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Show 1 DON MAGUIRE TELLS i OF OREGOIU BOMZA t Wonderful Country, With ifi Rich and Big Ore Body Discovered. II GOLD, SILVER, STONES j: Ground Heavily Laden With l Precious Materials for 1 1 , Mankind. m j: Don Mnguirc, tho famous Utah geolo- 1(1 m- c'st tas contributed tne Salt k3-0 Iff 31' Mining Review an excellent articlo on jl fli "A Now Bonanza Iand in Oregon." ijjf m. Tt is written in tho graphic and pic- (if rP turesquc stylo of the man who revxds iff! lift stories in stones and finds histories in mm. mountains and plains. The following I Milt excerpts aro made from the article: 3 m ' South central Orogon is a quiot ullju part of the world. It lies between In W tn0 Cascade and blue ranges of ?j ft mountains, a region that is ninety I til ll miles wide, extending from tho iff . Columbia river to the southern !'P IBS boundary of tha state; a volcanic $ '111. plain covered with fingo brush and M lunipor of the stunted ordor. Tho tjy In broad surfaco is rifted by yawn- 'Jmki ing gorges that break through tho different lava strata that mako up tho leaves of this old geologic volume. These gorges vary in width and depth from a few feet each way, until wo take into contemplation con-templation the titanic work of nature na-ture known as tho Canyon of tho Des Chutes, and tho still wider depression of Crooked Eivor valley. val-ley. Considered Uninviting. For more than fifty years men talked of thiB part of Oregon as ono unlikely to do opened to easy accesB for many generations. The great rifted plain was a desert, tho snowy peaks of the Cascades bordered its west side and tho thickly timbered areas of the Bluo mountains and their spurs flanked its eastern borders. The sleep of centuries was broken bro-ken Borne three years ago when the Southern Pacific Railroad company com-pany and the North Bank Railway company began contending for empire em-pire in" this hitherto little known part of our conntry. Mighty Uplift. Lj'ing west of tho Blue mountains moun-tains there is a very prominent uplift, heavily timbered with tamarack, tam-arack, yellow pine, cedar and juniper. ju-niper. "It is about ninet3r miles in length and ftixty miles in width. Its formation is igneous; in most parts basaltic cliffs and volcanic sheets succeed each other in its building structure, and its peaks rise from 5000 to 9000 fecfc above sea level. This is known as the Ochoco uplift. A hundred small streams rise amongst its forests and rugged peaks. Many of theso streams Jose themselves fn the volcanic vol-canic rifts near the base of this mountain group, while others of them find their way into the Des jgl chutes river or Crooked rivor, or ' Je flow southerly in their course, to fljjj sink in the" lava desert that m stretches in an unbroken plain far ji as the eye can see to tho south Wl and south westward. I Distinct Lode. wb From the crest of Gold hill, and 8 'fin for a distanco of about GOO feet IJfJU toward its west base, there runs from nortii to south a lode, clear 1 1 and distinct, with well-defined foot i' ijjj and hanging wall, This lode is t banded with what may be tormed Sjjj five distinct fahlbands or veins. j8jl Tho great lode is gold and silver ItJlfl bearing, tho area between bands being strongly impregnated with pr& gold-bearing pyrito; the bands or tSUJ intercalary veins are rich in gold Jajjl and silver, the gold running 65 jfnJ parts to 35 of silver in values; in f two of ihc6e intercalary voins Injl we find high gold and silver val- wiS UftB as50C'ad with wide bauds of fn! wolframite, and, "next to the hang- yfifj ing wall of ono of these veins, tho . ftfi j gold and silver high values aro as- Wflll seriated with from I to 1J per jjfljj 'ent lead, iu the form of galena or lead sulphide. SI j Ore Is Rich. fijlff Two of the five bands that pnr- ' Bill :lc' c great lode havo the toot m wall o each flanked with wido km caeinga of wolframite and ono of tii them has some inches of lead ore of low grade, but in which wo find high values of gold and silver. Tho Ophir lode is not only ono of the most promising of any yet worked upon our continent or fn tho universe, but it standB out alone, different from any other known oro body. It may bo said that there is hardly a pound of quartz in its entire en-tire area. Tho silicious makeup of tho ontiro lodo is in a granulated state, tho bands often showing bodies bod-ies of soft spar not unlike gypsum, 1 and through such vein or lode matter mat-ter we And concentric bands of high-grade gold and silver ores, such concontric rings or bands often oft-en showing in gold from two to twent' and ns high as 100 ouhcob. Also Some Lead. Other metals than gold and silver show small evidence on the Ophir lode at Howard, Ore, Load ore in small quantity is present along the f ootwall of the Mayflower fahlband, but only in an inconsiderable amount: just enough to warrant great depth to tho fahlband in which it occurs. Of copper, not a trace so fax appears, and yot it is not improbable that when a depth of 400 or 500 feofr greater is gainod there than at present, yellow and gray copper ores may appear. Tho wolframite ores may become a great factor as to profit, ns they are there in considerable amount. In tho Scranton fahlband there appears a four-inch measure of sphalerite. It is rich with gold and silver, but so far gold and silver are all that wo may consider in this new rogion in the way of profitable values. Looking at the Ochoco region of Oregon, after weeks of investigation, investiga-tion, it may soberly be said that tho locality is one of the most promising. promis-ing. !lt is not a largo country, but what there is of it is in spots wonderfully won-derfully rich, and tho vory poorest of the mineralized aroa promises grand returns to those who may tako hold of the ores found tbero for tho work of concentration. As to tho country round about, only a small area has been prospected on the surface. There lies iu most places an overburden of from one to two foot iu thicknesH. In some places chaparral prevents easy access ac-cess to tho hillsides, and in other places much of tho surfaco is overgrown over-grown with a dense growth of ' young evergreens. Tho country round about Mt. Pisgah, and that west of McCal listers butte, is said to show much gold-bearing quartz, but thoro is not ono pound ot quartz tq be found in tho Ophir 'ode, nor ib thero any evidence that with jfreat depth quartz ore may appear ap-pear in this great body of gold-bearinir gold-bearinir matter. Precious Stones. Outside of gold, silver and wolframite, wolf-ramite, the ono item that may be considered among the minerals of thi5hithorto unknown country is that of agates and inclusions of jaBper, that occur in the trap rock moasurrs. Theso aro quite abundant, abun-dant, beautiful, and, in many instances, in-stances, quite valuable. The hairline hair-line agates are amonp the moat beautiful in the world, the green nnd yellow jasper is of unusual mr-it, mr-it, as com stonos; of the yellow jasper jas-per thoro is a variety known ns moss jasper, that is particularly brautiful when cnt. There occurs also, in tho trap rock measures of this country, a semi-precious opal that when cut has a most pleasing effoct. Not far from the summit of Mt. Pisgah rlpidolite has been found containing small garnets, brokon frngments of spodnmene and what seem to be minuto diamond crystals. The crystals may be crye-talj crye-talj or sanadine and yet. whoro ripidolito occurs wo naturally may expect to find dinmonds. Takon altogether, the country as a. whole is ono of the most interesting inter-esting ever visited by a mining man, ami most curtain to mako its record within a very few years from this time. |