The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1911-08-18
CHOICE COPPER ORE.

While carrying on work at the For
ty-Ninth Parallel recently hand
some ledge of ore, to all appearances
carrying a large per cent o. copper,
was encountered. Probably it is hard
ly correct to state that this new de-
post was encountered" as though a
drift or crosscut was being run in
search OF ere. The cropping wa I'M
covered some distance higher up and
beyond where development has here
tofore been carried on, by means of
sinking shaft, and the choice ore
that the operators are exhibiting with
so much glee--and It is a character
of ore to create glee among hose di-
rectly interestad-was taken out al
most at the grass roots. The new
strike is similar in general character
TO that heretofore taken from the old
workings, but to all appearance is
an Improvement as to grade. 1t is
stated that the ledge is four feet vide
with uniform quality of filling from
wall TO wall, a white quartz heavily
1mpregnated with mineral. The sam
pies so far displayed are certainly
most attractive and would create fav-
orable attention in any mining dis
trict So far no assays have been OBJ
tanned SO far as this office is inform
ed. but the copper values in the old
product Of the mine are we'll cstab~
lished by innumerable ASSAYS, and
smelter tests, and from all appear
ances this late strike will run higher
than the ore from the old workings.
A hole has been sank on this new dis
covery some 20 feet, and the WOrkmen
are continuing down. So far there
has been 10 variation in the ledge
matter. the quality steadily holding it's
own. Whether this is the original
ledge that has been worked in the
past or parallel ledge has not yet
been determined. 1t is not on a di-
rect line with the old ledge, but it is
possible that the formation has fault
ed. and eventually it will be found
that the two strikes are on one and
the same lead. If it proves to be an
other edge all the better for the mine,
as in thac case there is added value to
an already valuable mining property.
The FOrty-ninth Parallel is situ-
ated on Kruger mountain, on the west
side of OsOyOos lake. close to the in
ternatiOnal boundary, and only a few
miles north of OrOville. The presence
of mineral on this mountain has been
known, and has attracted considerable
attention among promoters an1 pros
pectors for years. Since the first dis
cOvery of mineral in that locality
much work. has been done in the way.
of prospecting, with the most excel
lent results. There is no question as
to the presence of precious metals,
but in most cases the values are too
low to pay the expense of production,
shipping and treatment and leave any
balance TO the operator. This same
ore, however, could be treated at
good profit near the source OF supply,
and no doubt in the course of some
time means of treatment will be pro-
vided for in close proximity to the
mines. So far as development is real
ly concerned all the work so far ac-
complished is little beyond The pros
pecting stages. There are no deep or
extenivse openings, and claim owners
hardly know what they actually have
in the way of mineral deposits. The
surface indications are such as to
justify going down. as in several in
stances the work so far done has been
sinking on lodges, and so far as re-
search has been made the ledges hold
their own and the quartz retains it's
values. When mining is pushed to
depth there is every reason to expect
that the ore bodies will be found per-
manent and of character 10 result
in profitable mines. The district is
not new, neither is mining an expert
ment carried on by novices. The
presence of pay ore has been demon
strated to the satisfaction Of claim
hOlHnrc 10 inh
not appear to be very extensive, are
several well known properties, some
of which have shipped ore to the
smelters with a balance to the good
on the returns. But as has been stat
ed above the cost of getting the prod
uct to the smelter is so great that
greater portion of the receipts for eX-
surrender all the values of the ore he
extracts just for the satisfaction of
saying his claim is shipper.
Ever since ground has been opened
up the Forty-ninth Parallel has had
the reputation of being among the
best of the many holdings in that To-
cality, and considerable work has
been done thereon. The most import
that follows strong lead to depth
of 100 feet, but that shaft is not much
deeper than an ordinary prospect
hole. This shaft has always been in
ore running well in copper, and few
years age some large shipments were
made, the SureSt test for values. The
returns were such as to warrant en-
tensive exploitation, and encourage
the owners in anticipating that ulti-
mately the holding would prove very
valuable. The property is owned by
residents of Oroville and railroad
men. They have been handicapped by
lack of capital to carry on develop
ment as it should be done, but this
last strike will probably be the means
of enlisting monetary aid, as the ore
is certainly such as would induce
mine operators to take chance at it..
Producing and paying mines on
Kruger mountain would prove a very
important factor in the upbuilding of
Oroville The field of operation is so
near this point. and so many residents
are interested in claims in the district
that the benefits to flow from dividend
payers would be directly felt in town
The working of mines on large scale