Show I 1 HALLS CANYON PANAMINT RANGE X e i SPECIAL correspondence 5 1 A 19 ballarat ballaran Ball arat calif oct 9 the panamint range in southwestern inyo county is cut to its very foundation by numerous steep and precipitous canyons probably the least known of these is halls canyon six miles north of ballarat ballaran Ball arat and four miles north of surprise canyon leading to old panamint where the rich copper silver mines of senators jones and stuart are located like several of the canyons of the panamint range hall has a beautiful stream of running water and this particular stream runs out into the valley from which the indians irrigate a small farm immigrants of the early fifties camped among the mesquite at this spot and here found one of the few running streams they saw on their eventful journey across the desert the indians have been bringing in ach ore for several years from this particular canyon but as there are no roads or trails leading up to the park near its head it has not veen b een an inviting country for the prospector to visit however in the last few months several oid residents of the valley have crossed over from the head of surprise canyon among them jack curran who followed an indian called copper stained joel joe to investigate some veins the indians claimed to have discovered and from which he showed free gold specimens curran was well pleased with what he saw and made several locations upon which he expects to do some work the mines are situated at an elevation of about feet among a beautiful forest of pines at the very base of telescope peak which rears its head feet above the desert with the exception of peaks in the stem sierra nevada range this is the highest mountain on the southwestern deserts among currans locations are the horn spoon yo bombien Tom bien valley view and mizpah all showing well defined fissure veins traceable in one instance by outcrop for more than feet the horn spoon par ticul arly shows a shoot three feet wide and feet ion long t that assays essays in gold the ore is particularly free from any base and should readily plate a high percentage of its values the other cities show good medium values of 10 or 15 per ton the valley view is more than thirty feet wide and horns well in places these locations have all been made within the last few months and no work of any character has been done to prove the their r real worth the droppings crop pings are covered in places with heavy slide from the rugged mountains enclosing the head of the canyon these veins are all probably of the same series as those of surprise and pleasant canyon and show a regular rib boned structure to the quartz this canyon like the entire range shows a great variety of formations from its mouth to its very head the first strata is an intrusive granite and at this point the canyon is very precipitous so much so that it is impractical to build a road or even a trail up it about two miles farther up however the country rock changes to a firm slate and here the canyon opens out to some width and from this point to the head where the mines are located the wash has an easy grade and a wagon could be driven without even building a road the trail at present leads into the canyon from jail canyon to the north |