Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1900-07-13
TElLUR|UM ORES FOUND
4 New and Rich District Pound North
OF Buffalo HUMP.

The prospecting which the
country in and around Buffalo
Hump is receiving this year is
,lready productive Of great good.
The latest strike, and one which
promises to be of great magnitude,
is the discovery on Four-mile
creek, IL miles north of the Hump,
of great strong lodges which carry
good values in gold, and one Of
which is also found to contain
tellurium, a mineral which has not
heretofore been found in any of the
mining camps Of Idaho county.
The discovery was made some
weeks ago by p. H. Leach and
John Mclean, and consists OF three
distinct lodges on one location,
16OOx6OO feet. These lodges are
respectively %, four and 90 feet in
width, and assays from all these
run from 500, $3.50, $3.50, 5000 up
to $1,000 in gold per ton. The last
assay was taken from an adjoining
claim. In addition the ores carry
three ounces in silver and six per
cent. lead. When Messrs. Leach
and Mclean first brought the ore to
town it looked at first glance like
lot Of big bull quartz boulders,
but a closer examination showed
that it is not only rich in free gold
but that it carries tellurium also.
Tellurium runs through
quartz in small veins or stains,
and to those who have never seen
the mineral it might be easily
mistaken for black jack or other
worthless stuff with which the
veins everywhere are sometimes
loaded. The discovery of tellur-
ium in these ores was brought
about in the firt place by assayer
w. B. Trip, and upon his first
announcement Of the fact he was
at first discredited; but subsequent
tests made by Mr.. Trip and
VIM. E. L'Hame soon dissipated
these doubts, and it may now be
stated as an established fact that
the ores in that part of the great
Buffalo Hump mineral zone carry
tellurides. The width of the
lodges is also an indication that the
mineral is not confined to any
particular spot on the veins, but il
generally disseminated through.
out.
Float ore from the largest vein
in the new strike gives assays q
$15 per ton in gold, and the chunks
brought out here are as heavy az .
man can lift. The float is very
heavy and the boulders have tt
be blasted to make them at al
portable. The walls are granite,
and indeed, the granite intrude'
into the veins close to the walls sc
that in reducing them there will b.
a good deal of waste from thi.
cause. Directly below these
lodges are situated the Fourth 0
July placers which the boys worked
this spring with satisfactory results
The veins are undoubtedly true
assures, with an east and wes
course. and dip to the south. Thu
claim covering the location Of thu
three veins is called the Acacia ant
is developed to a depth Of tel
feet.
On an adjoining claim called tn
Jay Gould, G. s. Rutter, mining
broker of Spokane, is employing
force of men, and in the sam
neighb0rhood other people hav,
properties which they are develop
ing more or less. The owners .
claims in that section are sanguin
that they are going to make q bi,
camp out of Four mile creek, an'
are anxious to have it's merits
tested as soon as possible. Thes'
lodges have heretofore been regard
ed as barren.