THE SUMPTER MINER.
u-
VOL I.
SUMPTER, OREGON, DECEMBER 27, 1899.
NO. 16.
r-
ADVERTISING
SUMPTER
Newspapers Devote Columns
? to Camp and District.
GEN. WARREN TALKS
Tells the Butte Miner All About this Boom
ing Town and Surrounding Rich Mines
Skillfully Arrayed Facts and Figures
Portland Telegram's Most Comprehen
sive Story, Superbly Illustrated.
Sumpter Is being widely, wisely and
willingly advertised of late.
The splendid Christmas number of the
Portland Telegram reached here last even
ing. It contains the most comprehensive
write-up of the Sumpter mining district
which has yet appeared in any publica
tion, together with a short, concise, con
vincing story of Sumpter's recent rapid
growth. The whole Is superbly Illus
trated with half tone cuts printed on
enameled paper, of the town of Sumpter,
looking south on Mill street, and of a half
dozen or more of the more prominent
quartz mills In the district.
The Hutte Mlr.er of last Saturday con
tains so excellent an interview with Gen
eral Warren, expressed in his characteris
tic, forcible, clear way, summarizing the
conditions here, a portion of which THE
MINER cannot refrain from reproducing,
. giving It this prominence, which it de
serves. Those who are posted on the
local situation will testify that the Gen
eral has rather kept within the facts, than
gone beyond. After an exchange of bou
quets and an exhibition of General War
ren's far famed modesty, in not wishing
to boom an enterprise in which he himself
Is interested, he nroceeds as follews:
1
"Very well, then. Sumpter is, as I ;
said before, an old placer camp'. In the
old days some free milling quartz was dis
covered near the surface and worked by
arastras and other crude methods. The
ore,.however, turned, what the old time
miners considered base, just below the
surface. As a matter of fact it Is not at
all refractory when you consider that In
concentrating 70 per cent of the values
can be caught on the plates and that the
tailings when finally treated by the cyan
ide process yield up the small per cent
that would otherwise escape.
"As far as I am concerned 1 went to
Sumpter last August. It took but a brief
inspection to assure me of the great future
before the town and I became interested
in platting new additions to the old town
site. This property is owned by the
Sumpter Townsite company, limited, of
which I am president, as you will notice
from this letter head. Tom C. Gray is
vice president and auditor, William C.
Calder, secretary and treasurer. You
will notice by these plats that we have
platted adjoining the old townsite a total
of 4000 lots, that some other parties have
platted additions beyond ours and that our
company owns the vacant property lying
beyond this. Of the 4000 lots owned by
the company 1000 have already been con
tracted for and by next May I expect they
will all be gone. You will notice by the
way one very desirable addition Is called
'Warren Heights,' and In this addition is
located the reservoir of the waterworks,
that has a capacity of 1,000,000 gallons, erected winter quarters, and are going
The plant Is owned by W. L. Vinson and : ahead with the development of their lo
lias a gravity pressure in the business cations,
center of the town of 181 feet. I "The Sumpter district Is not a Cripple
"Of Sumpter Itself I will say that at 1 Greek It Is the Rand of America. The
the present time there are 2500 people ! gold belt Is is by 60 miles in area and the
there. Seven stage lines run from the surface has not been scratched yet. By
town to adjoining camps and from 100 to ' next August there will be 20,000 people In
150 freight teams are constantly engaged ' the Sumpter district, I do not advise
in hauling. The town Is connected with J anyone to go to Sumpter now. The snow
the outside world by a new narrow guage , is two feet deep in the town and live feet
railway as shown on the map. Sumpter in the mountains, consequently no advan
is the entrepot and market for a vast area 1 tageous prospecting can be undertaken at
of country extending to the west and this time. When the snow has passed
south a distance of 60 miles, to the west j away in the spring there will be no re
and north 15 to 25 miles and the extensive glon In America offering such Inducements
district to the east Is equally divided be-1 to the prospector, gold seeker and practical
tween Sumpter and Baker City. ' mining man."
"You ask about the mines and their de-1
velopment. Well, briefly, to commence !GOOD SHOWING ON THE BYSON
with, there is the North Pole, that has a
tunnel 1600 feet long which cuts the vein
1 too feet deep and the vein shows better
there- than at any other point. The Red
Roy has a mile and a half of levels and
20 stamp mill and has f 3,000,000 worth of
ore In sight and a sale Is now being nego-
tinted In London on a 53,000,000 basis.
One million dollars has been frequently
offered and refused for the Columbia.
The Free Coinage was bought by Schlll-
Ing and Cannon, of Portland, three
months ago for 55000. They have just
sold a controlling Interest in the property
for 575,000. The Sumpter Snow Bird,
owned by Colonel R. S. Topping, Mike
Shay and J. S. C. Fr.iser.of the Hank of
Montreal, with less than 53000 expended
upon it, is now considered a 5100,000
mine. The Ibex, bought a year ago for
565,000, has been sold to Colonel
Ray, of Port Arthur, Canada,
for 5300,000. The Bonanza has
been sold to Colonel Hays, rep
resenting the Standard Oil people for
5750,000. The Diadem sold to the Pardee
syndicate for 524,000, and has after less
than 52000 lias been expended upon it, and
with a shaft down only 55 feet, oreenough
In sight to pay for the mine. The Van
Anda group of mines purchased by Blew
ett & Co. from Col. Hill Turner for less
than 5100,000 last spring, gives Indica
tions at the present time of being a 5i,
000,000 mine. The Cougar, belonging
to Larson & Co., of Spokane, has .1 250
ton cyanide mill upon it just ready to run.
Tile sum of 51,000,000 has been frequent
ly offered and refused for this property.
The Magnolia and Little Giant have mills '
now In the course of erection and are uu-.
der me direction ot w. U. Vinson, al-l
W. L. Vinson, al-l
tnougn .arge.y owned ... cng.anu. tacr.
one Is considered a f'.ooojooo property.
'"". '""c ","u,,!,l":" u,v uc". '
payers there are at least 20
otners uevei-1
oped to an extent that justifies the erec
lion of mills. b. D. LeClair, formerly of
Hutte, began work about a year ago on
the Richmond group near the Bonanza.
He now has a shaft down 250 feet with
cross cuts run, and the property Is consid
ered one of the best mines In the district.
Capt. C. H. Thompson and Angus Mc
Queen own tlie great Keystone group, ad
joining tlie Bonanza on the east. Recent
developments make It one of the great
properties of the camp. Col. John Burke,
well known in Montana and the Coeur
d'Alenes, picked up an old mine, that had
been abandoned for years, called the
Chloride. He was backed by Tennessee
capital sud has developed a 5500,000 prop
erty. The Gem of the Mountains, owned
by Leland and Erwln, promises to be one
of the great copper-gold properties of the
country.
" There have been 2000 prospector in
the mountains around Sumpter until
lately, when they have been driven in by
snow. Many of these, however, have
Tunnels Reveal Large Veins of High
Grade Ore.
The Bysou and Tiger mineral claims on
Dixie creek, Grant county, thirty-eight
. miles from here, owned by the Hyson
Gold Mining and Milling company, the
Incorporators of which are H.W.Sloan,
I W. H. Jones, T. R. Yerger and l:red
' Dunn, all of Sumpter, are said to possess
more titan usual merit. They have been
' prospected and opened up in a thorough
manner by the following werk: On the
Tiger chim there Is a twenty-foot shaft
and a fifteen-foot drift on the vein, which
shows four feet ot ore running 54 by mill
: test. There Is a live-stamp mill on the
j claim, though not belonging to the prop-
,erty.
The Hyson claim has much more work
on it, there being eighty feet of tunnel
run on the ledge showing apay streak six
to fourteen inches In three feet of g.ingue
matter between the walls. The values in
this run 532 to 540.
North of the face of the tunnel an open
cut of ninety feet on the ledge and a tif
' teen-foot shaft shows ten indies of eood
ore between walls three and one-half feet
apart. Still another shaft twelve to fif
teen lect deep and north of the cut shows
ore of the same class. The vein has also
been uncovered for several hundred feet,
making prospects of almost certain merit,
and as the new operators are men of good
business judgment aiid sufficient means
to carry out their Ideas as to development,
It is likely that good reports will come
from the Hyson property In a short time,
as work has already been begun.
All Dealers Report Big Holiday Trade.
t
. A mtrchaills report iavjllK done an
( ,mmclM. Christmas trade. Those who
had for sale fancy goods which aredis-
., , .i...i.. ....n..
! i'ii.'icu 111 'i nikii'.iii) iwi iiwiiuiiy I'lvacilia,
though they made the mistake of ordering
too cheap a grade of goods, have done a
big business, and will continue to do so
until after New Year. In the postoffice
especially did the extra work of the holi
days come near swamping the regular
business. Many packages were forwarded
I and received, every available place In
the little office was full of parcels too large
to get into boxes, and to go through the
lot to find the right one was something
similar to finding the needle in the hay
stack. Reported Rich Strike on the Bonanza.
There have been a number of reports In
circulation during the past week or ten
days relative to a rich strike In the lower
levels of the Bonanza. No reliable In
formation can be secured from the man
agement. The Baker City Democrat
makes this indefinite guess at the situ situ
ateon: "It is reliably stated that the De
cember output of the Banauza mine will
be the greatest in the history of that big
property, which In one Instance recently
cleaned up in one month nearly J 100,000.
As an assurance that all precious produc
ing records of this mine will be eclipsed
this mouth, it Is known that the ore bod
ies which have furnished the mill for
weeks past is as rich or richer than ever
were uncovered in tlie mine, certainly
more extensive. This rich ore Is from the
7oo-foot level and Is proof of the fact that
the ore veins In the Honatua Increase In
width and richness as depth Is attained.
It Is now tlie intention of tlie manage
ment to gain 300 feet greater depth and
operations to that end will soon be set In
progress. '
Sudden Death of J. W. Mead.
J. W. Mead, cashier of the First Bank
of Sumpter, died at the hospital In Baker
City Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock, of
pneumonia. He was taken sick only tlie
previous Thursday, and because a nurse
could not be secured here, his physician,
Dr. Pearce, advised that he go to the hos
pital and accompanied him there. The
doctor says that when he left him there
were .10 dangerous symptoms, and the
patient was feeling unexpectedly cheerful.
Messrs. Calder, Goss, Bellinger, Gray,
Griffin, Durgln, Dagnnny and Marsh
went to Baker yesterday to attend to the
shipping of the body to West Liberty,
Iowa, the deceased's former home and
where his mother now resides. Owing
to the delay In the arrival there of the
tr.iln.they reached thedepot just In time to
see the O. R. & N. east-bound train pull
out with the body aboard. Mr. Mead
was one of those unobtrusive, substantial
men who have not a wide circle of ac
quaintances, but who was trusted and ad
mired by all with whom he came In con
tact. To these the unexpected news of
his death was a painful shock. He was
about forty-live years of age and had uo
family or relatives In tills state. Before
coming to Sumpter some months since, he
resided at La Grande.
W. L. Vinson Will "Cut Things Loose."
W. L. Vinson reached Sumpter Thurs
day from Portland, accompanied by Mrs.
Vinson. They left again Friday for
Seattle, where they will spend the holl-
days with friends, returning here early In
I January. Mr. Vinson says he will then "cut
I things loose" and remain In Sumpter must
of the time, giving his personal attention
to his addition, mines, electric light and
water systems.
Greenhorn District Prosperous.
Taylor Althnuse.a pioneer of the Green
horn district, was in town to enjoy the
holidays. He has live claims there,
known as the Silver Star group, which
have quite a reputation, and from all ac
counts possess large parallel veins carry
ing high values both in gold and more
particularly sliver. He reports the dis
trict as very prosperous, there being more
men at .vork there now than ever before.
Electric Light Machinery.
The two large boilers for the electric
light plant, which arrived some days
since, have been unloaded in the rear ot
the power house, and will soon constitute
the most powerful "boiler battery" in
eastern Oregon. Other machinery fur
the increase of capacity and improvement
of the service will soon be Installed.
For Sale.
Desirable home property. Call on Mrs.
L. Hunstock, Cracker street.
Every piece of type in THE MlNEK
plant is new and strictly up to date. A
back number jobcan't be done In this office.