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Page: of 6

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vair compressor, etc., and an auxiliary
‘ut with the crude equipment they
.ttween the Ophir mining district and
FRIDAY, OCT. 16, 1931
THE NEVADA CITY NUGGET, CALIFORN
re SE
SSSR pn
History of Famous
Gold Blossom Mines:
were preparing to sink the shaft to
a thousand feet and drive the 400foot level east to develop that end
The Gold Blossom Consolidated
TMines are located about 3% miles
ffrom Auburn in the Ophir Mining
«district and consist of the Gold Blossom, Ohio, Back Action and Harrison
«laims and their mill sites. All held
ander United States patents.
‘ The nearest railroad station is the
ttown of Newcastle, 2%4 miles_dist.nt
sand located on the main line of the
Southern Pacific. The transcontinenthal Lincoln highway, U. S. Route 40,
zalso passes through Newcastle and!
“Auburn.
;
The property is ideally located in
tthe undulating foothills on the weste2rn Slope of the Sierra Nevada mounttaims at an elevation of 1000 feet.
‘The climate is perfect for mining
soperation as there is no snow and
wery little rain. The summers are
‘warm and the winters very mild.
The property was formerly operattea c-by water power which was puré@hased from the Pacific Gas & Hlec“tric: company, whose ditches parallel
the property for its entire length.
Electric power is also obtainable
“4rom this same company.
‘The property is fully equipped
‘with a 20-stamp.mill, hoisting work,
«steam plant.
"The Gold Blossom Consolidated
"Mines have ‘been worked. intermit“tently since the gold rush days of
~49. The 49’ers ground sluiced the
surface on both sides of the Gold
Blossom vein right up to it. When
tthe creek and surface deposits of
salluvial gold was.exhausted the minvers began to realize that the gold
ecame from the quartz vein adjacent
to the erosion of these veins.
" Wfence the Gold Blossom vein being the largest and most prominent
cand most persistent vein of the district, it received attention from the
sminer at a very early date. The earlSiest work was doné about 1856 as
m@ear as the records can be traced at
ithis late date.
“ Their work consisted of ‘digging
out the quartz for almost the entire
Mength of the property. Their quartz
“re was hauled to arrastras located
zat. various places along the Auburn
ravine where adequate water was
-ayailable to furnish power to crusn
the ore and wash it. Only fine gold
“was recovered by their crude method
of milling and very little of that.
“The surface work done at this time
twas quite extensive and the ore, dug
must have had, must have been tremmendously rich to justify it. In most
ecases they dug these open pits to
“water level and were forced to quit.
‘Their method was to shovel the ore
«nto a bench, tthen onto another
bench and so on until it reached the
wurface. In some cases they sunk
shafts to depths of 40 or 60 feet with
*@ windlass. Beyond this depth they
-could not go as they could not handle
whe water.
The main fissure of the Gold Blos‘som is quite extensive, being trace:
able on-the surface for several miles.
It has an average width of 3% feet,
«a strike of 80 degrees west of north,
sand. dips’ at 85 degrees south from
tthe horizontal. The walls, which are
‘granodioiter, changing to much finer
:-zround syenite close to the vein. The
Wein was apparently intended under
,®BROTMousS pressure, resulting ina
«system of parallel and divergent vein
*eing formed in close proximity to
‘the main vein. To the north the sys‘tem is parallel as shown by the Cra‘ter Hill and its continuation, the Oro
Fino.; The Crater Hill diverges from
tthe Gold Blossom near its west end
sat an angle of 30 degrees, and dips
south into the main fissure at an
wangle of 41 degrees. Between the
Crater Hill and the Gold Blossom
‘are many stringers and veins with a
“parallel strike, and their dip vary‘ing from 30 to -45 degrees south.
-Most of these veins show free gold.
‘To the south of the Gold Blossom
wein the vein system is divergent at
warying strikes and have a vertical
«dip. Some of these veins attain a
wwidth of 12 miles and assay exceptionally high. Free gold specimens
sare’ often found in these veins
“both north andsouth of the Gold
-Blossom vein, notably in the Defiance
vmine ,approximately 300 feet north
tof the Harrison claim, where it is reported $3000 has been taken out of
-20 feet of work,
There is a striking similarity bethe Grass Valley district that is so
apparent, when the geology of both
districts are studied, that it cannot
“help but attract attention.
Both districts are in the grano-.
tent even to the percentage contained
in each.
a barrém zone at approximately 1200
feet the’mines were considered worked out when that depth was reached.
. differ from this point on.
Ophir district very few mines have;
reached this depth and the majority ;
have not come any Where near it.;
The Ophir district has lacked a saviour of its mines similar to Mr. W.
Both districts encountered
The history of mining operation,
as carried on in the two districts;
P. Bourn of Grass Valley with nerve
enough and capital enough: to first
put its mines down to the zone of secondary enrichment.
Mr. W. B. Bourn took the North
Star and Empire mines of Grass
Valley and rejuvenated them after
they had been idle for about ten
years as exhausted and worked-out
mines.
short time he had them on a paying
basis and they have produced enormous amounts of gold
time and are still doing so. .
This was in 1884. In a very
since that
The work at the Gold Blossom has
been spasmodic as it was in the Grass
Valley district as interest in mining
waned and was revived again.
‘open cuts previously spoken of were
‘made in 1856. The property remained idle until about 1876 when a shaft
was sunk to a depth of:about 300 feet
The
Near the west end of the property.
Twelve thousand dollars was: reported to have peen realized from this
work. Due to lack of equipment
they were unable to handle the water
so the mine was closed down. After
laying idle for several years a new
shaft was started at a point where
the Crater Hill vein branches off
from the main Gold Blossom vein.
This shaft was. sunk to a depth of
275 feet and a ten-stamp mill was
constructed. Considerable. ore was
extracted which gave a return of
about $2000,000. More property was
acquired to the east.
About this time, in an endeavor
to recover a°greater percentage of
values from the ores, the Chlorination process was tried. This proved
to be a complete failure and cost in
the neighborhood of $100,000. After
this loss the mine was shut down.
This was in 1888.
The mine was again started.up in
the latter part of 1889 asit was decided to construct blanket tables to
catch the concentrates which here-tofore were allowed to go to waste.
This proved a success and the property was again in profitable produrtion.
In 1890 a pariner was. taken ih
and given a half interest when he
completed sip king new shaft to a
feet east of the old shaft and constructing a new 20-stamp mill‘ with
ment .
From this shaft drifts were run
at the 200, 300 and 400-foot levels
to connect with the old works. Cohsiderable ore was blocked out and
the mine developed in a proper manner.
ahead and adequate ore _ reserves
were blocked out. A tunnel was run
from the surface to tap the ledge at
a point about 600 feet east from the
was taken from this drift, so good
in fact that it was underhand stopea
to considerable depth.
gom bid fair to become one of the
big producers of the state.
depth of 500 feet, located about 1500
the necessary machinery and equipDevelopment work was carried . At about this time the Gold BlosThey
of the property.
The mill ran 17 months and the
only accurate records of any production from the mine are from this
run. The actual mint receipts show
that the mine produced $135,052.51
in gold and silver. and the concenIn the ‘trates for this run gave $15,477.79!
. additional. The average value of the j¢were Friday visitors at the home
‘ore milled on this run was $11.29.
About this time one of the owners died and his heir got into litigation with the other partner. The
mine was closed down in 1899 and
has been closed ever since. During
the late war an $80,000 lien was
‘placed against the interest of one of
the partners which completely tied
the property up. This lien has recently been removed and the mine
is now in shape to be sold for the
first time in about 32 years.
Most of the work on the Gold Blossom has been done on the west end
of the property while the only work
done on the east end has been the
surface scratching by open cuts. The
extent of these cuts clearly indicate
the presence of new ore shoots that
are undeveloped.
The old workings have wiz distinct
ore shoots varying in length from
200 feet to 500 feet, and it appears
as if they pitch east at an angle of
30 degrees. This latter fact, however,
has not been fully proven due to the
small extent of development work.
It ig quite apparent that the multiplicity of parallel and divergent
veins and stringers that branch off
from the Gold Blossom have had a
tendency to rob it of values that
rightfully belong to it. These veins
will come with the Gold Blossom at
depth and will enrich it to a considerable extent.
There is no doubt that the Gold
Blossom vein-is the true-fissure vein
main fissure of that: district. All
the other veins branch off of it
either in dip or strike. Most of them
come back in again but some do. not.
A glance at the map of this district
clearly indicates this.
As pointed out befare, the pressure
of the Qphir mining district were
formed by tremendous pressure from
great depths which split the country
jin an almost straigh . cut east and]
west line and shattered ‘the surface} ,
on both sides of the: main fissure
causing -faults ‘and slips.
liquid silica flowed up through the
main fissure filling it. and all the
Parallel and divergent fissures with
the ore maguma. All of which indicate great depth of ore deposition
just as it exists in the exactly similar district of Grass Valiey.
Let us hope that some man with
brains enough, nerve enough and
money enough can be. found to put
the Ophir mining district down’ below the barren zone away from the
grass roots and give this district a
mine like the North Star and Empire
just as W. B. Bourn did for Grass
Valley when the mines were closel
down as exhausted and depleted.
new shaft. Exceptionally good ore
HEADACHE You
and .
NEURALGIA
Use Dr. Miles’ .
Anti Pain Pills
for prompt relief.
Muscular Pains
and
Functional Pains
—even those so
severe that they
are mistaken for
Rheumatism, Sciatica, Lumbago—
109J Phones 109M
JOHN W. DARKE
Upholstering
Anti-Pain Pills
When you are suffering
want prompt relief.
Dr. Miles’ Anti-Pain Pills relieve
the pains for which we recommend
them. They do not upset the stomach, cause constipation, or leave _
unpleasant after’ effects.
. . A package in your medicine cabinet, pocket, or handbag, means
fewer aches and pains,
joyment, more efficient work, less
loss of time.
Dr. Miles’ Anti-Pain Pills have
greater en‘diorite and have the same parallel — quick-!. been used with success for thirty,
sand divergent vein system. The strike Anti-Pain Pills. years. age
sof the vein of each district have 25 for 25 cents Get them at y our: ¢ . ‘
ddentically the same sulphide conap
of the Ophir mining district and the}.
Then the
pe
FRENCH CORRAL
ciienaiaianiatitl
f-~
4
" FRENCH CORRAL, Oct. 15— Dry
weather still previals. The sound of
distant thunder one evening this
week, raised our line o fmoisture,
nothing doing in this section.
J. Hartley, sheep and cattle man,
rested a drove of 1200 sheep in this
place Thursday ‘night.
Columbia Parlor No. 70 N.D. G.
‘day afternoon.
CONSULTING ENGINEER
CIVIL AND MINING ENGINEERING
REGISTERED CIVIL ENGINEER
LICENSED SURVEYOR
Hydraulicg — Irrigation — Surveys
Land Classification.
LAST OFFICIAL MAP OF NEVADS
W. hed a meeting of their lodge Fna
OOUNTY
{
Mr. and Mrs. R. McNamara of Tywydraulics — Irrigation — Surveys
of L. W. Culver.
C. H. Hoffman and _ son-in-law,
Lee Stockwell, of Sacramento spent
the week in this place in hunting.
“Luck’’ did not come their way.
They returned to their home ) Sunday
afternoon.
iCecil Hoffman and Mr. Bangs of
Sacramento arrived Saturday -evening and returned to their home Sunday evening.
A party of hunters, whose names
we did not_learn, succeeded in getting a buck somewhere on the river
Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Adam Labour and
home in French Corral. \
. Mr. and Mrs. Irwin Diffin of La
Grande
week at the home of W. E. Moulton.
Mr. Diffin andcousins and this was their first meeting, as Mr. Diffin is from New York
State. He and his wife have been
‘spending. several months in California and.are making their home in
La Grande. From. this
went to Reno to visit with Mr. Moulfamily. -:
Drum spent Sunday at the home of
Culver.
at the home of.J. M. Haslett.
look_for the. wage
_ PROFESSIONAL, CARDS
_ DR. BELL
Dentist
Office Heurs: 8:80 to 5:80Evenings: by Appointment
Morgan: &' Powell. Bidg.
were visitors during the
Mr. Moulton are
place they
ton’s sister, Mrs. “= W. Perry,. and
Mr. and Mrs. Benton Wilcoxon of
. Mr. Wibcoxon’s mother, Mrs. J. Ww.
A great deal-of prospecting is being done in this part of the county
and many entertain a hopeful out~ Phone
Office at Residence — Grass Valley,
Ay
Mrs. K. Broyles and family of Sacra-})>
‘mento spent the week end at the old
DR. ROBERT-F. WERNER
3 Physician and Surgeon’
Office: 400 Broad St.,
Nurse in attendance.
Nevada City
Hours: 10-12 a, m., 2-5, 7-8 p.m. ~
F.T. Nilon J.
Lynne Kelly
NILON, HENNESSY AND KELLY
—ATTORNEYS AT LAW—
Morgan and Powell Bldg.
Nevada City
tT. Hennessy
Offices, 127 Mill Street, Grass Valley
W. E. WRIGHT
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Office in Union ‘Building
Phone 23 Nevada City
WARD A. JOHNSON, D. C.
Chiropractor
Grass Valley
days and Fridays 7 to 8-P. M.,
153 So. Auburn St.
Office hours—9 to 12 A. M. and
2 to 5:30 P. M. On Mondays, WednesGrass
_Valley, Sunday by appointment.
Phone G.V.196
EDWARD ©. UREN™
MINING AND CIVIL ENGINEER
Mining Reports Furnished
Mining District Maps
Phone 278R : Nevada city
dé. F. O'CONN OR:
Civil, and Mining actus
Hall. Main Street, Grass Valley.
i United’ States Mineral: Surveying.
Licenged Surveyor. Upstairs over City
FRATERNAL CARDS —
NUVADA crry LODGE, NO. 518
B. P. 0. ELKS
Meets second and fourth Friday evening in in Elk's Home, Pine Street,
Phone 108. Visiting Elks welcome.
HORACE A. CURNOW.
Bxalted. Ruler
A. M. Holmes Secretary. E
MILO LODGE, No. 48, K. of P.
at Pythian Hall, Morgau and
Bldg. Visiting Knights always wel— CARL LARSEN. C. C
262 Auburn Street.
. ELECTRICAL WIRING
L. B. Gregory will do all kinds of
electrical wiring and all kinds of
ignition work. He is well known here
for his high class work.
Anyone wishing his servicws may
City, California.
ANGELINI CICOGNI, eae.
WwW. © u
VISIT THE
LEADER
GARAG BY}
And Have “Stan” Look Your
‘Car Over and Estimate your .
call the Miners Foundry, Phone 10. Work—FREE.
0 GAS AND OIL
NOTICE TIRES AND TUBES
From now on the Colfax Bakery FREE AIR
will supply their products te the CAMPTONVILLE CALIF.
Sacramento Street Grocery, Nevada Phone 8
-GILMORE GAS.
GREASING
. Mr. Glenn Orr and Valentino Mo. ¥
reno of Hood were Sunday. yisitors BATTERY SERVICE
. PLAZA SUPER SERVICE STAT
CARL T. LARSEN, Prop.
TOW CAR
SHELL GAS
WASHING
personal.
other cities—to the folks “back home’
TuE Paciric TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY
With the friendly wannth
_, of the human voice
TELEPHONING is so direct. To friends in
*—tO
chums who are traveling—to young people
away at school or college. You talk to the
person you want to reach, and get an immediate answer. It’s fast. It’s clear. It’s
~ 2
\ * F
‘sf
GOODYEAR TIRES & TUBES _ HYDRAUUC UF
ist and 34. Friday nighte Meets the ist: Falah
_ J. ©. B. FOSS. K. of R. & 8. -