The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-10-12
In the Far West.

In closing our last article we had arrived
at Battle Mountain, station on the Union
Pacific railroad about two hundred and
fifty miles west of Reno. We reached
Battle Mountain about eight o. clock in the
morning and began at once to look around
for refreshments. There are two good
hotels several bars, a dozen or two stores
there. 1t has a population OF two or three
thousand. In the ironing room in the
rear Of one hotel three or four Indian girls
were at work and it was said that they
made good servants. They make good
money as laborers and the braves gam
BILE it away. We met here the Attorney
for Kimberly Consolidated mines, who
seemed to be an able lawyer and most
pleasant gentleman. -.
The trip from Battle Mountain to Kim
berly was made in two automobiles, costing
| almost enough to have bought small
machine. We travelled over ten miles OF
level desert covered only by sage brush.
There was one lone settler along the way,
near the foot Of the mountain ranges. He
was living in one of the lower sections OF
the desert and he watered his lands In q
crude way by bringing a small mountain
stream in ditch to his property,
After crossing the desert, we began to
very nice road had been graded. Half
mile from the entrance to the gorge we
came to a spring. where we stopped to get
water and to water our machines.
Kimberly is situated about eight miles
from the entrance to the gorge. Our
course for the greater part OF the way lay
along mountain stream OF consider
eight per cent. We wound around the
foot Of first one mountain and then anoth-
err where the engineers had picked the
easier grades. Here and there in the noun
tains were crude prospecting camps all
apparently recently put up.
After ride OF about an hour and a half
and distance Of eighteen miles we reach
ed Kimberly.
A typical mining town in the early
stages of its development was to our par
ty a more or less interesting feature.
Kimberly has two or three hundred iopu-
lation; it has nice hotel Of forty or fifty
rooms which are we'll kept. The table SER
vice as we'll as the rooms was all that any
body could ask for at S. per day. ana py
the way the proprietor Of this hotel, MIR.
McIllerney, was the capturer OF the 1oto-
rious Pat Crow who kidnapped the Cudahy
child. The hotel belongs to the Kimberly
Company, as does q telegraph line Leading
out to Battle Mountain, numerous build.
inps on the ground and several hundred
building sites which it is thought will be
taken up pretty soon after the milling ls
begun.
Our party lost no time in sightseeing:
rs soon as we had gotten dinner, armed
with some twenty-odd empty sacks, we
started for investigation OF the gold de-
posits. Mr. NJ. c. Scully, who is the origi,,
nal consolidator of the property, and
by whose efforts the property has been 80
fully opened up was with us only during
the first afternoon Of sampling.
! Perhaps our impressions OF MI. Scully
might prove of interest at this juncture:
I was with him this first afternoon, and
afterward had O three hours talk with
him, alone in the post office. l DO not re-
call seeing him but three times during our
stay of about three days, and as stated
but little with the miners. They all seem
to respect him and yet to- have the kind
lest feeling for him. He is a man about
forty-two years Of age, has a firm, declslVe
manner; impresses you as being per1ectIy
| frank and open; expresses himself well
though there is some little evidence OF lack
of finished education. would say that ne
has mis- full share Of mind and ll7poWer
and is just such man as can properly
handle the practical side OF large gold
mining property. He threw open every
thing to us :ahis leases which were held In
the Nixon National Bank at Reno, his book
of receipts and expenditures, his mine
development and everything connected
with the mine. He answered every ques
tion unreseryedly, and without hesitation
In answer TO questions propounded by one
party he said: there had been about l0'
thousand shares sold and paid TOR up tt
that time, beside some shares SOLD on IN
stallment which would not be issued uuu
ali installments were paid up; He sale
that quarter of o million dollars woulc
be sufficient to put the mill In motion but tt
clear all indebtedness it would take some
thing like half million dollars. While hi
could not say what part Of the authorized
; S5. 100000 capital would be issued ht
Thought it would ultimately reach $500,
OOO. GoldField, the largest producing
mine in the word has authorized capita
of $50, ,OOo, 900 OF which Il "a million mas Deei
ty per cent on this large capitalization
!, last year. It seems from the extensive
development of Kimberly and the amazing
ASSAYS, the property covering as It does
400 acres Of ground, and /prat ttically al
gold bearing, that Kimberly offers many
times the richer prospect with less thai
a tenth of the capitalization. To sum uI
our interviews with Mr.. Scully. and pro
ceed to details Of our investigation OF the
ore deposits, he impresses one as oelne
perfectly capable, having spent all his
wears since boyhood in practical mining
he impresses one as being entirely fail
and omen and man from whom you In
stinctively expect q fair deal.
Our first panning was OF some ore In the
office. This, a small piece Of rock less
than the size Of your hand showed sc
much free gold, that we began at once tc
set up and take notice. From here we be-
gan the ascent Of the mountain proper
over roads graded by the company al
tremendous cost. Itook sacks OF ore from
every shaft, every tunnel and every trench
visited, seventeen in number, which
had assayed at Clemson College. / have
received these assays since returning
home and will give the assayed value o.
the ore per ton along with my notes desig
mating the places from where taken.
We began on that section Of the property
known as "Independence". In taking sam
pies from the dump, I would remove the
top earth and get small quantities from
eight or ten places on the dump. In get
ting il out of the veins or rich lenses,
either Clipped it out myself or had some
one to chipit off in the presence of the en-
tire party. My notes were made. while
, standing over or in the place sampled.
We stopped at shaft something over G
hundred feet deep on Independence. Tht
sample here number l, was taken from
one of 1900 sacks Of ore weighing 125 lbs
to the sack. This assayed S253.H golt
and S6.4S silver.
! Sample number 2, was taken from ricl
lense on tunnel crossing this shaft abou
10 feet from the surface. This assayet
gold S2200.S6, silver $l62I,
Sample number 8, was taken from North
ern end of the drift or tunnel leading tt
| II. ,rolI ell lya