Lake Shore Mining Co.

The property of the Lake Shore Mining Co., Comprising the Utah group of four unpatented claims owned by O.W. Yates, A.W Lawson, and Fred Gibson of las Vegas, Nv is located about 15 miles south of Gold Butte and 5 miles from the shore of lake Mead. In 1934 and up to July 1935 the Utah group and other claims were worked by the Gold Cross Mining Co., controlled by Salt lake City interests. The Gold Cross Mining Co. erected a small amalgamating mill on the shore of the Colorado River and treated about 400 tons of ore. This company also shipped 340 tons of ore, averaging $51 per ton to Utah smelters. The Lake Shore Mining Co. acquired the Utah group of claims under bond and lease from C. C. McDonald, of Overton, Nv in 1935 and started operations in September of the same year. Up to februrary 1937 total production by the present owners was 1,800 tons of shipping ore with a net value of $30,000. Five men are employed. Development work comprises an incline 200 feet deep and other workings, totaling about 400 feet.

The ore occurs in a quartz vein that dips about 8 degrees and follows the hanging-wall side of a diabase dike. The width of the vein varies from 6 inches to 6 feet, averaging about 2 feet. The vein and dike are in granite formation.

Due to the flat dip of the vein, most of the ore shipped by the present owners is mined by the open-cut method. The granite overburden is drilled with jackhammers and blasted with 40 percent gelatin dynamite and No. 6 caps attached to tape fuse. Compressed air is furnished by a portable compressor. Stripping is done with a 10-cubic-foot capacity Le Tourneau bulldozer operated by a 60-horsepower caterpillar tractor. The average cost of stripping is 12 cents per cubic yard. After the over-burden has been removed (a maximum depth of 20 feet),the ore is hand shoveled into a truck and hauled 5 miles to the shore of Lake Mead, where it is loaded onto a barge. The barge is towed by power boat 56 miles to Cashman Docks, and the ore is again shoveled into trucks and hauled to the railroad siding at Boulder City, 6 ½ miles distant. The barge and power boar are owned by the company. Smelter returns from a shipment of ore to the American Smelting & Refining Co. were as follows: