OCR Text |
Show LA SI MOUNTAINS AND GDLDJPROSPECT Government Investigates Yellow Yel-low Metal Possibilities of Utah Section. fn June, 1011., n. reconnaissance of thft north and of tho northern group of tho La Sal mountains, Utah, was mado by James M. Hill or tho United States geological survey, for tho purpose of ascertaining as-certaining tho extent and valuo of the ore dcpositH and the prospects for futuro development of thn region. A report on this work bus Juut been published by tho geological survoy an bulletin 530-M, ontltiod " Not os on tho Northern La Bal Mountains, Grand Coiuity, Utah." Tho La Sal mountains aro In the Colorado plateau region, which is characterized char-acterized by long mesas cut by canyons can-yons from 2000 to 2500 feet dcop, with stoop cliffs S00 to 600 foet high. Abovo this relatively level platoau, which has a general elevation of 8000 font, tho northern group of tho mountains rises abruptly at Mount Waas to a height' of 12.58 feet. Two classes of mineral deposits are worked in the vicinity of Basin and Mesa. In tho mountains thore aro several sev-eral quartz mining prospects and at least ono locality whero placer gold has been recovered. The quartz mines havo made practically no production, and it ic probable prob-able that 35000 would cover tho ontiro output from both quartz and placer mining min-ing in the region. Tlie quartz prospects in the. northern La Sal mountains are few in number, and tho valuo of tho oro Is low oveu at tho surface, whore many jjold -bearing deposits in other dlBtrictu aro onrlched. Thn volnn, co far as they could bo seen by Mr. Hill, are small and contain much barren quartz. Tho high chargos for transportation to tho railroad at Cisco, ranging from 512 fo $Lo for outbound and S2H a ton for Inbound freight, aro an additional handicap. The placers of Wilson Mesa aro apparently appar-ently of small extent. Thoy contain only a small quantity of gravel, and all the gold In it cannot bo saved by sluicing, because- somo of It is carried i boulders, bould-ers, which requlro somo sort of crushing They include so much material that surely carries nothing of value that it would hardly socm advisable to Install expensive crushing and nmalgamatlng machinery unless It wero found practi- cal to sort the ore from the waste by hand. Besides these unfavorable conditions condi-tions only a very small and uncertain supply or water is available for phicor operations. Tlie placers contain, how-over how-over somo froo gold that, might be procured pro-cured at a proilt if the deposits aro worked in a small way. A copy of this report may be ohtnincd free ou application to tho dlroctor of the geological survey at Wasliington. |