Arizona silver belt., 1884-05-31

ing superintendent, has been giving
some interesting facts about some Of
the mines Of the Comstock lode. He
says d foot Of timber was put into the
bonanza for every dollar taken out.
They paid sl20,000.W0, and into the
hole left was packed 120.0o0000 feet,
worth ? cents a foot The timbers
were laid IA rather loosely and occu-
pied about two.thirds Of all the space,
the one-third being divided up into
thousands Of cracks and openings in
the corduroy. as it IS called. The top
earth keeps eaging in and compresses
al this work iato one solid mass, and
finally ths caFa reaches the outer crust
and the surfaee settles. By this pros
cess twelge-inch timbers are crushed
20 seven, or nearly half their size. In
these dark and distant eaverns the
wood decays and forms gasses, which
are frequently heard exploding. The
wood is set on fire. and year after year
it shoulders and smokes in a slow but
terrible way. There are many places
in the mines where the smoke works
its way cut and can be plainly smelled
in the air. The largest body Of terri
tory that has been worked out aud
closed up is in the old bonanza mines.
and extends from the 200 to the / $50
levels, and is 1900 feet long. It was
worked out from ten to 300 feet wide
and filed with timbers. There are
many places in it now on fire, and it
win shoulder for centuries unless it
gets a draft Of air somewhere. when it
would break out into a terrible blaze
The gas generated in this way is Of
the deadliest character It's confined
by alr-tight bulkheads, sixty feet thick,
of solid timbers. Where the air has a
downeast this is more necessary than
the upeast shafts. which carrF the gas
out into ihe air instead Of down where
the men are at work.
There are three separate currents in
the system Of ventilation in the mines
Of The Bonanza Company. 0neis down
the G. and G. shaft to tbe bottom of
the $500 level and up the Bonner
shaft It carries 1600 feet Of air
The second IS down the
0phir shaft and up the Con Virginia
It goes to tie 310Q leyel. carrying
20o00 feet q minute. The third IS
down the Union and up the cid Sierra
Nevada shaft tt reaches $3.50 feet
and carries 1900 feet a minute. The
air gees down fresh and dry At the
bottom i gets heated up to i0) dsgs
or over. which increases its capacity
for absorbing moisture It comes ont
steaming from the mouth Of the shaft,
and thus carries cut from the mines
1000 gallons Of water a day. equal to
q stream Of one miners inch Of water
Mr Patton thiaks the heatis caused J
BY chemical action. There IS some
lime ia the rock. ard it woaid create
heat when dissolved in water. Many
think tha4 ieldspar makes heat when
It decomposes to form kaolin The
mines are no hotter at 9, 100 feet than
at J 800 except when a vein Of hot
water is tapped Taat makes it seem
hotter than it really is by heating up
the air and AZ the same time increas-
ing its moisture. Moist ar at 10
degs IS harder to endure than dry air
at 100 degs.
Mr. Patton keeps a record Of the
water raised, and he says it does not
with depth. They have
struck no new water at all, but drain
al the levels above. No supply Of
water from the surface reaches them.
They feel neither wet seasons nor dry
at such depths. NIr Patton says there
is no reason to be discouraged at the
prospect for the Comstoek. The ledge
is as perfectly defined and Of as favor
able formation for as it ever was.
There are many sfreaks Of good ore
through it, and any day bonanza
might be struck. He says he can ham /
die rock as eheaply at the s,io0 with
The machines now there, Rs he could /
on the 500 with what tksy had then.
If there is a body Of so ore 20 TO SO
feet thick and he can find II, he viii
be able to hoist and mill It for so a
son, which viii make Virginia shine
again
a parrot which had been at sea for
several years was given to gentle