The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-08-06
FIRST STRIKE MADE
BY jim BUTLER
TonOpah Company Owns the
Ground Located by Father
of District.
ACCOUNT Is GIVEN
OF VEIN SYSTEM
Manner of Mining Resources
Explained by Writer in
Eastern Journal.

The Tonopah Mining company is the
oldest and largest OF Tonopah. II owns
the outorop claims on which the original
locations were made by Jim Butler.
These contain two main veins. viz. tho
Mizpah and the Valley View. between
which is a system of branching. inter-
locking veins called the Burro veins. The
Burro veins have boon developed only
TO n small extent, being much less i'm
portant than the others. says tho En-
gineering and Mining Journal.
The Valley View and tho Mizpah veins
each show an ore shoot 1000 feet long.
They vary greatly in width, being as
much as twenty feet wide for one
hundred feet or so, then narrowing per-
haps TO only one foot, and then swelling
out again. Also the ore varies greatly
In grade. but It is seldom too lean TO
work. The Mlzpah vein dips 40 to so
degrees toward tho north. the Valley
View about the same.
System of Mining.
The veins are mined by a system OF
stull-t -timbering and overland stopping.
Levels are opened at 100-foot Intervals.
vertically. Chutes are carried UP about
thirty feet apart along the vein where
II is being stopped Heretofore very lit
tie filling has been done. but from now
on the slopes Will be filled with waste.
Small mir drills (two-inch Ingersols) are
u5cu IN kIODlukr WUllc l"O duu II IuuI leA-
inch lngersols are used for development
work,
Flat ropes and reel hoists are employed
with one-deck cages. There are two main
shafts. viz. the Mizpnh and the Silver
Top. The Mizpah has two hoisting COM
partments. the Silver Top has only one.
Variable speed electric hoists arc used.
On the Valley View vein the deepest
STOPPING is upon the 600-foot level. Most
OF the STOPPING has been done between
the 600 and the 200-foot levels; above
the 200-foot level the vein Is virgin, eX-
cept for some shallow working during
the leasing period. On the MiZpah a
great deal of STOPPING has been done above
the 200-foot level, Tho deepest STOPPING
is on the 60O-foot level, but some pros
pecting is being done on the 700 foot
level.
Practically all the ore from Mizpnh ard
Valley View veins is oxidized. The To-
nopah company employs about 200 men.
The Silver Top and MlZpah shafts pro-
duce about 200 tons OF ore a day. which
averages about $50 ton. Tho Tonopah-
Belmont Development company, which is
an allied company OF the Tonopah Mining
company. and is under the snmo manage
ment. is mining ore from the eastward
extension of tho Mizpah lodo, where IL
has been buried by the later andesite.
This is worked through the Desert Queen
shaft 1927 feet deep The average width
of tho vein In the Belmont mine is we'll
over ten feet. Tho vein dips 60 degrees
10 the north and strikes east and west.
Stopping is going on at the l000-foot level
IN tho Belmont. The Belmont employs
about 100 men and ships about fifty tons
of orc a day, averaging between $50 and
$40 a ton.
Veins Much Faulted
All the veins In both the Valley View
and the Mizpah systems are much faulted
and the following OF the ore Is compli-
Gated, much prospecting work is neces-
sary. At all the mines under tho man
agement OF the Tonopah company, four
grades OF ore are being made. Above
500 ton is first class; $50 10 500 Sec
ond class. $50 TO $50 third class while
fourth class is that which is too low
grade to pay now. About fifty tons OF
the ore is shipped to tho Buffers cyanide
plant at Virginia City. The remainder Is
shipped to the shelters near Salt Lake.
In the future tho company Will ship TO
its 100 stamp cyanide mill at Mller's
crossing, about fifteen miles from Tono-
pah The company expects to treat 400
10 500 tons OF ore day In this mill
when everything is running properly.
This mill Will be completed by the mid
die of summer.