The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-08-03


II Is known as Quartz mountain. These
great masses of white quartz occur in
many places but few of them ever
prove TO be of value for gold or for
anything else unless they are close to
the railway, In which event they may
have economic value for the making
of glass of similar uses
In the Lava Beds mining district, In
San Bernardho county, California,
about 80 miles east of Dagge,., 10 a
vein that would attract fife attention
of any prospector. experienced or 9TH
erwise. The locator of this great vein
noticed It's dark wall like outcrop from
range OF hills 20 miles away while
prospecting. Having found nothing
Encouraging where he had been
searching, he decided to cross the in
tervening desert valley and investi-
gate this, which to him seemed to
answer to the descriptions he had read
of the Great Wall of China. Nearer
and not a dixie, as he had feared 1t
might prove to. be. Rising at its east
ern end from the desert detritus, 1t
extended for 5000 feet without a break
except where displaced for a few feet
by bikes. 1t stood from 10 to 80 feet
above the surrounding surface and
from 10 to 100 feet In width. 1t was
cut by two canyons to a depth of 500
feet. 1t is an immense vein and
structurally beautiful one, but the
ore is mostly too low grade to be pro-
ftable, though there are rich places
here and there along it's course. /
have seen silver chloride ore from
this vein that was worth $4,000 per
ton. II also contains a little gold,
lead and copper. Westward it ends
abruptly as the side of a house. nor
has it's continuation-if 1t ever had one
! in that direction--ever been discover
ed. The country rock of this vein Is
quartz porphyry.
The recent demand for industrial
minerals has made desirable a know
ledge of the mode of occurrence of
manganese, chronic iron, magnesite,
cnnabar, and the tungsten minerals;
in fact such knowledge is absolutely
necessary to the prospector, If he hopes
to discover deposits of these minerals;
SO | add further notes concerning them.
Not long ago l had occasion to in
spect a property on which it was said
deposit of magnesite occurred.
visited the place and near the base of
the hill found several small pieces of
magnesite that seemed to be of fair
quality. 1t was raining at the time,
but | weit up the hill and began to
hunt for the magnesite deposit from
which the small pieces had come. l
searched for some time, but all could.
find was some white calcite and a
quantity of porcelain like silica. /
found no magnesite. The following
day l visited another place where
there was an outcrop of magnesite
Returning to town, and having nothing
in particular to do, | decided to re-
visit the place l had inspected the
previous day, for was not satisfied.
felt sure there was magnesite some
where on the hill. l knew perfectly
well that Che detached pieces l had
found had not come up hill-that
somewhere abose on that hillside /
would find magnesite if looked care
fully enough. This time / went far
Their up the slope, and noticing an
outcrop of black rocks above me went
up to them, whereupon / discovered
that the outcrop was a body of mag
nestle from 4 to over 20 feet wide. The
black color was due to a covering of
moss. Wherever lie rock was broken
by my hammer the snow white mag
nestle appeared beneath. 1t was only
the knowledge that the pieces l found
the day before must have come from
some higher point that decided me to
make a second visit to the place, with
the result above stated, Probably
had it not ben raining the first time
would have discovered the magne-
site then. Magnesite generally occurs
in serpentine, though 1t is occasion
ally associated with other rocks, as,
for instance. the unusual deposits at
Bissell, 20 miles east of Mojave. in
Kern county, California, where the
magnesite is interbedded with shales
and thin beds Of limestone
AS far as known, chronic iron al
ways occurs in serpentine, there be-
ing no known exceptions to this any
where in the world therefore. the
will look on serpentine
areas for chrome and not waste time
in fruitless search for this mineral |
in limestone, in granite, or anywhere |
else than in serpentine
Zanzibar is easily recognized by it's
brilliant carmine color or streak, but |
which is essentially |