The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-04-11
FAMOUS CAMP BIRD MINE.
ITS REMARKABLE STORY
TAXES, AFTERWARDS PRO.
DucED OVER $4o,o0o,ooo.


located near Ouray, Colorado, the
golden mother lode of the Mount Snef-
fels quadrangle, soon will be cut at a
depth that will crown 1t with added
distinctions, as being the deepest
worked mine in the state. The great
vein that at one time where cut in a
pinch showed no pay ore $50 feet be-
low its outcrop at 10000 feet eleva-
ton. was abandoned for fourteen years
and went to the county for delinquent
taxes, to then come back under dew
elopment in the next twenty years
with gross production Of $40,000,00
Of the yellow metal, says the Denver
Mining Record.
Romantic History.
The most interesting chapter per-
haps. in the Camp Birds rather ro-
mantle history is that covering Tom
Walsh's development and exploitation
Of It above the third level crosscut or
boarding house tunnel. Before driv-
came sall the wealth that Walsh took
out Of the mine, he developed the vein
higher up by a smaller working run In
on the Blue Bird, doing 1000 feet Of
drifting and stopping up to the old
workings. When Walsh drove the
third level 1t became the. main adit
and at Its intersection of the vein
1900 feet In, it disclosed the vein as
mere fracture, the thickness of a
KNIT blade, accompanied only by a
few small quartz stringers on the foot
wall side From knife blade dimen-
sions, however, the vein soon widened
to the east and west until it gained an
average width between four and five
feet. The ore bodies developed to
the east were generally wider, but of
lowr grade than the large pay shoots
to the west. At point LOO feet to
the west the vein suddenly contracted
and split into a few small stringers,
being crossed then by a rhyolite dyke
that faulted it at right angles. West
of this apparent faulting and contrac-
ton, no ore was found for distance
of 1000 feet and Walsh began to think
that the mine was playing out
Barren Stringer Leads to Ore.
A barren stringer was followed into
the hanging wall for quite distance
and this finally led into the main lode,
which was found to be DETECTED into
the hanging wall by the occurrence of
the dyke. The newly found portion Of
the lode was drifted on for 600 feet and
was followed back toward the point of
DETECTION, the portion of the vein Wild
ening out to ten feet of high grade
ore.
The country rock of the Camp Bird
Is the andesitic breccia Of the San
Juan formation, and is probably 5000
feet in thickness below the outcrop-
ping of the vein. Above the boarding
house level the vein filling was COM
posed of an oxidized quartz made up of
narrow stringers of gangue and ore al
ternating with sheets of country rock
and having fairly we'll defined walls
II usually adhered to the footwall, in
the casing of which there was con-
tinuous streak of silverlead. This
footwall streak was the ore mined
when the property was abandoned in
the early days, and 1t remained for
Tom Walsh to cut across it and dis
cover the high grade gold ore lying
alongside 1t on the hanging wall. The
richest ore that Walsh took out occur
red near the hanging wall, often dir
lions being indicated by dark narrow,
undulating lines of ore minerals. The
value Of the vein matter was chiefly
confined to the free gold which was
firmly imbedded in white quartz and
distinctly visible to the naked eye.
Three Great Orc Shoots.
The average value of the ore mined
and milled by Walsh ran close to $40
per ton, while the crude ore which he
shipped direct to the smelters averag-
ed 5000 per ton. Three distinct pay
shoots were developed by Walsh, the
one in the west drift being 1900 feet
In length, and all three were separat-
ed by pinches and totally barren zones.
The 1,000-foot barren zone in the
west drift put scare into Walsh that
he never got over, 1t was his deduc-
ton that the three pay shoots trav-
ersed horizontally above the third
level would reach their zone OF i'm
poveSishment and downward extern
sion at that level. so he concluded to
block out the ore in sight and offer
the mine for sale, When the mine
was being examined for purchase there
was much discussion among the ex-
aiming engineers as to whether the
pay shoots above mentioned were
properly to be regarded as elliptical
ore bodies having their major axes
horizontal or vertical, most import
ant matter in fixing a sale price for
the property. The concensus of opin-
ion among the engineers favored the |
horizontal theory, and this hurried
Walsh to the conclusion that he was