The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-10-17
THUNDLR MOUNTAIN ORE.
It Is Low Grade, But There Are Many
Large Lodges,

Thunder mountain. Idaho. close to
which Colonel Dewey's railroad, now
heading for Butte, will pass, is one of
the coming mining districts of the west.
If reports from that section are to be
relied upon as correct, and it is just
possible that some day not far distant
much Of the ore there will find market
at the smelters of this city. OF the min
eral possibilities of the district the
Nampa Leader says:
Going east from Rainbow mountain.
crossing the Dewey mines over the top
of Thunder mountain proper, which is
one and one-half miles east of these
mines, thence down Marble creek for
total distance of 20 miles, all this coun-
try is porphyry, rhyolite and phonoite.
There is no granite nor quartz to be
found in all this gold belt, and nearly
all of which pans free gold and sulphur
cts some of which assay $4,000 per ton.
Did Not Get It All.
For some time after Colonel Dewey
got the Caswell brothers claims under
bond it was supposed he had control of
everything of value there and all Of
which was supposed to be low grade At
this time one of his claims has three
feet wide Of white, yellow and black
per ton. Over mile east of these claims
James Hawey and associates have some
claims Of the same kind of porphyry
that pans free gold, showing from "a to
| $40 per ton. Two miles due west of the
Colonel Dewey mines, NJ. F. Eby and
| associates have porphyry ledge looking
exactly like the others, that crops out
a distance of over 1000 feet in length and
is from 40 to 1875 feet wide. The writer
obtained an average sample of this ledge
at place where it was 100 feet in width
and taken clean across the ledge, and it
| assayed $4.23 in perfectly free gold.
Twenty-Five Cents Per Pan.
again, taking the Dewey mines as
starting point, going due east one mile.
| find three claims (and there are five or
six others), namely, the Buffalo. the
Wonderful and the Sunnyside, that pros
poets on the top from 81 to $500. The
l. Sunnyside is about two miles east of
| the Dewey claims and pans as high as
25 cents per pan, this being grass
dirt on the sunny side of Thunder noun
tain. Fred HOlcOmb who has been there
since about the time of the Caswel dis
cOveres, has several claims on the south
| side of Dewey's. every one of which
pans free gold at the grass roots.
Colonel Dewey's mines are the only
ones undergoing development worthy OF
mention. The first tunnel was started
to crosscut a cone of porphyry at least
200 feet wide at the base. They have cut
across the cone from north to south and
are still in rich dark-colored porphyry,
carrying free gold and rich sulphurets,
the sulphurets assaying $500 per ton.
The 1O-st'olnp mill is all on the ground,
and a large force Of men is rushing con-
struction.
zone and a half miles from this tun-
mel south, Hawley and his associates
discovered their mines. The question is,
does this belt of porphyry carry gold in
paying quantities one and one-half miles
in width? At this time no one knows,
and yet believe a diamond drill would
open up the
Greatest Gold Deposit on Earth
Not excepting South Africa and there
is not a doubt in my mind that, judging
from the present developments and sur
face prospects on the Dewey mines for
over 5000 feet in length and 600 feet in
| width they will produce from $50, 000, 900
| to $50.0O0,0O0 in gold, and every one in
that vicinity competent to judge believes
that Colonel Dewey has not got a quar-
| ter of all the wealth there.
1.-TWO and one half miles northeast Of