The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1924-01-10
TELEGRAM TELLS
OF LARGE FIND
Roy S. Stephenson is Own
er of Third Interest in
Montana Claims.
PLAYED LUCKY HUNCH
Shelter Report on Test Shows
Ore Running from 80 to
LOO ounces a Ton.


received wire for which he has wait
ed more than eight years. The mes
sage announced that the first car of
ore from silver mine, in which he
holds third interest, had been smelt-
ed at the Anaconda furnaces at Wa
shoe, Montana, and was found to run
as high as 80 ounces of silver to the
ron. Other samples show a return as
high as LOO ounces.
The pay vein, which runs 1000 tons
every 25 feet, has been traced from the
outcroppings to the Box Canyon OF
Jack Greek, a distance of more than
1900 feet, which will provide workings
for several years to come. The mine
lies SO miles south of Butte. The
smelter sheet from the first car show
ed credit of $760 on straight run ore.
From rough estimates based on the
test, the vein is believed to contain ap-
proximately $4,000 tons of ore. Fixing
the average pay at 80 ounces ton
would show about 100000 ounces of
silver, which according to the present
price is worth $2,726,400.
Several Offers Made.
AS soon as the news of the strike
percolated Unto Butte and other mining
centers, representatives of several of
the big mining corporations were
rushed to the ground to inspect the
workings with a view to the purchase
and development of the claims.
Whether they will hold the strike
and develop it themselves is problem
which is now being thrashed out over
the wires between the three partners.
Attorney Stephenson stated that one
drawback to this plan is the time and
expense which would be required to
erect mill and smelter on the ground.
This would eliminate the expense Of
shipping the ore to the smelter. The
vein is said to be of ample size to
warrant this expense.
The men who are interested in the
project with Mr.. Stephenson are A. T.
Crossley and D. V. Erwin, both of Dill
lon, Montana. 1t was Crossley who
discovered the ore Eat the grass roots"
after numerous other prospectors had
gone over the claims without success
and one by one became discouraged
and sold out.
Held for Thirty Years.
The claims have been suspected" for
more than thirty years. 1t was then
that a tramp prospector looking for
gold CHANGED to carelessly chip off a
piece of stone from a gigantic boulder.
He was startled to find that instead Of
finding gold, the rock was rich in silver
deposit. He made hurried trip back
to the nearest town where he obtained
sufficient dynamite to blast the boul-
der, which he had shipped to a smelter.
For the one boulder he received a
check for more than $1,000.
For years thereafter he and others
worked over large area, shooting
shafts to get samples of the unde r
Strata of rock, reasoning that the one
rock which had graded so high must
have broken away from a large vein
in the neighborhood. He had staked
eight claims.
Discoverer Sells Out.
After years of fruitless, backbreak-
ing toll, he gradually came to the con-
clusion that due to the fact that the
location is in a cross range in the
Hockey Mountains, the boulder might
have been dislodged from higher peak
by some prehistoric quake or washout
and that the mother load was probably
miles away from the spot where he
found the rich indicator" Then he
sold out.
For years each new fortune hunter
who arrived just at the psychological
moment, when the man before him had
worked the claims over and became
discouraged, bought in and sunk a few
shafts, and then he in turn sold TO
the next.
A few months ago Crossley bought
in and went up to the diggings. He
looked over the old ground and then
decided to try in section which had
never before been worked. He sunk
his pick into the ground and less than
eight hours ran onto rock. Quickly he
cleared a foot or so Of the ledge and
knocked off chuck of rock. 1t showed
the rich silver ore for which scores of
men had searched for years.