The Ketchikan miner., 1907-05-18
THE MINES
What the Mines and Miners of This District Are DOing...Cheer.
 ing Prospects Ahead.

l. w. QIHCIy luoiioSOi Oi s''N Omar Mining company, arrived uE from Portland, Thursday, and pro- ceeded at once to the company s property at Skowl Arm, Prince ol Wales island, with crew of men with which to renew operations. This company is the owner of what was formerly known as the Khayyan property, now the Omar, upon which large amount of money has been expended-to large extent uselessly so by the late lamented yellow legged expert Dr. CD Samuel Peacock, by whose advice wharf and tramway was put in preliminary to the develop ment of the mine which has yet to be found. There are, however large de- posits of sulphide.. ores known to exist in the property, some of which runs as high as 50 per cent in sulphur, and to the development of those deposits the attention of the management will now be specially directed. It is be- lieved, and with good reason, that these ores can be mined and shipped at good profit, experiments made in the matter of their treatment dur ing the past winter having proved wholly satisfactory, except that the ores being friable, crumble so easily and freely that furnaces specially design ed to handle the fumes will be necessary. It is the purpose of the management to ship the thousand or as soon as the latter can be sufficiently repaired to permit loading, and then thoroughly explore the sulphide de- posits with view to inauguration of such plan of mining operations as their extent and economic value may seem to warrant. There is now a considerable demand for sulphur in and around San Francisco, with the probability of the establishment of a large powder making plant some where on the coast, in which latter event there will be demand for sul- phur in excess of any supply likely to be developed. Let thls be as it may, Mr. Turner is here now to de- velop, this year, whatever there may be of value in the Omar-and the property is not without great possi- bilities, even probabilities, in the way of values.
 W. A. Patterson, who went to Dall island last week with view to the inauguration of development work on the Idaho, California and Mexico locations, which he holds under bond, returned Thursday with out having attained his purpose. He found it impossible to reach the point at which he purposed commencing work, on account of the great depth of snow, and is seemingly more than half inclined to surrender his bond to the owners.
 W. W. Rush and Arth UT Bagge, who have some prospectively valuable mining locations in the Portland canal region, left for that section Thursday, for the purpose of making the expenditures and Improvements necessary to their continued holdings.
 The compressor plant has been installed at the Crackerjack, the Puyallup ater power having been utilized for its operation. Reports are to the effect that more and better work is being done on this property now than at any time heretofore.
 The question of transportation for the ores of this district not only con- tinues to be a serious one, but is growing more pronounced every day.
 1.-The growth and progress of the Kethchikan mining district,' said w. M Brewer, the mining engineer and expert, to The Miner, lately, ''has not been spasmodic or the result of any boom, but steady and, though somewhat slow, has been surely follow ing the initial development of the various mineral locations scattered over Prince of Wales and other islands " hich comprise the district. I have visited the various camps ir the district at irregular intervals since September, 1901, when many of the properties which have since been developed into productive mines were mere prospects on which little, if any, work had been done. One very encouraging feature connected with the development of the mining industry of the district, is that ir nearly every camp where prospects were staked in 1900-l901, there are today one or more mines shipping copper-gold ore to the smelters fol treatment. To illustrate this state. ment. 1 have only to point to the Sulzer properties on Hetta inlet, the Mamie, Mt. Andrew and Stevenstown on Kasaan peninsula, the Rush an( Bown, at Karta bay, the Niblacl mines at Niblack Anchorage, ant the Cymru, north arm of Moira sound. A fair estimate of the copper gold ore being shipped at present