Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 15, 1925, Page 26

PAGE TWELVE ATLANTIC CITY Next le SOMING BACK “Gold City” Now In Making on Site Of Old Camps. By FREDERICK B. ANDREWS. Amazing though {t may seem to t Wyoming people as well as through- h out the United States, the first dis- tr coveries of gold iu the west of any value, were made right here in Wy- ad oming, 35 miles south of Lander, ~e the county seat of Fremont county h in the Mi s' Delight, Atlantic City district on Beaver and Rock Creeks, ‘3 at the southern end of the Wind yt River range of mountains, It is y right th today, after a lapse of more than 50 years of time, during which gold mining camps have flour. ) ished all over the North American tf continent from Mexico to the Alas- . kan Klondike, that the gold mining | California which started the stam- world is excited by the vigorous ro-| pede of 49ers who went across the 4 vival of gold mining in Wyoming,| country through the South Pass by 1 on a scate greater than ever known | the thousands, ignoring the rich ore 1 before, The Homestake Mining com. | and placer discoveriés at South Pass t pany of the Black Hills, South Da-| then, because of the danger from “kota have taken over the Tom Mc-| Indians, Mormons, and great dis Grath mine, a mile north and slight-| tance from lines of commiunicatio: c ly east of Atlantic City, and are| 4nd military protection, The rich ; Vigorously developing the ore bodies | Placers and quartz lodes yielded for- 4 already revealed there by surface| tunes to the few pioneers that did work and a shallow shaft, ‘This| remain to fight the Indians. They : company entered the district early | took only the richest gold deposits, i in the spring of 1924, after a very | 2nd did not try to develop the tre : exhaustive examination of the en-|™mendous ore bodies that are now { tire district from the northeast to| being developed and opened up by the southwest extremities of the| energetic mining men using modern mineralized zone. methods in ore production and ex The editor of the Sweetwater Min- | traction. ( er, published in March, 1869, makes History Rivals Fiction. mention of the first discovery of The history of Miners Delight, At «old made in 1842, by a Georgian as-|jantic City and South Pass, from the sociated with the American Fur| first discoveries to the present day, company. This man left to equip an| were it possible to obtain it all, outfit and return with a@ larger! would rival In fascinating detail, the party to worl the rich placers and | wildest stories of Bret Harte of the quartz lodes, but the Indians are be-| famous Mother Lode gold camps of leved to have killed them all. Thi3| California, or those of Mark Twain discovery was made some five years| who wrote of the great gold booms before the famous discoveries in| of the Virginia City, Nevada and the Comstock Mines, which produced the great fortunes of the California millionaires of the present day. Nearly all of the pioneers of At- lantic City, Miners Delight and South Pass are dead and gone, with the exception of a very few. The writer knows of but four: L, L, Gles- . sler, a ploneer merchant at Atlantic City for the last half century and still there in business; Captain Nic- kerson of Lander, J. D. Woodruff of Shoshon!, and Thomas Cornforth of Denver who was one of the original owners of the Miners Delight mine in 1869, and {s credited in Wyoming history as belng the first merchant to open a retail store in Cheyenne in 1867, In the summer of 1922, Mr. Cornforth came to Wyoming, accom: panied the writer to South Pass and especially the Miners Deilght mine where the old placer and quartz workings are still plainly visible, and where the pioneers took only the richest ore at great expense for materials, food, machinery and guarding against the constant at- tacks of the hostile Indians. In Yan- kee Gulch, Mr. Cornforth located the very spot where he and his partners made a placer gold clean-up of more that $18,000 in just a few days, con- sisting of large coarse gold nuggets washed down from the quartz veins outcropping in the Miners Delight < claims above on Peabody Hill, the Foreign and Domestic highest and most prominent land- Grantterand sMtarble mark in the entire region Six Millions Produced. South Pass on Willow Creek, At MONUMENTS _ ffiantic city: on Rock Cree and Min ers Delight on Beaver Creek, ‘all ly- AND, ing close together In a highly min- eralized area of about 9 miles from MARKERS the northeast held of the outcrop. ping diorite dikes to the southwest- . ern extremity of the zone, have a Bronze Tablets record of approximately $6,000,000 in gold placer and quartz produc- Iron Fences tion, from a very tiny part of the and total area, so intensely mineralized, between the years 1867 and 1885. Lawn Vases Sarly day operations were always , _ : on a crude hand seale, Jow percent. Write Wor! Prices tage of recovery was made from the water whéel mills erected under great difficulties and with machin. miners and settlers were driven out MONUMENT | by Indians and killed off times with. | out number; and this famous gold WORKS camp sank into oblivion for half a century largely because of the blaze of world fame of the California ROBT. SIMPSON, Prop. 49ers, the Black Hills of Dakota, 508 South Conwell Street || Cripple Creek of Colorado, the Klon- z dike of Alaska, the Comstock mines CASPER, WYO. of Virginia City, Nevada and the Pers famous modern gold mines at Gold- Phone 2542 field and Tonopah, Nevada. Wyoming plains have for years STONE GROCERY CO. 233 East Second Street Phone 304 a) * “One of Casper’s Leading Grocery ’ Stores” IDEALLY LOCATED We Deliver to All Parts of the City A complete line of Fresh Fruits and Domestic and Imported Vegetables Groceries Always on Hand STONE'S for Quality, Service, Satisfaction a be Casper Daily Cribune ‘GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT--WYOMING HOPEFUL | Refining Plant of White Eagle Company East of Casper supported some of the largest herds of cattle and sheep in the United States and Wyoming {is still the stamping ground of the picturesque cowboy, fast disappearing from other cattle countries. These various sources of wealth have resulted in the building of cities of the central part of the state —Dougias, for years the — grentest cattle and sheep shipping point of central Wyoming; Casper, the me tropolis of the state, whose growth following the discovery of the sec- ond producing ofl sand at Salt Creek in 1916 has been the marvel of the age; Shoshoni and Riverton, centers ef growing agricultural districts; Thermopolis, greatest health resort In the west, and Cody, eastern gate way to the world’s greatest play- ground. “Gold City” Looms. What more natural then that At lantic City and Miners Delight shall become the location of the® great ‘gold city” of Wyoming. It is not only possible, but strongly probabl and a bollef held by the faithful plo- neers following the operation of the mining properties now parttally de veloped, With modern methods and machinery. Thia little community lies south 35 miles from Lander and a trifle east, at an altitude of from 7,600 to 8,950 feet above sea level, and almost at the summit of the Continental Divide. Miners Delight, Atlantic City and South Pass City, all lying close together, are marks on the old Oregon some points In. all three y have been marked with monuments by the Wyoming Historical soctlety The scenery in the region is magni. ficent. Fremont peak, which has an altitude of 14,000 feet, is visible from points_in the vicinity as are the snow-capped mountains of the Wind River range and the Wa- shakie national forest reserve is als close at hand. The handful of faithful pioneers and thelr descendants who have staked their entire lives on the hope of golden fortune, are now making rapid strides toward the realization of thelr dreams, in the region around Atlantic City Including the environs of South Pass City, 4 miles to the southwest and of Miners De ight 314 miles northeast. Late Activity Prophetic. The activities of the year 1924 at Atlantic City and Miners Delight spell a bold prophecy that Wyoming in 1925 will lift her trumpet to the world to Iay claim to supremac: fame and fortune, in a greater era of gold mining than any old timer in the Rocky Mountains has ever witnessed before. The eyes of the precious metal mining world are on this spot. The popular topic of con versation in Denver, Salt Lake City and other cities and towns through- out the west is ‘the gold mines at Atlantic City and Miners Delight,” as yet hardly scratched, Powder, steel, suplies, machinery and every conceivable commodity used in working the prospects and mines, {s going forward every day from Lan land fl, and der in a steady stream. In the in. sido mineralized area from Miners Delight on the top of Peabody Hill at the northeast to the Carissa at South Pass 6n the southwest all available ground for mining loca tions has been located by miners and prospectors, many of whom are working thelr claims in spite of se- vere winter conditions with several feet deep. Homestake in Field. The outstanding event of the year 1924 and of great importance in glimpsing the future of the district, is the entrance of the Homestake Mining company with a small work- ing force, who have taken over the Tom McGrath mine, lying on the south slope of a huge mammoth dike about a mile north of Atlantic City The Tom McGrath mine is known as a mine with good ore bodies that show excellent values, and had been substantially feveloped for some years by leasers who have opened It up with efficient machinery. More equipment is being installed, which includes every {tem of mining ma- snow chinery necessary to make = rapid progress in developing the ore bedies.. It is well known in the dls trict that after a period of nearly a year of constant operation, the low- er workings reveal substantial and permanent ore bodies below the ox! dlzed zone in the sulphides, and that values are excellent, Great credit ia due Tom McGrath for having leased his property in earlier days thus fin. ally bringing the attention of one of the larg gold mining companies ine America to this district. The ac- tive operation of this great com- paxy proves the merit of the prop- erty and surrounding district with- in the mineralized area, Miners Delight Famous. Located on Beaver Creek, and be- ing itself the extreme northeastern boundary of the mineralized area, the Miners Delight Mine, the most famous ducer of high grade in € days, {9 found on the top and north and aputh slopes of Peabody Hill. This property from first to last has yielded about $2,- 200,000 in placer and quartz, the placer clean-up being made from Yankee Gulch, Meadow Gulch, and Spring Gulch which were fed from the erosion of the rich quartz veins above. The quartz veins were dis- covered firat, then the placers, the quartz running from $1, to $20 a pound of rich gold ore, This huge production was all obtained from a very limited portion of the area, and without regurd to ore bodies thay ran beow $200 ton in value. Highly mineralized, and with large velns running through the property and continuing on to the southwest, this mine is but a single example of future gold production after the establishment of opera- tions by expert mining men with ef- ficlent and modern machinery. Carissa Produces. Second only to the Miners Delight in production, is the Carissa Mine, owned by the Federal Gold Mining company, controlled by Chicago lum: ber interests. This mine hag a pro- duction of rich ores valued at about $1,000,000 ‘In the early days when only high grade received any atton- tion. The Carissa is fully equipped with modern machinery, and a small mill. The deepest workings consist of an incline shaft running to a depth of about 384 feet. THere are about 2,500 feet of underground workings, and the latest estimate of ore blocked out shows a tonnage sufficient to run a 100-ton mill every day for three years, this ore having a value of about $8.00 per ton, shown by months and months of careful sampling and assay work. The property is in charge of a very well known and competent mining engineer, Harry Curran, and is in better condition for immediate op- eration, than any property in the entire region. The Miners Delight and Carissa mines are therefore the northeast- ern and southwestern extremities of the highy mineralizgd zone known ax the Atlantic City mining district. n of these properties has great potential value and only await oper- Ung capital to put them in the nt rank among profitable gold inining properties of the present day. Placer Deposits Running southwest from the Min- ers Delight toward South Pass, are two huge upthrusting dikes show: ing granite and porphyry highly en- riched with gold, known as the Big Atlantic and the Mammoth Dikes, and from these rich dikes containing quartz veins have come the fabu- ous placer deposits in the gravel beds {n Big Atlantic Gulch, Promise Gulch, Smith Gulch, Rock Creek and Willow Creek. These small streams and gulches have been con- y worked by placer miners for years, .The placer gold is up, fragmentary and with sharp edges and points, showing it has travelled but a short distance and undoubtedly all of it has come from the outcropping veins above and along the Blg Atlantlo and Mammoth Dikes. During the first years of placer operations, even the soldiers at old. ,Fort Stambaugh then located on what {s now known as Stambaugh flats worked the placer gravel. dug down In some places 20 to 60 feet, sacked | the gravel and hauled it to Rock ek where from $2 to $5 per sack in gold was washed out. Tho most extensive .placers consist of. about five miles of Rock Creek, extending a mile above, and atout four miles below the town of Rock Creek. In one small hole, known as the “China Hole” located !n Rock Creek below the mouth of Atlantic Gulch, just be- low Atlantic City, a huge quantity of gold placer was found, and one large gold nugget weighing several pounds and being almost pure gold was found. This discovery was the cause of several murders before {ts ownersh!p was established, The five miles of placer deposits in Rock Creek are probably the: largest in the entire regton and placer miners from Alaska and elsewhere who have recently tested the gravel beds estimate them to be very rich and with proper machinery capable of handling thousands of yards of gra- vel per day, should return handsome profits on the investment. Of even greater importance is the reward certain, !n the further development of the rich quartz lodes which have supplied these placer beds for gen. erations. Mohawk Groap Premising. A short distance southwest from the Miners Delight and with the identical outcropping running throught the center is a valuable block of claims, 12 in number known as the Mohawk group. California and New York interests have financ- ed the preliminary work of survey and surface development. The prop- erty Nes immediately north and slightly east of th Tom McGrath mine now under control and opera tion of the Homestake Mining com. pany. A well defined outcropping of diorite, with granite and porphyry, overlain by a decomposed fed tron oxide is plainly shown, indicative of enrichment at depth. ‘The pres- ence of Cripple Creek phonolites identical with those associated with excellent ores, is noted, on the west- ern end of.this property. New York and California mining men, hereto- fore interested in Godfield, Nevada, are associated with Casper men in the active operation of this valuable property Just south of Atlantic City Is a small group of valuable claims, known as the Tabor Grand property, owned by Colorado people and now under lease to prominent Wyoming men. This property, has been well eveloped by a large’ three compart- ment shaft, and also a tunnel driven at a lower level, with a very large ore vein opened up that shows value of from $20 to $72 gold per ton. It is one of the potentially valuable properties in the district, and cer- tain to yield excellent returns 23 soon us installation of power and milling facilities now underway, {s completed. ‘The riches of this mine have hardly been touched, and some of the bonanza ore of the entire dis- trict has been produced by this prop- erty, which has ylelded several for- tunes to early day operators who ig- nored the large commercial ore bodies present. Miners Are Busy. Throughout the entire district miners are working their own prop- erties, doing discovery or assess- ment work, building cabins, and pre- paring in many ways for a vigorous campaign of development after the extreme winter season passes, Wa- ter for hard rock mining is found in abundance, though the supply for placer operation 1s somewhat limited in the late summers. With the open- ing up of hard rock properties, the pumping operations will serve to in- crease the water supply for placer work. Many shallow shafts in. the district show the rich black oxides and the free.gold of the bonanza ores that yielded fortunes with but little effort on the part of the early day miners. , During the season Of 1924, great rivalry has sprung up between the business men of Lander and Rock Springs, for the trade of the rapidly increasing population at Atlantic City. Realizing the importance of good roads to overcome the difficul- ty of climbing the steep road in Red canyon, the citizens of Fremont county gathered together _ last spring, and graded and improved the road from the bottom of Red canyon to the top of the hill overlooking Beaver Creek to such an extent that travel by motor {s very easy now. Although Rock Springs ts 98 miles south of South Pass, as against Lan- der 35 miles north, the highway from Rock Springs does not rise through any: steep passes, and ts in very excellent condition. Stage Traffic Grows. , In spite of the severe winter sea- son, the stage which makes daily round trips from Landef to South ass 18 loaded with freight, passen- gers, mail, machinery and explo- sives for mining purposes. It ts quite imperative that prospective visitors to the district arrange their stage transportation several days ahead. Travel {s becoming more and more congested, and by spring, the influx will probably approach a stampede, for the gold discoveries the: have attracted mining men from all over the western mining re gions. People going in must be pre- pared to Hve fn tents as the Imlty ed hotel space provided now 4s prac- tically all taken up. The houses, long empty in Atlantic City, are be- ing filled with miners and_ their famites, and another post office is being arranged for by the citizens. The demand for mining workers, ex- perienced in the drilling and‘ use of powder and dynamite {s noticeable, and there are no idle men in the dis. trict. Profits Assured. The actual development and early production record-of many prop- erties right from the grass roots, coupled with the exhaustive reparts of the district made by U, 8, Gov ernment and Wyoming state ficials, gives double assurance that modern mining equipment available with the invested attention of ex perienced gold mining men, will pro- duce great profits. The gold is there, high in value, almost 100 per cent per ounce, and it {s only necessar to develop the huge ore bodies ¢ greater depth, that are plainly fn- dicated by the surface outcroppings which have been prospected by shal- low workings. The people -of Wyoming already greatly enriched by the resourcés of coal and ofl to this date, are’ now thrice blessed in the certainty of fur- ther enrichment by judicious invest- ment in the undeveloped gold mines of Atlantic City and Miners Delight. The prosperity of a gold mining camp and the boom days, are while the camp is in the making, caused by the taking up of new properties, their financing, thelr development, the building up of a town or towns in connection with the development of mining properties, and the rise in value of mining stocks commensur- ate with the successful development of the mines, Fortunes are made, not by hard work, but by taking a chance, and those who wait until a mine is upon a dividend paying basis before investing, must be content to pay a price in accordance with the elimination of chances; the ploneer investor is the man who makes the largest profit in any profitable min- ing enterprise. To those who have the courage in the early days will come the great rewards of success- ful operation. é Possibilities Great, We are familiar with the famous gold camps of the past generation, and their fascinating histories, in which the writer has played a small part, and with the marvellous trans- formation from the hand labor of early days, to the speed and effi- ciency of modern mining methods of the present day, we can truthfully say to the people of Wyoming and ‘the gold miniag men of the west, that, of all the gold camps of his- tory, no camp has shown such tre- mendous possibilities or given prom- {so of such great profits and so long a life as this famous “old and new” gold camp at Atlantic City and Min- ers Delight. The gold is there, and with the courage of the early plo- neers, the present generation will reap golden fortun At last it is believed that Wyoming !s about to enter the ranks of the great gold producing states of America. peli Neder 50,000 USERS OF GAS. Tt s estimated that there are 50,- 000 users of natural gas in Wyom- ing at thjs time. Fifteen towns are supplied with the fuel of which there is a su bundance in this stati Life Insurance Fire Insurance Automobile Insurance Liability Insurance Sie.) ‘ SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1925 THOUSANDS OF TANK CARS KEPT IN REPAIR AT SHOPS IN’ GASPER Capacity ' By Union Tank Line of Casper Shops Doubled Last Year Company at Cost of Half Million to Handle Fleet. In line with the fact that Casper ships more ofl by rail than any other city in the world, {s the opera- tion here of the largest tank car shop in the west. Having 8,000 cars available for use ‘In transporting crude and refin- ed olls produced in Rocky Mountain states, the Union Tank Car company maintains {ts central shops in this eity immediately south of the Stan- dard refinery and has an annual payroll that exceeds $250,000. During 1924 the company doubled the capacity of its main shop, built a new power house and added a number of auxiliary shops. The cost of these improvements was close to $500,000, according to C. H. James, superintendent. Many Improvements Added. Dimensions of the original shop were 100 by 300 feet. The exten- sion added 800 feet in length and in width was i47 feet, giving a pro- Jection 47 feet in width along the entire east side of the addition for valve testing rooms, blacksmith and machine shops, warehouse space and a large shower and wash room. Of considerable tmportance to the nion Tank Car company from the Box 325 standpoint of independent and eco. nomical operation, was the -con- struction of its own power house This plant has installations that are modern in every detail of eng! neering efficiency. Two 300-horst power boilers of the latest type provide steam which is the means of operating two huge air compressors and a great dynamo which gener ates more than enough electricity for the needs of the shops. In the past it was necessary for the Union to obtain its compressed air, steam, electricity and water from the Stan dard refinery nearby. Air Used to Pump Water. Water used by the company at its plant comes from shallow wells on its property which are made to flow by use of compressed air. The water 1s of superior quality, better, it is said, than the city's supply. Be fore being taken into the boilers, however, the water is run through an immense softener. Half a hundred cars a day aro now going through the company's shops. By the middle of summer this number will have been increas ed to between 80 and 90. The force at present employed takes in 125 re- Wyoming Map and Blue Print Co, DALY BUILDING Blue Prints of Quality Reliable Geological Reports Maps, Drafting and Surveying Tracing Reproductions a Specialty ALL WORK GUARANTEED CONFIDENTIAL pair men, painters, machinists, blacksmiths, electricians, engineers, clerks, etc. With the coming of the summer production and refin- ing campaign the force will take on half again as many me Phone 1191-W There’s Money in RealEstate HHOUSANDS of years ago man’s maintenance came from the land. Since that day to th!s—and for all future years in all probability— real estate will provide the necessities and luxuries of life. We have a number of interesting plans to offer you, with desirable loca- tions fon every varied need. We will be pleased to show you lots in the followit g additions which can be purchased on easy terms: East Térrace Addition , Casper View Addition Drop in today or tomorrow for a consultation. appreciate the opportunity we offer. 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