Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1911-06-16

subject to the weather and to Butte
as a good mining camp. After short
talk Clark allowed the Alaskans &c
leave without making any further ref
erence to the property. He did not
believe their story.
Clark thought they were crazy.
In Montana bornite and copper
glance are not found on the surface
but at depth. The formation in Alasks
is entirely different. The Bonanza
outcrop is a freak in a way. 1t is
like a great blowout from subter'
ranean forces, dome built upon tho
cathedral range of such imposing ap
pearance, with its weather-staine'
green sides glistening in the sun. tha
it can be seen for great distance
The copper is found in other part:
of Alaska at the contact, where Z
layer of limestone rests upon sup
porting basis of greensboro.
Senator Clark afterward sent an ex
pert copper mining engineer to loo
over the field, but the Bonanza hat
been sold meantime to the Havemey
ers of New York and Norman Schult
and James H. Ralph of Pittsburg, who
made a fortune in oil and steel. Smith
Warner and their associates received
about $4,000 each for their inter
est.
The Bonanza was now becoming the
wonder of the copper world. Experts
for the Guggenheims made repeated
examinations and those copper mag.
mates bought the property, paying. Il
was said, about one million dollars
Then the transportation problem was
tackled in earnest. The last spike in
the railroad from Cordova to kenni'
cutt, was driven this spring.
Contractor Heaney, who built the
White Pass & Yukon railroad, carried
out the plans for the Copper River
railroad under the direction Of Chief
Engineer Hawkins. The difficulties to
be overcome were stupendous.
To avoid the two huge glaciers
which form ice walls for miles along
the Copper river, 1t was necessary to
cross the river twice by bridges OF
steel costing millions of dollars tc
build. In places the cliffs Of rock
were blown out and leveled to make
a roadbed for the rails, and the track
runs along the edge of deep canyons
through which the river waters rush
in mad torrents or fall in boiling rap.
ids to a lower level.
The scenery along the Copper river
is continual surprise. From glis'
tening glaciers to snow-capped peaks,
and from brown forests Of cedar,
rusty from exposure, to brilliant fields
of flowers Of every color, thick as but
tercups in a meadow and covering
vast expanses of the mountainside,
the travellers eyes turn in wonder
ment. The melting SHOWS fall In
great bridal wells of shimmering
beauty from precipitous cliffs. The
mild temperature of July and August
in the valleys and along the rivers, is
sure to draw the sightseeing traveller
from every quarter of the world, with
the same fascination that Switzerland
holds for the sojourners abroad.
The superintendent of the Bonanza
says the assay values of the ore will
amaze the mining world. When 1t is
understood that copper ore yielding
two per cent In pure metal Is good
enough to induce capitalists to invest
millions, ore assaying 80 to 72 pei
cent. copper justifies the name Bo
nanza.
Jack Smith, the original discoverer
with Clarence Warner, retired some
years ago to live in a small town near
Albany, N. Y, which was his home In
his early youth. But the Alaska fever
seized him again. and he went to Sc
attic to be once more with his ole
associates who cannot resist the al
lurements of the trail and camp
Warner, spends most of his time III
Chicago, but he, too, makes a triI
every year to the Copper river bell
and camps at the familiar streams
along the government trail where hs
met and conquered hardship.