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About Jacksonville miner. (Jacksonville, Or.) 1932-1935 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1932)
T he J acksonville M iner Jackfonville, Oregon, Friday, January 75, J932 V olume 1 N umber 3 TO PLACER MINE IN CITY ; f GOLD SALES INCREASE ^be EDITOR SPEAKING Well, the old sock not only is empty but has a hole in it too. + And when we get down in the mouth we're usually up a tree. One miner is getting so awkward he’s even dropping his h’s i And this sliding scale for wages seems to have put the skids under prosperity too + At leant there was one advantage to the old time saloon. It always displayed a sign Deliveries of small quantities of gold in th«- Applegate section have been on th« increase the past few months, ac cording to John W Pernoll, gold buyer and merchant of that district. Metal from the river and surrounding hills is exceptionally clean and rather fine Prospectors form the backbone of producers this season and, due to gen eral business conditions, are increasing in number. Pernoll states he has pur chased several hundreds of dollars worth of gold this winter and adds De cember was the heaviest month in many season*. MINING MEN IN PASS «4» Mining men have been gathering in Grants Pass lately and much interest is being displayed in this district, ac cording to word received from W L. McDonald of that city. He believes X• southern Oregon is due for a great re Th« depression has caused a lot of vival of mining activity. us to attempt to penetrate the torn sleeve linings of our old overcoat*. + Radios have their faults and have be come an endless source of needless talk, but at least they don’t lean over the nack fence to do it. If we could ask business what ailed it and it could answer us back we ima- gine something like this would be the reply: “Oh, my operation!” •h With so much faking of complexions that just ain't, it’s a wonder some en- teniriaing young lady doesn’t paint a little sweat on her brow to fool the boss. * One miner, after spending several months in the hills, got in a dice game. After shaking the little cubes for all he was worth he absent mindedly looked for colors and saw spots before his eyes. If one can believe all one reads, Jacksonville'* four hundred may be supplanted with Medford’s outcast five hundred. And it’s a good thing we’re not all like Will Rogers and know only what we see in the papers. JACKSONVILLE MAN MAKING LABORATORY MILL TESTS William Blair, local resident, has in stalled a ball mill and full equipment for making accurate mill run tests of free ore in the old Judge Roe office building. The mill used to grind ore to any degree of fineness is of the regular type but is a 500-pound capacity laboratory hize, run by a two-horsepower engine. wKccessories to the mill include an amal gamated copper plate which separates gold from rock and waste material, re torts and furnaces As Blair explains it, ore first is ground, then washed with water over the copper plate which has been coated with a layer of quicksilver, or mercury, called the amalgum. Gold, having a tendency to adhere to the quicksilver, forms an amalgamated paste which is removed with a rubber scraper and the quicksilver • portion evaporated in a special retort. The first ore run through by Mr. Blair tested $17.50 per ton, this indicat- ing the amount of gold that can be re covered in actual practice and not the higher content as usually shown in an assay. For example, if an ore assayed $20 a ton it may contain that amount of gold, but in the milling of this at the smelter only the greater part could be saved. Blair’s equipment will indicate the actual recovery and not the theoret ical content of the metal. REELECT LITTELL, SEAT NEW MAYOR Hydraulic Operations to Start Newest Phase of Local Industry The latest development of the most thrilling and spectacular form of gold mining is scheduled to begin in the heart of Jacksonville in the near future. Hydraulic operations heretofore have been confined to the outlying districts amid the hills but soon huge streams of water used to move tons of earth will furnish fascinating scenes for local residents and the ever-increasing num ber of visitors to this city. W. J. Canady, Klamath Falls, recent ly purchased the block of land on Third street a few blocks west of California from R. H. Toft of Medford. He is in stalling pumps and equipment to placer mine the property and plans to work the soil in a thorough manner when preparations are complete. This is the same location that was worked last winter and spring by Ar thur McIntosh, who recovered as high as an ounce of gold a day, finding a number of nuggets running from $10 to $13 each. SHUMP STILL UNABLE TO WALK George Shump, local mine owner, has been confined to his home suffering from complications resulting from con tinued breaking of one leg above the knee. Shump was unaware of the frac tures until after having x-ray pictures taken of the limb. His many friends expect him to be on his feet again in a few weeks. In a rather long, drawn out meeting of the city council Tuesday evening I called for the purpose of swearing in Wesley Hartman as mayor, Ray Cole man recorder, C. C. Chitwood treasurer, Cantrall and Dunnington councilmen, all but the mayor having served the previous term. J. A. Littell was reap pointed marshal and water supervisor for 1932 O. M. Knox, retiring mayor, was voted an expression of thanks and ap preciation from the councilmen for his efforts in behalf of the city for the past term. An interpretation of the budget law passed by the last legislature by Goose Egg mining company, Whit City Attorney Hanna was explained to indicate the city must remain within ney, Carlsen and Winningham operat ors, are in blue gravel of the old chan ’ the budget as approved. A suggestion to split the office of nel and report bedrock to be pitching, marshal and water master, salary to be which is interpreted as a very favorable divided equally, was voted down. C. A. indication. Their mine is in the group Smith was authorized by the body to back of the old depot. Several old bottles from an aban survey the water development area and doned well the men dug into furnished prepare angle and profile maps. Mem bers held a lengthy discussion on pur- interest and made it necessary to tim i chase of pipe for the new water system ber through the opening. Their claim which was recommended and explained i to have dug up a horse and buggy is by a cast iron pipe company represen | doubted, however, by local experts. The first of the week they sank an tative. Definite action was not taken until the exact amount of material other shaft near the fence to bedrock needed is ascertained and some dispo and panned out some mighty fine sition of special water improvement gravel. But when they began to work bonds has been made. Other less im the hole one wall caved in from water portant matters were tabled by the pressure in an old tunnel they had just missed. As soon as they are able i council. to pump the water out they will inves tigate the shaft that probably was made CASE THROWN OUT OF COURT 75 years ago. Ray Coleman, justice of the peace, Gold in their main shaft is running at a session of court held here Wednes a moderate average, but they look for day forenoon, dismissed charges against ward to an increase in production from H. N. Wilkinson and Miss L. M. John the blue dirt. son of possession of liquor. Search war rant used several weeks ago in the WE APOLOGIZE raid on the two was found to be defec In our last issue we muffed our tive and district attorney failed to ap figures a bit The leading front pear to press state’s charges. page story informed our readers the local gold buyer, Mr. Godward, SELL FOUR ACRES had received $1000 worth of the A Medford buyer took over the four metal in small amounts the past acres heid by Mrs. Amy Nelson this year. Correct data shows that sum week and has had the ground surveyed. for December alone and nearly The land, comprising a block of gravel $10,000 for the entire 12 months tailings and some virgin mining loca just completed. Godward estimated tions, lies above the old depot in the he receives less than one-third the creek bed. At one time this acreage gold produced by small prospec was planted to orchard but high water tors in this vicinity, which would and gravel refuse destroyed the trees indicate quite a large sum placed and rendered the land useless except in circulation here last year from for mining. It is not known whether the gold alone. Well, what’s a small new owner plans to work the property sum of $9000 to a printer anyway? or lease his holdings. USE PUMP ON RAY MINE Snider and Ross, mining on the Ray Realty company ground south of this city, have been using water from stor age dams erected last fall with the aid of a hydraulic pump. Their equipment is so arranged that all water is salvaged and run back into reservoirs. They have a vast amount of ground, testing from $1 to $2.05 per yard, that can be run no other way. The dry season had been spent run ning dirt through a rotary screen to remove all large rock to facilitate rapid handling during the months when water is to be had. Their holdings are on the side of the mountains where moisture is at a premium. With the present rains the two expect a valuable cleanup from material being sluiced. James Winningham, local miner, prospected the first of the week on A. T. Norris’ property on Jacksonville hill and had quite a pan of gold to show the grocer at the end of the day. George Little, of the Southern Ore gon museum, has prepared information on several less known important min erals found in profitable quantities in this region. Although gold and copper are the more prominent and better un derstood of the metals, cinnabar, graph- ! ite and stibnite exist in huge quantities and promise to contribute much to ward the future growth and develop- [ ment of southern Oregon. The first of these, cinnabar, is a sul phide of mercury, from which quick silver is obtained. The ore mined near Jacksonville contains 86.3 per cent quicksilver and 13.7 per cent sulphur, the highest proportions of mercury to be found in any combination. Recovery of the liquid metal is a very simple process, requiring only heating of the ore to 680 degrees temperature, when quicksilver will vaporize as water changes to steam, and precipitation of this vapor in condensing chambers into the pure liquid metal just as steam re verts to water. Cinnabar is widely dis tributed throughout Jackson county and it is interesting to note that early miners recovered enough cinnabar in their sluice boxes in Steamboat, Squaw creek, French gulch, Evans creek and Little Butte districts for their mining purposes. All alluvian soils produce this ore and there are several well de veloped cinnabar prospects in the Evans and Squaw creek country. Graphite, second of the three, com monly called black lead, is pure carbon, same substance of which diamonds are composed. Its chief use is in manufac ture of pencils, stove polish, as a base for paint and lubricating oils and also is used on heated journals in machin ery. Immense deposits of this raw sub stance lie within 20 miles of Jackson ville in the Applegate country Stibnite, or antimonial sulphide, is a chemical composition of sulphur and antimony. Local ore contains 71.5 per cent antimony and 28.5 per cent sul phur, several deposits of which have been found in the Applegate hills. Excellent samples of these and all characteristic ores of Jackson county may be seen at the local museum at any time. FORREST CREEK SENDS IN GOLD More than $200 worth of go’d has been brought in the last few days from Forrest creek district, six miles out, to G. W. Godward, local gold buyer.