Show the white knob at mackay from correspondent our tr traveling mackey ida july 10 it is nearly awen ty five years ago since the white knob copper district was discovered away up in the lost river valley eighty five miles from blackfoot it was a good way from transportation por tation and copper was not then worth what it is now and the locations were abandoned later on some wood river people did some work there and in the summer of 1894 senator W A dark clark took hold and did some development work visiting the district in person and remaining several weeks in february 1895 he discontinued operations because he could not make a satisfactory deal with his associates in 1899 mr wayne darlington at present state engineer of idaho a well known and experienced mining engineer secured a bond on the leading prospects in the district and succeeded in enlisting the attention of the late john W mackay and some of his associates in the enterprise mr mackay also visited the district and was much pleased ceased with it the result was that the white white knob copper company was organized gani zed which took over thirty six claims which have been systematically developed since ince that time with now and then a brief interruption A townsite was laid out and a branch of the oregon short line liine built from mackay to the new town with a spur and side tracks to the smelter which was built by the company up to the present writing a great deal of prospecting and development work has been done the main shaft has been sunk feet where it connects with the albert tunnel which it at that depth from the face of the tunnel a has been sunk to a depth of seventy five feet showing by far the best ore yet discovered in the mine having demonstrated demon stated to their satisfaction that the ore bodies were continuous and that the values improved with depth the management concluded to run another tunnel further down the mountainside which will crosscut cross cut the ore bodies at a depth of 1600 feet below the apex this tunnel named the van nostrand tunnel in honor of one of the principal stockholders in the company has been extended a distance of 1200 feet it still has a dista distance nep of 2000 feet to go to the point where a vertical depth of the shaft above spoken of will 1 intersect it it is expected however that pay ore will be encountered long before this distance has been run an electric railway six miles long connects the surface workings of the mine with the smelter the smelter which is of the very latest and up to date character has hag two furnaces each with a capacity of tons for sev eral months both furnaces have been running night and day up to within two weeks ago when one of them was closed down for repairs and for the purpose of allowing ore reserves to accumulate at present men are employed in the mine and smelter the wages paid to underground miners is per day smelter employed emp loyes receiving eight hours constitute a days work and but little if any difficulty has been encountered in the way of labor troubles the men in charge of this important proposition are A W jenks who is manager and P L fearn who is consulting engineer of the company both of these gentlemen are graduates of the columbia college school of mines and have had wide and varied experience in their profession and are well and favorably known in this and foreign countries As for the white knob copper company it is composed of some of the best known financiers ofner of new york and philadelphia whose resources are almost unlimited and who will without doubt in the course of time open up here one of the largest and most productive copper properties in the united states mr fearn in a report made at the ending of the month of may has this to say the official statistics for 1902 showed a yield for the entire state of idaho to be pounds of copper at the close of the month of may the white knob copper company will have produced pounds more copper in may alone than the state produced in the whole year to say nothing of the gold and silver output of the mine development work in the mine goes on steadily and the results are more than flattering work on the van nostrand tunnel is progressing nicely and the entire work from beginning to end is a scene of industrial activity unequaled in any mining camp in the state the best showing of ore in the mine is in the seventy five feet below the albert tunnel and feet below the surface which will be continued downward steadily to connect with an upraise from the van nostrand tunnel when this systematic plan of development is completed the ore bodies will be connected to a vertical depth of over 1600 feet which will place it among the great mines of the west robert bell mine inspector 0 of f the state of idaho who has visited this section many times has the following to say about the formation in this copper belt in his last annual report he says the copper belt of lost river extends from alder creek to copper basin on the east fork of lost river a distance of thirty miles it carries mineral all the more or less copper way with especially strong displays of ore at both both ends and a most phenomenal showing at the property of the white knob copper companas comp anys mine at mackay the character of these deposits their ores and enclosing formations compare very closely with the arizona copper deposits the ore bodies occur in blue limestone also in contact with a large dyke of included coarsely crystalline feldspar porphyry the ore seems to be a replacement of the lime and occurs in mammoth chutes thirty to fifty feet wide and seventy five to feet long the gro ground is dry and the ore still mostly reddish brown oxides and green carbonates of copper carrying from two to four per cent of the red metal together with about 2 in gold and silver in closing mr bell predicts that the white know property will become one of the largest most permanent and profitable producers of copper gold and silver bullion in ilie the west and with this opinion your correspondent most thoroughly coincides the developing of the white knob property has lead to much prosperity and the disclosing of other mines mcginty sweeney moore after finding pay ore in shafts and open cuts are driving a deep tunnel which will crosscut cross cut their vein at a depth of feet it is now in feet and will have yet feet to go to reach their ore they are running a machine drill and expect to strike pay by fall this property consists of seven claims adjoining ani and due south of the white knob property an ore shipment to salt lake showed values of 20 to copper gold and silver H A gilbert and tom carr own the lucky gulch group consisting of five claims situated north of the knob they have done 1000 feet of work all told and have had assays essays running as high as 38 per cent copper bemid besides es the gold and silver values 8 the seventeen seventeen claims of the horseshoe copper company located and promoted by D E mccallum McCa Ilum and adjoining the white knob on the north are being developed b by local capital and make a very promising showing several other prospects are being developed by poor men all of whom have faith in this district forty miles north of here and about half way between mackay and halley in what is I 1 s known as the alto district where some exceedingly cee promising locations have been beail made of a character similar to that in this district and all they need is money for de they too will become mines the town of mackay named after that prince of mining men is beamut beautifully foully situated at an altitude of feet above sea level between two ranges of mountains it I 1 is less than three years old and contains a population of about 1200 it has fine streets a water system good business buildings and residences two churches a splendid brick school house and a branch of standrod co cos s bank of pocatello it has up to the present had a weekly newspaper which before this appears in print will have moved to blackfoot it is governed by a mayor and common council which recently passed an ordinance prohibiting the construction of anything but brick buildings on main street the principal business street in town mackay is also the gateway to challis custer day bay horse and also thunder mountain and daily stages are run by the mackay central idaho stage company under thy the able management of C V hansen some day when the copper properties of alto district have become mines and when the great which has ten miles of underground workings and other properties at custer shall have passed into the hands of a strong company which will take out their already great ore reserves mackay will become a large and thriving town t CASPER |