I went through the Piper and Laney report that is linked to the right and also in the Link Library. Picked out some quotes I found interesting. The quotes are pasted from a pdf file created from a poor scan, so there may be some typos where the program misinterpreted letters. I think I corrected most. Sorry for the long length, but I didn't have the energy left to break it up into smaller bites.

Excerpts from GEOLOGY AND METALLIFEROUS RESOURCES OF THE REGION ABOUT SILVER CITY, IDAHO, by Piper and Laney 1926, published by the Idaho Bureau of Mines.

Francis A. Thomson, head of the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, writing in the preface:

While on a professional visit to the area in 1905, and still more during a second visit in 1919, I was impressed with the improbability of certain of the ore bodies having been exhausted, and, on the second occasion, the conclusion was reached that Silver City should be included in the program of field work of the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology at the earliest possible date.

From Piper and Laney

p 1 The report presents ample justification for the conclusion that further search for ore bodies promises success

p 7 referring to the wagon roads of the region "None of these routes of travel is at present feasible for the heavy duty truck service which would be a prerequisite for an extensive revival of mining activity in the region."

p 53 Finally, in 1876, after the mines had been actively worked for 11 years, the financial support for the enterprises was swept away by the failure of the Bank of California. The crash was complete, property after property was closed and abandoned to sheriff's sale, many of them never to be reopened.

p 53 One significant occurrence of the time, before the history of this first period is brought to a close, may be mentioned. The plan of a deep tunnel under War Eagle Mountain, to open its entire vein system, was proposed in 1868 by a group of mine operators, and by Mr. George C. Robbins, then superintendent of the Owyhee Mining Co. Organization plans were never completed and the plan slumbered for three decades before it again crystallized.

p 55 Other activities were by no means wanting. On War Eagle Mountain, the Poorman mine was reopened in 1895 by the Poorman Gold Mines, Ltd., the second London company to enter the field, and it operated with reported financial success until 1903. The Cumberland mine, close to the old Golden Chariot, operated for a brief period during 1898, but the properties which had been famous in the seventies remained idle.

p 57 Gerry (17: p. 395) has recently estimated that Owyhee County during the period of 1863-192.3, produced gold valued at $21,674,700 (1,048,515 fine ounces) and 24,529,112 ounces of silver. These estimates differ slightly from the totals reached by the writer, but it is impossible to reconcile this difference without knowledge of the source of Gerry's data. It will be noted that the ratio of silver to gold varies greatly from year to year, reaching a minimum of 1.3 in 1887 and a maximum of 143.9 in 1920. This extreme variation is due to the great annual range of production from a large number of orebodies, whose maximum and minimum gold silver ratios are even more unequal than the extremes of the annual ratios. In the absence of complete tonnage and production records for each individual mine, it is useless to attempt to prove or disprove that the gold to silver ratio varies systematically from place to place over the region, or from one level to another, in any given mine.

p 64 The veins might be logically classified, as was done by Lindgren (24b: p. 158) into silver veins and gold-silver veins, but a genetic classification seemed to be more suitable to the present report. Besides, since all the veins produce both the precious metals, they are in reality all either gold-silver or silver-gold veins, and one place in an ore may produce dominantly silver-gold ore whereas in another place from the same shoot the order of the metals on the basis of value may be reversed. However, on the basis of weight or mass of the respective metals they are all silver-gold veins, the average ratio being approximately one ounce of gold to thirty ounces of silver for the total recorded production from the region.

p 66 That this type of vein is persistent is evident when one realizes that the Oro Fino-Golden Chariot vein has been actually mined for more than 3000 feet in length, and that where intersected by the Sinker tunnel, some 2500 feet below the surface, it is as strong as in the upper levels.

p 67 All of the larger veins, such as the Black Jack-Trade Dollar on Florida mountain, as well as the Oro Fino-Golden Chariot, the Poorman, and others on War Eagle mountain, are remarkable for their continuity along both strike and dip so far as developments have gone. The Black Jack-Trade Dollar vein has been developed for 6000 feet along its strike and for 1800 feet in depth without notable decrease in strength. The Oro Fino-Golden Chariot vein has a development along its strike of nearly 4000 feet, and is strong and well developed where the Sinker tunnel cut it, 2500 feet below the outcrop....On War Eagle Mountain are many .minor cross veins of much lesser magnitude, but even these, though in many instances very small, are surprisingly persistent.

p 71 It must also be remembered that the operators carried on very little exploratory work ahead of the demand for increased ore supply. The maps of the mines and such of the old workings as were accessible very clearly indicated that many of the operators took out such ore as could be obtained with a minimum of development work, and when it was gone, they announced that the ore was exhausted and closed the mine. In fact, it is believed that never before nor since has so little real exploratory work been done in so important a mining district. This being the case, it appears to the writers that the facts do not at all justify the current, beliefs as to the exhaustion of the mines.

p 89 The veins are true fissure veins, developed in fissures produced by profound diastrophic forces, and are certain to extend to depths far below the possibility of mining...We conclude, therefore, that the veins will probably extend to unknown but great depths.

p 92 By way of summary, it may be stated that the field and laboratory studies of the Silver City ores have shown: (1) that the exceedingly rich bonanza ores in the upper portions of the ore shoots were formed by the surficial enrichment of already rich primary bodies. and, (2) that the primary ores are from good to high-grade ores and that they may be expected to continue as good ores to depths much greater than any thus far reached in the district.

p 132 Two veins dominate the system, the Oro Fino-Golden Chariot and the Poorman. Their relation to the second period of diastrophism has already been discussed in the section dealing with the regional structure. The first of these veins strikes N. 4° W. on the average, and dips eastward 80-90 degrees, although westward dips are not unknown. The system may be traced, with some interruptions, from the Great Western Mines Company's property (Pl. II, No. 55) southward for more than 1 1/2 miles to the Afterthoughtclaim (Pl. II, No. 68), and it retains its normal character in Sinker Tunnel (Pl. II, No. 56), more than 2,000 feet below the outcrop.

p 134 The Poorman mine was discovered in 1865 and rapidly gained prominence as a producer of silver. Browne states that it "is, perhaps, for its size the richest deposit of silver ores ever discovered"

p 136 He also reports that about 100 feet below the surface there was found a homogeneous solid mass of the light ruby silver, proustite, which weighed more than 500 pounds and displayed, in part, the planes and angles of a crystal. Browne concluded that there is probably no second example of a similar mass of crystalline proustite being taken from any mine.

p 136 This is equivalent to a gold:silver ratio of 1 to 37.5 by weight. The ratio of gold to silver was 1 to 5.6 in the bullion produced from the intermediate levels.

p 136 On the 450-foot level, the lowest in the mine, a body of ore, 12 inches wide and 60 feet long, yielded $35 per ton, the bullion produced containing 1 part gold and 1.1 parts silver (7). This ratio is somewhat lower than that which characterizes any other ore deposit of the region, so far as data are available, and, if authentic, fully refutes the former belief that the ore from the Poorman mine was predominantly a silver ore quite distinct from others of War Eagle Mountain.

p 138 The mint report of 1885 (10e) credits the mine [South Poorman] with a production of $6,976, the bullion carrying approximately 1 part gold to 4 parts silver by weight.

Note: There are a number of references to gold: silver ratios. They vary greatly, as can be seen from the examples above.

p 146 The property of the War Eagle Consolidated Mining Company comprises eight patented claims which cover the Oro Fino-Golden Chariot vein throughout that portion which was worked by the mines of the Oro Fino group. The company was organized to explore that production vein system at depth. In 1899 an adit, Sinker Tunnel (Pl. II, No. 56), was started from the south slope of War Eagle Mountain at an elevation of approximately 5,450 feet, about 2,030 feet below the collar of the Ida Elmore shaft (Pl. II, No. 58), and driven toward that shaft. In 1902 a vein, believed to be the one sought, was encountered at a distance of 6,177 feet from the portal, and a drift was turned southward, although it is not known how much exploratory work was done on that level. Conflicting reports exist as to conditions found, and authentic information is not at hand. At the point the adit penetrated the vein a raise was started. Apparently, adequate survey had not been made to determine the position of the adit with respect to the base of the old shaft, although at the time the work was started those shafts could have been opened with relative ease. Subsequent operations were a blind groping for the old workings above. Levels were turned from the raise at l00-foot intervals and short exploratory drifts extended. In 1905, when the raise had been pushed to a height of 622 feet, it was pronounced unduly hazardous by the State Mine Inspector' and further work was ordered suspended until the hazards were removed. At this time the top of the raise must have been about 400 feet below the bottom of the Ida Elmore shaft, and only 150 feet, or thereabouts, below the Golden Chariot, although their relative positions in the horizontal plane was not determined. Shortly afterward the enterprise was suspended without further work. In the present decade a lease on the project was acquired by the Sinker Tunnel Mining Co., of Nampa, Idaho, and exploration of the adit level was inaugurated. Drifts were driven on two veins, and a third was disclosed by an extension of the adit so that the total exploratory work on this level was about 2,600 feet. Workable ore was not developed, although specific data are unattainable. In 1923, this enterprise collapsed and has remained dormant since.

p 147 Sinker tunnel constitutes an ideal site for mining and milling operations, with ample dump ground, ample water supply for milling purposes within two miles or less of the portal, a minimum snow hazard, and a route of approach which could easily be made usable by trucks the year round. The physical property at the portal includes office building, boarding house, boiler house, and blacksmith shop, with auxiliary transformer house, powder magazine, and warehouse. All are in good repair. The power plant is equipped with an Ingersoll-Sergeant 14 by 17 1/2-inch duplex compressor, driven by a 75-horsepower induction motor, with steam plant for emergency operation. A Green NO.4 rotary blower serves the needs of ventilation. Pipe threading machine, timber saw, 12-inch lathe, and auxiliary equipment of various sorts is present. An electric transmission line extends to the sub-station of the Idaho Power Company at Silver City. The tunnel was penetrated for more than 2,000 feet by the writer, but further ingress was impossible without ventilation. With the exception of a cave near the portal, the adit was in excellent condition the entire distance and could easily be conditioned for further use.

p 148It has already been shown in the preceding discussion of ore deposits that the zone of primary ore bodies of the Silver City region may be expected to persist without great change in tenor to a depth considerably below any attained by past mining activity. If it is true that the ore developed on the lowest levels of the mines of the Oro Fino group is hypogene or primary, which seems to be likely, and if it has the reported tenor cited in the preceding discussion, there is considerable promise of future activity.

The promise is sufficiently great to justify closing the gap between the Sinker tunnel raise and the old workings above, so that with drainage and ventilation solved, these workings can be entered, the vein sampled and examined, and development extended downward as conditions may warrant. Obviously, however, a careful preliminary survey becomes an essential part of such a program in order that the raise may be extended with safety and certainty. The Golden Chariot shaft was sunk in the granite wall rock, striking the vein at the ninth level (29e p. 189), below which it has been sunk about 350 feet. It is probable that this shaft, although caved at the collar, is in good condition for the greater part of its depth, particularly below the water level. Opening and unwatering it sufficiently to permit accurate surveying should not, if the expected condition prevails, be an extremely difficult task and should not be shirked. As has been pointed out already, the base of the shaft and the top of the raise are not much more than 150 feet apart vertically and perhaps even less horizontally, if the available data are at all trustworthy, This program offers the most expeditious and economical solution of the problem. Should this development prove the existence of workable primary ore, the Sinker tunnel should be extended to crosscut the entire vein system to the Poorman, since the maximum of economy and efficiency may be gained by working the system as a unit.

p 162 The re-examination of the Silver City mining region, upon which this report is based, has established two fundamental facts: first, the veins of the Silver City region have contained large persistent ore bodies of medium and rather uniform tenor; second, there is no reason to expect that the ore bodies will fail to continue in depth.