| Show A trip into the deep creek country cou n try BY H W mcfarren at 7 10 a in we left salt lake city on the alkali limited of the festers western pacific railroad bound for the deep creek country the limited is a mixed train that leaves the denver rio grande depot for elko nevada on mondays wednesdays and Fr fridays days returning the following days this day it carried in addition to a long string of freight cars an express car and two day coaches filled with min es laborers min ng engineers surveyors ian i anchors ranchers chers cattlemen and others whose busi business neEs takes them to the outposts of civilization the western pacific parallels the salt lake route to garfield beach where it branches to the right to begin beg n under the present high water conditions a twelve male trip across the lake leaving the lake the road runs west for sixty miles through a dry barren country covered with short sage brush then it debauches upon a bare alkali flat and runs we at for forty miles on a course as straight as an arrow this stretch of country southwest of the lake is the surviving remnant of the great american desert at one time this desert stretched from the wasatch mountains to the sierras and was a name to conjure with but has shrunk with each succeeding rain until now beset on one hand by the utah dry farmers and on the other by the nevada miners and townsite boomers it is only a quest queston on of a few more wet when the destiny of the great american desert will be that of poor lo 10 to become one with the dodo bird and the lost atlantic university saline land near the western edge of this desert lie the saline lands that were granted to the university of utah by the united states these lands are eight miles wide and awen ty five long and are covered with a deposit of salt having a maximum thickness of seven feet this deposit is as smooth and dazzling white as a sheet of newly fallen snow wendover the division town just beyond the alkali flat lies wendover the first division town on the western pacific and the first place of habitation beyond garfield outside of the usual station and section house while wendover is located in utah it is so close to the nevada sta stale alte line that the proprietors of the local tea shops have located their canvas covered establishments a few feet across the line and within the state of nevada to take advantage of the more reasonable license rates it is a typical nevada town mainly of tents in which the new round house looms up large an eight inch pipe line for conveying water from a point in the ATM A A 41 aa 44 ife 01 I 1 li gold hill showing woodmans woodmass Wood mans mill P photo oto by bj fard B jones pilot mot mountain awen ty three miles distant is now being completed one of the attractions of the town s a warm salt spring supposed to have medi medicinal ednal b bathing a t h I 1 n g properties wendover is the outfitting outwitting out fitting point for the deep creek mining and ranching country and a nd will be the junction pont for any branch road built into that country it is also the outfitting outwitting out fitting point for the silver island mining country consequently the future of the town is good already the in habitants are looking forward to the arrival of the moving picture show the ice cream cone man and the other necessary adjuncts of present day civil civilia lation tion it is unique in that it is the largest town within a radious of seventy five miles and yet has pending postal arrangements salt sait lake city dis miles as its postoffice post office stage line to deep creek the stage for the deep creek country leaves wendover on the mornings fol lowing the arrival of the train from salt lake city the stage road runs south with the alkali flat of the desert on the left and the famous deep creek winter range country on the right twenty two miles south of wendover is salt springs where several hundred acres are covered by shallow lakes or lagoon lago onEl fed by springs of slightly brackish water of the alkali flats of the great american desert twelve miles to the west it is in tooele thoele county utah ten miles from the nevada line and is officially known as the clifton mining minin t district the two camps of the district are gold hill and clifton their postoffice post office address being callao juab county utah care of gold hill mail box and clifton mail box 2 hn 0 ON A trout creek showing head of canyon photo by fred B bones salt grass grows there and it is a favorite place ace for cattle to graze good fishing ao ad d duck shooting are to be had sixteen miles farther on and at the mouth of deep creek canyon is ericksone Erick sons ranch the only habitation on the route the orchards and acre alfalfa fields of this ranch suggest the agricultural possibilities of these desert regions arriving at gold hill another eighteen miles making a total of fifty six lands the traveler at gold hill the principal camp of the deep creek mining country the town of deep creek with postoffice post office the name of which is ibapah lies fifteen miles farther on but is the center of a ranching community only there is no regular conveyance to it from gold hill this country can also be reached by going to ajax station on the sait lake route twenty miles south of tooele thoele and staging on the old overland road for a distance of miles past fish springs the utah mine and callao to a point six miles south of gold hill from this point the stage continues ten miles farther to deep creek this is the mail route of the locality but as it requires two days and one night of continuous staging it is preferable to go by way of wendover from deep creek the overland road continues through ely to the coast it is a favorable route for transcontinental automobilists the deep creek country the deep creek mining county proper extends from the overland road sixteen miles to the north and from the west edge it is a typical nevada country one of rollag hills and mountains over which a wagon can be hauled almost anywhere washes covered with deep debris in which the water brush of the desert grows indicate that water can be obtained at a shallow depth below the surface the beach line of lake bonneville passes through the district showing the altitude to be about jeet feet the days are warm very warm in the suii sun but in the evening comes the gentle breezes and the coolness peculiar to desert places at night in this clear dry atmosphere the stars come very near and speak to each man according to his own thoughts so that one no longer wonders why men will not leave the desert but feels how the memory of these matchless n nights aa ats which fill one with peace a and I 1 d forgetfulness must ever draw them back lime and quartzite the sedimentary formations are the usual lime and quartzite the larger part being lime through these the granite has raised and exposed itself subsequently porphyry dykes intruded both the sedi sedimentary nien formations and the granite the porphyry appears to have played the most important part in the mineralizing mineral izing of the district the veins are found mainly in the contacts and in the granite these are of spar or quartz sometimes of both but usually of spar some of the veins are of porphyry that has been mineralized and replaced meta somatically they carry gold copper and lead vens of lead predominate these carry some copper there are a large number of copper veins in some of which lead is found there are also many gold veins in which the gold is free without sulphides sulp hides and sometimes as coarse as a pea these gold veins all show copper indications though not to an extent that would indicate the probability of the vein changing from one of gold ore to one of copper the copper and lead veins all carry cany highly important gold values in many of the veins the gold content is equal to one third of the total value of the ore As to whether or not these high gold values are due to the superficial enrichment peculiar to gold veins and consequently confined to the upper parts of 71 ay t alm cabins at trout B creek me y ers camp chojo afred the veins deep prospecting alone will tell but in view of the close lying gold veins there is reason for believing that good gold values will be found at depth another interesting fact is that very few veins have been found within the lime in contrast to the usual rule though contacts with lime show good veins wide veins of silver lead ore are found in the granite the veins vary in width up to seventy five feet across attention has recently been directed to wide bodies of porphyry carrying copper and gold one group is now under bond to a prominent mining and smelting smelling sm elting company it is said that this deposit assays essays above I 1 per cent copper and in gold to an amount equal to half the value of the copper work so far has not penetrated beyond the leached beached and oxidized surface other deposits now under location are reported to show copper stains and assay from 80 cents to 5 in gold the western utan in mentioning a few of the characteristic mines of district the property of the western utah mining company which has been under the direction of capt duncan macvichie heads the list as the first mine of the district this property occupies gold I fill ifill which visitors are unanimous in pronouncing the greatest mineralized erali zed hill that they have ever seen it is a landmark to ta the prospector that will draw him like a magnet one is forcibly reminded of murphy murphy who used to summarize the mineralogical and geological conditions of his group of mountain scenery to the prospective investors by a wave of the hand and the laconic assertion all metal gentlemen all metal the western utah has opened its ore bodies feet below the apex but pending jn the installation of its compressor has confined work to the easier ground on the and foot level here is a body of lead ore the main body of which carries 10 to 15 per cent of lead in this are streaks of high grade ore six to ten feet in width the last sample from the face of the workings is indicative of the value of this higher grade ore this sample gave gold ounces silver and per cent lead A body of copper ore the vein of which ch is separated about feet from the lead vein has been blocked out that is estimated to contain tons of 5 to 6 per cent copper additional to this are the gold values this ore is of a good fluxing flexing quality the ore is in porphyry along a contact with lime and will vary in width in both veins up to ninety feet the woodman mine the woodman property of the woodman mining company ves one half mile west of the western utah it is a vein of A needle spar between lime and granite four to thirty feet wide carrying from 5 to 50 in gold that is of a free milling nature it has been opened ul up to a depth of feet and laterally for feet this property produced previous to 1895 when the last milling was done As ore of a less value than 15 per ton could not be extracted at a profit the mine still contains large bodies of low grade ore gardner and claims south of the western utah copper com banys property on gold hill and adjoining is the gardner and domain of from fifty to sixty claims owned by J P gardner the well known and popular clothier of salt lake and paul the indefatigable miner and prospector these claims nearly all adjoin and cover the extensions of the gold hill veins and ledges for a distance of nearly three miles and a half and for a width from half to one mile half of the claims at least are patented annual assessment work has been yearly done on the others and there are a dozen different places from which shipments of good ore can be regularly made the deposits are numerous and the ore carries gold silver copper and lead combined or in different composition according to locality and the character of the vein on the southern end of the group there is a wonderful showing of copper equaled only by the great copper deposits of bingham and ely at this point the ledge is feet wide on the surface as shown by crosscutting cross cutting the ore going from 05 to 10 per cent copper with a probable average of two per cent with several dollars in gold to the ton gardner and have been interested in the gold hill section of the deep creek region for the past fifteen or sixteen years they hav gradually acquired their splendid holdings and have expended thousands of dollars in development work they have made mines which in any other region would be looked upon as bonanzas their property is worth millions so to speak and this fact is not being overlooked over looked by bg mining operators on the lookout look out for another butte bingham or tintic gintic the boston utah the boston utah mining company is developing ve a silver lead vein on a contact between lime and porphyry the mineralized part is porphyry containing some spar and is about seventy five feet wide this vein has been demonstrated by the usual shafts and cuts for feet the deepest shaft being feet the value occurs as a hard carbonate and galena in a varying percentage with an additional average of 3 in gold and I 1 per cent in copper to the miner who notes the many and m massive outcrops of veins quartzite strata and porphyry dykes blackened and highly charged with iron the great metamorphism aud and the extensive alteration of the formations it is a ll likely kely place for ore deposits of a healthy outdoor type where mere ho he has opened the surface he has been reasonably successful and encouraged that he believes in the district ts is shown by the large area covered by the located and patented claims and by his patience in holding on to them while waiting for the factor which should make the district the railroad with a mile wagon haul only the richest ore could be shipped today with a rahe rate of 20 per ton to salt halt lake city by wagon and rail it is still good policy to await the railroad it is possible that a branch road will be built into the district from wendover as it will be an easy country to build over visiting engineers have all acknowledged that the natural and developed indications are unsurpassed but have raised doubts with the much mooted question will it go down without going into tiresome details it may be said that if it does not go down for a reasonable depth those geologists who have examined the district will feel like taking down their S shingle hingle on the principle that all signs fail in dry weather and that the weather is against them |
