Show A iURIfrRii CAMP Dawn of aNew and Bright Era for Warrens IMPORTANT MINING DEAL A Snydicate May Work Rich Idaho Placers Lack ot a Railroad from Payette to Salmon Meadows Opportunities for the Prospector The Southwest Silver Convention Notes WARRENS Ida Sept 12 Tucked away in a pocket in the mountains this I camp which was worldrenowned as a gold producerin the early sixties seems close at the dawn of a new era of activity Remote from all traveled routes little news ever gets out from here Warrens is a sort of jumpingoff place The only wagon road into the section stops here and nobody ever comes in unless business calls in this direction Men who go out they are feware not inclined to be talkative The only class of immigration encouraged by residents is that which has money consequently the advantages of Warrens are not pictured in bright colors for fear too many workingmen would be enticed in Prior to the completion of the wagon road only two years ago the annoyance and difficulties attending a visit here were great For that reason mining operators and investors seldom or never strayed during the past ten years With the decline of silver mining however how-ever when so keen a hunt was instituted for gold properties attention has been attracted t this locality as a favored one By the last mail bonds were forwarded to Boise City in a deal of much importance import-ance to the camp ExGovernor Norman B Willey the principal in these negotiations negotia-tions has assurances that a bona fide sale will be consummated within a short time Captain Joseph Bartlett now of Boise City but formerly of Chicago who has figured prominently as a promoter ol mining enterprises for thirty years came to Warrens a few weeks ago to examine a large area of placers which Governor Willey controlled So well pleased was the captain that aiter carefully prospecting prospect-ing the ground he expressed the conviction convic-tion that a new company would speedily get down to work and gold dust and bullion bul-lion would be shipped to Chicago from these placers before next Christmas The company is now organizing in Chicago to operate the placers Some delay was occasioned by the diffi culty in forming a combination of the many interests involved I isin proof of the faith that oldtimers have in the camp to refer to the tenacity with which they cling to the old ground from which fabulous amounts of gold were recovered re-covered in the past Ancient locations lo-cations are still in force and claims are included in the bonded tract that are of the same size and the boundaries identical identi-cal with those of early times when the local laws prescribed the limit of 150 by 120 feet as a block which one man could hold and work Other claims of twenty acres each such as the present United States mineral Jandrlaws provide for are also included George Willey personally owns fortyseven t acres while George Riebold and oldtimer is the sole owner of fiftyseven acreso Altogether the tract referred to is about threequarters of a mile in length and nearly half a mile wide embracing one hundred and twenty eight acres begins where the present hamlet or cluster of houses stands and extends down Warrens creek The depth of gravel will average about twelve feet Bed rock is of granite so soft as to resemble ashes No difficulty is encountered in gleaning the bed rock other than that precautions are necessary in piping to prevent too much of the soft stuff from being washed up Far from being a lack of water in the camp for either sluicing or hydraulicing it is safe to say that there is more water than available auriferous ground This makes the camp a favored one and is a condition that seldom obtains in placer fields I explains in part why Warrens has been so prosperous during all the years since the original gold discovery was made here by Jim Warren in August 1862 All the bars were worked over andover and-over again and eaohiseason gave a handsome hand-some cleanup It might be inferred that where so many men have worked over these bars there would now remain only poor picking This is not the case Anywhere you go you can find gold every pan of dirt taken indiscriminately will show good colors The presence of the gold can be accounted for in many ways I is a theory theo-ry of scientists that it pays to allow placers to remain undisturbed for a time This Is explained in many ways but it is nevertheless a fact which the practical miner recognizes as well as the theorist and the man of books An important im-portant point and one which must be taken into consideration in discussing the chances for reward in reworking the Warrens placers is that in the flush times yards and yards of gravel were cast aside as unprofitable when reckoned by the standard of that era In the early history of that camp the gold which is now rated at 16 an ounce and passes as currency at such a quotation was only worth 12 The local mining laws of the district fixed miners wages at hal an ounce ol gold a day Hence nothing that would not yield as much as 6 or more a day to the man was worth handling With the changed conditions lower wages4 a day is paid in Warrens at presentsupples of all kinds are obtainable obtain-able at more reasonable prices and miners content to work dire that was formerly held as worthless the neglected diggings are rated a valuable Here and there are little blocksof ground that were missed in the hurry slighted by the men engaged en-gaged on night shifts when the owners were not on hand to oversee the work The great profit from these old diggings though would come from handling large quantities of dirt daily That is exactly what the Chicago company proposes to do The plan is to put in one of the new placer machines like what has been in use on Cherry Creek near Denver and is said to work very satisfactorily satis-factorily The dirt is scooped up by a steam dredge and then worked by an electrical amalgamator Plants of various sizes are made by a company in Bucyrtis Ohio and cost all the way from 12OPO to > 40GOO One of large size and capacity iso is-o bo used by Captain Bartletts company in this camp Operations by the Chicago people would jive a big impetus to mining in this camp Nobody here doubts what the result would be for with unanimity l declare that 0 fortune would be made out of the amalgamated properties which have been bonded for 12600 These are regarded as ridiculously low figures Unlike the mining of other camps in Idaho which might be mentioned and in contradistinction to those of Boise Basin for instance prominent mining men of Warrens are ready and willing to aid by every means in their power to enlist capital That is why some of them like George Riebold agreed to lump large blocks of ground with the small holdings oi men without capital in order to attract outside operators A like spirit has actuated actu-ated others who have placers on what is known as the Meadows two miles or mIes more below the town to consent to a combination by which a large tract has been placed in the hands of one man who is working up a project for abed rock flume The Meadows is the bed of an old lake presumably and the quantity of gold that has been washed out there in the past would aggregate considerably more than amillion Four Chinese com anies are known to have taken out over SOOCOO fifom ground they bought fifteen or twentyyearf ago for 10500 Prominent Promi-nent citizens of Payette are considering he question of organizing a company to buyout the consolidated placer on the Meadows comprising a stretch of a mile and threequarters length and hall a D 1 mile wide and nut in a bed roik flume Good judges who have prospected this ground and are familiar with the early workings declare a million dollars would milion be a very conservative estimate of the amount of gold that could be recovered The cost inclndins the purchase price for the ground wonld not exceed 60GOO to 575000 It is too late to do anything with that project this season other than to formulate plans for an active campaign next year I the Payette men fail to take advantage of the bargain which they have succeeded in making the placers are not likely to go begging Indications are encouraging though that an Idaho company will swing this deal for Payette is waking up to the importance of aiding in the development of this camp and district dis-trict as well as others along the great water courses that empty into the Snake river where that enterprising town is located Payette is the natural centre and point of vantage an expansive area of mineralbearing country and her citizens citi-zens appear to have just begun to realize how great is this wealth Within the past few days there has been a good deal of talk about a railroad being constructed from Payette to Salmon Meadows Mead-ows which is nearly east of this camp Even though a railroad was built no nearer than Salmon Meadows which is on the other side of the range from here and distant dis-tant by wagon road 53 miles it would greatly stimulate mining and prospecting not alone in Warrens and the surrounding surround-ing district but in others that are more or less remote and reached only by trail from here At no time in tho history of Warrens since the big boom over quartz discoveries towards the end of the 60s has there been so much interest taken in the district dis-trict by capitalists and outsiders Frequent inquiries are made at to the chances ior investment Through agents offers have recently been made for placer and quartz propositions So far there have been no sales of much consequence conse-quence this season Offers as a rule were ridiculously low and generally made on the strength of representations made by men of standing who have Interests here These tenders of small amounts can be explained in only one way namely that operators think that in this neck of the Woods high values cant possibly prevail nor can good prices be demanded This was undoubtedly a reasonable view to taKe of the camp down to two years ago Before the state wagon road from Salmon Meadows to Mount Idaho was completed in 1S91 the only way to get in here was on horseback over a pretty rough trail That answered for seven months out of every twelve and the balance of the year visitors had to snow shoe in because the snowfal is heavy on the ranges that surround sur-round and here in camp As Salmon Meadows is over 100 miles from the nearest near-est railway point on the Oregon Short Line it wassomething of an undertaking to get in When the commissioners appointed ap-pointed by the state to expend 545000 on the construction of a wagon road to conned con-ned south and north Idaho built to Warm Springs eighteen miles from Warren a private citizen furnished the labor and bore all the expense of building a road from there into this camp In this way Mr Riebold who has previously been referred to exhibited his faith in Warren His munificence and public spirit in thus expending i3Oo for the public good is no less marked because he happened to derive some personal benefit through the construction of the road It enabled him to haul the supplies and machinery ma-chinery for use in extensive quartz mining min-ing operations in which he is engaged But the Riebold road which was thrown open to the public and has been common thoroughfare to all with no toll exacted was the last link needed to unite Warrens with the outside world Up to the time that was donetwo seasons ago all the supplies had to be packed in by way of Salmon Meadows or from Lewiston 150 miles to the north Men who had been clinging to mining claims both lode and placers saw agleam a-gleam of hopes they expected capital to come in Warrens had been regarded for so long a time as the Ultima Thule of Idaho at least that it was difficult to convince moneyed men that the camp was even comparatively easy of access It is a tough jaunt to come into Warrens now but you can ride all the way in abu a-bu gy and easily make the trip from Salmon Meadows in a day and a hal with a delightful stopping place for the night at the Warm Springs By the way the thermal waters there are unrivalled as to their recuperative and medicinal properties prop-erties while the accommodations are in keeping with such a natural sanitarium Mining men generally dont seem to understand un-derstand that Warrens has been brought within the pale of civilization and is comparatively com-paratively handy to a base of supplies so that the necessaries of life are not worth so nearly their weight in the precious yellow metal as was formerly the case I anybody has been waiting for the owners of mining properties here either in quartz or placer to be frozen out such calculations are likely to miscarry for since the search for gold propositions has been renewed with so great eagerness eager-ness it will be a case of Mahomot going to the mountain From this it must not be inferred that prospectors prices rule for mining claims in the camp or that extravagant valuations are set on them As has before been stated concessions con-cessions will be made to intending investors in-vestors as evidenced by the success of Governor Willey in bonding divers interests in-terests for the Chicago people and the success in combining others so that the bedrock flume project can be handled Warrens is no place for a poor man No one whose sole capital is muscle or mining intelligence experience has any business here now Those in search of employment must follow in the wake of capital Opportunities for prospecting both bars and ledees are presented to men who can support themselves while engaged en-gaged in this sortof work Such chances cannot bo taken advantage of until next season for in another month the mountains moun-tains and even the valleys will put on snowy robes not to be cast aside until May or JUDe of 1SS4 at the earliest The camp will not be wholly inactive in the meantime however for quartz claims will be developed thoroughly this winter and ore extraction progressed on several properties Final cleanups must be made on the placers within the next thirty days A solitary exception to this rule can be made in the event that the Willey deal is brought to a successful issue I is proposed to use steam power for running the dredge and by electricity the gold is to be amalgamated and saved That would enable the company to work up to about Nov 20 A great deal of gold could be recovered before that time as a force of thirty or forty men would be employed em-ployed and their labor in connection with the new fangled gold saving ap Dliance would insure the handling of a large quantity of anriferions gravel A rich clean up might also be anticipated antici-pated by reason of the chance to work some virgin ground included in the Cow ded tract The Bow Wing claim owned by the governor is a block 100 by 400 feet for which there was formerly no drain and inadequate dumping room Abed A-bed rock drain is now available which is a mile in length and a foot in depth and two feet wide The Bow Wing bar has a face of 100 feet and when work on it was stopped some years ago there was dirt handled that went as high as 5 to the pan This sounds steep butt but-t is a fact that can be substantiated Also embraced in the 128 acres which Governor Willey has contracted to sell for 26000 is the old Empire claim in the bed of Warrens creek When he first came here in 1834 he bought a fifth interest in that claim for 1500 In three seasonsseven months out of twelve constitute con-stitute a placer season herethere were 55000 cleaned up on that ground At the end of that period the claim was supposed sup-posed to be worked out and the eight partners divided 2000 among them which they received for relinquishing the claim to others They all thought it was like finding so much gold and laughed at the folly of the purchasers in paying so big a price for the gravel pile and mounds After the transfer the Dmuire was worked forseven or eight years and over 100000 in gold washed outAnother Another of the noted claims in the Villey tract is that known as the Rice Co Located near the forks of Warrens creek where Steamboat creek comes in this bar is regarded as the best in the camp The claim comprising forty or n > y t > fifty acres has been worked over andover and-over again ever since a ditch was put in I by the discoverers in the fall of 1862 when operations were first begun Alfred Bemis whose son now lives here made the most money out of the Rice Co ground Ho located the Washington claim just above the town When that was worked out Bemis bought into the Rice Co ground aud cleaned up 50000 after the gold was supposed to have been exhausted He was a firstrate miner but was squeezed in the early quartz excitement ex-citement and blew in his money on a stamp mill and working some goldbear ing ledges He died poor year oEd o-Ed Brooks has just started work on a I big tract of placer ground on Warrens Meadows below where the Chicago company com-pany will operate This is a huge bar a mile and 9 half long and half a mile in width hitherto unworked for lack of dumping ground The claim prospects well in every portion and it is believed a fortune could be recovered i worked on a large scale The Brooks bar is bonded to the man who has the bed rock flume in hand and i that project is carried out this claim will then be worked to the best advantage During the past season considerable gold has been washed out on various old claims right in the camp E L Root an old miner who came here from Florence 20 or 25 years ago has undoubtedly met with the best success He is an untiring worker In the winter when he has nothing else to do and cant run any dirt he goes out back of his cabin and clears out the creek throwing out rocks and by chopping out the ice gets down to the I high points of bed rock and sometimes succeeds in panning out a quantity of gold This summer he ran through a strip of new ground four to eight feet in width and forty long that paid him well To explain why this ground came to be unworked for so many years located as it is right in the heart of the camp develops devel-ops another interesting feature that tends to support the theory that all the old claims would pay for working over again In the beginning the claims were restricted re-stricted and one man could only own a block 150 by 200 feet It was necessary to put in cribbing to hold the dirt that was stripped off and also the tailings and prevent pre-vent this from crawling or tumbling over onto an adjoining claim and impede work or cover up gravel Of course the logs and other material used in building this cribbing had to have a solid foundation and thus every claim was robbed of more or less ground that contained pay dirt It was the site of one of these old cribs that Root worked this season That helped materially to increase the amount of his cleanup this year which was about S20CO There ama lots of other places like that in the camp GEORGE F CANIS |