The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1913-10-10

'"o 'uhhel at the mill site. in which
'he work of knocking down orc is in
progress. What struck the ni,gr;r,s 6
most favorably as soon as the light Of
uay was shut out was the absanco of
III moisture in the tunnel and tbo
purity OF the air. Interest in all n,iro,
OBJECTS was lost, however, when the
point was reached where the ,edpo
is uncovered, and the miners arc
shooting out the ore that is being rrn
through the mill. Between smooth
well defined walls, and standing very
near perpendicular, is a quartz ledpo
from four to eight feet wide, the
auartz uniformly and thoroughly min
| erailzed At four or five station G
miners We're at work overhead brook
ihs uo"h the ore. Where shots had
oeen fired few hours before the visit
great heaps of ore blockaded the mas
sage way, there being much more of
'his broken quartz in sight than the
muckers could readily handle. Mr.
smith pointed out where the ledge had
apparently pinched down to a rihbon
when the tunnel was first driven in
tt has widened out to its present size
after few round of holes had been
put in. This ore is of a very biob
grade, assaying $14O in gold and 81
ounces in silver, and holding these
values on mill runs.
The presence of ore is not confined
to the place where it is now being ey-
tracted, 1t seems to be everywhere the
ground has been opened up. Mr.
Smith led on, and on. following nas-
sages to the right and left, which oc-
caslonally opened into chambers
Then he would mount ladders to show
ledge matter, and go down ladders and
lnclines from one level to another in
order that every part of the mine
could be inspected, for there is moth
ing to conceal on the Owasco. The
display of ore was a revelation, both
as to its quality and quantity. Ir
almost every opening ledge could
be traced. The value and Importance
OF the Owasco as a mining property
does not rest in the presence of a
single vein, or ledge There are a
number of them, and in almost every
instance strong, well defined leads.
One would hardly believe there could
be so much ore in any one given place
iu the country. All of the ore does
not carry the same high values as that
now being mined and milled, but it
al contains sufficient value to be
worked at profit, and as the ore is
al of the same general character it is
only natural to presume that with
greater depth. or further exploration,
the values will increase. There is
certainly at the present time enough
ore in sight to keep a ten stamp mill
running night and day for several
years.
Slipping down through ore shoots
to the lower level the tunnel was
found to be damper than the one above
I natural change getting nearer water
level. In this tunnel and it's various
ramifications the ledges are still in
sight. Little work has been done on
this level by the present company, but
it is the intention to clear out the
tunnel, retimber where found neces-
sary, lay track, and carry on sys-
tematic campaign of prospecting, and
the showing certainly justifies the ef-
forts. There is ore everywhere on this
level as in the levels above, and the
lodges can be readily followed out un
der the hills, sunk on, or worked out
above. There seems to be no limit
to the extent of this ore deposit and
from trip trough all the workings
it looks as though quartz enough could
be broken out to keep 100 stamp
mill in operation instead of merely
a mill of ten stamps.
The company is operating in a con-
cervative way. No promise is made
as to the future policy to be pursued.
The company has a good thing in the
way of exceptionally rich ore, and the
manager is making the best of it with
the means of treatment at hand.
There is a large area to work over,
if it is decided to push operations on
a large scale. For the present the
mill will continue running on the pro-
duct from the rich shoot. Besides
treating ore from the ledge consider
able ore from the old dumps has been
run through the mill with the most
surprising and satisfactory results.
This dumpage gave very good returns.
There are hundreds of tons OF quartz
in the old dumps, and if the values
hold out as they have in that treated
from the same source these dumps IN
themselves represent a small fortune.
If looks very much as though the
Owasco is a real mine, mine that IS
eventually to rank with the best IN the
west. There have been so many rail-
ures of promising mining ventures IN
Okanogan county that one can hardly
risk expressing a belief that any part
icular mining property is going TO
turn out a dividend payer, yet In TINS
see there is so much ore in slght' as
saws are running so uniformly high
she small mill is so regularly pound
ing out gold running into the hundreds
of dollars that one feels that IL 'he
Owasco is not about to become pay
ing mine it is almost useless TO con-
time mining in this part OF tne
cOuntrV