The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1922-04-19
review OF MIN
ING ON SALMON R.
CONTINUED from Page One)

Continued from Page One)
with well-defined ore-shoot 1000
long, varying from few inches to
four feet in width, and affording a
mill-feed value of 2 per cent copper,
4 per cent lead and about 60 ozs sill
yer per ton. The gangue Is almost
straight spathisc iron. Considerable
silver chloride gave trouble in milling
at the start, but excellent recovery
has been made during the past year.
Frank Skeels, formerly Of Wallace,
has betn in charge of the mine for the
past year, with G.. A. Joslin, we'll
known California engineer, as general
manager in charge of the enterprise.
Adjoining the Ramshorn, the Sky
lark group owntd by the Clayton Min.
Ing and Smelling Co., covering fiat
dipping assure carrying high grade cop
per silver ore similar to that of the
Ramshorn, was exhausted down to a
vertical fault and abandoned over 20
years ago. It's crude shipping ore
record is given at $2,S00,000.
Btardsley and Excelsior Mines
Below these silver mines, on Bay
Horse Greek, a broad, thick belt of
blue and grey limestone formations
| carries several former producers of
clean, high grade okidized silver-lead
ore, with record outputs of more than
million dollars each in at least two
instances-the Beardsley and Excelsi-
or mines. The output of these mines
was mostly sand carbonate ore, carry
ing 20 to 60 per cent lead and fully
ounces silver to each unit Of lead.
The principal slopes OF these adjoin
ing properties were opened on a series
Of pipes in the hard, blocky lime near
a soft shale contact. The ground was
dry and it's primary ore was never
reached at the maximum depth at
tained-nOt exceeding 400 feet. Leas-
ers on one of these old pipe slopes
went down on a stringer, which open.
ed into a succession of chamber swells
and have since taken out 1000 tons
Of mill ore that samples 40 OF. silver
and 20 per cent lead, after sorting
out considerable high grade of 100
OF. value. ~
The ores from these and number
Of other properties were formerly mix
ed with the drier silver ores Of. the
drier silver ores of the camp smelt-
ed in 50-ton stack at Bayhorse, and
high-grade silver-lead bullion ship
ped by wagon freight $50 miles to
the railway at Blackfoot, or over a
harder route, rs miles to Ketchum.
Only the richer ores could be made
profitable and when silver dropped
mining largely stopped with a camp
full Of splendid partly proven blossom
ore deposits.
Clayton, another small ghost mining
camp of Custer county, also in the
Bay Horse district, is on Salmon river,
and the main stake road from Mackay,
railway terminal to the Sawtooth Park
country and upper Salmon river
camps.
This was headquarter of the Clay
ton Mining and Smelling Co., which
also operated 50-ton smelter, with
charcoal and coke fuel, on dry ores
from the Skylark and lead carbonate
and galena ores from the Ella, Red
Bird and Silver Rule mines, together
with small customs lots from the tri-
butary region. It is said to have pro-
duced total of $500O,OO0 worth of
rich silver-lead bullion.
Ella and Silver Rule
The company's Ella mine at the
smelter was pipe of high grade that
produced about 100000 worth of SO
per cent lead and 100 OF. silver ore at
300 foot depth, where it expanded in
to 10O-foot zone of disseminated car
Donate in brown spathic iron. A
milling test on this big .hody at the
time proved failure.
The Silver Rule mine, at Slate
Creek, produced 100000 worth of
high grade, carrying SO per cent lead,
120 OF. silver and several dollars gold
per ton. 1t was flat-laying slab of
a vein, like the Serria Nevada, in
Black slate formation, Carrying from a
few inches to several feet thick, was
cut off by steep black clay gouge
fault at 300 feet in from the groupings,
and has not been worked for 20 years.
Red Bird Mine
The Red Bird mine was the chief
source Of fluxing lead ore during the
life of this small Clayton smelling en-.
terprise. 1t Is situate on Squaw cretk,
eight miles above Clayton.
The river road from Clayton to
ouAANdA I1oI Springs TuuS east ana
west through a broad north-south an
ticlinal fold of Cambrian quarzite for
two and one-half miles. This anticline
Is flanked on it's west leg by a thick
series of salicious and calcareous
shales and limestone formations, car.
rying broad zone of assuring 200 feet
wide, in which an included outcrop of
red iron gossan is all beautifully ex-
posed In almost vertical cross section
on the canyon side opposite Sullivan
Springs.
This big zone CT fssu-'D- strikes
due north, parallel to Sou y creek
for FIVE miles. It's est is at an
elevation of 800 to 1000 f>ot aoovr
the creek canyon. and a i, 1 to y
half mile distant. 1t il just as ~.
rounced as the famous We. dner edo
~ longer.
South Butte
Eialf way from the river exposure
of this zone to the Red Bird. the
South Butte mine has q shallow tun.
mel develonr emit 200 feet under a
cropDing 0f red cossanv lima ,ho,s