completed. It is the longest ditch yet constructed in the country, measuring in its windings 24 miles. It carries at present 300 miners' inches of water, and is capable of running 500 inches. The Hydraulic now has a 75-foot fall, with a 14-inch nozzle. Twenty-four men are at work.

The Dempsey Placer has a shaft 10 by 12, and about 13 feet have been sunk in depth.

The Aurora Placer has a drain ditch 400 feet in length and averaging 14 feet in depth.

The Gellet has sluice-boxes set and a drain ditch of 100 feet on the upper end of the claim. On the lower end of the claim a drain ditch between 600 and 700 feet long, with a face of 12 feet, has been dug.

The Wyandott & Peters claim is working 13 men, and a drain-ditch 1,000 feet long by 18 feet deep has been constructed and the bed-rock blasted in to a distance of 7 feet.

Evolution City is situated on the south fork of Cœur d'Alene River, where it is reported rich placer diggings have been discovered.

Gold in quartz.-The mother lode is about 2 miles above Murray Hill, in the bed of Pritchard's Creek. All the quartz in the ledge assays well, even that which shows no trace of free gold assaying as high as $227.38 gold and $32.32 in silver. Loose slate rock is scattered over the ledge, which is from 3 to 7 feet wide. It has been traced a few yards, and apparently plunges into the mountains on either side of the creek.

Hunter district.—The Earle & Potts assays 1,000 ounces in silver per ton; the Hunter lode 400 ounces. The James G. Blaine is a large body of ore assaying $12 per ton in gold, with a small percentage of silver. The Silver Wave shows very rich in silver, with a vein 5 feet wide.

The Napoleon is on a vein 15 feet wide, and is rich in silver and iron.

The Columbia is 12 feet wide, and is very rich in silver.

The following mines show chloride: The Margaret, Oregonian, Webfoot, Tribune, May, Emily, and Coolidge. The ore from these ledges shows yellow chloride, the lowest figures from half a dozen assays being $51 in silver, while the highest has reached $1,300. The ore is also rich in gold, and being of free-milling character is easily and cheaply worked.

The forks of Eagle Creek are a mass of quartz veins, such as the Mammoth, Silver Belle, Panhandle, Golden Eagle, &c.

Three miles below Eagle City lies the New Comstock, with its extensions.

The new camp of Carbon Center is located at the head of Beaver Creek, 7 miles southeast of Beaver City. It is the center of a flat basin, which is surrounded by high mountains.

The mines about Carbon are distinctively base. They are on the galena belt, which passes the head of Granite Creek and over on to Butte Creek. The ore about Carbon is mainly argentiferous galena of good grade, but red carbonate has also been found. Every variety of galena is represented, and the ore has a general appearance of existing in a good, solid formation. Specimens show black sulphurets, ruby, and galena. The principal locations are the Virginia, Sunset, President, and Rainbow. On the Virginia 15 men are at work. The vein is over 7 feet wide, half of which is solid metal. The Sunset is a strong vein of galena, but the snow on the location has retarded operations.

The President is a 5-foot vein of carbonate and galena, which assays $300 per ton. The Rainbow is mostly carbonate ore of good grade.

On Reeder Gulch, first comes the Homestake, discovered on the 1st of March. It is on the west side of the creek, and crops out on the hillside 15 feet wide for a distance of 50 feet. Only a little surface work has been done, but the ore shows gold.

Following up the creek is the Clagget lode. It is within a few hundred feet of the creek, and runs in a northeasterly direction. The claim is covered by huge bowlders of quartz, which is of itself of great value. On the Golden Gate, above the Clagget lode, a shaft has been sunk a distance of 30 feet, and the vein holds good for that distance. Average assays returned $30 in gold.

The Poorman and Jenny are parallel veins; the former east of the Clagget and the latter north, and both show the same variety of ore. Assays from these two return an average of $30 in gold. The Kate Burnett is one of the best claims on the creek. The ledge is 7 feet wide. Northeast of the Kate Burnett is the Henry Clay. The vein is reg ular and solid.

On the left-hand fork of Reeder Gulch is the Unknown. The ledge is 4 feet in width, and 9 inches of it have an assay value of $150 per

ton.

Over the right-hand fork of Reeder Gulch, in the Check claim, there are 3 feet of good milling ore opened up, and in the Idahoan there are several large cuts which intersect the vein in as many places, all showing from 2 to 3 feet of fine ore.

The Paymaster was located last year and has a fine body of ore exposed. The vein is a large one.

On Pritchard Creek and its tributary gulches are quite a number of other valuable ledges, among which may be mentioned the following: The Fannie, on Trail Creek, shows a 4-foot vein of galena with a 3inch stratum of gold-bearing quartz on the hanging wall, which is held together by stringers of gold. The Margaret lode, 6 miles above Eagle City, on Eagle Creek, is on a 6-foot fissure vein, and assays $51 gold, $50 silver.

The Grey Eagle mine, 3 miles from Eagle City, on Eagle Creek, shows a 6-foot vein of galena with 55 ounces silver.

The Montana lode, 4 miles from Eagle City, is a 2-foot vein of galena carrying 21 ounces silver.

The Skookum, situated on Pritchard Creek, 2 miles above Eagle City, assays $14 in gold.

The Bullion and Monarch, two 4-feet veins, assay from 40 to 60 ounces silver per ton.

The Lucky Baldwin, located in Dream Gulch, is a 2-foot vein, assaying $25 in gold.

The Sunset group, 6 miles from Eagle City, in Beaver district, comprises eight distinct ledges, containing galena and carbonate ores. Assays average from 40 to 60 ounces silver.

The Jack Wait property, 12 miles from Eagle City, on the east fork of Eagle Creek, is on a 20-foot fissure vein. The ores, which are copper and galena, assay from 40 to 160 ounces silver. The production of the last year, in the absence of any reliable reports, may be safely estimated at $250,000.

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

Mineral district.-The Black Maria is located at Mineral City Camp, 175 miles from Lewiston. The specimens show rich black sulphurets, carrying as high as $450 per ton, some very fine chlorides of silver,

running from $100 to $200, and rock containing a heavy percentage of copper. These samples were taken at various points from the surface to a depth of 115 feet. Present developments consist of shaft, 115 feet deep; two levels, 10 and 12 feet, at a depth of 40 feet from the surface. A cross-cut of 15 feet in one of these levels has not yet reached the foot-wall, but shows a very satisfactory body of highgrade ore, from which the following assays have been made: No. 1 shows 135 ounces in silver and $207 in gold per ton; No. 2, 114 ounces silver, 30 per cent. lead, and a trace of gold; No. 3, 132 ounces silver, 82 per cent. lead, and a trace of gold; No. 4, 440 ounces silver and $211 gold. Most of the ore is free milling, though there is considerable high-grade smelting ore. There are about 300 tons of highgrade ore on the dump, carrying an average of 102 ounces silver, $6 in gold, and about 30 per cent. lead. The camp is easily accessible, on a good natural road from Snake River. The Oregon Short-Line Railway Company have graded to within 15 miles of camp and have their track laid to the Weiser River, 28 miles distant. There are about 40 miners in camp, most of whom own promising locations. Silver and copper ores are abundant in all of these claims. A plentiful supply of wood and water exists in the camp, and every condition is favorable for cheap reduction and marketing of the rich deposits.

Other prominent mines in the camp are the following: The Portage, on which several men are engaged in driving a tunnel, which is in over 100 feet; the Mountain Rose, the Black Hawk, the Daniel Boone, on which a large amount of work has been done in the way of shafts, tunnels, and drifts.

Heath district comprises large quartz ledges, carrying silver chlorides and copper.

The Belmont, the Greenhorn, and the Philadelphia are prominent locations in this district. The first named has been successfully worked for several years. A 5-stamp mill is in operation.

In the Seven Devils district, which lies some 75 miles north of Weiser City, discoveries of copper were made during the summer of 1884, and over fifty locations have been recorded. The ledges are of varying widths, running from 23 to 20 feet.

The ores are exclusively of copper, such as peacock (variegated copper ore), azurite, malachite, and black oxide of copper, assaying as high as 74 per cent. copper. Gold is not always found with these ores. The veins are contact veins, between granite and limestone. The natu ral facilities for reducing these ores upon the ground are unequaled. The timber is apparently inexhaustible, with plenty of lime and iron, and abundance of water.

The placer mines of Snake River, in this county, are growing in im portance every year. There are large tracts of placer ground in the vicinity of Seven Devils mines which are said to pay from $2 to $3 a day per man.

CHAPTER VII.

MONTANA TERRITORY.

The past year has witnessed unusual activity in the mining industries of Montana, and the operations have been generally profitable. The increase in the yield of the precious metals has been large, amounting to at least $1,500,000, about one-third of which was in gold.

The prominent producers of the Territory, such as the Alice, Anaconda, Lexington, Moulton, Hope, the property of the Helena Melting and Refining Company; Boston and Montana, Elkhorn, Drum Lummon, Granite Mountain, Hecla, Colusa, and the Parrott (the last two being principally copper) have continued their yield without abatement, and many new and valuable mines have been opened.

The records of the mints and assay offices show that the deposits during the year of unrefined gold from the mines of Montana were $1,470,253, and the reports of refiners disclose that of the refined gold received at the mints, about $700,000 came from the mines of this Territory, making a total gold production of about $2,170,000. The deposits of unrefined silver were $1,224,375, and the reports of refineries show that of the refined silver received by the mints, about $4,500,000 was obtained from Montana's mines, and Eastern bankers report that about $1,300,000 was exported. These amounts aggregate about $7,000,000. I have, therefore, estimated the production of the precious metals in the Territory for the year 1884 to have been

Gold...

Silver

Total.....

$2, 170, 000 7,000,000

9, 170, 000

which appears to have been obtained from the mines of the various counties as follows:

The following very complete and carefully prepared review of the mineral products of the Territory was prepared by Mr. Russell B. Harrison, assayer in charge of the United States assay office at Helena,

and while his statements, both as to the total production of the Territory and in some cases of the different counties, differ from the foregoing estimate, made after comparison with other data, I have inserted his estimate in full.

The area of this Territory is 145,776 square miles, of which nearly onethird is mountainous, and in this latter area are the gulches and lode claims which have yielded such large amounts of gold. It was in 1862 that the rich gold placers of Montana caused the stampede of miners and adventurers. Since the date of discovery the estimated production of placer gold has been $150,000,000, and the gulches that yielded the larger portion of this amount are still being profitably worked. The yield of the placers during 1884 is estimated to have been about $800,000, and there is no reason for assuming that these deposits are exhausted. Montana has an area in all parts of which gold has been found, and in almost every county of the Territory placer mining has been prosecuted with more or less activity, while the economical and close-working appliances, the result of experience and invention, are considerably increasing the profit and encouraging the working of less valuable gravel. The lode claims have entered upon a career of prosperity never before known. The attention of capital has been turned toward mining investments, and the result is shown in numbers of new mills and smelters and the development of many small mines to such an extent as to justify the erection of reduction works in the early spring. Two important factors in the increased development of the mining interests of Montana have been the construction of the Northern Pacific and the Utah and Northern Railroads. These and their connections have made it possible to reach quickly and conveniently those districts in which minerals abound, and thus to bring in machinery and transport bullion at such rates as will leave a profit to those engaged in extracting and treating ores and shipping. Notwithstanding the decline in the price of silver and the low price of copper and lead, in the production of which Montana stands in the front rank, the output has been steadily increasing and with but one exception was larger in every district than in 1883.

The mineral wealth of Montana is the principal source of its prosper ity, and the extraction and reduction of its ores will long continue to be a leading and productive industry. The copper product of Butte district alone, aside from the precious metals, exceeds that of any other locality in the United States except the Lake Superior region. The following estimates by counties will give some idea of the increased product of Montana during the year 1884, copper, lead, and precious metals being included:

Although there has been a slight decrease in the placer yield, the product in gold from quartz mining has more than counterbalanced the loss, and was in 1884 at least twice as great in value, while the total product in gold was in excess of that of 1883 by $370,000.