Show SANDSTONE THAT IS SILVER BEARING james G wilder of st george utah has the following interesting article in the advocate of that place descriptive of the silver bearing sandstone at silver reef silver occurs in rocks of all ages but in some of them very sparingly and it is but seldom it occurs in paying quani quantities tit 1 le s in sandstone the most conspicuous place in which ti sandstone occurs in paying quantities is at silver reef in washington county utah which place has produced over 8 in silver up to the year 1900 it was in this locality of utah that john barbee in the year 1873 discovered silver in sandstone reef near the town of leeds about fifteen miles northeast of st george the county seat of washington county john barbee was ivas an old time prospector of california idaho montana nevada and utah he had aad taken part in every great mining excitement for the previous twenty five years in 1872 he had discovered the silver lead mines of deep creek ek in ila western utah only to make a failure of smelting smelling sm elting the ores of that region at clifton his next move was to southern utah and one morning while he was preparing his breakfast at a campfire near W A 4 tr 14 ac petrified tree stump Ji bearing earin silver values silver beef reef utah leeds he observed a metallic substance on the surface of one of the sandstone masses against which his fire had been built which he found to be silver and investigation proved to him that the region round about for a distance of five miles in length and three miles in width was made up of successive sandstone reefs each of which carried more or less sil ver some of them being too low in value to pay while others ran as high as 1000 ounces per ton mr barbee locate a large area of land near the scene of his first discovery at leeds and farther west on what are known as the buckeye and white reefs he was without money at the time but it was but a short time before he found the man with the money and as a result a small mill was constructed ted and set to work and in a very short time was producing silver bullion at the end of the year 1874 exe excitement ran high the f fame ame of silver reef extended over nevada utah and montana great numbers of miners flocked in from those territories and in the year 1875 the town of silver reef on upper leeds creek was a thrifty camp five mills were employed in treating the ores and about 1000 1000 men found employment in mining and milling the ore of the district the principal mines of those halcyon days were the california maggie buckeye tecumseh barbee and walker stormont thompson last chance and the leeds mine the silver occurred as black sulphides sulp hides chlorides horn silver and native silver in thin sheets the best values occurring near the surface but the largest bodies in the deeper workings As to the source of origin we know little about the silver of the reef the problem is difficult of solution and only the student who is able to patiently work his way through natures laboratory will be able to give us the true solution the history of silver reef as a mining camp is a strange one it arosa to prosperity rapidly and for eight years continued to produce large volumes of silver in the year 1883 it had grown to be a handsome little mining city of about 2500 people in that year a strike called by the miners union shut down most of the principal mines and the decline in the price of silver occurring soon after completed the work now only a few leasers leaders are at work and the output in the year 1904 had declined to 15 fine ounces of silver the brundage mining and reduction company composed of cleveland ohio business men came into the history of silver reef a few years since it purchased water rights the barbee and walker leeds jumbo and free coinage mines and the barbee mill which it refitted remitted re fitted with new machinery and now works the leasers leaders lea sers ores As to what it will do in the future it maintains a discreet silence but the mines which are now almost aban boned will in time become again the scene of activity and life millions of dollars have been taken from the old camp but tens of millions of dollars still remain there there thera exists about ten square miles of mineral land there and only the surface of about one tenth has been prospected at present silver mining is not in favor as in years past but it will always remain a precious and valuable metal the spots now neglected will again become scenes of labor and profit and of these none promise wealth more easily to be obtained than silver reef utah |