The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1906-09-07

with the depth Of the working level.
The method of mining which has
been developed here is not unique in
the main being a type of the "caving'
system. which is practically adapted
to the nature of Vermilion ore. In
the Pioneer mine the shaft is about
100 feet deep and, there are three
active levels, at present, numbers ten.
eleven and twelve. All the examining
is done on level eleven as it was for
merly on number ten and before that
in the earlier days Of the mine on
number nine, which is now completely
caved in. Nothing is left of the
| levels that have been worked out save
the opening of the shaft. the drifts
having been entirely caved in, which
is also beginning to be the condition
of level ten. Where 1T is still requir-
ed to keep a passage open, the old
| timbers had to be cut out and replac-
| ed with new ones and the fallen rock
carried out. Level twelve is used as
drainage level for the mine and has
not been opened out save in the prin-
cipal drifts and there are no sub
levels between eleven and twelve. In
twelve, cutters and pipes drain the
water down to a we'll near the bottom
of the old shaft from which the water
is raised all the way to the surface by
one pump. This pump is of the crank
and fywheel type with Corliss engine
steam end and especially constructed
Prescott water ends adapted to suit.
The mine is equipped elsewhere with
smaller Prescott and Cameron pumps
for emergencies.
Just now the main passage way on
level twelve connects the bottom of
the old and new shafts and the main
drifts have been carried through the
green rock to the face of the ore body,
but ore is being mined only between
ten and eleven. where the ore is
honeycombed with passages leaving
pillars about twenty-five feet square.
OF course, the ore between the level
ten and the sub-leyel above cannot
| be mined until the ore is being worked
out through level eleven and that is
also being taken out now.
The tramming of the ore on level
eleven is large operation, The level
is lighted throughout by electricity
and tracks are laid .tf every raise.
Steel hopper cars are .-sad and they
are pulled about by electric motors
built by the Goodman Mfg. Co., the
motors being simply enclosed in a
close fitting steel casing mounted Oh
low truck. Al the Shaft is steel
track hopper with its spouts leading
into the skip and with a capacity
ample to prevent stOppage of both
cars and hoist when delays occur in
the operation of either. The ore is
carried to the surface 40 the rate of
a thousand feet minute at the Pho
neer mine and in the head frame the
soft ore is separated from the hard.
The head frame at shafts number two
at both the Pioneer and Zenith mines
are of steel, built Of angle iron and
bars, as are also the head frames of
the Sibley and Savoy mines. All the
others are of wood. the steel frames
having been erected within the past
two or three years. The steel head
frames of the Sibley, Pioneer and
Savoy mines are all 100 feet high and
that of the Zenith shaft 90 feet. In
all of them the principal Of separa-
tion is the same, the ore being dump
ed from the skip onto set Of inclined
bars placed over hoppers, though
several arrangements of the bars are
to be seen. In tie high frames which
were built so tall just to permit it,,
the bars are long and slant only in
one direction. In the lower frames
| the bars are shorter and arranged like
roof, shedding the ore to either
side, which method has been found to
work as well as the other.
The mines on the Vermilion will
produce this year close to million
and three-quarters tons of ore, which
is small increase over last year. The
stock piles which were accumulated
during the winter to the extent oil
about three-quarters of million tons
are being shipped along with the ore
from the mines and are rapidly being
diminihsed.