Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-07-17

erection Of his mill. He had streak o. Scotch
thrift in his makeup and ne thoo9nt carpen-
ters WAGES at 81 per Gay were VOC nien. 80
he hired men who could saw ooafos ana drive
~ ~ "a ner day Then he sat In his wheel
r5oir on a raised platform ana directed the
men how to saw the boards anu where 70
drive the nails. When his mn Nas coapieteo.
:, ,roe a complete mill ready TO run. HIS luck
..,.sssted IN his always striking ore lust at
the time he needed It. This, however think
the reader will concede is a very lucky sort
~ iuck Meadow could not run his mine from
t.or,,o4ton because he was helpless when out
~ bis wheel chair All he ever saw Of the
inside OF the mine was What ne eoelo see
when he was lifted into an ore car ana taken
the length Of the tunnel
THE new owners OF the Spotted Horse placed
man named Provard in charge Of the prop
ertv Before long It was rumored that another
bonanza strike had been MADE IN the mine.
In September 1898, I oecldea 70 Visit the
Columbian exposition. The day before started
Tor CHICAGO went to the Spotted Horse and
asked MI Provard for a free gold specimen
which / desired to take along TO snow the
fasteners He said. how Woulo ,,, shat enunk
there do?" And pointed TO a boulder weigh
inc at least 500 pounds. / told him only
wanted a pocket specimen out examined
the boulder. II Is conservative 70 say tlat
there was not a space an inch square on the
rock that did not show free gold. There was
two or three tons Of ore piled IN the ASSAY
office and most OF II appeared as Ilcn As tne
first boulder. The company hoWeFeI' wAs hot
receiving any profit from the mine. Just as
me last of the rich ore chute was milled'
there suddenly developed in OLD Mexico, some
very important business that required Mr.;
Provard's immediate attention so ne was forced
to make a quick trip TO that country AnsOiat
as know, he never came BACK
Tn the next few years the Spotted Horse
changed hands a number Of times II was
while it was controlled by the Bank OF FeIeus
countv that the mill which was stanolng
tdla hut insured to its full value, burned
down Prom that time to the present the
mine has been operated by various leasers
the most successful one being harorock
Coolidge the well-known oil man
The Florence mine on Crystal mountain
paid from the grass roots. The ownership OF
the mine was divided in seventns. IN tne
early 8O's John Kemper, one OF tine seven
ne liners bought out some Of his partners and
leased the interests Of the others. Inc ore oc-
Cured in small punches along horlzontau
zone in very hard limestone. There never was
much ore in sight at any time put WoEE ,l
or1v, two men Kemper took out $4,000 IN less
than two years. One carload OF ore hetteu
s675 in gold and silver. There was lafse
amount Of copper and other metals IN tile oie
which custom smelters did not pay ior IN
those days.
Rempers lease from his partners had lapsed
and the partners sold their interest to W. H.
BURGESS Kemper then sold his interest," 70 the
firm of Murray and O'Brien The mine was
worked by the new owners aurlns the SUMMER lllsr
shipped The next spring controversy over
the ownership Of the property arose. ana our
ing the controversy. o'Brien was snot ano
killed by Burgess. Since the Tragedy noehlns
mas been done on the mine, and as there was
hut little ore left in sight, considerable cap
ital would be required to prove the properly.
This concludes the list OF early oay Pro
ducers of free milling and shipping ores tnat
were worked at a profit. We now come TO an
altogether different class Of ores which are
known locally as cyanide gold ores from tne
fact that the gold values are very feaoiiy
4
was the original discoverer OF these ores ana
am the only person who has WORKED steauils
on them for more than 45 years IL win pe
necessary for me to inject my own PerSona .,s
IN come extent into q full description OF gnls
class of mines as they occur in the judith
mountains.
II was the autumn Of 1883 when I first
found the float of the Gilt Edge lead part
ner and I had been working during the sum
rer on a claim higher up on the ridge ana
were moving our tools down to camp prep
aratory to going away for the winter. we
always carried rifle with us for the noun
tains at that time we're full OF all xmas OF
big game as we'll as vast numbers OF oue
and ruffed grouse. Ny partner had the IaSt
OF the tools and I carried the gun Thinking
1 might get something to replenlsn our laIueii
I made a detour off the trail through some
scattered bull pines, and suddenly came on
to a patch Of bare lime bedrock about Yen Ieet
square on this bedrock lay 9 NUMBER q
chunks of ore, highly stained with iron When
broken the ore had such rich look TOOK
piece to camp. MY partner agreed that tne
ore looked rich We pulverized quantity ana
PANIED 1t but there were no resuIeins cUlS Sis
we threw the rest OF 1t into the campfire
and left It overnight. Still no colors, put
the stuff panned so heavy we were sun o.
the opinion there was money IN u. 90 We
went M the mountain to get some more
samples for assays But could not tlnd Ihe
place where I had found the ore. The rlaee
was thickly covered with laurel and other
underbrush and we had TO leave without iino-
we had a team coming
that morning to move us back TO Maiden
The next spring was working at the Spot
ted Horse and noticed some punches OF iron
ore in the vein that looked good nut showed
no colors when PANIED put a piece OF 1t IN
the forge and melted 1t down to Stag. There
we could see quite lot OF gold olisters on
it, At once thought Of the ore hao 1ouna
the previous fall. and the next Sunday went
over TO look for 1t again. found u, ana LOOK
several pieces back to the Spotted Horse ana
burnt some Of them. They all showed gold
work at the Spotted Horse had shut down
so hunted up my partner, whose name was
Ed Kuipe and we bought some grub and moved
out to our former camp. We soon found
small vein OF ore but 1t did not suit us. It
was running flat into the lime and we wanted
il on a porphyry contact There was porphyry
on the ridge but we could find no ore near
it. We found more ore on tne OPPOSITE sloe
After three days Kuipe became discouraged
and left camp The next heard OF him he had
gone to the Little Rockies with Flke Lanuushg'
I kept prospecting around and in about
week found another flat vein in the lime near
the top Of the ridge where the porphyry
cropped The ore vein was running IN toward
the porphyry and concluded to follow 1t 70
the contact The vein which was only IA inches
thick at the start soon widened to six feet
I had got in on It about 40 feet when Kuipe
came back He went to work with me and as
another 20 feet and finally struck the por-
another 20 feet an dfinally struck the por-
phyry, which proved to be an eruptive Chin
new Of later formation than the ore vein Tor
NJ came right up through the vein and cut
II off entirely. Under the vein there was no
trace OF ore on the contact.
we were flabbergasted. We had been re-
peatedly told by men who pretend to know,
that there was nothing In limestone. That TO
find ore it was necessary to first find por-
phvry contact And here the only ore we had
found was in limestone. Kuipe seemed more
DISCOURAGED than I was and wanted to quit
at once I told him that maybe the mining
sharps did not know everything and that
perhaps there was ore in limestone. We pros
pected a couple Of days more but could only
find ore in the lime around the edge OF the
ridge so we called 1t Gilt Edge staked the
claim and moved back to Maiden
Kulpe got q Job at carpenter work and In
lee, than a wear went to California leaving