Bisbee Daily Review

BIG LEDGE GOLD ORE FOUND AT BENSON

Samples Taken From Five Places Across the Surface Croppings and Found to Pan Good Colors.

Last Tuesday. Col. I. B. Stone, of Stone's Mining Investment company, and Mining Engineer Wm. Fraesdorf, of Benson, went out to the Whetstone mountains to examine galena and copper property of Mr. Frank Trask, but the discovery which Mr. Fraesdorf's geological knowledge led up to on the trip is a great dyke of free milling gold quartz, which may result in establishing a stamp mill some nine miles from Benson, where the yellow metal will be produced in large quantity, and a new and unexpected mining and milling industry spring up, says the Benson Press.

The discovery transpired when Mr. Trask escorted his visitors to where he has located on Wulfenite ore. Wulfenite was here, all right, but Mr. Fraesdorf took notice that it was running along through a dyke of what looked to him like auriferous quartz. Thereupon he concluded to stay over night with Mr. Trask and make a careful examination for gold.

The ledge, or dyke, in which is found the Wulfenite, crops out 4,500 feet, running in a northwesterly and northeasterly direction. At the northeastern end it shows galena, Wulfenite and silver. As it extends northerly a change occurs after about 2,000 feet, to a grayish quartz, stained a light purple with flour. Samples were taken from five places of ore all across the surface croppings of the ledge, and found to pan good colors of gold in each case.

Near the southeast end two samplings were made from places about 500 feet apart, put together, broken up and quartered down to a suitable sample for panning, which showed lead and silver concentrates, with about $1 to the ton of gold.

From the middle an average sample across the ledge, quartered down and panned showed gold and silver, the gold value being about fourteen or fifteen dollars.

At the north end a sample was taken across the ledge, and another about 1,000 feet southerly on the same ledge, mixed and reduced as were the first two, giving at least forty dollars to the ton in gold. The ledge from where the last two samples were taken was twelve feet wide in one place and eight feet wide at the other. Where the samples of Wulfenite, lead, silver and gold were taken, the ledge was from four to five feet thick.

The country rock is granite. Mr. Fraesdorf says if this entire ledge which runs through the three claims located by Mr. Trask will only average $6 per ton in gold, it is a big paying proposition, and would justify erecting a large stamp mill nearby, where there is plenty of water. His advice is to take mill run samples across the ledge every ten feet for the entire 4,500 feet, and have a thorough test made.

It dips apparently about 45 degrees, toward the east, while another ledge of the same appearance running parallel about 8 feet west, dips at an angle of 6 degrees, which would make a junction of the two ledges about 200 feet beneath the surface if each continues to dip the same as they start from the surface.

Engineer Fraesdorf recommends sinking to where they unite. He says it has been a long time since he has seen such a promising prospect for a great gold mine.

Mr. Trask at once decided to start sinking on the ledge where it is richest in gold.

Col. Stone expects to close a deal by which this great dyke of gold quartz will be listed with Stone's Mining Investment company for a development proposition.