Show eastern oregon copper belt I 1 special correspondence co dence baker city ore sept 19 interest in the big copper belt east of this city continues to grow and new strikes are of weekly occurrence the activity on this belt has been stimulated by reason of the railroad in process of construction from huntington down snake river where it will intersect the eastern end of this belt at the iron dyke mine at present an additional stimulus has been added in the determination of baker city to build a railroad direct from here to the copper belt and has just been subscribed for that purpose new york capital is interested in building this road out from baker and the bonus of which they asked of the people here as a condition precedent to the building of this line was at once subscribed and grading will begin about the middle of october found many gold bearing veins and con sid erable work is going on in the development of these also and at several places placer properties are working with profitable results south of sparta frank J habelt of the sparta mining and development company has a force of ten men at work on a group of fifteen claims with interesting values in sight both in gold and copper this company is now erecting buildings and putting in supplies for a winters run adjoining this property F J rankins of the joliet smelting smelling Sm elting and reduction works is crosscutting cross cros cutting for a large vein of free milling gold ore which has been developed to a large extent by shafts and superficial tunneling the development on this property seems to have reached a point where a stamp mill is justified and and a mill is now 4 T X 77 r R 7 on the eastern oregon copper belt another road from union on which work is already in progress is approaching the west end of the copper belt and will tap it in the region of the indiana mine A district therefore which cef is attracting railroads from three different points must have merit which recommends it to the holders of large capital the truth is that the past few months have exposed ore bodies on this copper belt notably in the region of goose creek which are very extraordinary both as to their extent and the percentage of values which they carry the mineral zone on which prospecting for copper has been so strenuously carried on for the last ten years extends from a po point int near medical springs on the west to homestead on the snake river on the east a distance of about sixty miles in length and covering a strip of country from two to four miles ml les wide within this area are in process of construction west of sparta five claims with an immense copper outcrop were recently bonded by W C nelson to the oregon idaho investment co under management of james A howard and work was at once commenced in the line of their development the crosscut cross cut which this company is driving in has just reached the ore at a depth of feet and the ore will average about six per cent copper with some additional values in gold and silver the vein on this property for the length of five claims is upwards of feet wide at the surface the property is known as the iron mask and the surface of the vein or deposit is a heavy iron gossan all the ground between the iron mask and goose creek on the west has been located and much prospecting and location work is going on in a small way in tills this B intervening section most of the activity however and some of the most cemarka ble ore deposits are in and around goose greek creek the eagle mountain mining co a chicago organization under the management of william I 1 henry harris which has the cox and van vail properties under bond has recently installed mining machinery and three sh shifts gifts of men are developing what promises to be a great copper camp many thousand tons of ore of a concentrating grade are virtually at the surface of this property and depth is proving the ore to be of a commercial grade without concentration tra tion not far from the mines of the eagle mountain company is the famous poorman group recently sold to mr gooding of new york by the oregon idaho investment co on this property a crosscut cross cut has gone through feet of six per cent copper aside from the gold and silver values which in themselves are important it is said that there is perhaps no mine in the country that will compare with the poorman as to the ore in sight with the same amount of development from goose creek westward to copper butte there is an open section where only prospecting and location work are in progress but this work is going on incessantly copper butte is one of the oldest locations on the belt and this property was recently 1 bonded to W H harris and his chicago associates socia tes who have just begun the work of exploring it with drills adjoining copper butte on the west is the property of the north american copper co under management of D W C nelson this company has recently undergone a reorganization pending which the property has been inactive preparations are now being made to resume work at an early day by crosscutting cross cutting the ore body at a depth of feet the shaft on the north american can has attained a depth the greatest perhaps of any mine on the belt it has passed through several strata of copper bearing rock of low grade dipping in the direction of a lime dyke which bounds the upper edge of the ore formation nelson has this dyke in mind as the objective point for the crosscut which he proposes to drive from the bottom of the present shaft and in contact with which he anticipates the highest copper values the indiana mine is about five or six atiles to the westward of the north american property and this intervening country like all the rest on the copper belt here between points of active operations is beig 1119 iho thoroughly roughly prospected and for the most st part solidly located at the indiana mine a recent strike was made in which a seven foot vein was intersected interacted carrying an average percentage in copper of about 20 per cent and lying alongside ong side of this there is fifteen feet of ore e that will average about 10 per cent all the indiana ore carries some values in gold and silver aside from the copper |