Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1899-04-21
An Elk CITY Fl DORADO,

"" LIN VII Il UUnhUUl
Sale Of Silver Reef Claims for
$4,000.
supposed to b I Silver Proposition, But
Pans Out Gold.
About the first location of a
quartz claim ever made in the Elk
City basin was the California, on
Gold Hill, and separated from Elk
City by the channel of American
river. The California was first
located in 1864 and has since then
passed through the hands of q
dozen different parties. 1t has
always been regarded as silver
proposition, and in fact today it
has very fine shoot of rich ore
carrying antimonial and brittle
silver, with values approaching
500 per ton. Several tons of this
ore were shipped to the Selby
smelling works at San Francisco
in 1885 and the returns gave val
ues of sos per ton.
This rich silver ore shoot crops
out boldly ON the surface and led
to its location in 1865. A shaft
was put down that year to q depth
OF 40 feet, but owing 10 the re-
moteness of the district from civil
ization at that time and the impos-
sibility of shipping even the richest
ore the claim was abandoned. 1t
was once owned by q hotel keeper
in Portland, at whose expense con-
siderable development was done.
In 1896 the property, by purchase
and otherwise, passed solely into
the hands of w. H. Ferguson, who
named it the Silver Reef, and under
whose direction it has been devel-
oped and acquired it's present
standing as mine of real merit.
Two tunnels have been run on
tne VEN, the upper tunnel for q
distance of $50 feet, and the lower
tunnel $50 feet long. A shaft 100
feet deep also connects the lower
tunnel and the surface and affords
ventilation. These tunnels were
designed to cut at depth the ore
shoot shown On the surface. In
the breast Of the lower tunnel a
very fine body Of silver ore is ex-
posed, possessed of the same char
acteristics as the surface groupings,
carrying antimonial and brittle
silver and assaying higher than any
OF the ore from any other part Of
the claim. The vein at this point
has not been crosscut to the walls,
the tunnel having been run through
the ore for full width of four
feet, with no wall in sight.
But it is not as silver PROPOSE
ton that the Silver Reef has been
bonded. In driving the long lower
tunnel a great dyke of what was
supposed to be porphyry was cut
through. No attention was paid
to this at the time, but by a happy
accident it was one day prospected
and found to contain gold. The
property was later examined for
survey by Edmund Juesssen, who
pronounced the so-called porphyry
dyke to be what is technically
known as an "augen gneiss." The
dyke is 35 feet wide between walls,
composed of soft, red, decompos-
ed material which brushes readily
and gives values of S. per ton in
gold, and is absolutely free milling.
The dyke crosses Gold hill and is
undoubtedly the source from
whence the rich placers on both
the American and Red river sides
of the summit derived their gold.
Gold Hill was one of the richest
placer districts in Elk City and the
source of it's gold has always been
supposed to come from the old
river channel found on American
hill and now being worked by
hydraulic elevator. The old
channel, however, has never been
located on the Gold hill side of
American river, and the extent of
this new gold bearing dyke is 50
extensive and shows for such
distance at the head Of the old
placer claims that it is now quite
clear that the old theories will
have to be revised and the source
of the gold attributed to the erosion
and wearing down of these vast
dykes of gold-bearing rock which
intersect that section, not alone on
Gold hill, but other parts of the
camp where good placers have been
found.
A 4OO-pound sample which was
taken across this dyke in the lower
tunnel gave values of IS per ton in
gold, and it was upon this showing
that the property was bonded by
Geo. A. Founder, late of Seattle,
for parties in Montreal, who will
shortly have it examined with the
intention of purchasing and oper-
ating it on an extensive scale.
r,Io ,J.,.o,,o,,,, r,>o.,c 49, - -