Show MINING IN THE COEUR STATESMAN BOISE IDAHO state mine inspector R N bell returned last night from the coeur calenes dA lenes and in an interview with a statesman reporter gave the following interesting account of the remarkable period of mining activity now in progress in shoshone county when questioned by the reporter as to the prospective results and probable permanency of movement the mr bell said the present great mining activity in the coeur calenes dA lenes is certainly a mining boom for which no excuse need be offered as it is well merited and based on the most substantial foundas foundation ion of actual mineral production and mining profits it has come coincident with the rapid rise in the metal products of the district and has within the past year resulted in the accumulation of a hundred individual fortunes varying from to as much as a million dollars the main incentive for the present marked activity in new mining development is the wonderful results being obtained in the old mines of this district which are being scoped at depths ranging from 2000 to feet where their ore bodies are increasing in both value and volume in a way that astonishes their most sanguine supporters and quite contrary to all previous experience in american lead mining history at the same time emphasizing the oft repeated assertion that the district has barely been scratched this assertion however needs qualifying for as a matter of fact as already intimated it has been scratched pretty deeply at several points but coni contrary to the usual experience the deeper its great veins are gored the harder they bleed the rich blood of commerce and demonstrate how essential extensive preliminary development is in this field poor surface indications if called to pass upon the merits of almost any property in the coeur calenes dA lenes in its original surface condition without the knowledge development has afforded except the park copper belt and the bunker hill most any engineer would be justified in turning it down hard for the grey green slates and thin bedded quart the denely timbered steep slopes and slim mineral outcrops that have characterized most of the big mines present very little surface evidence of the great ore bodies they cover and a sharp contrast to most mineral fields one of the most interesting features of this district from a geological standpoint as demonstrated by development on its great fissures is the fact that the apex or surface crest of the ore shoots they contain bear bolit about the same relation to the main ore bodies they the y connect with as a 5 room cottage chimney would to the hotel spokane and illustrate the fact that very little erosion has occurred in the district since the deposits were formed and that they may go down as deep as modern mining methods can call follow them all of which makes a decent surface showing of mineral in the near vicinity of the big producing mines an attractive thing to work and speculate on the district is a very extensive one fully 20 by 30 miles in area a very large portion of which is richly mineralized from the coeur dalene standpoint and practically virgin it has been computed by a competent engineer of wallace that the dividends paid by the nine principal producing mines last year amounting to about would more than cover the cost of all the development work done in the nine producing mines and prospects of the entire entyre district since it was first discovered clean minerals the coeur calenes dA lenes is best known as a lead silver district and in fact as such it is without a peer in the mining world its lead ores are noted for their purity and freedom from objectionable sulphides sulp hides its As resources however are by no means confined to lead and silver but comprise an important variety of ores including copper deposits that indicate a resource of the red metal of equal importance with the lead and as free from lead and other objectionable combinations as copper found anywhere on the north side of the district at murray a carload car load shipment is now being prepared that will probably exceed in value the best carload shipment ever sent out of the famous cripple creek district of colorado at burke the stanley mine situated on a parrellee parr ellel vein between two of the largest lead silver producers of the district has recently developed a strong shoot of antimony sulphide ore car carrying carrein 50 to 60 per cent antimony together with 10 to 20 gold per ton with hardly any silver and practically free from lead and other minerals while at nine mile creek southwest of wardner there occurs large bodies of the cleanest zinc ores found anywhere in the west such close association of pure mineral in the same general system of fissuring assuring and formation can only be explained by long continued and repeated periods of and profoundly deep fissuring and affords a very strong argument in favor of the ore bodies at depth the mullan copper belt the snowstorm copper mine three miles east of mullan has made fully a score of people independently rich within the two j past years when the greenough brothers became interested in the property about ut I 1 three years ago it was looked upon as a joke and its shares were changing hands at from one to five cents at the surface this mine was simply a shoe string prospect of copper stained quartzite with no size or practical value and nothing to recommend it but one well defined fissure wall since then the shoe string condition of ore showing has expanded to the proportions of a shoe factory the mine has made ore shipments since the summer of 1903 containing something like 0 pounds of copper and ounces of silver and has paid over half a million dollars in net profits the snowstorm today has a million tons of measure ahle able ore in sight it is shipping over tons of ore a day that is said to yield net results of 10 per ton and the new machinery and equipment now being installed on the property will enable the company to el greatly increase that output the mine is developed to a depth of 1200 feet by crosscut tunnels and extensive intermediate levels and connections at feet down the clean green carbonate ore for which the mine has been noted has changed to an even decimation of and the stock of the company is selling at a share and with the present great ore showing and the future prospects of the mine it is considered by competent judges to have a speculative value of 10 a share the park co copper per belt in sharp contrast with the surface evidence of a copper mine at the snowstorm the park or stevens peak copper belt immediately south of mullan carried the largest and most pronounced surface evidences of underlying ore bodies of any part of the coeur dalene district these consist of mineral that can be followed in a succession of outcrops on the line of a great east and west fissure vein accompanied by a dike for 15 miles at the park mine five miles south of mullan the iron ore is five to sixty feet wide and outcrops continuously for 2000 feet in length up the face of a steep mountain slope one tunnel feet long with seven crosscuts cross cuts shows the mineral to have an average width of 40 feet it consists of massive brown iron and soft finely porous iron oxide ore the latter predominating that carries from a strong trace to 12 gold per ton and some copper this fine spongy iron is unquestionably the shell or residue of a massive ous copper sulD sulphide hide mineral clean unaltered kidneys of which are still ly found in the oxide mass that assay 20 to 30 per cent copper when properly developed to water level these great gossen showings should be transformed into secondary enriched and primary sulphide ores that at may discount in value anything yet discovered in the district extending from the park group east and west on this great fissure with equal or slightly less important surface show ings gs of mineral are the springfield comet whale echo champion wonderful bullion and other incorporated mines each of which has far superior surface manifestations of underlying ore bodies than did the snowstorm at the discovery stage and unless all the usual signs fail they should when properly developed result in a long string of mining fortunes their stock offerings are all cheap but are becoming quite active and afford some of the best speculative chances in the long list of coeur dalene stocks the present boom is being strongly supported by the local mining and business men the district has been kept practically tree free from wildcat enterprises so far and this reputation should be maintained at all hazard the producers of the coeur calenes dA lenes will make a mineral yield this year of something like in gross value and will probably pay between and in dividends they occupy a comparatively small percentage of the proven mineral bearing area of the fields and form a very substantial basis on which to build a boom of new development and legitimate speculation |