Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-12-09
M. L. Mccormack, former Territorial
Secretary, Back to Spend the
Winter at Home.
Tells of His Mining Interests at Cape
Nome, and the Richness of the
Country.
How Mining is Done in His Section i
Interesting y Described by
MIR. Mccormack.

Mccormack has returned from Cape
Nome for the winter. The mine in
which Captain Mccormick is interested
is situated about five miles from Nome
city on Anvil creek. 1t is known as
No 5 up the creek and in that con-
nefction he told how mines were num-
bered there The first mine in a To-
cality is always known as "Discovery"
mine, and the other mines on the same
lead or creek are numbered in consecu-
tive order in both directions
The claims contain twenty acres,
being $50 feet long and $50 feet wide.
No. on Anvil creek is now we'll de-
veloped.
1t is what is known as a free gold
mine, and the dirt is rieh from beneath
the roots of the grass to the stratum of
solid rock which is about % feet from
the surface, where they have been
working this summer. When they
first started to develop the mine the
water used for sluicing was all pumped,
but now the natural fall of the water
in Anvil creek is utilized. They are
now working in a cut at right angles
to Anvil creek, and running back from
it several hundred feet. The COM
pany built dam where Anvil creek
enters the boundaries of their claim
and conducted the water from there to
any point on the claim they wish
through bitches, and from there into
| which in turn empty into the creek
again at a point further down the
stream. The owner of any claim may
use the water passing through their
property provided it all finds it's way
back into the same stream again
The sluice boxes are made of three
12-inch boards, making sort of
trough which the water runs through
In the bottom of the trough a false
bottom is laid, which is corrugated
and as the dirt is shoveled into the
trough, the water washes the dirt and
gravel to the end of the sluice way,
while the free gold being very heavy,
settles to the bottom and remains in
the corrugated false bottom. Brus-
sells carpet and pieces of blanket are
placed in the lower end of the sluice
way, and the finer gold is caught in
this manner, while the very finest of
it is caught by means of quick silver
which is placed at the extreme end of
the sluice way. and the gold and quick
silver is later separated in boiling ket-
ties and the quick silver used over
again.
The sluice ways are cleaned every
other day. and there is one crew that
has nothing else to do. Captain Nc
Cormack says that the daily 'tclean
up" on their property this summer has
been about 100 ounces, and the mar
ket value of this amount is from
f'''E" ~ 'P-'NN'. w AilC Lu!o SSSl11S
like very large amount per day, it
must be remembered that the expenses
are heavy. A crew of from IS to 100
men have been employed all summer
and not man on the job received less
than 80 per day. and board. The
board there is more important item
than it is here, though the captain says
that he did not think it cost the COM
pany more than 35 cents meal to feed
the men,
He says that where "rock bottom"
is struck, it is cleaned up as clean as
kitchen floor, and it is at such places
| that very rich strikes are frequently
made Every article of the dirt is
put through the sluice way and it will
be seen that it takes a great deal of
time to work twenty acre mine in
this manner. Great care is taken
that not an ounce Of the gold is lost,
as aside from the carpet and blankets
| that are placed in the sluice way, to-
gether with the quick silver, a tub is
placed at the end of the trough when
the men are cleaning up, and there is
no chance for any OF the gold to get
away. Tie carpet and blanket are
washed carefully after each cleanup.
| The mining season, that is for this
class OF mining, opens up generally
| during the early part of June, though
| it was somewhat later this season,
From that time for a period of about