The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-10-11
AN OPAL MOUNTAIN
FOUND IN IDAHO

=
In Rovo, Utah, Oct. S.-st. V. LIE
4 Sieur of this city, is, if not the
original discoverer of asphaltum
in Utah, the man who first brought
the attention of capital to this
field on industry and caused
the product to be brought into
market. He has been engaged in
prospecting and promoting mining en-
terprises in Utah and other western
! states for the past sixteen or seven
teen years, and when the Thunder
mountain idaho excitement caused a
stampede to the gold fields of that re-
gion he left for the diggings with
view to getting in on the ground
! floor"
Lucky Sickness:
This was in March of this year. He
did not reach the Thunder Mountain
district, however owing to a severe
I illness which he contracted on the
road, caused by the hardships of the
journey. This made it necessary for
him to camp and wait till he got bet
| ter or died. He did not die, although
when he returned to Provo he looked
as If he had been near the portals of
the unknown country. But he did
not feel discouraged on account of his
illness, nor because he had failed to
reach the destination he set out for.
He had made discovery in the neigh
borhood of the place where his ill
ness compelled him to camp, which,
from his account of it, was nothing
+ less than mountain of opals. He
brought a few samples with him which
he showed TO his friends, among them
Judge MarioneauX of the Fifth dis
trict and Court Stenographer w. L.
Cook. They became interested with
Mr.. LIE Sieur and about Sept. l he left
for the north for the purpose of To-
eating the ground in which the opals
are found.
Secured the Mine. .
He has just returned, after securing
the ground for himself and associates
and he is more enthusiastic over his
ind than before making the, second
trip. The gem bearing mountain is
situated on Panther creek about forty.
five. miles northwest of Cnailis. Gus
ter county, Idaho. 1t is a mountain
of porphyry near the summit of the
range. In this porphyry the opals are
embedded and the matriX is so full of
stones that fifty can frequently be
taken from a chunk no bigger than
mans head. Mr.. LIE Sieur brought
with him over a thousand of the gems,
secured during his last visit to the
opal mountain. These were taken out
by himself in three days. while others
of the party were attending to MAX
ing locations and other work. Most
of them are broken, as the porphyry
in which they are imbedded was brok-
en- off from the lodges, and when thus
broker appear in the matrix closely
resembling pitch in a pine board.
Wonderfully Beautiful.
Some of them are wonderfully beau
tiful, with a great variety of brilliant
tints They are all colors-black, blue.
green, pink, yellow and white-and
very in size from l to 40 carats.
Mr.. LIE Sieur will send some of the
gems to a lapidary in Denver in a few
days for the purpose of having them
cut and will also arrange TO place
some of the product on the market
and obtain machinery with which to
separate them from the porphyry.
Systematic work will be commenced
for digging and separating the opals
at once. There is no doubt that the
quantity is so large that Mr.. LIE Sieur
and his associates can control the
market of the world, and Mr.. LIE Sieur
may yet be known as the opal king.