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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1890)
WEST SHORE. 789 fortune ; yes, a fortune for himself and a legacy for bis children and children's children that will always insure an abundance of life's comforts. It is a shame to allow our rivers to go hur rying down to the sea when we need the waters for fertilizing influences upon our lands. Let the farmers of Montana rise in their majesty and take hold of the proposition with a determin ation, and our word for it they will nevef regret it. Those who are so situated that they can not cover their lands with water from our rivers, and whose supply is short, may commence to construct reservoirs. But for those who live on such valleys as are threaded by our rivers the long canal is the project for them to undertake, for this will give them a running stream of water all the year through and one that will never grow less. Rocky Mountain Husbandman. FRASER RIVER COLD. Mr. Andrew 0. Lawson's scientific report upon the claims of the Lillooet Hydraulic Mining Company, which are situated on the west bank of the Fraser river, about one mile above the town of Lillooet, well known as the, old Dickey ranch, and consisting of about 320 acres of bench land at an altitude of 250 feet above river level, will be found very interesting in mining circles. The eastern boundary of the old ranch fronts on the Fraser. Steps are being taken by the company to con trol a water frontage one mile in extent on the Fraser, and of an average width of over half a mile. It is this block of land which it is proposed to subject to hydraulic mining to recover the gold contained in the gravel of which both the upper and lower benches are composed. Mr. Lawson has carefully exam ined the location, with the object of proving first, to what extent gold is contained in the gravel composing the benches, and second, to what extent it is adapted to hydraulic methods of mining. In the early days of placer mining in British Columbia, the ground was occupied by numbers of miners who, by the crude methods at their disposal, were taking out ' gold from the surface layers of gravel at the rate of $16 per man per day, according to the information furnished by Mr. Smith, M. P. P., who resided there at the time, and who has lived there ever since. At the time of the Cariboo excitement, in 1862, this ground was suddenly abandoned by the miners, who went north, and white men never returned to the district in any force, but the ground has been mined in a desultory way by Chinese, who, not having complied with the regulation of the Mining Act, lost their claims. The difficulty of obtaining a supply of water has been a hindrance to more vigorous work. The past history of this location has gone to show that it con tains gold in sufficient quantities to repay work of the crudest sort. Mr. Lawson received the assurance of an experienced placer miner who had carefully prospected the locality, that there was some "color" in every pan of gravel he had washed. The present company have made two trial pits on the lower bench one of which represents the removal of about 3,500 cu bic yards of gravel, yielding $700-equal to an average of twen ty cents per cubic yard. There seems to be no doubt as to the auriferous properties of the gravel in paying quantities. It is thought that this bench contains 60,000,000 cubic yards of gold bearing gravel. This quantity, at only ten cent! per yard, rep resents 16,000,000. All the conditions of the ground appear, from the expert's report, to be well adapted for hydraulic min ing, the gravel composing the benches being stream-bedded and easily washed down and quite free from cemented con glomerate. And the mine being situated on a powerful stream like the Fraser, assists development. The company control 600 inches of water and any pressure can be obtained up to 600 feet. . The above records of the mining expert bear out the tes timony of Mr. A. McNaughton, of Quesnelle, Cariboo, who has been for thirty-six years in the mines, as to the richness of the undeveloped gold creeks in the Lillooet district, which he pre dicts will yet eclipse the past record of the great Cariboo country. Coloniit. A glance at a map will disclose that the region north of Gray's harbor is coursed by an astonishing infinity of streams, large and small, betraying at once the rolling character of the country and suggesting its richness and adaptability to agricul tural purposes. The entire tract is covered with an enormous quantity of timber, red fir, spruce, hemlock and cedar. Along the Humptulups alone there is a greater aggregate of timber than can be found in the entire state of Wisconsin. It grows in places to great heights, and there is hardly a tree that is not erect, straight-grained and merchantable. Besides this illimit able wealth of lumber the land, when cleared, is arable, the soil being rich and easily worked. The plan that can coon be adopted is this : Clear the timber and sell the logs, at a very substantial profit, to the mills of Gray's harbor. Then till the soil and spend your days happily following the " only pursuit that is sure." The valley of the Humptulups is narrow but very fertile. It is covered with a light growth of vine maple and aHer, easily cleared. A number of settlers are now located along the river, as far as the Humptulups falls, about forty miles from the harbor. The stream is very clear and abounds in salmon and salmon trout up to the falls. Above the falls, eager mountain trout fall an eaxy prey to the wiles of the fish erman. It is a first class driving ttream, being easily naviga ble for logs for the entire distance below the falls. The country bark from the bottom land is rolling, and covered with heavy timber. It is not exaggeration to state that the Humptulups country alone, comprising about thirty townships, will support comfortably 50,000 people. It is estimated that at least 2,500 people will settle there during the next year. The resources of the Humptulups country are not altogether agricultural. It is currently stited that there are no precious or valuable minerals there, and that the mountains are notable chiefly for the abun dance of barren trap rock. This is untrue. Copper, iron, lead and silver, have been discovered In many places, and the hills are firmly believed to teem with mineral wealth. Lignite coil has been discovered in large quantities; and there are forma tions of sandstone and slate that promise much for those who are in search of a better quality of coal. Qray'i Harbor Timu. One of the richest strikes ever made in Montana was mode a few days ago on the old Legal Tender mine near Argenta, an assay on the ore returning 423 ounces silver and 71 per cent, lead to the ton, and the body is reported quits large. The Le gal Tender was located in 1863 and was the first producing and paying mine in Montana. The first ore shipped from it was hauled with ox teams to Sacramento, Cal, and shlped by water around Cape Horn to England for treatment. The ore was very high grade, averaging over f350 per ton. In 1866 the mine passed into the bands of a New York company. They built a smelter at Argenta and commenced working the mine. Bad management, the high price of labor and fuel involved the company. For several years the mine remained idle and was finally leased to J. C. Bray and others of Dillon, who worked it profitably for a time when the ore pinched out. Then it was idle until a few months ago, when it was sold to what is now the Legal Tender Mining Company, composed of business men of Dillon. A force of men were put to work and development work pushed. The new rich strike was made a few days ago in a cross-cut and the Indications are that the Legal Tender