Tunnels run or shafts sunk in a dozen or more places on the Conrad Consolidated, Conrad-Bonanza and J. H. Conrad groups of mines in the mountains adjacent to Little Windy Arm have demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that there lies the richest and most extensive body of silver and gold ore ever discovered on the American
continent.
The various Conrad groups comprise 17 claims on each of which the ore vein is from 8 to 14 feet wide and assays all the way from $50 to $3000 per ton, principally in silver. At present no ore is being mined that assays less than $600 per ton.
Active Operations
To date more work has been done on the Montana mine than on the others. There a tunnel has penetrated the mountain a distance of 240 feet, all of which tunnel, with the exception of the first few feet, runs through ore going from $2000 to $3000 to the ton. Already from 600 to 800 tons of ore are on the Montana dump. It is now being sacked and packed out by mule train to the steamboat landing, a distance of four miles, for shipment to smelters.
Adjoining the Montana are the Mountain Hero and Glacier claims, and on the latter and 1550 feet from the Montana tunnel another tunnel is being run into the mountain side, which will tap the Montana tunnel. Later the ore from this entire mountain will be taken out by the Glacier tunnel, near the mouth of which will be located the
mine terminal of the ore-carrying aerial tramway, now in course of construction.
A mile southward from the Montana, Mountain Hero, Glacier and other
mines comprising the Montana group, are found the Venus, Uranus, Uranus No. 2, M. & N. and other claims, on all of which the ledge has been located, the ore from which is shown by assays to be even richer than that of the Montana group.
To Transport Ore
To convey from these latter mentioned claims the ore to the beach a second aerial tramway will be constructed and for the purpose of surveying and constructing this second tram R. M. Riblet of Spokane, Wash., the greatest aerial
tramway constructor on the continent, is expected to arrive in a few days.
In the working of the above mentioned claims abont 60 men are now employed. Three shifis of eight hours each are worked. Herman W. Vance, one of the most experienced quartz miners in the west, is mine foreman. He is operating with about 40 men on the Montana group, while sub-foreman Geo. Erickson, another experienced quartz man, is operating a smaller crew on the southward group of claims.
The value of every foot of ore mined is accurately assertained by the company's assayer, F. W. Farrington, a young and highly capable man who was brought in by the general manager of the company and mines, G. A. Singer, on his return from his late visit to the outside. Mr. Farrington was with Mr. Singer for years in Colorado and was trained by him up to his present high standing as an accurate assayer.
Tramway Now Building
The tramway now under process of construction is the first thing of the
kind undertaken in Yukon territory and is being installed by R. E. Lanyon of Nelson B. C., who has to his credit five tramways in excellent working order, the majority of them in British Columbia. Mr. Lanyon is employing about 50 men in the tram construction and will make a mighty effort to complete it by October 1st. For the construction of the tramway 22 carloads of lumber and timbers have been already received for use in the various towers.
The cables, one endless, another stationary, will be delivered on the groundin a few days and before the towers are ready to receive them.
The length of the stationary cable will be 19386 feet while the bucket carrying endless cable will be twice that length. The cable will work by the gravity system and automatically. The mine terminal of the cable tramway will be at an elevation of 3470 feet above that of the beach terminal. Material for the tramway will be packed and "snaked" up the mountain side by mules of which Billy Wiesdeppe is operating a train of twenty-five head. The pack train will carry construction material for the tramway up the mountain aud return with ore.
Conrad City
Messrs. Conrad and Singer, for the mining company, have secured by purchase from the government 320 acres of land on the beach for tram terminals, mill sites, wharfage and for such other uses as their business may demand, and there a tented village is already springing up under the name of Conrad City. The only public house yet in course of construction is that of Barney J. McGee who will operate a hotel and store. Mr. McGee is both popular and law-abiding and may be depended upon to not only conduct a good and prosperous business, but to be made by acclamation the first mayor of Conrad City.
New Steamer Landings
Owing to the increased business incident to the mine work now going on
in the Little Windy Arm locality Supt. Scharschmidt of the White Pass fleet of steamers, has promulgated a new list of landings for the fleet plying between Caribou and Atlin. The first new landing is Conrad City, 10 miles out from Caribou; next comes Canyon, three
miles further up the arm and at the beach terminal of what will be the second aerial tramway. Three miles beyond Canyon is the boundary line between Yukon and British Columbia and there a station or landing called Boundary has been established. The last new landing is located at the extreme head of Little Windy arm two miles over the boundary line in British Columbia and is called Silverdale. At this latter point a townsite is already
being laid out.
Retrospective
While there is millions in sight for the company owning and operating the mines, there will be little inducement for the establishment of private business industries at the new beach landings above mentioned before next spring as until that time the company will not be operating on its contemplated heavy scale. Much work remains to be done before all proposed plans are carried out. While the company has already installed a telephone system throughout the camp, there are other and greater things on the list, one of them an electrical plant to supply power for drilling and compressing.
The White Pass and Yukon Railroad company contemplate building a spur to
a convenient point on the Windy Arm beach and in one year from today the present outlook justifies the Star in asserting that there will be in operation in the Little Windy Arm locality in the south end of Yukon territory one of the largest money producers on the American continent.
