The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-04-08
A REPORT on THE ,TCALF
MINES.
CHEYENNE, April :, 1873.

GENTLEMEN 1t has been about
year since the Metcalf Mining Com
pany was organized, and on assuming
charge, rs Superintendent, Of the work
of developing some Of the ludes I've
longing 10 the Company, l vas in
structed by the Directors to employ
twenty men, and collect two or three
car loads Of copper ore and ship it rs
soon as practicable.
/ only employed seven men 20 begin
with, as l was doubtful of being able
to collect one car load Of ore hat
would pay to ship, and, after three
months labor prospecting for ore, it
was found to lie Improbable TO pro-
cure a sufficient quantity Of ore Of a
quality 10 Justify shipment.
] vas then instructed to procure n
car load Of quartz from the Rising sun
lode, which was supposed to contain
gold in sufficient quantity to warrant
its shipment, hut finding the lode
capped over" and the rock only
prospecting about SO per ton, the
project was abandoned.
My mex instructions were to sink a
shaft on the Galrna lode, and the shaft
attained IL depth of As feet, when |
received instructions to step sinking
this shaft.
In the meantime, I vas prospecting
upon two other lodes, the Agnes and
Excelsior, with fair developments.
On the Agnes lode, a shaft has been
sunk to a depth Of AZ feet, and u drift
run 10 feet upon that level, the lode
closing up to two inches wide in the
bottom oFthe shaft.
Upon the Excelsior lode, n shaft was
sunk SO feet, at which depth the lode
capped over" and work upon it was
temporarily suspended.
On an extension of the Agnes lode,
a shaft was sunk 40 feet, the ore con-
tanning copper and silver; The vein is
about - inches wide in the bottom
and looks well.
A vein Of that thickness, at that
depth, is an indication of an unusual
strong crCvassc. but it will doubtless
''cap over" before u much greater
depth is attained, rs, indeed, few lodes
fail to do, and Il much less number of
them yield ores Of a paying quality
above the cap, and some even above
the water level of their locality. Con-
~sequently, the closing of the wall rock,
or "capping over" is n common Oc-
currcnce, and by no means to be con
strued as IL detriment, as regards either
the quantity or quality'of the ores in
the openings beneath the cap, but, on
the contrary, when these caps are
penetrated, generally, the ore is found
to he of a more valuable quality. And
further, the ores will, with few eX-
ceptions, be found to have undergone
n material change in the openings
below the cap" in the absence. in
many cases, of the hnser metals,
which render the ores taken from
above the opcning so difficult to han
die successfully.
Many of the richest lodes close up
TWO, and sometimes three times, each
opening successfully yielding richer
ores than the one above it and n very
encouraging fact has been clearly
established, that lodes prospecting
moderately on the surface average
richer ores below in the opening.
In crevasse mining, the obstacles
and difficulties are as varied as the
lOdes are numerous, consequently, no
well defined system could, with safety.
be recommended in future operations,
beyond hat of selecting two or three
lodes and concentrating the entire
force and means of the company in
proving them energetically, will, in
my opinion, return a handsome re-
ward in the future. because the ores
now obtained from the company's
lodes, and indeed all over the district,
are by no means below the general
poEding depths, on other lodes in
other localities, but, on the other
hand, they present rather q fattering
result.
There has been discovered, recently,
a lode, and partially developed, called
the Cheyenne lode, upon which a
prospect shaft has been sunk about IL
feet deep from the surface. This lode
produces, to all appearance, a cry
fine quality of gold bearing quartz.
and, although it has not been sub
jected to any practical test, owing to
the fact that no implements or ma
terial were at hand suitable for this
kind of prospecting, but when a test is
applied, it is confidently expected this
quartz will yield a fair, if not a fiatter-
in0 reznlt And would racommapd