Show E the B and H mines a and nd mill MI 11 bear gulch montana I 1 the B H group of mines min i es are located at the head of bear gulch fourteen miles from the town of twin bridges a station on the branch line of the northern pacific railway the branch railway extends from the main line at whitehall montana and runs to alder montana making a round trip every day and making connections with he daily mail whitehall is thirty miles rom butte montana the mines are located fourteen miles rom the twin bridges station a daily stage connecting with the train and the mines in he gulch the B H property is four and one alf miles from the mouth of bear gulch ila id are situate at an elevation of about jhoo feet they are adjacent to the florida engineer in charge of B I 1 H 1 mines k by H F giant gold mining company and the lake shore gold mining company properties each of which are equipped with reduction plants and are producing bullion and concentrates extent of property the property consists of ten patented quartz lode mining claims with three patented mill sites also four loda R V vp X ia r I 1 A tunnel entrance and surface tram B H mine mining claims and an tunnel site 1500 feet wide by feet long altogether comprising an area of acres of mineral bearing ground the owners are N J die bie enberg and W I 1 higgins of deer lodge montana history of the camp As far as can at present be learned the camp was entered and first explored prior to the year 1870 at which time a smelter was built in dear bear gulch to treat the local ores ones but was destroyed by forest fires somewhere I 1 in n the year 1871 owing to lack of railroads which were far distant at that time the camp remained dormant until about 1890 when the northern pacific railway company came through and established a station at whitehall about thirty miles from the mines this made it possible to 7 JM Z A W il t ka r P ore bin near mouth of tunnel B H mine resume shipments and work was again ba gun and shipments made to the east helena smelter the charge during these years consisted of 1350 per ton hauling from mines to White whitehall ball with a freight and treatment charge of 1350 per ton making the total freight and treatment charge of about 27 per ton in this district and in the immediate vicinity of bear gulch are coal canyon georg georgia a gulch and goodrich gulch which to gether with bear are given credit with a production of several million dollars some of the smelter returns are still available showing the values of the ores shipped during past periods and giving very dign gold gola values several attempts were made to treat th tha large tonnages ton nages of low grade ore remaining in the mines and on the dumps by means of ar rastas stamp mills etc but most of them were unsuccessful in recovering the values owing to the fact that the ores were not amenable to these processes in point of fact much of the values owing to the sulphides sulp hides in the ore going off with the iron into the residue one stamp mill that added wilbery tables is reputed to have been very successful in the treatment of the ores saving 35 per cent by amalgamation and about 90 per cent of the balance in the form of concentrates the ores are now successfully treated by concentration close sizing for each table being the rule A X 4 ari 10 lar ff SL WIT B H mill and lower terminal of surface tramway making a saving of more than 90 per cent of the total values in the ore the product or concentrates running 85 in gold 11 ounces silver 27 per cent lead and 36 per cent iron there are several thousands of feet of development work on the claims which contains nine known veins traversing the prop erty each one of which may be traced along its outcrop for more than feet there therb is also a porphyry dyke feet wide and 1500 feet in length containing gold values on the surface of about per ton this dyke has been explored only by means of surface holes and open cuts but wherever opened shows good values and the underground development work now being carried on has as its objective point the cutting of this deposit at depth the main crosscut tunnel has penetrated the mountain over feet and has goo feet further to be run before the of the dyke may be expected to be reached formation and geology consists of the formation generally but as far granite porphyry and gneiss as the B H property is concerned all are in the the workings so far penetrated the granite belt is granite and porphyry in length and from from ten to eleven miles three to four miles wide with intrusions or porphyry at intervals along its strike the porphyry dykes usually show considerable on the surface the values being fairly uniform the granite strikes northeast and southwest and the vein system in a general easterly runs runs or cuts through and westerly course the veins dip generally into the mountain at an angle of 38 degrees the general tendency being to flatten somewhat as work has progressed into the hill the ore bearing material or vein filling is quartz porphyry and altered granite carrying gold silver lead iron and copper the principal values being in gold the width of the veins encountered in the main crosscut tunnel are seven one hundred twenty six and one hundred and five feet respectively mine development the mine is developed by means of a crosscut tunnel seven feet wide by seven feet high being made large for the purpose of transporting the ores by electric motor pour four of the eight veins have been en countered and drifted upon while on the vein known as no 6 which is one hundred feet wide a has been sunk to a depth of feet and levels put out the shipping ore from this part of the averages 4 ounces gold 12 ounces silver 33 per cent lead and 18 per cent iron while the milling ore averages gold 3 ounces silver 2 per cent lead and about 4 per cent iron on the no 7 vein very little work has been done this vein is twin twenty ty six feet wide and gives an average milling value of 0 around per ton in gold on the no 8 vein which was intersected intersect ea feet from the portal and which has been drifted on both easterly and westerly a number of feet of work has been done each of the drifts being run on the the level extending through the a distance of feet through ore of a commercial value of around while on oil the drifts the values remain about the same various seams of heavy iron were met in course of this development which carried exceptional good values in gold but not included in the estimate of per ton this main crosscut tunnel will babb further carried along until it reaches the porphyry dyke which is the objective point of development this it is expected will be reached in another feet while the property is equipped with a m milling illing plant of about tons daily capacity no attempt has been made to slope S ope at fa Y 01 7 L T L mr C 0 22 tunnel site for the proposed 2300 booi deep tunnel any of the ores thus far exposed in the mine all ores taken out so far have been that which has been broken in the course of development and which is being extensively done raises drifts and dinzes on the ore providing sufficient tonnage to supply the needs of the mill and the experiments conducted with the ores of the various veins equipment of property the equipment of this P property has par bially kept pace with development yet there are many needs such as electric power electric mine fans and larger milling plant however when all is said and done t the h e mine and mi mill 1 are as well equipped with tools tool s 0 of f all descriptions such as power j drills cars two air hoists and a mill which for simplicity and economy in handling aliel abe g ores would appear to have few equals the compressor plant wh which ich furnishes the air for the mine is located in the in binl and is capable of delivering cubic feet of air per minute to the mine for jack ham mers and air hoists connecting the mine with the mill is a gravity tram capable of delivering 1200 tons daily to the mill the mill machinery con lists or of 9 in blake type rock crusher with a bin below capable of storing tons of crushed ore one plunger feeder one sei met rolls two 6 foot huntington mills four hydraulic dr classifiers and four wilfley tables with duplex sand pump the mill at present time being run by a steam engine of horsepower furnished wan steam from two tubular horizontal boilers of a rated capacity of horsepower and being steamed by means of cordwood cut locally around the plant mine production no attempt has been made by the owners to push the point of production as it is their great desire to cut the different veins and carry the crosscut on back to the porphyry dyke and when this is done to extend their levels open their and handle the ores res in a maner and in quantities befitting the ahe condition of the mine this method was considered to be cheaper and more advantageous in the end and would advance the real developments more rapidly and at the same time afford an opportunity to experiment with the ores from the several veins encountered thereby enabling them to ascertain how the ores from the different veins would concentrate As yet there is no great difference ference if in the ores the values in which are saved to a high percentage in the pres ent mill so far the mixed ores from the mine have made a concentrate of approximately 80 in gold 11 ounces silver 26 per cent lead 37 per cent iron 6 per cent silica 30 per cent sulphur and 2 per cent zinc ore dressing after crushing the ore goes automatically to the rolls thence to the first huntington Hunting tou mill where it is ground to one and one half millimetre milli metre thence to classifier no 1 the oversize going to the no 1 or roughing table the balance of the product going on through the other classifier and in turn to the tables the oversize from the first three tab tables es goes below to the pump which returns it to no 2 huntington to bb reground to one millimetre milli metre size thence back to the tables and finally to the slime tank which delivers to a slime table by this method the ores from the different veins encountered in the crosscut have been treated with a saving in excess of 90 per cent showing that the method so far adopted is the correct one for the successful treatment of the ores future plans at the present time the entire plant is run by steam wood costing 5 per cord this will shortly be changed when electrical power will be used contracts already having been negotiated with the montana power company to supply power the pole line will be completed by spring and the work of enlarging the mill will be carried out at the same time this will not entail a large expenditure for alteration of mill building as when it was built arrangements were made for these additions and it is expected by next spring that the mill will have a capacity of more than tons per day it is further planned to commence on a deep tunnel to tap several other veins that have been partially developed and which at the present time are below the portal of the main crosscut tunnel this tunnel will cut four known veins and will extend 2300 feet before reaching the portal of tunnel above by means of this tunnel it is expected to develop the ore bodies at a further depth of feet and connections made with the present mine working particularly with the in vein no 6 and with the porphyry dyke this will give a working back on the dyke of over two two thousand feet ample water is at hand for a plant sufficient for a mill many times the size of the one now in operation in fact there Is enough water for a mill of 2500 tons which capacity it is later expected will be installed when developments have reached a little farther stage with the extensive development work now going on and the satisfactory results being obtained in the shape of permanency of the ore bodies at depth together with values being maintained this property will undoubtedly prove a large producer many hundreds of thousands of tons of milling ore now being available and ready for extraction and the cutting of the porphyry dyke will undoubtedly add an enormous ton tonnage hage to that already developed |