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Show VISIT TO DRY CANYOX. A trip to Dry canyon may be said to com bin o a ereat many attraction! at a small cost, as it carries one around the point ot" the west mountains, skirts the Great Salt Lake for several miles, and offers a panorama of islands and distant dis-tant shores of the main land, as Black Rock and Profile Rocks arc passed, while further on the "City of Corinne" may at times be seen at her pier at Clinton's landing. The silent moan of the-surf and the beautiful blue waves dancing in the sumncr sun. combine to furnish food for, enjoyment to the ob serving traveler. Leaving the lake tbe road passe K. T. City and Tooele with its wealth of fruits and graio. Six miles from the latter place you reach Stockton, and as my business commences here, I propose pro-pose to give you some idea of what they are doing in this town. Stockton, as is well known, is the creation of general Connor and his command, in 18(33. It boasts of a few stores, dwelling-houses, and a fourth-class fourth-class hotel. Tho many evidences of broken-down Binelters show that the early anxiety for the mineral development develop-ment of Utah was premature, ftone of Lhe smelters have been Buaoessful thus fur. General Connor has very wisely, by a liberal policy, offered fa-ciliiies fa-ciliiies to li. S. Jacobs & Co. for the eoustruciion of their very line new smelter, which up to the present time has proven a oomp'eto success. I visited vis-ited the building and accepted the very courteous invitation of H. R. Durkee, tho assistant-manager for II. S. Jacobs & Co., to show me round; and was surprised to learn that the company had disbursed, in the development of mining interests in Utah, the sum of $300,000, including the purchase of the "City of CoriaDe'1 and some sixteen six-teen mines. The smelter is a three-story building an the side of a hill, admirably suited for loadiDg and unloading ores, coal, eto The furnaces are very complete, and were constructed by Morris & Evins of Salt Lake city. The gases from the furnaces are oonducted under the boiler and supply the fuel to keop up steam for the engine of 40-horse power. Owing to the density of fumes this arrangement is tem'l0rariy sot aside, to be perf'eoterl "in th; futare-lhe futare-lhe present 8ton';-jge 0f tho works is owing to th18 defect, which will, how-evsr, how-evsr, soon be remedied. Tho cost of construction was $75,000. Tho bullion producing capacity of the three fur-naoea fur-naoea is thirty tons per day. Of charcoal char-coal they have on hand, 100,000 bushels; ore, 3,000 tons; average value of ores $200 per ton. Tho smelter is under the direction of Mr. T. Williams, very competent ana expert Welshman, Welsh-man, from Swansea. The iron ore for fluxing ia brought from a distance of thirty miles west of Stockton, and ia a very valuable red hematite ore, containing con-taining fully seventy per cent, of iron. Different assays from the slag have failed to find a trace of metal, showing the completeness of the fluxing; and the fact that the bullion contains no antimony, copper or other Bubstances than lead and silver, shows the perfection perfec-tion of working. The ores from the different mines around Stockton, and from Dry oanyon, are admirably suited for smelting, and everything points to Stockion as the Swansea of Utah. Tho construction of this furnace has given new life to the plaoe, aud when the railroad reaches this point it will get a good share of inland trado. Further, the mines in the neighborhood are developing de-veloping richer daily. Having "done" Stockton, wo headed for Dry Canyon with private conveyance. convey-ance. An hour's drive wi'.h a good I team brings you to tho mouth ; from ! there you go on horseback, the road i i beiug rather steep lor wanons; so steep that in an ascent of two miles you rise 3,( 00 feet from tho mouth of tho oanyon. oan-yon. About a mile from the mouth you reach Porcupine gaps. At this point a largo tramway 1,500 feet long, iB being oostraoted five feet above snow level, on which thirty-five men are now working. It will save hauling the ore down tho deep incline in boats, and it ia intended that the ores from the Fourth of July and the Chicago mineB shall pass down this tramway. Financially Finan-cially it will bo a great saving, in freight. e make a sharp turn to the right and commence a still steeper ascent to the Fourth of July mine, which is reachod after a hard tug. Fifteen men are employed in this mine, D. H. King is superintendent. I descended the incline some 300 feet and saw tho glittering masses of oro, some of it very rich. Tho richest specimens have gono as high as $600 in silver ; tho avcrace value in silver to tho too is S120. They have also sunk a shaft some 2X) feet, with good results. Large piles of oro are packed around the mine, I showing no lack for the future. Another accent, and wo arrive at the Chicago mine, on tho top of the mountain overlooking Ophir and Lion Hill. The incline in this mino is 200 feet deep, the vein of ore eighteen feet wide, and the average value of the ore $120 per ton. Fifteen men are employed em-ployed on it, with D. H. Potts superintendent. superin-tendent. Above the Chicago mine is located the Hidden Treasure, said to be very rich. This 1 did not visit. A steep descent, and another sharp ascent, and we are landed at the Kearsarge or Ira mine. Tbe incline ia in 350 feet passing through an immense body of rich ore. Specimens from this mine have reached reach-ed as high as 16,000 in silver, and 10 in gold. Twenty men are crn-riloycd crn-riloycd under the direction of Mr. Me-Rae. Me-Rae. The crevice is 14 feet wide. At the end of the incline an immense pocket of ore was being taken out This I measured across and found the hole 30 feet wide, and quite as deep ; but no signs of running out. Ore on top, ore below, ore on the side, ore everywhere. I learned that the mine was bought originally for $I5,0w; double that amount has been taken out of one pocket alone, and pleDty yet in sight. The Kearsarge rank? among the most valuable mines in Utah, and II. S. Jacobs & Co., have got a good thing. About hundred feet below the Kearsarge is the McCail mine. The evening I reached the Kcarare they hadju.-t struck a very valuable 'body of: ore in that mine. Friend McCail was very facetious and funny, aL-o proud ol his luck. In fuil view of the Keararge arctbe Mono and Mountain Chict, both of which are doing spiendidiy ; in fact, from all I could learn, everybody wa.s doing well, and had brieht prospects before them. Xo one who is at all familiar with the anxiety and hard ' work in mining can envy the gains of " ye honest miner " It seems to m( that they earn all they get, and more than they get. Some men are lucky and "strike it rich;" some return wisei and sadder men. It takes brains and muscle to mine ; hence all are not successful. suc-cessful. I found the miners and superintendents superintend-ents verj' accommodating and pleasant; in fact tbe canyon is quiet and orderly. One or two rum holes are being built, but generally the men are too busy to patronize. It is a disagreeable sight to sec men do as the old parson said, "earn their money like horses and spend it like a?ses." The mines before be-fore enumerated are not by any means the only ones in the canyon; there are hundreds of locations and many very rich mines which I did not see; some other time wo may revert to them again. I found the Herald in all the superintendents' su-perintendents' offices I visited, and was glad to find that its independent tone on mining matters was endorsed. Cm ABA OSCCBA. |
