The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-29
HERMANN TAKES A HAND
The Contest Covers ALI the Land
in the Libby District.
ON THE RETIRED LIST
Very Little Going On in Sylvanite This
Winter-Peterson Has Made an
Important Strike on the
Little Spokane.

Special Correspondence of the Standard.
Libby, Jan. PA letter received in
Libby from Washington to-day indi-
Gates that the commissioner of the gen.
eral land office, Binger Hermann, has ia
ken hand in the mineral land contest
of which SO much has been said in the
papers of the state recently. The facts
as already fully stated in the Standard
are that the Northern Pacific filed a
contest in the Kalispell land office pro-
testing against the classification of the
first board of mineral land commission
ers of this district, claiming that all the
lands in the northwest corner of The
state are non-mineral The contest
covered all lands in the Libby, Troy and
Sylvanite mining districts. The case
was set for the 10th inst. at Kalispell,
but howl went up from the parties
interested that found its way into tie
local and state papers and has evident
ly reached Washington. The hearing at
Kalispell was postponed by wire from
Washington and this has been followed
by the letter from Commissioner Her
mann, to which reference is here made
He states that his attention has been
called to this contest by both of Mon
tana's senators and ordered the con-
test held up pending further investi-
CATION. He also asks for an explanation
from the government representatives as
to the reason for not holding this con-
test in the vicinity of the land which is
in jeopardy, so that the government
might have the benefit of the testimony
voluntarily offered by the parties most
interested. This letter will have very
salutary effect as a demonstration to
the people that the government land
Office is not an annex of the Northern
Pacific land department, but is willing
to help mineral land claimants when
they themselves show a willingness TO
defend their rights. 1t is not known at
present what date will be set for this
hearing, and it is understood that the
railroad company will withdraw from
the contest of most of the land concern
ed and make no attempt to prove any
ground south of the Kootenai river end
west of Libby to be non-mineral.
The neighborfng camp of SylVanlte.
rs miles north of here, has been some
what on the retired list during the pres
ent winter, owing to the shutting down
of it's two quartz mills on the keystone
and Gold Flint properties. Development
work has been carried on in the Key
stone, however. and apparently with
very encouraging results. The lead is
a very large one and of low grade, the
values being entirely in gold. William
Anderson, the foreman who has been IN
charge of the Keystone for j. D. Far
has just left for Chicago and stated
that he would be absent for three
weeks. While he did not give out the
object Of his trip, it is generally under
stood that he goes for the purpose of
purchasing new machinery for the
treatment of the Keystone ore, the
mine being now in condition to supply
more ore than can be treated in the
10-stamp mill now on the property. AS
soon as the keystone resumes work 1t
Is thought that several other properties
in the district will come into produce
ton.
John Peterson has made quite an i'm
portant strike in the Little Spokane,
which Is situated seven miles south Of
Troy, on Grouse mountain. Mr.. Peter
son ran a long crosscut tunnel on this
property and was rewarded by en-
counterng three feet of shipping ore
when he struck the lead. The ore is
galena and runs much the same as the
high grade ore in the Snowshoe mine
here, and can be shipped direct to the
smelters and leave a handsome profit.
Mr.. Peterson incorporated company
in Kalispell to work the property, of
which D. r. Peeler, president of the
First National bank of kalispell. is
president. The company has taken hold
in good shape and its energies so far
have been directed toward getting a
good road to the mine and a good
bridge over Lake creek. This work has
now been completed and the shipment
Of ore will begin at once. This strike
has infused new life into the Troy dis
trict.
The work of installing an electric
light plant for the Snowshoe mine and
concentration is being pushed and tire
air compressor plant is nearly COM
peted, so that it is estimated that the
machine drills will be at work by the
10th of February. The completion Of
these improvements will enable the de-
velopment of this mine to proceed at a
much more rapid rate. The company
to-day purchased the saw mill plant Of
William Criderman, which will be re-
moved at once from Libby to Snowshoe
gulch, near the mine. The company has
let contract for the immediate deliv-
cry at this mill of 100000 feet of logs,
which will be sawed under contract by
w. H. Murray. The mill has a capacity
of 10000 feet day and will probably
be kept steadily at work. With the ex-
ceedingly favorable development in this
mine it seems a foregone conclusion
that the reduction capacity will have to
be speedily enlarged. The present con-
centrator is only capable of handling
200 tons of crude ore per day and by
spring the Snowshoe will be in a posi-
ton to supply four times that amount
of ore.
A most thorough and searching ex-
animation of the Buzz Saw group of
mines has been conducted all this Win
ter by ]. M. Dikeman in behalf of the
United States and British Columbia
Mining company of Kansas City, which
has the group on call. Arthur Winslow,
formerly state geologist of Missouri is
the president of this company, which is
operating mines in Colorado and Brit
ish Columbia, and it is understood to be
a strong concern financially. This group
consists of five patented claims, sit
uated on Shaughnessy hill, six miles
south Of town. They have been devel-
oped by five croSscut tunnels which on