Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1918-03-28
IDAHO COUNTY AT
HEAD IN GOLD
PRODUCTION
1917 OUTPUT HIGHEST IN THE
STATE, INSPECTOR BELL
REPORTS.
TOTAL VALUE is $2lI,76O
Official Relates Interesting Facts Con-
corning Local Mining Activities
In Past Year.

Idaho county produced more gold in
1917 than any other county in the
state Robert n Bell state mine in
spector so declares in his annual re-
port.
Idaho c6unty's gold production in
1917 totaled lO,5ss ounces, valued at
$2ll, 100 During the year, the mines
of Idaho county produced 1889 ounces
of silver, worth $5s93.
The gold production Of Idaho county
in 1917 outstripped that of Boise coun-
ty, which heretofore has held the pro-
duetion record in the state, by $l760.
Portions of Bells Report.
Extracts from Inspector Bells re-
port, as it deals with mining in Idaho
county, follow:
Extensive DEPOSITS of short fibre EN-
phibole asbestos exists in central Ida
no, particularly in Idaho and Clearwater
counties, and one of these was operated
to limited extent near Kamiah dur
ing the year.
Another prospective source of lead
ore supply in Idaho is in the igneous
formations embrace in our enormous
eruptive granite bathohth, covering
$4,000 square miles in area OF the cen.
tral Idaho mountains, in which there
has been found a variety. of most at
ttaetive lead ore PROJECTS, most of
which are as yet in decidly primary
stage of development, but at some points
carving attractive earmarks of perm
anent ore results.
AT Profile c-eek, in Idzho bounty,
the Combination mine has some short
cross-cut tunnels in a dixie of silicious
rock, twenty feet wide, in a granite
country, that disclosed a good dissent
nation of galena and wrey copper with
in twenty feet of the surface outcrop
that appears to be of good coneentrat-
ing grade.
Along the Salmon River.
On tributaries of the Middle Fork
and the South Fork of the Salmon
river, in Idaho county, notably Big
creek, Monumental creek and Reardon
creek, there are several series of steep
pitching fissure veins and zonal occur
rences with rich surface manifestations
of copper oxides and carbonates in
conspicuous development of the we'll
know Prichard slate formations of the
Occur d 'Alene district that are exhibit
ted in this field, and also in eruptive
granite wall rocks, in which some shall
low tunnel development shows arraetive
manifestations of chalcopyrite ore,
promising good concentrating values of
profitable copper, gold and silver values
with further development. Unfortunate
" these deposits are in such a rugged
country and so remote from railway
transportation as to be unattractive to
capital at this time.
Northwest of this district about six
ty miles, and six miles east of the rail
way terminal at Grangeville, in the
canyon of the South Fork of the Clear
water, there exists an interesting series
of deposits well worthy of drill pros
pecting with view to the probable
existence of a wide zone. of dissent
mated copper ore relatively rich in gold
values. At this point the Clearwater
Copper company erected q small test
mill of twenty-five tons daily capacity
during the past season for the purpose
of determining the savable gold values
in the deposit In addition to the
Clearwater eompany's Dewey group,
the adjoining Evergreen and Atlanta
groups. the Wallace and Marian groups,
whose combined CLAIMS cover zone
of very closely schisted green stone
with thin vertical cleavage lines, shows
several wide bands of copper carbonate
and oxide mineral in shallow develop
ment. which are very interesting The
only opening at the drainage level of