Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-07-09
FORTUNE SPENT
ON RICE MOUNTAIN
An Object Lesson on the Value OF LEX.
pert knowledge on Geological
Formations.

! Eight men have gone broke, several
of whom were once wealthy, and IA
| years have been spent vainly trying
to make paying proposition out Of
the Rice mountain group OF claims in
| southern Utah, and the pathetic part
| of the. history of this property is that
II has now been discovered by the new
owners, who secured IL for a song that
had the Rice brothers. the original dis
coverers, continued their long tunnel a
little further Unstead OF abandoning il
and almlessly gophering promIscuously
over the hills) they would today be
wealthy instead OF having squandered
their fortunes and finally abandoning
the mine.
In 1895 the Rice brothers, then we'll.
to-do cattle mon. discovered a boulder
OF hoat Weighing n ton and a half In
the extreme western part OF Iron coun-
~, west Of Modena. II was shipped
TO market and netted $500 a ton. free
gold being distinctly seen under it's
weathered crust. This discovery Gre
ated quite stir, and at once the dis
coverers began driving a great tunnel
into Rice mountain at the spot where
the bowlder was found over $4,000
was expended on this tunnel The in
experienced miners we're led on and on
by occasionally finding rich fragment
airy quartz, At times they would en-
counter q chunk giving a fun face OF
rich ore, only TO as suddenly disappear.
Finally, after prosecuting and drift
ing. heartsick, thoy abandoned their pet
tunnel and went up the hill and ran
In "A second tunnel. This and numcr-
GUS gopher holes sunk on all parts OF
the property failed 10 bring to light the
rich lode from which the big float bowl
der had broken on and rolled down the
mountainside.
During the rosy showing on the prop
erty, the owners refused fortunes. one
Denver syndicate, which had an expert
for six days on the property, Offering
100000. But all offers were turned
down. Finally the property was lost
and passed through the hands OF Sow
eral successive owners. Not until re-
Gently was II discovered that all this
work had been done in great fill. and
the real mother lode had never been
reached. The rich fragments encoun-
tered in the workings had evidently
broken off and fallen down from the
mother lode above, and these led tho
miners on, expecting every shot TO
bring them into their own. a contin-
uation OF the original TUNED would
have tapped the rich vein $50 TO 400
feet vertical depth on the rich spar
outcrop which has now been discovered
above. From this vein assays taken
80 feet across, run as follows: The four
having been taken from different places
on the vein No. /. soft shaft, s12 10
gold, 3 ounces silver; No. 2, 30-f. shaft,
S3S 20 gold, 1.2 ounces silver; No. 3.
deep SURFACE cross-cut, 20 feet long.
SIS so gold, ounces silver; No. 4. cross
cut defining eastern limit OF vein, $50
gold. ounces silver.
The formation on Rice mountain IL
an andesite overflow. with quartzite and
porphyry, the mother vein being heavi-
~ charged with spar and docomposed
duartzite where the values make. The
present owners. who will continue the
old tunnel TO tap the rich outcropping,
are Messrs. Buel, Wtcks, Nolf and
Tryon.