Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-01-07
MASSACHUSETTS, ABLAzE.
Mines OF Gold, Silver and Lead THE Richest
Vein OF Silver In tho Worid'-Miniag Ope:-
ati0ns Already Begun.

Vein OF Silver In thu W0rId"-Miniag Ope:-
ations Already Begun.
A most astonishing discovery has
been made near Newbury, Essex
county. Mass, according to cores.
pondence of the New York Tribune,
dated not April 1st but December
3lst. The dlscoverer was dissolute
character named Rogers, living in BY
field. He was wondering over High
field pasture one day about six years
T%go, when the weight of some little
stones which he picked up, together
with occas',Sial CLEANS when the sun
gglanced on small smooth surfaces, at
tracted h s1attention, and induced the
beiief thaI there was metal IN them.
de gathered several of the most
promising looking specimens and took
them to Albert Adams, qniet bach
elor farmer of Newbury. Adams be-
came convinced that there was 'mon
ey in it," but thinking he might as
well have it as Rogers, kept his own
counsel, and in April, 1874, bought IL
acres of the pasture, for $4,000. He
began digging, and carried specimens
to Boston geologists, and mlneralo
gists and assaylsts. The report of
the assayists on four specimens sub
mitted to him was-the first a piece
of coarse grained galena, assayed for
silver, yielded $5O,37 to the ton; thu
second, fine-gralned galena, 1923,
the third, gray copper, containing
also quartz and galena, assayed for
silver, copper, and gold, yielded ST.,
27O of silver 1929 ofgold, and about
81 per cent of copper to the ton, and
the fourth, piece weighing about,
three pounds, tried for lead was very,
nearly pure, and hammered quite
easily, the lead in it being So per
cent. DIR. Kelly and Mr.. Chapman
friends of his, were induced TO invest
furnish funds for operations on a
large scale, and acquired large
quantity of land by purchase and
bonding. Mr.. Adams agreed to sell
his 2 acres, at buyers option, for
Sl00, 900, the would-be purchasers to
pay him royalty of $40 ton for all
the ore they removed until they ac-
CURED title. Soon after this Z. r.
Shaw, of Newburyport, bought the
quarter interest which Mr.. Chapman
owned, and the new firm of Kelly 81
Shaw bought half of the adjoining lot
of 40 acres of Mr.. Z. NJ. Boynton of
West Newbury, the latter retaining
the other half. The work was then
begun with Mr. Chapman as superin-
tendent. A shaft 10 feet square was
sunk early in September As it in
creased i'll depth, the vein, (Which is
in mining parlance ''fssure" vein),
between two walls of granite broaden
ed from feet at the surface to Z
feet of the depth of present working,
which is only 25 feet The ore also
grows richer and purer as the shaft
goes deeper, the proportion OF silver
and gold increasing, while that OF
lead remains the same. About ten
tons are taken out every forty hours,
being hoisted up in baskets, keeping
a gang of four men constantly at work,
or only eight in all. The ore as
mined at present yields 800 of silver
$40 of lead, and 81 Of gold, total OF
Sl7l The cost OF smelling and sep
arating is $40 ton, so that the profit
to the firm is about $40 ton. Even
if the hopes of the miners for the tu-
ture are fallacious, and the vein should
prove to have no great depth, mat
ter of 1000 . day profit is worth
looking after. This is from, single
shaft only 25 feet deep, and without
operating the drifts of the lateral
veins In the spring it is expected
that the Adams lot will be purchased
according to agreement, and mining
will begin on an extensive scale. A
steam-pump will be put in service as
soon as the water interferes with the
work. A large gang of men will be
put on to begin the work of drifting
in. Smelling houses will be erected
on one of the Mewburyport wharves,
and stock company will be formed.
The Boston & Maine Railroad Com
pany will lay spur track to convey
the ore from the mine to the works.
The mine is believed to extend 90
deg east OF north, six or seven miles,
The Comstock lode in Nevada, hlther-
TO supposed to be the richest in the
world, Yields $45 while this averages
$50 to the ton. The Mariposi mines,
sold few years ago to stock com
pany for $40, 100000 yield Sl5. The
Belcher mines in Colorado, which
yield $40 ton, divided 100000 as
profits during the month of August
last, and that without the additional
profits ACQUIRING from the lead.
NEwBURYPoRr, Mass, Jan. 1.-The
silver mines here, which promise to
be very extensive and exceedingly
rich, are already III litigation. K. i.
Jacques decided the land where the
Chapman lode is located to one Adams
tor $3.50. The latter has bonded it
to Kelly & Co., for 100000, and
they are working a mine which geol-
ogists and old miners declare to be
as rich as any in Colorado. Jacques
now claims that the deed was OBJ
tanned from him by fraud, and the
Supreme Court has granted an in
junction to restrain all conveyance of
the property till hearing Is had.
s@~A fearful story comes to us from