Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-03-12
The Mines about Fairplav.

oupPiicu Win everything
that makes existence comfortable
Besides the great and far-famed viii,
hams lead, several prospects of m inor
Importance have been opened and
proved TO be proftably productive.
Every man that can work is actively
delving away 10 the earth, and
there is consequently more hustle
and stir in the village of Fairplay
than it has known since the flush
and palmy days of fifteen and TWEEN
ty years ago.
The Fairplay Level Company have
not given up their work, but are Wig
orously pushing ahead the undertak.
ing, determined to know what is
what before abandoning tho enter
prise.
Two good prospects have been
opened on the land of Mr.. Thomas
Murray, half mile or so southeast
of the Williams diggings. This, if
reports prove correct, may develope
into something rich and unusual
We hope as much, at any rate.
Paying diggings are being worked
on Mr.. Patrick Murray's land as well
as on the adjoining grounds of Mr.
Bloomer, distance of two miles
southwest Of that wel.known land
mark, the Sinsinawa Mound. These
prospects are in a prime mineral re-
gion, and it would surprise us but
little to learn that each has expand
ed into lead producing mineral at
the assuring rate of 100000 pounds
per week.
The country around Fairplay is
filed with subterranean wonders
On the land of Mr. Goo. Liddel, less
than q mile south of the village, q
party of youthful miners have dis
covered cave of measureless dimen.
slons, containing the valuable ore in
in such quantities that the "show" is
pronounced one of the most promis.
ing lately known in that particular
locality. 1t will bear thorough
working, and the parties interested
therein will surely spare no efforts
in finding out what the indications
really amount to.
The cave on, or rather in, the
grounds oTMr. Thomas Sparks con-
tinues to be in some respects the
wonder of all that region. 1t is q
cavern whereof man knows not the
limits, and wherein navigabe seas
and lakes stretch silently away into
the gloom of its unexplored recesses.
The concern is questionless one Of
great antiquity, and must owe it's sx-
istence 10 some primeval disturbance
in the earth's cooling crust. Good
mineral is found in the cave and
over the very spot whore the ore is
thought TO be the most abundant a
shaft has been sunk whereon a pows
erful engine is soon to be placed and
put in operation. A New York min.
ing company has charge of the works
and their foreman, Mr.. Black, is now
At the East purchasing machinery
and making oil needful preparations
to do some Of the most determined
mining that the peopla Gin them dig.
gins " have heard of tor many long
day., 1t there is any mineral in that
ground--and, we have as yet heard
no sane supposition to tho contrary
these New York capitalists will
bring it forth; for they are your
only emperors in undertakings of 80
difficult, expensive, and extensive
character.
1t seems that time cannot dirnin-
ish nor labor exhaust the mineral
yield of that monarch of the mines,
the Williams Diggings, concerning
which paragraphs have from to time
appeared In the Herald. On the
contrary, the prospect is constantly
improving and the quantities of ore
taken out in u given time steadily in
creasing, so that the discovery is
without question the richest and
most promising that has been made
in this county since tho earliest era
in its lead; mining history. The tors
tunate finders of this plum,have min
eral to the right OF them aud mineral
to the lett of them in the most con.
fusing and unheard of quantities.
They have sunk now shaft about
forty or fifty feet east of tho old one.
coming directly down upon profu-
sion OF ore which pans out from u.s.
600 to 100000 pounds per week.
The workmen have run drift 10 an
easterly direction distance of twen-
ty five or thirty feet, making their
way through vein of closely pack
ed mineral fourteen or fifteen feet
high and all of twelve feet wide.-
Work in these diggngs goes unceas-
ingly day and night. Thirty mon
are now employed, and the time of
working is divided into three shifts
of eight hours each. Since the open
ing OF these mines tho price of min
eraI has advanced some seven or
eight dollars S45 per thousand in
stead ofS37 are new paid by the Ga
lena and Sinsinawa smelters.
The current belief is that the Will
liams Diggings are in jamestown
Now be it known, however, that
their exact location is on the south
half of the northwest quarter of Sec
ton 10. town l, range (which the
same it is called Hazel Green.
All the above named mineral pros
poets, together with the promised rail-
way, will make the southern portions
OF Grant county the scene of consid-
cradle enterprising activity for some
Tune to come, Many men will find
steady and profitable employment,