The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-08
Park County Is Going to Mine
in Modern Style.
METHODS TO SAVE VALUES
These Will Be Introduced and the Ex-
pectation Is That the County's
Camps Will Get
Benefit.

be great summer for mining in Park
county. From what has already been
done, and the prospects before the min
ing enterprises now, it seems that moth
ing can prevent the work of develop
ment in Bear gulch and Boulder assum-
ing amazing proportions before the
snow flies. The bane of mining in Park
county has been the lack of facilities for
saving values in the rich ore which has
been treated at the stamp mills in pre-
vious years. This lack has been partly
owing to the fact that mining men re-
lied on luck and rich ore to bring the
returns instead of trusting in tried pro-
cesses of extracting the mineral from
the rock.
This condition is at an end in Park
county. and whatever mining is done in
the future will be free from the faults
which have ruined so many promising
enterprises. This is particularly true of
the work now being done by the Bear
Gulch Mining company at Jardine. Re-
ports from that camp indicate that ex-
cellent progress is being made along
progressive lines and the work done is
such as will compare favorably with
that of any camp in the west
Standard reporter was grant
ed an interview last week with
H. w. Snyder, who has spent
the past month in Bear gulch making
tests of chemical process on the ores
treated at the stamp mill at that place
Mr.. Snyder Is from Denver and dis
plays an accurate knowledge OF mining
matters and talked freely of the pros
poets of the Bear gulch camp, and pre-
dicted a splendid future for Park coun-
ty mines.
II do not believe your people know
the extent and richness of the gold
fields of Park county" said Mr.. Sny-
der. In fact, 1t appears that there are
l,to Int,
gagged in the work of development in
this part of the country. That I pre-
sumo DIS the reason why one sees so
many abandoned mills and SO few that
are paying as a mill should pay when
handling such ore as you have in Park
county. The great problem in all min
ing camps is to find out just what
treatment your ore needs to save the
values. The problem is being rapidly
solved at Bear gulch. Harry Bush is
hustler and some day he will show re-
suits in that camp which will only be
believed by those who are on the
ground and see the work done and
watch the development of the processes
he employs.
"A new stamp mill is now going up
and will be finished in short time. 1t
is built near the Revenue mine and will
have 40 stamps and will be one of the
best equipped mills in the state, or in
the west for that matter. Still, you
must understand that good mill is one
thing and a proper treatment of the ore
which goes through it is another and
far more important consideration. Bear
gulch has one advantage-the ore is
pretty much all alike-that is to say, it
will all respond to the same treatment,
and when the right process is secured
for saving the gold Park county people
will be astonished at the results.
II do not mean to say that they are
not doing we'll now" said Mr.. Snyder
in reply to a question. Let sme say
something about stamp mills and you
will understand what I mean. A mill
man who has no axe to grind will admit
that there are more stamp mills saving
80 per cent of the values and less than
there are mills which save more than
that. There are many things which
prevent the proper working of a mill
For instance in Bear gulch there is a
great deal Of mica in the rock. This
mica is harder to mill than the rock,
and oftentimes carries away a great
deal of gold which is enclosed between
ats flakes. Then sometimes the plung-
ing of the stamp causes the particles Of
gold to catch molecules of air and these
adhering to the mineral floats it away
and prevents it sinking to the plates as
It should. Then there is slime formed
from the tale or ground rock found in
all fissure veins, and this carries off a
great deal of gold by preventing precip-
ore ds another serious drawback, as 1t
forms in a coat upon the plates below
the batteries and prevents the gold be-
tng caught.
you see all these things are serious
drawbacks and initiate against the
success of a milling proposition. l be-
heve IL the ore containing arsenic was
roasted and the arsenical properties
evaporated a great saving would be
made in the values which now go to
waste. Then there is need of a chemical
process to cut the slime formed by the
tale and disintegrate the mica which
holds the gold. The air which adheres
to mineral would also be released by
the same process and the cleanup from
the plates would come so much nearer
being what the milled rock assayed
that the result would be astonishing.
THE ore in the Bear gulch district is
the richest have ever seen, and have
seen a great deal of very rich ore. The
surface float is sort of decomposed
schist, lower down is found the quartz
and the deepest veins containing ar
senical iron ore SO rich that a statement
of it's value almost passes the bounds
of belief. On the property owned by
the Park View Mining company, on
Crevasse mountain, there are acres and
acres of decomposed schist from which
colors can be PANIED by selecting the
dirt at random from any part of the
hillside. 1t is my opinion that this
could be scraped up and treated at an
immense profit by a chemical process
This schist is easy TO mill and there is
no great trouble found in milling the
quartz, but the arsenical iron ore in the
lower levels does not give up the values
it contains so easily as the others.
us the Bear Gulch company making
money? Well, l should say it was. The
way they are now running a 10-stamr
mill they can clean up nearly thou
dollars naV from their hest ore
and when the Revenue mill is com
pleted and a good chemical process is
put at work to assist in saving the
gold the result is going to be simply q
mining marvel The work is going
ahead with amazing rapidity and is be-
ing done as thoroughly as l have ever
seen ii done.
IT expect to go to Independence next
week and experiment with the chemica
process on the ores of the Boulder. f