Copper, Silver, and a Close Call: Newport's Mining District Heats Up

NEWS OF THE MINES Newport District Development Work Progressing. Promising Strikes Made of Late.

The Bornite Mining Co. has made arrangements to ship several cars of ore. The ore will have to be hauled a distance of about four miles to Newport to be shipped. It is probable that the ore will go to the Panhandle smelter at Ponderay.

The strike at the Bornite mine proves to be the best that has been made in the Newport district. The company has a fine ledge of ore two feet in thickness. All of the rock in the vicinity of the ledge is highly mineralized. Eight inches of the ledge proved to be solid copper ore, carrying some values in silver. Assays of the ore showed it to average $29 in copper and $1.50 in silver to the ton. Another shift of men has been added to the force at the mine, and the two shifts will be employed throughout the winter. Air pipes are being installed and an ore house erected on the property.

John Peterkin is doing assessment work on several of his claims just north of town, near Cook's mountain.

An expert named James was in Newport on Sunday and visited the Conquest mining property in the Newport district. He stated that a party of eastern capitalists have a deal on to purchase the interests of the present owners, and that the prospects were favorable for the consummation of the deal.

The Conquest people have about a carload of ore sacked and on the dump, awaiting transportation to Newport to be shipped to a smelter. If this ore proves as valuable as the owners think the chances are that the property will be sold and development of the property will be continued.

Jim Culberson came up from the Last Chance mine on Sunday. He met with an accident while working that day which will cause him to remain idle for some time. He was working at the bottom of the shaft, and was in the act of adjusting the hook to the bucket bail. The cable happened to be a couple of inches short and he jerked on it to obtain more slack. Instead of getting more slack the man at the top of the hoist began hoisting. Jim's fingers caught in the hook and were quite badly lacerated.

Work on the Last Chance in the Newport district is progressing nicely. Culberson & McCullough have reached the 95-foot level with their shaft and have been engaged in drifting towards the ledge. They struck a body of ore with the last shot on Saturday night about 15 feet from the shaft. This ore is of a fine quality and the owners believe that they will make a strike of a character that will pay to ship before spring.

Henry Feise has transferred to the Bornite Mining & Smelting Co. a tract of land in the Newport mining district on which are located the properties owned by the company. Mr. Feise has been acting as trustee for the various properties that were recently consolidated into the Bornite Co.

The Woodrat mine, near Priest Lake, in which a number of Newport parties are interested, has installed machinery and is now looking more like a mine than at any previous period. A strike of fine steel galena was made recently. As soon as the transportation facilities are improved in that vicinity it is predicted that the Woodrat will prove a shipper.

While driving the tunnel to crosscut the main ledge on the Blue Jim Mining Co.'s property, near Cement, the company encountered a blind lead 20 feet wide. The ledge is highly mineralized and all the assays taken show rich values in gold, silver and copper. The company is making good progress in its crosscut tunnel, and expects to be into the main ledge at over 100-foot depth about the first of the year. This ledge has a surface cropping of over 4000 feet, and has been opened by a small open cut showing a ledge 10 feet wide and the ore running from $30 to $60 in gray copper and gold. The Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad will pass within 500 feet of the working tunnel of the property when it is completed next summer.—Chronicle.