The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-12-06
LEASE AND OPTION
ON FAMOUS GROUND
HIGH GRADE SILVER
Yankee Boy and Polaris Have
Interesting History--Plans
of Development

- lANf-A-N Ia lAI4N OF llt aukee-
Polaris Leasing < Develop
ment company the ground
the company has acquired and
the announced plans of development,
combine TO make the first step in
mining enterprise of unusual inn
portance, for it has as a background
an actual record of 100000 in min
eral production and a large area of
virgin ground that may reasonably
be expected to duplicate those figures
many times Way back in the SOS
two sturdy New England prospectors
from the state of Maine, Dennis and
True Blake. attracted by the rich
mineral discoveries, came TO the Occur
d'Alenes. Fate guided their wander
ing steps to Big creek where they
discovered the outcrop of a vein
which proved to be wonderfully rich
in silver and which they called the
Yankee Boy The pay streak was
not large, but it was so rich that
within a few years the Blake brothers,
with characteristic Yankee industry
and ingenuity, had mined and shipped
enough ore to make them independent
Then they eased up on their strenu-
Gus labor, for they had mined the
ore themselves, and allowed others to
share in their good fortune under
system of leasing from which they
derived royalty which steadily
added to their wealth According to
Sidney l.. Shonts, mining engineer of
this city. who had lease on the
Yankee Rov for several wears ore
shipments assayed from 200 to 300
ounces in silver. from 10 to 30 per
cent lead. from 1 TO 3 per cent cop
per and from O2 to .O4 ounce in
gold. and the net smelter returns on
ore shipments amounted to about
S35O,OOO. All this from ground above
No. 4 tunnel and contiguous to that
now under lease to the Yankee Polar
is company. The property is now
owned by the Sunshine Mining COM
pany. which is operating through No.
5 tunnel 500 feet below No H. on the
same character of ore.
The Polaris.
OF hardly less interest is the story
of the Polaris. 1t was discovered
and located about the same time the
Blake boys found the Yankee Boy, by
the late Senator w. b. Hepburn, per
haps the most eminent mining lawyer
in the West who died about twelve
years ago in Washington while re-
presenting Idaho in the United States
senate Senator Hepburn made a
thorough study Of geology, which was
an important factor in his distin-
guished success as a mining lawyer.
and it was also this that caused him
to hang on to the Polaris so tenac-
He developed the property to a linn
tied extent, shipped some ore which
returned high values in silver but the
low price of the metal and high costs
of transportation stood in the way
of profitable operation But his faith
in the Polaris never wavered, and he
confidently predicted that with capt.
tai available for its development, it
would prove to be one of the vests
great silver mines A few years ago
the property was purchased by a
group of Occur dAlene men who or
ganized the Polaris Development &
Mining company, the present owner
ship, and the Yankee Polaris Leasing
& Development company has now Sc
cured an option on a majority of that
companys stock During the years
intervening since the death of Sen
ator Hepburn. leasers have worked
the Polaris and shipped considerable
ore. but the only definite record of
these shipments is that of 1917, when,
according TO figures given by Sidney
l.. Shonts in his report on the prop
erty, 24O tons were shipped which
gave a net smelter return of S25,15s,-
10. The average assays of the ship
ments were 3.7S per cent copper,
132.47 ounces in silver and .O45 ounce
in gold. Mr. Shonts estimates that
prior shipments amounted to $4,000,
while shipments since 1917 will prob
ably bring the total production up to
100000
Plans Of the Company.
The foregoing should give a very
definite idea of the present and pros
pective value of the property acquired
under lease and option by the Yam
-Polaris Leasing & Development
company. The Yankee Boy lease runs
for five years from November 6 and