Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1904-11-10
WORK AT THE GREENBACK
Description of Our County's
Foremost Quartz Mine.

VI -
The Portland Daily Journal has the
following regarding the great Green
back mine:
This mine comprises half dozen or
more patented claims and a much
larger area of land used to facilitate
work. The company has legal ex-
istence under the name of the Green
back Gold Mining company. W. II.
Brevoort is president, Carey W.
Thompson, manager, @. B. Hanson
mill superintendent, and Chas.
Bruckin, laboratory man. More than
II, 900 feet of development has been
done in the mine, and the equipment
consists of 80 and l0-stamp mill,
amalgamating and concentrating and
cyadining tailingssand concentrates.
The Greenback was located in 1897
by Ed. f. Hannum and d. L. Brown
ing. After profitable surface work.
the locators sold in 1898, the principal
portion of the present management
buying. Costly litigation followed
quickly after purchase, Q. +. Drown
contending that his original location
overlapped the Greenback property.
The purchasers used this litigation
to have the original purchase price
reduced, giving the vendors the alter
native of making the title good by
defending in the pending action, or
accepting $50, 600 and letting the pur-
chasers fight the suit. The latter was
accepted, and after appealing to high
tribunals, the purchasers vindicated
their title.
Manager Thompson had charge from
the first. he installed a ive-stamp
mill at the portal of the fifth level
and later increased this to 10 and then
10. Two years ago 30-stamp mill
was completed on the ninth level,
leaving 10 stamps in the old mill at
the fifth. Since then 40 stamps have
been in commission most of the time,
the old mill running during the wet
season when water power is abundant,
to treat ores from the extreme upper
levels. In dry weather, one to two
months of fall, the new mill is run by
steam power, the remainder of the
time being actuated by water, for
which purpose two nine-foot wheels
have been installed.
Two hand sorters work on the up
per mill floor, throwing out larger
coarse pieces of diorite. This sorting
follows sorting in the mine, where an
effort is made to eliminate waste from
ore. Two Blake Sxl0 inch breakers
receive ore passing a one and half
inch grizzly and that returned from
the hand sorting. Stamps weigh
/ 900 pounds, and are given a stroke
of six inches at the rate of l07 to ll0
drops minute. rushing is to 30
mesh, and analgamating plates are l6
feet long, being stepped. Four bump
ing tables receive the product from
the plates, saving a light percentage
of concentrates. Tailings are de-
livered through Buffers distributors
to three tanks of 1856 tons each.
Shines and sands separators, with a
monteju and compressed air filter
press, have been provided for treating
fine and coarse sands apart, bat it
was found in Practice that there was
not enough in the shines to warrant
their handling in this manner. The
filter press is of the most modern
pattern used in the Kalgoorlie dis
triot, Australia, where this press ori-
ginated, but it was used very briefly,
as the management found that values
are so thoroughly free that little is
lost in shines. Tailings are kept in
a one quarter Of one per cent solution
for 10 days. Concentrates are piped
to a separate plant, given strong
alkaline wash and subjected o a one
per cent solution for 30 or 40 days,
with results highly sat isfactory to the
management, which find this treat
ment far more profitable so far than
hauling II miles to railroad and
shipping 300 miles to smelter. The
concentrate plant has been operating
since the first of the year. A very
heavy percentage of Greenback ore
in all upper workings is free, there
being but little sulphide. This mine
has made one of the most notable
efforts in handling concentrates
known to the state, aud is working
along nearly the same lines as the
Red Boy adhered to when running
full blast.
There are several veins crossing the
Greenback group on close parallel
lines, but nearly all WORK has been
devoted to the Greenback. This is a
narrow vein, if the firm quartz de.
fines its bounds, bat three to FIVE feet
of diorite on the foot wall, which has
been shattered and cemented by
silica, is milled. This accounts for
the economy and safety in sorting out
all large pieces, for solid diorite re-
I l..