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Show TIE MANHATTAN IE DISTRICT IS PROSPEROUS Year of 1912 Has Been a Period of Rapid Evolution; Now Among Foremost in Nevada. LEASING SYSTEM IS IMPORTANT FACTOR The Big Four Group Leads and Owners Are Building and Planning for Future Fu-ture Operations. MANHATTAN, Nov., Dcc. 28. Tho year 191 2 has been for tbe Manhattan mining district a period of rapid evolution, from ono iu which, small quantities of rich oro luirl becu found, tho production a negligible factor, to one that now ranks among tlio foremost iu tho btato in point of bullion output ami tonnago of commercial ore in sight. This yoar has witnessed tho rc&J birth of tho camp as a producor of importance Jn 1900 the district had attracted tho attention at-tention of mining men and investors, but moat money for development had been subscribed b- San Prancisco inoa and after tho liro and. carlhquako of thai, year no funds for mining were to be had, as a matter of course, from tho California metropolis. Tt remained for eastern and Nevada men to open up tho mines during tho past jear. Tho leasing system, to which may bo lartrely ascribed tho malting of Gold-field, Gold-field, 0'onopah and. other producing districts, dis-tricts, has been an important factor in tho development of mining properties, I which might havo remained idlo aud unexplored- but for the activities of tho lessees. Tho best mines in the district, including the Big Four, Consolidated, Con-solidated, "White Caps, Big Pine, Amalgamated Amal-gamated and others, havo first been opened by lessees and on tlio lirst-men-tioucd tho T3ig Four lease was purchased pur-chased by tlio owning company from the lessees for a largo sum. Big Four Group. Of all- tho propcrtios in tho district tho Big Four may claim supremacy, by reason of its production and tho tonnago ton-nago of commercial oro in sight, aud it is now classed, as ono of tho best mines iu Nevada. Prior to the taking tak-ing over of tho Big Four leaso by tho company tho lessees, Xak, Stoen and Cicala, had mado a not production of about $.'100,000, according to roport, and w'hilo tho work of tho compan' since then ha3 been dcvolod cbiolly to development, a largo quanlity oC ore has been placed on tho dumps in addition ad-dition to that blocked out and left standing in tho mine. Most ot tho equipment for tlio Big Four company's 12H-ton mill is on tho ground and the frainowork is already uuder cover, tho oro bins neariug completion com-pletion aud tho work of setting tho machinery upon tho concreto foundations founda-tions will bo in progress sooji. It is expected that tho plant will bo in operation op-eration soon after tho middlo of January Janu-ary at latest. Tho company is having 000 tons of $20 oro treated at tlio Brady mill. It would, bo necessary to load aud haul this ore to tho companj" mill upon its completion and. it has been docided. to havo it treated now and cct it out oC tho wa'. Development in tho mino has shown the oro bodies to bo of vast proportions. propor-tions. A drift on tho hanging-wall side of tho voin, at the 100-foot lcvol, has followed tho oro for nearly 100 feet und cross-cuts show tho oro to bo eighteen feet wido in places, and to average av-erage from $12 to $20 per ton and to caTry seams of highor grado material. mate-rial. A cross-fissuro opened lately is of largo size and yields nvoragc assays of $i) ner ton. Tho 200-foot level ha3 oxposodi lariro bodies of excellent milling j ore, extending over a wido area, particularly par-ticularly in what is known as tho Glory-hole Glory-hole vein On this lovol a cross-cut is tica-ring a vein from which some high-grado oro was taken, through an inclino shaft from tho surface. Assays Are High. Deposits of great volumo and of unusual valuo havo been exposod at various points in tho proporty. From the -100-foot level a raiso has connected with intermediate drift for air and one of theso drifts has exposed a body ,of oro that is said to bo ten feet wide and to yield mino assayn of $75 por ton. Another drift near thia point has followed a seam of calcito oro from which assays of ovor $1000 per ton have bcen oblaiucd. Tho oro 1ms been opened at a point just above the 000-foot 000-foot lovol and a pump, of 300000 gallons gal-lons daily capacity, has boon installed on tho yOO-foot lovel, in such a man ncr'that tho drifts on this lovol may bo allowed to fill with water, forming a reservoir in.' tho ovont of power failure, fail-ure, but without interfering with tho operation of tho.. pump or other parts' of tho plant. Thero is now sulhciont oro of good grade opened and practically practi-cally blocked out on and abovo tho 100-foot level to supply tho now mill at full capacity for maiiy months. Thy long tunnel from Uio adjoining Joker property, owned by the Big Four, will soon connect with tho main Big Four shaft at tho 200-foot level, after which it will bo necessary to raise to tho collar of the shaft "only such water as is required for tho mill, the remaindor running off through this tunnel. The Whito Caps is proving to bo a proporty of great worth and has already al-ready mado a largo 'production of good milling ore, together with somo of shipping grade. Tho present output of approximately fifty tons daily is being sent to tlio Associated mill for treatment, the oro coming chiefly from slopes above tho IGo-foot lovel, cast of tho shaft. Thero will be no diflleulty, according lo the management, in maintaining main-taining this tonnago for soino tiino to coino, and tho average valuo, indicated by pa3t shipments, will bo around $15 per ton; a grado that can bo mado to yield a fair profit. Tho main shaft is to bo continued from its present dopth of 2U3 feet to a depth of 300 feel. Amalgamated Ore. A regular production of good ore is being mado by the Amalgamated and the best of this product has bcen lak'en from Iho hanging-wall sido of the slopes that were opened by lessees, who overlooked this material whilo they woro taking out oro of lower grade. Drifts and stopes on tho 215-foot level show that tho vein varies in width from four to twenty feet and some of tho assays have been running from $100 to $200 por ton, whilo the general average of tho oro shipped to tho mill has bcen $20 por ton. A cross-cut io to bo driven at onco to cut this ore body on tho 300-foot level. On the Big Piuc proporty, about -100 foot from tho main shaft of tho Big Four company, lessees havo exposed a largo body of gold-bearing schist, similar sim-ilar in character to that found in tho Big Four mine. Levels driven thirty feet in ouo direction and forty foot at right angles to tho first havo bcen all in this material which, after scrceu- ing, yields a good profit at the mill. A striping air drill is now in uso for opening up this ore botlj', tho power being supplied from the Big Four compressor. com-pressor. A mill run of sixtj'-soven tons of ore from a leaso on tho Mauhattau Cros-eont Cros-eont property last week yielded the lessees bullion valued at $1000, the ore averaging around $b'0 per ton. An-othor An-othor bar of bullion, nearly equaling this in value, was turned over to the lessees from a mill run a short timo ago. This ore constitutes screenings or fines from tho product mined in a slope at a doplh of but thirty foot. Tho rc-joct, rc-joct, about 100 tons from tho last shipment, ship-ment, ia said to contain about $10 per ton in gold. Lease Is Rich. From tho Pittman-Finlayson lease on tho Litigation Hill Merger property the third mill run for December has been shipped to tho War Eaglo mill, tho ore averaging throughout about $20 por ton and making aggregato shipments ship-ments for the month of 500 tons Tho ore comes from the -100-foot level of tho incline shaft aud a raise is now being driven from the -185-foot lcvol to cut this oro body. This leaso was formerly the Bath loase, aud was purchased pur-chased by the present owners for $5000. Almost immediately after tho purchase tho present ownera found a largo body of rich oro, aud from their first shipment ship-ment netted sufficient to cover their initial in-itial investment and havo siuco then mado good profits. These men also secured se-cured an adjoining leaso that has good ore. f. If. Brady, manager or consulting cugiuecr for sovoral of thejoadiug Ton-opah Ton-opah miniug companies, is now", with his associates, operating the Manhattan Earl property, and a production of fifteen fif-teen tons of ?20 oro is being mado daily from development work in a drift on tho 1550-foot level. A raiso from this level is following up tho oro and tho facn of tho drift shows two feet of good ore. Lessees made a largo production pro-duction from tho upper levels of this property. A pocket is being cut at the 350 level for the installation ol! a triplex tri-plex pump, already on tho ground, and sinking will continue lo Iho -150 level at onco. On tho Manhattan Consolidated ore is bning taken from thn workings of the Mushctt-Wittenberg lease, and two lols havo lalcly been treated by the War Eaglo and associated mills. Between Be-tween tho l.'iO and 250-foot levels there is a good tonnage of commercial ore exposed, as well as material of lower grado above the 130 lovel. Tho Kendall-Douglass lease, on tho Bame prop-crt3', prop-crt3', has produced a considerable quantity of pay oro and is still takinir out orn on the 125-foot level and will proceed at onco to open deeper levels. This "will bo done b3' driving into this territory from tho Earl shaft, at a depth of 350 foot, and securinsr power for tho air drills from the Farl compressor. com-pressor. It is reported that negotiations negotia-tions arc now in proercs havine for thoir object the consolidation of sovoral important leases in tho Manhattan district. dis-trict. Placer Operations. Oro of excellent grade has boon produced pro-duced from lho Toro Blanco propc-rt', and at last reports somo oro of bettor than avcrago grado had been brokeu and stored to await shipment. Tho old Manhattan Mining company tho property prop-erty of which adjoins tho Soyler-lTum-phfoy, tho uccno of. tho original discovery dis-covery of gold in tho district, has been reorganized and lessees havo found some ore of good grado in shallow workings. At many other points in the district work is in progress or planned for tho near future and oro of commercial com-mercial grade has been exposed at scores of points ovor a wido area. Placer operations aro still in progress prog-ress along tho Manhattan gulch, Ib'e mild weather having enabled tho placer miners to continue with no serious interruption. in-terruption. Somo of tho dirt runs high in gold and occasionally nuggols of good fiiv.o are fouud, a two-ounce nug-cot nug-cot having boon unearthed a short lime ago. |