Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1857-09-12
For the Herald.
Mining at Fairpfay.
Mr. ED1ToR:-Obserying in your Ia

q Mr. misunderstanding in your last
] issue short notice of the ''Fairplay Mines"
copied from the Galena Courier, thought
d perhaps some further particulars respect
d ing them might be Of interest to you or
your readers; if you deem any such worth
/ the space they will occupy in your col
umns, they are at your service. The lode
to which reference is had, and which The
proprietors are now working, is on the
land of Abram earns, a little more than a
mile north and east from the village Of
Fairplay. 1t was struck some time In the
winter or spring of 1856; during the sum
ner and autumn of that year some five
hundred thousand lbs. of ore were taken
out, valued at eighteen thousand dollars.
The main shaft as sunk between forty
and fifty feet, believe, and as deep as it
was found profitable to work the lode; in
roofing the drift, however, as the crevice
. is a very wide one, the timbers were found
Insufficient to support the enormous weight
Aof mineral and earth above; on the set
zting in of the wet weather, large quanti
" Of mineral together with the superim
8 posed earth, was precipitated to the bot
tom of the works, with no very certain
prospect of ever obtaining the mineral
Anus let down. The sinking of a new shaft
s thus became necessary and it was done
early this season; from this shaft, which.
was sunk about twenty feet before mineral
was reached and perhaps some ten feet in
that though not more than seven in the
/ man body about two hundred thousand
|lbs. of ore have been raised. The main
Ibody of mineral extend downward about
twenty feet deeper than the shaft has
7been sunk-in fact, the workmen seem to-
have hardly commenced on the main body
sof the lode; the reason is, different plan
bias been adopted in working it; instead Of
sinking the shaft to the bottom Of the ore
and then roofing drift beneath greater
portion Of the mineral, and making sue
cession of roof, as drifts were run above
each other; it has been thought better to
bun drift over the mineral entirely, ma
king the roof so strong and close as to sup
hort the weight of the earth above, great
|as it is, and to be almost imperyious to
MATER. The crevice, at the top is a little
pyer twenty feet wide with nearly vertical
walls; The running Of this first drift, is of
fourse correspondingly slow; soihe three
or four feet of earth at the top of the drift
contains but little mineral, it being mostly
j. small pieces and rather sparingly dit
fused. Immediately below this the maln
BODY of mineral comes in; ii is no.. a per
tectly solid mass; there is just sand enough
intermixed to give the greatest facility IN
baking ont the ore. The roofing of the
Thrift is masterpiece of workmanship, re-
Meeting the highest credit upon the genius,
Invention and skill Of Mr.. Sincox who has
Ahe experimenting of it. Large ratters, a
loot or more in diameter, and placed, with
1he lower ends resting against the rocks
4ormino the walls Of the crevice; the up
Der ends meet at an angle to give the
greatest power in resisting the immense
s,ressure from above; over these rafters,
boards, sawed into lengths of about four
feet and inserted and driven forward as the
earth is removed in advance, making a
complete and perfect roof of the strongest
Kind When the drifts are run the reqnl-
Bite lengths, the business of taking out
lhe underlying mineral will be compare
lively triiing. Some notion OF what can
Be done in that time, may be formed when
Al is known that set of hands-four OF
fye-have taken out in single shit OF
Fight hours, some fifteen to twenty thous-
bud lbs. of ore. One popularity OF the
Orc raised, and which renders it none the
ess valuable, is, that bulk for bulk, Il
Iweighs, l should judge, at least twenty
Ifper cent. heavier than the average of min
jeral raised in other places in this vicinity
1 THAT the proprietors of this lode, the
Hunsakers, Pallets, Mann d
Spensely have fortune for each, before
Ihem, and in comparatively small com
pass, too, no one think will doubt, who
pay their diggings visit. X.
PROSPECTIVE PRICES OF GRAIN.-Thert
IS an impression that the grain crop vii
feek an early market. 1t may be best fol
aH parties that it should do so. The crop
Is large, but the country previously was
bare Of supplies. The farmer, because Of
#the abundance can afford IN sell at fan