The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-18

Strikes at Palmetto, Fifteen Miles
From Ida, New, Cause
Rush to Diggings.
TALK DEAL FOR IRON MINES
DEEP CREEK is GETTING READY
TO BOOM.
lSneciaI Id The HeraIdl

Especial TO The Herald)
Ida, New, Feb. 15.-With the his
tory of Manhattan fresh in their
minds. the people of southeastern Ne
vada are stampeding to yet another Ell
Dorado. Palmetto. and within a few
days, perhaps before this story is in
print. the rush will be as wild. as eX-
citing as that which marked the birth
OF the bonanza camp TO the north. AL
ready considerably more than 200 tents
have been pitched amidst the sage
brush of the narrow valley through
which runs the old stage road to the
Owens valley towns at the foGt Of the
White Sierra range in California, and
Main street OF the new town of Pal
metto extends from east to west for
a solid mile. a townsite has been
staked out, and town lots are selling
up to $500 for a frontage of forty feet
on Main street.
BuIIfrog Rush to Begin.
Automobiles, stages and wagons
keep up q constant procession through
Ida, followed by heavily laden freight
outfits pulled slowly along by teams of
from six to ten span Of horses or mules,
long cared, patient burrOS plOdding
through the dust, their backs piled
high with bedding, tents and the in
evitabIe timed goods" that accom-
pany every desert traveller, be he hum
bic prospector or buCkle-bOOted expert
With visions of quickly acquired for
tunes that are inspired by the history
Of Tonopah, GOldfield, Bullfrog and
Manhattan, people from ell classes are
rushing onward across mountain and
desert, sparing not their horses and
begrudging themselves the brief hours
required for sleep and food.
District Is an Old One.
Palmetto is not new and unex-
plored district While the great war of
the rebellion was being fought, the
late William c. Whitney was digging
a fortune in precious metals from the
hills a short distance from the new
and busting camp, and within two
miles Of the rich discovery that caused
this stampede stands the tan brick
stack Of his long dead furnaces. Five
miles away. and in the same range, is
the old Silver-lead camp of Sylvania,
and IL the hills on both sides Of the
valley, everywhere are lodges contain
gold and silver and copper and lead.
But gold. the magnet that draws men
from all the corners of the earth, the
precious yellow metal that fires the
blood and makes demons Of the san
est of mOrtals. gold, the sire and the
dam of cupiGity the world over, has
been found in its native state speckS
Of IT and fakes of il, hid away in
white quartz scanned with iron and
buried in ragged hills which have been
the feeding places of wild horses and
half wild cattle, and the hunting
grounds OF coyotes, for a quarter of a
century. With mortar and pestle, 4
Canteen OF water and a gold pan, the
prOspector has invaded these hills and
pounded and washed the seams of
quartz and bOulders Of rich float,
watching with eager eyes for the
specks OF yellow metal in the bottom
of the pan. And in nearly every case
they are there, too, a sight that ban
ishes fatigue and spurs him on to re-
newed efforts
Lodges Are Rich In Gold.
The ledge from which the rich val
ues have been taken extends for five
miles from southeast to southwest to
where the range is broken by the south
end of Fish Lake valley, and the pay
streak yields values from 500 to So
600 the ton. About twenty leases have
been let, and the deepest workings are
but twenty-five feet. In this lease as
says have been had up to $4,000, and
considerable ore has been sacked. On
the Callahan and Sweeney lease
specimens were taken q week ago at
a depth Of ten feet that showed half
gold in the pan, and rich ore is being
sacked from eighteen inches Of a vein
that is gradually widening as depth
IS attained Every lease on the noun
tain shown pay ore" which in this
country means 500 or better.
Camp Is Fifteen Miles From Ida.
The Palmetto district is fifteen miles
from Ida, west by a little north. and
from two TO five miles from the Cali
fornia line The nearest railroad point
Is Goldheld, fOrty-seven miles north
east over excellent wagon roads. the
route passing through this camp.
Water is found IN the valley at a
depth OF forty feet, and there is plenty
of ptniOn pine within five miles of the
new camp. It IS the center of a heavily
mineraliZed section twenty-four miles
square, which has been mined, In a
crude way, for forty years. the home
of old bOnanzas from which rich ores
were 'treked" across mountains and
deserts before the COmStOck was
known to man. On the south are the
immense high grade silver-Iead de-
posits of the old camp of Sylvania. on
the north and east Silver Peak. with
It's FAMOUS DTlnkWater mine, and the
rich deposits of Gold Mountain. TuIe
canyon and Ida Fish Lake offers an
easy grade for a railway from CoaIdale
nfty-tlve miles away, and the G. & q
road can be reached over "A good
freight road by a drive Of fortv-{ive
miles The winters are mild. with but
little snow except in the high ranges
and the presence of wood and water
will greatly lessen the cost of mine
operations. There Is every Indication
that Palmetto viii become a large and
fourishing camp in the very near fu-
ture.