The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1919-08-28
.E[KO PRINCE NINE
FULLY DESCRIBED
Continued from Page One)

IAalCAI
body being quite well defined.
In June. 1915, the Elko Prince Min
ing company made an agreement
with the Dorr company, whereby the
latter was to design, finance and build
a cyanide mill of at least forty tons
daily capacity. and operate the prop
erty until certain financial results had
been attained. Milling was begun in
November, 1915, and the original
terms were completed in June, 1917,
but the Dorr company operating
through the Elko Prince Leasing
company, has continued in charge of
the property to the present time.
The Prince vein has a uniform
northwest-southeast strike and a dip
varying from vertical to e~ighty-five
degrees to the northeast. One hori-
zontal fault of a few feet ccurs in
the 400 feet of development OF the
property, and a second, of much
greater extent. probably occurs just
beyond the south end line.
The vein filling is hard but brittle
quartz with a very small amount of
sulphides. Partial oxidation ex-
tends from the surface to the deep
est openings. Manganese in oxidized
form is found in spots. No enrich
ments due to teaching and redeposita-
ton have been observed, except as
to a small portion of the silver. The
gold is mainly free, but very fine,
about so per cent can be amalgamated
Thin fakes of native silver are found
in the footwall and penetrate its
seams in places to a depth of an inch.
A second vein, the June Bell. is par
allel to the Prince, and lies a short
distance to the west. 1t is of the
same type, but much smaller, and
gives promise of producing but little
metal.
Mining was first done on straight
days pay; but within a few months
"a bonus system was adopted whereby
a premium, increasing with each five
feet was paid on all footage drilled
in excess of fifty per day. Before mi
tiating hat system a careful record
was kept of the work of each nan for
two months, in order to secure :. basis
for a just tonus. 1t was understood
that no change in unit prices would
be made thereafter, regardless of the
amount that might be earned. 1t is
most important for the success OF any
bonus system that the men shall
recognize that the whole saving as
compared with days labor, is to be
divided with them, and that the sys-
tenn is not to be designed for the pur-
pose of reducing them to the
standard wages of the camp. 1t was
found that some men, on contract,
would break twice as much ground
as when on days pay. There was
some tendency to place holes too close
together if the ground was easy for
drilling. Straight contracting was
finally adopted, based on the square
foot of vein area broken; the contrac-
tors are Obliged to keep the walls free
from ore and maintain the slopes
within the limits designated by the
foreman. The company furnishes the
powder and the men do the shooting.
The usual price in such contracts is
from twelve to fifteen cents per
square foot, at which rate the men
make from twenty-five to seventy-five
per cen more than days pay.
The chutes on each level are spaced
about twenty-seven feet apart. BY
having the gate boards extend across
the end of the chute, they can be
knocked open at either side, without
binding.
The mine cars are thirty cubic feet,
Truax side-dump cars weighing HOO
pounds. One mar and a horse readily
handle sixty tons a day with an aver
age haul of 100 feet( 335.2S n.y., u.s.
ing a five car train from the 300-foot
drift to the mill bins. Hand tramming
is done on the lower levels, two men
handling the full tonnage.
The financial arrangement allowed
the mill to be designed so that when
the ore body already developed had
been worked out and the plant scrap
ped, the greatest net profit would
have been made. The treatment of
fifty tons of assorted ore daily prom
Used a life of about three and one-
half years, with the chance of an ex-
tension by finding other ore bodies or
obtaining custom ore.
Labor was scarce in the district
and although there was no labor un-
ion. the Tonopah scale of 81 minimum
for eight hours had been paid.