Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1873-01-25
wATERLoooEp.

last Week - O0vOI " ~ obSoiupb "
prove that the GOLD HIL News has
made misstatements as to the amount
Of water in the bottom of the Yellow
shaft or incline, the most
troubled spiritin the matter being one
who writes over the signature Of "In-
q%uirer." He Is evidently . novice,
whose knowledge Of tho Comstock
lode Is confined entirely to what he
has derived through Dir. Sutro's book.
diagrams and arguments on the sub
ject. His ideas are decidedly water
logged at the present time. from lack
Of practical experience and observa-
ton, but as he.is of an ingeniously In
quiring turn Of mind, We will, good
naturedly, give him a little informa-
ton on the subject. He says:
would like to ask the editor OF that
journal, II, when he published In his
columns, (pendlng tho examination OF
Requa and Battermanl that "the yell
low Jacket shaft had reached to q
depth on a level with the Sutro Tun-
mel, aud that the bottom was perfectly
dry" was correct Was the following
also correct, when on the llth inst. II
published under the heading Of Yellow
Jacket lin the mining summary "too
much wateratl600Lfoot level to allow
proceeding at present."
Absolutely correct In both instances,
my dear fellow, as We we're in our
summary Of a week previous to the
last mentioned, when our report Of the
same mine read : "Work at the 1900.
foot level Is stopped by influx Of water
from the level above" The explana.
ton was given at the same time) thai
the drlft east at the l400-foot level had
cut the ledge, encountsring considera-
BILE water, which flowed down the
shaft or incline, flooding the level be-
low. That's what was the matter with
the l50O-foot level, but proper pump.
ing arrangements being brought to
bear In the case, the water was soon
drained, and, as We stated In our last
weeks report, work goes on IS usual
atthat point, drifting east for the ledge,
the drin being about 100 feet in length,
from the incline, with perhaps as much
farther to 20 In order to reach the
ledge, when some more water may or
may not be tapped. Work In that
deep drifs may also be suspended al
any time, as It has been, BY water from
the Crown Point running through the
l3O0-foot level Of the Kentuck down
into 1t, caused by breakage, or stop
page of the Crown Point pump.
Unless water runs down into 1t from
the sources mentioned, the bottom oil
the Yellow Jacket shaft or Incline
would be- precisely as we stated,
perfectly dry" When it shall have
attained some hundreds Of feet deeper
we expect to truthfully make tho same
report, perfectly dry" The Bullion
mine, which "~Inquirer" will find by
reference to Sutro's map lies a few
hundred feet north, on the same lode
the Comstock) Is, and always has been
perfectly dry at its lowest, or 400
foot level. Long drifts, u east, west,
or In any other direction, failed to find
water. The Bullion, however, is an
exceptionally dry mine. The I'M
perial-Empire shaft mot on Sutro's
map, but In the Comstock ledge never
theless) at the 900 and 1OO0-foot levels
encountered heavy bodies Of water
which cost a vast amount OF money,
time and labor, before being sufl-
| GENTLY drained to allow Of deeper
sinking, is now at nearly twice that
depth comparatively dry and very
little troubled with water, the water
from the wet levels being caught In
tanks or reservoirs and pumped there
from. The same may be said OF the
Ophir, which was flooded worst OF all
at about the 600 and 7O0-foot levels,
which appears to be the general maxi
mum Of the water belt, so to speak.
all along the Virginia section Of the
Comstock, descending with the config-
uration of the country at the south
end. After passing the general point
we have indicated, less and less water
has been found.
Neither do wish Enquirer to Inn.
blbe the idea In speaking Of the "water
belt" that the water lies In regular
strata, for 1t does not. 1t Is held In
bodies or deposits by cross-seans OF
clay and other isolatlng geological re-
straints, and these are only drained by
actual cutting into them. Thus the
deepest shafts do not necessarily drain
any great extent Of the lode be-
yond their own immediate vicinity.
Thus, too. the Sutro Tunnel at Its pro-
posed level will find but little water
to be troubled with, and sink
Ing deeper from It could bs prosecuted
with excellent facility. The deep
shafts which have already penetrated
below the Sutro level sustain this
theory.
All Of which above written we sub
nit to the careful and candid consid-
Grafton Of "Inquirer" In order to show
him how that the bottom Of the yell
low Jacket shaft IL, in Its normal con-
dition perfectly dry" yet that water
can sometimes flood It nevertheless.
FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLAR CHUNK.
The Nevada Transcript Of the sd