Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1902-07-24
ELECTRUM AND PLATINUM.

a NAN tANNhA hAh WV o Vi
copper, gold and silver, is being re-
moved by the ton from the recent
rich strike on the Oregon California
boundary. The annals of history fail
to show when copper strike such as
this has ever been made before 1t. is
remarkable, not alone for its richness
and extent, but also for its peculiar
formation. Here, by the quarrying
method, hundreds of tons of ore, much
of which is half copper, are being
taken out and sacked for shipment to
the smelter.
The scene of the remarkable copper
strike is in the Cleopatra group of
claims, owned by j. S. Crawford and
associates of Philadelphia. They are
located in Del Norte county, Cal, but
extend across the line into Josephine
county, Oregon. They can only be
reached by the Grants Pass Crescent
City stage road. The Diamond creek
road, recently built by the company
that owns the claims, extends from the
Grants Pass Crescent City stage road
to Camp Crawford, the scene of the
strike.
The company have crew of 20 men
at work removing the ore and sacking
it for shipment to the smelter. They
are preparing to put in smelter at
Camp Crawford for the treatment of
their ore. They have three thousand
tons of rock in sight AS the ore is
sacked it is divided into four classes,
with the following respective values:
Glass one, 60 to So per cent copper
$40 gold, 81. so silver.
Glass two, 35 to 60 per cent copper
Glass three, 20 to 35 per cent copper
Glass four, to 25 per cent copper.
Col Crawford states that a great
amount Of the ore being taken out is
of the first and second class As can
be seen from the above, this is almost
pure metal The men interested in
the claims are men of experience and
means and will develop and work their
big proposition to its fullest extent.
Col. Crawford is an NJ. 4. of Phila-
delphia. He is also member of the
geological survey at Washington. Just
before the death of the late President
Mckinley, the latter ordered Col
Crawford to go to the Philippine Is
lands and make geological investiga-
tions for the survey at Washington,
but he was obliged to decline the trust
because Of his age. III recent years
Col Crawford has spent the greater
part of his time in the mountains of
the Siskiyous in search for copper
electrum ores, which he has long
contended could be found in Nature
He has at last found the electrum ores
in quantities in the claims of the re-
cent strike. They occur running along
of asbestos.
Copper electrum was known to the
Romans, who knew more about the
metal copper than any peopele that
has existed since. 1t was quite evil
dent that the Romans found the cleo
trum in the native state, and did
not have to mix the three metals
mechanically, as we have been doing
during the present age. Copper cleo
trum has its use in the commercial
world in the manufacturing of cleo
plates and other such
devices.
Josephine county miners have been
giving considerable time Of late to
platinum prospecting. The discovery
of the metal has been reported from
several of the Josephine districts,
and the metal is being actively min
ed in some localities Platinum is
being found more largely in the placer
fields of Western Josephine county,
in the Illinois river district. In the
ancient Illinois river channel the
metal is found with black sand on
the serpentine bedrock. The two
metals can be easily mined together
as the black sand with which the
platinum occurs, settles to the bot
tom of the sluices, and by the proper
process the two could be easily separ-
ated. Heretofore the placer miners
have been throwing the metal from
their sluices, being ignorant of its
identity and value.
The Welsbach Gas Fitting Com
pany, of Philadelphia, has put a crew
of men to work in the placer fields
of the Illinois to mine platinum.
This company has need for much Of
this metal in the, manufacture of
their goods. They have installed
patent machinery Of their own de-
sign for mining Platinum, and hope
to secure enough of the metal from
the Illinois placers to supply them.
The fact that this company has in
stalled machinery and put a crew Of
men to work, is sufficient evidence
that they are satisfied that there is
platinum in the placer fields Of Hi
nois. Cor in Pacific Miner.