The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-01-15
HOUSES WERE BUILT
OF RICH SILVER ORE
PUT UP lNDEsTRUcTIBLE
HOMES.

TO the youthful mind there is no
more engaging fairy story than the
one which describes a house built of
ginger bread with a stairway Of rock
candy. Arabian Nights abounds with
tales of palaces built Of marble, with
lpillars of gold and precious stones set
| in doors and copings. But Butte is
probably the only city in the world
which can boast of homes built Of sill
Yer and manganese.
Thousands Of yards of fences have
also been built of rock carrying these
and other metals, the silver content
being especially valuable. Should the
steel industry grow to the magnitude
which political economists predict for
it, the manganese in this rock may be-
come of more value than the beautiful
homes of which it now forms such an
important part
The house which graces the high
est point on what is known as Low
ers' Roost' was the first to be built
from the stones which are really the
outcroppings of a silver and mangan-
csc ledge of unusual length and rich
ness. Stone masons had to shape it
but little for their purpose, as rock of
all sizes and shapes lay about in pro-
fusion.
Several other homes were later
IIbuilt of the same material and now
constitute few of the show places
of Butte, for no more beautiful build
ing material could be found. The
rock is beautifully colored. and the
soft tones are especially beautiful
when they have been built into wall
When weighted in the hand, the stones
of which these ONES are built seem as
eavy as iron.
Will Always Stand.
TIE rains may descend, the winds
blow and the floods come but how
ever fiercely they may beat upon
these houses they will never disinte-
CRATE this rock of wonderful weight
and hardness. Bricks are baked I'M
der high temperature to give them
hardness and stability to endure the
changing weather of many years, but
this rock has been baked in the fires
of mother earth and has hardened
from seething, molten mass, later to
he thrown to the surface by some
great cataclysm Of nature as a hint to
the knowing prospector of the wealth
in store for him but few feet be-
meath.
Hundreds Of yards Of artistic fences
built of this material surround the
homes In the vicinity of Lovers
roost," and many more are now in the
building. Residents of the district are
now choosing the rock with care. with
an eye to its color, conformation and
weight. Many of the specimens found
in the vicinity are very beautiful and
nearly all of them give evidence Of
the intense heat to which they have
been subjected in that remote period
when the world was in the making.
Run High in Silver.
These homes, fences. garages and
retaining walls will assay from to 60
ounces of silver and from AZ to IS per
cent manganese. Some Of the rock,
which came from the Travonia mine
and which came from the ledge as low
as the 200-foot level, will assay from
so to 60 ounces in silver The silver
which is now held imprisoned in these
walls would make dazzling pile in
deed, If it were all to be extracted.
The manganese would refine countless
tons Of steel.
Not only has this rock served the
very unitarian purpose Of making
possible several beautiful homes and
artistic walls and fences, but 1t orig
inally guided the prospector to the
spot which later proved the entrance
to that vast treasure house Of silver
known as the Travonia mine. There Is
still enough Of the rock to make pos
sible several more fine homes and
hundreds of yards more of walls and
fences.
OF the Early Days.
The Travonia mine. dts discovery
and development, forms most enter
tanning story. For many years after |
they had ceased to be used, the OLD
shaft and tunnel were open and many !