Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1906-03-02
trict.-Chicago Mining World.

The Great Basin of the West occu
pies the western part of Utah, quite
the whole Of Nevada, parts of Oregon
and California and extending at Its
northeast angle into Idaho. On the
west it is bounded by the Sierra Ne.
vada and by the Wasatch mountains
on the east. It is a vast region of in.
terror drainage. The base of the tr,.
angle at the north Is 500 miles from
east to west and the extent from north
to south is 800 miles. Its entire area
is 100000 square miles. Numerous
mountain ranges traverse it, irregu.
lar in arrangement, the valleys are
mainly sinks; the chief drainage CEN
ter being Great Salt Lake. The basins
greatest depressions are to be found
near the borders and it's greatest ele.
walton near the center. East Hum.
boldt is the highest range. Volcanic
masses form or conceal the original
rocks of many of these ranges. The
slopes and geological markings show
that the lakes and rivers that exist
ed in the region have become smaller
or disappeared altogether. The great.
er portion of this section was once in
the basin of the Columbia river. Many
streams and lakes, the lakes mostly
SALT whose waters never reach the
ocean, are in the basin. Their waters
never reach the ocean, but are taken
up by evaporation or their waters sink
into the desert sands. -Four to fif-
teen inches of rain fall annually. The
basins main arid places are the great
Salt Lake desert, the Mahove desert
end the Carson desert The basin is
rich in mineral wealth. The Great
Basin as an interior drainage section
is surpassed in size by the interior
drainage basin of Asia, which is %
times as large. The Sahara basin is
16 times as great.-Chicago Mining
World.
1t is practically Impossible to deter
mine exact roof pressure in a mine,
because although the everything cover
gives us the maximum pressure in a
downward direction, yet this is modi-
fled by various causes. A strong roof
will permit larger openings to be
made. but increases load on pillars;
hence, calls for stronger supports than
a weak roof, which only permits small
openings. Regarding the size of the
pillars. these do not depend entirely
upon the roof for, with a strong roof
and soft bottom, narrow openings and
strong pillars. as also soft and easily
broken coal, whilst hard, compact and
slatey coal requires small pillars. The
Importance of this subject is clearly
shown by the large number of acct
dents which occur due to falling roof.
Practical experience, based on good
common sense. is perhaps the best
guide in every case. Nevertheless, it
is fact that such accidents are far
too frequent and seem to point to nee
essity for greater care, and no doubt
in many cases call for more careful
supervision.
Oscar Stephens, of Lewistown, in
addition to being one of the most ex-
70 81 in, he
state, has branched out and gone into
mining, and judging by his first ship
ment of ore to the East Helena smell
ter, his mining venture is likely to
prove as fortunate as his other in
terests. Mr.. Stephens was in the city
during the week, having come up with
a shipment of ore to the smelter.
If the returns from the rest of his
shipment come anywhere near as good
as the first one, Mr.. Stephens has a
bonanza. The shipment averaged $185
a ton in gold. All the expenses in
shipping, smelter charges and other
things amount to approximately SIS
a ton, leaving net profit of $3.50.
The mine is located near Maiden
and adjoins the famous Spotted Horse
II is the property of the Cumberland
Gold Mining company. Mr.. Stephens
owning a large interest in the com
pany. The ore which was shippet
to the smelter was taken from the II;
foot level. The vein is four feet wide
and samples taken show the ore to be
fully as rich as that which was ship
ped Another vein assays $50 a ton
On the 200 foot level is large body