Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1899-03-24

Fifty per cent can easily be caught
upon the plates OF the stamp mill
and the balance of the gold will be
retained in high grade concen-
trates.
Three tons of the Big Buffalo
ore were taken to the Banner mill
at Florence last fall and milled.
The returns from this ore were 1920
to the ton; 35 per cent of the value
was caught on the plates and So
per cent on Whitley table. These
last were in the shape of concen-
trates that sold to the Tacoma
smelter at the rate of S2,747 per
ton. These are the returns that
sent q thrill of excitement through
the gold hunting people Of the
west. One Of the most famous Of
these gold hunters, Sam Silverman,
was seen speeding for the new
camp. Since the eclipse of Jim
Wardner, Sam Silverman takes
first place as the pioneer mining
operator of the Pacific northwest
He seems to have some secret or
occult mode of divining the value
OF new camp or of locating it be-
fore anybody else gets there. Okla
hogan, Rossland, Boundary, the
SLOGAN, Ceur HAlene and all the
others saw him in at the start. He
is bold speculator and he is liable
to be worth a million today and
liable to be dead broke tomorrow.
In the maelstrom of the panic of
1913 he lost everything, and in '94
when l next saw him his hands
were horny handed, for he was
working in concentrating mill at
Burke for $3.50 a day. But he did
not work there long, for he was
seen hunting fresh fields and for
tunes new. sam Silverman, though
on the silvery side Of 40, has the
ardor and enthusiasm of a youth
of 20. He is Of Russian Jew ex-
traction but he has associated so
long with Irish prospectors and
miners that he has become a good
and excellent companion and an
open handed, open hearted, real
good fellow. Sam is now the Or
iginal Buffalo Hump man. He
did not discover it, but he has
stood sponsor for it and he talked
about it until men listened, then
wondered, and finally wanted sto
be in on it,
''Buffalo Hump needs no herald
now. It's fame and future are
assured.
F" When I walked over the Big
Buffalo and Merrimac group and
examined that immense vein, fully
30 feet wide and 5000 feet long,
remarked Sam to me, Il was liter
ally dazed. Every place where the
ore cropped l could pan free gold
out of it. 1t looked to me as if it
We're one vast sheet and am con.
tident it is, and if it be there will
be more gold dug out of the Merri-
mac and Big Buffalo than out OF
tho FL Dorado, Bonanza and all
the other creeks of the Klondike
combined.
''Lane Gillian, to whom 1 told
Sans sanguine views, assured me
that he shared those views in their
entirety. Why said he, Il have
never seen anything from Mexico
to Alaska like the wonderful sur
face showing of the Big Buffalo and
Merrimac and also of the Mother
lode and Louise. I took sample
of the Big Buffalo ore at depth of
seven feet and it went $77 to the
ton. took another sample at a
depth of four feet, it went $50 to
the ton. AT six feet in the Merri-
mac l got $21 to the ton. l am
thoroughly convinced that Buffalo
Hump will surpass all other dis
tricts on the North American con-
tinent as gold producer. Lane
Gillian is one of the most reliable
and conservative men l know of
and his sweeping commendation
argues exceedingly well for Buffalo
Hump"