Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1921-10-27
NEARLY READY
FOR CLEANUP"
PLAN TO COMPLETE CONCENTRAT-
OR PLANT AT IDAHO GOLD &
RUBY MINE IN SIXTY DAYS
DRIVING A 5000 FOOT TUNNEL
Several Rich Ore Veins Have Already
Been Discovered.

Officers and employees of the Idaho
Gold & Ruby Mining Company, of
Leonia, expect TO have the concentrat-
ing plant completed within couple of
months and when this is done it will
be possible to make a cleanup of the
gold and rubies now stored in the
blue hole" and demonstrate to doubt
ers the true value of the property
The heaviest part of the construc-
ton work at the mine has been COM
pleted The dirt and gravel has been
washed out of Boulder creek to bed
rock for a distance of several hundred
feet above the site of the concentrator
and the creek bottom has been rid Of
crevices and places where gold and
rubies might lodge by heavy sur
lace of concrete. The concreting of
the creek bottom was a tedious lob
and the past few weeks the work was
slowed up on account of cold weather.
S. A. Deardorff who has devised
the gold saving equipment which will
be used at the Idaho Gold & Ruby
property, is personally experimenting
the construction of the various sys-
TENS of rifles and concentrator tables.
Only a visit to the property would
convince one of how carefully and
thoroughly the system of separating
and saving the gold from the gravel
which is to be washed down the creek
by powerful hydraulic giants, has been
planned. The fine and coarse gold
and the fine and coarse rubies will
De separated while being washed down
long flume under the concentrator
plant. The gold and rubies are
treated separately but by similar pro
cesses. Both are separated in the
flume by means of series of "griz-
zlles ranging from a small fraction
OF an inch to a half inch wide The
gold is stored in a huge natural pit.
known as the blue hole" and from
this pit is forced up to the top of the
concentrator plant 80 feet by hydrau-
Jlc force. The gravel is then subjected
TO series of treatments which re-
suit in separation and the retaining
OF the gold from the coarse to the
fine dust.
The development work at the Idaho
Gold & Ruby property has reached |
stage where the magnitude of the pro /
Ject is most impressive. TWENTY-FIVE
miles of finest mountain roads have
been constructed to and over the prop
erty. Five miles of ditch have been
constructed on the mountainside TO
convey water from branch of Bould- |
er creek to the electric power site |
where it will be used in generating
many hundreds of horsepower and will |
then be emptied into another ditch
and carried down the mountainside
Tor hydraulic purposes The electric
power will be used at the concentrator
both for the operation of machinery |
and for the purpose of heating the
water so that the gold saving process /
es may be carried on during coldest
weather
A crew of men are working night |
and day on tunnel which starts close
to the Great Northern railway tracks
at Leonia and which will be cut
through the heart of the mountain
some 5000 or more feet, coming out
directly under the concentrating plant
which is located in a narrow rock
gorge on Boulder creek. Rich ore
has already been encountered in this
tunnel and it is highly probable that
The quartz ore values will amount to
sufficient to warrant the DEVELOPMENT
work of many years past, even if the
value of the gold bearing gravel was
not considered. 1t is proposed to run
a steel pipe line from the concentrat-
or plant through the tunnel to Leonia.
through which black sand and other
by-products will be washed for shin
ment to markets.
A crew of some 20 to 100 men arc
kept on the works the year round.
In the summertime these men put in
from ten to twelve hours a day. The
lowest wage is $500 per day payable
In notes which are to be redeemed
from the first earnings of the prop
erty Every man employed on the
property is dependent upon the final
successful outcome of the property
Il he is to realize for his work and
his savings which he may have in
vested.