Show famous five mile newhouse drain tunnel idaho springs basis of mining boom now starting in two colorado counties of great interest to the mining public at large and especially to the property holders of gilpin and clear creek counties isted is the fact that the quartz hill holding company a colorado corporation has completed plans and is now putting them into execution for extensive conservative operation in and on their vast mining territory in the nevada ville district gilpin county universally known as the quartz hill mines through the argo tunnel the portal of which is within the corporate limits of the city of idaho springs in a recent interview harold thorne of new york cit city Y president and frank sparks general manager of the quartz hill holding company gave 0 IV c the journal gazette the fo following I 1 information outlining past extensive operations of the company and plans for the future in what is considered one of the greatest campaigns of gold mining in the history of colorado inthe in the two pioneer mining counties gilpin and clear creek where placer and lode mines were first worked in january and may 1859 and continuously from that bat L time to the present after amany years of extensive operation of the mines of the district embraced and fabulous wealth obtained the mines were sunk deeper and deeper and miles of workings 1 were opened ore extracted and marketed AS A grater depths were made greater volumes of vater were obtained necessitating vast expense for pumping operations newhouse tunnel drains the country in the year of 1893 the newhouse argo tunnel was started and practically completed in the year of 1910 being beina driven iriven a distance of four and seven tenths miles to the present nt heading for the purpose of ultimately draining ventilating ti and and operating the mines of the sister counties economically no and advantageously the argo tunnel property was operated after its con completion i ion by various organizations b up to the time of its acquirement qui rement by the bur burroughs boughs roughs pool mining company sponsored by thorne and sparks who previously secured a vast area of mineral territory on quartz hill in ne va daville gilpin county and along the line of the arg arar tunnel the burroughs pool mining company started operations on the ophir burroughs mine january januar y 1926 through shaft workings but later purchased the entire holdings of the argo tunnel immediately transferring all energy to operations through this bore of large t dimensions and spent splendid equipment starting the work of repairing and rejuvenate ing may 14 1926 which consumed seven months time working day and night shifts and using a large amount of money the new company and its holdings on june 14 1927 the burroughs pool mining company was merged with the quartz hill holding company the colorado corporation with harold thorne president and frank sparks an officer and general manager this is a clo close se corporation and from information advanced fully financed the territory embraced owned out right and by option to purchase and operate consists consist of lode claims and several placers and mill sites embodying fourteen entire groups covering the extensive vein systems of the concrete kansas burroughs pozo alps hubert shafts gunnel ophir phoenix grand army herman merman california and many other systems of lesser de VC loument lop ment this vast mineral territory with an immense production record was formerly held by an E english syndicate the rights of which were recently acquired by the present hold t ing g company which now owns and controls what has always been known as the richest square half mile in the world which chichin chin the past produced millions of dollars in wealth from the ores and which will now contribute even greater wealth to the prosperity of gilpin and clear creek counties work of drainage and development the process of unwavering watering un the miles of workings of the quartz hill mines and adjacent territory is now being undertaken der taken and when completed will drain approximately thirty miles of underground mine workings 6 andallo and also establish natural ventilation an upraise is now made feet on the phoenix lode a short distance east of the argo tunnel with large drill holes advanced fifty eight feet from the back and both upraise and drill holes hole swill will ibe be extended until the water is tapped and drainage established it is also estimated that within sixty days the concrete vein system will be drained by the same method in the mine development work prosecuted in the argo tunnel workings since january 1927 extensive ore bodies have been established continuous down from the shoots mined many years ago in in the early day workings above to the laterals literals late rals of the ar aro argo z O tunnel elevation on the concrete kansas burroughs ophir california phoenix and several other lodes with values from six to sixteen dollars for mill grades and from forty to one hundred dollars for smelt ing grades per ton with generous widths and lateral extensions the california mine with a shaft two thousand three hundred feet deep hash has a past production record of fifteen million dollars and many of the other groups mentioned likewise have records running into the millions at the seventeenth level of the california mine mine seventeen hundred feet deep a lateral from the argo tunnel intersected the shaft and from the twenty first level back to the seventeenth the ore bodies were proven of greater extent and value mill building by denver firm the development of the holdings company at the elevation of the argo tunnel have disclosed a large tonnage of milling material determining the fact that they are justified in making preparations for up to date milling facilities and therefore after six months of experimentation conducted by the hendrie bolthoff manufacturing and supply company of denver construction of the milling plant is now being performed by this firm near the portal of the tunnel under contract for the sum of thirty nine thousand dollars to be completed during the month of november 1927 the flow sheet is being simplified as much as possible embodying amalgamation table concentration and flotation the first unit to be of a capacity of one hundred fifty tons per day of twenty four hours with provisions for two more units of like capacity the quartz hill holding company no now w has a large force of men employed in underground and out outside side work and will increase the number materially as the operations expand the large compressor plant and shop equipment at the portal of the argo tunnel enables them to offer advantageous terms and workings conditions to mine property owners along the line of the tunnel in clear creek and gilpin counties the extensive work of the holding company with the addition of operations of other corporations and individuals owning ginesin mines in the two counties served will within the next year etri employ ploy hundreds of men thus proving that metal mining is coming back and gilpin and clear creek counties will be b able to add their quota of ores ore s produced gold values pre dominating as of yore modern methods of mining and milling are greatly responsible for the opportunity to produce large volumes of ores of low grade at a profit pot not profitable i table during the early days when all costs were larger and the percentage of recovery of values was lower gold mining is coming back gold mining b is coming back strong because gold goad is the only commodity that has never been known to glue the the market marke tand and never will therefore the golden kingdom of gilpin will again come into its rights and pour out its streams of gold and other metals through the great artery the argo tunnel which also serves the mines of lower clear creek county along the line thereof at great depth additional homes will now the be established by the workmen of the argo tunnel and the re establishment of homes in the old cities and towns of gilpin county due to the fact that it is now possible to operate again the mines through the old shafts tobe to be ventilated and drained by the argo tunnel the dream of the old timers and brought to realization at the present date by the substantial efforts of the quartz mill hill molding Holding company the fact that the argo tunnel elwill will be in full operation just as soon as the old workings are made safe for all operators by the watering unwavering un of all of the workings along the line thereof and at great depth under nevadaville Nev adaville and central city has already impressed many local owners and foreign holders of property they are making investigations and preparations at many properties long idle along the line of the tunnel with the idea of resuming operations which will again contribute to the wealth of the world many millions of dollars |