Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1904-03-19
The BUFFALO HUMP CAMP
Robert Bell State Inspector of Mines in His Report on the
Hump District, Gives Much Interesting Information
Relative to the Formation and Value of the Ore.

veins in 1898 was made the basis of one
of those wild and woolly mining booms
for which the western mining states are
noted. The boom was short lived, how
ever, for when the snow melted off the
stories of great wealth, it was found
that to win it would evolve no small in
vestment of money, muscle and time,
but the snow did not melt the big led
ges of gold-bearing quartz, which are
still there, and just as big as ever, and
their recent development is such as to
warrant the anticipation that the glow
ing fairy tales told of their riches will
be justified by the facts and actual bull
lion at no distant day.
The Buffalo Hump district probably
holds the record for receiving the high
est prize for a ten foot hole in the
whole mining history of the state.
: Mr.. Charles Sweeny, who recently
launched the big thirty million dollar
merger in the Coeur d d'Alenes, offered
quarter of million dollars cash for the
Big Buffalo vein, when its development
did not exceed ten feet in depth, which
figure was refused by the owners; he
afterwards bought the property, when
the excitement had died down little,
for about half that sum.
The Buffalo Hump summit is a sharp
hog back elevation of bare granite,
which, viewed from some directions,
roughly resembles the outline of buff
falo's back. The eliminating point, or
hump, has an elevation Of eight thou
sand eight hundred feet above sea level;
it is situated on the divide between the
South Fork of the Clearwater river and
the main Salmon river and is the high
est elevation in a region of mountain
country fifty miles square.
The country rock at the Hump dis
trict is practically straight eruptive
gray granite of medium coarse grain.
There are no dixie rocks exposed over
the present central area of the district,
covering a belt of country six miles
long BY two wide, but this belt contains
parallel system of monster fissure
veins Of quartz that stands nearly YER
tical and strike almost due north and
south.
Well posted local miners say that
this belt contains a quartz vein from
workable size up to 60 feet wide fol
every six hundred feet of it's width, anC
after studying the surface of the belt
for awhile one will easily come to the
conclusion that the statement is not al
exaggeration.
The surface appearances of these
great fissures are not attractive, owing
to the excessive local ice action whicl
has worn the veins down even with the
enclosing granite walls, and at thu
present center of the district, including
the Hump postoffice and Concord post
office settlements, some of the bigges
ore bodies are situated in a broad fla
Glacial basin full of little benchy flat
and swamps that form the head o
Sheep creek, in which situation the BIZ
veins are naturally eroded even wit
the enclosing formation and inconspic
uous.
The Big Buffalo ledge, owned by tn
Buffalo Hump Mining Company, is lo
Gated on the west side of this basin an
forms the bed of one of the tributarie
of Sheep creek, which has cut Y
shaped trough along the soft wall c
the vein for four thousand feet, expos
ing a succession of fine ore shoots fc
that distance; then the grade of tn
country drops off very rapidly, and {
the first big drop an adit tunnel ha
been started on the vein which is a
ready in several hundred feet. 1t
the intention to drive this tunnel bac
on the vein to the north which will d,
velop the ore shoots as it goes alor
and undercut the discovery shoot at
vertical depth of nearly six hundrt
feet.
This property was opened by sha
located at the discovery, on lit
swampy bench near Hump town. Th
shaft is reported to be two hundred al
fifty feet deep and in a crosscut at Il
bottom level is said to show sixty fe
of quartz between walls that carry ov
ten dollars in gold per ton on an ave
age. This shaft produced some asto
ishing rich native gold specimen or
pieces of which are still seen arom
the camp, that are nearly half gold.