The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1945-01-11
Mining Lincoln
County
By Loren KujaWa

iCdoN Vct0oVt0oo AA' 6oAN, oAA'>At A~SA~'f
zinc, and copper, as reported by
Russell Gibson when he carried on
an investigation for the United
States Geological Survey, in the
summers of 1929 and 1890
Centuries ago when the great ice
sheet come down, this country was
covered with ice and when the
glacier melted the gold was washed
down into the lowlands and creek
beds. Placer gold is reported to
have been first discovered in this
region as early as 1857, but owing
to the hostile Indians, who killed
several prospectors, little work was
cone for some time. Among the
first to locate placer ground near !
Libby were Tom Shearer and B. F. |
Howard. BY 1887 a small mining
town had grown up on Libby creek
near Ramsey creek, where the first
placer mining was carried on. The
Howard placer on Libby creek was
one of the earliest enterprises, be-
ing operated by the Towards and
William Williams. 1t was taken over
bv group of mining men who ac-
uuired more land and formed the
Libby Placer Mining Co. Other
placer deposits were soon found,
notably on the West Fisher river,
Little Cherry, Cherry, and Howard
creeks In 1903 the Comet Mining
Co. bought up several claims on
Little Cherry creek but they were
forced to close down because OF the
chief drawback in mining in this
district, high cost Of labor and
material. Gold quartz veins were
discovered on the West Fisher and
its tributaries in the 90s. The earll-
est mine, the Brick & Brannigan,
ran a ten-stamp mill for several
wears. The American Kootenai and
Blacktail mines also erected small
stamp mills but along with many
more. they were destroyed by snow
slides. According to the best sta
4 tistics available, total Of about
$4,000 in placer gold had been
reported from this district before
| 1902, but it is reasonably certain
] that this does not include all that
l the district has produced since that
Gate because no figures are avail
able for the production prior to
1902.
i The mines south of Libby took
their gold out by pack mule south
to the Clarks Fork river where they
could ship it out, but with the
i coming of the steamboat and later
the railroad, the minerals were
shipped TO Libby. The first placer
workings were in the gravel along
4 the present streams and in the
ancient stream beds, the miners US
ing rockers, ground Slulces, and pan
to get the gold.
The most common form Of mining
now is deep mining in which tun-
nels are dug into the ground. The
mines obtained their power to run
the mills from the nearby mountain
streams in which they made dams
The Silver Mountain, formerly the
: Silver Crown, located in 1887 or
Granite creek, is one of the oldes1
/. frnines of this kind in the district
The Midas mine, formerly the Rose
Consolidated, was first located II
1905. 1t has reported the production
, of gold and tungsten concentrate:
and is still in operation. During thu
last war it was operating at peal
IS there was a large demand foi
tungsten and other alloying metals
Deposits at the SnoWshoe mine Wer'
first opened in 1892, the total pro
duction being about 100000 ton
! which yielded sl,086,000 in ne
shelter returns from lead, silver
end gold. 1t is common talk amonl
!, the old timers that as result Q
inefficient milling at times in tn
= past, as much as 40 per cent Of tn
concentrates were lost. The Snow
Storm mine on Callahan creek nea
$ $ Troy has been reported to hav
y Welded S4,O00,000 and the presen
- ore reserves are 10000 tons. TIL
500 ton SnoWstorm mill on Gala
han creek near Troy which treate
{. the ores, was destroyed BY fire i
y 1927 and because of this the min
~ has been closed down most Of tn
time since.
: A few of the other lode mine
= ! that have reported production al
= the Big 8, Viking, Cabin Queer
y Tip Top, Liberty. Pathfinder, Silve
King, and Silver Strike Except fc
!, the Snowstorm, the SnoWshoe, an
II possibly some Of the other large
6 deposits, mining operations hav
s been rather small and without niue
profit. Several of the smaller lode
II have given promise Of profitabl
production, but their operators ha,
lacked funds to explore them an
~ block out ore reserves. The CON
Eletion Of the Glacier Silver Lea
Company's modern 300 ton mill
1890. on Granite creek. might hay
! stimulated production in the mine
- southwest Of Libby had it not bee
y for the extremely low price (
q metals that year.
- The Universal Zonolite Insul;
q tons Company, whose mine is Il
:, - Gated northeast Of Libby. is prol
Il ably the most important mine no
= in operation in the district. II min.
y an entirely different substant
4 called vermiculitc, which is use
I, fer insulation purposes The coul
thy in which il is located was fir
! psospected between 1890 and 1870
Z the prospectors being intereste
chiefly in copper, gold, and silve
I'd There was a minor amount Of WOl