Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-12-01
Great STRIKE IN
EASTERN OREGON
CAUSING A RUSH
Old Placer Camp Of NAL
heur Takes on New Life
Because Of the Recent
Discoveries.

What Is regarded by mining men as
one of the richest strikes ever made in
the northwest has just been discovered
in the Malheur mining district, near
the old placer camp of Malheur, where
20-inch vein Of blue porphyry ore
carrying gold values which assay up to
several thousand dollars per ton have
been uncovered. Since the news Of
the strike has leaked out fair portion
of that section of the country has been
stalled out and men have begun pros
pecting on their own account, hoping to
strike 1t rich, as it is believed the main
ledge, which fed the early placer mines,
has been discovered. Frank Johnesse,
the well-knoWn mining expert, visited
the camp the past week and returning
home brought several pieces of the ore
with him. in which free gold can be
plainly seen, and he believes the strike
is one which means great things for
the mining industry of the northwest,
and predicts that Malheur will make a
good camp.
The strike was made on a cross -cut
at a depth of 40 feet In a property
owned by the DreXel Mining company
of Vale, the strike being made about
two weeks ago. The first high grade
ore was struck by the third shift on
the cross-cut and the vein, which has
since been followed for some distance,
shows gold scattered evenly through it
with all indications OF continuing in
stead Of being pocket. Several as
says taken shows that the ore runs
from $1,000 to $4,000 per ton, from the
first strike to the last piece of ore
taken from the yein
Old Placer Property.
The rich old camp of Malheur was
first worked as placer camp In the
early sixties, the source of gold being
from belt Of porphyry dyke running
through the country in a northwest and
southeasterly direction and about 1000
feet wide. In places this carried values
from So to SO per ton and several large
surface deposits were milled at pro-
fit An anthracite belt flanks this belt
to the southeast and close to this last
fall dyke of hard blue porphyry was
found paralleling the big dyke which
showed gold values on the surface
ranging from So to IS per ton. A 40
foot shaft was sunk along the hanging
wall of this dyke, which showed fair
gold values all the way down, but
water was encountered and the COM
pany owning the property was not in
financial shape to continue the work
and offered to sell at small figure.
The property was visited and exam
ined by several mining engineers and
reports were made of a favorable ma
ture, but without avail
One of the experts who visited the
4 M advised that thp vein he
cut and about two weeks ago T. l..
johnson. the chief stakeholder in the
company started to follow the advice
and cross cut from the bottom of the
shaft toward the hanging wall. He
soon encountered the high grade ore,
which set the miners in the camp wild
with excitement and caused several to
begin prospecting for themselves.
Location of Property.
The property lies on the southeast
slope of the Malheur mountains, which
is spur of the Blue mountains. They
are covered with a deep sub-soil or
wash, which makes the country diff
cult to prospect for leads. However.
since the big strike. two parallel veins
or dykes have been uncovered showing
ore of similar character, which pans
well in gold.
The climate in the camp is very mild,
the snow fall If light and it Is expect
ed there will he big rush to the
camp this fall and that a large amount
of prospect work and development Will
be carried on throughout the winter.
The mine lies six miles south and
west and in the same mineral zone as
the Rainbow mine in Mormon basin,
which is owned and operated by the
United States Smelling company. which
had $4,000 900 worth of ore in sight at
3O0-foot depth, and the ore in the
new mine Is similar in character to
that in the Rainbow.
In commenting upon the property.
Mr. Johnesse states that he believes 1t
is the greatest strike made in the
northwest in recent years, and while
very little work has been done, there Is
every indication that the property will
develop into big mine. He expects
to make another trip to that section
In the near future for a further exam
nation,