The weekly Butte record., 1862-11-01
THE SPANISH MINE.

This comprises one haudrcd feet Of the great
Comstock lead, and is situated IN the midst Of
the Ophir claims. We visited it Yesterday il
company with Mr Kinrman. Assistant Saper-
in,endea,, ard cur impression Is that sioat-
legged people with an affinity to darkness. may
spend an hour or 50 there very comfortably.
\ CONFUSED serse Of being buried alive, and
vague consciousness oF stony dampness, and
huge iim5ess, and tortuous cAyerus, and bot
tomless holes with endless ropes hanging down
into them, and narrow ladders climbing in
sdo7, twilight through tie colossal lattice work
and suddenly perishiug IN midnight, and work
men pokiug about in tie gloom with iwinkllns
candes-is all or nearly all that remains to Us
Of our experience IN tie Spanish mine. Yet,
for the Information Of those who may wish to
90 down ard see bow things are conducted in
the realms beyond the Jurisdiction Of daylight
We are willing 10 tell portion OF what VIC
know about it. catering the Spanish tunnel
in \ street You grope along by candle light
for two hundred and fly feet-but you need
not count your steps-keep on going until you
come to 4 horse. This horse works whim
used for hoisting ore from the Internal regions
below, and from long service in the dark. his
coat has turned TO a beautiful black color
You are now upon the confines of the ledge,
aud from this point several drifts branch ont to
different portions Of the mine. Without stop
ping to admire these gloomy grottoes You de-
scend ladder and halt upon landing where
you are fenced in with an open work labyrinth
of timbers some eighteen inches cquare, ex-
tending in front of you and behind you, and
far away above you aud below YOU, until they
they are lost in darkness These timbers are
framed in squares or stations five feet each
way, one above another and so neatly put
together that there is not room for the inser-
tion Of a kuite-blade where they intersect-
You are apt to wonder where the forest around
You came from, and how they managed 10 get
it into that hole and what sums Of money it
must have cost, and so forth and 50 on, and
you wind up with a confused notion that the
man who designed it all had a shining talent
for saw mills on large scale. He could build
the frame work beautifully at any rate
Whereupon, you desist from further specula-
tion and walt down very narrow winding
staircase, aud the further you squirm down it
the dizzicr you get and the mere those open
timber squares seem 10 whiz by you, until you
feel as If you are falling through a wcll-venti-
lated shot-tower with the windows all open.
Finally, after you have gone down ninety.
four feet, you touch bottom again and find
yourself in the midst Of the saw mill yet, with
the regular accomplishments of workmen, and
windlasses, and glimmering candles and cetera,
as usual Now you can stoop and dodge about
under the " stations and get your clothes
dirty, and drip hot candle-grease all over your
hands and ind out how they take those tim
bers and commence at the top of the mine, and
build them together like mighty window sashes
all the way down to the bottom of it; and if,
after coming down that tipsy staircase you
can by any possibility make out to understand
it, then you can render the information useful
above ground by building the third story Of
your house to suit you first, and continuing its
erection wrong end foremost until you wind up
with the cellar. Tou will also fad out that at
this depth the lead is fortysix feet wide, with
its sides walled and weather boarded as COM
pactly and substantially as those of jail
And here and there in little recesses, the walls
of the lead are laid bare, showing the blue
silver lines traced upon the white quartz, after
the fashion Of variegated marble-this in
places, you know, while Others where the ore.
is richer, the blue predomnates and the white
is scarcely perceptible. From these various
recesses swarm of workmen are constantly
wheel-bar loads OF quartz to the
of all shades of value, from that
worth SO to that worth $4,000 per ton-and
if you should chance to be in better luck than
we were, you may happen to stumble on a
small specimen worth a dollar and half
pound. Such things have occurred in the
Spanish mine before now. However, as we
were saying, you are now one hundred and
seventy feet under the ground and you can
move about and see how the ore is quarried
and moved frcm oueplace to another, and how
systematically the great mine is arranged and
worked altogether. and how unsystematically
the Mexcans used to carry on business down
there-aud you may get into bucket, if you
please, and extend your visit 10 the confines Of
speak-if YOU feel anxious to do
90; but as this would afford yo1 nothing more
than glance at the bottom Of a drain shaft,
you could better employ your time aud talents
in climbing that cork-serew aud seeking day
light again. And before leaving the mouth Of
the tunnel, you would do well to visit the
7fice Of Mr.. Beckwith, the superintendent,
where you can see a small cabinet Of specimens
rom the mine which has been pronounced by