Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-20
ESTHER FIND
MAY PROVE
BONANZA
DISCOVERY IS NEAR THE CALI
FORNlA line
ASSAYS RUN NEARLY A THOU
SAND TO TON
Region Is Excited Over the Find'
Which Is Directing Attention
to the New Hart
District

What is considered to be one of the
greatest strikes in the Searchlight
district. or in Southern Nevada Tor
that matter. is that recently encoun-
tered by Croft & Beeson on the Esther
group. situated two miles and hal1
north of Searchlight. For the past
sixty DAYS w. R. Croft and E. S. Bee
son have been quietly opening up what
is undoubtedly a phenomenal showing.
They have now about eighty tons OF
high grade ore on the dump and the
ledge has been exposed for distance
of 1000 feet, the width of the vein vary
ing from three to eight feet. 1t is
true fissure, and mining men VINO nave
visited the scene of the Esther strike
are unanimous in the opinion of its be-
ing one of the greatest continuous ore
bodies they ever beheld.
The entire vein will horn colors in
sufficient length to open the eyes or
the most credulous. Grab samples run
into the hundreds, and free gold IS
plainly discernible, while under the
magnifying glass fine particles OF the
yellow metal glisten in profuslon'
Assays $945.9o
A grab sample taken from the dump
at No. l shaft by the Searchlight News
representative was given 10 stone q
Brown for assay and returned the phe-
nomenal value of s945.9O per ton, OF
which $500 was silver, the balance In
gold. It is conservatively estimated
that the so tons of ore on the dump
will yield the owners $4,000.
Early in the week a News reporter
visited the Esther in company with r.
p Sproule, a conservative and reliable
authority on mining, thoroughly famll-
lar with the game. With pan and
mortar the entire vein was inspected.
without eXaggeration the Mornings ob-
tanned in the various openings along
the vein indisputably stamp the dis
coyery one of the greatest ever made
in Nevada. This is the opinion OF MI
Sproule and every other mining man
who has visited the property.
How Lead Was Found
In the development of the Esther,
Croft & Reeson departed from what ap-
nears TO be the general method of pros
Meeting in many districts. Instead of
combining their work to any particular
locality after discovering the ledge,
they started out to prospect the ground
in a sane and scientific manner. Two
months ago when they pitched camp
to do their annual assessment work
Croft & Beeson were heartily discour-
aged. for up to that time no trace of a
lead was ever found on the property,
although they had held the claims for
several years, while some of them have
been relocated and dropped by at least
six different owners. But rich hoat
was picked UP in the vicinity and the
ground was situated in high-toned
neighborhood. being bounded on the
southwest by the Leroy and Pompeii.
calf and
Goldhelds, on the east by the Florence,
on the north by the New Era and the
phenomenal Blossom not far to the
southwest.
Vein Continuous and Well Defined
In that region the leads are blind,
and except for small particles of float
tbey had nothing to guide them in their
search. With pan and mortar they
fairly crawled over the ground. until
at last their perseverance was re-
warded, and after digging two feet the
ledge was uncovered The work of
opening up their find then commenced
and up to last Monday the develop
ment consisted substantially as fol-
lows:
For a distance of 1000 feet the ledge
has been uncovered in at least dozen
different places, showing the width of
the vein to be from 3 to feet, and
in places no inclosing walls have been
encountered.
No. / shaft is 25 feet deep, showing
8 feet of ore that pans phenomenal
colors, while a goodly string of gold
shows from panning any part OF the
working. Two feet Of surface dirt, red
dish in color, covers the vein at this
point, and even this pans freely for a
distance of ten or twelve feet on either
side of the shaft, and will probably run
SIS or 800 per ton, while the ore in
places runs into the pictures. Twenty
tons of ore on the dump at this open
ing.
No. . shaft is 30 feet deep, and sixty
tons of high grade ore are on the dump,
The working is all in ore from top
to bottom, and no waste was taken out.
No shaft is IL feet in depth, and
the ore body is eight feet in width, with
no footwall in sight.
The character of the ore is meta
morphosed porphyry. impregnated with
iron hemitite, but in local vernacular
II is called a quartz-porphyry, and in
general appearance resembles Quar-
tette ore. The inclosing walls are por-
phyry, except in No. 5, where the hang
ing wall is granite.
Blossom and Pompeii
Two distinct veins traverse the
ground, and a juncture is formed at No
shaft, where the working is all pic
ture rock and the surface pans freely.
Every indication points to the belief
that these are the Pompeii and Bios
som leads, and come together at this
place. The lead in direct line with the
Pompeii traverses the Leroy, but not
at the point where the shaft has been
sunk, but farther south. 1t continues
on through the Esther in a straight
line east and west into the Florence
and Desert Imp.
On the Florence the same vein has
been encountered, and a 35-foot shaft
has recently been put down by Sayles
e Roy. This working is practically all
in ore. In an interview with a News
reporter the first of the week Mr.
Sayles declared the ledge to be one OF
the strongest he has seen in this dis
trict, and asserted that the Florence
has every earmark for the making OF
big mine. The Florence is owned by
Ethen, Sayles & Roy.
e~S