Big creek tunnel gets longer

Reprint of this story from the September 26, 1902 issue of The Grand Encampment Herald brought to you courtesy of Grandma’s Cabin, Encampment, Wyoming. Preserving History - Serving the Community.

Big Creek Property

News of Flattering Nature Is Expected from the Big Creek Tunnel Within Sixty Days

Those who have watched the progress of the work in the Big Creek tunnel are anxiously awaiting the result of another hundred feet of work when, it is expected, the vein for which the tunnel is being driven will be cut.

It will be remembered that the Big Creek property was the first to be incorporated into a company in the Pearl section of the camp, and while the work of sinking the shaft was in progress, much good news was heard from that property as the ore increased in richness and extent.

The Big Creek Mining Company was organized in October, 1900, by Messrs. Geo. W. Best, Chas. E..Knapp, O.W. Hinckley, and others of Chicago, and Mr. Thomas R. Smith of the Encampment Mercantile Co. The property which comprises seven claims of twenty acres each, lie just north of the Colorado state line in Wyoming, about two and one-half miles north of the town of Pearl. From Big Creek park the hills rise abruptly several hundred feet, while Big Creek flows through a deep canon with the Big Creek tunnel site in the east bank of the stream. It is an ideal tunnel site, and the camp at the mouth of the tunnel occupies an exceptionally pretty spot.

Work on the property was commenced near the top of the hill, where a shaft was sunk 135 feet, with two levels. This work opened up a vein of ore bearing material fully fourteen feet wide, the ore being galena, carrying silver, lead, copper and gold. In this vein occurs a streak of black sulphurettes of silver, which, according to assays, has a value of 1,000 ounces of silver to the ton.

The formation is well m place, the footwall being granite. The shaft has been well timbered with 10x10 sawed timbers, and the work shows excellent workmanship.

To cut the vein opened in the shaft, a tunnel is being run, and up to date 790 feet havebeen gained. Work was started September 1, 1901, and there has not been a shift lost during the intervening time. The well known contractor, Joe Lewis, has been on the job from the beginning. The work has progressed at a good rate, and is being rushed at present in order to accomplish the desired results at the earliest possible date. It is estimated that another one hundred feet will bring the tunnel into the ore body, with a vertical depth of 450 feet. In this event, the Big Creek will be in a position to ship at once. By working through the tunnel the ore will be dumped in the canon, from which place it may easily be transported to the Grand Encampment smelter.

The Big Creek company has never been short of funds with which to develop the property. The history of this company is an enviable one, and in some respects exceptional. It takes money to develop a property, and it takes ore to interest capital. The Big Creek people have had good ore, and have made a hustle to secure sufficient funds to do all the work necessary to determine the value of the property.

The principal office of the company is at1101-3 Fisher Building, Chicago, Ill., and the branch office at Pearl, Colo., where Supt. Wm. A. Knapp resides. The price of Big Creek stock is now thirty-five cents.

Minor Notes:

The Woodson boys were among those who pulled up camp in the Beaver country last week having been driven out by the forest fire. They have located several choice claims near Pearl, and have also a fine group near the Big Creek Ranch.

The first snow storm of the season came Sunday, and extended from the townsite over the Sierra Madre range and also along the Medicine Bow range. Along the Continental Divide, the storm was a blizzard, and several inches of snow fell. But little snow fell in Grand Encampment, just enough to say that it snowed. Thursday night about two inches of snow fell in Grand Encampment, but the beautiful took its departure in a few hours.

 

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