i THE SUMPTER MINER Wednesday, March 2$, 1904 MAJ. BONTA WILL RETURN TO OREGON APRIL 15. When Work Will be Rushed on His Rail road to The John Day Country. K. A. lliilnhliiH, agout of Mujur BoritH In I:Ih mining hiiiI nil I way nlurirlHiH, phhhoiI through thin morning on routu to tliu Oregon Wondoi mill Will Cloavur groups, to measure up tho contract work aud piiy oir tlm nitiii, Mr. llutdliliiH will go mi to Mount HasttH to look after tlm work nt tlm liontii property there. Duvulopont bHH Imtiii prosecuted on tlm Old Hill (tli Hroup nil wintur and over 200 feot of ttiumil work uomplutod. lu driving IIiIh distance throu blind lodges worn out, ouo of which ineiiH nrod four mid tliu other two hIx foot in width, and nil carrying goud val- 1IUH. Mr. HutoliliiH expects Major lluutii I back from tlm oiih! liy tho mlddlu I of April. It Ih dullnltuly known, ho xays.that tlm IioiiiIh hitvi) all been Hold for tint rnllroud mid ovory thliiK r ranged satisfactorily, iih fur as limine iiifC thu proportion, Ih concerned. It in Major llouta'H intention to roturu JiihI iih soon iih tho weather will pur mil thu cnmmoucumetit of general work on tho proponed linn. SCHEME TO IKRIGAIE OVER 50.000 ACRES. A dam I (XI foot high for a lesoi voir of sulllcleiit capaully to cover ft, 000 acies of laud Ih olio of tlm lie wont Irrigation oiitorpisoH lu thu In land Kmplto. Thu dam will bu plai'od lu thu canyon of thu Owyhee river, almiil olghtoou lulled from Ontario, and three and ono-hnlf miloH fioin thu mouth of .Ionian crook. Civil Engineer C. C. Stephenson, of llnlse. and bin crow of HiirvoyciH havu just completed sur veying thu hIIu for thu dam, and will ut ouou make thu survey for thu canal, which will extend fiom thu big ioh orvoli to thu Mullieiir river below Ontario, covorlug all thu bunch laud not reached by thu Nevada aud Owy hee canals. It Ih possible thin high-lluu canal may bu extended across thu .Malheur river to Dead Ox Flat, opposite Wuisui. The dam us surveyed will bu 1 00 feet along anil 1 00 feet high, uml it Ih piiHHiblu to build a dam at thai point 200 feet high. but thu 100 foot dam will make a reservoir of aullluieiit capacity to irrigate all the arid IiiikIh below. Mr. Stevenson is not making puhlio who thu capitalUta are behind the euteiprlso, but it U learned that the cuookH Issued in payment of Mrriciw wuru from promiuout business aeu ot llolso. It la evidently the knowledge that Major HoiiIh Ih going to build bla railroad Into the John Day valley from Maker City thnt haaan8tlrrod up the Sumpter Vulluy people. The management of that road la telling Ita business to the nowapapeis now for the HrHt time in Kb history, telling them about building all kinds of Much over into the Isolated Empire. Ilertofore it Iiiih always been a chso of thu public, especially tho newspapers, In) damned. Now. that a tight for traillc In thu not very dlHtaut future Ih coiiipiirntlvnly a mire thing, thu Sumpter Valley Ih taking thu public Into Itrt cnulldcuce and tollluu wliat It proposes to do tounrilH biilldiug up thu country. In (IiIh connection, Thu Miner wan informed a fuw dayn since that the gralu biiyoud Whit noy is of Htaulnrd gauge aud the luteuliou Ih to make of such thu whole road at uo dlntaut datu. Thu Sumpter Valley la evi dently propurlug for competition, which Iiiih been alleged to lie tho life of trade ami Iiiih sometimes been known to bu IIh death. HAD ROUGH PASSAGE FROM SUSANVILLE. Hilly Stewart, thu head repairman ot thu telephone company, returned from SiiHiiuvillu last night, (after a rough passage. Near Whitney, whllu crossing a small itiviuu which thu melting snow had lllloil with water, thu hoises went through, breaking thu harness and leaving thu sluigh and Mr. Stewart stranded. 'i'liom was nothing left to do nut to wadu out and pull the vehicle, This ho did in tour or live feet of water. Mr. Stuunt says thu snow is almost gouu from thu toads out the Knuin vlllo way, aud Hleighng Ih dltllcult. lie miw several dead horses in thu vicinity of Susvamille, and there Ih much talk aliuut the HiilferiiiK among stock. OREGON'S ORE EXHIBIT SHIPPED TO ST. LOUIS Tomorrow Fred li. Mollis will ship to St. Louia the Oregon ore exhibit, which will bu pluced in tbe world's fair. Thu ahipmeut will occupy a full car aud will represeut an iutriusio value close to ouo hundred thousaud dolla-a. That is, tbat amount of gold is contained in the exhibit In tbe shape of nuggets, gold quartz and high grade specimens. In tbe shipment la included tho famous Mollis cabinets, which have been admired oy millions of people, having been exhibited at Huffalo, Charleston, Spokane and other ex positions. These cabinets could not be duplicated, aud for that reason are worth a fabulous figure. Mellls' own private exhibit has been enhanced by tbo addition of scores of tons of ore specimens from all thu mluea of Oregon, and by gold nuggota, precious ore specimens, bot tles of valuable concentrates, assay buttona'-and solid gold bars. Tbe exhibit gathered by Mr. Mellls is expected to eclipse anything in that line ahown at tbe world's fair. It will result In a magnificent ad vertisement of tbe mineral resources of Oaker uounty Herald. LANDS WITHDRAWN FROM RESERVE A ton, the special dispatch from Waahiug to tbe Portland Journal, dated 14th iustaut says: Chief For ester Hon. Oifford I'iuubot has do- elded that the following lauds, In cluded within tbo withdrawals for the proposed Hluo Mountain forest reserve, shall be excluded from such rcsorve In llxiug tbo final boundaries ot thu same: All or aectlona 21, 22, 25, 20. 27, 28, :i:i. IH, .'in and :0 in town ship 10 south, rango 115 $ east; also all of township 11 south, rango 71ft east; also sect Ions 111. 14, 24, 2ft and Ilti, towuship 11 south, rango !I4 east; also auctions 1, 2 and 12, township 12 south, range lift east, Willamette Meriitihii. Mr. Piuchot further atatea in bla communication, which is addressed to ouator Mitchell, that tbo remain ing lauds iu towuship 11 foutl, rango lift Sj oast, and In township 12 south, range lift aud lift1... cast, are practically all held by the federal government, aud i ro covered with muichautahlo timber and well suited tor thu purposes of a forest resorve. Mr. Piuchot makes u further state ment as follews: "1 wish to empha size vury strongly tho fact that iu casu this reservu is created, the mer chantable timber will bu sold upon application, aud that thu policy of thu government will bo to encourage iu every way the general development of thu region." Thu lauds withdrawn from the res earvatiou liu along thu proposed lino of railway from Sumpter to Hums. WILD DUCKS WEIGHTED DOWN WITH GOLD NUGGETS Ouo of the greatest mining excite ments uvcr occurring uear Salt Lake is now uu. A great number of wild ducks have been found dead uear Has in City, aud Investigation proves that tbo fowls had beou killed by oatlug small gold nuggota which lodged iu their crops. Soon after the discovery dozens of citizens began to bunt ducks. Tbe now scheme of mluuig was profitable to more tbau ono of the hunters. Dr. Walker, of Hyatville found a nugget iu a duck's crop worth ill. 80. Other fluda were made, aud the gold fever is ou. The nuggets swal lowed by tbe birds, were pioked up ou the shore of Paint Rock creek. Prospectorare already on'the ground staking olaitns. Exchange. WETAHER MAN HAS IT IN FOR HIM. Dr. Walters Bunked Into AH Kinds of Inclemency On Trip South. Dr. F. A. Walters, of Stevens' Point, Wisconsin, who returned tho other day from a southern Oregon aud California trip to look' after bla mining Interests here before going east, inclines to tbe belief tbat tbe weather man baa It in for him. Whfcii be arrived In Sumpter a few weeks ago, the worst an.ow storm of the season was lagiug. With skeea and w'ebn ho braved tbe Inclemency of tbo weather aud made n journey to the Storm King. After spending several days here he went to south ern Oregon, where be went against tbe worst rain storm in history. In fact, ho saye the rainfall in a couplo of mouths thoio amounted to more than it usually does for tbo eutlro year. To get away from this beastly brand of weutber, bo tried 'Frisco, aud bumded into tbo heavy storm about which the papers were full a short time ago. He coucludes that after all tho Sumpter variety is the best ho has at rock on the Pacltlc coast. Dr. Walters' advices from homo atato 'bat WIhcosiiIu haa experienced tbe coldest weather within the mem ory of man. Strango birds hihterto uukuowu in that regiou are plenti ful, supposed to bnvo beeeu driven there by the iutonso cold furthor north. Dr. Walters la interested iu the Eutorprlfo Mining company, iu southern Oregon, which ia allied with tho Advauco aud Forest companies iu Sumpter, aud which controls several properties there. Ho saya things are looking good and oxtenslvo work nud will be douo the coming season. Ou his roturu ho will arrange to carry ou continuous devel opment nt the several properties iu which bis companies are interested. Mixed Up in Wade Failure. ), S. Hughes, ouo of tho owners of tho Standard, returned this morning from n business trip to Peulcton, aud loft this afternoon for Quartz burg. Mr. Hughes was slightly mix ed up lu tho Wade failure, Mr. Wade having had an optiou on his Standard stock, aud his mission to Peudletou was to adjust matters. Latest New Voik Pattern Hats, now designs lu Street Hats, at Mrs. J. N. Hoffmau's. FREE! FREE!! FREE!!! 85.00 Certilicuto of the best Oil Stock absolutely given away. Write nt once for plan how to secure Five Dollars' worth of fully paid and nou-asscssablc Oil Stock without cash. INVESTORS' LISTS HMMNY Room 729 Park Row Bldg. NEW YORK