The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-03-04
WILSON MESA BIG
MILLING PROSPECT
So-CaIled PIacerS Are Vast
Bodies of Low Grade Ore,
Says Expert.

That the Wilson Mesa placer grounds,
so called, of Grand county, are in fact
composed of great bodies of gold bearing
ore, formed by volcanic action, is the
theory promulgated by Joseph H. Webb,
a mining expert, whose conclusions are
drawn from the results OF extensive sur
face work The Wilson Mesa formation
has long puzzled experts and to many
the theory of Mr.. Webb appears to be
The most plausible Of any yet presented.
Ills conclusions have not been arrived at
summarily. by cursory examination, but
nave been reached after several years of
study and prospecting. If they are cor
rect II means that Wilson Mesa may be
the greatest mining camp in the world.
far surprising Jarbidge, even should that
camp fulfill the expectations of its most
sanguine supporters.
THAT some idea of the magnitude Of
the ore bodies here may be formed says
Mr.. Webb in a communication 10 the Salt
Lake Mining Review, I will state tina
the Wilson Mesa Placer company has run
cuts in its property on three sides-west,
north and sOuth-1,200 feet apart, and in
all cases the bedrock soon dipped towards
the center of the hill. At first the dip
was slight, but il soon changed to over
forty-fiVe degrees, and at forty feet, the
deepest cut, the rock is nearly all gold
bearing, assaying from So to 5000 ton.
Ore for 200 Years.
"A number of tests made during the
summer OF 1SuJ showed an average VALUE
from the surface 10 a depth of forty feet,
of $500 a ton in free gold, and it was
cOnservatiVely estimated that there is
enough s. free-milling ore now in sight
TO keep a 100-tOn mill running cOntinu-
ously for period of 200 years, and this
without taking into consideration the ore
existing below the now UNEMPLOYED depth.
THE deeper the ground has been ex-
plOred the greater the values. The last
run by hydraulic sluicing made by Wilder,
lmanan Co, on the Wilson Mesa
ground, made ia October, 1903, on gravel
taken, to a large extent from their cut,
ran something over 81 in gold to the cubic
yard, and some of the cleanup was surely
picture rock
The Point Lookout claim shows five
distinct geysers, or chimneys, and all of
the ground surrounding them runs well
in gold. out OF 100 cubic yards or gravel
Webb and Boren, the owners, cleaned up
30 ounces of gold, or more than s. yard.
In a territory one mile by four, there are
in evidence the outcroppings of more than
thirty blowouts; and from indications,
each would furnish ore for a big mill.
Meyers, Webb and BOren have Just sta rted
TO sink a 5Xl0-fOOt shaft, and now, at a
depth of only sixteen feet have good
ore"
Explaining his theory of the formation,
Mr.. Webb says:
Theory of Formation.
"A very erroneous impression, I believe,
prevails, in general way, that our large
bodies of quartZ-graVel were deposited by
landslides gla cial movement or hereto
fore unknown system of washing process
when, in fact, everything shows cOnclus-
lively that il is nothing more nor less
than a large system of volcanic eruptiOns
which have broken up through the sedi-
mentary formation; and, fnpm all appear
ances, when it was submarine.
But at the first upheaVal the water re-
ceded. and for a long period hot water
flowed through the openings formed by
the eruptiOns and faulting OF both the
lower strata of the igneous rocks, and the
upper layer of sedimentary. The gold
values were brought up in solution and
precipitated along with the silicious rocks.
That it was long in cooling is proven by
the crystalized chaTa cter of the breccia
filling the throat of the volcanic crater.
The breccia is composed of all kinds of
igneous rocks, but the felspars predOmi-
nate, with a close second of intrusive pOr-
phyretic rocks. with large bodies of tale
and kaolin. They all carry more or less
Ual11nc in gold -