The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1922-04-19

Disposition and Working for blgger
and Greater Central Idaho.
This prospect has produced from goug
ed kidneys of high grade galena, $oo,
900 worth of crude shipping ore. car
ing Is per cent lead and II OF. silver.
The crest of this big mineral zone
is largely weathered and soil covered.
Its course is indicated by success
sion of irregular patches Of red-staln'
ed earth and iron gossan, closer
grouping of which led to the discov'
cry Of the Red Bird mine.
"Potato Patch" Shoot
The Red Bird, when first opened
I'D in one Of these oxidized outcrops
Of soft red iron gossan in 1873, dis'
closed round, potato-like residue PED
bles and kidneys of high grade ore, US
ually showing core Of galena, a
crust of lead sulphate and succeeding
bands of granular sand carbonate
This was named the potato patcn
shoot, and has carried that name
| since.
The Red Bird was subsequently de-
veloped by the old company 400 feet
deep, by the three adit tunnels drlv'
en- in from the steep canyon side. This
work disclosed half dozen ore shoots
rather closely grouped along a few
hundred feet of the big zone, and
varying in size and shape from a
round pipe to pronounced assure
| stope 10 to 40 feet long.
The ore gangue is largely soft gran
ular brown iron carbonate and limon-
| it's in hard limestone walls, and car
rying a fairly constant dissemination
of granular lead carbonate and irreg
ular masses of high grade galena and
hard carbonate ore and anglesite. The
latter mineral is quite a conspicuous
feature of the deposit and is often as
| ISOLATED with coarse wire silver.
Million Dollar Output
The old company worked the mine
exclusively for high grade, of which
$1,00O,000 worth was produced and
smelted at Clayton. They could not
use anything under 20 per cent ore,
with the result that fully $4,000 tons
of 10 per cent ore with OF. silver
values is now laying on the No. 2,
and tunnel dumps, with larger bod
les of better grade in the mine. The
crude ore product of this property
maintained ratio Of one ounce of
silver to each unit of lead, the clean
galena running up to OF. and the
clear carbonat down to one-half an
ounce.
The mine was subsequently devel
oped by a 1,600-foot cross-cut tunnel
that cut the zone 900 feet deep on its
steep dip and 800 feet vertically I'm.
der the surface. Twoo lines of raises
have been made through to No. lev
ell, one a straight rock raise, the 9th
er duplicated chutes and raises fol-
lowing the main potato patch" ore
body.
This lower development from No. 4
to No. 9 levels, has produced half a
million dollars worth of crude ore
of about the same grade as above NO.
evel, from high grade ores gouget
cut of the main ore body, which is just
as completely oxidized at the 700 foot
level as it was at the surface. It is
40 feet wide by 70 feet long and will
average Is per cent lead and 10 or
, silver as it stands with the rich core
gone.
At the 900 foot level, a body OF
clean iron ore of the same dimensions
as at the 700 level, carries a well de
fined band of lead carbonate ore on
each wall. These vary in width from
two to ten feet with 10 to Is pei
cent lead and half-ounce silver to
the unit of lead. AS this bottom lev
ell is only 70 feet above the creek
drainage level Of the country and all
the galena residue in the nine carry
fully and ounce of silver to the unit
OF lead and was doubtless the primary
ore of the mine, these conditions en-
courage anticipation of an interesting
zone of secondary enrichment at the
nearby permanent water level.
The ore bodies are governed by a
series Of North 20 degrees and North
70 degrees west lines of fracture and
their intersecting points with the
two main controlling fault assures
that bound thezone.
Ore Reserves Important