Show the medford and crater lake railroad special correspondence medford ore april 10 an event of great importance to medford as well as to all southern oregon was the turning of the first dirt this past week in the construction of the medford crater lake railroad A A contract has been let and bonds given to build the line as far as the big butte country this summer later it will be extended to crater lake national park besides opening up the wonderful crater lake mineral and timber country this new road is a big link in the line that will ultimately crosscut southern oregon and tap the rich mineral districts on the oregon california line districts that are at present idle because of their remoteness the medford crater lake road was fostered by president enyart of the medford bank and it was through his untiring efforts the line was begun with the liberal support of southern ore oreon oregon 1 on capital the road will be built as far as eagle point and bonds can then be secured to extend it deeper into the primeval this successful conclusion of the original plans of banker Eny arts may be classed as the greatest event that has occurred in southern oregon for some time A A davis has the management of the new eom company panY dr keene is secretary and holbrook withington attorney chief engineer winchell of the amalgamated copper company of butte has just completed an inspection of the blue ledge copper mine of the medford district on the upper applegate the inspection was made at the instigation of the amalgamated while mr winchell gives out nothing definite as yet regarding his examination that he is well pleased is evinced by the fact of his asking manager J F reddy of the blue ledge for a price and terms on the big proposition if the amalgamated takes hold of the property it will be but a short cimei till a railroad will be built into the camp from medford in order to loosen the ground so that dredging can be done more easily and profitably champlin company have ordered an entire carload of giant powder and will use the explosive in blowing up the diggings about its foots creek dredger the cemented gravel makes it impossible for the buckets to work to their full capacity and the powder will put it in shape to allow each bucket to come up full there arn are forty eight cubie cubic foot buckets on the chain the change from steam to electricity has not yet been fully made but all will be completed within the next few weeks and the big machine will be operating on a larger scale than ever the greenback mine paid its usual dividend of this month its forty stamps pound night and day and the ore body of the deeper levels is a far bigger ore body than that encountered nearer the surface two ledges are now being worked and the values run from 8 to 20 a ton the greenback company is giving much attention td ward the development of the scenic st peters pete rs and other claims adjoining the greenback and which were but recently ac quiren by the company the galice consolidated has paid its it usual monthly dividend of one half cent a share and will operate several months yet before the season closes the recent rains have given the company water in plenty the giant battery is centered on washing the benches and bars into the big double flume and big results are anticipated as this is the best ground of the mines power is also derived from the companas comp anys high line ditch to operate the sawmill and to snake logs from the timber to the mill all of the hydraulic placers will have from three to six weeks more work than they expected by reason of the heavy rains of this past fortnight snow has been piled to good depth on the ranges thus assuring a substantial water level in the streams till a late season many placers that had given up hope of doing anything at all this season will at least have a months run mr david T day the off official leial head of the minerals and metals department of the united states geological survey has been in this section making investigations with especial reference to the rarer minerals such as as platinum tellurium Josephin eite and others that have been found in southern oregon dr day has just completed a tour of the eastern oregon and western idaho districts and finds much work to be done by his department in this part of the west many miners are unknowingly throwing away valuable minerals and metals he is satisfied from specimens he has examined and from observations he has made that similar losses and wastes are being made continually in southern oregon especially is this true of platinum and the five metals of the platinum group all of which are known to occur in the black sand placer deposits of waldo and galice districts for some reason the methods tried in saving the rare metals have not been satisfactory moreover they are too tedious to the average placer miner whose sole inclination is for the saving of gold dr day states that there is a fund available for exploiting and investigating a mineral region for rare metals where it has been demonstrated that such metals exist in commercial quantity it has been practically demonstrated that platinum exists in quantity in josephine county and for this reason it is very likely that the department will turn its attention to this section as it has already done to trinity and other counties of california miners will take far greater interest in the work when they are assured of the assistance and support of the government government and are working along lines that will be for their gain instead of for some company that desires only to secure a rare metal at a low price DENNIS H STOVALL |