The San Francisco call., 1908-10-05

rent news of California mines is the
smelter by the Mountain copper COM
pany. The working of two sets of
diamond drills on the mountain from
the creek, the lowest point available
for operations, is evidence that the big
copper corporation is seeking to de-
termine the size of the ore body that
has not been worked. A report is cur
rent to the effect that the discoveries
made by the diamond drills will be
powerful factors in the determination
| of future operations at the Keswick
smelter. The results will settle whether
/ or not the company will rebuild the
old smelter or construct more modern
plant. One drill is boring into the
mountain a quarter of a mile above the
other Workmen have been grading
on the side of the, creek opposite the
smelter.
Peculiar interest has attached to the
operations of the Mountain copper COM
pany for the reason that this corpora
tion was the first to exploit the copper
resources of Shasta county on a large
scale. The copper belt upon which it
works is the most important feature
of mining in Shasta county, which is
the leading mining county of California
in the annual value of its returns, ac-
COIulnB u lu6 ldlOSl report the GALL
fornia state mining bureau.
For a time the Mountain copper mine
was sixth in rank in the producing
copper mines of the United States
It's annual production is large, but it
is no longer the largest producer in
! Shasta county.
MAMMOTH COMPANY LEADS
The Mammoth copper company is re-
ported to have been the leading cop
per concern in Shasta in mineral out
put in 1907. 1t turned out some mil
lions of pounds more of the red metal
than the Mountain copper company did
This was due to the Interruptions that
have come to the Mountain copper COM
pany by the moving of it's smelter to
one of the bay counties, and also to
local causes. But there is no doubt in
the minds of mining men that where
copper has been found is such large
quantities there is much more near by.
Iron mountain is about 1000 feet
wide. between Slick Rock and Boulder
creeks.
The principal ore mass that has been
developed lies on the southern side Of
the mountain above Slick Rock creek
and the greater portion of the ore
that has been mined has come from
that locality. An early estimate placed
the ore in body 500 feet long, 100 to
7UU lcGL WlQc ana OUO sIStI Q66p, COLI
tanning 100000 tons. How much this
has been enlarged by discovery can not
| be ascertained, as the policy of the
Mountain copper company is one of
secrecy. Its output has been very
large. Since the Mountain copper COM
pany pioneered the way as large pro-
ducer, the copper product of Shasta
! county has grown. The annual re-
turns show an increase from less than
BEGAN WORK IN 1897
The Iron mountain began it's pro-
ducing career in 1897. when James
vestigate its ores. Assays of the sur
face revealed the presence of gold and
silver. Not until 1905 was copper made
! the leading feature. In the copper
areas of Shasta county. as developed
| to date, are included 80 miles of de-
posits. Shasta county must be cred
| tied with a very large proportional
share of the total copper value product
of this state in the last 21 years. The
total value amounts to more than s44.
| 100000 for the entire state.
New gold discoveries, so says the
Fort Jones Farmer and Miner, which
| have been made in the Marble noun
| tain country, are apt to open up new
quartz mining district in the western
part of Siskiyou county. Eighteen
years ago men from Butte county
made locations at Marble mountain.
Recently one of the locators of IS
years ago went to Marble mountain
and returned with rich gold samples.
The Siskiyou News says that the At
| terburys of Quartz valley have a gold
prospect in the Marble mountain
country.
| Facts relating to recent mining op-
erations in Siskfyou county are in sub
stance as follows:
| John Lewis and VIM. Boyer have sold their
mine six miles west Of Fort Jones to Los Angeles
men.
7 group of claims on Taylor creek. They have
! uncovered several veins of pay ore.
w. II. Overton has a of developing
! his group of claims on Crow creek.
The Taylor Lake mining company is developing
| its property. 1t is rumored that new company
| is about to take hold of the mine
Godfrey Brothers of Salmon river lately put
| so tons of through their stamp mill. The
! ledge is five or six feet wide and averages
! FehIey, Russ & Co. have purchased the Shum-
| way hydraulic mine near Forks of Salmon. They
The Mountain Laurel vein is showing grade
or ore. The thickness varies from three to ten
Oroville capitalists are testing McAdams creek
/ with view of building dredge Last spring
| they had force of men on the ground drilling
| and nrosnecting and lately another large drill
was delivered the creek.
| Norton Emery & Van Vlack have done develop
| ment work on the Dodges Extension group
| the Wintering and osgood property on Russian
| creek They have four foot ledge which has
| been crosscut In nine places and have struck
The old Cerro- Gordo mine, in Inyo
county, has come into the possession
| of the Four Metals mining company,
with headquarters in San Jose. This
company bought out the properties of
the Western Ore Development and Pur-
chasing company, some time ago, the
properties of which We're also in Inyo
! county.
| Mines in Yuba county that have re-
NAMED closed for some years are re-
opening and the production of gold in
| the coming year should be much in
| creased
| While some attention has been called
to the reported falling off in the gold
production of California in 1904 the
| totals for gold output from the begin
ming of placer mining in this state
| to the present time make refreshing