The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-02-16
OLD CHANNEL A BIG
NORTH SIDE ASSET
RICH IN PLACER GOLD
Comprehensive Review Based
Upon Close Study and Act
ual Mining Results

CBy Adam Aulbach Murray Idaho)
TVHE WRITER, in closing his let
ter in the Miner last week, asked
(alluding to the old channel
WasM. "Wm it pay?" That has
been AN interesting local study for
"a good many years. but as the
owners of the large placer tract
are not operators they do not, and ap-
parently have not given any consid-
GRAFTON to the subject The creek
placers We're in the same position
when the Yukon Gold company be-
came interested in them through the
efforts of Ben Revett, the well known
mining engineer of Colorado. They
had been denounced for years from
every mining standpoint and from
every possible source that they could
not be worked proftably They were
carefully prospected. but even that did
not inspire confidence. A dredge was
constructed with business like speed,
/ the boat was launched without any
/ particular enthusiasm and the digging
commenced. 1t has continued for four
years, and if it has not paid the Yukon
people well beyond their outlay they
deserve to have their names placed on
the mining roll of fame for boosting
an industry that has not profited them
However, only the foolish will look
at it in that way. The old channel is
today in the same position the creek
placers were before the dredge com
a
primitive mining methods proved that
the creek bottoms were rich in placer
gold for a period of ten years, and the
Old channel did not lag behind under
similar adverse conditions if not more
crude and expensive And again look
ing at it from an output viewpoint
the old channel miners have good
ground for believing that the high
placers actually yielded more gold than
was recovered from the low ground;
that. of course, embraces the product
of the side gulches that were enriched
10y the glacier action that cut out the
channel and left the gold in some in
stances leaving the gold deposited en-
tirely above the outlet more de-
tailed review of mining along the
channel will demonstrate this. The
former letter was merely cursory.
Mystery of Channel Gold.
The apparent source of the channel
is at Raven, four miles east of Muir
ray The actual source has never been
found. and perhaps will always remain
a mystery Biologists have never been
able to agree upon the origin of these
old streams; but it is plain that the
real source must have been further
east on Prichard creek, and was cut
out entirely by glacier action and the
contents showed down the creek to en-
rich the stream. The deposit at Raven
was quite limited, and only from so to
100 feet above the north rim of the
creek. All proved to be good pay. The
same character of gold was found on
and near the rim below. From this
point westward the channel for two
miles. to Reeder gulch. was not found.
1t had slid into the creek for its main
Placer mining on the rim
of the creek carried on for years dem
onstrated this. From Reeder gulch to
West gulch, a mile east of Murray, the
channel was in proper position and
cut through the divide separating the
two gulches some three hundred feet
above the creek level But the channel
was very narrow. Through the next
divide, to Cougar eulch, there was
plenty of channel. but very little water
available and there is considerable
good paying ground left for a large
water supply. Between Cougar gulch
and COLD Run gulch the channel was
rich The cutting out was several hun
bred feet and the muck was in the left
gulch which made very profitable
placer mining. on the north rim of the
creek below the placer work offered
continued excitement not only in the
daily clean-ups but i'm the frequent
,revice paintings. One of these pan
1ings was made in the presence of the
writer by Mark Cooney we'll remem-
oered. no doubt. in the Occur d'Alenes,
as he made a fortune later at Burke
~ selling an interest i'm silver-lead
property He was an owner in the
placer with the SkiffngtOn brothers,
The panning weighed % ounces of
gold. coarse, and nuggets up to an
ounce. All of il was channel gold.
lust above the Cooney claim was the
Last Chance placer owned by Thomas
J. Argyle. Pat Flynn and others. This
llso proved to be very rich, only the
i'm being worked. In fact these two
claims, together with the famous
Widow" claim. living adjacent and
south of the Cooney proved to be the