Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-12-15
First Discovery Of Silver in Cal.
careOuS Sandstone Occurred
In Utah.
DENVER MAN TELLS THE STORY
Trunk Of q Tree Changed to Coal Net
ted SLIoo Silver Ia Salt Lake
Method Of Treatment.

In us last issue the Mining and Sci
entlhc Press has an interesting letter
from W. r ThoTne Of Denver in which
the gentleman discusses the finding Of
silver IN sandstone shale and coal at
Silver Reef Utah. His story, he says,
Is founded on information given him
by j. Barbee, superintendent OF the
Barbee & Walker mine from 1870 to
1882, and Is as follows.
This discovery Of silver in calcareous
sandstone at Silver Reef was made by
w Barbee, and is, | believe, the first
Of record Of such occurrence Its &C.
currenCe here was In the form Of native
silver chloride. As explained to the
writer, II would seem to have been In
an antIClnal fold with the apex cut
away by erosion. The sandstone had
been capped by an eruptive most Of
which had been removed by erosion,
leaving only small amounts in isolated
patches,
The white sandstone stratum, about
10 feet thick called the Tecumsee reef,
'NNN wv hll' WI htlf INV VIC hANul AlilA
In this In shoots, with n trend 10 the
northwest and strike Of reef almost east
and west.
The thickness Of the ore bodies some
times reached so feet and the cropping
Of our shoot was about 900 feet long
After following this back 1000 feet they
We're but Y feet from the surface. Be
yond this the dip became about 80
degrees from the horizontal Sometimes
In the ore would be found .getrl6ed
trees, The heart Of all these trees Wa,
rich In horn silver In some Instances
almost solid and 30 Inches In diameter.
The small seams were also rich In sill
yer.
Vertical faultlng had occurred. In
one instance the down throw was about
l2j feet. In all cases a streak OF red
clay showed the direction Of throw, 80 |
that II was an easy matter TO pick up |
the shoot. The values were deposited |
before the faultlng took place.
In some places were boulders Of red |
clay, called by the miners red soap" |
six to eight feet In diameter and carry |
ing silver values Of four 10 Ave ounces |
per ton. In the center OF the boulder |
would be found a mass OF several hun |
dred pounds called green soap" carry |
ing values as high as 800 ounces silver |
per ton. No gold values at all appeared, |
though sometimes per cent copper
would be present
I'm one instance the trunk Of tree
was found changed to coal. Three thou |
sand pounds Of this coal were shipped |
to salt Lake and netted sl,l00 silver at |
N.@ per ounce. Small seams OF coat
occurred at times about ] inch thick, !
feet long and several inches wide. al |
ways rich In silver This coal was OF |
a good blacksmith grade. The coal
was not milled on account of the oil II
contained, causing the loss OF too much |
silver by Touring and sickening tbs
mercury. No fossils were ever found I'm
this reef so far as reported to the
writer
Some wood haulers had made a road
across this reef between two large
rocks. At this point had always been
a mud hole Of a black sticky substance. |
one day w. Barbee noticed II. took |
sample and had II assayed then Skinned |
10 tons by wagon 2i0 miles to Salt Lake.
ms ~ tons netted him $500 In silver.
The cropping OF this reef made a
hne building stone. Barbee built house
OF II ana later the house was torn down
ana mllled, returning 80 ounces silver
per ton.
Method OF treatment was by crusher
and stamps, followed by pan amalga.
nation which gave a saving OF 95 per
cent
Seven hundred and fifty stamps drop-
PING 100 times per minute gave an
average Of eight tons per STAMP
through a SO-mesh screen. This high
stamp duty was caused by the cement
ing material being calclte, while the
quartz grains were about SO-mesh IN
size.
About one and one-half pound OF salt
and one pound Of copper sulphate was
added TO each ton Of ore treated. Tho
amount Of mercury was governed by
the assay value Of the ore. The loss
OF quicksilver was about one pound per
ton Of ore treated.
This reef crops for about 80 miles but
In 80 far as the writer Is aware. nav
able ore has been found only in The
vicinity OF Silver Reef.
AT this point there Is a record pro-
ductlon OF Sl2OO00OO, but OF late years
very little has been done.
Values in coal are reported from the
Cambria coal field OF Wyoming of from
! 10 2 pennyweight In gold supposed
10 be In the iron pyrite. Also from
south Africa In small seams OF coal I'm
me quart2lte. quite rich in gold IN
places. Also In n vein Of coal 22 feet
mick In Colorado In the sangre do
Crlsto mountains. said to carry 10 per
cent copper with some gold-In this
,as' instance the writer will have TO
oe SHOWN This may not be lmpossl-
Dle' out seems highly improbable FOR
suoh large amount OF high grade cop
per 10 exist IN coal at the location