The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-09

70 tHe Ordinary eye when taken out
looked like cobble stones and broken
granite. Immense works had to be
erected to get the gold out Of the mines.
and could see the big frame buildings
containing these standing bleak and
pare against the sides Of Bull Hill as I
drove up. These are the golden palaces
or the Victor. They look more like
pennsylvania bank barns than any,
thing else, but they represent millions,
ana the mines under them are as care
fully watched as to the saving Of every
Dit or ore as is the business of saving
the cents in a bank or a great depart
ment store.
1T Is not easy to get access to a great
gold property like the Vivtor. I had
letters, however, from Mr.. Moffatt. and
the manager Of the mine went through
its workings with me. We first dressed
IN suits OF oilcloth and exchanged our
derbfes for old SLOUGH hats. Going into
the shaft house, was shown the i'm
mense engines which are used to raise
the rocks from the depths Of the earth.
The Victor mine is on top of a noun
tain, and the shaft which goes down
into It,, cutting it's way through the
rock at the side OF this vein, Is, Judge,
about eight feet square, and at present
writing 1t has been sunken to a depth
of more than five hundred feet. This
smart is walled with boards Within it
there is an elevator much like that used
Tor freight in a big store which is
raised and lowered by means of a great
wire rope. This rope passes over a
pulIey about fifty feet above the shaft,
and is connected with a steam engine
In the shaft house. The engineer stands
with his hands upon the levers, and
as the miners down under the earth
pun the wire ropes which ring the
signal bells, he knows just where to
move the elevator. From the shaft
tunnels run off into the vein at differ
ent levels sixty-five feet apart Each
OF these tunnels Is a great pipe made
by digging out the gold ore. 1t has a
little railroad in it, and the gold rock
is loaded into iron cars about the size
of a small dry goods box. Each car will
hold about ton of ore, and when
filled it is pushed on to the elevator,
and a signal to the engineer brings it
to the top.
GOING DOWN INTO A MINE.
car has just been taken off as we
reach the shaft house, and the manager
OF the mine directs US to step on to
the elevator. He signals the engineer.
and we start downward to look at the
mine. Within few seconds we are
FAR below the surface. The shaft is
nlled with darkness so dense we can
fear Of touching the board walls of the
shaft and fall for sixty-five feet before
we come to the first level. Here we see
a score of dirty miners in jeans, and
get glimpse Of a car Of ore which is
being pushed forward to the shaft.
Each miner has a candle, which he
holds In curious iron candlestick. and
the light makes him look almost
spectral against the darkness Of the
tunnel in the background. Then there
is another signal, and we fall sixty
five feet to the next level Here are
more miners, and away off in the tun-
mel, where the miners are working, we
see the CLEAN of the candles Then
there is another ring of the bell, and
we drop to the fourth level, and here,
nearly three hundred feet below the
ground, and still more than two miles
above the sea, we leave the elevator
to explore the artificial golden caves
of this great Victor mine We find
several iron cars of ore waiting to be
showed upon the elevator as soon as
we are taken off. The rock seems to
be Of slate-colored granite, and we
look in vain for any signs of gold Our
candles are lighted, and the manager
starts ahead and leads us off into the
darkness. The tunnel is about five feet
wide, and so high that we can stand
upright within it. 1t is blasted out of
pure rock. The walls on the sides are
of ragged rock, and the top is of the
same character. Here and there the
tunnel widens, and at places we find
chambers dug out Of the mountain.
HOW GOLD ROCK LOOKS.
We are told that this comes from the
difference in the size Of the vein, and
the manager moves his candle along
the walls and shows us the vein Of
n iGh how
is OF a slate color, and at the point we
look is just about two feet wide. 1t
ranges from two to twenty feet in
width, and is great sandwich of gold
bearing rock between walls of other
rock, running slantingly, a great plate
OF gold rock down into the earth. How
deep it goes no one knows. The tun-
nels through which we walk are al
ready more than a quarter of a mile
In length, and so far as they have
moved downward, the ore has grown
richer AT present only a small part
of the gold has been taken out of the
vein. These tunnels are only pipes Of
rock cut, as it were, out of the golden
meat Of this great sandwich. There is
siXty-five feet of ore along the vein
above and below each tunnel, and this
gold is left to be mined in the future.
This is called gold in sight" and the
miners might work at their present
rate for several years, as 1 have said
and not get out all the gold which they
thus know to exist.
The ore is of different grades in
different parts of the vein. Most of the
high grade ore has assayed over 5000
Per ton, some runs only $40 a ton, and
some less. but it is all very valuable.
DRILLING AND BLASTING.
AS we pass on through the tunnel we
see the work 1t takes to get out the
gold. The rock is of the hardest kind
and it has TO be blasted down by means
of dynamite and diamond drills. Here
by the light of tallow candle stands
miner dressed in homespun. He holds
piece of steel the size of q broom
stick, and quite as long, against the
rock. We see that 1t is already some
distance into the rock, and he pounds
upon 1t with a. great hammer, moving
it around andSaroupd and boring, as
it were, atom by atom, hole into the
collaborating ore. He has different sizes
of drills. He uses a short one at first.
then changes to a longer one until at
last he has made hole deep enough
for a stick of giant powder. About him
other mixers are drilling and before
long there will be a half dozen holes
cut in this way out Of the solid rock.
Into each of these will be put giant
powder or dynamite This is used In
the shane of candles of differanf ei7a-