Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-10
CRACKERACK IS
THE NEW MECCA
LATEST CAMP l0N THE VERGE
OF A BIG BOOM
History Of the "cyclone" Wilson Dis
coVery In the Avawatz Mountains
In San 6ernardino County.
Map Of District

county, Cal, appears to be the mecca
of mining experts representing large
mining operators who have heard of
the rich character of the region and
are desirous of securing foothold
therein. Quite a number of properties
are under bond, and strong efforts are
being made to tie up others. 1t is ap-
parent that the district is on the
verge of q great development boom.
Development work is already under
way over a very large area and new
outfits for additional work are going
into 1t almost daily.
OF all the districts on what Prof. G.
z. Bailey, late of the California state
mining bureau, has designated "a new
mother lode on the east side of the
Sierra Nevadas,' the Crackerjack, the
most southerly and the latest in the
public eye, will probably have the
speediest development
There are several reasons for this
probability, chief among them being
that the naturalization is constituted
of a system of dikes and lodges of
clear surface delineation and of large
dimensions and great continuity, and
that the ground is largely held by
men of means who have also the bene
fit of extended experience in South
western mining Probably no other dis
trict in the entire southwest has ever
been so largely located by financially
successful miners. The latter have
trooped in from Goldfield, Bullfrog,
Rhyolite and other Nevada camps,
where they have made money, deter
mined to repeat their successes.
Discovered by "cycIone" Wilson
The original locator in the Cracker
Jack district was a miner widely known
in the desert mining sections of Nevada
as "Cyclone'' Wilson and now noted as
the locator of the famous Jumbo mine
of Goldfield, a mine which produced
over $1,600,000 in one year, and the
stock of which has recently sold as
high as $5 share, representing val
uation of the property Of $5,000,000,
valuation in all probability much too
low.
Wilson happened upon what is now
called the Crackerjack district about
ten years ago and was at once i'm
pressed with it's naturalization. Then,
however, the section was so very re-
mote from rail or stage roads that the
idea of working it was impracticable,
especially in the case of poor pros
pector with no capitalistic connections,
such as Wilson was at that time.
After Wilson had won a stake at Gold
field he bethought himself at once or
the destitute region of nearly ten years
before. He set out forthwith for 1t
and filed therein the first mining loca-
tion,, the claims located being known as
the Beck 81 Wilson claims, the loca-
tion occurring in December, 1905, and
a host of hardy mining operators who
know pay rock when they see it and
who could only be diverted from such
camps as Goldfield, Manhattan and
Bullfrog by a section with pay rock
galore, have followed the Wilson trail.
Value of the Claims
OF all the districts on the East Moth
er lode, the Crackerjack is the most
diverseiy mineralized, being consid-
cred by miners who have prospected it
throughout not only remarkably rich
in gold ore, but also in silver, copper
and lead Pay values are found prac-
tically at the surface, while, as de-
velopment proceeds and depth is at
tanned, the values go up rapidly. In
deed it is the opinion of many or the
best informed operators in the noted
Nevada camps that the new district is
destined to rival in productivenessa any
of them.
The largest operations in the terri
tory are conducted by the CrackerJack
Gold Mining company, Los Angeles
corporation, whose properties are N
the heart of the district, and after
Wn1cn the ldIIeT was hohiOu "iASA
legally organized.
Another GoIdfleld
At present the nearest railroad point,
as shown by the accompanying map,
is Silver Lake, on the Tonopah & Tide
water railroad, about twenty miles
from the townsite of Crackerjack.
Traffic, however, into the district is in
creasng so rapidly that the construc-
nP q railroad
tween Silver Lake and the townstte is
seriously contemplated. A telephone
line between the points mentioned will
be Immediately constructed, the neces-
sary poles being en- route. From Crack
erjack it is planned to extend the tele-
phone line to the Desert King mine,
twelve miles northwesterly, thence to
Greenwater.
If the expectations of those most ia
miliar with the Crackerjack district
are substantially realized Los Angeles
will have before long Goldfeld almost
at her doorway.
Nuggets of News
One hundred and fifty men have been
at work at the Bullychoop mine, in
Shasta county, installing thirty
stamp mill and two fifty horsepower
electric motors.
The Mountain Monarch mine, on
the west side of Clear creek, III
Shasta county, proves to be valuable
copper property. The ore also carries
gold values. AS the work in the COM
panys tunnel progressed the ore body
was found to contain more and more
copper bearing ore until now copper
has appeared In such quantities that
the plan to erect mill and cyanide
plant has been abandoned and the ore
will be shipped to the Kennel smell
ter. AS soon as the Keswick smelter
is in operation again the Mountain
Monarch win ship to that place, 1t be-
ing the easiest of access.
An important mining deal was re-
Gently made in Western Siskiyou by
which Henry e. Wood of Denver, act
ing I'm behalf of Colorado capital, pur-
chased the interest of A. c, Brokaw
i'm the Advance group of claims in
China Gulch, Salmon River district
Wood and Brokaw had been assooi-
ated together. The purchasing inter-
ests are represented to have millions
behind them.
The black sands of the Pacific coast
are now depended upon to supply the
world with platinum. a metal more
valuable than gold~ 1t is now worth
$28 an ounce. Formerly Russia sup