Show FORTUNES IN OLD CAMPS from time to time the mining review has called attention to the fact that in the early discovered mining camps of the west big minos mines were to be found and fortunes made throughout the west there are hundreds of old camps whose very existence has been almost forgotten which have gone into decay and which stand as monuments of a period when the early pioneer penetrated into isolated regions and located the cream of the mineral showings As ac a matter ot of fact the men who were the forerunners of the mining industry of the western states and territories had the pick of 0 the land and their locations were only made when they had found ledges of rich mineral and sur pur face propositions which would cause the mining man of today to lose his head at hav ing a chance at such a proposition thirty or forty years ago the mine owners of the west made millions from their rich mines and even then their work was of the crudest and the process of ore reduction the most simple why such mines were nvere deserted and abandoned it is difficult t to state the of silver the mall demand for lead and the fact that there was little if any market for copper were among the reasons which caused the decay of many ot of these old camps and today they are idle although they should prove attractive to mining men because of the fact that they have been but partially developed and because of the further fact that the ore bodies they contain are larger and richer than is the case with many of the new mines which have been opened during late years even the old dumps are of higher grade th than an the shipping product being sent out from many of our new mining camps and now and then we hear of fortunes made by men who have ventured into these old camps and who have gone over ancient smelter dumps who have sent to the market second class ore which was of too low a grale to be profitably handled during the era of early mining but which under present conditions is looked upon as a high grade product such an instance is now being chronicled by the press of the country the scene of the recital being laid in dolly varden district elko county nevada dolly varden was one of the pioneer camps of the old sage brush state but it has been abandoned for many a year quite recently however its splendid has appealed to a number of minin mining men and prospectors and something less than a year ago these silent mountain ranges and lonely canyons were invaded by the ever alert mining operator all but one of these employed their time in exploring the ancient workings 1 of the old mines of the district the exception was A an assyrian who made an examination of an old smelter site where there were several hundred tons of ore on the dump which for some unexplained reason had never been put through the furnace hundreds of prospectors had seen this old dump of ore but for some reason regarded it as practically valueless not so who sampled the lot purchased it from its owner for 50 and who has since shipped the same to the Amerl american can smelling smelting Sm elting 0 refining company cleaning up something hing like on the deal such opportunities exist in hundreds of old mining camps throughout the west the I 1 operations of the pittsburg silver peak min of blair nevada have been company in g j based upon the resurrection of an old and practically abandoned d mine and thre the th e corn t pany ay is reported to have one of the most valuable properties in this intermountain re gion many instances of a si similar nillar character could be enuine enumerated rated proving the truth of the assertion made that in these old and deserted camps bonanza propositions are still to be found |