THE COPPER BOY MINE
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Under the magical influence of the rapid advance in copper quotations, the active demand for the red metal which has been so apparent of late, many of the old camps of Utah and the west are being born again, as it were, and in their resurrection, give every evidence that it will not be long before they will drop into line as heavy producers of the precious metals and that their old and abandoned mine will respond so readily to the quickening touch of capital and labor that in the near future they can be classed among the bonanza propositions and dividend payers of this inter mountain region.
Twelve or fifteen years ago Summerville Mining District in Emery County, ten miles west of the Lower Crossing of the R. G. W. road was looked upon as one of the most promising camps in this western country. In fact, Summerville enjoyed the distinction of being a lively and red-hot district and quite a little mining town sprang up as if by magic within its environments--a burn boasting a population of 400 or 500 souls, who found shelter in tents, stone cabins, while even tasty homes embellished the camp, which boasting of its stores, supply houses; as well as of four saloons, generally the true index of the prosperity of any mining region.
It was as Summerville that Sam Gilson made a stake when the camp was in the full flush of prosperity, and it was here that many property owners found the wherewith with which to increase their bank accounts, as heavy ore shipments ere the order of the day there and many a consignment of the precious metals found their way to the market from Summerville which were sold on controls showing values of from 50 to 1,500 ounces in the white metal, 40 percent lead and well up in gold to the ton, to say nothing of the copper contents of the mineral, which would amount to a considerable sum now but which then brought the miner nothing, or worse than nothing, as in those days the producer was often times required to pay for what copper occurred in his ores.
With the decline in silver quotations a few years ago, the heavy drop in the price paid for lead, and the little value placed on copper, the promising district of Summerville began to lose its grip and like a frost-bitten rose it soon began to be known as "one of the have beens," only here and there a dismantled cabin, an abandoned mine, a neglected prospect being the only tangible evidence that in the past a lively mining camp had once found existence there, only a few claim-holders keeping up their annual assessment work, confident that in time the wave of prosperity would again surge over that section.
With the unprecedented demand for copper which has characterized the financial circles of the world for the past year or two, cane the turn of the tide, as far as Summerville was concerned, for old mining men, familiar with the mineralization of this section, returned to look u old mines and to locate new ones, and it as for copper, not gold or silver, that they were looking for and it was here that they found it in encouraging quantities, the ores of the district carrying paying values in the red metal.
With the resurrection of Summerville came its transformation from a gold and silver camp to a copper producing district. From the ashes of the past a new camp sprang into existence, the merits of which have already been as a lodestone to the capitalist and investor, among the first attracted by its promising copper properties being S. L. Boggs, of this city, who, with a few friends carefully investigated its mineral zones, the result being that associated with acquaintances and with men who are always on the outlook for meritorious mines and prospects, a group of claims was secured, being the identical property on which Sam Gilson had made a raise years before, and a few months ago the property formed the basis for an incorporated organization designated in the articles of incorporation as the Copper Boy Mining Company.
The mineral belt on which the Copper Boy is located, THE REVIEW is informed, is prolific in its ledges, its dips ans spurs, the formation being in immense quartzite dyke, the principal ledge being true fissures with an east and west strike.
The most work and development, however, and this is limited, has been done on a six foot vein of blanket formation, from which, in the early history of the camp, the former owners of the property made shipments of four cars of ore which netted them something like $6,000, the mineral being sold on control assays showing values of 42 percent lead, 12 percent copper, 119 ounces in silver and $4.50 in gold to the ton.
The illustration of the mine given herewith shows the shallow open cut from which this small fortune was taken and also sows where the company is now sinking a shaft on a vertical vein. This shaft is now only down below grass roots; it is only 20 or 25 feet in depth, and yet the bottom is in a nice body of mineral which carries encouraging values in silver and gold and which is heavily impregnated with copper, the belief being, and the indications showing good cause for the assumption that with depth the fissure vein will lead to a large body of pay ore in which copper will predominate.
Overlapping the blanket vein above described there is a large deposit of oxide gold bearing ore, which, it has been found, leaches well and can be successfully treated by the cyanide process of reduction.
Almost on the dividing line between the Lee and the Uncle Sam claims, embraced in the Copper Boy group, is the Hutch shaft which was sunk several years ago to a depth of 135 feet and it is stated that in these old working a six foot body of ore is exposed between well defined walls, one half of which, by careful sorting, will carry values of 29 percent copper, 66 ounces in silver and $1.50 in gold to the ton, while the balance of the ledge is a good concentrating product which can, with a mill, be handled on the ground at a good profit.
On the Lee claim, about 1,500 feet east of the Hutch shaft, the ledge outcrops boldly and at the surface there is a foot of mineral which assays 23.8 ounces in silver, 80 cents in gold and a strong trace in copper to the ton, it being evident, when the vein was first thrown p, that it carried excellent copper values, but which, with the action of the elements and years of exposure, have leached out, but so promising is the showing at this point that during the present season Manager Boggs will do some systematic development there, his time being fully occupied at the present time in sinking the new working shaft on the Uncle Sam claim as rapidly as possible, and also in sacking ore for shipment at the old Hutch shaft.
Quietly and with no whoop and hurrah, Mr. Boggs and is associates have been hard at work this spring in the development of the Copper Boy. They do not claim that it is a mine, but they are convinced that it is a most promising prospect and good enough to warrant a little money in its exploitation, feeling confident that with development it will open out into a producer and a paying mine.
In his report on the Copper Boy, C. L. Gilson, refiner at De LaMars Golden Gate mill at Mercur, says:
"The property of the company consists of the following claims, viz: Lee, Uncle Sam, Silver and Rattler, or about eighty acres of land; these claims are located end to end along the outcrop of the vein for a distance of 6,000 feet or about 1 2/2 miles on the vein, which shows values in either gold, silver, copper or lead the entire distance."
General Formaton of the country--The Cretaceous in this region consists of a series of peculiarly resisting quartzitic sandstone (Dakota) at the base, succeeded by several thousand feet of clay shales, with a few sandstone and limestone, all of marine formation, (Exact from Geological Guide Book to the Rocky Mountains, by S. F. Emmons.)
Ore Deposits--The footwall of the veins is in an immense quartizite dyke running almost east and west, rising through stratified limestone and sandstone. The mineral matter has come from below along the contact of this quartzite dyke to the stratified rock which forms the hanging wall, and all indications are favorable to the existence at a lower depth of an immense body of high grade ore, proven almost positively by the thorough mineralization of the outcrop of the vein, in gold, copper, silver and lead, all of which are found giving very high assays the entire distance of the outcrop.
Shipments--The discoverer of this mine shipped four carloads of ore, taking it from the outcrop along the vein on the Silver claim and in no place going down ever three feet from the surface. Average smelter returns on this shipment, viz:
Gold........................................................................$4.50 per ton
Lead........................................................................ 42 percent per ton
Copper.................................................................... 12 percent per ton
Silver...................................................................... 119 ounces per ton
which netted him a little over $6,0-00, after paying mining, freight and smelting charges. There are now very bright stringers of high grade copper and galena ore in the crevices from which this shipment was made. From information received from the original locator of the mine and men who worked in the 135 foot shaft on the Uncle Sam claim, shipments of very high grade gold, copper and silver were made from the 75 foot level carrying higher values than the shipment made from the outcrop of the vein on the Silver claim' this should go to prove up the ground and show that at present there i a vein of very high grade ore for a distance of at least 1,500 feet, and also to prove that with depth the ore increases in value. There cannot be a particle of doubt that an ore body exists, for all along the outcrop of the vein for a distance of 6,000 feet small pieces of ore can be picked up assaying $100 per ton.
About fifty pounds of chloride of silver was taken from one place that assayed 1,500 ounces in silver to the ton.
One of the great advantages of the Copper Boy mine is that it is not dependent upon the demand or market value of any one particular mineral, as its ore bodies carry gold, copper, silver and lead, and if one mineral is not in active demand the other is sure to be.
Active work is now going on at the mine.
The company is capitalized for 300,000 shares of the par value of $1, with 100,000 shares in the treasury.
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Salt Lake Mining Review
June 15, 1899
