Former Colorado Newspaper Man Has Promising Group of Claims at Buckskin, Nev.

(By Gen. Frank Hall.)

Jack Bell, formerly shift boss on the Stratton Independence at Cripple Creek and later a reporter for The Post, after all sorts of experiences in Colorado went to Goldfield, Nev., in search of fortune. He was a good miner, an excellent news gatherer and an all around good fellow withal, consequently his friends here will be interested in learning how he has fared in the Nevada desert. Finding nothing of importance to himself at Goldfield he began prospecting in the region round about and in a short time made some discoveries at Buckskin which brought a stampede to that locality. The last mail brought a sack of samples from the locations he has mae and while none carry phenomenal values the outlook for big mines is extremely favorable.

Finds Copper.

Bell writes that during the snow-rain period in that section the Kennedy strike was made, the ore pannings being very rich. The locality was prospected during the old Comstock days. There is a five mile alkali flat between the Buckskin strike and the famous Ludwig mine, a property that has been a shipper for some years, and at present is netting the owners, who are connected with the Standard Oil company, about $100,000 per month. On the eastern edge of the flat the copper measures come through and most of the properties are copper with by-products.

Townsite Named For Him.

After the excitement began to settle at Buckskin, Jack began prospecting the territory north of the Ludwig. Last May he made a gold discovery that eclipsed anything that had been found in the district. Another stampede ensued. A townsite was surveyed by a California concerned and named Bell View, in honor of the discoverer of the strike. The camp has developed quite rapidly. On the Lizard group owned by the Jack Bell company in which Charles S. Sprague and Percival Shen, two Colorado men, are part owners, are a series of big dykes and mineralized zones, all of which carry good values and picked samples give picture assays. The preponderance of value, however, is in the copper carbonates and cuprite or red copper ore. There are twenty-one veins that run into the main vein. On the Gopher and Lizard group a shaft has been sunk to a depth of thirty feet, disclosing nine feet of ore. The top three feet carries copper carbonates running 20 per cent, which, with gold and silver, gives a value of $50 per ton. Picked samples give sensational assays. Under the carbonates is three feet of mixed gangue, where big nodules of almost native copper and jewelry carbonates are found. No. 2 shaft is in copper sulfides. All the veins are well defined and values increase with depty. Mr. Bell states that this property is considered by experts and practical field men as the biggest prospect in copper yet opened in the northern part of the state.

Jack's Red Top Lease.

Colorado Springs men have invested $31,000 in a group of twenty-seven claims adjoining the Bell property. They are sinking three three-compartment shafts, all of them are in shipping copper ore of high grade, and a lot to be sent out soon will average 40 per cent red metal, with half an ounce in gold and seven ounces silver. Several other companies are operating there with good results. At Buckskin the Jack Bell company has a lease on the original strike - the Red Top - in which there is thrity-six feet of ore that runs better than $42 per ton. Taking the situation as a whole and judging by the samples forwarded to this office as a guide, it would seem that our friend Jack has fallen into pleasant prospects that when developed will bring him a fortune.