The San Francisco call., 1901-11-03
GROUP
PLAN FOR ORES
Mineralogist Arranging
for Educational Ex-
hibition.
Another Dredger Is About
to Search for Long
Hidden Gold.


His general theory is that the inquirer
Tor any metal does not get much of an
Idea of its wide distribution in the State
by being compelled to hunt through all
the county exhibits for it. The county
collections he proposes to rearrange so
that there shall be collective exhibits of
various metals, copper, gold, silver, etc,
respectively. The specimens will still be
credited TO the localities that produce
them. Ordinarily speaking the inquirer
for information about any particular
proposition will not go searching through
all Ihe cases IN the museum, one after an
other, bur he would look at ali the sam
pies If there were only the copper speci-
so on.
This is in accordance with the plan of
Segregation adopted In the mining bull
letlnS that the present mineralogist is
issuing or about to issue. Instead or haV-
ing large number of metals and mis-
cellaneouS information treated IN one
large pamphlet, where one must search
Tor what he wishes to know about there
are special bulletins TO treat the leading
metals separately, copper and quicksilver
leading the way in the list.
The Redding Free Press reports that the
dredger that Michigan parties have nearly
completed for operating on the river at
Middle Creek viii be novelty in several
respects. The machine is to be used to
seek for the gold that has swept down the
creek for many years OF mining and has
lodged in the sand at the bottom of eddies
ana hooks where the creek debouches into
the river. In the dredger there is no
upper or scoop attached TO a swinging
arm. A diver goes down in his diving suit
ana finds the spot to be worked. The
barge is moved over the site and is faS-
tened. In the center of the barge is an
iron cylinder thirty inches in diameter and
twenty feet long. This is sunk through
the barge until the end rests on the bot
tom OF the river. man climbs inside,
a rubber cap is fitted over the top and
the engine forces in air. The air in turn
forces all the water out of the cylinder
and the man descends TO the bottom with
the bucket is filled with the sediment it
is sent up. Thus the miner works freely
in the bottom sands without the water
disturbing him in the least.
A Find of Feldspar.
w. T. Brooks sends to the Los Angeles
of large bodies of feldspar, a potassium
ore, in Southern California, which con-
tains large percentage of potash. This
character of ore has hitherto been found
chiefly in Norway and Sweden, but it is
supposed that there is a chance for this
country now to compete in supplying the
markets of the world. Well defined fis-
sure veins, free from foreign matter and
in bodies varying from three to forty-two
feet, so Brooks says, have been discov-
cred and they contain II per cent of pot
ash, 1e per cent of aluminium and 70 per
cent of silicon. A part of Brooks COM
mUnication follows:
We have made a most thorough investiga-
ton Of the quantity and quality of ore, and
the expense Of extracting the valuable chemi-
cal potassium used in the manufacturing of
such everyday and universally used articles of
commerce as cyanide Of potassium, the fer
tilizers. glass; gunpowder and the phosphates,
CELEBRATES and so forth, of potash The salts
OF potassium for medical purposes may be
stated to be simply innumerable, and feel
that am fully warranted in making the above
statement being absolutely correct fearless
Of successful contradiction, though it may in
part be reluctantly accepted for reason that
potassium ores in solid bodies have not been
heretofore found in profitable quantities and
qualities in the United States
The Calaveras Prospect says that the
old Calaveras group of mines on Indian
producers on large scale. For many
years the mines were worked as
free gold proposition, no at
ttl51PIs tem5Pts being ma made to save the
made was good, there was some bad
management and finally the old mill burn
ed down and work in the mines was aban-
dOned. The upper levels had been pretty
well worked out and the Calaveras group
presented bad appearance Recently
new company has taken hold of the prop
erty and cyanide plant has been erected
to work over the old tailings that remain
on the ground. This work is well ad-
vanced. While this has been going on
the property has been unWatered and
prospecting has been resumed.
The cyanide tanks at the Orc Mimic
are in operation on the old tailingS, ac-
cumOldIlOnS OF the several mine workings
Of the old Calaveras group. The Beat
rice-Robles Tunnel Company is progress
ing. The force at the mine has recently
been augmented.
Mines Change Owners.
The Redding Searchlight reports that
the Three Sisters mine on Dutch Gulch,
one and q half miles from the town of
French Ere % Gulcb' has been bonded by Eilerv
Bros. to Volney Fox and others for $10,-
900, the option running eighteen months.
This is gold quartz Ifa property i that was
The Lappin mine in Trinity County,
near Deadwood, has been sold. The first
payment has been made. The former
Cochran and NJ. A. Brady. The purchas-
ers are Eastern people, who were repre-
sented by ]. K. Fleming. The report is
given out that the price was more than
5000
The Calaveras Chronicle reports that
tUepty-eight men are working at the
Jones mine. Three shifts are sinking the
shaft. The property was operated under
bond by a Boston company for while,
but has since been purchased in view of
developments. The owners or the AFTER
thought mine are making good progress
in the development of that property.
Sinking and drifting are about to be Wig
orously pushed at the Poorman mine.
The Conradi mine is being opened up by
a San Jose company.
There is considerable interest in nickel
mining in Oregon Nickel ledges nave
been reODeneO IN the LOW NISSk OiStAlSt-
Several large nuggets Of the free metal,
according to the Oregonian, have also
been picked up in the Canyon Creek coun-
try in the southern part OF Josephine
County. The deposits were discovered
several years ago upon a steep hillside.
Nothing was done then except to tsink
shafts and to run short drifts. Arrange
rnents that were made at one time to work
the deposits on q large scale were never
carried through, but the Eastern people
who use nickel largely have recently be-
come interested, among the number pelng
Thomas A. Edison. Prospecting will be
pursued. says the Oregonian, in the hope
of locating the original veins. Oregon
nickel was exhibited at Buffalo.
Thomas Ewing tells the Los Angeles
Herald that good times are in store for
Needles, owing to the busy work OF
the miners in Southern Nevada and Ari-
zona In Mohave County, Ariz., the in
terest seems TO center in the Gold Roads
and Boundary Cone districts. People are
at work in all sections developing their
properties There is a proposition under
consideration, so Ewing says, TO build
railroad from Needles in a northerly d.
rection into the Gold Roads district. The
population of Needles will be largely in
creased by the many camps that are now
working
New Copper District.
The new Blackfoot district, near Helena,
l. 4 I'D for