Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-19


tion in Inyo county continues to grow.
Many mining men of widely known
experience and high standing have WIS.,
tied the district. enduring personal
! Inconvenience and hardships to make
the journeys.
Sidney Norman of Butte, Mont, has
returned from Greenwater. Mr.. Nor
man is quoted as saying:
There is little question that the
Greenwater mining district, in Inyo
county, Cal, is destined to become
great copper producer and may even,
within comparatively few years, de-
velop into a lusty rival of Butte, which
still holds undisputed sway as the
greatest of all copper mining centers.
This conclusion has been reached
after a six weeks stay in the camp and
is confirmed by the unanimous opinion
of every prominent mining engineer
and geologist who has visited the dis
trict. The surface showings are Won
derful in strength and continuity and
unless all signs utterly fail an i'm
mense tonnage will be developed with
in the next few years. One remarkable
feature of the district is in the fact
that capital has become interested 81
multaneously with the prospector, and
it is doubtful If any camp has Wit
messed such an influx of money at "a
similar stage of development. With
such men as Patsy Clark, John w.
Gates, Charles Schwab and others
equally well known for their aggres-
sive tactics to carry civilization to the
trackless desert waste in which the
district is situated, there is not much
doubt of the ultimate destiny of Green
water.
Twenty Miles Long
"The known mineral zone now COW
ers an area more than twenty miles
long north and south, and during the
past summer has been extended west
erly down the forbidding desolation Of
Death valley slope. At the present
time there are probably 200 men in the
district, while a scant half dozen wo-
men have braved the discomforts which
beset ons on every hand. Three town.
sites have already been laid out and
at the present time Kunzie's, or Cop
perfield, has the call upon the incom-
ing crowds. The Clark-Schwab inter-
eStS have, however, combined upon the
new townsite of Harvey, situated in
the fiat midway between Kunzies and
the Furnace Creek Copper company's
property, and it is the general opinion
that upon this townsite will eventually
rise the Butte of the arid south.
THE lack of water in Greenwater has
been a serious drawback to develop
ment, but some of the published re-
ports have been much exaggerated.
While it is true that baths are un-
known luXuries, and while at times
saloon keepers are forced TO deny their
patrons the usual Chaser" 1 have
heard of no actual case of suffering.
At the present time water is hauled in
tanks from Furnace creek, a distance
of twenty-seven miles, up hill"
Huge Smelling Plant
The hest news from the copper dis
trict of Shasta county is the announce
ment of the increased plant planned
for the big smelling plant of the Bal
alSlala Consolidated Copper company
at Coram. The increase. will make the
plant the largest yet built in the state,
with a capacity of approximately 1000
tons daily. The enlarged plans are a
result of a contract with Tom Law
sons famous Shasta King or Trinity
copper claim for 500 tons of copper ore
daily The two tramways to the
Coram smelter will have a combined
construction cost of a quarter of a
million dollars.
Production of Borax
The production of borax, says
Charles G.. Yale of the United States
geological survey i'm his report on the
output of that mineral during 1905,
is now almost entirely confined to the
state of California and to the cOun-
ties of San Bernardino, Inyo and
Ventura, i'm that state. Only small
quantities are occasionally taken from
the marshes of Nevada, where little
work is carried on during the summer
months.
The total output Of crude borax for
the year 1905 was 46334 short tons.
valued at S1,O19,154, as against 1851
short tons, valued at S69S. $40 in 1904,
an increase of 6S7 tons In quantity and
OF $500 334 i'm value.
In the process of manufacturing
borax and boracic acid it takes from
two TO four tons of crude borax TO
make one ton of pure anhydrous acid.
depending on percentage of the ores
handled. When the crude product.
worth at the mines from SIS to $50
ton, Is refined, It is worth ON the
market, as a manufacturing product,
from $12O TO $40 a ton. When mined
and shipped none OF the material Is
prue borax and about six-seYenth OF
the total is only 25 per cent ore. the
other seventh being more or less con-
centrated but not refined.
The Hardshell and Flux mining prop
lerties near Patagonia, IN Santa Cruz