The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-06-21
THE HOPE OF THE COMsTOCK.
The Heated Belt Being Passed
Through and Cooler Levels
Encountered

In conversation with a Comstock friend
who has been OH the lode almost from Its
discovery, and has been intimately connected
and acquainted with mining operations there,
both as an operator and superintendent, a
Leader representative got a fund of informa-
ton, both practical and theoretical, that was
interesting if not instructive. Our mining
friend said that the water on the Com
stock occurred in belts. Almost from the
surface to the 900 foot level, there was a
heavy influx of water. Below the 1000 foot
level for about another thousand feet the
lode is as dry as a powder house. In this
portion of the ledge, between the 1000 and
1000 levels have been found the immense
ly rich bonanza in the Crown Point, Belcher,
Consolidated Virginia, and California. In
the neighborhood of the 1000 leyel another
water belt is encountered and both the water
and the temperature of the levels need
increasing in heat. This increase in heat
gr, W as greater depth was attained, until it
was almost impossible to do any effective
work in the lower levels. 1t took four men
to do one mans work, and 1t is becoming
evident that if with depth the heat increases
it is only a question of a very short time be-
fore the Coinstock will have to be abandon
ed. There is a ray of hope, however, in
this particular at least. breaking on the Com
stock horizon. In the Ophir they have attain
ed a depth of $500 feet, and Oh this level the
temperature is cooling decidedly, the flow of
water is diminishing, and what, there is, in
stead of being of scalding heat, is about
lukewarnI. In other words, while the
water is encountered from the two thousand
to the $500 level of the Ophir stands at from
$50 to 14O deg. Fahrenheit on the $500 level
it stands at but 80 degrees. So far this change
in the temperature of the levels and the flow
and heat of the water has only been encoun-
tered at the one point in the Ophir mine.
Should it be found to obtain in the other
mines when the same depth is attained, il
would prove conclusively that the second wa
ter belt has been passed through. Not only
that, it would show that the fOrmation,w ere.
by the chemical action of the rock the metal
was held in solution, so to speak, and the
temperature and water was brought to an in
tense heat, had been passed through, and that
there is a reasonable show of ~encOuntering
paying deposits of ore in the next 1900 feet
in depth. The reason for this belief is, &C
cording to our mining friend, because, in the
heated levels, from the 1000 down,
the metal appears to he distributed for the
whole width of the vein from 800 to 500
feet. The porphyry, the clay castings, in fact,
the gangue of the vein give about the same
assays as any portion of the vein itself. In
the dry levels above, where the bonanzas
were found, the gangue of the vein was en-
tirely barren, and the metal was concentrated
in the ledge matter to a width of from % to
100 feet, instead of permeating the whole
width of the vein. Therefore, he does not
believe that any paying deposits will ever be
found in the cheated levels of the Com
stock. If these leve's can be passed through
and a cooler belt, and one free from water.
encountered, similar in character to the one
in which the late rich bCnanzas we've found,
ihG,a jS n Shnu, fnr t,n all 1n,I to1;,,, - ,,n,
lease Of life and prosperity. This. according
to our mining friend. is the one hope Of the
Comstock. The status of affairs as to tenn
perature and water on the 2,S00-toot level OF
the Ophir shows it to be a reasonable one.-
EUTchd Leuder.