Show MARYSVALE its attractions resources and early history BY J s r GIBBS ambs PART VIII among my early darly acquaintances after my arrival in arary Marys valo was de avat 0 tate sr and for whom I 1 formed a casting lasting friendship mr air tate was ta tall 11 of light build inclined to fragility but in III choso days clays was tough and within a few days after our arrival mr air tate invited me to hta his camp in III bullion canyon about seven miles westerly irom marysvale Marys vale although it was about tho the middle ot of march the valley is I 1 entirely free from snow and the day were balmy as those of may alay during normal seasons reasons at a point close to three anaa and a halt miles west or of town the road suddenly enters the deep gorge passes from the sunlit valley into the gloom and chill ol of the giant tushar on the left the sierra nevada peak with its massive base merging into bullion cottonwood divide as a mass of splintered quartzite rises to an altitude of nearly neaily feet above sta sea level on the right the east extension of beecher hill rises aiges to a height of close to 1000 feet above the road alie 0 steep canyon affords tha student of geology an all excellent opportunity for studying the formation the exposed base of the mountain is bedded quartzite heating on the Is a led bed of deep red shale close to feet in thickness which doubtless ei extends tends horizontally in fissured and fault faulted ed condition back to the crest 0 of f the range at least ten miles distant superimposed on oil the shale Is another and more recent bed of quartzite to feet thick and on the beecher hill side Is capped with limestone which owing to the tilting descends toward the west on oil in an inclination of 1015 10 15 degrees forming a most inviting lead silver contact into which by way of the owner al perris ferris the writer aud and his partner put precious dollars they are still on the books webster basin during the summer months welster webster basin la Is ono one of the most picturesque que and inviting retreats to be found in utah oval in III format formation foh nearly a mile in length and in places nearly a quarter of a mile wide it la Is walled above abobo timber line on the north a part of the mountain Is intensely discolored by volcanic ires fires red and yel low porphyry in which occur seams and lenses of galena and in veins of quartz to date no place has been discovered where tho the diffused values in III that singularly rich formation have been concentrated in veins or bodies excepting in two or three small areas the basin is surrounded by nearly vertical walls of 0 hard cryst allne quartzite above which ahto Is s a thinned ahin bed of limestone with a caf capping tIng of porphyry which extends lip to the crest of tile the lofty divides on each side of the basin one of the exceptions just named is a body of porphyry on the south west to within a fow few hundred feet of the glen erie erfe a promising copper bearing fissure in quartzite the evidence is that a block of oc quartzite about 2000 feet square was fault faulted d down downward wad leaving a steep walled depression several hundred feet deep from the north fault fissure melted emerged filled the basin and formed the hanging wall of the webster mine the north portion of the local bed was ploughed sloughed hed away by a glacier and further eroded by the mountain river which swept ina in a swift torrent down the canyon during the early con centuries of the post glacial period that the is exceptionally tio nally rich in diffused precious metals is proved by short tunnels driven out west from the main tunnel and lenses or of gold ore running better than 1000 per ton discovered and there is na no doubt that afie th e splendid ore slopes ill 11 the upper workings of the webster webser were derived from that bed of porphyry lying west of the mill alne 01 ali alie quartzite to lo the west of the ebster la Is gashed with fissures each of which bears copper lead silver and gold ora ore and aie aro named glen erie brie shamrock star cascade and other fancy names considerable ore has been shipped from each of those fissures with hundreds of tons of milling ore on each dump inviting someone to build a concentrating mill such was the scene and aglid such were the conditions in info to tate introduced the ibe writer on that lovely levels hut fateful march day 1879 chati that innocent abroad was captured d body and soul in III aisi his blissful 11 ignorance igno ranco of mining he imag ned that every outcrops outcrop of ore was but the capping of a bon bonanza benaliza aliza and continued u eato fever was rudely and ana suddenly broken by the waves wavis of cast cashi him iu high and dry on the rocks ir de bankruptcy early years mining wasl was booming throughout this western country Tp ortus q were made in a dh da yand and 0 f en blown lk h avera over a bar or ird card games in A k ight achi for bonanzas induced dd a ml 6 ous intoxication for A aut tiivi tl fere Vh wai fa lio xi x keely I cure R tl wa wh f 1 l rr from ai y T e i ssi ss i wj f 1 tm t M 1 toll privation and ana abject poverty were unable to release the victim failure fallore the prospector methodically he searches one moun tain range and with all the inherent pati patience once of his buros plods on to the next promising uplift sometimes he is successful ofte oftener iier not the years silently retreat into eternity yet et tile the search goes on oil old age overtakes him but with stiffened limbs lie he marches forward to what lie ho firmly believes will bg be wealth and contentment ment duri during fig the closing decades of his life finally his dim tired eyes turn toward the last great divide 1 the worn out body is perhaps found on the trail perhaps discovered in time to place him in h d a r miners lifers il home which has more mope successful brothers in prospecting have mercifully provided for the unfortunates of their profession owing to the over ever don con tr acting areas for prospecting tile ranks of the old timers are rapidly thinning and within another decade or two the desert rat will live only in history but bt lie he will ever bo be honored for tho the persistent part lie he played in the history of mining in iii this western ein country 0 |