| Show rich ore struck during the winter two tunnels were driven ahead into the hill and after pass ing through a break of more than feet in extent where nothing at all showed they struck five feet of ore running from 30 to 1200 ounces in silver with from 4 to in gold per ton and since striking it have driven on it to the south about seventy feet showing a strong permanent vein for the entire distance in fact one of the strongest looking veins I 1 have ever seen in the county and all indications point to a bonanza below this level and within a very short depth for the vein is much wider and richer all along the bottom of the drift than it is on the top of it the old mountain city group of mines about one mile distant from this first mentioned property is another place on this southeast and northwest system of veins where in early days several hundred thousand of dollars collars worth of silver ore was taken out from near the surface no shaft or tunnel on this ground reached a greater depth than feet and the old workings on this vein show an almost continual ore chute for nearly feet in length with a width of from three to six feet and the old dumps on the property show that the ore taken out and milled was very rich for the dumps have been sorted over very closely and shipping ore taken out of them several times as the hauling charges to the railroad and the smelting smelling sm elting charges were reduced and there still remains a quantity of ore which will average probably 40 per ton in gold and silver at the mills which were operated here in early days no payment was ever made for any gold that might be in the rock it together with a charge of 35 per ton going to the mill owner as his perquisite for milling the ore so that the camp had the reputation of being a strictly silver producer as far as the veins were concerned but later workings have shown all of this ore to carry a good percentage of gold ranging from 12 to 25 per cent and after a depth of about feet has been reached the values in the ores change from a chloride toi to a sulphide and makes a fine concentrating cent rating ore of it as most of it will concentrate cen at least fifteen tons into one with very little loss the latest strike made here and the one which is now drawing attention to this part of the country was made still further south along the trend of this formation and is about one mile from the mountain city in a northwesterly direction this find was made in what is now known as the st patrick mine and some of the richest ore it has ever been my good fortune to see is now being taken out at a depth of about fifty feet the vein is about two feet wide and they have drifted on it for about thirty feet and in a short time will sink a new shaft to cut it about feet deep from six to ten inches of this vein is ore that will assay from to ounces in silver with a good percentage of gold some of it being so rich that it is very hard to break it up on account of the masses of native and horn silver through it while the balance of the vein will run about per ton in gold and silver even at the present low price of the latter metal and three men working on it are taking out about per day each and this without doing any sloping this is not all of the rich places in the camp and the thorough prospecting which is sure to be given this district this season will undoubtedly bring to light more new chutes almost as rich as the present one and there is not the least doubt but when intelligent deep mining takes place of the shallow surface scratching which has heretofore been the rule that the search will be richly rewarded by new finds which will outclass anything as yet discovered the formation here is granite with dykes of f porphyry and so called mineral slate with a lime and porphyry or shale contact on the eastern side of the district all that this northern part of elko county needs is capital intelligently invested and handled to make it one of the richest mining fields in the state and I 1 might say in the whole west there are none of the obstacles here which are found in the southern and western parts of the state and it costs much less to equip and run a mining property here than it does for instance at tonopah To where there is a lack of everything but the ore and lower grade ore can be handled here at a good profit which would not make good waste rock in that camp wood for fuel and mining purposes is fairly plentiful within a short distance of the camp while the owyhee owahee river furnishes a good supply of water for all milling purposes the whole of the year and freight can be hauled in here from elko on the railroad a distance of about eighty five miles for a very reasonable figure and ore shipped out as back freight for about half rates there are numerous prospects and old mines which can be secured at very reasonable prices and terms just at present although what they will go to when the rich finds become noised around it is impossible to say but the first ones to get in here now with some capital are the ones aho vho ho are going ig to reap the largest rewards a little later I 1 would strongly urge upon any mining man looking for a practically new mineral field to invest in the advisability of looking over and abid investigating the northern portion of this county and especially this district for I 1 believe if he once gets in here that he will find the surface showing of mineral so much better than I 1 have described it that he will stay here and become as great a boomer of the country as are those of us who are now here |
