The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-07-11
Essential to Success.
Salt Lake Tribune

49, i-hht tbuiC
In mining, a knowledge OF geology
Is as essential to the greatest sue
cess as knowledge of mining prac-
tlce and methods. There are miners
thoroughly versed in the art of min
ing. who are familiar with every
branch of the business above and
below ground, and who can under
take and carry to successful termina-
ton difficult mining problems. but
who lack that essential knowl-
edge of geology, SAYS the Los An
geles Mining Review.
There are many instances where
ignorance of even the rudiments of
geology on the part of the superin-
tendent or manager has proved cost
~ TO the company employing such.
III was manager of this sort who
commenced to sink shaft intended
TO go to depth of 1000 feet, or
even deeper If necessary, to work
an ore deposit that was entirely SUI
perficial, and which could have been
mined like a shallow quarry. For
tunately the work was stopped be-
fore it had gone more than 200 feet.
Another fellow. also an excellent
miner, sunk shaft the collar of
which was in loose ore-talus, In
Guiding pieces of float. The shaft
went down vertically, and the deeper
1t got the further it was from the
vein. The facts were ascertained by
his successor. Such men should al
ways have successors, as they can
do much better in subordinate po-
stion, though men of this class do
not think So That is one of the Gu
rious thinks about it all-the sub
lime confidence of the miner in his
own judgment of a geological prob
lem he does not understand, and
does not even appreciate that he does
not understand.
In another instance first-class
miner in charge of work for a COM
pany sunk a shaft over 800 feet i'm
depth to cut stratum of ore-bear-
ing limestone that had been eroded.
The collar of his shaft started fifty
feet lower in the geological horizon
than the bottom of the limestone
he expected to reach. Half a mile
away was the shaft of another COM
pany down over 200 feet in rich ore
The collar of this latter shaft was
nearly 1000 feet lower in altitude |
than that first mentioned, but fault |
with q vertical displacement of at |
least 80 feet ran between the two |
shafts and the miner didn't see it. |
His ignorance cost his company more |
than $4,000.
In that same region another man. |
ager sunk a shaft more than 100 feet, |
struck ore and an abundance of wa
ter that had to be pumped, though a |
tunnel 500 feet long would have
drained the place. A remarkable |
thing in connection with this mine |
was that the shaft was sunk to find |
ore below, which lay scattered about |
on the surface. Ii is difficult to un-
derstRnd how shaft could cut ore
which did not outcrop, but the float |
from which covered the ground in
large lloulders. To the young student
A fault had displaced the formation
by a throw of about 500 feet, and
on the top of bluff back of the mine
lay the ore-bearing formation eX-
posed on the surface and containing
better ore than that found in the
shaft. The manager of that prop
erty does not know the fact to this
day.
Instances of the stupidity of min
ers-and good miners, too-might
be mentioned without number. but
the cases cited are sufficient to show
that the miner cannot learn all there
is to know by working for years in
mines, and that the "booklearning'
which many of them appear to de-
spise would to them prove a very
valuable addition TO their knowledge
of the theory and practice of mining,