Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-21

tuC pIouuClIcH ~ IT'S Solu anu SILVER
mines; today Montana owes it's proud
position in the mineral world mainly to
the splendid development Of the copper
mines in the Butte district.
WHAT OF THE FUTURE.
How many years can the mines Of
Butte be worked before becoming ex-
hausted? The future generation may
worry over this question, but the pres
ent generation need not, for the best ex>
perts of the country who have studied
the underground world of Butte unite
in declaring that the present generation
will not live long enough to see the
ore bodies of his district exhausted.
Copper will undoubtedly be the chief
product Of Butte for the next quarter
of a century. The deepest shaft in the
district is down only 220O feet-less han
one-half Of the depth of some of the
greatest copper producing mines of the
Lake Superior district. The High Ore
and Diamond shafts-each 1900 feet in
d~epth-show copper glance at the bot
tom land some of the richest copper ore
produced by the Anaconda has
been taken from the mines named. The
Green Mountain also has a depth OF
POO feet. At this mine the ore body
some years g pinched out at a depth
of about 1900 feet but 200 feet deeper
the rock again changed to a kindly
notwithstanding character, and the vein
changed in accordance with the inclos-
ing rock and resumed it's fertility.
1t is true that in some of the deep
mines of the Anaconda company the
copper values of the ore have decreased
with depth, but what they have lost
in this metal they have amply made up
for in silver and gold values. The
product from the god and silver more
h pays for all the copper treatment
charges. In some of the other mines
of the same company, notably the Never
Sweat, the ore has increased in richness
with depth, and the amount of ore now
in sight in the mine is larger than at
any previous time. In the St. Lawrence
the ledge has a width or from SO to
geo feet. This ore body pinches out
on the east side, but comes in larger
and richer in the Mountain View, fur
Their east. The st. Lawrence ore runs
as high as 60 per cent copper for first
grade, but the average will run between
I and 10 per cent, with very high values
in gold and silver. The Never Sweat
ore body runs between 10 and IS per
cent copper. The ore body in the Ana
conda maintains a width of from so to
$50 feet and averages about 5 per cent
for the low grade and as high as s.
per cent for first grade. The ore reserves
in this mine are fully equal to those of
a year ago.
The same is true of the splendid mines
of the Boston & Montana. In the Leon
ard the ledge has a width of from %
to $50 feet down to the S00-foot level.
and increases in width from that level
fnu-, Tho ava r,,nc frnr, = ~, -
cent copper. the high grade approaching
65 per cent, but with smaller values
in gold and silver than the Anaconda
mines. The ledge of the Pennsylvania
is from 2 to % feet, the ore averaging
40 per cent for the high grade and the
remaining ore averaging about 8 per
cent. This ore also increases in copper
value with depth. The Mountain View
ledge has a width of from 5 to so feet.
and the selected ore runs as high as
65 per cent. There is very little second
grade ore in this mine The ore bodies
in the East and West Colusa have
increased in width from 60 to so feet
in the lower levels, the ore running
from 10 to 20 per cent copper. TIL
ore also shows a little god and fair
values in silver The Blue Jay ledge
also increased in width from 50 feet at
the 900 to 100 feet at the 1000, the ore
consisting of high grade copper glance
and sulphides running about 6 per cent,
with fair values in gold and silver.
EXTENSION OF COPPER BELT,
Recent developments in this district
tend to confirm the long cherished be-
lief of mining men that the copper belt
of Butte will be very materially ex-
tended within the next few years. Some
of the best mining engineers of the
country believe hat this extension will
be discovered toward the east. The
main range to the east is
composed Of a coarse gran
ular, dark boric granite. The Butte
slope, on which the great Anaconda, st.
Lawrence, Mountain View and Others
are located, is exactly the same forma-
ton, with this exception, that in the
known copper belt the disintegration Of
the vapors and other phenomena attend
ant upon the eruption Of the Big
is more apparent. There is
difference, however. The veins
of Butte. strictly speaking, are not true
as they seldom SHOW a we'll
defined wall, while in Park canyon, in
the main range to the east, the veins
show both walls, and, moreover, are
filed with angular fragments of country
rock and vein matter intermingled. The
former condition is, however, charged
to the eruption of the big rhyolite
con on the west of town, the biologists
that the vapors that accom-
panied the disturbance from the depths
the assures in which the cop
per ore of the district was stored. Per-
too, his big con is largely re-
sponsible for the many big mining
which have arisen over the
'zone question in this district.
While few biologists believe that the
belt extends west of Missoula
5u!ch, there are a number of well-in-
mining men in Butte who be-