Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-12-06
THE MINES AND MINERS OF
GRANT COUNTY.
As Seen ia the I'd Volume Of tho Geology of
Wisconsin.


Wisconsin.
The part of Prof. Z. G. Chamber
lain's Geological Survey which will
be most interesting to the people of
Grant County will be that having ref.
erence to his reports of the mines in
Grant County. We intend to repub.
lish in the HERALD all that the work
contains upon these mines There is
too much of it for one paper but we
shall find room for it all, in successive
issues. Some allowance must be
made for changes that have taken
place since the geologist visited the
mines. Probably-in general they rep
resent the condition of the mines at
about the close of the year 1876. All
the miners want to see what the State
Geologist has to say of them and the
notes as far as they go are good his
torical record. These two facts are
good reasons for publishing all that is
said of Grant, County mines, and a
third reason is that these notes will
aid us and our readers the better to
understand future reports of our own
or others visits to these mines, which
will follow soon if anything of inter-
est is to be found. We begin with
BEETOWN.
This is the most westerly district
in which any productive mines have
been worked. In former years they
were very productive, but have grad
ually become less so. There are sew.
eral subdistricts, of which the princi.
pal ones are Beetown, Nip-and- Tuck,
Muscalunge, and Hacketts The dig
gings in the immediate vicinity of
Beetown are situated north and east
of the village, chiefly on sections 90
and 80 of L. 4, r. 4, w. There are
here on the ridge about dozen prin-
cipal old ranges, all nearly parallel,
and bearing few degrees north of
west. They vary from half a mile to
mile and half in length, some of
them extending easterly to the Grant
diggings. There are 70 large organ
lied companies at work on them, the
principal product being by individual
parties in small lots. Lead ore is us
ually found in this district IN two
principal openings, known as the r.
foot opening and the 65-foot opening.
The first is named from the height Of
the opening which usually averages
about IL feet. The second derives it's
name from IS feet of unproductive
rock which separate it from the first.
The following parties are now or
have recently been mining near Bee
town:
BROWN BROS. BIRCH.
These diggings are situated in the
Hull Hollow, about three-fourths of a
mile south of the village. They were
discovered in 1860 by Walters g.
Roberts, and were first worked in the
II foot opening. There are three
parallel east and west ranges situated
about nine feet apart. They produce
lead ore which is found in fiat open
ings Al feet high and Al feet wide,
lying about seven feet above the 65-
foot opening. The ore has been
traced by level 800 feet west from
the discovery shaft. The depth at
the working shaft is 60 feet; the
greatest depth on the ridge will be
100 feet Work was commenced in
the winter of 1856, since which
time the product has been $4,000
pounds. The prospects are consider
ed good.
WILCOX DIGGINGS.
Situated on the N. half of s. K. ar.
of Sec. 80, I. 4, r. 4, w. This
ground has been recently bought by
Messrs. Henry, Ross, Gundry & Toay,
of Mineral Point, by whom it is now
operated under the name of the Bee
town Mine.
Work was begun here by Mr.. Will
cox in 1868 A level has been run in
the ground 500 feet, underlying fiat
sheet OF blende and Smithsonite,
which is in places SO inches thick.
The sheet has been found to extend
80 feet north and south, and $50 feet
east and west; Its extreme limits are
not yet known. On its south side
some copper ore has been found.
The sheet lies in the upper pipe clay
opening.
Bbout % feet above the sheet
of zinc ores is one of Smithsonite and
lead ore, $50 feet wide, whose length
is unknown. 1t lies in flat and pitch.
ing sheets in the greenrock opening.
The ground has produced lead ore
to the value of So 500; also As tons
of Smitheonite and 175 tons of blende.
-Four men are now employed here, land
it is intended to work the mine to its
fullest extent.
Some mining has been done during
this year (1876) on Sec. 81, on the
east side of Grant river. The parties
are as follows
JOSIAH GROSSLY &Co.
Produced about 5000 POUNDS of
lead ore in the operations of one
month.
GROSSLY & BASS.
Situated south of the preceding.
Work was carried on for six months
and stopped by the owner of the land;
10000 pounds of lead ore were pro-
duced.
WILCOX &'soNS.
These parties have been working
about a month on new east and
west range. The prospect is consid-
cred good.
PIGEON DIGGINGS.
They are situated on the north half
of Sec. 90, T. 4, r. W., and consist
of several east and west ranges, in
which the ore is found in fat open
ings in the "Brown-rock" division of
the Galena limestone. The ground is
owned by Messrs Barber, Dewey and
Cox. There are about SO men en-
ployed here, mining chiefly in the old
workings at a depth of 80 to so feet