The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1902-02-11
THE BEST WAY.

Our old friend, Fitz Mac, of
Colorado Springs, Colo, tells US
how to get to Thunder Mountain,
in the following language
Now are you ready to hear
about the great Thunder noun
tain gold field ? Well, then, my
song shall be of central Idaho.
Have you a good map of the
state before you ?-but of course
you haven't; there are no good
ones. Some are worse than 9TH
ers, but all are bad. The Rand
McNally vest pocket map (15c) is
the best l know of. [ cannot
speak of county lines because
they will not be the same on any
two maps; the river lines are not
the same, the mountain ranges
are misplaced and misnamed.
But those things need not bother
you. Just grope around in cen
tral Idaho with your eye till you
fud a mountain named Vinegar
hill-got it ?
Well, that's Thunder noun
tain.
Remember what [ told you
about the crystals on that bit of
quartz. Thunder mountain is
only one of a thousand noun
tains in that field. Remember
that it is a distinct geological
field of large extent and is like
ly to possess some general uni
formity of naturalization.
dare not venture to express
except suggestively any opinian
on the original Photography OF
the field. To venture any opin-
ion l have to assume that the
conditions l saw on the southern
edge of the field, say about Mt
Estes, prevail throughout, though
this may not be so.
There should be nothing found
in the field above the Jura-Trias
series, l think. The region wa'
probably an elevated one Ions
before its present topography
) was formed aud the later sedi
mentaries were probably neve
laid down there although in thu
: valley of the main branch of th'
: Salmon near Salmon City il
) Lemhi county patches of tn
! upper cretaceous occur and som
j small fields of the cretaceou
coal. but that can hardly be con
I sidered as even on the edge 0
! this geological field.
s North on the main branch o
j the Salmon the Jura- -Trias is e2
Z tensively displayed, but 1 fanc
{ this thins out and vanishes north
\ ward as I know it does to tn
: westward toward the Sawtoot
\ range, which is all granite.
+ The original surface of tn
( Thunder mountain field-b
: which I mean a large area-wi
: probably be found to be the ca
y boniferous series or below. Th
+ present surface of course will b
s found to consist almost excll
: sively of eruptives, and the erul
y tives mainly of the acidic typ
Z in general rhyolitic, but varying
Z and the varieties disguised an
s confused by alteration subs'
: Iouent to the eruption. Este
y itself on the southern edge of tt
= field. and called the highest pea
Z of the region, though | thin
: that is uncertain, is of this cha
+ acte. and corresponds in a gel
d eral way with the descriptions
Z received of the Thunder moul
z tain country. Estes is the ce
= ter of a fine mineral field but IL
N ores are complex and the gold
j NOT free below the surface, ar
r. does not generally constitute tt
q greater part of the total valu
= while in Thunder mountain dl
* trict it is said to be free at Il
8 greatest depth yet reached al
s Constitutes about all the valu
u At the time was so near it
T. Angust-there was nothing
= oet excited about. All that w
= then known was a quite exte
s. sive but rather low grade IF
u propositions which had alrea'