Multiply this
by IL and it gives total that means
considerable in the way of cubic feet
Of ground. There is no question but
that the company could increase its
output considerably for the coming few
years If it cared to do SO, but it's policy
has generally been a conservative one.
Iron Ore.
L. T. Mitchell, who has had charge
of the work of the Blue Jacket mine in
the Seven Devils district, Idaho, was in
Boise last week. He told a most in
teresting story of what has been done
there and Of the showing made by the
mine. His statement discloses the
fact that the Blue Jacket is one Of the
remarkable copper mines of the coun-
try. He says they drove the crosscut
tunnel 450 feet to reach the ledge, cut.
ting the latter at depth of 80 feet.
They found the vein to be % feet wide,
between well defined walls. There is
a streak of five feet Of what Mr.. Mitch
ell terms solid copper" The ore is
very nearly pure metal and runs from
80 to 80 per cent copper. The remain.
der of the % feet of the ledge runs
from to 10 per cent copper.
A gasoline hosting engine Is being
installed at the Ivanhoe, in the SLOGAN.
1t will be used at the winze which is
being sunk 200 feet on the vein from
the lowest tunnel. The work on the
Ivanhoe is now 700 feet from the Apex
and ore is showing all the way.
| Republic.
w. B. Kehoe. superintendent Of the
i Nlx,e. LII.