The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1930-08-14
CLARkS FORK
SANDS ASSAY
AT HIGH MARK
FL0TATION TEST WAS MADE
FIRST OF MONTH BY
A. C.. nj. ASSAYER,
WHITC0MB'S BARGE COM
PLETED MONDAY AND
WORK STARTS


ing engineer, who for some time
has been making researches and
studies of the gold possibilities of
the Clarks Fork river near Belfry
has just received an assay report
from the Timber Butte mills of the
Anaconda Copper Mining company
which shows that the sands gath
cred have some remarkable pos
sibilities and would make the use
of dredge pay profitably.
The tests which were made by
c. H. O'Connor, research engine
er for the Anaconda Copper Min
ing company, show that the heavy
black sands assayed at a value
of $92.40 per ton in the first tests.
Mr.. O'Connor in making his report
of the assay tests to Mr.. john
stone said in his letter that the
sands offered great many pos
sibilities and that each test he had
made suggested many more.
Mr.. tombstone on August 5, had
sent into Mr.. O'Connor at the Tim
Der Butte mill, ten pounds of the
sands which he had saved from the
paintings he had made along 20
miles of the Clarks Fork. After
the first test which assayed at
$92.40 the sands were ground up
so that they would pass through
one-hundred mesh screen and
another test made. In this test
the concentrates of the black sands
assayed at a value of $1,846.00.
Following this test the sands were
dried and given the magnetic test
and in this assayed at a value of
$4,000 per ton.
Mr.. tombstone is associated with
John C. E. Barker, who has filed
on the entire Clarks Fork river
from Fromberg to the Wyoming
line with the exception of one
stretch of 10 feet which is leased
by Charles Whitcomb and his son,
George G. Whitcomb.
The barge which was recently
built by the two Whitcombs was
comp eted Monday Of this week
and given trial run the same day.
Outside of few minor adjust
ments and changes in parts of
the equipment on the barge, work
with this barge is already to COM
mence. The barge is equippad
with gasoline motor which is at
tached to a suction pump which
draws the sands from the bottom
Of the river. When the sands are
received on the barge they are
run through a sluice box which has
been installed on the deck, and in
this way the heavy black sands or
colors are separated from the non
valuable material and saved.
Two weeks ago a party of the
Princeton biologists, Of the Bear
tooth Geological Research expedi-
ton, made a trip to the Clarks
Fork river to investigate and study
the gold possibilities of that re-
gion. At that time members Of
the party made tests Of the pan
nings Of the river and stated that
it certainly looked favorable. They
gave as their theory Of the gold
being in the Clarks Fork, that at
some distant time glaciers which
have covered that entire area
brought the gold there from its
source and was stopped by what
is known as the Chapman bench
and then deposited it's precious
cargo, leaving it for whoever
might find it.
The biologists also stated that
they did not believe that the glac-
iers which deposited the gold were
other than local and that it must
have picked the gold up from the
Mother Lode which is somewhere
in that region. There is story
told by old residents of the Clarks
Fork valley which comedies with
this theory. The story is that two
old miners years ago discovered
the Mother Lode in the Clarks
Fork canyon and were returning
to civilization with large guam
tity Of the precious metal when
they were attacked by Indians and
killed-the secret of their discov-
cry dying with them, and has not |
been discovered to this day.