The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-11-08

I III 0O0illNAf MOOlAIs 0l Spo-
p kane mining engineer for many
years a resident of Wallace and
widely known in the Occur
dAlene district, who has been in the
city the past week or more yesterday
authorized the announcement that he
had secured an option on the Bear
Top mine. on the North side above
Murray. and is now working out plans
for development during the winter.
William Wylie of Murray. was in
strumental in getting Mr.. Moore in
terested in the property, and in
doing so he made an important move
toward revival of interest in lead
silver mining in that section of the
district
The Bear Top was extensively de-
veloped and equipped with a mill of
100 tons capacity a good many years
ago, and the outlook for steady pro-
duction could hardly have been better.
Much ore was blocked out in the mine
and shipments were going forward.
when a combination of circumstances
put Bear Top out of commission. This
was the low price of lead first and
after prices advanced through the
demands of war the railroad along
Prichard was washed out and left the
Bear Top company without trans
portation facilities. The property re-
manned idle until few years ago,
when the Bear Creek Mining company
took it over under bond. This COM
pany, however did very little under
ground development outside of re-
timbering. and was finally forced
through financial difficulties to sur
render its option The property is
therefore in practically the same con-
dition that it was when the original
company closed down for the reasons
stated ore is exposed in several
places and a small amount of work
will place the mine in position for
production.
Conditions Under Ground.
The Bear Top is opened by three
tunnels, the lowest one giving depth
of 500 feet below the apex of the vein.
The ore occurs in the upper Prichard
formation in very close proximity to
the Burke; in fact the vein material
is a light colored quartZite. The
workings are well connected by raises
to facilitate the economical handling
of the ore A fourth tunnel which
will tap the vein 500 feet lower than
the present lowest tunnel has been
started near the mill The workings
have been carefully examined and
mapped by Mr. Moore. from which
it appears that there is now quite
a large tonnage of ore available, which
can be greatly increased by limited
amount of development work. An
aerial tramway connects the mine
with the mill.
Discussing his option on the Bear
Top and his plans, Mr.. Moore said he
carrying on development
work during the winter and in the
spring connection will be made with
the electric power line of the Wash
ington Water Power company for
operation of the mill.
Brighter Outlook on North Side.
Resumption of operations at the
Bear Top taken in connection with
other mining activities in that section,
brightens the outlook on the North
Side. Cedar Creek has reached the
stage at which a mill is under con-
The Monarch and Para
gon are understood to be in position
to supply considerable tonnage, and
Giant Ledge may be in the same class
in the spring. These with other pos
sible tonnage should make a showing
that will interest the railroad COM
pany and may possibly result in the
of the Prichard creek
line.