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Show INTER-MOUNTAI- ended. MINING REVIEW. N Tintic and Other Mining Districts. He is a gentleman of untiring energy and uncommon ability, and his friends in this State are not surprised to learn that he warmed the opposition. A press dispatch pays him this tribute: The landslide in Oregon has been brought about by the superb management of the Populist State chairman, an old Utah miner named J. C. Young, on a fund of less than $600. Without a newspaper to aid him, he in less than two months organized such a campaign as paralyzed the veteran politicians. BY W. C. B. ALLEN. The mines of Utah have lQng since established and still maintain great confidence among careful investors. The character of the mining districts varies, like the disposition and character of men, and the qualities which commend themselves most in both cases appear to be greatness, solidity, reliability, with depth, or permanency, and real worth. Among the mountain chains extend- The general deficiency bill, as passed by Congress, contains aq appropriation for the erection of sampling works at Bonners Ferry, Ida., and Northport, Wash., and at El Paso, Tex., of imported the sampling for the is This ores. silver-lea- d measure pushed by Senator Dubois of Idaho, and is ostensibly designed to prevent the frauds practiced in recent years, but, as previously suggested by the Mining- Review, it is singular that two sampling works are to be erected on the northern border and but one at the Mexican line, in view of the fact that the imports from Mexico far exceed those from British Columbia. Moreover, there are other ports of entry on the Mexican border through which pass a greater tonnage of imported ores than is handled at El Paso. ing north and south in Utah, the most prominent are the Wasatch and the Oquirrh ranges, which parallel each other on the east and west sides of the Salt Lake and Utah valleys. In these ranges are found the principal mines of Utah. Five or six mining districts are reached in. from one to three hours ride from Salt Lake City, the output from which has reached an aggregate of over one hundred million dollars in the precious metals. These districts are at Park City, Bingham, the Cottonwoods, Ophir, Mercur and Tintic, but American Fork. Stockton and one or two others may be credited with a considerable production. These camps are found in Summit, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah and Juab counties. Taking the Jordan river as a central point, near the head of the Salt Lake valley, and drawing a circle having a diameter of sixty miles, you will include within its radius the principal mining camps referred to. From Salt Lake the railways radiate to these camps and bring their products to the smelters and sampling works in the vicinity of this city. In the Wasatch range on the east are Park City, the Cottonwoods, Little and Big, with American Fork and Provo canyons farther south. In the Oquirrh range on the west are Bingham, Ophir, Stockton - Should the faculty of the University Utah determine upon a summer course of lectures this year, the Mining Review suggests that some attention be given to topics connected with the geology and mineralogy of the State. In view of the general interest in mining, a course of lectures upon these subjects alone might prove to be very popular. Not only are there members of the university faculty who are competent to handle such topics in an instructive and interesting manner, but the city contains other and eminent are Tinauthorities, with the added qualifica- and Mercur, and further south tic and West Tintic, in the Tintic tion of years of practical experience. an extension of Hon. Thomas G. Merrill, treasurer of the American Bimetallic Union, attributes the changed sentiment on the sil- ver question largely to the campaign of education inaugurated by the bimetallic conference held in this city last year. The organization effected at that time has since distributed 15,000,000 copies of various free coinage publications among the people of the central west and Mississippi valley, and the increasing strength of the silver movement is the direct result of this work. The Mining Review publishes this week a very interesting description of the Tintic mining district, in which so much interest is centered at the present time. It was prepared by Mr. W. C. B. Allen, who has devoted his attention to the Tintie mines for a number of years. The ore deposits of Tintic are phenomenal in their richness, depth and conditions of occurrence, and it is a matter of surprise, now that the conditions are becoming more widely known, that so many properties have been permitted to remain in a stage. It is reported that a Denver smelting company will erect a pyritic half-develop- ed 70-t- on smelter at Lake City, Colo. . ranges, which are merely of the Oquirrh mountains. The country rock or formation of these mining districts varies considerably. In the Wasatch is found the great granite formation, with contacts of lime and porphyry, quartzite and slate. In the Oquirrh, the Bingham mines are found in porphyry, with lime and quartzite contacts. In Ophir the mines are principally in lime, but with a slate overhanging the ore zone. In Mercur the entire country is lime, but with shales and porphyry sheets covering the ore zone, and lime and quartzite as the foot or back country. In Tintic the formation consists of porphyry (with some granite and trachyte), lime and quartzite. It is of interest to compare the production of some of these mines, as well as of the districts. The mines of Juab county gave a return in 1895 of 27,525 ounces of gold and 3,517,166 ounces of silver, principally from Tintic. The mines of Summit county gave 4133 ounces of gold and 3,204,004 ounces of silver, principally from Park City. The mines of Salt Lake county grave 11,120 ounces of gold and 775,640 ounces of silver, principally from Bingham. The mines of Tooele county gave ounces of gold and 121,071 ounces of silver, of which amount Camp Floyd (Mercur) produced 27,272 ounces of gold, having a commercial value of $545,540; and Cane Springs, in the Deep Creek country, produced 1652 ounces of gold, with a commercial value of $33,040. By the above it will be seen that in 1895 Tintic produced a little more than $5000 more gold than Mercur, while it. produced 313162 ounces of silver more than Park City, making it the chief district in Utah in value of the precious metals. 29,-3- 00 The Tintic mining district covers quite an extensive area, the northern portion of which is now included in the North Tintic district. In 1870 some parties who were ranging stock in that locality had noticed indications of ledges and the mineralized outcrop of veins, which led them to locate upon what is called the Sunbeam ledge, situated in the porphyry belt about one and a half miles southeast of Silver City. This is supposed to be the first mine located, and it was worked for some years afterward, producing many thousands of dollars. Not long after this the talk about mines in that locality led a small party to go up. the Eureka gulch, where very prominent ledges were known to show, on the south side of the gulch. Climbing up in the snow and examining the under side of a large outcrop, where the weather had worn it away and formed a cave, the party found copper stains and the ore itself sticking out of the ledge, and the result was that several claims were located and some work done on this spot, which is now the great Eureka Hill mine. Boulders and: chunks of a heavy mineralized rock were found scattered around and dug out of the ground. It was of a dark brown color, and could be cut with a knife, but as it neither showed free gold nor bright lead, the prospectors concluded it must be of no particular value, and during the first few weeks this mineral was thrown aside and piled into the waste. Considerable talk was made, however, of the new finds, especially of the copper and lead ores, and the result was that the locators and owners a few months afterward, in 1871, made a sale of this property for a mere nominal sum to some mining men who had arrived in the new camp. Development work was now begun with more or less activity, and in a short time several wagon loads of the ore were hauled to Salt Lake and, g wonder of wonders, the ore proved to be quite rich in horn silver and brought about $30,000 to the fortunate purchasers. Of course quite an excitement grew up, and the surrounding region was prospected and located, including the present mines of Eureka, such as the brown-lookin- Bullion-Bec- k, Centennial-Eurek- a, stone, Colorado Chief, Eagle, etc. Key- Lying over the top of the high peaks which surmount the Eureka Hill and Centennial properties to the south, comes the Mammoth Hollow, where not long afterward in the history of the camp the and the Copperopolis mines were found and developed. The Swansea, the Park, the Lucky Boy and others were located and Crismon-Mammo- th |