Wednesday, January 3. 190$
THE SUMPTER MINER
SQUIRREL
PROVEN
Not long ago n story was printed
in these columns, reciting "Why the
Frenchmen closed the FtagstanV1 aud
dealing with Superintendent "Billy11
Reynolds equirrul theory as applied
to mining. Too story was based up
on a news item to the effect that
"Billy11 Reynolds had been placed
in charge of special development
wcrk at the Flagstaff by General
Manager Imbaus, the Orugun repre
sentative of the Paris company own
ing the Flagstaff, which company
labors under the name of Compaguie
Miuiere ilea Flngstatf. In brief, the
story related the reasons for "Hilly'
Royuolds1 firm belief (hat a parallel
volu lay to the north of tho unprofi
table Flagstaff flsHiire, and told how
ho uud ImhniH on co upon a time
spent their own money iu driving a
crosscut to the suspected orn body,
onttiug tho White Frost, aa it is
known on tho Flugstiifi' maps, but
whioh is always spoken of by Rey
nolds and linhatiH an "The Squir
rol." Where tho voiu was cut
(and tho work was do no without
tho knowledge of the Pails owners
of tho initio, who tlueo months
prior had ordorod the mine shut
for keeps) good pay cuteicri, aud
Imbaus, a very exaitablo I'rouoh
mau, rushed to the nearest tele
graph ofllce and cabled the glad
new i to ParlH, Ho reoeived an
answer whioh almost melted the
wiies, ordering him to cut out 'the
hot air for all time and not atlompt
to pull the company s leg for more
funds on the atruugth of a roportod
iloh striko in a mine which, to
their cortaiu knowledge, had bneu
shut down for throo months. There
was uothlng for Reynolds and Im
baus to do but quit work, which they
did after lmhaus had rent tho air of
Flagstaff hill with a largo uumber
of lurid "stiure bleus. " Reynolds
contented liimeolf with a bunch of
plain American damns.
The sequel to (hisatirriug talo may
now be written. After a great deal
of argument, the Parisiaus were pre
vailed upon to set aside a special de
velopment fund for use iu exploiting
the White FroHt vein. About two
months ago, "Hilly11 Reynolds re
sumed work on "The Squirrel,1 and
iu due lime opened up a flue body of
pay ore -so good us to value and so
plentiful that Ueueral Manager lm
haus has goue to Paris to persnuiilly
plead with his principals to reopau
the mine, which oau now be placed
on a payiug basis.
The White Frost vein is full five
feet wide. The pay occurs aloug the
banging wall in a streak varying iu
thickness from 8 to 20 inches. The
remaining veiu structure contains
gold in quantities sufficient to wai
raut milling aud concentration. Tho
pay streak is of free cold.
The old Flagstaff has certainly en
joyed a checkered history. After the
Frenohmen shut dowu, a Hostou syn
dicate bonded the miue for 8120,000,
made a paymeut and, argauized the
American Flagstaff Mining company.
Quite a lot of stook was sold and the
money honestly spent in the ground.
A cultured Boston gentleman by the
name of Thornton waa general man
THEORY
CORRECT
ager of tbe Amerlcau Flagstaff uom
pans', Everett Sutoliffe was secre
tary, Alva li. Gunnel was consulting
engineer, Frank Davis was superin
tendent aud Harvey L. McClano was
foreman. The capacity of tho Flag
etatf teu-etauip mill was doubled by
the addition of two additional
batteries, .aud an 80-ton cyanide
plant was installed. The tanks wore
16 feet iu diameter, and on the oc
casion of the opening of the new
mill, the management gavo a "tank
dauoe," which was atteuded by the
elite aud upper ten of Raker City.
A magnificent banquet wax served Hud
the function was iu every way tre
mendously elaborate. Tho oyauido
tauks proved successful from aterpsi
choreau poiut. of view, but from a
metallurgical stand point they wero
very bum. It seems that in making
laboratory teita with cyanide on
Flagstaff ore it was found that the
greateot recovery was when the pulp
was the (luoat. Tho ore was thuro
fore crushed to 00 mesh, but whou
tho solution was turned into those
bg 20-foot tanks there was just about
as much porculatinn as there would
be if tho tauks wore tilled with flour
aud water turned iuto it. The ex
periment of coarser crushing was
tried, with the result that whilo tho
percolation was fair, the solution was
unable to successfully attack the
coarse particles.
All duilug these experiments, Mo
Claue aud Davis wero employing a
whole lot of minors, tho 20-stuuip
mill, hoistiug plant, compressor and
pumps wero kept going, aud a big lot
of dead work iu the way of upraises
and ore connections, was being done
Tho pay roll caused tho Hostouiiiu
backers of the proposition to gasp.
And 'ill tho while, the oyauido re
fused emphatically to do Uh work.
Finally a mechanical agitator to
tisdst percolation was decided upon.
This equipment cost a pot of money,
stock sales were slacking up, the
llostoniaus wore getting cold foet,
aud then to cap the climax tho
miners demauded last mouth's pay.
Fruthermore, to show that Fate con
spired agalust the proposition, a
second payment on the, bund fell due.
the Parisians refused to grant an ex
tension of tluje, Uaker City grocers
declared against grantiug the board
ing bouse keeper further credit, and
oue day the American Flagstaff com
puny of Uoston, a million dollar cor
poration, went bump with a dull,
sickeniug thud.
The president of tho company ar
rived ou the eoyne from Boston, ac
companied by his fiscal ageut. The
presideut was a financier of rather
more than New Euglaud fame. He
was a cultured gentleaiau, scion of a
Plymouth Rook family, polished,
affable, polysyllabic in conversation,
aud a rauk tenderfoot as regards the
west. He aud his fiscal ageut were
welcomed at a hotel in Baker City
by a half hundred unpaid Flagstaff
inluera. The miners ware bellgeieut.
Oue swash-buckling shift boss sbouk
his fist under the president's nose
aud grasped tha president's coat
lapel, the while ba poured Into the
president's ear a series of blood
curdling ultimatums, touching finan
cial matters.
Rauk tenderfoot though ho was,
that presideut was dead game. Ho
sniffed tho swash-buckler's list, flick
ed the mash-buckler's paw from his
coat lapel, reached danitily for that
posterior region where the westerner
carries his hardware aud presented
for tho swash-buckler inspection a
silver-plated six-shooter, which had
every appearauco of being a good
Imitation, if not tho real thing. Aud
then, with hia back to a convenient
i wall, that game little bantam of a
bakod beans geueology and a brown
bread tutu lege lead tbe tiotact. to
the minors iu words eacn of seven
syllables. Also be compelled them
to pull tbe pumps from tho Flagstaff
shaft aud whistle for two months for
thoir money. They finally gut It, but
it was only because the game little
presideut came from a Mayflower
family that always toted fair.
Of aourso, the Flagstaff revolted
to tho French company, plus about
180, 300 worth of new equipment aud
development work.
All of whioh ia ancient and, may
hap, uuinterestiug history, having no
bearing on the present status of
alfairs, which is: That if "Hilly"
Reynolds says that the White Frost
veiu carries pay ore in quantity
aud ho has said it tho Flagstutr
in I no ih a good one aud very probably
a big ouo. Also, if lmhaus can pre
vail upon tho Paris company to give
him free hand for a resumption of
opotatious, there bids fair to lie a
whole lot of gold turned out of tho
deep ahaft ou that wind-swept deso
late hill where just now tho ooyotos
congregate.
IS 1HE SMELTER A60UT
TO AUY NOTHER PLANT
The following tolegram from Wolsor
was published in the Spokesman-Review
of tho twenty eighth Instant:
"From a reliable source it Is
learuod that negotiations aio under
way between a strong Oregon corpora
tion and tho owners of tho amoltor
near Woiser for its purahsao. It it
is acquired by the would-to pur
chasers it will be UEod to smelt tho
coppor ores of the Seven Devils aud
tho gold ores uf tbe Baker district.
Ageut Leman la in the east to close
tho deal. The smelter has a capacity
of 100 tons a day, which can bo in
creased at any time. It is oue of the
most thoroughly equipped plants in
tbe west.11
It wouldu't require muoh of an
Imsginatiou to identify the "Oregon
corporation11 aa tbe Oregon Smelt
ing aud Refining company, move the
plant to Baker City, build that long
talked of road to the Seven Devils
and work up a rattllug good story for
the county seat. Those Bakei City
papers don't know a good thing when
they see it.
Sam Campbell, Nuqqtt Magnate.
Sam Campbell, formerly a Jeweler
of Sumpter, now a mining man of (he
Paririe City district, is in Sumpter.
He brought in a bundle of gold nug
gets from the John Day region whioh
he sold to W. C. Calder. Mr.
Campbell modestly refused to say
where he found tbe nuggets, wbiah
remind a person of the time when
Ike Guker, armed with a case kuife,
mined $200 a day from the outcrop
of a quartz ledge on tbe Great
Northern group.
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