Show ube OLD CAMP of SILVER PEAK special correspondence I 1 if tonopah To nev marck march southwestern nevada is now being invaded by a constantly increasing army of mining investors and mine operators who in thew their desire to secure properties of merit are not only investigating vesti gating the new districts but are also carefully I 1 examining the numerous old abandoned camps which years ago under most adverse circumstances and without modern scientific methods of treatment produced a considerable amount of bullion from high grade ores among these is the old camp of silver peak named after the silver ores which were discovered there in 1864 the district is known as the silver peak quadrangle and includes lone mountain on the north and the palmetto range on the south extending to the california boundary situate in esmeralda county the town of silver peak is about forty miles south of candelaria Candelar lil thirty seven miles southwest of tonopah and twenty six miles west of goldfield and is located on the southwestern edge of a great salt lake covering an area of about thirty square miles from this lake an unlimited supply of salt water is obtainable by shallow sinking and on its borders are numerous mineral hot springs as well as springs of pure water found in a limestone formation the chief mines immediately adjacent to silver peak are located on a spur of the silver peak range known as mineral ridge situate about six miles west of the town by road and at an elevation of about 3 feet abo above ve it in 1866 a 10 stamp mill was brought by 0 ox teams from california and erected tor for the treatment of the silver ores a process being used and the ores leached beached with salt by which about were produced up to 1869 and the silver mines have not been worked since during the year 1865 gold bearing ores were discovered on mineral ridge and the principal mine there kno known wn as the drinkwater was sold to the late mr D C blair of new york whose son C ledyard blair of new york still owns the property in 1867 a 30 stamp mill was installed at the lake and close to the town to treat the ores from this mine and was worked for about two years but only abo about ut 60 per cent of the values were recovered as the process of concentration was not then perfected and the cyanide process not discovered the mine lay idle until 1883 when it was leased for three years and again lay idle till 1893 when another lease was granted followed which prevented litigation for a year the property being worked or sold since but these intermittent operations re suited in the production of over the legal troubles have only recently been settled and the property is now tor for sale for with every probability of it changing hands shortly another important property close to the drinkwater is the mary mine which has been owned by john Chiat since 1869 he erected a 10 stamp mill in the town and also the first cyanide plant to be installed on the pacific coast during all these years the property has been operated spasmodically but the exact production is unobtainable last year it produced the ore averaging 46 per ton in value while several shipments of high grade ore worth from to per ton were made to san francisco these properties with the and great gulch mines the former of which worked a two stamp mill and the latter a four stamp mill bring up the total gold production of the district to A cursory geological examination of the district shows that the chief rocks are lime stones granite rocks such as granites goranites gra and di fiorites orites with lavas such as rhy elites andesite and basalt the ore bodies sometimes occur within the granite rocks but more usually within the lime stones along the line of contact with the granite rocks the best known and most developed bodies are what are known locally as the drinkwater and crowning glory parallel veins which outcrop at intervals for a distance of over three miles on the summit and sides of mineral ridge the veins throughout the district are however both numerous and widespread but these may be taken as typical of the district and are rather a succession of lenses of quartz having a general course of northwest and southeast and dipping about 30 degrees to lo the northeast like all such bodies that vary in width from from a few inches to a hundred feet and disappear di appear both horizontally and vertically their place being taken by overlapping lenses the average values may be said to run from to 25 per ton across the widest parts explored but it is remarkable that shoots of higher grade ore are discovered with great regularity at about every forty feet on their course the ore is a free milling quartz speckled with galena and occasional bun bunches clies and streaks of which carries values from 40 to per ton where the sulphide zo zone ne has been prospected this ore is found to carry values from 40 upward the principal dev development elopement elop ment in this district has been done on the blair biair mine which covers about feet of the crowning glory and drinkwater veins the greatest depth attained being feet at which point the drinkwater vein is 80 feet wide averaging per ton the upper workings show this vein to b be e feet wide I 1 in one place and show that high grade ore was mined for a width of from twenty to thirty feet it is now esel estimated mated that the crowning glory vein shows ore reserves of tons and the drinkwater vein will show how nearly twice this quantity of ore assaying on the average 9 per ton or a total value in the mine of 0 f nearly three million dollars recently the camp has awakened from its rip van winkle sleep mainly caused by the litigation which overshadowed this great mine and has taken on an activity which is but the forerunner of most ext extensive asive operations in october last the mohawk alpine mining company a new york and tonopah incorporation purchased a gro group up of claims adjoining the blair property on the southeast and covering over feet in length on the drinkwater vein at the time of purchase the developments showed the vein to be eighteen feet wide and of an average value of 40 per ton in sinking on this the ore body has widened and values have increased to 65 per ton A 5 stamp mill has been installed at the lake and coni commenced crushing a month ago on this grade ore and the company claims to have one million dollars worth of ore in sight A short distance southeast of this the great gulch mine has been purchased by the ton opah mining investment comp company 1 any for a syndicate of san francisco capitalists who have incorporated it under the fiame name of the i silver peak gold mining company and who oho have commenced development work the property has been located for years and is typical of the district having two parallel lenses of free milling q quartz bartz one of which has been prospected by a tunnel feet in length on its course from these workings ore was crushed which returned over 80 per ton but the average values of the free milling quartz now exposed is 20 per ton and of this grade there are worth in sight with nearly 1000 tons on the dump that will average 12 per ton with this quartz is a streak 0 of f ore varying in width from six inches to bo twenty eight inches and in value from 40 to 58 per pei ton and of this class of ore there is an estimated value of in sight and on the dump the workings show that this len lense e of ore is from eight inches to twelve feet thick as exposed although it has not yet been cross cut to both walls in its widest t place the present conditions in the camp bring the cost of mining milling and hauling to the mill up to 7 per ton but this will be greatly lessened in a few months as an electrical power plant Js is being installed at bishop creek cal and the line conveying power from there to goldfield and tono pah will pass through silver peak and be available for that district the recent activity has greatly stimulated prospectors and those who have held claims in the district for the past twenty years and there are many old properties of great merit being prospected and new discoveries co veries of value are being made it is essentially senti ally a district that appeals most strongly to the legitimate mine operator besides offering singularly attractive inducements to the investor in mining stocks J W LANGLEY |