The San Francisco call., 1906-09-24
California Miners Interested in
Grab of Claims at Nome.
Great Activity in Shasta County and
Extensive Work Progresses.

rumor has reached this city that
a scheme is on foot at Nome to grab
a large portion of mineral lands in
the Nome district that are claimed by
individual miners. Many of the min
ers are not in Alaska. but are scat
tered Many are in California. Others
are in Various parts of the country.
The party seeking to acquire the lands
is the Maryland Virginia Mining Com
pany./a as the story goes Applications
are reportedzto have been made by this
company for claims TO the number of
ninety five, all of which have been
owned by individuals. Miners not in
Alaska are ignorant of what is going
on at Nome.
A recent number OF the Nome Gold
Digger contains statement that the
Maryland Virginia Company is trying
to get possession of more than one
half of the ground between the Nome
beach and Anvil Mountain. The Anvil
Hydraulic and Drainage Company is. it
is alleged. also engaged in similar
movement to get extensive holdings
through the land Office by patents. The
last named company, according to the
Nome Gold Digger, has the unmiti-
gated nerve to attempt to patent
ground that has been in the peaceable
possession of other operators since
1S99."
That many of the owners of the
properties are ignorant of the pro-
ceedings against them IS manifested, so
the Gold Digger reports, by the fact
that in the cases of ninety-hve claims
embraced in the application Nby the
Maryland Virginia Company only thir-
ty-two adverse titles have been fled.
The law provides that an application
for patent must be published for at
/ IL .-~.1
circulation. If at the end of that time
no adverse claim is filed with the reg
lister of the land Office at Juneau the
patent to the land will be issued. From
the decision of the land office there is
no appeal.
Rich strikes on the tundra have
probably stimulated the present move,
when the facts become generally
known. Some of the ground if not
all of it, has been worked during two
of three seasons by individual claim
ants.
Last year." says the Gold Digger.
"the Maryland Virginia Company at
tempted to rush applications through
the land Office by commencing the pub
! blication of notices after the last mail
had left for the outside, thus giving
the men in adverse possession of the
ground no chance to file an, adverse
claim. A telegram from the District
Attorneys Office brought forth an or
der to suspend the publication of the
notices, and the Maryland Virginia
Company was headed of temporarily.
MUCH DOING IN SHASTA.
A period OF great activity has come
to the miners in Shasta County. Ex-
tensive operations have been progress
sing at the properties OF the Bully Hill
CnnnaF n al ar.
and Copper City. A survey has been
completed for railroad to run from
Kennel, on the Southern Pacific line
to Delamar. The Bully Hill smelter
was shut down some time ago ac-
count of the heavy cost of freiShtiug
coke and other supplies over the noun
ANS py teams The new road will tap
one of the richest copper belts of Cali
fornia and will stimulate production
among the smaller copper mines of the
region lying along the line
At the Midas gold mine in Harrison
Gulch, also in Shasta County, 100 men
are mining for gold. The gulch is six
ty miles from the nearest railroad and
lies in heavily wooded and mountain
Gus country. The ore goes through a
twenty stamp mill The cyanide plant
connected with the mine is said TO be
the largest in Northern California.
At the Mammoth mine a town will
be laid out. Twenty cottages will be
built at once to be rented TO the min
ers, streets will be run, gas and water
supplied and other conveniences to
make the population of the camp per-
manent. The smelling plant of the
Mammoth Company has capacity for
treating 1890 tons of copper ore a day
The Mammoth is building additional
furnaces. Kennel. the present town,
has population of 1900. A bank two
hotels and several other new buildings
will be erected at Kennel Immediately.
The Mammoth has the largest reduc-
tion works in Northern California.
AURIFEROUs GRAVEL BELT.
A correspondent of the Redding
Searchlight asserts in a long article
that in the section of Trinity County
between WeavervilIe and Hayfork
there is great belt of auriferous
gravel which is 100 feet deep in places
The one thing lacking is water. The
Lagrange hydraulic mine and the Last
Chance mine, near Douglas City, are in
the region. The Heslewood Mining
Company has begun operations on a
large scale two miles east of Hayfork.
A ditch between seven and eight miles
long has been constructed for the use
of this company. The Layman mine
near Hayfork has been bonded for
$4,000.
At the Bonanza King mine in Trinity
County, near Trinity Center. twenty
stamps will be added TO the present
equipment of forty stamps. The mine