Show big bl g cottonwood district di ct from the mouth of big cottonwood canyon to the headwaters of the stream near the great summer resort of brighton and up its numerous branches to the very summits of the high mountain ranges the is not only extensive and heavy but the character of ores abounding is so versatile that it includes gold silver lead anic and copper and these cover an are ahei so great that much of it has never yet been visited by even the most persistent prospector and nd mining man the section above described is part anil anft parcel 0 of f salt lake county in the very heart of utah it is a rough and rugged country and the canyon is a thoroughfare that is extensively used in going up and down this beautiful and natural avenue one hardly enters the mouth of the canyon before evidences of are to be seen prospect holes abound on eith either erhand hand and a few miles up the old maxfield mine boldly confronts the traveler a property that has a pro production record of a million or more and which is still being operated from the maxfield up mining had been more active in the days gone by and old producers line the canyon sides way up to the utah coalition along the route being the old evergreen now in course of extensive and systematic development the south fork section about a mile above argenta which for years boasted of post office facilities ano and which was headquarters for many mining men the south fork of the main canyon comes in from the south athe ahe south forr fork has been a history maker in the annals of the mining industry in utah for more than 1 half a century for it was here that the greatest of activity prevailed many ciany years ago when mining in utah was but in its infancy and it was from the mines of south fork that many thousands some say millions were produced in the precious and change in conditions however which per 3 bitted a return to silver lead mining has rehabilitated the south fork to a a certain S extent and now for the first time within I 1 a quarter of a century activity in mining prevails in that section where the rugged and towering peaks permit of obtaining pro found depths in mining operations up and down the south frk fork almost from the point where it debouches bouches de into the main canyon up to the very summit of alta divide mining properties are to be found on either hand some of the workings are to be found almost on a level with the stream others are to be seen at dizzy heights in the crags and pinnacles up in the clouds clour 2 to reach which one must have the sure foot ing of the deer the steady balance of the eagle some of the old producers of south fork have almost been forgotten so long ago were they worked and operated some ot them have been relocated located re and merged into new corporations others have changed hands by purchase and have been given new names but we remember such names as the phoenix the reed and goodspeed and the old carbonate the reed and goodspeed is now owned and is being operated by the kennebec company the old can bonate with over a million in production to its credit is being worked by the carbonate mining company while other old timers have taken a new hold upon life and their I 1 CIA 74 X X 1 7 the portal of the howell tunnel photo C higgins baser metals long before the discovery of other camps and districts which of late years have been so prominent in inthe the public eye before the panic of 73 and before the decline in lead and silver quotations led to a closing down of its mines and scattered their owners to sections where gold and gold only existed in paying quantities A owners have resumed work in their develops develop ment and operation some of the younger fry many of the old time operators in the fork have answered the last call but a aj newer generation has taken hold where jhb pioneers left off this fresh blood has not only undertaken the resurrection of old and t ILI t CO C v R izo jo za 0 i 1 4 4 04 co V 0 A I 1 0 k ra 4 V al c 0 k 0 1 0 Y C X P H child co courtes W AI showing south fork section of big cottonwood mining district practically abandoned mines but has also made many new discoveries including the baby mckee and the jones mines both were productive sixteen or eighteen years yeara ago after which a period of idleness ensued but the true merit of such promising propositions could not long be overlooked and now the cardiff the successor of the jones mine is a regular producer of high grade ore while the howell mining corn com pany w which ich inherited the baby mckee less than three years ago has since been a profitable producer and also has fine bodies ot ore blocked out in its mine workings the rexall is a product of the latter vintage so to speak and has done a large amount ok of work in the development of its promising property below the howell is the property of the american con copper silver mining company the american has been productive duc tive during the past few years and its property is well equipped for profitable operation in the future still further down the canyon is the property of the big cottonwood consolidated mining company whose extensive holdings border on the canyon stream and extends up and over the towering crest of reeds and kessler s peaks and taking on its course the extension of tile the old carbonate vein and embracing within its boundary lines the great quart zite lime contact for which that section is so justly noted across the canyon from the big cottonwood consolidated is the property of the east carbonate which it is believed carries with it the extension ot of the cardiff and ke kennebec veins just above and lying between the east carbonate and the kennebec is the tar baby a lusty youngster who glories in its surroundings and who pins its faith to the fact that its territory is traversed by such large fissures f and veins which in neighboring properties have been so productive in the past adjoining the big cottonwood on the north is the property of tile the reeds peak mining company which is now in in course cour se of development then there is the bachelor and a galaxy of promising prospects and bonanzas in embryo most of which are receiving attention at the present time A few years ago one could secure desirable ground almost anywhere in the south fork section now however it would be difficult to find an open fraction so great has been the demand of late for property in this favored locality and the tide that is s now setting in in the south fork sull still lacks va a great deal from reaching high mark geology of south fork the following description of tile the geology of the south fork of big cottonwood canyon was prepared for the mining alining review by henry barney a an n experienced mining made exhaustive study of man mai I 1 who has an tile the formation is as it exists in that section mr barney says ginning beginning Bt at the mouth th of south fork and going almost due south up the canyons canyon one will see to the east an abrupt ridge caused by an upheaval benching the rocks up and leaving them tilted and exposed and standing up like huge marble stairs in this terrific upheaval it is very apparent that resistance to the west was too great consequently a huge normal fault which extends the entire length of south fork and through the ridge and down superior gulch into little cottonwood canyon this uplift exposes to view the edges of a series of sedimentary or stratified rocks which are slightly antic lined the axis of which is the east and west dividing ridge between the head of south fork and little cottonwood and ni near ar the imp tarap dyke large bedded deposits of ore will be found throughout the above series there are numerous igne ous intrusions and cross fissures which are usually very productive especially where they intersect the trap dike take for instance the old toledo cross fissure which produced upwards of a million dollars in the early days of alta the workings of which are in and near the trap dike the above series of rock are easily traced from the columbus con in alta through the columbus extension rexall cardiff kennebec Kenn ebee tar baby east carbonate and the bramberg brothers contention group ot of fled fied rock at right angles and visible for two thousand feet it is on this dike that the tar baby company is is running its tunnel and there is not much doubt but that the days of the old toledo flagstaff and kennebec will be repeated to the west of this great fault erosion has played a very active part great bodies of the upper limes have been carried away leaving bare the underlying quart and this is found to be so at the howell group and just north at the bramberg brothers property the limes have been eroded and again just north there is a slight lateral fault which fault assisted by erosions ero is cespon 4 10 ak at V I 1 JI 7 panoramic view of the range on which are located the carbonate big cottonwood consolidated american consolidated and reeds peak mines photo by will C higgins t canyon the trend being north and south and pitching about 30 degrees to the east these rocks consist at the base of exposure of quartzite about feet then comes about feet of basaltic rock andesite on top of which there is feet of conglomerate feet ot of quartzite fifty feet of hornblende and feet of lime rock it is in the above described rock that the columbus consolidated ore bodies are found also the columbus extension the ores of those properties form in the quartzite with the trap rock as the hanging wall the old flagstaff and kennebec ores are also found in the upper limes of these series the ores of the cardiff are found in the lower quartzite west of the andesite this ore is found in a fault fissure caused by the benching up movement the ore from all appearances having been dragged into the fissure at the time the faulting occurred showing conclusively that there must have been a strong bedded deposit broken at the time of faulting at the cardiff the company has followed in its upper tunnel the strike of the main fault line for 1400 feet where it shows plainly that the ledges of the lower quart have been brought up in contact with the edges of the upper limes which have hung back from the resistance si to the west the writer has no doubt but that in the sedimentary rocks claims this group of claims hold the key to a drain tunnel site along the strike of this great and long neglected mineral zone the general conditions at the tar baby are ideal for large ore bodies having a fifty foot porphyry dike cutting the strati sible for the exposure of the old carbonate ore body from which so much ore was shipped in the early days of the cotton woods the carbonate ore bodies are bedded deposits in the lime near the quartzite lime contact |