Full Text of “The Black Hills Illustrated” - Part 6


	This file contains a full text transcription of pages 139-154 of “The 
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COLUMBUS CONSOLIDATED GOLD MINING COMPANY.

	H. J. .Mayham, president of the Columbus Consolidated company, says that 
"the Homestake is the greatest gold mine in the world, and the Columbus is the 
mine next to it." Admittedly, the first is an indisputable fact, and that the 
second has a twofold meaning is admitted by all who have made the property a 
study. Geographically, the Columbus adjoins the Homestake on the northwest. 
Geologically, the conditions are almost identical. The same great lode, carrying 
the same character of ore, enclosed in the same character of walls, and carrying 
practically the same values in gold, is disclosed in both mines. And that the 
Columbus may become second to the Homestake in point of production and dividends 
paid is the wish of every Black Hiller who has watched the judicious development 
and careful management of the property. That it will be able to do so with the 
proper equipment is conceded by all.

	Last year the Columbus made one of the greatest ore discoveries in the 
history of the Black Hills, when there was opened, on the 200-foot level of the 
shaft, one of the big veins of the Home-stake series, some 240 feet wide, and 
three others varying in width from a few feet up to 60 feet.

	In the same shaft there is also opened the Columbus vein, one of the belt 
fissures. It has a width of 30 feet, and its ores have been successfully milled 
in small plants. What it might be able to produce were it worked systematically 
and on a large scale can be only conjectural.

	It was to treat the ore from this Columbus vein that Ruth & Lardner, the 
former owners of the ground, had built a small stamp mill, some twenty years 
before. Shortage of water caused them to suspend operations, and the property 
was purchased by the present company, which amalgamated with it some 600 acres 
of ground lying north and adjoining, making a mineral estate of no mean value.

	Ruth & Lardner had sunk their two-compartment shaft to a depth of 200 
feet, and upon the Columbus company assuming control the shaft was immediately 
enlarged to three compartments, in order to allow more working room. Then, after 
prospecting the formation on the 200-foot level, the shaft was sunk to 500 feet, 
where development work is now in progress, with a cross-cut being run both east 
and west, and both these are in ore of even better grade than is shown on the 
200-foot level. This shaft is just 700 feet north of the Homestake-Columbus 
joint boundary, and the point where the big vein was cut in the drift is just 
288 feet north.

	The company commenced active operations on the property in the summer of 
1902, purchasing a stamp-cyanide mill near the north-cast corner of the property 
in which to make tests of the ores. The mill has been operated continuously 
since, treating ores from the siliceous or blanket deposits on the north end of 
the ground. The mill has been a paying institution, the proceeds being used to 
help liquidate the payroll for development.

	Developments have been kept on apace in the siliceous deposits, and to-day 
there is more ore in sight than when the mill was started, and thousands of tons 
have been treated. The principal supplies come from the L. & F. and Dalton 
groups, being hauled to the mill in wagons. The accompanying illustration chows 
the ore bins at the L. & F. mine, with an ore team just finished loading.

	A monster stamp mill, of a thousand tons daily capacity is designed to 
treat the ore from the different openings on the property. It will be centrally 
located, near the head of Sawpit Gulch, easily accessible from every portion of 
the large estate. Aerial tramways will probably be used to a large extent for 
the transportation of ores to the mill. In recovering the gold tile process 
which has been accepted by the Homestake as the desideratum will be employed, 
namely, amalgamation, followed by cyanidation of the tailings. Water for the 
mill will be secured from the shafts and from wells in Sawpit Gulch, and from 
False Bottom Creek.

	But to supply ore for the big mill, the mine is being most thoroughly 
opened up. Near the north end of the property a shaft, known as the Tredwell, is 
being sunk, following the big vein. At great depths it will be connected, by 
drifts, with the Columbus shaft and other openings which may be made in the 
future. These openings, besides blocking out the ore bodies, will serve as 
ventilators, and a constant supply of fresh air will reach the miners.

	Over a mile in length is owned on the great belt veins by tills company. 
Its territory embraces 645 acres, extending from Central City, adjoining the 
DeSmet of the Homestake company, to the divide between Blacktail and False 
Bottom gulches-a mile and a quarter. At various points for the entire distance 
openings have been made, proving the continuity of the ore bodies for the entire 
distance.

	In order to understand fully the ore bodies of the Columbus, its 
geographical position must be known. It adjoins on the north and northwest the 
holdings of the Homestake and Hidden Fortune mines, and includes the north 
extension of all of the ore bodies of both of those properties. Undoubtedly the 
Columbus needs only a large mill, combined with good executive ability, to make 
it a dividend-payer. It owns immense amounts of ore, which is pay material in 
the Black Hills, and needs only a reduction plant to unlock its treasure vault.

	The Columbus company's veins-large and of low grade-call for the 
economical handling of immense amounts of ore. It is an established fact that in 
order to treat the ores of the Black Hills successfully, large mills and 
hoisting plants are required. The veins, on account of their great dimensions, 
can be made to supply a thousand tons of ore a day as easily as a hundred. It is 
only a question of making room for the greater number of men to work in the 
underground stopes, and of machinery for bringing the ore to the surface. Small 
profits per ton, but immense tonnage, mean handsome daily profits.

	The Columbus Consolidated Gold Mining Company has a capitalization of 
$5,000,000, the shares having a par value of one dollar each. The company is 
organized under the laws of the state of South Dakota, which gives especial 
protection to stockholders. General offices are established at 13-14 Brown 
Palace building, Denver, and the mine office is in the Franklin Hotel, Deadwood.

	Henry J. Mayham, the president, is a man identified with many prominent 
enterprises of the Black Hills.  He has been instrumental in securing millions 
of dollars for the development of the mineral resources. He has had many years' 
experience in the mines of the West, Colorado, Arizona and elsewhere, and came 
to the Black Hills to interest himself some four years ago.

	William Sauntry, vice-president, is one of the wealthiest lumber dealers 
of Minnesota, a shrewd, careful business man. He had amassed a large fortune in 
the pineries before he became interested in the Black Hills mines, he being, 
like Mr. Mayham, interested in several properties. George D. Begole. secretary, 
is one of the younger business men of Denver. W. G. Brown, treasurer, is a 
Denver banker. Moses Thompson, general manager, is a miner of half a century 
experience, and well fitted for the position.

THE CLOVER LEAF GOLD MINING COMPANY.

	The Uncle Sam mine, owned and operated by the Clover Leaf Gold Mining 
Company, has had a most interesting history and been one of the most talked-of 
properties in the Black Hills, and never more so than now, when, after five 
years of unceasing effort and a heavy outlay, the present owners are reaping a 
rich reward for their tenacity and faith.

	The vein was discovered and located on the banks of Elk Creek, seven miles 
southeast from Lead, and eight from Deadwood, in 1878, by the Delaney brothers 
and their partners. This vein, a very rich streak of free milling ore, was 
worked with a one-stamp mill for something over a year, and about $50,000 is 
said to have been extracted. A heavy flow of water was encountered, the mine 
sold, a ten-stamp mill erected, and then resold and sixty stamps erected. 
Through various vicissitudes the mine was worked with changing management and 
some success, though never more than twenty stamps were operated.

	The vertical shaft was sunk 240 feet and an incline on the vein followed 
it down to a vertical depth of about 350 feet, and from best authority, 
something like $400,000 extracted; then, in 1888, the work was suspended and the 
mine rapidly filled with water, and gradually the works became dilapidated and 
the town of Perry practically deserted.

	In 1898 the story of the mine was told to S. W. Russell by the Rev. George 
G. Ware of Deadwood. Mr. Russell had been actively engaged in business in the 
western country for fifteen years, had wide business connections, with their 
fullest confidence in his ability and integrity. After investigating the history 
of the "Sam," Mr. Russell became interested, and shortly afterward, associated 
with Pierre Wibaux, one of Montana's heaviest cattlemen and owner of the State 
National Bank of Miles City; Frank W. Smith, a boyhood friend and schoolmate, 
now also in the stock business in Montana, and the Rev. George G. Ware, took 
hold of the property, bonded all the adjacent ground they desired, and commenced 
operation in December, 1898. By the following spring the mine had been unwatered 
to the bottom of the vertical shaft and the old workings examined as far as 
possible. As a result of this investigation the gentlemen associated decided to 
incorporate themselves into a company and develop the property. This was done in 
June of 1899, and the Clover Leaf Gold Mining Company was formed with a 
capitalization of $1,000,000 par value stock at $100 per share.  Pierre Wibaux, 
president; Frank W. Smith, first vice-president; S. W. Russell, second vice-

president and treasurer; R. N. Ogden, secretary; and these gentlemen, together 
with George G. Ware, constituted the directorate, and the company remains with 
the same board and officers to-day, having in the meantime increased its 
capitalization to $1,200,000, and in the past year employed Mr. O. B. Amsden, an 
eminently practical and successful mining engineer, formerly of Colorado, as 
mine superintendent.

	The present condition of the property is most encouraging. The mineral 
claims, covering 700 acres, extending about two miles on the strike of the vein, 
and covering also the beautiful Elk Creek Valley and the old town of Perry, now 
called Roubaix (pronounced Ru-bay), after Mr. Wibaux's birthplace in France, 
have all been patented. The old sixty-stamp mill has been thoroughly 
reconstructed, a most thoroughly appointed shafthouse, in which the hoisting 
plant, with Bullock-Corliss engines, rigged and equipped for 1,200 feet. an 
Ingersoll-Sargent 14-drill compressor, machine shop and blacksmith shop have 
been installed; all are lighted by electricity, and forty stamps have been in 
operation for some time, and the management expects to put the remaining twenty 
in duty this season.

	The company, beside its mineral land, owns 1,040 acres of the •finest pine 
timber land in the Hills, with a good saw mill thereon, and gets out its own 
mining and sawed timbers and lumber.

	In its operations the vein has been sunk to 700 feet, levels on tile 400, 
500, 600 and 700 opened, the vein drifted to and opened on each; a little ore 
has been taken out on the 6oo, and practically none so far on the 700. It has 
been proved that there are at least two veins on the old and present workings, 
and that the old incline was sunk at the junction of these. In the old workings 
sometimes one and sometimes the other was worked, seldom both on the same level.

	The present company has worked only one of these veins, but is now 
prospecting both, and will work both thoroughly. On the 500-foot level the east 
vein has been worked to a length of 6oo feet. On the 600-foot level the sill 
floor on the east vein has been worked 220 feet, and the average value of the 
ore taken in this work, including the small amount stoped, has been about $8 per 
ton. The average value from the whole mine for the past six months has been 
between $6 and $7 per ton. On the 700-foot level also some of the richest 
specimen rock ever taken from this famous property has been discovered, but very 
little of this has been mined so far. On the 700-foot level the vein was 
encountered in December, 1903, and about 100 feet have been run upon it at this 
time, and 80 feet of this in very good ore.

	The ore of the "Sam" is phenomenally free, the extraction by amalgamation 
being upwards of 90 per cent of the assay value. The work of sinking the shaft 
again to the 800 and 900 levels has been commenced, and as soon as these are 
reached, stations will be cut and the mine opened up as above.

	The success of the Clover Leaf Company in developing the old Uncle Sam 
mine into one of the best producers and most valuable properties in the Black 
Hills is rejoiced at universally, for they have done it with their own money and 
have triumphed over the greatest obstacles by indomitable courage, untiring 
effort, patience and unlimited nerve. They have carried the stock themselves, 
and have kept the company practically a closed corporation.

	The personnel of the company speaks for itself, and might have been taken 
as a guarantee of its record before it commenced operations. Pierre Wibaux is a 
French gentleman (recently decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honor), a 
very successful American business man, a man of very large means and unmeasured 
nerve; in his business operations he has the reputation of being controlled only 
by a sound judgment that has brought such success in every enterprise he has 
undertaken-in cattle, banking and landed operations-that he is looked on as a 
"lucky" man. "But if it is luck, then hard work, sound thought and cold judgment 
have a new name," one who knows him well has truly said.

	Frank W. Smith was born in Towanda, Pa., is an American gentleman, a 
successful stockman, with over twenty years of western experience, and has been 
noted for his conservative judgment, breadth of view and fairness in all his 
business affairs.

	S. W. Russell, who has devoted his whole time and attention to the 
business affairs of the company since the inception of the enterprise, and who 
has been its business manager throughout, was, like Mr. Smith, born in Towanda, 
Pa. From a banking experience in St. Louis in the early eighties, through twenty 
years' western business life he has become a well-known man, but if he had no 
other record than that he has made in the past five years in the Hills, not only 
for his company, but also as an active factor in the general upbuilding of the 
general mining interests, he would have a right to be proud of his life as a 
useful, successful one.

	Robert N. Ogden, the secretary, is an attorney of experience, a member of 
the firm of McLaughlin & Ogden, a southerner by birth, whose name is a synonym 
for integrity with all who know him.

	George G. Ware is an Episcopal clergyman, archdeacon of the diocese, an 
Englishman born, a good business man, and probably the best-loved man in the 
mining Hills and on the cattle range, where he is also largely interested.

HIDDEN FORTUNE GOLD MINING COMPANY.

	Among the newer mining corporations organized for operating in the Black 
Hills, the Hidden Fortune is one of the first to have erected and successfully 
put its mill in commission. On a suitable sit, where the ore is handled by 
gravity from the top of the mill to the bottom, in close proximity to excellent 
water supplies, on the tracks of the Northwestern railroad a short distance 
below Dead-wood, this company has constructed one of the most complete and 
mechanically perfect wet crushing cyanide plants in the Black Hills.

PRESENT MILLING CAPACITY.

	The mill contains sixty stamps, weighing 1,030 pounds each, and by 
dropping fast in double issue mortars, crush five tons and perhaps a little more 
per stamp per day (of twenty-four hours). The ore is crushed in a solution of 
cyanide of potassium, running through launders or troughs, in the bottom of 
which are placed a modification of the Hungarian riffle of the placer miner for 
saving the coarser colors of free gold; the pulp flows to separators, where the 
coarser portion is removed from the finer, and each portion flowing to different 
patterns of leaching vats is handled by itself. The sands or coarser material 
are robbed of their gold by the dissolving action of the cyanide solution, with 
one exception. The coarser particles of metallic gold are not soluble in the 
cyanide solution, and these are left untouched by it. To save this portion of 
the gold, amalgamating plates similar to those in ordinary use in a stamp mill 
are installed, over which the sands flow after being discharged from the 
leaching vats. However, a great deal of the metallic gold is caught in the 
riffles set in the launders, and this is conveyed direct to the clean-up room in 
other launders and pipes and discharged into an amalgamating pan. This machine 
is a large pan or tub of iron, in the center of which is a vertical revolving 
shaft. Attached to this shaft, and dragging on the bottom of the pan, are 
weights, or shoes, of iron. As the ore is discharged into the pan, the shaft is 
started revolving and quicksilver added. After a short time the quicksilver has 
gathered to itself all of the gold, forming amalgam, and the residue of mud, 
etc., is discarded. In this way a great portion of the free gold is won, and the 
balance after cyanidation.

	Power for operating the mill is obtained from a large engine, a cross-
compound condensing Corliss. The ore as it is received from the mine is dumped 
into bins above the crusher. It is drawn by gravity to the crusher, a Blake 
pattern, 15x30 inches, with a capacity of 50 tons per hour. From here the ore is 
carried on belt conveyors to the battery bins, being automatically distributed 
at the required point by a contrivance known as a "tripper," a photograph of 
which is shown. From the battery bins the ore is drawn to suspended feeders, 
passes under the stamps, thence to the separators, as explained, the gold being 
precipitated from the cyanide solution by the zinc shaving method. The mill has 
a well equipped clean-up room, assay office, blacksmith shop, with boarding 
houses and cottages for the employes near at hand.

LOCATION OF THE MINES.

	The mines of the Hidden Fortune company are at Lead City, consisting of 
300 acres, interlapped and surrounded by Homestake territory. On the north end 
of the property the Algonkian slates are visible along Deadwood gulch, showing 
large outcroppings of mineral matter. In fact there are four known veins in 
sight here, the Spokane, Gold Belt, Cheyenne and Bingham. It was in order to 
open these veins that the Bingham tunnel was conceived. This bore has penetrated 
the mountain, running southward a distance of 1,888 feet. Cross-cuts were driven 
at intervals, and to the west was discovered the Bingham vein. It showed good 
pay ore of the Belt species. Then moving the base of operations to Poorman 
gulch, just west of the line of the tunnel, a shaft was sunk, now 200 feet deep, 
where the Bingham vein was again opened.

THE VEINS.

	The Bingham and other veins lie west of the main ore bodies of the 
Homestake, but are part and parcel of the great system of fissure lodes which 
have made the Black Hills famous the world over. This immense belt here has a 
width of over one mile.

	On the south end of the territory the Algonkian formation is covered by 
the horizontal Cambrian. First above the slates are found beds of conglomerate 
that have been exploited and proven to contain good values. The ore occurs in 
channels or shoots of great width, up to 20 feet in thickness and explored on 
the ground over 4,000 feet in length.

THE GREAT GRANTZ DISCOVERY.

	Just above are the quartzite ore beds from one of which Otto Grantz took 
$70,000 worth of ore in a month four years ago. It was some of the richest ore 
ever found in the Black Hills, most of it running as high as $50,000 a ton. From 
a continuation of this shoot the company has shipped since it came into 
possession of the ground fifteen tons, worth $1,000 a ton. But this high-grade 
ore occurs only in small pockets, the bulk being worth $5 to $7 per ton. It is 
most easily mined and is especially amenable to the cyanide process. Several 
hundred thousand tons of this ore are now in sight in the workings.  The tracks 
of the Burlington railroad cross the property near these workings, and 
sidetracks have been laid to the ore bins, affording cheap loading of the cars 
destined for the mill. Near the Bingham shaft the Northwestern tracks follow up 
Deadwood gulch, and will be continued to the hoist in the spring.

	The Hidden Fortune Gold Mining Company has a capital stock amounting to 
$3,500,000, in shares of a par value of $1 each. The president is A. M. 
Stevenson and the secretary H. J. Mayham.

LEX1NGTON HILL GOLD MINING COMPANY.

	Consolidation and expansion are the maxims which are being daily carried 
out in the Black Hills. In order to successfully handle the large low grade ore 
bodies of the district, large territory, adequate capital, expensive machinery 
and skilful management are necessary. Such things as these cannot be secured by 
an individual holder of mining claims, and mining on a large scale can only be 
carried on by corporations with abundant financial backing.

	One of the best illustrations of such consolidation is the Lexington Hill 
Gold Mining Company, an institution which was organized to assume control of the 
properties of five different corporations, and other interests held by 
individuals. The properties thus acquired and brought under one management are 
as follows:   The Highland Chief Gold Mining Company, the Anna Mining and 
Milling Company, the Black Hills and Denver Gold Mining Company, Oro Cache 
Mining Company, the Ophir Syndicate, and numerous individual holdings. Thus this 
big corporation acquired control of over thirty mining claims, all contiguous 
and covering 350 acres of territory, nearly adjoining the city limits of 
Deadwood on the east, lying on Spruce Gulch and the famous Lexington Hill. This 
is in the very heart of the proven ore belt of Lawrence county. the richest 
county in the Black Hills.

	Lexington Hill is a very mountain of ore, which rises from thfr. creek 
level at the mill of the company, to a height of more than 700, feet. The ore is 
found in the Cambrian formation in no less than five different contacts, lying 
one above the other. Below the Cambrian is the slate formation, identical with 
that found in the Home-stake. Shafts which have been sunk in the gulches, on 
each side of Lexington Hill, prove this beyond a question of doubt.

	The ore above the gulch level lays in flat or stratified veins or ledges, 
which pitch into the Hill at an angle of about 18 degrees, and is easily and 
cheaply mined and treated.

	About ten years ago an amalgamation mill was erected in Spruce Gulch, and 
60,000 tons of ore were treated in it, which had a value of at least $8 per ton 
in gold that was recovered. At that time cyanide was unknown, and a great deal 
of the values in the ore was lost in the tailings, as no attempt was made to 
recover the precious content other than by amalgamation.  Several thousand tons 
of ore have been shipped from the various mines in this group to the smelters. 
This ore runs from $12 per ton, and some has been shipped which has averaged 
over $200 per ton.

	The ore bodies of Lexington Hill are open on the surface at hundreds of 
different points. The Belle Eldridge and Champion claims have been big producers 
in the past. Ore has been mined from them worth from $6 to $25 per ton, and 
hundreds of tons are still standing in the workings. The Old Lexington, Dom 
Pedro, Challenge, Oro Cache, Elsalado, Anna, Anna No. 2 and Highland Mary have 
also produced their quota of valuable ore. Approximately 4,500 feet of tunnels, 
open cuts and shafts have been driven and sunk upon the property by the former 
owners, as well as by the present company. Most of the old work was done in a 
haphazard fashion, and it was only when the present corporation took charge that 
the opening of the immense ore bodies was attempted in a systematic manner.

	A large working tunnnel was driven into the Hill, just above the mill. 
This tunnel is below the quartzite or first silicious ore body above the gulch 
level. Its ultimate destination is some 2,800 feet from the portal, and in this 
length it will open, not only the immense contact ledges of Lexington Hill, but 
will also cut seven different and distinct vertical, or fissure, veins. The ore 
in these verticals is of high grade, and will average at least $25 per ton.

	As an illustration of the immensity of the ore bodies which this tunnel 
will open up, it may be said that in a distance of 750 feet into the Hill, and 
now measurable on the first contact alone, there are 8,000 square rods of ore, 
containing 4,366,000 tons. This has been accurately measured, and represents but 
a very small percentage of the ore which will be available by this working 
tunnel.

	The ore is broken in slopes above the tunnel, allowed to drop into chutes, 
and drawn from the chutes into cars and transported to the top of the mill. This 
is the cheapest known method of mining, as gravity alone does all the work and 
saves a great deal of handling. In this particular the Lexington Hill company 
may be said to be able to handle its ore cheaper than any mine in the district.

	The property is equipped with a modern mill containing twenty stamps, and 
fitted with amalgamating plates, concentrators and tanks for the treatment of 
tailings by the cyanide process.

	A considerable quantity of the gold content of the ore is in the metallic 
state, and can best be saved by amalgamation. Still another portion of the gold 
is included in iron pyrite or hematite of iron, which is best saved on the 
concentrating tables.  After passing over the plates and tables, the pulp, which 
has been relieved of a great portion of its gold value, is treated by the 
cyanide process, and the final tailings, which are discharged from the mill, 
show by their low assay value that the plant is doing exceptional work. Indeed, 
the Lexington Hill company may now be said to be on a producing, money-earning 
basis.

	N. C. Bonnevie, a mining engineer of Denver, recently made :i report upon 
the properties of the Lexington Hill company, in which he stated that the cost 
of mining the ore and delivering it to the mill, and its consequent treatment, 
figuring on a daily tonnage of 300 tons, would be $1.25 per ton, or less. With 
its present small mill, which has a capacity of 80 tons per day, the company 
figures that the cost of mining and milling is about $1.50 per ton.

	Mr. Bonnevie says that the average value of the ore may be relied upon as 
being $6 per ton. and this is proven by the company's present operations. This 
average is obtained by mixing the ore as it is mined in the tunnel, in the 
proportion of two-thirds quartzite to one-third of iron, or shale ore. By mixing 
the ore in this way, a much better extraction is obtained.

	It is the company's intention to erect a mill of at least 300 tons daily 
capacity in the near future, and figuring on a mill of this capacity, Mr. 
Bonnevie says in his report that the company is assured of a net profit on each 
ton of ore treated of $3.85. This amount allows for a loss of 15 per cent in 
extraction, and a cost of mining and milling of $1.25 per ton. The percentage of 
loss is probably figured high by Mr. Bonnevie, as with the company's adoption of 
the three methods of ore treatment, namely, amalgamation, concentration and 
cyanide, a net saving of 90 per cent is obtained. A mill of 300 tons capacity 
could easily net the Lexington Hill company at least $1,000 a day, or a monthly 
net revenue of $30,000.

	The mines of this company are well supplied with water. Spruce Gulch 
crosses the territory, and the title to the water is secured by the ownership of 
three different lode claims, which were purchased principally for the purpose of 
controlling the supply. The photograph of the mill on the opposite page gives a 
good idea of the water supply. Spruce creek being shown in the foreground.

	Among plans which the company has for the future is the erection of an 
electric power plant at the railroad in Deadwood, where electricity will be 
generated and transmitted to the mine and mill. The building of this power plant 
at the railroad, where coal can be cheaply secured, will mean a great saving in 
the item of power, as otherwise it would be necessary to haul fuel by teams a 
distance of more than a mile.

	In April, 1903, the Lexington Hill Gold Mining Company assumed control of 
its properties, and immediately began the work of remodeling the present mill 
and driving its main working tunnel.  During the fall the mill was operated 
several months, 20 stamps being used, and the product treated only by cyanide. 
After running for some time, it was found that the values were very largely in 
free gold, and it become necessary to close down the mill temporarily and make 
some alterations and additions. These are now completed, and the mill contains 
equipment which has been described. The other surface improvements of the 
company are partially as follows:

	Boarding house, assay office complete, stables, several frame dwelling 
houses, shaft house at the Eldorado mine, containing hoist and pumps, several 
blacksmith shops fully equipped, cars, tracks and all tools necessary for 
mining.

	In conclusion we will quote the words of Mr. Bonnevie, who says in his 
report: "After having made a thorough examination of this property, and sampling 
carefully all present workings, I am satisfied that it will take its place among 
the big producers of the Black Hills, and although distinctly a low-grade 
proposition, it will, under able and scientific management, become a safe and 
steady dividend payer for many years to come."

	The Lexington Hill Gold Mining Company is incorporated under the laws of 
the state of Maine. Its capital stock amounts to $3,000,000, each share having a 
par value of $l. One-half of this capital stock, amounting to $1,500,000, was 
placed in the company's treasury, the balance, representing the properties, 
being pooled until such time as the company has a milling equipment of at least 
300 tons daily. This assures investors in this stock that the money derived from 
the sale of treasury stock goes directly into the development and equipment of 
the property.

	The officers of the company are: President, Charles E. Whiting, New York; 
vice-president, J. H. Carstairs, Philadelphia; treasurer, Henry F. Wells, 
Boston; assistant treasurer, Herman Bischoff, Deadwood; secretary, Charles E. 
Senna, Boston.

	Mr. Wells, the treasurer of the company, is one of the most successful 
mining promoters in the East. He has a large and strong clientele among business 
men, and there is no doubt that under his financial management the Lexington 
Hill company will soon become one of the great producing gold mines and dividend 
payers of the country.

THE GLOBE GOLD MINING COMPANY.

	The Globe Gold Mining Company is an organization along lines entirely 
novel to the average promoter. When the company was organized it owned no 
ground. All the stock was put in the treasury. The proceeds from its sale first 
went to purchase mining lands, and after these had been secured, for 
development. There is no "promotion" stock whatever. The organizers of the 
company paid as much for their stock as common shareholders. There is no 
preferred stock, and all stock is to share alike in the distribution of profits. 
The original investors had faith in the integrity and business judgment of the 
promoters, and invested their money liberally, relying upon the sponsors of the 
enterprise to bring it out right.

	Since the organization the company has acquired 320 acres of ground 
adjoining the Homestake on the east, and on the west and north touching the 
properties of the Golden Reward and Horseshoe. The ground is on the west side of 
Nevada Gulch, a short distance from the city limits of Lead, and, as Mr. Wade, 
the general manager, expresses it, "is in the center of the best dividend-paying 
mines of the Hills." Property amounting to 1,500 acres is held at Nahant, 
thirteen miles south, and surrounding the railway station of the B. & M. 
Included with this property is a fine water right and an excellent mill 
location. At and near Hanna, six miles southwest of Lead, the company owns 600 
acres of land, on which there is excellent standing timber. The veins are only 
partially developed, as at Nahant, but show encouraging values.

	It is the ground at Lead City (known as the Bismark group) that the Globe 
company has spent the most of its energies to date in developing. The mine is 
undoubtedly on the great belt of fissure lodes from which the Homestake company 
has mined so prosperously for the past quarter of a century. This tract is well 
located, as regards transportation facilities, the tracks of the Burlington 
Railroad crossing the properly and extending a sidetrack to the hoist. From here 
the ore could be cheaply transferred to the mills at Nahant. Geologically, the 
conditions existing on this property have led mining experts to agree that good 
values may be anticipated when depth is attained. On and near the surface the 
crop-pings of several of the belt fissures are visible. In what is known as the 
upper tunnel, some 550 feet in length, several ore bodies have been opened. In a 
tunnel below, driven into the mountain aoo feet, the same veins are exposed. 
Here they are larger, carry uniformly better values, and withal show the 
increase that depth gives to this class of veins.

	In order to open these ore bodies at still greater depth than is possible 
by tunneling, a shaft has been sunk to a depth of 500 feet vertically. From the 
bottom cross-cuts will be driven in the direction the veins are known to take on 
their dip and course. If the values found in these lodes at this depth are 
sufficient to warrant it, the company will erect a reduction plant, as is 
explained above, unless there is water enough encountered on this property to 
run the mill, in which case the first mill will be built on the Bismark group 
adjoining Lead City.

	The Globe Mining Company was the first in the Black Hills to install and 
successfully operate a gasoline mining plant. In a building 42x110 feet was 
installed a hoisting engine capable of raising ore from 1,200 feet, a 34-
horsepower air compressor, 8-horsepower saw mill for cutting shaft timbers, 
etc., and a complete electric-lighting plant. All of this machinery is operated 
by gasoline motors, and has proven an economical and efficient equipment. The 
cost of gasoline for running the compressor, hoist and dynamo while sinking the 
shaft, which, by the way, has two compartments, averaged $5.60 per day of 
twenty-four hours. The water, which was not at all troublesome until 500 feet 
was reached, was hoisted in buckets.

	In a commodious station cut at the 500-foot level a big gasoline pump, 
weighing 9,000 pounds, has been installed to raise the water. A 25-foot sump is 
cut at the bottom of the shaft, in which the water collects to be pumped out. 
Drilling is done by compressed-air machines. Among the surface equipments that 
might be mentioned is a first-class assay outfit, in a suitable building erected 
for the purpose.

	The Globe Gold Mining Company has a capitalization of 1,000,000 shares of 
a par value of $1 each. All of this stock was placed in the treasury. To prevent 
any person or few persons securing control of the property, a clause in the by-
laws limits the holdings of stock of each individual to not over 10,000 shares. 
J. Renken of Sheldon, Iowa, is president; Peter B. Nelson of Racine, Wis., vice-
president; Elmore J. Adams of Beloit, Wis., treasurer; Samuel Weller, Chicago, 
secretary, and F. E. Wade of Lead City, general manager. Mr. Wade graduated as a 
civil engineer, was for twelve years county surveyor of O'Brien County, Iowa, 
installing thirteen systems of water works in Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota. 
He then became connected with Fairbanks, Morse & Co., as salesman, was with them 
for six years, leaving their employ to look after the affairs of the Globe Gold 
Mining Company a year and a half ago. He has made a specialty of mechanical and 
civil engineering, and his supervision of the Globe plant has probably saved the 
company a good many dollars during his incumbency of the position. The general 
office of the company is at Lead City, and a branch office has been established 
at Room 618, No. 167 Dearborn street, Chicago with the secretary, Samuel Weller, 
in charge.

	The latest reports from the mine show that in the cross-cuts from the 500-
foot level excellent ore has been encountered. In the west cross-cut small seams 
assaying as high as $300 per ton in gold have been found, while east of the 
shaft a large body of low-grade ($4 to $6) ore has been found.  To treat this 
ore the company is figuring on installing a 100-ton mill, employing 
amalgamation, concentration and cyanidation to extract the values.

THE REX GOLD MINING COMPANY.

	This company was organized in December of 1902 for the purpose of securing 
and developing mineral lands in the Black Hills. Bonds were secured and 
arrangements made by which the company obtained possession of over four hundred 
acres on Whitewood creek. This property was secured early in the summer of 1903. 
The original owners had so much faith in the property that the greater part of 
it was paid for with stock in the company and the balance was obtained under 
bond, full payments for which have been made or provided for. The company is now 
in good shape, with over four hundred acres of ground paid for. Development work 
has been cared for out of the sale of treasury stock. This work has been done on 
various parts of the property, consisting of open pits, cross cuts, shafts and 
tunnels, for the purpose of locating the ore bodies. After this was accomplished 
a two compartment working shaft was started and was on February 15 down ninety 
feet. Other improvements consist of boarding house, assay office, barn, 
blacksmith shop, etc.; also a fine new hoist building, thirty-six by eighty 
feet, a good roomy structure, in which hoisting machinery has been installed.

	This hoisting plant is one of the finest gasoline plants in the Black 
Hills, and consists of a hoisting engine capable of raising eight tons from a 
depth of 1,200 feet, and an air compressor, a machine of fifty-four horse power, 
that is used to operate drills and pumps in the mine, and the forge in the 
blacksmith shop. There is to be installed in the engine room a three hundred 
light dynamo to furnish light for the mine and surface works. The company is now 
well prepared for the work in hand, which is to sink the shaft to the three 
hundred foot level. This will be done as rapidly as possible and a station cut 
and the work of cross cutting the ore bodies begun. It is the intention to cross 
cut for a distance of about 1,000 feet on this level, and in so doing the ore 
bodies will be explored and opened up for economical mining. It is the intention 
of the management to push this work as rapidly as possible, and in the meantime 
plans will be made for building a mill to treat the ores.

	The ore formation of the Rex property exhibits those characteristics 
peculiar to the large deposits of the Homestake and other belt companies, and 
the location, one and one-half miles south of Lead, is evidence that the ground 
is on the strike of the big veins. In sinking the shaft a large vein of free 
milling ore was uncovered at a depth of 33 feet and continues to the bottom of 
the shaft. Numerous assays have been taken from the shaft, ranging from $2.60 to 
$50.00 per ton, and an average of $8 per ton is claimed and some selected 
samples have given values of several hundred dollars in gold per ton. There are 
also three veins of high-grade phonolite ore on the property, some assays 
showing as high as $180 per ton. On the east side of the ground a vein of the 
mineral asbestos crops out.  Large crystals are found and this deposit will be 
fully explored, since its character would indicate the same to be of commercial 
value.

	The property adjoins the Wasp No. 2 and other Yellow Creek mines on the 
east. It is supplied with water from numerous gulches and from the shaft, 
sufficient for large milling operations.

	The Rex Gold Mining Company has a capitalization of four million shares of 
a par value of one dollar each, fully paid and nonassessable. Two million shares 
were placed in the treasury for development purposes.

	The president of the company is Dr. J. A. Steele, of Minneapolis, Minn., 
physician and surgeon. The vice-president is M. B. Copeland of Omaha, Nebraska, 
manager of the M. A. Disbrow Co. The treasurer is J. J. Morrow, Lead, S. D., 
cashier Miners' and Merchants' bank. The secretary is A. C. Davis, Lead, S. D., 
insurance and real estate. The superintendent is E. C. Steele, Lead, S. D. The 
principal office is in Lead. The company is well spoken of in Lead and Deadwood 
and gives promise of becoming one of the successful companies of the Black 
Hills.

GOLD EAGLE MINING COMPANY.

	Maitland, three miles northwest of Deadwood, is one of the most attractive 
mining sections in the Black Hills today. Capital is rapidly becoming interested 
in the mines of the vicinity, with this result, that its judicious expenditure 
is opening up valuable and extensive deposits of ore.  Maitland is practically a 
new camp, having been in the public eye for only two years, but it has one good 
paying mine, the Penobscot, and numerous prospects which have all the surface 
indications and earmarks of becoming as substantial business enterprises and as 
good mining institutions as that property.  Among these can be mentioned the 
Gold Eagle mine, adjoining the Penobscot on the west, where exploitation has 
disclosed immense bodies of low grade cyaniding ore in the Cambrian quartzite.

	Ten thousand dollars has been carefully expended by the Gold Eagle company 
in bringing it to a point where the erection of a large cyanide mill would be 
warranted by the ore values exposed. That point now having been reached, it is 
the company's intention to erect a forty-stamp cyanide mill on its property this 
summer. The mill will employ the favorite method of cyanidation-wet crushing. 
The Penobscot company, the prosperous neighbor of the Gold Eagle, has 
successfully employed this process in the reduction of its ores for over a year, 
and judging by its money-making capabilities, there would seem to be no reason 
why the Gold Eagle should not be able to treat its ores to as good advantage in 
a similar plant. A large amount of ore is exposed on Gold Eagle territory in 
open cuts, and the ore can be mined, transported to the mill and the gold 
content extracted for $2.25 per ton. The company has an excellent mill site in 
close proximity to the open cuts, affording a slight down grade haul for the 
tram cars loaded with ore destined for the plant. Gold values in the ore easily 
average $6 to $7 per ton, and it is unnecessary to add that a good profit can 
thus be made on its treatment.

	The quartzite ore body on the Herald and Baltimore claims averages 600 
feet in width, has a known length of 750 feet (with all indications of extending 
much further) and a thickness of 26 feet. Since such material is usually 
estimated at 13 cubic feet per ton, this single ore body would contain 
practically 000,000 tons. It is exposed by its outcrop on two sides, and is 
absolutely blocked out for open cut work. Development work done on it consists 
principally of thirty or more open cuts and short tunnels, all showing ore.

	But the great future of the company undoubtedly rests in the handling of 
the ores from great free milling veins underlying the quartzite bodies. The mine 
is on the northerly extension of the Homestake belt of veins, and one great ore 
body on the Gold Eagle is exposed a hundred feet in width by its outcrop, with 
neither wall in sight. Character and values coincide with the regular Belt 
veins, one of which it unmistakably is. A shaft 65 feet deep is sunk on this 
vein, in ore all the way. Two other shafts on the south side of Elkhorn gulch 
show the ore body, and numerous open pits disclose its identity at various 
points on its course through the property.

	The Gold Eagle Company owns an abundance of water for milling operations. 
Elkhorn gulch and False Bottom creek both traverse the property, and both flow 
large amounts of water. Bedrock wells in either gulch have been proven to be 
excellent producers of water.

	The Gold Eagle Mining Company has a capital stock of $2,500,000. in shares 
of a par value of $1 each. Hon. Richard O'Neill, of Lincoln, Neb., is president; 
Clarence Y. Smith, of Lincoln, vice-president; Dr. G. M. Smith, of Lincoln, 
secretary; James P. Hymer, of Deadwood, treasurer, and John N. Hawgood, of 
Deadwood, general manager.  Offices are at Deadwood, S. D., and 136 North 
Eleventh street, Lincoln, Neb.

HIDDEN TREASURE GOLD MINING AND MILLING COMPANY.

	The property of the Hidden Treasure Gold Mining and Milling Company is one 
mile from Lead City, on Upper Dead-wood gulch and the south fork of the same; 
consists of 200 acres of patented ground; is crossed by the tracks of the 
Northwestern railroad line to Bald Mountain; adjoins the Big Four and 
Pennsylvania mines on the east, the Capitol Gold Mining Company on the west, and 
is perhaps half a mile from the Hidden Fortune and Homestake boundaries.

	On the Ethel No. 2 lode claim of the company, at the extreme easterly end 
of the ground, a tunnel has been driven some 195 feet northward into the hill. 
At 135 feet from the entry east and west cross drifts have been run, opening 
various veins of phonolitic ore. At the point of intersection of the drift and 
cross cuts a shaft has been located which will be sunk to a depth of 200 feet. 
Several of the veins converge and enter this shaft at 25 to 30 feet, making an 
ore body fully two feet wide, assaying on the average from $12 to $20.65 gold 
per ton. The ore is of good grade, and values in this class of veins almost 
invariably increase as depth is attained.

	This shaft is equipped with a new gasoline mining plant, including pumps 
and dynamo. The dynamo will generate electricity for the operation of electric 
drills, used in lieu of compressed air machines. With this equipment, which 
serves more as a prospecting outfit than a regular mining plant, the formation 
will be studied to a depth of at least 200 feet, and will be replaced by a large 
steam plant should values warrant.

	On the southwesterly part of the property a vein of pyritic ore 12 feet 
wide is exposed. Assays show it to contain $3.80 per ton in gold and 33% per 
cent iron pyrite. With a cheap concentrating mill this material could be 
separated from the gangue, giving a product of practically pure pyrite assaying 
$11.40 per ton.  This would be useful in the matte smelters of the Black Hills 
and would find ready sale, with settlement based on the gold content, since no 
charge would be made for treatment. Major A. J. Simmons, who made a report on 
the property, in speaking of the possibilities of this vein, estimates mining at 
50 cents per ton, concentration 75 cents per ton, emergencies 25 cents per ton, 
on one ton of raw ore. Thus to produce a ton of concentrate three tons of raw 
ore are required, this bringing the cost up to $4.50 per ton, then shipment to 
smelter, 50 cents, making a total of $5 per ton, leaving a profit of $6.40 per 
ton of concentrates, of $2.13 per ton of raw ore.

	Other veins opened are the Hidden Treasure, a strong fissure in the 
slates, 12 feet wide and explored 350 feet in length; the Hidden Treasure No. 2, 
two feet in width, assaying gold, $2.00, silver $5.00, lead, $2.40, antimony, 
$2.80, a total of $12.20; Hidden Treasure No. 3, a vein carrying some copper, 
has been exposed in a railroad cut; and on the Ethel No. 3, a tunnel 140 feet in 
length follows a vein assaying from $2.00 to $8.00 per ton.

	Altogether the Hidden Treasure company is possessed of valuable interests 
in a rich mineral region, and careful development should prove up a dividend 
paying property. Either one of the numerous veins mentioned is a worthy asset in 
itself, and the combination constitutes a holding of great worth.

	The company has a capital of $2,500,000, divided into shares of a par 
value of $1.00 each. The president is Judge S. T. Cochran, of Lincoln, Neb.; 
vice-president, Banks Stewart, Deadwood; treasurer and general manager, Nate 
Hart, Lead City, and secretary, William Lawlor, Lincoln, all of whom, with J. N. 
Andrews, of Alliance Neb., constitute the directorate.

SPANISH R MINING COMPANY.

	The original property of the Spanish R Mining Company was located in the 
eighties as two lode claims (the Spanish and the Richmond). The claims were near 
the site of the town of Carbonate, and when that camp took on its boom, in which 
fortunes were won in a day almost, the Spanish R Mining Company was formed for 
the purpose of operating the two claims mentioned. The entire capital stock 
eventually came into the possession of M. C. Connors, and is now the property of 
his heirs, Milton C. and George G. Connors, whose exclusive property it now is.

	At the present time the property has been increased by purchase to a 
little over 125 acres, all patented. The boundary lines touch the lines of the 
Iron Hill at several points, and the main vein of that mine is traceable across 
the Spanish R ground. A peculiarity is noticeable in this vein that is puzzling. 
Where it is opened on the Iron Hill, silver predominates in the precious metal 
content, but on the Spanish R the greater values are in the gold.

	During the latter eighties the Iron Hill company erected a smelter and pan 
mill, mined and treated $736,000 worth of ore and paid over $160,000 in 
dividends.

	About the same time the Spanish R was operated, producing from the upper 
levels of the mine some $50,000. The owners paid $20 to $22 per ton for shipping 
and treatment at smelters, and after deducting costs of mining and incidental 
expenses netted over $30 per ton profit.

	The vein on which the Spanish R shaft is sunk is a vertical in the 
limestone, entering at 300 feet the Cambrian measures of sandstone, shale, etc., 
and is followed to a depth of 425 feet. Should the ore body widen out, as they 
often do on the quartzite, large lateral shoots may be expected to be 
encountered. The shaft will be continued to quartzite, which will probably be 
encountered within the next 100 feet. The shaft is now deeper than anything else 
in the camp, and the values in the vein are encouraging.

	A large shoot of ore was found at a depth of 170 feet, from which several 
thousand dollars were produced. At 300 feet another enlargement of the vein 
occurred, and from this point the greater portion of the production was made. 
But there is now in sight on this level an enormous body of cyaniding ore. It is 
of low grade, but amenable to cyanidation, and will unquestionably prove of 
value in the future.

	From 300 feet downward the shaft has followed the vein, the ore being 
assorted and stored as it was removed. A portion of it carries high silver 
values, galena occurring in quantities, and others assaying high in gold. A 
number of rare minerals are found, including pyromorphite, argentite, 
vanadinite, etc.

	The mine is equipped with a first-class hoisting engine, two boilers (one 
of them practically new), a brand new Ingersoll Sergeant compressor with 
capacity for six small drills, blacksmith outfit complete, assay office, bunk 
house, stables, etc., together with a diamond drill having a capacity of 400 
feet.

	The Connors Brothers, owners of the mine, are residents of the town of 
Spearfish, and are heavily interested in cattle raising. They are working slowly 
to make a mine of the Spanish R, taking their time, and using spare cash to do 
it, without encroaching upon their capital. Stewart Thompson is their 
superintendent, and a man well equipped to fill the position. He understands the 
Carbonate Camp ores, having been superintendent of the Iron Hill for six years, 
having charge of all the important work that company ever did, and paying to the 
stockholders $165,250 in dividends. He has had experience in nearly every mining 
camp in North America, returning from Mexico to accept the position he now 
holds.

RUBY GOLD MINING AND MILLING CO.

	The property of the Ruby Gold Mining & Milling Company is a typical free 
milling porphyry ore, which has been extensively opened up, and a mill built to 
treat it by the amalgamation process. The property owned by the company covers a 
large dyke of porphyry, having a trend of northeast and southwest. In this dyke 
and having the same general course are found parallel verticals which have been 
enriched, their character greatly altered from the original, carrying gold in 
the metallic state.

	The principal vertical is 15 feet wide, the walls well defined, and its 
continuity determined by explorations for a distance of over 500 feet.  Two 
tunnels, one above the other, have been driven into the hill, tapping this vein, 
both connected by two separate upraises. On the outcrop above the upper tunnel 
an open cut has been made, which is also connected with the lower workings and 
disclosing large bodies of ore. The value of the ore may be stated as $8 per ton 
in gold, a large portion being free milling and the balance included in 
concentrates of iron pyrites which assay $30 to $60 per ton.

	A model little mill has been erected at the mouth of the lower tunnel, 
having a capacity of 40 to 50 tons per day. The plant contains a No. 2 Austin 
crusher, six Merrall's rapid crushing stamps set in two batteries of three 
stamps each, and Wilfley concentrators. A compartment has been left in the lower 
end of the mill building in which at some future time, if it is deemed 
necessary, a cyanide plant will be installed in which tailings will be treated. 
Power for the mill will be secured from a gasoline motor, but the expense of 
coal for steam power would not be excessive, as it is only one-half mile to the 
B. & M. Railway at Dakota Maid siding, or three-quarters of a mile to its main 
branch at Galena. The mill is situated and constructed in such a manner that its 
capacity may be increased at any time at a nominal cost, and in the near future 
this will be done. Water for the mill will be obtained partially from the mine 
and partially from a spring a short distance below the plant, but should the 
capacity be increased it will be necessary to secure water from Bare Butte 
Creek, three-quarters of a mile distant, where the company owns a valuable mill 
site.

	The mine is situated on Ruby Gulch, less than a mile from the town of 
Galena, and is well provided with a good two-story boarding house, assay office 
and blacksmith shop. In the early days Ruby Gulch was a great producer of placer 
gold, probably derived from the veins which the Ruby Company is working upon.
James Conzett, president of the company, who was the original locator and owner 
of the mine, has spent a great deal of his time during the past few years in 
developing the property. He selected the machinery equipment for the mill after 
a careful examination of various plants and a study of the conditions that 
existed at his own property. All of the operations have been economically 
conducted. The mine is opened up in excellent shape, being in condition to 
supply at the lowest cost ore for the operation of the mill. With a continuation 
of the economical and conservative management the operations of the company in 
the future should undoubtedly prove successful, as all the elements are present 
which go to make up a successful mining proposition.

	The Ruby Gold Mining & Milling Company has an authorized capitalization of 
$400,000. There are 400,000 shares of a par value of $1 each. James Conzett, 
four times elected president of the Society of Black Hills Pioneers and a mining 
man of experience, is president and treasurer of the company. He is held in high 
esteem throughout the Hills. B. F. Butler, a prominent citizen of New Castle, 
Pa., is vice-president; Norman T. Mason, of the firm of Martin & Mason, 
attorneys of Deadwood, is secretary.  The principal office of the company is 
Deadwood, S. D.

LUCKY STRIKE GOLD MINING COMPANY.

	The Lucky Strike Gold Mining Company has a capital stock of 1,500,000 
shares of a par value of $1. Of this amount 1,150,000 shares were placed in the 
treasury for sale to procure funds for development and mill construction. The 
president is G. W. Gale, interested in flouring mills at Detroit, Mich.; vice-
president and secretary, E. W. Miller, ex-receiver Huron Land Office and U. S. 
Prosecuting Attorney, of Elk Point, S. D.; treasurer, H. F. Seiter, real estate 
and loans, Tracy, Minn.; general manager C. A. Alien, practical miner of many 
years' experience, Deadwood, S. D.; other directors are S. B. Soule, Deadwood; 
M. Hickey, Reedsburg, Wis.; Lee Swift, Tracy, Minn. The general office is at 
Deadwood, with a branch at Tracy, Minn.

	The company owns 313.5 acres of ground, surveyed for United States patent, 
on North Box Elder Creek, nine miles southeast of Lead City and two miles from 
the Clover Leaf mine. The property is on what is known as the "south extension" 
of the Homestake Belt, and has opened a series of veins identical in character, 
value and surroundings with the fissures of Lead City The history of the 
Homestake is too well known to be repeated here, and suffice it to say that the 
known ore bodies of the Lucky Strike resemble strongly the big veins' 
outcroppings where discovered at Lead City.

	There are six known veins crossing the property of the Lucky Strike 
Company.  The principal development, however, has been confined to the Bird 
vein, on which a shaft is being sunk at present. In a tunnel on this claim the 
vein was opened showing a width of 23 feet with good values. In order to secure 
depth on this ore body and further develop it a shaft was started some 150 feet 
west in order to intersect it at several hundred feet, its dip carrying it 
toward the course of the shaft.  At loo feet lateral workings were made after 
striking good values at 85 feet. In the easterly cross-cut several small ore 
shoots were cut, showing widths of four to five feet between the shaft and the 
Bird vein. All showed values of $5 per ton and better. The vein which is being 
followed in the shaft is almost exactly vertical, has a width of 14 feet and 
assays up to the average.

	After thus exploiting the ore bodies and disclosing pay values at this 
level it was decided to continue the shaft to greater depths. At 135 feet small 
copper values were encountered, assays returning 1/2 to 1 per cent. The copper 
is included in chalcopyrite, and the indications and assays give promise of 
better values with depth. The shaft will be continued to 200 feet, where the ore 
bodies will again be explored and sinking continued to 400 feet. Nearly all the 
rocks carry gold in greater or lesser quantities, as is shown by hundreds of 
assays by the company and outside parties.

	On the Funston claims on the extreme northwest end of the ground at the 
bottom of a 50-foot shaft a cross-cut exposes a vein 40 feet wide, from which 
good pay values are returned. It was from this vein that in the later 70's the 
former owners (the Hattenbach Bros. of Deadwood) operated a two-stamp mill, 
recovering $6 per ton in free gold, and probably losing as much more with their 
crude equipment. Of course at that date, with supplies and labor almost 
prohibitive in price, ore of that grade would not pay.

	Numerous other openings on the ground show ore. Cuts, shallow shafts, 
pits, tunnels, etc., at no less than 25 different points are in ore. A monster 
vein cropping out 60 feet wide and several hundred feet in length, from which 
very small values are returned, but where in all probability a pay shoot will 
one day be discovered, is another one of the company's valuable assets.  The 
property is well supplied with timber and water, and a sawmill on the property, 
owned by the company, has furnished lumber for all buildings erected so far. 
North Box Elder Creek flows sufficient water for large milling operations and 
flows in close proximity to the workings on the Bird vein.


THE AURIZONE MINES.

	In the Bare Butte mining district, lying between Deadwood and Galena, is a 
rich producing locality known as the Gold Zone, and consisting of several 
parallel veins filled with large deposits of gold ore. These veins are described 
by Prof. Jenny, Conzette, Rob-bins and others as being continuous and extending 
for miles in a northeastern and southwestern direction, crossing Strawberry, 
Ruby, Butcher and Lost gulches and traceable on the north as far as Pillar Peak. 
This section is recognized as one of the best mineral districts in the Black 
Hills. On this zone are large plants and numerous producing mines in constant 
operation, while other properties in a partial stage of development are already 
showing values of wonderful richness, especially so in localities where cross 
veins are known to exist.

	One of the best properties on this zone, consisting of fifteen mining 
claims (200 acres), has recently been deeded to the Aurizone Mining Company. 
This company is officered by Black Hills and Chicago mining and business men, 
every one of them well acquainted with the mining business and all working 
harmoniously to place the. property on a dividend-paying basis.

	This property also has the especial advantage of being located on the 
Homestake cross vein, as described by C. W. Robbins in his report. The property 
is situated in Lost Gulch, a tributary of Bear Butte Creek, five miles from 
Deadwood in a direct line and only one mile and one-half from the town of 
Galena, which is reached by the Burlington railway system. The Aurizone mines 
have been developed to the extent of over twelve hundred feet of tunnels, shafts 
and open cuts. Most of these tunnels are run in the porphyry, on the upper 
contact, or what is known as the quartzite formation, while one of the tunnels 
is run in the quartzite, following a rich shoot of ore for over 85 feet. Another 
tunnel cuts a vertical vein of ore over 20 feet in width and the face is still 
in ore, showing that they are not yet through it. This also indicates that the 
ore which is found in this contact and above it in the porphyry, although very 
extensive, is but the mineralization of richer and larger ore bodies below, and 
that while enough ore has already been found to run continuously a cyanide plant 
of 100 tons daily capacity, the property is still comparatively undeveloped; in 
other words, to quote from Mr. Robbins' report, "the mines will yield many 
colossal fortunes before they are exhausted."

	Numerous assays made by Soule, Green, Maloney, Lyon, the Homestake and 
others show assay values of $4.80, $5.20, $6, $9, $10, $11, $13, $20, $34, $36, 
$44, $63, $80, $108 and $113 per ton in gold. While these samples may be 
exceptional, a conservative estimate made by mining experts, chemists, assayers 
and practiced cyanide men places the average value at $8 per ton. It is claimed 
this cyaniding ore can be mined for 50 cents per ton; the cost of treatment is 
estimated at $1.50 per ton; by allowing $1 per ton for loss in extraction, there 
is still $5 per ton net after paying all expenses. Hence a plant of 100 tons' 
daily capacity means a profit of $500 per day. These figures are not visionary, 
but indicated by our fourteen large cyanide plants now running successfully in 
the Black Hills on this class of ore.

	It is the intention of the company to erect a cyanide plant during the 
coming summer, and it is confidently believed that enough ore is opened up to 
insure its steady operation.

	The Aurizone Mining Company has a capitalization of $1,500,000. The 
Resident is H. R. Luther, Chicago, Ill.; secretary and manager, N. H. Couger, 
Deadwood, S. D.; treasurer, W. F. Hanley, Custer, S. D. The principal office of 
the company is at Deadwood, S. D., and branch office at Chicago, 111.

[Photo collage - AT THE AURIZONE. Apex of Vein No. 2.   Apex of Vein Cutting 
Through Porphyry Dike.    Developments on Aurizone.]