Principal Producing Cripple Creek Mines - 1898:

Name: Big Banta Mine; on Battle mountain.
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SALE OF THE UINTAH TUNNEL
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Woods Investment Co. Purchase Controlling Interest.
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DOYLE TO BE MANAGER
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Trail Group of Mines Also Purchased By the Same Company.
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LEGAL BATTLE NOW SHAPING
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One of the Biggest Fights in the History of Mining is Now To Take Place.
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Colonel James Doyle has sold a controlling interest in his celebrated Uintah tunnel to the chief stockholders of the Woods Investment company, on a basis of $150,000, of which more than half was handed Mr. Doyle in cash.

In connection with this transaction the Woods Investment people have also purchased the Trail group of mines, or a controlling interest thereof.

This group is located on Battle mountain, extending from the saddle between Bull hill and Battle mountain, south over some of the richest territory in the whole camp. This was taken on a basis of $65,000 for the group, a great part of which was paid in cash.

The great tunnel will be known as the Uintah Tunnel and Mining company, and Colonel Doyle will remain as manager, but the officers of the Woods Investment company will form a majority of the directors, and it will be practically part of the Woods Investment company's holdings.

Work on the tunnel will now be pushed vigoreusly in two directions. First, drifting will immediately begin on a vein cut by the tunnel at a point 1,200 feet from the mouth. The vein is claimed to apex on the Viola, a claim of the Battle Mountain Consolidated company, another company in which the Woods people are the controlling spirits.

The other work outlined for the big tunnel is the cutting of the famous Necessity vein at the point where it crosses the Woods Investment company's holdings. This is the vein from which Colonel Doyle made such phenomenal shipments before the court enjoined him from working the vein, and which is expected to prove quite as rich as where cut by the tunnel bore. The Viola vein has been opened on the surface, and is said to have been found very promising. The cross-cut will tap it at a depth of 600 feet, and will doubtless find it much richer than at the surface.

The Trail group includes the Ironsides, Big Banta, Trail and Lost Fraction claims, amounting to thirty acres in all. One of the claims, the Big Banta, is held under lease by S. M. Perry, and it is thought to be the intention of the Woods people to buy his lease and gain immediate control of the whole property. It is understood that the Trail group will be added to the Battle Mountain Consolidated company's holdings.

These changes in ownership have a very important bearing on the great legal battle which is impending on Battle mountain, and still further complicates an already tangled web. It means that the Woods Investment company, having back of it the Mount Rosa townsite of 140 acres, the wonderful Gold Coin mine, the Battle Mountain Consolidated company with 130 acres of rich mineral ground, and other rich holdings, will now take up the fight for the Uintah tunnel.

Opposed to it will be the famous Portland company, whose leaders are shrewd and experienced men in mining matters.

The Strong Gold Mining company, one of the richest in camp, is also interested, through the Necessity, recently purchased by L. D. Ross for Messrs. Lenox and others of the Strong company.
Likewise, the Smith-Moffat syndicate comes in for a share of the trouble, by reason of its ownership of the Granite mine. The legal struggle will be a veritable battle of giants, and the whole mining world will watch the outcome with interest.

THE ROSE NICOL GOLD MINING CO.

In the early part of the year 1901 The Reed Investment Company, of which Mr. Verner Z. Reed is president and O. H. Shoup secretary, adopted a policy of working the properties which they controlled by the leasing system.

They were among the first to inaugurate a longer time lease with a lower royalty, so that on all the properties which they control, there has been active development work carried on during the past year by lessees.

The Rose Nicol Gold Mining company own the Rose, part of the Big Banta, part of the Dexter and Last Effort, lying just north of the property of the Portland Gold Mining company.

The main shaft is down 450 feet and during the past year there have been from two to three sets of lessees working upon the property.

So far no ore has been shipped from the Rose Nicol properties, but the location of the company's ground is good.

On the Requa group of the United Gold Mines Co., the Big Banta, on which the Colorado State Investment Co. is operating, is a regular producer, as are also the Old Ironsides. These properties are all located on Bull bill and Battle mountain.

The Big Banta property on Battle Mtn. is shipping ore showing values of $100 per ton for screenings and $40 per ton for coarse rock. The shaft is but 30 ft. in depth.

The Humphreys-Thompson leasing syndicate is operating the lower levels of the Blue Bird mine on Bull hill, and is also exploiting the Trail group, adjoining the Blue Bird, owned by the United Gold Mines Co., by long crosscut, carried out from the seventeenth level of the Blue Bird main shaft, at an approximate depth of 1,350 ft. from the surface.
Both mineralized dikes and well-defined veins have been encountered in the prosecution of the work, and prospects for exposure of permanent ore bodies are considered excellent.