| Show the matter with marysvale Marys vale marysvale marys vale utah sept 25 editor mining review this mining region known as marysvale Marys vale is just now at the bottom it is to be hoped of a very serious slump on the trains on the streets of salt lake everywhere one goes the question is put the matter of marysvale Marys vale with your kind permission it will be the province of this letter to tell in plain english what the matter is and to lift the charge of deception from the back of dame nature and place it to the greed timidity ignorance and of times the dishonesty of men the name of the writer will be subscribed so that those who may squirm will know whom to hold accountable in order to make the subject entirely in intelligible telli gible it is imperative to state a few facts relative to the topography of this region Mt Baldy and mt belknap two of the highest elevations in utah form the centre of a uplift or upheaval of rhyolite and kindred masses gashed with dykes of porphyry and in the higher elevations with dykes and belts of phonolite on the west north and east sides of baldy and belknap geological conditions are identical and in horseshoe horse shoe form the greatest mineral belt in the west which extends from about six miles northeast of beaver city on the western slope around to gold mountain on the north and bending around around to the south in unbroken condition forms the so called marysvale Marys vale district four years ago the writer of this spent four weeks in an inspection of the entire belt in the interest of the salt lake herald of which you were the mining editor pour four years ago gold mountain was in precisely the same condition of happy somnolence which Marys vales mining interests and the residents here are so profoundly enjoying at the present time the sevier mine was wor working kino a few men and trying to unravel the mystery of its faulted vein the holland people were employing three or four men in in saucing educing off the top of a not very promising frozen vein mr higgins of boston was in the act of throwing up his bond on the miller group after having made the herculean effort to find a mine by sinking 70 feet and drifting 50 feet the trappers pride congress advocate surprise and numerous other fine looking properties were idle the breckenridge mammoth was working a few men in a tunnel trying to solve the same problem that confronted the sevier people four men on the silver king were busily engaged in keeping the dirt away from a caving upraise from tunnel to surface and i in trying to timber the hole which on top was nearly as big as the crater of mt vesuvius the butler beek beck mine and mill were as silent as we ane grave the annie laurie was dead as a door nail while the only real development work in the district was being done on the bluebird in addition to being thus handicapped some experts were trying to explain how those gold mountain veins were filled from the top by alleging the fantastic theory that the metals poured down from the lofty caps along the huge byks of porphyry surrounding mt baldy the heavier metal seething to the bottom see salt lake tribune july 1897 had it not been for the energy of willard snyder gold mountain would very likely be still sleeping the slumber of the just through mr snyders efforts abundant money and energy were introduced mr kimberly and associates with admirable courage and supreme faith took the annie laurie in hand and presto within two years a measly looking prospect has been transformed into a bonanza with millions of dollars worth of ore in sight and a mill turning out thousands of dollars in monthly dividends with equal merit with the greatest mineral outcrop of any district in utah marys vale still slumbers except in the case of the deer trail and that is a mine no intelligent effort backed by abundant capital has ever been made in in this district to discover and ana block out ore bodies it would be invidious to name properties and the men who have managed or mismanaged the so called developments in one instance a fine contact vein in semi blanket form carrying from three to six feet of pay ore was found to have been scoped sto ped by the waves of an ancient sea which left its fossil shore line to tell the story of its life and death no effort has been made to penetrate the old shore line and learn if the vein is not intact on the other side of it in the immediate vicinity of the above described prospect a tunnel was started to catch a vein some feet distance the tunnel went feet straight for the mark then striking a soft band in the limestone turned to the right about 45 degrees followed the band 1400 feet and quit no further effort has been made to find the vein which from its surface strike is parallel with and distant some feet from the tunnel recently a gentleman from the east took a bond and lease on a most promising property notwithstanding the fact that the memory of 1118 18 irish dividends hangs over it like an incubus the man from the east put 22 at the disposal of certain parties for development the money may accounted be for as follows it is an exaggerations to say that was spent in legitimate 1 mining 1 because twenty shifts were consumed in sinking 1 ng one foot which should have cost but 10 instead of 60 the remainder of the mining was about on a par with this explanation the account is for mining road 1000 gasoline engine about 2000 whisky poker and idleness total the story of mismanagement and incompetence has not half been told but enough is enough the district could have survived that and even more but perhaps the most serious drawback is found in the fact that marysvale Marys vale is contiguous to alfalfa and grain fields the owners of which are thereby en abbed to hold on to numerous prospects by h annually t grubbing 11 the sage and other brush from the old dump 3 and otherwise freshen ing them up to meet assessments many of the best groups of claims are owned by corporations po rations seemingly organized for the ex press object of doing assessment work others want more bonus money one on a bond bona and lease than their claims are worth and nearly all are waiting for a kimberly clark or de lamar to come here and create a boom thereby enhancing the value of aged wildcats marysvale Marys vale is a district of caved in tunnels and shafts while within a few feet of them the owners are driving new ones which in turn will also cave in the county appropriated about half the money ne no to build a road to our sister camp gold mountain provided the residents and miners here would put up the cash or labor to complete the work but there is not energy enough in this burg to pull a gisetti settin nl hen off her nest mark twain in his in inocence abroad tells how the pilgrims swallowed their five dollar gold pieces to keep them from the arab holdups hold ups the latter gave each of the miserly pilgrims an emetic and sat down to wait we of marys vale have set down to wait oh for a willard snyder to jerk us out of our boots a blast from gabriels horn to awaken us or the coming of the fool killer to make work for the undertaker there is more tim time e consumed at the poker tables here every 90 days than would build the road to gold mountain and thus furnish a market for our alfalfa and poultry and but we will drop the thee curtain u reain it is an act of justice to say there are a few determined men and companies at work and who handicapped as they are by conditions herein described are doing Z hard and intelligent work mr editor you have been over almost the entire district here and you can truthfully endorse the statement that no natural conditions exist as a bar to the opening up some of the 9 greatest greatest mines in utah ve very ry truly J F GIBBS |
