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THE OMATIA SUNDAY BEE: MAY ,V 1007.'
Great Homeslake Mine lno Which Rivers Are Turned to )uench Fire
r
fcl.'Art e rt Uav A iQivrll On
II March 24 last, ftre km diseove red
stake mine. In mope No. 4 north.
Wtinfi the flm was discovered
imritiR the timber It had gained such
headway .that .It was deemed advis
able to hoist the men from the lower
workings to the surface, and this was done.
Arrangements were made to fight the
flames, hut, despite all that could be don,
there appeared to be no hi Adway made
against them. On the third day a heavy
' gam was generated, deadly In Its effect
upon those coming In contict with It. Many
Of the men were overcom nnd It was then
een that the ordinary i ihods wtuld not
prevail or be elTectlve.
Into the burning stope,
earn wo turned
Bt that seemed to
make conditions evep
rnrse than before
and did not do any
out the Are. All thf
in toward putting
clenre could devise
and practical mining -n suggest was tried,
but the lire burned k. After a while the
(as became less t nblesome an V the fire
was attacked wK nen-ed energy. Several
times It was b i- to have been ex
tinguished, but f ilil a.iln break out with
renewed vlolenc 'the gas and smoke again
accumulated, di inn the fighters away from
the fire and to places of safety. On Mon
day Inst Superintendent Orlor gave up all
hope of putting; out the fire by the usual
method and decided to flood the workings
as a lost resort, and operations were be
gun looking to turning the full volume of
water r-.nlng In Whltcwood and Deadwood
creeks Into the mine. This work has been
completed and the full flow of both streams,
together with over 1,000,000 gallons a day
from . Speartlah creek, are being emptied
Into the workings of the property.
Miner's Neglect the Cans.
It Is saJd on the very best of authority
that the Are originated from a blast set oft
In the stope by one of the workmen, a for
eigner, who fired his holes close to where
the timbers. In the stope are the thickest.
It la usually the custom after firing a round
of holes for themlner tn return and nee
wha his shots have doe. In fact It la de
roaiitied that he do so, so should there be
dangerous ground he can warn the shift
that Is to follow of the conditions, and put
out any fire or smudge which may have
been left from, the burn Jg fuie or particles
of unexploded powder. Tl I the fellow
who fired the shots failed tJ do, and It
was an hour or two after the blast had
been exploded that the fire was discovered,
and then It waa too late to do more than
to warn the men working "on the lower
levels and In other parts of the mine, res
cue the horses and mules and get them to
the surface and safety.
Material for the Fire.
Borne Idea of t.. magnitude of the un
dertaking to fill the mine with water may
fee had from the fact that here are over
fifty miles of ruilroad track laid In the
various tunnels and drifts of the mln.a; that
for twenty years a line of narrow gauge
, rwllroad has been hauling timbers to Lead,
and all of that timber has been placed
in the mine; that some of the atopes, which
do not Include the fifty mllea of tunnels
and drifts, are big enough to take In The
Bee building and have room for other
smtller buildings. Many of the stopes are
so closely filled with timbers that It is
almost impossible to pass through them,
and were all of the lumber in the houses
of Lead placed in the mine, it would not
torn n mi, rtur nf Hia atvimmfr tm 1m Ka
V ;ine, so the Are, should it spread from Its
' present place, has an unlimited amount
,. cf material to work on.
i , . It ia estimated with Whltewood creek
and Deattwood creek, the natural flow of
water Into the mine (1,000 gallons a min-
IU'e), and the water from Spearfish creek
that it will take forty-seven days to flood
-the mine to a pf Int ' above the 300-foot
level, two levels above the present loca
tion of the fire. It Is said that the mine
can be pumped out within sixty days and
that the workings can be put in shape
(again within three months from the time
the- mine has been drained. During the
time that the mine Is being filled the lira
will be fought until the men can no
longer remain In the workings. This will
be done in the hope that It can be cor
ralled and that it will not be necessary
to flood the mine above the 600-foot level.
'At the present time nothing is being dons
: around the property except fighting the
fire and watching the water raise In the
w6i kings. On Saturday night the water
'LI
Fruit
HEODORE WILLIAMS, the Bur
bank of Nebraska, who has dope
more to Improve the fruit and
make the orchards of Nebraska
than any other one man In tbt
state, says we will have plenty of fruit yet.
He gives as his reason the fact that the
trees went Into winter quarters In April
and will emerge again in such time as th
warm days of spring finally - come.' Mr.
Williams furnished The Bee with the fol
lowing statement, and photographs from
which the accompanying pictures are
taiade:
Preseat Conditio of OT Frnlt Crop.
"Oh. dear! dear! wbat can the matter be?
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41. J a A v J - ,
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IN TUB 8TOPD ON THE Sno-FOOT
had reached almost, to the a-f o'ot level,
but after It has passed that level the raise
will' be slow, as the 800-foot levels above
are the largest In the' mines...
. Story of .the Honesta'ke.
In the summer of 1876 the "Manuel' broth
ers, prospectors, discovered .'the original
HOmestake mine, on the divide between
Gold Run and Bobtail creeks. On the sur
face the ore Was very rioh, and, .for a time,
the Manuels worked - the ore ; which - they
took from the Openings made on the prop
erty in an arastra, a primitive, mill. uch
as was used centuries ago -In Mexico, and
by the Spaniards in their American posses
Cadet
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Matter, be!; Oh, why does nature, . that
erratic and wonderful wizard,, raise , our
hopes on high, only to blast with a bllkxard.
Never before has there .been, such peculiar,
Ill-defined Interest and aggressive. curiosity
about the fruit crop '.from all. parties and
In all callings, "for nature's highAkirking in
her operatic tableau of , March and April,
1907, , has caused It. ) '".- '
She has dangled us on the torrid line of
the equator. She has roglad us -from the
Ice chest of the northwest " pasaage. She
has phinged her poignant dagger, of frost
deeper Into-the tender fescudatlag. organs
of the.fuit buds and blossoms, of tills-year s
crop and r baa kept more-per sisUntly at It
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OF JAPAN PLUMS IN BLOOM IN TUB
BaUaHon
Trees Are ippare
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LEVEL OP THE HOMKSTAKK TEN STORIES OF TIMDKRIa CAUGHT FIRE.
sions. They afterward worked some of the
ore In' a small stamp mill which had been
erected on' the present site of Lead. By
both of these methods the ore paid, al
though a close saving of the gold could
not be made. The richness of the ore at
tracted considerable attention from miners,
especially from those who came from the
quarts districts of California, a number
of capitalists frbm that state having repre
sentatives In the Black Hills looking up
good propositions, J. B. Haggln being
among that' number. Reports of the rich
ness of the Homestake claims coming to his
attention, he sent the late Senator George
II. Hearst to the Black Hills to look Into
of the Omaha High School Makes Fine
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ntly
'than ever before. It has been a freeze or
bllarard every day or night since the first
week in April, until April 23, the first day
without a frost and wnrm enough for pol-
- lenatlon and procreation.
Generally.' two to four degrees of frost
ruins the stone fruits, and five or six Is
dangerous to pears and apples, when near
the blooming time. Night after night it
has been' from ten to fourteen decrees
below freezing, - without any apparent In
Jury to our' fruit crop until the morning
of April 19. Then the demon of the north
took new tactics. On the 17th enow fell
all day. About seven inches covered the
trees, and all the fruit buds and blossoms
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8NOW.
the proposition and make a report on it.
The report mada by Mr. Ht-arst was satis
factory and he was Instructed to' secure
the mine if possible for Hnggin and his
associates. This Mr. Hearst did. securing
the property for about 100,000.
First FortyStainp Mill.
In November, 1S77, the Homestake Mining
company was Incorporated with a capital of
$10,UOWOO, divided Into IOO.OiX) shares. At
this time JlOO.uOO was paid In to pay for the
property, and afterward two assessments
of $1 per share were levied upon the capital
fctock, realising 00,000. This money was
utilized to build the first mill upon the
SALUTE DURINO PATTALTON DRESS PAR ADa
Caught by a Second Winter
with snow, and then on the 17th and 18th.lt
Blowly melted, saturating, snaking- all fruit
buds and blossoms, and then on the night
of the 1Mb. and morning of the 19th all the
thermometer fell to eighteen degrees
fourteen degrees .below freezing at 2 to 3
a. m., and at twenty-two at 7 to 8 a. m.,
still, ten degrees of freezing- This unpre
cedented cold was accompanied by a freez
ing white froBt deposit as dense and wet
as a rain. This encased every fruit stem,
bud and blossom, and every orsar of pro
creation was frozen into solid, brittle
icicles.
Looking at those Icicles I made- up my
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STELLA APRICOT, LOADED WITH FRUIT AND 8 N OW STILL HAS FRUIT
ground, an eighty-stamp plant, which cost.
Including transportation, 1140,000. It was
completed In July, 187S, being supplied with
ore from, an open cut on the Homestake
claims. At this time .no attempt was made
to treat the tailings from the mill nor from
the mills erected later, and If was not dune
until the property had been working for
several years, after which It was com
menced,' and then It was confined to run
ning the tailings over Brussels carpets and
saving the concentrates, which later were
smelted,, but at so high a cost that little
profit was obtained from them. Although,
when compared with present methods In
use by the company, its first attempts at
mind that within there was still left a Ufa
longing to get out, and with favorable days
from then on for their fecundation, were
; still able to greet us with nearly a full
fruit crop.
The reason why freezing has not appeared
to have Its usual effect Is simply this: The
fruit felt the Influence of that hot summer
weather for a long time In March and early
.blooming sorts came out with their blos
soms. This was followed by winter condi
tions in April. These trees, buds, blossoms
and all, simply concluded their season was
. over and tried to go Into winter quarters.
The sap stopped circulating, the bark on
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WORKINO A MACHINE DRILL TTNDERGROTTND AT THE TTOMT5STAKE.
milling and gold saving were crude,'' the
property paid from the first time Its milling
plant was cleaned up, and from October,
is??, has continued paying dividends, ran
ging from 10 cents to 60 cents per share,
not missing a month. In round numbers,
since October, lf,7S, the mine has produced
In the neighborhood of rti,O00,CO0 In gold,
more than three-fourths of which has been
paid out for labor, the making of Improve
ments and the purchase of water rights
and additional ground, Including adjoining
Incorporations, paying during that time
something In excess of $15,000,000 In divl-d-n1s.
From time to time the original eight
Appearance
tree and fruit stem became dry and ad
hering. Some plants on ours and neighbor
ing places took on the changing hues as In
the fall. Noticing what the trees were do
ing I made tne claim to friends thut we
would not lose our fruit prospects this
year unless the mercury fell ldw,Vr than
fifteen degress above zero. And they prac
tically did even better, for on the lth
when soaked, they stood fourteen' degrees
below freezing down to eighteen above
zero. All fruits are pratlcu!ly In good
condition now but apricots. ' '
THEODORE WILLIAMS.
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iJTOt GREAT FREXZF OF APRIL lit
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acres (the original Homestake claim) has
been added to, until at the present tlm
the company's holdings In the Immediate
vicinity of Lend amount to 2,600 acres;
mostly all of It valuable mining property,
upon which workings have been established.
Immense Plants In Operation.
Year by year the company has been im
proving Its property and Its milling and
treatment plants, and from the first elshty
stamp there has grown up. a system of
mills and cyanide plant, and slime treat
ment plants that cannot be equalled by
any other In the world, and the mills hav
ing a daily capacity for treating 4,000 tons
of ore, the cyanide plnnts a capacity for
retreating the tailings from all of the 1,000
Btamps' dropping end the slime plant a
capacity of 1,500 tons a day. All of the
company's six mills have been until the
fire In dally operation, three of these belne;
located In Iad, two In Terrnvllle nnd one
In Central City, and all of them connected
with a network of railroad lines, under
ground and surface, operated by steam and
compressed air. The cyanide plants of the
company, the largest In the wortyl, sre
located in Gayvllle and Lead, being con
nected with the mills by pipe lines which
convey the tailings to them for retreat
ment. A year ago the company began the con
struction of a slime plant above the city
of Dead wood and it is now running, but
will close down in a day or so, the com
pany having expended about $000,000 upon
it.
Established upon Its different properties
ore hoisting works capable of curing for
and handling all of the ore mined dally. In
Its underground workings, the largest of
the hoists, the Ellison, being noxt to the
largest in the world and costing with Its
equipment in the neighborhood of 1700,000.
Railways and Other Works.
In the first years of its operation the
company built a system of nurrow gauge
railroad lines, radiating from Lead through
the wooded sections of the Black Hills and
connecting with tho Northwestern system
at Piedmont, forty miles distant, in all a
trackage of about lll'ty miles. Over this
system of road the company hauled its
fji-l, mining timbers and other supplies
until a few years ago, whin It sold tills
system of roads to tho Chicago, Burlington
& Quiucy, which company Is now ojieratlng
It at a profit, the company receiving for
the same a handsome compensation.
It has but recently completed a system of
water works, taking water from the Speur
ilgh river twenty miles distant. At the
town of Hanna, fifteen miles dlntunt, the
company has established a pumping sta
tion, which lifts this water over a divide
of 600 feet, where it Is delivered into a tiled
ditch and conveyed to reservoirs In Lead
and distributed to the company's mills and
tho cities of Leud, Terruvllle and Central.'
This Is but one of the company's water
systems, costing for the Installation cf
pumping machinery, construction of dlleh
and labor 11,000,000.
On the line of the new water system the
company has recently completed und placed
in operation a power plant for the genera
tion of electricity at a cost of about $JH,000,
from which power Is furnished for two of
Its mills.
On the company's grounds In Lead are
machine shops capable of making any nec
essary repairs to the machinery In opera
tion: a foundry. In which castings to the
weight of ten or twelvo tons, can lie made;
carpenter shops, repair shops of all kinds
and department buildings In which the
business of the corporation Is transacted,
all connected with a private telephone sys
tem, which Includes in Its ramlllcatlons the
most distant parts of the underground and
' surface workings of the comiany, Its wood
and timber camps. Its lime and other
camps. In fact. It Is as complete and ex
tensive as that of a good sized city.
It would be a small estimate to place
the cost of the Improvements, th build
ings, the milling plants and their cenw-uts,
owned by the company at lao.oio.OoO.
In the employ of the Homestake company
up to the time of the fire were 1,600 men.
who received an average wage of $3 26.
Lead and the llomeatabe.
Lead Is not a mining camp In one sense
of the word, for It would be difficult to
find in an eastern city of the same popula
tion the same facilities. Its public school
system Is without an equul. Its school
children have greater facilities, are mors
comfortably housed and cared for, than In
any city of the same population In the
east. Its streets are paved, it Is lighted
by electricity, connected by telegraph and
telephone lines with the outside world, has
handsome and substantial business bloi ks,
one of the largest banks In the west, a
splendid water system and many other
convenienoes not enjoyed by cities nearer
the seaboards. It la substantially a city
N of homes snd handsome residences, whkh
are owned and occupied by employes of
the Homestake company or those who de
rive indirect support from the working
of Its mines. All of the advantages and
Improvements, all cf this substantiality
has been made possible by the operations
of the Homestake Mining company, which
bad distributed something like t?-'0.0iJO a
month tn wages to its peoples until a few
weeks ago. Lead had a population of be
tween 7,000 and 8,000. but It It etlmuled
that at least X000 have left In the last
year, and of this population t, were
(Continued on Page Four.)