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Show CONTACT CAMP HAS LIVELY BOOM COMIHG New Railroad Line Infusing Life Into Long-Neglected Copper Country. .1. F. O 'By ruo of the firm of Fair banks & O 'Byrne, tho men who laid out. the Cold Circle district, and who havo been prominent ly connected with nil the mining excitements of the western west-ern country, passed through Salt Lake City Tuesday, April 20, on his way to Winchester, Ariz. Speaking to a Tribune reporter regarding re-garding the camp of Contact, Nov.. which has lately sprung into new prominence, Mr. O 'Byrne said: "Contact, is located in the northern part of Nevada, about fifty miles from Wells, on the Southern Pacih'e, and is best reached by stage lino from Ta-eoina. Ta-eoina. Nov. There is also an automobile auto-mobile line, running at present from Twin Falls, Ida., and this trip is made in five hours' time. The camp itself is unique, inasmuch as it parallels ICly, Nov., in one particular, and that is thai, it had been known to the mining world, the same as Ely. for the last, fifty years. I have met prospectors nut there who have been holding on to their claims for years, knowing that whenever a railroad'came into the camp their property would make them rich men. "The present excitement in the camp is due in a great measure to the good showings that the prospectors have found, and also to the fact that the long projected railroad is being built from Twin Falls, Ida., to Cobre, Nev. This is over tho Oregon Short Line, and the road has already reached the Salmon river dam. which is about thirty miles rom Contact. The road is expected to' reach Contact, within the next six months. "Regardless of the mining camp and tho ore the Tnilroad will haul from there, it will supply the farmers of the Twin Palls country, which is one of the largest irrigated tracts in the world, with an outlet for their products. "f suppose the camp derived its name from the fact that it has a limestone lime-stone contact which cau bo traced for a distance of twenty-five miles. The geology of tho district consists of a granite uplift or central cone among the old sedimentary rocks which gives a circular or horseshoe shape to the contact between the limestone and the granite. Mines and prospects arc scattered along this contact for a distance dis-tance of twenty-five miles. "The surface ores are highlv si-licious, si-licious, and are composed of azuritc, cuprite and malachite, with small traces of native copper scattered through the gangue. Most al of this at one time contained native copper, which has since become oxidized. These minerals rapidly merge, as depth is attained, at-tained, into the common sulphides of bornitc, chalcopyrite and calcocite. The ore is found principally along the contact of the lime and the granite, although there are many veins' in the outlying granites which show good values. These ores being of a highly silicious character make the most desirable de-sirable fluxing material for the smellers in that vicinity and at Salt. Lake. "Speaking about the smelters reminds re-minds me that. Mr. Todd of Seattle is at the present time in London, England, Eng-land, interesting capital for the purpose of erecting a smelter with a capacity of 1500 tons. Several big power plans are also being figured on. "There are three townsitcs in tho camp at present. Contact. Contact City and East Contact. Up to the present time all of the building has been done in Contact City, which place seems to have the ideal location and the start of the others. There are at least fifty buildings under construction now. Of the original 450 lots laid out. by the company, all were disposed of as fast as the contracts could be made out. These were snapped up by business men from Elko, "Wells. Nov.. and Twin Falls, Ida., who seem to recognize the possibilities possi-bilities of the place. "There- are no large companies in the camp as yet, but on the day T left :i parly of Philadelphians was expected in to look over the properties of Smith and McDermoff. As T was coning con-ing out we met on the road going iu the supplies for two general stores and a lumber yard. Men arc going into the camp at the rate of fifteen per day. most of these being prospectors and business men who are looking for sites. Contact, is essentially a high-grade camp, and the only reason it has never come lo the front is on account, of the lack of transportation facilities. Tho ores that are being haulerl out at present pres-ent will average. 11 per cent coppor. with small amounts of gold and considerable con-siderable silver Much of the ore will run from 40 to 60 per cent copper. VfcThe eauip is booming now. and T look for considerable "cwjtemeut when the railroad gels in The citizens of Contact and the Commercial club of Twin Falls, Ida., arc. working on the automobile road from Twin Falls, and on the day I' left. County Commissioner Wells, who is the field 'expert for the Haydcn Stone company of Boston, was in camp looking over the situation, and was more than pleased with the progress that has been made." i Metal Market. I The metal notations for Wednesday, posted by MoCornlck & Co.. were as follows: fol-lows: Silver, 51Sc; lead, S4.17J; copper, 12.7-16C. Oro and Bullion. The ore and bullion report for Wednesday, Wednes-day, given by Mcf'ornlck t Co., was as follows: Ore received, J125.000; bullion shipped. $60.000. |