The Snowflake herald., 1923-05-04


the clean-cut, WeIl-Set-Up West.
lake.
it? That's how 1t started. don't
know how it would have finished If
you hadn't taken hand and said was
q friend Of yours. DO you know any
thing about mining, Mr.. Bourke?"
Sandy is my name to my friends.
A cowman with a mister to the front
of his name seems to me like hawss
with an extry bride. No, sir, don't.
Do you?"
Sandy's eyes twinkled as he put the
quiz. Westlake laughed.
81 hope so. l think so. Experience
counts lot. of course, but | do know
something about sylvanite, or white
gold I've seen its big field over in
Boulder and Teller counties, Colorado
They call it graphic gold. sometimes
beause the crystals are very frequent
ly set up in twins and branch off so
that that they look <. like written characters
in porphyry almost exclusively. IT is
q mixture of gold and silver telluride
and It's also called tellurium."
I'm much obliged" said Sandy.
I've learned q heap
Westlake looked at him susp;cious
ly. but Sandy's face was grave as flat
Of the sphinx.
'aThe porphyry dykes here are In
syneline," the engineer went on "They
dip toward each other from both sides
of the valley and form loops or folds.
Ii you imagine an onion sliced in half
you catch the idea. Call every other
layer porphyry, with rock ana other
dirt between. The bottom of loon
may be deep down or it may be miss
ing altogether ground away when the
valley was gouged out by q glacier.
There may be other loops beneath il
Some portions of the loops come to the
surface on the hillside and you can
guess at their dip. But--the gamble
lies in this: The ones that are exposed
may or may not carry the gold-beaying
veins. This Casey, who made the
original strike, did he take out much?"
As understand it," replied Sandy
he hits the pOrphyry where it's shall.
Ter, or worn off, like you said. An he
finds rich pay stuff right away, enongh
to start the camp. Quite a few works
on that outcrOp an then It peters out.
Casey sabed bit about synclines. |
reckon, fO' he kept faith in the camp,
ony ne realized it I'D take heap of
money to develop, meanin' to dig
through the porphyry, l suppose. Now
they've found some mo- of that float
ore that the first crowd overlooked.
Reckon that'll peter out too. after q
while. But capital may come in on
this second staht Some Eastern folk
were lookin' over the place a while
back
Westlake halted and took a small
steel hammer from his pocket with
which he struck off fragment of rock
from the ground. The
cleaveage showed purple. He walked
slowly along for some fifty feet, kick
ing the soil with his foot, breaking off
other samples to which he put his
tongue
Taste good?" asked Sam.
Nat bad. if you're looking for min
eral. They've got distinct flavor all
their own, but | wetted them TO show
the color up more plainly. Here is
the out-crop of the syncline reef. II |
may carry gold and it may not. but it's |
wide enough. it's near the surface and |
it's as good a place as any"
Sandy glancipg across the valley TO t
where the engineer pointed, nodded his |
head your judgment goes with
casey's.' he said. Right across from
here is where he located his claims !
AXE It. How about it. Mormon? Fits
he description to t.
Sure does. assented Mormon. ''If
7eu locate here. marn, he said TO Mi
'anda. "an' we-all make strike, wen
'e on the same vein. l reckon"
ITS all Greek To me-" said the spin
ter. "How do we locate? I've come
his far. an LII see. the thing throngh