| Show THE LITTLE MOUNTAIN I 1 A singular locality twelve wiles miles west of ogden ITS OLD TIME MINING WORK some ot of it sons done by first settlers of plain city and perhaps some ot of it by spaniards centuries ago ancient cabins and sup slag dumps bumps A cross on fremont island that nay may zo bo three hundred years old tho the rino fine promise of cultivation ifor for a large laise lai se area tile the range ranee ot mountains known us as oquirrh and in which Is situated blaag liani bam ophir and I 1 might add also the promontory range and the isla islands rids of oc gi cat salt halt lake presents many ot of the most interesting features ot of geology ecology on this continent there Is not another range like it inasmuch as aa it contains it a greater variety of 0 minor atis alls than Is found elsewhere in the ilia same area in tile the whole world iven even tile purs epurs and outlying elevations found on either cither side of the main chain present an interesting and instructive field for the mineralogist aln as well ns as tor for the miner some days since I 1 little mountain situated twelve miles west of ogden on the lake lahe share this little mountain Is what nhat may be termed nn an outlying spur of 0 tile oquirrh range and in itself it Is 19 one of ilia niort molit interesting geological fea features turen to be found in utah this mountain rises about feet above tile tho level or of tile the lake and its west base touches tile the water celize of cc the lake when the lake Is 13 at its usual level As to the formation it la Is slate baale and porphyry slate on the southwest and porphyry on oil tile the northeast and southeast uth east through all the pase pasc years little attention was raid paid to this locality as there was no water willi with chich alch to irrigate the broad plains of fine land eastward OLD WORKINGS about thirty years ago some of the people of t plain city visiting the he litlie mountain while pasturing cattle disco discovered discoveries veried extensive quartz veins lit in both the state slate and in the porphyry there was as a very interesting local excitement cit ement wry very high assays essays were ere reported and about fifty men began Mork thirty ine file or fotty folly holes nere mere sunk mink boine ot of them going down to a depth of nc about forty feet beet holes or shafts won started on oil quartz veins ot of from two tuo to four feet lit in width the ellis tire are mry ery M ry well defined dell ned and it possible that were ere carried down in them ti in a ot of from gnp on it to two hundred feet that some of them would show high at tile the bitne of my 1 isil to these claims mr lew ashton ut of ogden and a mclaughlin of the same I place ilace lace were engaged in de eloping a group of 0 claims there I 1 went dom down it into a a shaft they mere ere sinking finking they have a vein ut quartz there and it looks well vell they also stated that they obtained good assay returns and air had ix a of quartz with free gold in ili lc it which lie staled came ame iruin frum that shaft A little copper begins to show sit in this ican eln and I 1 found the to exist in justly nibia kither prospect beg b eg there ahk Is n very encouraging sign in fit such a toi mallun and 1 I noticed also that bhore copper begins to appear there that manganese puts in appearance and I 1 found the quartz which I 1 had tested to RUN KUN A LITTLE Is INGOLD GOLD it li quite likely that thorough prospecting done there that at a depth nf n from froin wie bundled to live five ito hundred 11 ired fet feet pay laluca alues dould occurs in 11 many I 1 any of oc lie claims the porphyry Is ig of 0 a beautiful color and in the hie state formation there mcuri a pecullar peculiar lorm form of tuble varying lit iti size from halt half tit in inch in fit diameter to three and four indies inches across and must ot of them how i the very plainly these have been washed out of the slate and are arc found in fit great abundance in the little ravines into which they were carided can led ly the storms of the hie pat ages those thus maylied Hat lied out in this ihla way cry much re stream tin till as they liae ir hanged front froin pyrite to Ilmoni tc the sulphur having escaped ed they make i cry intel cabinet and some day the little mountain vi will ill become a cranks paradise tor for fill ahli alono the alip formation of 0 this mountain is si similar nillar to that of 0 fremont carrington hot and pc alcan islands out in the lake and when nhen old lale lake ionn spread its fresh waters maters over seven times the area no now occupied by salt lak the little mountain was a lery cry dinall loland hand in that broad sheet or 0 clear cold water speaking of 0 don bon nevilles lake recalls to mind till rm CHANGUS that leaie taken place since elioso elitist dagg w m liin hen its water stood four hundred feet higher than the present of 0 salt laks lake and ogden it WAS wal it fresh water liko lake then end and lulled ogden valley cache nalley alley and ohp country tar far to the south and west the rangi showed unbowed up as a long narrow I 1 island land and the ot of the lake reached tho ilia ocean v la ia A what list now forms port aorl neuf licud river thence into snake river and the columbia and in those days tiles these waters aters A must have lieen been filled will mith types of ashes and the shores of the lake frequented by the swamp reptiles of those at that tit time ne the mountain ranges and islands must have been heavily ro hooded Tood oded cd it and lid I 1 tho lie little round mountain yet shows signs signs of nf this in the pieces of petrified wood found scattered hero here and there over its surface at present the locality Is deec desolate date its minerals are its only interesting feature but soon a new era Is dertl destined nod to dawn upon it the pioneer electric I 1 adur power company has carried out during the past year a magnificent system of canals into that c unity country 0 and as a result the 1600 0 nor acres L s ot f flue land that lie he around litt little to mou mountain no maln will become A VERITABLE CANAAN for agriculture and then much more time and money will be spent upon tile tho mineral veins that thai exist there at present there Is a good risk tor for some gome one axle who Is curious to prove what is COO feet town down beneath the surface 11 in those veins mr air ashton and tir mr mclaughlin offer wod good inducement to capital and their own efforts prove that they have faith little mountain presents an interesting held to the archaeologist there are abundant remains ot of the hie old races in hints flints and obsidian lance heads found out there jn ili the old times when herds ot of burtalo were hicl salt I 1 lake valley they were very abundant at t little mountain as there the first of 0 schoot dhoot up ull binl good feed is there during tile winter their bones were stilt theta when the mormon jor nion emigrants came to zion and even yet we occasionally fand the frag went tit 0 a leoin lot n or part of LL skull the riede plede and the koshoot indians long made little mountain a resort theio the jack rabbit ot of the uld da days das s was larger and flitter fatter tit thaia tit anywhere r a I 1 else tile onge ose brush there WB tall ai 1 and ml acil heavy avy affording E shelter belter 4 fuel for winter all and in tile bummer I 1 betso soil tile the lee locusta alls is I 1 and crickets w wro pro larger there alia than Itse whore in the fall and winter it 11 aia lie elio indians favorite resort and when lieu age and woe mcie overtook them it was A CHOSEN SPOT lit in which I 1 to 0 end the miseries or of tile the om old mul and poor and friendless by burying them ju hi some som lonely quiet spot liy by the lako shore many a poor old warrior broken down with neglect and lid exposure left his ashes there arid and many EL a poor old squaw wife or decrepit broken brokell down anil and desp despised lAcil mother in law had her haull cracked in return for past se services and thus was ivas given a ave at little mountain of 0 all ai its ancient denizens the coyol comoto Is i still the most pronounced I 1 ta tit it Is 14 be who now claims ownership ot of tile the jack rabbits theio and lie he finds rood good shelter in the tall sage that still till grows on the bV IsIde thirty years Is in a long time and na as many ot of hope who nho first mined tit little littie mountain tire are in their graves and the sago hi bitiah asli growing av over or tile llie work they berf armed the stry story goes forth that much knuch 0 of the work lound found there was lone done by the spaniards and that there were borne bome wonderfully rich finds there but that the indiana gave no lie lest to the avaricious iberians Ibe rians who mail made five year journey to this spot and used to carry mule trains 0 of either cither gold or silver bullion from som of 0 tile old claims then worked lor gold r F PnAT 13 UnES but now there la Is something ve very strange about many things found at little mountain it Is a 11 question with me if all tile the work done there was 1 lone done by the 0 utah in the lie early it days ays and tho the remains of callins and stone huts would indicate that men dwelt there for some lime and as to the mining it icema to have been done w without ith powder or any method ot of bias bla stings t angst it if there ever were rich mines there they were filled in another very strange feature there that Is hard to account for la Is that we find the matter taken front from tho the shafts and tunnels placed often cis as much as aa a hundred feet front from tho ilia mouth 0 the tunnel or shaft certainly entailing much extra work on those who would carry it that far front from tile the mouth of tile shaft some claim that when the people ot of Plain City first prospected on little mountain the most conspicuous of the shafts and dumps were there and grown over with sage as LI they are at present they also point to tho the slag piles C tall u inc that it was from ore smelter smelted il that this slag was produced and they say that the foundations of 0 stone cabins yet to be seen were there in 1849 when the te first mormons cormons visited little mountain A CROSS ACROSS IN STONE there la Is this very strange feature to be explained away over on fremont island which lies about three miles west ot of LIM letlo mountain there Is a cross cut into the rock on a very high dirt cliff at the north end ot of the island and there Is much dispute about partly obliterated lite rated marks that many claim to be a late date the cross Is about ton ten inches ili III the perpendicular and seven inches in the cross arms it was made with a steel feel r instrument and stands ob liqued to the right what seems to he be a data Is below it lut dr to decipher but the imperfect mackil would seem to bo be 1593 the cross la Is genuine as aa it was waa found by fremont in wl and also by stansbury in and IMO 1850 now that island must have been visited by christiana at it a time prior to the visit ot of tile theo men and possibly it was ft isalt made by and pros ho to camo came from a camp cairis nt at little mountain Moun laiu I 1 will 1111 not attempt to explain away this cross on oil the island nor the staff slag at little mountain nor the square t spanish tile found northeast ot of little title mountain by the lake shore near willard it Is quite possible that the franciscan francl scan dut inc the aix tenth seventeenth or eighteenth cen cell tulles tui ley visited this region for the purpose ut f the wild tribes it Is quite pos biblo that A 4 mission was in salt lake valley and afterward abandoned or perhaps tho the missionaries wele murdered bcd and all ves akes of oc their work obliterated by their s difficult to settle this theory personally I 1 am free to at admit that there tire fire a dpn grains of mystery a Octa ted with the remains nt at little mountain and also in rotation relation to the cross on oil fremont island but I 1 cannot reconcile my mind to there icing a date under the cross croas it may be a dile bdate but i lery wy badly defaced by tho the elements it Is ahk subject hilll ill soon cai up lip before one of our archaeological societies col huu Is 3 t I 1 1 to have given elven much study to tills this subject although lie has been very careful not to express his opinion jt it Is pretty well knott n however that li lie has burned midnight oil lit in ills his attempts to unite the broken threads that constitute tho the mystery of 0 little mountain were wo we certain that till missions s were eier eer lit in salt lake valley it would ile he easy to explain the rest were the weber archaeological club to raise a nurse for col hurt and lot let him visit the city ot mexico and also valladolid anil and salamanca in oli old spain tho the ai aa chives of the endias indias would no doubt reveal the truth which we ire seek in this case unfortunately the he state at 0 fleance in old weber at this time does not allow such it a step and all that Is left for men to do Is 1 to sink on tile the quartz veins at little mountain and ascertain us as to in how they assay in gold as dep depth n la rained DON MAGUIRE |
