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Show ge oo Mr. Smith being 4 practical assayéy, and recalling the myths about Pold in the Mercur lode, made a number of tests for the yellow metal, the first series of assays returning from $30 to $90 a ton. Waning hopes were revived and men were put to work mining for gold. The result of a trial run upon five tons treated in an amalgamating mill showed an apparent gold extraction of 80 per cent, which was deemed sufficiently encouraging to warrant further operation the following season. During the winter Mr. Smith endeavored to interest capital in what he was convinced would prove a good gold venture. In March Gill S. Peyton and H. W. Brown were prevailed on to visit Camp Floyd. After carefully examining the auriferous ground, tested in the closing weeks of the previous year, they were amply stimulated by the showing to take hold of the enterprise. The first step made was to obtain a deed to the Mercur claim from Arie Pinedo, who parted with the property for $10,000. Considerable adjoining ground was located, and in June, after an interest had been sold to John Dern, E. H. Airis and John Heimrich of Nebraska, the Mercur Gold Mining and Milling company was incorporated with $5,000,000 capital. The work of erecting an amalgamating mill was at once begun, and the development of the mine proceeded with. * * K In the spring of 1891, the Mercur mill was given its initial trial with roseate anticipations of excellent results. Some 1500 tons of ore, JOINT CITY AND COUNTY that by careful sampling showed an average value of $18 a ton, were put through. Assays from numerous samples of the tailings indicated that an extraction of about 80 per cent, or $14.40 per ton, had been accomplished, which would have been a highly satisfactory record. From these figures it is shown that the 1500 tons ought to have afforded a clean-up of $21,600, while in reality it proved to be less than $5000. This outcome was most discouraging, and to find out how and where the gold had disappeared, together with a practical method of securing the metal, was the perplexing BEQDICHE: 00 be solved. * About this time news of the success of the McArthur-Forrest cyanide process for treating gold ores was heralded abroad. Mr. Smith had used cyanide of potassium for cleaning quicksilver, and it occurred to him that quite probably the gold had been dissolved—the method of extracting gold from the ore by cyaniding—and in this way the wide discrepancy between the expectation and the realization of the mill clean-up would be accounted for. A numbr of tests and experiments were made which demonstrated this to be the case. Soon afterwards a sack of ore was sent to Denver for a preliminary trial, and the percentage of saving on this small lot was so favorable that the company shipped a carload for a more complete, practical, working test. On this shipment an extraction of 80 per cent was paid for, and all in all, it was so entirely satisfactory that the cyaniding treatment was determined upon by the company. * * i The mangement lost no time in making the changes necessary to equip their mill for the use of the McArthur-Forrest process, which has A Fer OS - | c 19 proven, with necessary modifications, the Jong-sought system for luring Mercur’s golden treasure from its hiding place. With the unfolding of Nature’s well-kept secret, a new era dawned in Camp Floyd’s history. A tide of emigration soon set in, and the district suddenly awoke from its twenty years’ slumber to find itself transformed from an uncertain silver camp to an extensive gold field of incalculable value. From this time forward events followea each other with rapid pace. The season of 1894 was one of activity among prospectors, and visitors to the camp no longer came away with disgust written on their countenances. * i a What remains of the story of the Mercur mine is replete with interest. The company now owns 160 acres in a connected body cover- | ing the vein, which has been opened for four-fifths of a mile on the strike or course, while the longest incline is over 1200 feet. The dip of the ore zone is that of the enveloping strata—about fifteen or twenty degrees from the horizon toward Lewiston canyon. In thickness the ore varies from ten to fifty feet, and probably averages nearly twenty feet. So far as exploration has gone the values well hold their own throughout the entire property. The mine is operated by a system of tunnels run into the side hill on the strike. The workings are a confusing network of openings that show a vast amount of ore reserves with extensive rich territory of virgin ground only partly explored. BUILDING, SALT LAKE OITY. During 1895 some 50,000 tons were sent to the mill which averaged $12 a ton, the metallic extraction being a fraction above 83 per cent of the assays. The cost of mining, transportation and treatment, with interest on investment, including office expenses, was $3.40 a ton. Up to the middle of March, 1896, a round million dollars was the yield from this ground, of which $425,000 were distributed in dividends. This is an exceptional record for premiums received by the stockholders of a comparatively new company. Fully $150,000 was expended in enlarging the mill, which last year was given a daily capacity of 200 tons, acquiring additional territory and in perfecting equipment. A steam hoist has been erected on the Mattie No. 4, on the extreme southeast end of the property, and the ground adjoining the Golden Gate on the northeast will be opened this season. These new workings are planned to insure an ample ore supply for the 400-ton mill now being constructed at the mine. By thus treating the ore immediately at home, and with a more systematic method of handling the mine products, $100 will be added to the daily profit, on an output of 200 tons. It is probable that the cyaniding plant at Manning will in the near future be a custom mill, for which there is already a generous demand. * * cK These are the achievements of the Mercur company up to date, covering the development period, both as regards to proving the resources of the gold-bearing ground and in the perfection of the method of extracting the values from the ore. No mine of modern times has ever fought a fiercer fight against, apparently, insurmountable obstacles, and the glorious victory has made the camp what it is today. With the new mill in successful operation the monthly premium to stock- |