The Alaska daily empire., 1921-10-27
By B. M. STONE

By b. M. ONE
 It is extremely doubtful if there is section of equal area anywhere that gives promise of developing as many big mines as does the Salmon River district on the Portland Canal. Salmon River, which empties into the Canal two miles from the head, has it's source in a glacier of the same name 13 miles up the valley and flows through Alaska for it's whole length. The country to the north of the boundary line is drained by Cascade Greek, which has "a length of six miles, and empties into the Salmon close to the boundary. Situated at the mouth of the Salmon Is the town of Hyder. The interna- .tional boundary between British Co lumbia and Alaska lies on the north ern side of Hyder To reach. the main, mineral, area one must start from Hyder over the government road up the valley of the Salmon for 12 miles, at which point the line is crossed. e
 History of Premier Mine
 The Premier mine now ranks as one of the greatest in the world. Charles Bunting, one of the original fOcators of this property, relates the history of the development of this mine. h
 All the known ore bodies of the Premier, three distinct veins general ly referred to as the low-grade veins. as well as the high grade vein, are found on two of the companys claims. These are the Cascade Falls No. 4, and the Cascade Falls No &. and known as the Cascade Falls group They are situated on the western slope of the range, which divides the Salmon River from the Bear River and were the first loca- lions in that section of the Salmon valley They were discovered and staked by the Bunting Bros. and Wm Dilworth in June. 1910 The two claims numbered and 8, along With an adjoining group staked later by other parties passed to the control of Q. B. Bush, the Salmon Bear River Mining Company, being organized by him during the winter of 19t0-11 to operate them.
 The work carried on the two fol lowing summers by the Salmon-B Bear River Mining Company, which con sisted of short tunnels and surface cuts, was confined to the low grade showings. the results being fairly good. A great outcropping, showing much goodlooking quartz. some iron pyrites and little native silver was passed up after a few shots had been put into 1t, and no attempt was made tp trace it out This outcrop has since proved to be the biggest and best surface showing of the high grade vein.
 Idle for Time
 The property was then idle. until the summer of 1914, when it was examined for well known Eastern Canadian company by w. H. Rolf The outcropping referred to attracted his attention and interest and work commenced at once.< The vein was traced for fully 800 feet. down the hill in westerly direction. the sur. face was stripped and cuts put in at intervals along it's whole length. The results were excellent, good ore be. Ing exposed in every cut. some of fl running as high as $500 in gold and silver. After securing such fine re turns. for some unknown reason possibly on account of the outbreak of the. war-this company discontin ued work. A good deal of credit is due w. H. Rolf for his shrewdness in confining his work to this particu lar vein to the exclusion of the low grade showings, thereby demonstrat Ing the presence of at least one large ore body. running exceptionally high in gold and silver. with a lead content of less than onetenth of oae per cent. Until this time speculation regarding the future Of the camp had hsen based on the great showings ol low grads ore. An entirely new cou s-1s