Show SOUTHERN OREGON MINING NEWS special correspondence mining review grants pass ore feb 20 A mineral discovery that has its value more from a geological point of view than aught else has just been made in the southern part of josephine county in what is known as the althouse mining district the discovery consists in the finding in quantity of the sacred stone jade the miners who have come into this city with specimens from the scene of the discovery report that there are vast deposits of the mineral both on althouse and indian creeks which are located but afew miles north of the california line the specimens brought in have been positively identified as jade and of a very good quality of the stone for several years past the miners of althouse have known of deposits of a green colored curious stone along indian creek but they were ignorant of its identity and paid no attention to it but not many months ago a traveler making the trip from grants pass to crescent city by stage picked up a piece of float jade which by its odd green appearance attracted his attention he did not know what the curious stone was but it was pretty so he took it with him to his home down in california in course of time the little frag m ment ent of green rock came under the eye of a mineralogist and then the discovery was made that it was jade interested california came up traced the float to its deposit and located a number of claims before anyone knew what was up these men will develop and work the deposits for commercial purposes this is the first instance on record in which jade has been found in place on the north american continent hence its value from a geological point of view jade Is one of the oldest of minerals it was used in prehistoric times for making weapons and utensils and this fact has been of great value to in tracing the movements of ancient peoples jade Is a tough compact stone it varies from a pure white to a pale or dark green in color it is mainly used and has been used for ages past in the orient the chinese use it in rings bracelets vases etc with them it is a sacred stone the chinese naine name for the mineral is yu or yushin yu shin which moans jadestone jade stone for many years past the main supply of jade has come from the mines and deposits of the mineral in the karakash kara kash valley of eastern turkestan Turk estan weapons vases and other articles made of jade have been found in the islands of the pacific central america and new zealand they have also been found in alaska and among the relics of the swiss lake dwellers but in each of these instances it has been proved that the material was brought in iii from the orient orient general southern oregon mining news the pat past week C C higgins 0 61 salt lake who recently bonded ta the baby mine biln of jump off joe district made the first and principal payment on the property which virtually gives him a clear title to thamine th the mine emine and releases dodge jewell and pollock the former owners of this city from all ill claims mr higgins is meeting with gre great success in the development of the baoy from the overhead of the main level 4 a good body of fine ok ore has been nn uncovered covered and is being milled and is giving flattering returns he will soon begin the driving of a lower tunnel to tap the main ody body of the ore of the baby at great depth the heaviest snow known in southern oregon now covers the balleys and mountains the latter haying a depth of from six to ten feet the snow somewhat retards regards the progress ress of placer mining though not to any great degree it will be a benefit as a whole owing to its insuring ek a long spring run in the placers by a continued water supply the galice hydraulic mining company is the name of a new company composed almost mo st entirely of portland men for the purpose of placer mining on galice the company has purchased and secured all of the placer properties on galice below those of the st helena galice mining company they will combine the water rights and facilities cili ties of all and work them as one big mine they have already put a screw crew of men to work getting things in shape to bagein operations on the combined plan |