The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1935-12-19

Harry P. Howard has had an ex-
perience during the past year lhat IS
we'll described by the heading above
Encouragement Mixed With Dis
enlargement" MIR Howard is vet
eran placer miner, having worked the
streams here for the past AS years, and
it was while following this occupation
that the experiences referred to above
came MS way.
While fishing one day on SmeaH
creek Ga small tributary of Big Cherry
creek he noticed promising looking
crevices along the banks of Smearl
creek that the big freshet of Deem
Der, 1888, had stripped bare and clean.
They looked so good to him that he
tested them with gold pan and as
he says ITO my surprise | got several
big. round coarse and heavy colors-
and then some-to the one pan.
Howard continued, Il may be deaf but
I am not blind and I could see and
HEAR those coarse, heavy colors drop
into the pan
This discovery encouraged him SO
that he hurried to build five sluice
boxes on the creek and to run through
it at once some of the dirt from the
bed rock. Harry says, II rolled
away bolders and made gravel fly
through those sluice boxes for two
weeks Then to my disappointment,
there came that exceedingly UNI
expected and disastrous freeze 40 on
November before got the pit COM
pleted 1t froze everything hard and
solid 1t froze solid ice in the sluice
boxes, which were three or four feet
above the ground I had about half
of my quicksilver in the four lower
boxes 1t froze those lower boxes so
that the quicksilver was all lost ard
a good part of the gold with it, All
was able to save was what was in The
upper or head box, which had big
fall and current thus preventing it
from freezing. Practically all | was
able to save came from the paintings
I procured in cleaning the crevices on
the bedrock The gold | got from this
was coarse and heavv with d little
quartz in it. This made it look MIGHTY
good to me whether I saved it all or
not I am dead sure I did not get I'll
Of it. and believe there is a lot more
of the yellow stuff for next years
work ! was. not able to got great
amount Of geld at this time hu' what
I did pet was the incest gold | have
ever mined
1.-THE gold is very coarse ard heavy
and there BEING some quartz in il m
dictates to me- that there Is GOOD
chance for lot more Of it and that
am not far from the source Of it, con-
tinued Mr. Howard s'The NUGGETS
ranged in value from SO cents TO $500
figured at The old price of gold.
"The old saving is that gold il
where you find it. Well, found this
where men have been +ramning over
it for many derades, right where the
main auto road crosses it to the I'D
Snowshoe ard other properties |
Smearl creek is only enaall stream. |
but 1t empties into Biz Cher creek |
which is a fair sized creek THE rims
IF Cherry creek were worked to some
axtent in rioneer DAYS but none of he
,reek bed hae heen worked vet The
stream IS shallow and onan. with no
Dig bonders. and IS ideal for enmeore
o work one of these DAYS. There A.
>eady has been enough gold mined
rom il in primitive way II nrove
hat there is snrno GOOD nav di,-t in II
have beer TESTING md WORKING this
round for the naet 20 wears ard II Ii
he man that works it that knows"