The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1884-05-09

] superintendent III Patton. VINO ha~
the distinction Il having mined out
more gold aad silver than any 9th.
er man that e,er lived. was in Reno
day or two agi and engaged In an In
terrstinR conversation. lie says foot
af timbsr has bten put into the BONANZA
for every dollar taken ont. They paid
si20u01. % and tuto the hole left was
i2O00000 feet Of lumler worth twa
crnts foot. The limb-rs were laid "
rather loosely and oceuped about two
thirds OF all the space. 'he oae-thifd
being divided up into thousands Of
cracks aud openings in the eorduruv as
IL was called. The top earth Ferpe
caving in and compresses all this work
into one snlid mass. aud finally the ave
reaches the outer crust aud the sdS>
face settles. BY this process. 12-inch
timhers are crushed iu seven. or nearly
half their usual size In these dark
aud distant caverns the wood DECAYS
and forms gases which are frequently
heard exploding The wood Is set irr
year after year ii shoulders and
smokes in slow but terrible way
There are many places in the mines
where the smoke works 1t way out and
can be plainly smelled in the air. The
largest body OF territory that has been
worked out aud closed up is the old
bonanza mines and extends from the
100 tu the 1850 levels aud is | 800 feel
long. IL was worked out from ten
TO twenty feet wide aud filled with
timbers. There are many places in II
now ON fire, and il will shoulder for
centuries unless 1t gels draft OF air
somewhere. when it would break out
into terrible blaze. The gas general.
ed IN thus way is OF the dedduest char.
aeter. IL is confne by air-tlght bulk.
heads sixty feet thick OF solid timbers
Where the air has down cast thus is
more necessary than the up east shafts.
which carry the gas out into the air IN.
stead OF down where the men are at
work. There are three separate cur.
rents IN the system Of ventilation In tie
bonanza company. One is down thu
G. n C. shaft tn the bottom of the 9.
300 level and up the BJnuer shaft, L.
carries 10000 feet of ail aminute. The
second Is down the Ophlr shaft and M
Con. Virginia. 1t goes to the 3.l00 lev.
ell, carrying 10000. feet minute. Tie
third is down the Unirn and up the
Sierra Nevada shaft. Ii reaches 2.l00
feet and carries 1000 in Il minute.
This air gnes down fresh and dry. At
the bottom 1t gets heated up to 100 de-
grees or over, which increases its cap.
acity for absorbing moisture. 1t comes
out steaming at the mouth of the shaft
and thus carries out of the mines 49,.
600 gallons of water per day equal to u
stream of one miners inch of water
Mr.. Patton thinks that the heat Is caus.
ea by chemical action. There is some
lime in the rock and it would create
heat when dissolved in water Many
think that feldspar makes heat when
IL decOmposes to form kaolne. The
mines are no hotter at 3,i00 lee;
than at 1900 fee, except when vein
Of hot water is tapped. That makes
1t seem hotter than it really is by heat
ing up the air and at the same time in
Its moisture. MOIST air ut 10
degrees is harder to endure than dry
dir at 100 degrees. Mr. Patten keeps
record of the water raised and he SAYS
1t does not increase with depth. They
have struck no new water at all, but
drain all the levels above. No supply
of water from the surface reaches them. |
They feel neither wet seasons nor dry
vt such depths. Mr.. Patton says there
ik no reason To he discouraged at the |
prospect of the COmstock. The ledge
Is there perfectly defined and of as
favorable formation for ore as 1t ever
was There are many streaks of good
ore through it and any day "a bonanza
might be struck. He says he CAN
handle rock as cheaply at the 3.iOO
with the machines now there as he |
could on the 1900 with what they had |
then. II there is a body of $50 ore
twenty to fifty feet thick, and he can
find 1t he will be able to hoist and mill |
st for $50 Il ton, which will make Vir-
giuia City shine again.-The Econo-
uniat