The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1918-12-20
JAMES, CHRISTMAS GIFT

H. d. James, manager of the Oro
Vile Copper Co.. falls in for a hand
some Christmas present, one too larg'
to fit into his stocking, and Mr.. James
does not wear a No. 5 shoe, either
The nature of this gift is an unexpect
ed and most encouraging strike in the
tunnel of the mine that he is develop
ing on Kruger mountain, in which the
extent and character of the mineral
showing insures the beginning o
shipments to the smelter early in the
new year.
| The Oroville Copper Co.'S holdings
includes the claims on Kruger noun.
tain some five or six miles north OF
IOroville, formerly known as the o. X
mine, and from which much ore rep
resenting in value many thousands OF
dollars has been taken in past years
much of the extraction occurring in
| the past year or two. Formerly the
mine was worked by means of an in
cline shaft, but after Mr.. James be-
\ came interested he decided to drive
| in tunnel to cut the ore at some
depth. The indications justified the
driving of this adit, because at the
bottom of the shaft. some IS feet in
depth, there was ledge matter between
well defined walls with strong lenses
of high grade gold, silver and copper
ore, and tunnel could be driven in
from a point lower down the hill
reaching the ledge within 400 feet.
The advantage was in the more eco
nlomic extraction of the ore, drainage
and insuring a large tonnage that
could be readily broken down. The
shaft followed the ore from the sur
face, where the ledge can be traced
for several hundred feet, and where
it has been uncovered by prospect
holes in numerous places.
When Mr.. James secured control of
the mine he installed a compressor
and constructed line from the mine
across the hills to the electric power
plant at the falls of the Similkameen.
The drills and other necessary mach
inery are all run by electric power.
and neater, better kept more COM
plete plant of the kind is not to be
found in the northwest. The install
lation of this plant has expedited pro-
gress, and while Mr.. James has been
in charge only comparatively short
time the tunnel is now in over 300
feet. This tunnel is an excellent piece
of workmanship, six by seven feet In
the clear, cut through the living rock.
So far the mine, the placing of the
machinery and the underground work
have been handled in most credit
able and business-like manner, the
manager getting full value for every
dollar spent, and that without sign
of extravaganza, or unnecessary waste
in outlay.
But it was not of the mine in gen.
eral that we started out to write, but
of that Christmas present mentioned
at the beginning of this item as COM
ing to Mr.. James. Learning of the
strike in company with Mr.. Charles
Powell, of the Oroville Commercial
company, we made trip to the prop
erty Wednesday for the purpose of
repaid for the trip. 1t seems for some
days the edge of the drills in use were
curling up by contact with zone Of
rock harder than the hinges of hades.
and progress was made only by the
utmost physical eXertion and the loss
of much perspiration. Saturday even.
ing the drills suddenly slipped along
as though they had struck cheese
and when the round of holes was fired
at the face of the tunnel was exposed
fully five feet of ledge matter, through
which were several lenses of ore of
an exceptionally fine quality, while
the entire ledge was generously i'm
pregnated with mineral To all ap-
pearances this ore and mineral bear
ing rock is the highest grade that has
been encountered in any of the work
ings on the surface or in the shaft,
and since the first discovery several
round of holes have been shot out and
the general appearance of the ledge
lis improving. OF course Manager
James and Superintendent Gormley
are elated over the strike, which
comes as reward for energetic eff
fort
When the face of the tunnel reaches
the bottom of the shaft there will be
a perpendicular depth of 215 feet An
upraise will be driven to connect with
the shaft and that will give perfect
ventilation for the underground work
ings. The depth from the surface to
| the tunnel insures an enormous ton
mage of ore to be stopped out.
The Oroville Copper Co.'S property
is not an experimental prospect. II
has been worked from time to time
for number of years, but those so
engaged have not had command of
| sufficient capital to carry out sys-
tematic and extensive development
! The ore carries strong values in gold
| silver and copper, the presence OF
which values does not rest upon as
| says of samples picked here and there
where the indications were the most
| 1attering J. P. Gormley and his as
sociates, while working the claims on
a percentage shipped out some thir.
teen cars from which they received
smelter returns of $4,000. That work
was carried on with the crudcst ap.
pliances and by means of hand drills
With a modern equipment, with the
record behind it, the mine should
eventually prove to be one of tht
bonanzas of the northwest. II it doe,
not attain that reputation from ever!
indication it can hardly fail to at leas
develop into property that insurel
some return to those who have in
vested their money in it, and that, i
lroalized, will be most happy rewart
to those interested and most for
tunate result for this part of tn
northwest where success so far ha
failed to follow effort in the m;ninl
Igame,