

54 



modified limestone, with more or less galena. This would seem to indi- 

 cate that the ore follows the limestone horizontally in beds of various 

 dimensions instead of being in proper vertical seams. The crop pings 



which guide the prospector are not found in lines running at right angles 



with the strata, as in the case of regular fissure veins, but appear at 

 points along the ledge itself, and when found there appears, so far as 

 yet prospected, an irregular expansion of the mass in different direc- 

 tions. It is probable that the ore occupies various horizons throughout 

 the limestone beds, and as specimens from the Henderson Mountain 



mines are found in mica schist and gneissic slate, with pyrites of iron, 

 it must extend down into the underlying metamorphic rocks, where it is 

 associated with free gold. 



But one mine was reported sold ; the others are owned and held by 

 the prospectors, many of whom spend their winters in the Gallatin Val- 

 ley, earning money to enable them to remain at their claims in the sum- 

 mer, waiting for something to turn up. 



There is undoubtedly a vast amount of very tine silver ore in thin 

 region, and more is coming to light every day in the discovery of lien 

 prospects, but the proper value of any particular claim is, under tin- 

 present circumstances, a matter of the utmost uncertainty. There is a 

 movement on foot to start a smelter at the camp for working the ore 

 and this is the crucible in which the value of these claims should be 

 tested. There is no scarcity of good ore, and when the mines are d« 

 veloped to a^reasonable degeee in this way there will be no lack of capi- 

 tal to take hold of them. 







OVER TlfE UEAR-TOOTU RAN (IE. 



From Cook City the trail leads over a granite ridge forming the di- 

 vide between Soda Butte < 'reek and the upper tributaries of Clark's Fork. 

 The pass is low and thickly covered with the usual growth of sprues 



pine and poplar already enumerated, and the ground is strewn with 

 alien timber. 



Ascending the heights opposite Index Peak, a grand view of the val- 

 ley of Clark's Fork and the surrounding mountains is presented, includ- 

 ing some of the most remarkable scenery to be found on the continent. 

 The Clark's Fork, with its hundreds of tributaries arising in as many 



small lakes formed by melting snows from the ranges on either side, 

 rushes down steep grades, through narrow wooded valleys, and deep 

 canons to the plains over a bed of granite from which all tin- overlying 

 strata have been worn away in the process of erosion. To the south- 

 ward, as far as the upper portion of Wind River and w< i to the Yellow - 

 tone, there is a v; r area, LOO miles long by 60 miles wide, covered t'> 



a depth of from 1,000 to 3,000 feet with igneous rock, the . rentes! out- 

 pouring of this material to be found anywhere, perhaps, on the globe. It 

 is found resting upon layers of various age. from the upturned lignite, 

 beds downward to the metamorphic granit* -, showing that tin- whole 



