Graham guardian., 1899-06-23
DEEP MINING-BEST ORE AT
1000 FEET.
Prof. Blandy Writes an Interesting Letter
On the Subject.

Gu Dy lne prospccloio tuab iho
veins did not go down" This
idea has continued to prevail to a
greater or less extent until lately,
and is still held by many. have
also heard it expressed by men
who have done much prospecting
and mining in other sections Of
the Pacific States. This idea, OF
course, pertaIned althogether to
fssure veins, and has been applied
to that class of veins, without re.
gard of references to the enclosing
rocks; nor have any arguments
been advanced to explain why it
should be different from any other
mining sections. The prevalence
of this opinion has very often
worked to the detriment of the
mining interests, especially in the
Bradshaw Range; the average
smallness or narrowness of the
veins has been referred to.
The first question, naturally, to
be asked, did you go down to
see?" The answer to this, proven
by the thousands of holes one finds
is, "No." The prospector, when
he finds VEN, hunts along it to
find a pay streak, aud if he does
not find one, abandons it. He
may find a rich spot, and ifso goes
at once to work. If it pinches on
him, he soon gives up and says,
"the vein played out; it did not go
down." At most his work reaches
the limits of a windlass, unless
particularly rich. On the hundreds
| might say thousands, of holes
that have seen, there may Lave
been possibly twenty wbims
erected by prospectors.
Very often these works have
been in tunnels, and extending
some hundreds Of feet, but that
does not count in the. argument
that "the veins do not go down" :"
Some will say that the veins do
not hold their value in depth. The
proof of this Is based upon no bet.
ter arguments than those given
above. Work done in late years
say the last five or skin the
deeper mines, goes to prove the
contrary of this proposition, and
that IN very marked degree. OF
this we have many examples.
though we cannot be said to have
any examples of deep mining.
In the Congress the inclined
shaft has reached depth of about
1000 feet but the vein is so fiat,
that the perpendicular depth from
the surface is only about 700 feet.
The Crowned King has a shaft
$50 feet below the tunnel level;
the deepest back over the tunnel
being about 1000 feet. The Nc
Cabe and Little Jessie in the Chap,
arral district are each six hundred
feet, below the collar of the shaft.
The Gladiator 800 feet from the
crop to the cross-cut tunnel, and
shaft sunk 100 feet below that
level. These are the deep mines
Of Yavapai county.
Let us now consider each OF
these cases. In the Congress we
find that they had rich ore at the
top and the values have not de.
creased in depth. The utter in.
ability to extract the values at the
start caused this property to re
main idle for about 20 years, and
until the present owners took hold
of it. Upon reaching depth OF
between 200 and 800 feet, the vein
disappeared, being intersected by
a dyke, but on passing through
that obstruction they found the
vein again in place. Had it not
been for perseverance, this mine
might have been quoted as a proof
that "the vein did not go down."
On the Crowned King they
worked to tunnel level on $40 free
gold per ton, with some concen.
trates. This has increased with
depth to ar average of $40 pei
ton, about one.half of it being free
gold Some pockets have yielded
ore gong into the tens of thou,
sands in value; besides, the average
width of the vein has increased
At the McCabe the vein has shown
a steady increase in value of ore.
At the Little Jesse the assorted
ore was rich at the start and has
produced the same quality to the
bottom of the mine. The nature
of the deposit IS peculiar and the
work has been prosecuted more in
the manner Of a search for the
rich pockets, the great body Of
the deposit beng left still stand
ing. On the Senator the best
shoot of ore was at the top, but
richer ore has been found neal
the bottom. In the Gladiator the
quantity and value has increased
with depth particularly below The
tunnel level. To this list might
be added the Belle & Poland, 40(
feet deep and the Favorite, OF
Lynx Creek, 800 feet deep.
| know Of no instance where
"the vein has played out" anc
therefore hold that there is not {
partical of proof of the statemen'
~, 4 .. A Il 4 a. :.