| Show strong development concern enters ophir district to explore at new depths noted old time bonanzas another group of old and potentially valuable properties in the ophir mining district have recently been acquired qui redby by utah mining operators and made the basis of the fisk ophir mining company with headquarters in salt lake all details having previously been whipped into shape actual operations were inaugurated about the first of the present month and since that time more than feet of a new operating tunnel with its objective 1600 feet from the portal has been driven an average of better than twelve feet a day is being made and the contractors have given assurance that speed will be the watchword vatch word until the job ob is finished preliminary to the breakie breaking b of ground b round an electric p power ower line was built up the canyon for a distance of more than a mile from a connection with the ophir hill consolidated a compressor plant power drills and all the trimmings to keep everything moving in were installed and nothing now remains but to tear into the mountain and crosscut cross cut the ledges that traverse the companas comp anys acres of ground and thus make deep mining possible this ne newly vly organized fisk ophir mining companas Comp anys niana management ement comprises a number of prominent nent a and nd wealthy operators who have become convinced that the ophir district and particularly that portion of it which has been secured by them is destined to make a bigger noise in the local metal mining world than has any of the older districts of the state in iii the recent past notwithstanding in the enviable records they have made and still are making old time properties involved the properties of the company embrace eighteen claims approximating acres in this group which is said to adjoin the ophir hill consolidated domain on the east is included the old jim fisk the green eyed monster and other noted producers of the early days two thirds of the property is owned outright by the company and about one third of it embraced in the old jim fisk b group of mines is held under lease and option at a stated purchase price of under most favorable terms from the liberty E holden estate cleveland ohio on 1 this contract no payment has to be made f for or a period of I 1 five years other than a ten per cent roya royalty ity on any ores that may be mined and sold in the meantime jn in driving the tunnel that now is well under way the first important fissure it is said will be cut in a distance of about feet this fissure is known as the rattlesnake fissure As the work progresses other noted veins such as the green eyed monster tile the jini jim fisk and the gem will all be tapped and opened for mining operations at depths ranging P t from to over 1500 feet below the deepest early carly day workings of the different mines real mining men in control to iro carry out the plans of the new company the final readjustment of the official household was made at a meeting of the directors two weeks ago moroni heiner well known coal mining operator and capitalist was made president willard business and mining man of ogden Z was chosen vice president and J H marshall secretary and manager while george H short local consulting engineer who has been active in the councils of the incorporators from the beginning of investigations of the properties and their acquirement was vas retained to direct operations at the mines in the list of incorporators are a number of highly rated operators and mining men inen among among 6 them being J frank quist george sinclair philip kirk B krause chas moulton dr 0 A tanner W A sayer dr J M marshall M L cummings and others some of these are listed in the directorate while others are only classed as stockholders along with a number of additional ad dit ional sponsors of the undertaking whose names are not given here all have faith in the properties all of these organizers and sponsors of the undertaking are evidently actuated by the belief that such a highly mineralized section where a number of early day bonanza producers are included in company possessions deserve the application of modern methods of mine development at depths which in the days of the pioneers were not only impracticable but considered not worth while the pioneers were satisfied with the results attained in in plucking the fruits hanging on the branches so to speak of the surface exposures of the limbs that could be harvested with little effort and crude equipment they thought little and apparently cared less about what would happen if the deep seated source of the surface was developed the jim fisk mine according to legend and musty data was acquired in the sixties by jim fisk a railroad associate of jay gould and a financier of his day he sold it to the gem mining company which did not seem to get bet anywhere as a mining concern and later in 1882 it was wal bought by L E holden at sheriffs sale for 12 A was sunk in the ledge from the gem tunnel by holden to a depth of or feet but little or no attempt was vas made to ship ore it is said the ore developed in the vinze is still there and when the present company taps the vein at the new tunnel level the ore shoot will be ra raised ased in ill and production undertaken A similar plan of operation and development has been mapped out for other ledges hi tile the ground and the men who now are backing the enterprise express no doubt that worthwhile worth while results will vill crown the effort emulating plans adopted by neighbor tile the new nev concern is apparently closely fallon following tile tie plans adopted less than a year ago by the ophir mono mol mines inc which is exploring and developing the deeper reaches of the old mono M ono and other famous early day P pro and an dubers from the dry canyon side of the same district in ill which a solution of the faulting system and ore making beddings are being systematically and rapidly worked out while shipments of ore from the beddings already topped are being made at the present time these live enterprises and others in various portions of the old district are destined well informed engineers and geologists believe to make the ophir dry canyon district again I 1 take its place as a leading unit in the camps of major importance in the state of utah which stands preeminent pre eminent in the metal producing areas of the west regarding ophir hill and railroad and here it should be noted that while the ophir hill consolidated mines the W A clark estate property is lying idle at present it is due to the internal of estate affairs and not to any lack of purpose to operate and continue the development of the ground through the new electrically equipped shaft which has been sunk 1400 feet below the level of the foot tunnel this is mentioned because a report recently gained currency that the ophir hill consolidated had petitioned the interstate commerce commission for permission to abandon and dismantle the ophir st john railroad which has served the company and the camp of ophir in transporting ore out and supplies in from the main line of the salt lake route the fact is that the ophir management owing to cessation of operations by the company sought permission to suspend the roads regularly operating schedule temporarily or until business again required it so that expense might be avoided in the meantime camp operators have the assurance that trains will be run when there is business to do and to that end and for that purpose the necessary train operating crews have been taken care of by neighboring properties from which they may be called for train running as occasion demands while not officially so announced it is the understanding at camp that when the family jars in the clark estate ranks have been smoothed out that a plan of resumption at the ophir hill will be worked out in the interim the camp of ophir will not suffer for wan want t of transportation facilities and the ophir st john railroad will ivill not be dismantled |
