The Spratt Gem Mine
The following extracts are from an article in the Helena Independent, and will, we think, interest the many friends of the Mesers. Spratt in this city.
In December 1887, Geo. T. Kung, the expert of Tiffany & Co., of New York, in Harper's Monthly, entitled "Precious Stones in the United States", made a most flattering mention of the Montana sapphires, telling of their colors and qualities.This article attracted considerable attention to the Montana sapphires, and among those who became interested was F.D. Spratt, a wealthy gentleman from Michigan, who had recently bought a placer claim on Trout creek, not far from Elderado Bar. He washed out a lot of stones, tested them in various ways, and finally concluded they were gems. Then he began to buy up the rights of those who had settled.............................[missing]..............the fields systematically and get the Montana product on the European market. A prospectus was issued, and when the promoters said they controlled 4,000 acres of sapphire and ruby bearing ground in Montana, near Helena; that the stones were pronounced genuine by experts, the British capitalists began to doubt. So incredible did the story seem that Gov. Toole was appealed to by the English to verify the statements. The foreigners said they regarded it as very strange that immense fields of sapphire and rubies should exist so near Helena, and yet the general government sis not in some official was refer to them. Now, the newspapers of the east and the financial journals have taken it up, and at last the Montana sapphire and ruby fields will become thoroughly familiar to the world at large.But while the outside world is learning something about the fields and the stones Helena may as well gain a little more information than is now possessed by the majority. The fields, as said before, are on both sides of the Missouri. The Spratt company owns and controls something over four thousand acres, the Eldorado has ground being patented, and the rest entered under the mineral laws. Mr. Spratt who is now living in Helena, had his attention called the other day to the interest the operations of his company was creating in the east and in London, and his reply to a request to allow an Independent representative to look over his ground was one of hearty accord. A letter to Alex Macauley, his representative, was written, and the wish expressed that "the Englishmen would come over and look at the property."It is about a two hours' drive from Helena, and Alex Macauley, the manager, was found at work on Spokane bar with seven men. First we went to where the men were taking out the gravel which contained the gems. This particular bar was up a steep hill, 100 feet or more above the river. Bedrock is about six feet below the surface. All of the dirt to within six inches of bedrock is thrown to one side as worthless. The gravel of dirt is passed through two sieves, a very coarse and a very fine one. The stones in the first one are thrown away; the sand passes through the second one, while the smaller stones run down into a box at the bottom of the first screen. The smaller stones are then sacked and the sack carried down to the river. There they are caught in a box, and from it shoveled into another box with a wire bottom. This box sets in the water and is worked with a long pole, like a seesaw. The process looks very crude.Macauley has been with the company for three years, and has prospected all the bars. He says that not every foot, or even on every acre of the 4,000 the company controls are there rubies and sapphires; but the gems are found to a greater or less extent on every twenty-acre claim. The Spratt ground known to contain gems, extends for a distance of four and one-half miles along the river. On the west bank the company owns Ruby, a portion of Spokane, Spratt's, Porter, Dana, and unnamed bar; on the east bank Metropolitan, McCune, Uncle Billy's and Eldorado. On Eldorado the gem bearing ground extends back from a mile to a quarter to a mile and a half from the river, the same on Dana, a mile on Metropolitan, and a quarter of a mile on Spokane. The formation above and around the gem bearing ground in shale and quartzite and it is easily displaced with pick and shovel. Gems coming farther away from the rim rock are largest and beat.
The Spratt Syndicate controls 1,582 acres of patented ground on Eldorado bar,.............[missing]
The following extracts are from an article in the Helena Independent, and will, we think, interest the many friends of the Mesers. Spratt in this city.
In December 1887, Geo. T. Kung, the expert of Tiffany & Co., of New York, in Harper's Monthly, entitled "Precious Stones in the United States", made a most flattering mention of the Montana sapphires, telling of their colors and qualities.This article attracted considerable attention to the Montana sapphires, and among those who became interested was F.D. Spratt, a wealthy gentleman from Michigan, who had recently bought a placer claim on Trout creek, not far from Elderado Bar. He washed out a lot of stones, tested them in various ways, and finally concluded they were gems. Then he began to buy up the rights of those who had settled.............................[missing]..............the fields systematically and get the Montana product on the European market. A prospectus was issued, and when the promoters said they controlled 4,000 acres of sapphire and ruby bearing ground in Montana, near Helena; that the stones were pronounced genuine by experts, the British capitalists began to doubt. So incredible did the story seem that Gov. Toole was appealed to by the English to verify the statements. The foreigners said they regarded it as very strange that immense fields of sapphire and rubies should exist so near Helena, and yet the general government sis not in some official was refer to them. Now, the newspapers of the east and the financial journals have taken it up, and at last the Montana sapphire and ruby fields will become thoroughly familiar to the world at large.But while the outside world is learning something about the fields and the stones Helena may as well gain a little more information than is now possessed by the majority. The fields, as said before, are on both sides of the Missouri. The Spratt company owns and controls something over four thousand acres, the Eldorado has ground being patented, and the rest entered under the mineral laws. Mr. Spratt who is now living in Helena, had his attention called the other day to the interest the operations of his company was creating in the east and in London, and his reply to a request to allow an Independent representative to look over his ground was one of hearty accord. A letter to Alex Macauley, his representative, was written, and the wish expressed that "the Englishmen would come over and look at the property."It is about a two hours' drive from Helena, and Alex Macauley, the manager, was found at work on Spokane bar with seven men. First we went to where the men were taking out the gravel which contained the gems. This particular bar was up a steep hill, 100 feet or more above the river. Bedrock is about six feet below the surface. All of the dirt to within six inches of bedrock is thrown to one side as worthless. The gravel of dirt is passed through two sieves, a very coarse and a very fine one. The stones in the first one are thrown away; the sand passes through the second one, while the smaller stones run down into a box at the bottom of the first screen. The smaller stones are then sacked and the sack carried down to the river. There they are caught in a box, and from it shoveled into another box with a wire bottom. This box sets in the water and is worked with a long pole, like a seesaw. The process looks very crude.Macauley has been with the company for three years, and has prospected all the bars. He says that not every foot, or even on every acre of the 4,000 the company controls are there rubies and sapphires; but the gems are found to a greater or less extent on every twenty-acre claim. The Spratt ground known to contain gems, extends for a distance of four and one-half miles along the river. On the west bank the company owns Ruby, a portion of Spokane, Spratt's, Porter, Dana, and unnamed bar; on the east bank Metropolitan, McCune, Uncle Billy's and Eldorado. On Eldorado the gem bearing ground extends back from a mile to a quarter to a mile and a half from the river, the same on Dana, a mile on Metropolitan, and a quarter of a mile on Spokane. The formation above and around the gem bearing ground in shale and quartzite and it is easily displaced with pick and shovel. Gems coming farther away from the rim rock are largest and beat.
The Spratt Syndicate controls 1,582 acres of patented ground on Eldorado bar,.............[missing]
The Spratt Gem Mine
The following extracts are from an article in the Helena Independent, and will, we think, interest the many friends of the Mesers. Spratt in this city.
In December 1887, Geo. T. Kung, the expert of Tiffany & Co., of New York, in Harper's Monthly, entitled "Precious Stones in the United States", made a most flattering mention of the Montana sapphires, telling of their colors and qualities.This article attracted considerable attention to the Montana sapphires, and among those who became interested was F.D. Spratt, a wealthy gentleman from Michigan, who had recently bought a placer claim on Trout creek, not far from Elderado Bar. He washed out a lot of stones, tested them in various ways, and finally concluded they were gems. Then he began to buy up the rights of those who had settled.............................[missing]..............the fields systematically and get the Montana product on the European market. A prospectus was issued, and when the promoters said they controlled 4,000 acres of sapphire and ruby bearing ground in Montana, near Helena; that the stones were pronounced genuine by experts, the British capitalists began to doubt. So incredible did the story seem that Gov. Toole was appealed to by the English to verify the statements. The foreigners said they regarded it as very strange that immense fields of sapphire and rubies should exist so near Helena, and yet the general government sis not in some official was refer to them. Now, the newspapers of the east and the financial journals have taken it up, and at last the Montana sapphire and ruby fields will become thoroughly familiar to the world at large.But while the outside world is learning something about the fields and the stones Helena may as well gain a little more information than is now possessed by the majority. The fields, as said before, are on both sides of the Missouri. The Spratt company owns and controls something over four thousand acres, the Eldorado has ground being patented, and the rest entered under the mineral laws. Mr. Spratt who is now living in Helena, had his attention called the other day to the interest the operations of his company was creating in the east and in London, and his reply to a request to allow an Independent representative to look over his ground was one of hearty accord. A letter to Alex Macauley, his representative, was written, and the wish expressed that "the Englishmen would come over and look at the property."It is about a two hours' drive from Helena, and Alex Macauley, the manager, was found at work on Spokane bar with seven men. First we went to where the men were taking out the gravel which contained the gems. This particular bar was up a steep hill, 100 feet or more above the river. Bedrock is about six feet below the surface. All of the dirt to within six inches of bedrock is thrown to one side as worthless. The gravel of dirt is passed through two sieves, a very coarse and a very fine one. The stones in the first one are thrown away; the sand passes through the second one, while the smaller stones run down into a box at the bottom of the first screen. The smaller stones are then sacked and the sack carried down to the river. There they are caught in a box, and from it shoveled into another box with a wire bottom. This box sets in the water and is worked with a long pole, like a seesaw. The process looks very crude.Macauley has been with the company for three years, and has prospected all the bars. He says that not every foot, or even on every acre of the 4,000 the company controls are there rubies and sapphires; but the gems are found to a greater or less extent on every twenty-acre claim. The Spratt ground known to contain gems, extends for a distance of four and one-half miles along the river. On the west bank the company owns Ruby, a portion of Spokane, Spratt's, Porter, Dana, and unnamed bar; on the east bank Metropolitan, McCune, Uncle Billy's and Eldorado. On Eldorado the gem bearing ground extends back from a mile to a quarter to a mile and a half from the river, the same on Dana, a mile on Metropolitan, and a quarter of a mile on Spokane. The formation above and around the gem bearing ground in shale and quartzite and it is easily displaced with pick and shovel. Gems coming farther away from the rim rock are largest and beat.
The Spratt Syndicate controls 1,582 acres of patented ground on Eldorado bar,.............[missing]
The following extracts are from an article in the Helena Independent, and will, we think, interest the many friends of the Mesers. Spratt in this city.
In December 1887, Geo. T. Kung, the expert of Tiffany & Co., of New York, in Harper's Monthly, entitled "Precious Stones in the United States", made a most flattering mention of the Montana sapphires, telling of their colors and qualities.This article attracted considerable attention to the Montana sapphires, and among those who became interested was F.D. Spratt, a wealthy gentleman from Michigan, who had recently bought a placer claim on Trout creek, not far from Elderado Bar. He washed out a lot of stones, tested them in various ways, and finally concluded they were gems. Then he began to buy up the rights of those who had settled.............................[missing]..............the fields systematically and get the Montana product on the European market. A prospectus was issued, and when the promoters said they controlled 4,000 acres of sapphire and ruby bearing ground in Montana, near Helena; that the stones were pronounced genuine by experts, the British capitalists began to doubt. So incredible did the story seem that Gov. Toole was appealed to by the English to verify the statements. The foreigners said they regarded it as very strange that immense fields of sapphire and rubies should exist so near Helena, and yet the general government sis not in some official was refer to them. Now, the newspapers of the east and the financial journals have taken it up, and at last the Montana sapphire and ruby fields will become thoroughly familiar to the world at large.But while the outside world is learning something about the fields and the stones Helena may as well gain a little more information than is now possessed by the majority. The fields, as said before, are on both sides of the Missouri. The Spratt company owns and controls something over four thousand acres, the Eldorado has ground being patented, and the rest entered under the mineral laws. Mr. Spratt who is now living in Helena, had his attention called the other day to the interest the operations of his company was creating in the east and in London, and his reply to a request to allow an Independent representative to look over his ground was one of hearty accord. A letter to Alex Macauley, his representative, was written, and the wish expressed that "the Englishmen would come over and look at the property."It is about a two hours' drive from Helena, and Alex Macauley, the manager, was found at work on Spokane bar with seven men. First we went to where the men were taking out the gravel which contained the gems. This particular bar was up a steep hill, 100 feet or more above the river. Bedrock is about six feet below the surface. All of the dirt to within six inches of bedrock is thrown to one side as worthless. The gravel of dirt is passed through two sieves, a very coarse and a very fine one. The stones in the first one are thrown away; the sand passes through the second one, while the smaller stones run down into a box at the bottom of the first screen. The smaller stones are then sacked and the sack carried down to the river. There they are caught in a box, and from it shoveled into another box with a wire bottom. This box sets in the water and is worked with a long pole, like a seesaw. The process looks very crude.Macauley has been with the company for three years, and has prospected all the bars. He says that not every foot, or even on every acre of the 4,000 the company controls are there rubies and sapphires; but the gems are found to a greater or less extent on every twenty-acre claim. The Spratt ground known to contain gems, extends for a distance of four and one-half miles along the river. On the west bank the company owns Ruby, a portion of Spokane, Spratt's, Porter, Dana, and unnamed bar; on the east bank Metropolitan, McCune, Uncle Billy's and Eldorado. On Eldorado the gem bearing ground extends back from a mile to a quarter to a mile and a half from the river, the same on Dana, a mile on Metropolitan, and a quarter of a mile on Spokane. The formation above and around the gem bearing ground in shale and quartzite and it is easily displaced with pick and shovel. Gems coming farther away from the rim rock are largest and beat.
The Spratt Syndicate controls 1,582 acres of patented ground on Eldorado bar,.............[missing]
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