Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1899-07-14
THUNDER MOUNTAIN MINES
c. N. HUFF Knows Them Well and has
Firm Faith in Their Future.

c. NJ. Huff was a visitor il
Grangeville Friday, having com,
up from Boise and other parts o
, Southern Idaho. He tells us tina
at the time of his departure from
Boise prOspcctOrs were leavin,
there at the rate of 200 per day
some bound for Buffalo Hump. tn,
Seven Devils, Boise Basin, Thun
der Mountain and other sections il
the heart of UNEMPLOYED Idaho.
Mr.. Huff is himself largely in
terested in the Thunder Mountain
countr.. and confirms the report.
previously published in these col
umns that the Caswell brothers hat
cleaned up 50, 300 by running tn,
surface dirt through a set of slnic,
boxes.
Thunder Mountain lies south anC
a little east of Warren, and about
60 miles due east of what is known
as Vinegar hill, an eminence which
got its title in the campaign Of
1879 after the sheepeater Indians,
in which Editor A. +. Parker par.
licipated. Thunder Mountain
forms the divide between Big creek
and the middle fork of Salmon
river, and derives it's name from
the frequency with which thunder
storms seem to generate there.
The gold-bearing rock seems to
be OF an undetermined formation,
somewhat resembling porphyry,
and may be spoken of as an i'm
mensc porphyry dyke, mineralized,
and carrying gold, which upon dis
Indignation by the action of the ele-
ments has deposited its gold values
upon the slope of the mountain.
The hills Whereabouts are frightful-
ly steep and the slopes of all the
higher mountains are covered from
their submits down to the forming
of the canyons with mineral de-
posits of slide rock broken from the
higher elevations by the combined
action OF frost, sun, rain, wind and
other elemental exposures, and
covering the gold-bearing dyke in
all but a few favored places by an
enormous accumulation of debris
over which horseback travel is i'm
possible, owing to the enormous
size of some of the boulders, which
are heaped up in indescribable con-
fusion and in sizes running from
the size of a railroad car up to enor-
nous ones as big as the capitol
building at Washington In our
travels through that country in
former years we came to the con-
clusion that Dame Nature had up
reared these towering mountain
ranges for the express purpose Of
tearing them down again, and we
have more than once seen in that
very section the whole side of a
mountain fall down and add to the
understandable chaos Of confusion be-
low as though to demonstrate at
once her power and her methods Of
humbling the naughty heads of
these towering crc,ts.
Under such Accommodations lies
buried the great gold-bearing. dyke
which in time is bound to become
a scene Of great mining activity.
For more than a mile in length this
dyke has been prospected in places
and in each place found to carry
the same uniform values, averaging
sl7.20 in gold per ton and not a
trace of silver.
or the dyke itself we are unable
to state anything more precisely
than it is Of a yellowish character
which Stacks easily upon exposure
to atmospheric influences, and that
where it is not covered by slide and
water is accessible it will all Weld
good pay when run through sluice
boxes.
A new trail is being cut out from
Elk creek, on the south fork of
salmon, through the Alton district,
and south of the new copper camp
On Monumental creek. Thunder
lies south of this, and
MIR. Huff says there is good deal
If uncertainty regarding the loca-
ion of the district, and some of the
ocatOrs are recording in Idaho
county, others in Lemhi, and still
others in Custer. To those famil-
ar with the water courses of that
section there will be no hesitation
n locating Thunder Mountain as a
ong ways west of the Lcmhi line
md still farther north of the Custer
boundary. In fact, there should
re no more uncertainty in locat- .
ng it in Idaho county than War
en- or any other well known point {
Mr.. Huff left this morning for !.
lis locations, with Warren as his
ase of supplies.
Co.