The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-12-26

Elkhorn, famous since the early days
of the county, Is another district which
has had a quiet year. A few months ago
| about 40 claims We're bonded to a repre-
sentative Of Hon. w. A. Clark. but little
work. save that necessary for represen-
! tation Of the claims, has been done in
| the district this year.
! Some recent discoveries have been
made on Bald mountain, but their char
| acter has not vet been revealed, as the
| discoveries are very reticent about tell
! ing of the extent and richness Of their
| claims.
Best Little Mine in State.
| One of the most persistent producers
| in the county is the Indian Queen stu
ated in the Birch Creek district. and
| which has been under a lease to Butte
parties for two years. 1t is said to- be
one of the best little mines in the state,
that the ore found in it's depths is rich
in copper and gold. There are several
other claims in the same district which
have excellent surface showings, but the
| Queen is the only one upon which mach
| development work has been done.
! In that same section one of the biggest
| iron mines known in the state is found.
The ore is strangely magnetic. and in
the early days of the Hecla smelter
| considerable quantity of this ore was
hauled to.Glendale to be used for fluxing.
/ Later on, however. a better fluXing ore
was discovered in Soap gulch. near Mel
rose. and the Birch Creek iron lode was
! abandoned.
Mineral in the Big Hole.
The Big Hole basin has been opening
| up considerably as a mining section dur
| ing the past few years, the main range
! of the Rocky mountains having offered
an inviting field for prospectors The
| Saginaw mine. owned by Dune Wadams
and leased by Butte parties, is said to be
! one of the best in the county. 1t is sit
uated on the South Fork of the Big hole
: river, near jackson. The ledge has been
tapped at a depth OF over 300 feet. and
vein of copper ore two and one-halt
feet wide has been developed. The mine
has been equipped with a steam hoist
and a smelter for the reduction of its
/ products is among the possibilities OF
the coming year
On Swamp creek. also in the basin, is
situated a mine which promises to be
one of the greatest producers of the
I state. 1t is named the Ajax and is
owned by ]. E. Morse of this city and
A. ]. Noyes Of the Basin. 1t has been
developed by two tunnels and a shaft
i the latter having a depth of 50 feet, the
tunnels being 90 and so feet respectively.
! The ore has value of so to Il per cent.
| in load and from 81 to $1,000 in gold. In
places the ore bodies have width of
eight feet. During the past year con-
siderable ore has been taken out and
hauled to Divide for shipment. In an
other column Of this paper is an excerpt
from the Big Hole Breeze, telling that
M
the mine recently, and all of it assays
over SlG0 in gold to the ton. To facli-
tate the working Of the mine over Il
miles of wagon road has been built. A
! tramway SEQ feet long was erected dur
ing the past summer to connect the
mine with the now wagon road.
Throughout the entire Big Hole noun
tains excellent copper prospects are
| found, Jannka Bios. and B. 0. FOurnier
| having some Of the best showings. On
| the claims Of the former a diorite reef
stands sheer against the skyline and in
places it is several hundred feet high.
AT a distance Of l9Ho feet away the green
copper Stains which pervade the cliff can
be clearly distinguished. This ti3rite reef
is in a formation Of granite and stratified
porphyry. Ten tons of high grade cop
| per ore are on the dump Of one OF the
properties owned by Messrs Jahnke in
readiness for shipment. and it will prob
ably be sent out of the basin next sum-
ner. In order to get the ore to the
wagon read it win have 10 be carried
a distance of three miles on PACK horses.
On Miner creek several promising gold
claims have a lso been loca ted, and on tn
other side of the mountain on the Idaho
side a great deal of development work
was done during the past summer. Steel
creek is another part of the basin which
| is beginning to attract attention by its
mineral wealth.
In several parts of the Big Hole prom
Using placer properties are being devel-
oped, and it IS said one of the best
dredging propositions in the state is
found on Battle creek.
Had the Pioneer Dredger.
In dredging for gold Beaverhead coun-
ty was the pidrecr of the country. TIL
first gold drelg@S that ever proved a
success We're erected on GrasshOppe,
creek. The four boats which worked in
this county last season had excellent
success and the cleanups were regular
and valua BILE.
Oil Prospects.
During the past few months more than
little excitement has been aroused over
the discovery of prospective oil fields in
Smallhorn canyon and thousands OF
acres of land, claimed to be Oil bearing
have been located in the southern part
of the county. An oil well is now being
sunk in Smallhorn canyon, and it is ex-
pected that the existence of a lake of oil
underlying the SmallhOrn section will
soon be established.
Graphite Deposit.
Not the least of the new developments
of the past year are the graphite de-