The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-11-11

taxing uepOSlllonS as 10 the value oil
property. and MeAlpine's attorneys
are preparing evidence for a fight"
Butte has left no kind Of metal min
ing untouched, and touched nothing
that II has not adorned. II has passed
through several mining epochs. First
there was the epoch OF gold mining,
following the discovery of the rich
placer gold deposits of Bannack, Alder
gulch and Last Chance gulch during
the civil war-1S6S-which caused the
extraordinary influx of population to
the hitherto unknown mountainous re-
gion Of Montana. A multitude of
,prospectors, trained in the gold placers
of California, came flocking into the
state, searching every valley and gulch
for gold bearing gravels. The actiy-
lily at that time attracted the atten-
tion of President Lincoln, although his
mind was occupied with the internlcine
war problem. 1t is said that on the
day of his assassination he made
speech In which he sent a message to
the miners of Butte and the west. Two
years later came the epoch of silver
mining, when an excitement arose
over silver ores found In the rich shoot
Of the Travona mine, in the near vi
entity of the Davis-Daly properties.
The first attempt to work silver ores
was in 1856 and the price charged for
treating the ores varied from $35 to
$40 a ton. William A. Clark operating
the mill. The copper epoch came swift
ly upon the wake of the silver epoch.
In 1872 Clark turned his attention to
the copper veins of the district and In
1878 he suggested the building Of a
custom smelter in Butte. At that time
shipments OF copper ore averaging as
high as 35 per cent were being made
to the smelter in Baltimore. The smell
ters in those days charged q high price
for treatment, due to the presence of
arsenic, which at that period was
troublesome and expensive element in
smelling. Passing rapidly over the
phases of Butte history we may say,
broadly speaking, that the next epoch
came in the developments in the nor
thern section of Butte of the zinc veins,
such as those in the Butte & Superior
and Elm Orlu, which have brought
about distinct metallurgical problems. !,
Butte has been an important pro-
Queer of copper silver and gold and !
Butte & Superior's friends say that in
time to come they expect 1t to put out |
a pound of zinc for every pound of
copper produced by Anaconda. DR. |
Weed of the Copper Handbook" stat /
ed few years ago that each pound of |
copper produced in Butte contains
OO375 ounce of silver and $0O025 in |
gold. or approximately 5000 y in pre- |
cious metals.
Butte has ever been an active thea.
ter of metallurgical experiments. !,
great advance has been made in the
treatment of the districts silver ores, i
the free milling process giving place
to chlorination and roasting and these
In turn to more improved methods, so
that ores lower and lower in grade
could be treated. With the great de- !
cline in silver in 1929 and the clos
Ing down of all the large silver plants
in 1896, precipiated by the defeat of
Bryan for president, the mining of
silver ores became relatively of small 2
Importance and was carried on chiefly
by lessees. Now it is possible there
% handle the silver ores by double
using the cyanide treat
nent in connection for saving gold
'alues along with silver at cost OF
ess than per cent of the charges of
Is or 80 years ago.