Los Angeles herald., 1905-06-04
On to Southern Nevada

very apt to strike this section, when oper-
ators who are exploiting in Nevada be-
come informed regarding the existing
conditions.
/ made a hurried trip through the work.
ings of the Quartette, but do not know
that l ever enjoyed more a visit to
mine The showing" was certainly i'm
mense," and doubt not that should have
questioned any description, had / not seen
the mine myself. In brief, the mine has
produced handsomely it is producing
more heavily than ever; the reserves are
being added to every day: there are sew
eral millions in sight, with the full extent
of the ore bodies not yet proved in the
upper levels: and the ore is Of an unus'
ually high grade.
A shipment of new ore just entered in
the lower levels, was sent to the Selby
smelter 1t consisted of twenty or twen-
ty-fve tons. After deducting the charges
for handling this ore over twenty miles
to the railroad. and in turn the railroad
charges and the treatment, the consign-
ment actually netted $3.50 to the ton.
Some time ago the Quartette people
built mill over on the Colorado river,
and mine and mill is connected with a
railroad still used for some purposes. 1t
was found, however, that the mine was
making enough water to run a mill right
at the property, so ten-stamp at1alr
was erected. This has been enlarged to
twenty stamps the full complement of
which was pounding away at the time of
my visit.
Forty thousand tons of ore crushed in
this mill averaged $22 a ton. The average
of the samples taken from the drift in
the lower level is better than $50 to the
ton which is not counting the new ore
body referred to above.
The ore body is figured by sets rather
than feet, so some idea can be had of its
magnitude. The workings are most in
teresting. They are here, there and ev-
erywhere, so to speak, and one might
easily lose oneself in their twists and
turns These are the result of the va
rious cuts which have been made at in
tervals to determine the width of the ore
body and also of the caving here and
there of the soft ground which charac-
terizes the ore deposit.
As we lodged about the workings and
the extent of the ore occurrence became
manifest, it was suggested to the superln-
tendent that the company does not really
know Just how much ore it has. This eX-
pressed the general sentiment in regard
to the Quartette, the superintendent
agreeing that it is impossible to say just
how much ore there is in the mine IL is
truly a wonderful showing; a sight for
the sore eyes of any mining man.
The property is well equipped with
6O-horse power gasoline hoist, and hand
drills are used. The ground is very soft,
frequently not even requiring blasts The
superintendent stated that a the Quartette
dynamite is in less demand for mining
than forest of timber, which, it will be
realized, is not provided by the Joshua
trees of the Nevada desert. In addition
to the mill already mentioned, the COM
pany has it's own electric light plant, en-
abling the lighting of the mine through
out. At the seventh level a large station
accommodates the pumps which throw
the water to the surface with which the
mill is operated.
The Quartette company has erected
buildings for its employees, as well as the
other company buildings and there is also
Hopkins hall, a large structure having
dancing, reading rooms etc, and built in
honor of the treasurer of the company.
The underground workings of the mine
comprise some $4,000 feet, the shaft being
an incline varying from 3S to 50 degrees.
The ore in character is carbonates of
red and black oxides of copper, carrying
gold values, some lead and silver 1t
averages above 10 per cent copper and
fully 21a ounces in gold. The superinten-
dent mentioned frequent assays from the
lower level of $500 to the ton. Strings OF
native gold imbedded in the copper make
some of the specimens from this mine
greatly in demand. The ore is very pretty,
the mine workings being in reality spec
tacular.
capitalists, the president being Hon.
George c. Croker and the treasurer Col.
c. A. Hopkins. 1t is a close corporation
and | understand has been in the habit
of distributing some 100000 or $4,000
month in dividends with more as oc-
casion required.
Compare the foregoing description and
stOrysOf the accomplishments OF the Quar-
tette mine with those of, the great bo-
nanza with which you are familiar and
YOU will be forced to admit that this
Searchlght wonder ranks high among the
sensational performers of the country II
is a great mine as it stands today, but It's
extent is by no means determined. The
Quartette, everything considered, is one
of the greatest, if not actually the great
est mine i'm Nevada
And another proud boast of Searchlight
people is that their camp has yet to score
it's first failure. In fact, the camp is
characterized as the "Camp without fail
ure" Certainly the results attained from
the comparatively small amount of de-
velopment accomplished are all that could
be desired.
At the present time there are some 600
or 700 people i'm Searchlght, which Is a
particularly orderly community, the tough
element being conspicuous by its absence.
The population is now on the increase,
new people being attracted there by the
news of the showings made at the mines
and also the fact of a railroad being built
TO the camp. Prospectors coming out Of
Bullfrog are visiting this place and gen,
orally Searchlight is taking on a condi-
tion of increasing activity, with by no
means the improbability of boom in the
early future.
There is one place Of enterprise now in
hand which strengthens the foregoing
opinion, and this is the erection of a large