Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1904-12-24
TONOPAH BONANZA
SATURDAY, DECEMBER "a, 1904
Ida VALLEY.
Rich Mining District of Pioneer
Days Enjoying "a Boom.

White mountains is a direct result Of
the encouraging success of Tonopah
and Goldfield, it is equally true says
lnyo Register Of Bishop, that a third
of a century ago the Ida Valley re-
gion, including the camps Of Ida,
Gold Mountain, Sylvania and others,
was attracting a good deal of atten-
tion. The total bullion output of the
section in that period was a small
item compared with a single month
Of Goldfeld, yet the district pro
duced assays and specimens which
would be good even for the latter re-
markable camp,
To begin with, the correct name is
not Ida, but Aida" Valley, that
being the first name of the wife OF
a prospector who named the place.
The camp of Ida was, however, al
ways so known, the change being
made in its naming.
The first discovery was made by
p%rospectors named Scott and Black,
some time ia 1871. Their find, called
the Cinderella mot the mine of like
name where occurred a tragedy Of
the Indian war;, was sold IN Deem
Der of that year to Hiskey & Walker,
representing San Francisco capital
lsts. The latter firm had already a
five-stamp mill in Deep Spring valley,
where mining had been going on for
several years.
The mining operations of Hiskey Il
Walker we're followed by many others.
AS usual, a great majority OF the
locations proved worthless, still there
were about a dozen producing mines
in the district. Some of the claims
gave assays running into the hun
dreds while they lasted, but the
lodges gave out at shallow depth.
Others went down $50 feet or more
and produced all the way.
A small camp sprang up. Three
stores, bakery, eating house, and
probably twenty other buildings
formed the main settlement, while
half a mile to the southwark was
South Ida, which vas the Mexican
quarter. Here, before the camp
shut down, were erected a few small
Mexican furnaces.
Prior to the building OF a mill al
the camp, ore was transported by
pack train thirty five miles to DeeI
Springs, at a cost Of $50 to $35 {
ton. The total charges for transpor
tation and reduction amounted to $8t
a ton, and yet the mines paid.
The assay figures were high enough
to be encouraging anywhere. On
claim averaged $500 a ton value a
fva feet depth, and a fifth OF the orr
would sort to $500 TO $500 value. Vi
to March, 1872, the seventy-odC
miners in the district were sending
were sending ore to the mill from 81,
different mines; the lowest ore a
that time worked yielded over $40
a ton.
The mines we're scattered over al
area of about one. bali mile wide b,
seven miles long. At one end of thi
strip was:Lida Belle, four tons of th,
ore from which, extracted at a dept
Of fifty feet, assayed $724 a ton, ant
after working netted the owner
81, 1888 above all expenses. At tn
other end OF the known miueralizet
belt was the Browns Hope, whicI
before the cessation Of work becam
probably the deepest mine in the dis
trict. Selected specimens from thi
claim assayed over "a, 300 a ton, an,
all the ore, worked from it was G
high grade.
Pulp assays from twelve diIeren
mines, being worked in Hiskey I
Walkers Deep Spring mill, gave re
suits ranging from 1865 to over $3.50
and four OF the lots running owe
$4,000. The little mill was kept bus
only part Of the time, but shippe
more than $50, 900 worth of bpllio
during 1872. Toward the close {
that year Hiskey & Walker decide
ON enIarninr their facilities. an