Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-07
SHAFT RECORDS
WERE BROKEN
Race For a Quartz Mine on
Placer Ground.
FIVE COMPANIES In 1t
Butte Mining Company Got a Fifty
Foot Start and Found the
Ledge First.
FIVE COMPANIES IN IT

This is the true story of a race for a
mine:
Over Meaderville way there is a large
tract of lane which. in the early days
of the camp was located as placer by
several individuals. In some instances,
where quartz leads We're found, he
locators took the precaution of locating
it again as quartz lodes. On the flat
east of the suburb of Meaderville there
existed at one time in the misty past
a deep gorge, which in later years was
filled i'm by process Of nature. Owing to
this fact, bedrock in some places is as
lodes were found on this ground it is still
held as placer.
A few weeks ago the secretary of the
interior made a ruling in the Reins-
Combination case. BY this ruling the
title ia the eastern portion of the Com
bination and the Ella lodes, which had
been located years ago as placer. was
declared to be valid in that no quartz
discoveries had been made upon that
portion Of the ground. Immediately
after the decision had been rendered five
different companies in Butte began the
work Of sinking shafts on the ground.
all within almost a stones throw Of each
other. Each realized that the first dis
coverer Of mineral would be entitled to
make the location, which would embrace
what is now believed to be the most val
liable copper ground in the Butte dis
trict.
The Boston & Montana, HeinZe, the
Butte Mining mpa formerly now
as the Meadervile Mining & Milling
company, and the Anaconda company
We're all represented. No expense was
spared I'M the prosecution Of the work
and all previous shaft records We're
broken. The mining timbers were
framed in the shops of the big compa-
MES and hauled to the scene Of opera
tions, 50 as not to hinder the men i'm
their work A guard with a shotgun,
ready for action, was stationed about
some of the shafts to warn off i~ntruders.
Altogether it was the most lively scene
ever witnessed in the Butte district.
From the start it seemed to be a race
between the Boston & Montana and the
Butte Mining ompany Their respective
shafts were situated within 100 feet OF
each other. The shaft of the former was
located on Boston & Montana ground.
and the shaft of the latter on the Bor-
deaux placer. AS both shafts were
located near the creek the operators had
better chances OF striking bed rock
sooner than the others who had shafts
further out, where the bed rock was
deeper.
Under ordinary conditions the race be-
tween the two companies would have
been an equal one, With the chances
slightly in favor of the Boston & Nom
tana. But the Butte Mining company
stole a march on it's rival. On the Bor-
deaux placer there was an old aban-
doned shaft some so feet in depth. Real
izing the necessity OF haste, the Butte
Mining company decided to utilize this
shaft, and while it's rivals were sinking a
new shaft from the surface the Bordeaux
people were extending the old shaft
downward. With a 5O-foot start the
Butte Mining company won BY striking
a ledge at a depth Of about so feet, and
half an hour later the company had
made it's location, taking in a strip of
ground extending in a southeasterly d.
rection from the Bordeaux placer.
h other operators in that district
have not lost heart, however, and are
prospecting work as merrily as ever.