Show revival of silver mining at cherry creek nevada BY guo GEO H RYAN one of the oldest silver camps in the state of nevada cherry creek white pine county is beginning to respond to the present price of silver thereby proving that its old mines are far from being exhausted and that the men who look to the green fields far away and follow sensational strikes in the hope of making a stake are perhaps overlooking some good things by not working the old mines which have proven beyond a doubt the existence of ore in a district some of the old camps contain very promising possibilities if worked under present day methods and judging from what express route soon after the egan district was organized embracing all the range to the north for about eight miles in 1872 the teacup claim was located near the summit of the range about three miles west of the present town of cherry creek and in the fall of that year the cherry creek district was organized taking part of the north end of egan and running about six miles north from cherry creek canyon As the greatest number of workable deposits were found in the cherry creek district it soon outstripped egan and at about 1880 the town contained people and yon near the present site of the north mountain milling companas Comp anys mill are the crumbling remains of the first stamp mill built in the state this was erected to treat the ores from the gilligan vein judging by the tailing pile and scoped area this old mill must have treated a considerable tonnage in the cherry creek district three mills were built along the north side of cherry creek canyon the star mill being at the western edge of town and the exchequer and teacup mills about half a mile farther up the can canyon yon these old mills all used K a 77 C 4 yia 11 R ll jf L T A X 2 ah TIL e AI vt A 1 ike is i 7 age r v W y t isris i ma Z 0 fc A att aji aw uh M y jok fsr cwm A 1 t tl w i sst i bui a sr ta ii gwilm n ji y A T IN 1 e nt N f s t 1 ni p jr pt f ua V S y V imperial hoist ore bin and boarding house some of the mines of cherry creek did in the early days and what they have done during the past year one is inclined to think that past records may be duplicated or exceeded the town of cherry creek is located four miles west of the main line of the nevada northern railway on the slope at the eastern base of the egan range about fifty miles west of the main line of the nevada of ely first mineral discovery in 1861 mineral was first discovered on the gilligan vein on the north side of egan I 1 canyon near the old station on the overland r mining engineer my ely nev was second in size in the county to hamilton development in gilligan teacup exchequer imperial mary ann and star properties soon disclosed the existence of considerable sid erable bodies of pay ore and attempts were soon made to treat it near the mines mills erected some of the richest ore was first hauled out to the southern pacific but mills soon were erected and the ores treated by the pan amalgamation process being crushed mostly by stamps in egan canyon are the remains of an old mexican with water wheel and a short distance up the can stamps for crushing and treated the ore by pan amalgamation the star mill made the largest tailing pile which has since been worked over by with the drop in the price of silver however operations soon became unprofitable the mines and mills ceased operations and the camp gradus bradu ally disappeared as desert towns do until now there are only a few relics of its former e greatness geology the egan range is composed most mostly lyof of sedimentary rocks forming the eastern edge of a great synclinal fold the strata dipping at a gradually flattening degree to the west and having a strike of NE SW the quart of probably cambrian era according to hess of the U S G S form the eastern exposure of the sediment aries and rest on a massive sill of near the foot of east side of the range numerous EW E W faults cut the formations each section north from egan canyon being offset to the east as a rule until the point of the mountain is reached about eight miles north of cherry creek whence the range bears north some of the faulting was evidently pre mineral as ore is found in faults post mineral movement has also taken place shattering the ore and walls which is doubtless partly the cause for the irregular depth to which oxidation has extended ore deposits two systems of vein deposits have been developed the gilligan in egan and the star in cherry creek being on strong EW E W fissures dipping steeply N containing siliceous silver ores and w were ere most productive where the enclosing walls are quartzite the imperial exchequer and mary ann are on NE SW fissures the former dipping steeply NW and the latter dipping steeply SE until it reaches the where the dip il flattens attens out to about 40 degrees the NE SW veins appear to be the most persistent in extent both as regards length and thickness but the record of production is not so great as the EW veins due no doubt to the lesser amount of development the star mine is developed by a foot shaft and is reported to have produced about six million dollars the record of the gilligan is not accurately known but is in the neighborhood of one million the exchequer is credited with a production of three millions from above the foot level the imperial about above the and the mary ann from within feet of the tunnel level and not over feet below the surface A third thira vein system is represented by the black metal teacup and mother lode properties where in the case of the first two mentioned the ore occurs along the bedding contact between quartzite and shale and the latter several hundred feet west in a contact between lime and shale at least that is the impression gained from the work so far done in this deposit but in the case of the teacup the shaft follows the dip of the bedding plane for 1100 feet the teacup is reported to have produced about production from the other properties has been small but has averaged about as good as the larger mines when considered in relation to the amount of development performed the gilligan mine 41 in 1870 to 1872 the gilligan was being worked under the management of general rosecrans and a considerable amount of development was done by 1884 a 1600 foot tunnel was completed which cuts the vein 1100 feet from the portal and at a depth of about feet on its dip about this time the declining price of silver caused a cessation of operations and only occasional attempts were made during subsequent years to operate the property one period of activity being the retreating of the old tailings by the cyanide process occasional shipments by leasers leaders of particularly high grade ore was the only attempt at operation until 1918 when mr J W walker a veteran mining operator from colorado and mr M L thomas a mining engineer of new york city secured the property under lease and bond this vein strikes about EW E W and dips steeply to the north it traverses the lower strata of the siliceous sed sedimentary rocks and quart dipping about 45 degrees NW the ore bodies appear to have been largest in the quartzite it is reported that a shaft has been put pm down in the vein ninety feet below the tun nel level but the ground has caved around the old station and it is impossible to ta get in there exchequer and imperial the exchequer and imperial are being operated by the exchequer leasing mining corporation of 55 liberty street new nev york city C S witwer secretary and J W walker manager A force of men is breaking ore from three different faces in the imperial workings and a drift is being pushed along the vein to connect with the exchequer workings to the west about feet distant the imperial is dry but the water stands about sixty feet below the collar of the exchequer shaft and as soon as the connection is made and the old workings drained extraction of ore will be commenced as it 41 ek 4 7 44 portal of mary ann tunnel and have been very persistent as far as developed ve loped which is about feet on the dip of the vein the width of the vein from wall to wall will average about four or five feet but some of the old are over eight feet feet wide the present operators have reopened and repaired the old tunnel run during the and started sloping on the ore east from and above the tunnel level where the vein is about four feet wide and averages about 25 ounces silver about two feet of it next to the foot wall runs 45 ounces and the lessees lessels are breaking this for shipment westerly from the tunnel for feet there is about feet of virgin ground between this level and the bottom of the old slopes while to the east no ore has been scoped at all and it is on this side of the tunnel where the assays essays referred to were taken is known that the last work done in ill the mine during 50 cent silver prices exposed considerable quantities of ore which CO can now be handled at a profit SW the exchequer imperial vein is a NE fissure is quartzite into which has bep bee thrust a porphyry resulting in a shattered area extending from one to twelve e or m feet into the quartzite and it is this aaa sha t aliz mineralize quartzite which has been miner the e por P to the extent of becoming pay ore it phyra itself carries little or no value varies from less than an inch to over tac feet in width and the ore shoots occur OD ID broken bro ke either side the ore now being feet the imperial ranges from two to five er OV si wide and is running about 46 45 ounces tb per ton and from 60 cents to 3 in gold in shaft is feet deep on a very steep dike dine cline on the west side of the porphyry con ore is being broken on three levels sid erable work has been done by former operators who left fills in the old which run 20 to 45 ounces part of which is pay ore under present conditions but could not be handled at a profit when the last work was done in 1913 A six horse outfit with trail wagon is hauling the ore to cherry creek station on the nevada northern a distance of about seven miles A tunnel 1200 feet long has been run into the hill southwest in the exchequer ground following the vein on the west side of the porphyry the old continuous for several hundred feet and showing in places fifteen feet wide bear mute evidence of former operations during which the property produced about large quantities s of 20 to 35 ounce ore still remain in parts of these workings above the tunnel had been opened to some extent by former operators the mary ann vein strikes NE SW and has an easterly dip its outcrop can be traced for several hundred feet but there is very little pay ore in it where it traverses the quartzite which at this location rests on the still running along the east base of the egan range the dips to the west at about 50 degrees and strikes NE SW one EW E W fault of about feet displacement offsets the formation in this hill while other faults of lesser magnitude have been observed in both sedimentary and rocks development so far in the mary ann indicates that the fissure is of great depth as evidenced by the occurrence of in the ore and that the condit conditions ons conducive to ore de deposition osti are greatest in the M ao MW A d of X r W nr V J ha wet IF Z 7 exchequer hoisting works and tunnel portal level and the ore on the east side of the porphyry has not been developed except to run drifts over to it values similar to the vein on west side of dike systematic development will doubtless open other ore shoots anthis on this vein which is practically virgin except for some surface on the hill above the tunnel the exchequer shaft is down vertically about feet and there has been some below the water level but the flow was so great that the small equipment could not keep the water down the mary ann last year mr walker operated the mary ann under lease and bond shipping ten ien cars of ore and later getting new york capitalists interested who have taken the property over and are ard starting in on a systematic plan of work to develop the large bodies of silver ore of medium grade which and least in the overlying quartzite the contact between the two formations dips to the west so that the vein having an easterly dip traverses both the early day production came from directly under the contact where a over feet long and in alao places es twenty feet between walls is credited with a production of over for a height of not over fifty feet above the tunnel subsequent development during the time the writer had charge of the property twelve years ago and since mr walker took hold of it indicates that the occurs principally along the joint planes in the where the ore is concentrated more or less and occurs in irregular bodies running irom from to ounces silver per ton however the seems to be disseminated throughout the fractured for twenty to thirty feet below the hanging wall slip and occurs associated with iron pyrite several samples of ore exposed by recent work show as high as 35 ounces across five to ten foot faces although no tests have been made on this ore to determine a treatment for it its character would indicate that some form of wet concentration would work to adva advantage niage the in the district is not confined to the fissure system along the eastern base of the range for tile old teacup U 7 NN outcrop of mary ann vein the first location in the camp has produced a considerable tonnage from a vein or bedding contact deposit between the quartzite and shale the ore is a white quartz specked with a black silver mine minerals minerad raI the vein has been opened for 1100 feet by an incline shaft this property has been idle for a number of years but operations are to be resumed within a short time the black metal mine three miles north of the exchequer canyon is the black metal mine in which the occurs in in a shale quartzite bedding contact which has produced con sid erable ore of shipping grade mr P F W bletcher fletcher formerly identified with the ne vada british and star properties near the exchequer has a lease and bond on this ground from which he shipped twelve cars of ore during the past year he is now operating a force of miners on ore extraction and development this property bad been lying idle for years during the low price of silver until mr fletcher saw its possibilities and brought it to life again on a paying basis about a mile west of the black metal met high up on the mountain in the limestone is the mother lode property this is now idle and has been for several years due mainly to its inaccessibility and the fact that it will take considerable work to open it up so the ore could be taken out at the road in the canyon the vein is large and persistent for a long distance following closely a certain stratum or of lime where it has been opened by some very old workings it shows an average silver value of about twenty ounces the property is controlled by mr air A F dotterer of philadelphia mr H C witwer of new york and mr J W walker about four miles southwest from the mother lode along the strike of the lime beds is exposed what appears to be a of the same stratum the ore is a very hard quartz showing bromide and silver glance but the is not as extensive as on the mother lode although there has not been enough work done to demonstrate the extent of the ore an inspection of the old properties in the egan cherry creek section is certainly a revelation as to the possibilities of the camp and it should not be difficult for the several mines now working or preparing to work to maintain steady shipments and increase the output as fast as the old workings can be cleaned out and put in shape |