Gilpin observer., 1913-03-20
THE PRosPEcroR
AND HIS suRRo.
(salt Lake Mining Review.)


II see," SAID the prospector to his
burro, "that you have been up ON the
hill looking down that old double
compartment shaft. and that you
have come to the ccpcluston that 1t
would take Thousand -burrcs to fill
1t up. providing they SHOULD come
along and happen to fall into 1T; and
you shudder at the thought of the
possibility of that friend of yours,
that lop-eared outlaw of jack. leav-
ing the tradl and meeting his finish
I'm it's cavernosfs depths. 1t is true
that there Is danger there, both for
man and beast, and the COLLAR of the
shaft should be securely covered, as
lit will never be used again, and lis
a menace at amy and all times.
"Tbis shaft Continued the pros
pector,, was sunk by a company
that was flush with money but Woe
fully lacking in mining experience.
The manager was employed because
he was a friend OF the president and
was AN expert sausage maker; and
the president ard his board of dir
ectors were unanimous in the opinion
that anyone who could make good
sausage would fill the bill when 1t
came to such an easy job as sink
ing hole i'm the ground and find
ing ore-bodies, ard so he was en-
ployed. The manager was enthusiastic
over the proposition, and labored un-
der the impression that the entire
group, owned by the company, was
one vast treasure house, and that
ore existed in great deposits, i'm
chimneys, pipes, and IN tne bedding
planes, under every inch of its do
main; and so he decided to go after
this i'm the proper manner; for he
was going to show the mining world
few new wrinkles i'm mine develop
ment and operation.
'And so the double compartment
shaft was started, although there was
no indication of the presence of ore
to be seen anywhere in its vicinity.
AT depth of 500 feet the manager
began rumring drifts in different dir
ectiorrs, and about 2.0G0 feet of work
was d.ne in this line before he tum-
bled to the fact that the ground was
not mineral-bearing. and also became
aware that the treasury of the COM
pany had become almost depleted.
Then a halt was called. and the pres
ident came out from the east to size
up conditions. lid he fire his man.
ager? you ask; none whatever. for
he believed it was only an errcr In
Judgment; but he did look around
and make an examination Of the sur
face holdings of the company. AS a
result. he found cropping down near
the base of the mountain, a quarter
of mile distart from the shaff.
. This cropping. the manager said. was
but a spur from the main vein. and
would amount TO nothing. An old min
irg man, who happened alcng, how
ever, said it looked coed to him, and
the president favored the idea OF It's
development, but the treasury was
so low that he could not think oil
sinking another double compartment
shaft. The old miner suggested pros
pecting by means Of core driil, ana
told Of a machine made in Los
five inches in diameter. and that
hcle of that dimension could be sunk
to a depth Of 500 feet at cost oil
only about 81 per foot. The president
was favorably impressed with the
idea, and within two weeks an Okell
drill was installed near the newly
discovered >ledge. Fer such big
task 1t looked ridiculously small, and
everybody laughed when they saw the
3-horsepower gasoline engine which
was to furnish the motive power. The
drill was started, however. and with
in two hours had reached depth OF
fifteen feet, and the core. five inches
wide. was pulled out i'm sectors vary
ing from one to five feet in length
and on 1t could be plainly seen the
various changes in formation, cracks
and seams. Work progressed rapid
ly. notwithstanding the feeble ap-
pearance of the 3-Aorsepower engine,
and In due time, period covering
less than four weeks. with the drili
down to the depth Of 4s0 feet. core
was brought up that was solid ore;
ore which assayed $6s i'm gold to the
ton. A working shaft was then sunk,
Within a remarkably short time, by