Show copper mining in death valley BY G CHESTER BROWN M E san francisco jan 24 death valley that region that has been so interesting to the miner and the prospector extends from the northerly portion of san bernardino california through the greater portion of inyo county and has a maximum width of twenty miles it is a sandy depression void of all vegetation surrounded by mountains and a land without water it is indeed a desolate waste and one is more apt to be affected by the feeling of solitude than by the intense heat some places are said to be feet below sea level any water that may be found in this sink is either alkali or contains arsenic to such an extent that it is poisonous and tho bones of many animals are found around these springs during the months from december to may snow may fall at any time and it is extremely cold the summer season begins in may and one must begin to seek a b A e Our Mascot the dump and whim reliable water supply during this season cloudbursts occur frequently and large gullies called washes are formed some of which have a depth of fifty feet it is not uncommon to see a body of water one quarter of a mile wide and six feet deep coming down from the surrounding hills the country rock consists of eruptive formations such as aa granite rhyolite phonolite and also fine schist quartz and a granite and quartz porphyry the belts of slate that are found do not seem to have any influence on the ore bodies lime which is generally associated with copper is not prominent and does not form in large deposits so that some mining men contend that copper mining will not pay on the desert the copper property under my charge was located in 1906 by a laborer who was working on the tonopah and tidewater raIl railroad Toad during the construction of this road and was only three miles from the same the formation consisted of gran ite the ore body being malachite and co carrying good values in gold as well as the copper the lead was very small having an average width of twelve inches but contained values of 15 copper and 60 per ton in gold the dip was only 15 degrees and the deposit had all the characteristics of the so called blanket veins the cropping on the surface could only be traced for a distance of feet the locators had run a tunnel on the vein for a distance of forty feet when they sold the prospect and the buyer decided to have the tunnel continued at first a windless attached to a small ore car was used for hoisting this was soon replaced by a horse whim which gave good results at a distance of sixty feet from the mouth of the tunnel a fault was encountered which had a width apparently of forty feet yet after passing through the same into the country rock the vein was not ex posed after trying every conceivable way to find the lode but without success I 1 concluded that this was the end of the ore shoot and started to take out the ore that was in sight As I 1 felt from the first that the fhe mine would not pay to operate I 1 endeavored deavo red to keep down the expenses as much as possible and so used one horse for all the work and it certainly kept him busy for besides hoisting rock from the tunnel he had to haul gallons of water per day from the railroad haul provisions and also the ore from the dump to the railroad the ore was hand sorted and the best grade sacked the balance being dumped for future use the best grade ran from 5 copper to 15 and 25 to 60 in gold the rock had to be hauled from the dump to the campsite camp site a distance of one quarter of a mile by means of a sleigh which held six sacks at a time at the campsite camp site it was loaded on a wagon capable of holding 1500 pounds the water we used was hauled by the railroad 0 distance El of forty five miles and delivered into a gallon galvanized tank at the camp the water was put into two 50 gallon whiskey barrels and during the summer a cool drink of water was at a premium south african water bags were used in an attempt to cool the water in the months of july and august the winds were very violent and my tents were blown down cloudbursts and electrical storms were of daily occurrence one is safe in stating that the ore bodies in this region are not permanent but occur in bunches which is characteristic of desert mines it would pay any one to visit death valley and as the ithe tonopah and tidewater railroad passes through a portion of this territory you can get some idea of the country f from rom such a trip |