| Show operations IN MORMON BASIN favorable conditions in the rainbow and humboldt mines special correspondence baker city ore april 5 one of the most prominent mines of recent origin in eastern oregon is the rain bow situated in the pedro mountains by wagon road thir ty eight miles southeast of baker city it is owned by the commercial mining company with head office offic eIn in portland locally the district is known as mormon basin the vein or dyke in the rain bow is a contact between granite and lime an adit cuts it feet below the apex from an inc ined shaft dropped from the adit level three other levels are driven on the vein opening it for a total distance of 1000 feet where the vein is crosscut cross cut by the adit it is feet wide for the most part it is a basalt dyke striking 50 degrees north and dipping northwesterly 60 degrees on the limestone lime stone foot wall there is a intrusion on both side into bodies of quartz which carry gold from to several hundred dollars per ton with an average val value ue of 23 these ore bodies are from six to forty feet wide the remainder of the basaltic vein filling back to the hanging wall of hornblende granite varies from to feet in width and averages in gold about 3 per ton further exploration now in progress in this mine is with a view to developing additional tonnage of high grade ore and determining the commercial possibilities of the lower grades for the entire distance across from lime to granite in depth below the adit the three levels mentioned are respectively 42 and feet drifting has been done both ways on all levels except the fourth and on that only easter easterly y the work up to the present has put in sight tons of ore that will average 23 per ton no ore is now being removed from the mine except from the workings and this amply covers tho the cost two hundred thousand dollars have been taken from this mine to date the rain bow holdings cover acres of mineral ground and acres of timber the property is equipped with a 39 19 stamp mill and wilfley tables from the mine to the mill the ore is conveyed by aerial tram a distance of half a mile machine adril s are for the first time being installed and preparations are on for the operation of this mine on a larger scale when the ox bow power plant on snake river is completed whence electrical energy will be brought in forty miles H C wilmot is general manager of the rain bow and W E king managing director the humboldt mine on the same dyke system and with geological conditions similar another property a mile west of the rain dow bow is rap idly gaining prominence this is the hum boldt owned by the humboldt gold M mines ines company the officers are fred R mellis pres W S bowers vice pres jas A howard see sec J J heilner treas and john arthur mgr all of baker city these with albert Felden helmer and newton bissinger of portland constitute the board of directors about eighteen months ago this property was acquired as virgin ground by the present owners the development consists of a foot vertical shaft and drifts cross cuts and raises aggregating feet ore bodies have been proven in these corli workings covering areas from seventy to feet long and to td the extent of forty feet in width they occur in shoots or lenses the miling aing ore averages 9 per ton on principally gold on the lower level it shows base with higher values lead zinc antimony and a little tellurium appear in the baser product several shipments of the base ore gave returns of from to 1250 per ton equipment at the humboldt comprises a modern hoist and sinking plant a 10 stamp allis chalmers mill and six johnson cofi concentrators centra tors of the milling ore re 65 per cent of the assay value of the heads is saved by amalgamation the concentrates run about 80 a ton and bring the total savings up to 93 per cent the mill was run for only a short time last fall when a fuel famine made it necessary to close down during an unusually severe winter forty thousand dollars were produced during the brief operation of the ml mill 6 the humboldt people are looking forward also to the introduction of power from the ox bow and in anticipation they are preparing how to sink to the foot level and block out an immense tonnage of ore and at the same time double their milling capacity THOS C BURKE |
