Show THE T H E TIP TIPTOP TOP MINE by HENRY JONES the tip top mine of oneota oneata mining district is now being brought to a productive stage by C M X thorndyke mining engineer oneota oneata district is situated in mineral and esmeralda ismeralda Bs meralda counties in the extreme western part of nevada this section has been an old landmark of that state for the reason that it lies on the trend of a famous and largely productive mineral zone the bearing of this great zone is northwesterly and southeasterly and it lies some eight miles northerly of white mountain better known as montgomery peak of which the rock structure is granite the boundary line of the states of california and nevada is near this peak and the white mountain range in which this A 0 A e Z 41 AN a IN the upper tunnel peak is located runs southerly to owens lake in california eight miles to the north of montgomery peak are the mountains of the old reliable Cande candelaria larla mining district in this district many notable mines have been discovered c and brought to a dividend stage and other paying mines lie on the trend of this famous mineral zone A better understanding der standing of this promising oneota oneata district can be obtained by viewing the geological map of the state of nevada south of the parallel by T el spurr in 1904 and 1905 at the time golda felds boom was losing interest and the boomers salt lake city realized the necessity of that noted camp discoveries they sent prospectors 0 of f finding new broadcast over the western portion of nevada and eastern california about this time the tip top mine and other claims were located a great many amongst the later were the buena vista and browneyes Brow groups worthy of mention in view of these locations the town of gold hit sprung up and it was not long before the entire county for miles around was taken up by prospectors on the N C R R a narrow gauge railroad only five miles distant there was started the town of buena vista as a shipping point from which the miners could get their supplies this station is ds now the place from where the tip top is shipping its ores to the market several groups of claims were put into companies and incorporated and the tip top was placed on the market with 1000 shares the par value of which was 1 00 per share the general development on these properties at this time would indicate that the object of the promoters was not to do legitimate mining but for the manipulation of their stock lessees lessels on the browney group cross cut to the pay rock and extracted some ore which they packed on the backs backa of burros to buena vista and shipped to So iS odaville daville nevada where the shipment consisting of about 40 tons was run in a pan amalgams tion mill and per ton was received for the ore at this stage the lease had expired and the company would not renew but continued their operations as the sale of their stock would permit soon however the treasury had no more funds and due to the inexperienced men in charge the company ost lost interest and I 1 might say here that they tried to find the value of the ore by panning for free gold but as this is an ideal cyaniding cyan iding gore ore the ratio of value being 10 oz silver to 10 10 oz of gold their efforts were futile so that now ther the only work done is the annual assessment these conditions were general in the entire district the T tip ip top mine is the most developed of the properties and its workings are some 1000 feet of drifts cross cuts and a approximately 1100 tons of ore was shipped from the upper tunnel starting from the entrance and 50 feet inward to toward ward the face of the drift mr thorndyke Thom dyke estimates that it required about 60 days to accomplish this result with the labor of five miners part of the official I 1 records of the western ore purchasing company of hazen nevada show how that tons shipped resulted in a showing of 25 2500 ad per ton as an average netting a gross value of cost to ship the ore 7 leaving tt it a revenue of net let A raise from the lower tunnel 40 to the UPP upper r level a distance of 0 f feet dis discko clos a an important feature in this freak min n in that the ore shoot has increased ased 4 f f in width and 25 per cent in values and aad looks from present indications 2 as if it would continue in this manner s seve several ra hundred feet deeper since tills this raise wa completed there is now a defined 0 ore re body bod blocked out on three sides that will ill av from 2500 to 30 00 per ton the dimensions demen of the block of ore are x x 20 and it will assay better than ahu 2000 per ton making its contents worth imal extraction at a very con serva tive estimate will save from go 90 to 94 per cent which will give the handsome returns of over included in the above block of ore there is 8 feet which la sj 44 z M t 4 71 T A showing upper and lower tunnels will assay 32 90 per ton the big 00 dyke or lens is feet wide and the nev nel company sunk a 20 foot shaft on the fad wall side from surface and drifted over ID to ledge matter 4 feet and got values valls 0 10 per ton at the time of writing ge geo 0 A M 1 alte jl of san francisco the trent en sin gine erill the JO jos abul company of reno nevada and j I hendy iron works company of san fa i j cisco have submitted bids for tte the co j st ruction of a 50 ton mill the contract fa 0 w which will probably be closed before f I 1 leaned ie last year article appears late log IDD that an offer of cash on a ff bodd and an dollar basis was made for a lease to by for two years and was refused present management geology the mhd rock structure of the oneota oneata district is very characteristic of nevada and eastern california and is composed of the recent tertiary lava and ande sites nature by a long period of erosion has removed the above rocks this exposing the older ande sites and di orites of a much older age probably in triassic or cretaceous time the ore is found in large masses in a dense rhyolite the masses of quartz can be traced for two miles northerly and southerly and here and there with lateral swells climate the mines of this camp are between and feet altitude the summers are cool and there is a heavy snow fall in the winter lasting from november to march fuel and water there is considerable fuel for domestic and power use the water supply is very generous for domestic and mill purposes how this mine was acquired by mr C M thorndyke Thorn dye is a matter of some speculation and far sightedness sight edness of a mining engineer he was living at bishop california and was making an examination of a mine in that district and he overheard a miner speak of the tip top mine and of its great possibilities and that if it was handled right it would be a large producer it was a current belief that there were large bodies of ore running in value from to 5 so mr thorndyke decided to investigate for himself unbeknown to any one he went and stayed two days on the claims calms and sampled it thoroughly he brought his samples back to bishop and assayed them and not one of them went less than 20 and some as high as 27 not being satisfied with these results he returned the second and third time and in each case the results were the same he then surveyed the mine to ascertain the tonnage in the mean time he interested a merchant of laws california in putting up some money to continue his bis investigation and later went to goldfield nevada on july 1911 and secured an option and lease and bond by placing a cash payment on a total purchase price of on april the ath last the final payment was made and a new company formed for shares eliares at a par value of 1 per share this new company is thuei thorndyke bley mining company with headquarters at sansome street san francisco california |