The Sumpter miner. [volume] (Sumpter, Or.) 1899-1905, 1901-07-24
SNAKE RIVER BASIN.
David Wilson Says the Find
Is all Right.

publishes the fOllOwlng interesting IN
terview with David Wilson: The dis
pute as to the find Of gold in the basin
of the Snake river, above Ontario, il set.
tied beyond dispute, in the opinion OF
David Wilson, II well known mining
man who IL back direct from the scene
of the big strike, and confirms all that
has been said Of the riches Of the new
EldOrado.
81 have been operating on these low
bars on the snake river for fine gold for
many years" he said. "Mr. Singer, on
whose property the recent rich discovery
was made, has been working there for
the past six years or more. lie has un-
dertaken TO sink u shaft TO bedrock, but
il is almost like putting u well in the bed
of the river. lie is now down 81 feet.
81 saw Mr.. Singer in Spokane on the
Fourth. lie told me that they struck
values, partially in free gold, ut deptl,
of between 10 and 80 feet, and that they
found practically continuous values until
n depth Of ~ feet was reached, and that
the values were greater ut the lower
depths than higher up. The assays of
the ore went from n to $l3 per ton,
which would be " to t23 per cubic yard.
These values were obtained in con.
glomerate rock or cement formation that
IL 40 hard that IL requires to be blasted
and there In every reason to suppose that
the same formation practically underlies
that entire basin or territory. Mr..
Singers idea was that the whole basin
was lake bed ut one time.
''l saw j. :. Camp, an engineer who
has located about $500 acres, and has
done his work very thoroughly and
systematically. lie is evidently the
agent Of some large syndicate that has
plenty Of money Ia put up. lie told me
that he found some conglomerate rock
taken from the bottom Of well ~ feet !
deep, located near Roswell, and got an |
assay from il Of 5000 in gold and o. in |
silver to the ton. II was the same kind |
Of rock found by Singer.
"There are no towns or improvements
in the territory. | should say that ut
least a thousand locations have been
made in the basin.
"Mr. Singer stated that the larger
portion Of the gold IL shot gold, coarser
than the ordinary Snake river fine gold,
and averages ~ to the ounce, while the
other gold runs only from ti2 to $ll.
"About u month ago ! visited Mr..
Baxter, assayer ut Boise, who told ne
that when Robert Wilson sunk well ut
the Boise natatorium for hot water, and
also when well was sunk ut the peni-
tentiary, he struck ut depth Of 400 feet
u strata Of material 100 feet deep which
gave gold values running from 81 to so
per ton. This would bc about the same
level as the strata struck by Mr.. Singer
at depth Of ~ feet below the surface.
"There is lot Of fine gold in the
Snake river valley, and l believe that it
is Of local origin, by u system Of oxida-
tioD which liberated the gold in this un-
strata.
From present indications many wells
will be sunk there soon. l expect to
sink II shaft within the town limits Of
Ontario within the next 10 days.
"The description Of this deposit cor.
exactly with the description
which l secured Of the celebrated johann
nesburg deposit in South Africa, which,
before the Boer war, was turning out
l4O, 900 per year. The African de.
posit is about ~ by 70 miles in extent,
lies deep below the surface in the same I