The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-04-01
PATSY CLARK
AND HIS MINES
Spokane Operator Tells of His Big
Copper Properties in the
Funeral Range.
LEDGES ARE BIG AND RICH
HOW BUTTE FRIENDS BANKED
ON HIS JUDGMENT.

Patrick Clark, the we'll known mi
ming operator and banker of Spokane,
reached the city again yesterday on
his return from a trip of inspection to
his big copper properties on Furnace
creek. in the Funeral range of noun
tains, Inyo county, California. He will
leave for Butte tonight and from there
will go on to New York. Mr.. Clark is
one of the early pioneers of the Butte
and Occur d'Alene camps and that is
the principal reason that he has de-
cided to mine in the Death valley re-
gion at a point which, when he be-
came interested year ago last Janu-
airy, was 140 miles from a railroad.
when the men whom I had in the
field told of having made some 1oca-
tiOns on Furnace creek and told of its
remotenesS from the railroads. said
Mr.. Clark during the afternoon, Il was
at first inclined to turn the proposition
down. After a little thought recalled
my early experiences in the camp of
Butte, which then boosted a railroad
no nearer Nan Salt Lake and Ogden.
1 unused over the changes that had oc-
CURED since then and finally came to
the conclusion that, if the mineral was
there to warrant it, il would not be
long till Furnace creek might boast
railroad connection also, so / decided
to investigate and stay with the game
if the country possessed the merit
Ledge for Thousands of Feet.
well, 1 am mining there now and 1
expect TO be for many years to come
for the district is undoubtedly a good
one We have in the Furnace Creek
Copper Mining company's group of
over twenty claims four of the strong
est copper bearing lodges it has ever
been my good fortune to see, and if
they do not go to the deep every indi-
cation has got to fail. For thousands
of feet in length the ore crops right
to the surface and on the ledge we
have selected to develop first, two
shafts 800 feet apart have been start
ed. On the surface the ore is con-
tinuOuS for the entire distance between
them and for long distances in either
direction from the shafts. There is a
notion among miners that an ore shoot
will go as deep into the ground as
proves continuous on its strike, at any
rate If that proves true, We can safe
ly count on having the ore to depth
of 1000 feet any way, so l have ordered
hosting machinery for one of the
shafts capable of sinking to a depth Of
1000 feet, or until water stops us. This
shaft will be dOuble-cOmpartmen and
if water is encountered and it becomes
necessary to pump, we shall raise out
and make it three
THE BoraX Smith railroad will cut
within about twelve miles of our mines
and the Clark road from Vegas to Bull
frog will come within thirty-six miles
of our camp I have talked with the
arrangements Of both roads and 1 have
the assurance from each that If our
mines develop and show the tonnage
we are sure they will do. either or both
lines will build TO Furnace creek. There
is not much iii the way of farm prod
ucts and such things to support a rail-
road In that region and I am sure that
we shall have no trouble in getting one
or the other of these lines to give us
the transportation facilities We shall
need
Ore of High Grade.
The main shaft on the property is
now down 100 feet and the other is
eighty feet deep. Mr.. Clark brought
up samples fro mthe bottom OF the 100
foot shaft and prettier copper ore one
would go a long way to see. The en-
tire bottom of the shaft is in ore one
half Of which averages 81 per cent
copper and the other half u per cent
while all of the ore carries 81 or S. in
gold and silver, principally gold.
Told that the papers had reported
that his son was managing the mines,
Mr.. Clark said that was not true.
You see the boy recently left school,
where he has been studying mining en-
cheering and he wanted something to
do. He believed he had had all he
wanted of school, so I told him to go
down to the mines and get acquainted
with the practical side of the business.
He went. When I left camp he was
still working with the surveyors who
were getting the claims in shape for
patenting and he told me that he had
had just enough experience to convince
him that he could profitaDIy pct in an
other couple Of years at school and
that is what he is going to do"
The one incident connected with the
requirement of the Furnace creek
mines and the organization of the COM
pany to operate them that is most
gratifying to Mr.. Clark is what he
paid him at Butte, his early stamping
ground.
IT was I'll Butte soon after the or
ganization of the company" said Mr..
! Clark land, while I was not counting
upon the sale Of a share of stock there.
and did not need to sell any. FOR that
matter, was besieged by some of MY
old-time friends to let them in. Well
I decided to open a subscription list
/ and let a number of them put their
names down if they cared to. In a lit
! tie over two hours one morning they
/ had taken 125, 900 shares and during the
| day insisted on having $4,000 more.
urged upon them the fact that they
knew nothing of the merits of the prop
| erty and it was then that I was paid
/ the compliment which I esteem so high
! ly, for they simply told me that they
/ knew nothing of the property, but If II
was good enough for me it was good
! enough for them, Such incidents.
| consider, ought >" make life worth liv-
! ing to any ma