Show EASTERN OREGON MINING NEWS SPECIAL correspondence barker city ore oct 25 the mining districts of oregon which at present seem to hold forth the greatest promise are the copper belt east of baker city and the region lying along the western slope of the cornucopia mountains in the cornucopia district the best known property is owned by john E searles of new york this is the cornucopia mine one hundred men are employed on this property and a 20 stamp mill runs night and day pierre humbert is the consulting engineer and valentine G general manager all the buildings and underground workings are lighted by electricity developed by water power and all machinery is run by electrical force the company has completed surveys for a railway from the mine to hathaway to connect at present with freight teams from baker city and ultimately with a line of road from baker city to snake river at this mine drifting is in progress on three veins one of which is sixteen feet between walls and is all milling ore the mill is run continuously on ore from these workings no sloping whatever is being I 1 done the development work pays for its itself elf and yields an income besides to an amount estimated at per month the queen of the west mines co is at work on a property adjacent to the one owned by mr searles A Y bayne of minneapolis minn is president and C F general manager development work has been going forward on this property for three years but it is only recently that its equipment was completed the company built a road from the town of cornucopia to its mill site a distance of three miles it has a comfortable camp in the way of buildings and a 10 stamp mill recently went into commission its water power development consists of a ditch feet long 2280 feet of flume and 1300 feet of 9 inch pipe the water has a head of feet three separate water wheels are employed in furnishing power direct one for the batteries and rock breaker one for the banners van ners and one for the generator which furnishes power and light for the drills and the mine the ore is conveyed to the mill by a tramway feet in length and there is an additional tramway feet long uniting two of the tunnels two thousand three hundred feet of development work has been done on this property all in ore except one crosscut feet in length ore sufficient is blocked out to run the mill eighteen months the average width of the vein is four and a half feet fee and the average milling value of the ore is 22 per ton forty six men are employed the mayflower also situated in thit this district is owned by the stampede mining milling co H L ross general manager this property recently installed a 10 stamp mill and an 80 ton per day cyanide plant both are in continuous operation A tramway feet long carries the ore to the mill the power employed is steam thirty five men are at work on this property the north american mining co D W C nelson manager is at work on the copper belt at the nearest point to baker city of any of the properties in the copper district preparations are under way for increasing the force and pushing the development of this property through the winter the aute oute outcrop rop of ore on the surface of the north american ground is nearly 1000 feet wide and a mile and a half in length near the center of this outcrop the shaft extends perpendicularly to a depth of feet for the first eighty feet it passed through native copper ore having a dip of 45 degrees this vein assays essays 2 per cent copper and slight values in gold and silver following this the shaft entered diorite which it continued in for eighty five feet when it entered another body of native copper ore this vein is eighty five feet in thickness and carries 3 per cent copper and about 2 per ton in gold and silver after passing through this second vein a reddish fire rock was encountered which continued for thirty feet when the shaft again entered a third deposit of native copper seventy five feet thick each of these various formations maintains about the same dip across the shaft and seems to be directing its course toward a lime dyke which on the surface forms the upper boundary of the copper outcrop the third stratum of ore assays essays 4 per cent copper and gold and silver in about the same saine proportion as the strata lying about it underneath der neath it the same reddish rock was again encountered and the shaft continued in this until the foot level was reached at which depth dep th a heavy sulphide was struck in which the shaft is now bottomed this latter is a distinct change in the formation which the management construes most favorably vor ably there is a large percentage of iron present in the sulphide associated with copper and some gold and silver it is the intention to sink at least feet more before affecting a crosscut to the lime no water has yet appeared at the bottom of this shaft negotiations have been in progress ford for some time by which an organization of new york capitalists are seeking to secure a bond on this prop erty on the basis of conclusions we have not as yet been reached the building of a railroad from hunt to homestead which lies at the bugton eton eastern astern extremity of this belt and work progress on another road entering the in western western end of the belt from union are having a spirited effect on developments all along the copper range from medical springs to snake river A recent meeting of the directors of the timber canyon mines co held in baker city authorized the placing of a 5 stamp mill on its property in timber canyon development in a small way has been going forward at this mine for three years work at present is under the direction of frank j davey engineer one thousand feet of tunnels and drifts have been completed and it is estimated that worth of ore is blocked out the vein on this property is traceable on the surface for two miles it will average four feet in width the adit crosscuts cross cuts to the lode which it intersects at a depth of feet the ore blocked out on that level is said to average 25 per ton in free gold the new camp of dyke in the northern part of humboldt county nev and lying just below the oregon line is sending reports into this section that are creating a decided interest in mining circles samples of the ore sent here for assay ran per ton some of it more the veins are said on good authority to be large one of the greatest camps in nevada is predicted for this new field which extends into oregon |