The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-09-09

pessimistic soul express ap-
prehension for the future Of
the Occur d'Alene district be-
cause each succeeding year does not
add a new mine or two to the list of
producers, anticipating the exhaustion
of some of the older mines, as must
perforcc eventually happen, and fear
ing that new mines will not be forth
coming to fill the depleted ranks. Such
an apprehension, in the opinion of the
Miner, is wholly without basis of facts
to justify it, and further shows fail
ure to take into consideration the ad-
verse mining conditions which have
prevailed for the past five years, the
vast undeveloped mineral areas in the
district, and the large holdings of I'M
explored ground within the proved
mineral belts. The district is still the
victim of abnormal war conditions
which for five years have checked new
development work through the short
age of men and the prohibitive costs
of mining operations. The amount of
this class of work going on now is in
significant compared with the amount
that prevailed before the war. 1t is
absurd to assume that this inactivity
in mining development is due to fail
IRE or disappointing results. On the
contrary, practically all of these COM
panies are eager to resume work and
will do so the moment that conditions
are such that they can get fair re-
turn for the expenditure. There is
s.1-
prices has been reached and that re-
action toward normal conditions may
soon be expected This change can
not be brought about in a day, but it
is reasonable to look forward to a re-
sumption of mining activity next
year.
Big Greek an Inviting Field.
There are several sections of the
Occur d'Alene district having proved
mineral deposits, but which for one
reason or another have not advanced
to the class of regular and permanent
production. Included among these are
the North Side, Beaver creek, Pine
creek and Big creek. All of these, with
the exception of Big creek have been
utlQ DiCh lIIOuSn llCh VI
ton or the weakness of the zinc mar
ket, or both. Both of these difficult /
ties are attributable to the war, and |
they will doubtless be removed upon |
a return to normal conditions. In /
these sections it is not a question of |
opening new mines; the mines are |
there and only require railroad trans
pOrtation and a market for their pro-
duct. In the Big creek section there
is no difficulty in marketing the ore,
nor has lack of railroad transporta-
ton been an obstacle, although a
branch line up the creek will in time
be a necessity. That section is fam
Gus for it's high grade silver ore and
has a record of large shipments from /
the Yankee Boy and Big creek mines.
These mines have operated without
interruption, and the Big creek COM
pany has only recently completed a
mill and is now about ready to start
steady production. Other properties
are being actively developed, notably
the Sterling Silver, Yankee Girl and
Sunshine but mining activity on Big
creek is limited compared with the
of rich reward. This can
be explained only in the lack of ap-
probation of the opportunities offered s
by that section.
The Polaris.
Joining the Yankee Boy on the east
and presumably on the same rich vein
is the Polaris. This property was 10 {
Gated many years ago by the late I
Senator W. B. Hepburn. who held it {
up to the time of his death. He ship '
ped considerable ore from the proper G
ty, but the low price of silver was a I
barrier to its profitable operation. A !
few years ago the Polaris was leased :
and then purchased by a syndicate Of t
and Spokane men, who or c
ganized the POlaris Development and c
Mining company. Several carloads of I
ore were shipped. some of them net c
ting $1,000 per car. 1t was expected, t
with the price of silver fixed at 81 per e
ounce and with a certainty that it Nv
would not go below that figure for S
many years, and with a strong proba- e
bility that it would go higher, that t
this company would resume opera L
tions at the Polaris, but for some rea- T
son unknown no move has been made e
in that direction It appears to be 2
mo of the most inviting DropOsitiOns +