The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-09


| escaped the first PAGER washers on ac.
| count of the water on the bedrock. This
was easier now than eariilr. as all of the
water was now open to relocation and
there was freer right of way for
] humes and for dumps. The water which
was available in Cedar creek. flowing
through the ravine. was not sufficient in
| itself for hydraulcking during the whole
| season, and reservoirs were required to
| store it. tlume would have to be
| brought for nearly a mile through ground
| most of which would yield practically
| nothing. cutting in some places through 4
depth of 50 feet of bank and much of the
| time below the level of the bedrock in or
| der to drain the richest ground on which
| the bedrock dipped up the stream for a
| long distance.
-Four years ago the first serious at
tempt to do this work was made, when
| the Cedar Creek Consolidated Mining
| company was organized, in which the
principal claim holders pooled their inter-
ests and started the work of building the
necessary improvements. The principal
| owners have been from the first the
Messrs. LaCassc. who have now practi-
cally alone perfected the great piece of
work that will eventually clean up all the
gold left in the creek. When these men
began this work they were, inexperienced
in placer mining, having spent most of
their active lives at numbering, but they
have since built up fine plant. Two res
ervoirs were built, which are able to hold
sufficient water for piping until August.
and in the present year a much larger one
will be built to give sufficient reserves for
the whole open season. The foundation is
already laid for the dam, which will fur
nish water with pressure of 200 feet,
enough for two giants.
1.-THE f1ume, 1900 feet long. has been con-
structed at a cost exclusive of the pro-
prietors' own labor of s35.000 1t is four
feet wide and eight feet deep, running in
most places through the bedrock to a
depth of six feet. On the top of the
fiume is a track for a small car. by
which materials and tools are easily
transported from one end of the works to
the other The grade of the flume is two
and three-quarters inches to the 12-foot
box, which is very small; but this was re-
CURED by the position of the bedrock. The
upper part of the fume passed through
ground that was sufficiently rich to pay
to work out beyond the amount necessary
for the cut. although it had all been
previously drifted and timbered. These
timbers were to some extent an extra
item of trouble, on account of the work
required to move them, The gold found
was very fine, none of it being of sufficient
size to be called nuggets. 1t is practically
all caught by quicksilver in the rifles,
some 200 pounds each year being required.
"These values. found in this deserted
ground and old failing dumps. made it
possible for the company to eXpend the
large sum for improvements which other
wise would have prevented the compile
ton of the plant without making dispo-
sal of stock necessary. The ground. which
is on an average $50 feet wide. is worked
by this company for a width of 800 feet
only, and while in some cases the bank has
a height of 40 feet the average of the past
season was about 20 feet deep. The bed
rock is a shaly slate and very easily
cleaned. The company has also saw
mill and 10-horse-power engine, which can
cut all the timbers and lumber needed
from the surrounding heavy stand of pine.
During the year 1898 the fume just
reached virgin ground, SO it may be eN-
pected that richer gravel will be found
from now on. 1t is the ground deserted
in the '10s on account of water. occasioned
by the reverse fitting of the bedrock To-
gether with this amount of work on the
t1ume in 1898, a pit with a depth of 20 feet
and 200 feet long by 275 feet wide has
been cleaned up, in all of which were
drifts. The gold taken out appropriated
%"o,ooN, "iitH SiNtS d Nd4ut VI ABOUT W
cents to the cubic yard 1t is of a very
pure quality, being 943 fine
THE company, of which Treff1e La
Case is president, owns about 400 acres
ali of which is patented. Other compa-
MES are working on the same stream
though on a smaller scale. Many small
holders also are taking advantage of the
drainage given by the big t1ume and cuts
of the Consolidated company.
1.-The placers are located some l6 miles.
from Iron Mountain station, which is on
the Occur d'Alene branch of the Northern
Pacific railroad. and are reached by pack
and wagon trail. A postoffice is main
tanned at the company's workings and is
known as Forest"