Year: 1875




AGENTS REPORT.


A fortnight's sojourn at Eberhardt having
enabled me to go the round of Your rather strag-
Cling property, and to inspect your mines, beg
to offer my remarks upon them. They will be
brief in the details which have SO recently been
put before you in the report of your Super
intendent, Capt. Drake, but / wish them to be
comprehensive so as to have regard to the fu-
ture and l submit that some of them may be in
diligently considered open to modification as
speculations on unbroken ground so fractured
and upheaved as Treasure Hill. The amount of
wealth that has been taken out of that noun
tain tits height and area fully emitting 1t to
rank as SUCH, on which the company has six
among an extensive group of other mines, has
been beyond what any miner who saw the sur
face nature of the workings would estimate
and the first inquiry that occurred to me, after
going over your own and some adjoining mines,
was What has deferred the adventurers from
bolder trials?" 1t seems that what is called the
ORGY ground or ledge matter has been found only
to be remuneratively productive when arrested
or so to spesk, brought up all standing-by
certain walls or dykes of limestone, on which
thin stratum of crystalized Gale spar is fire.
quently found reposing. These walls are iso-
lated they have apparently no parallels to con-
gtitute fiSSure lode and 1T IS hugg1ng them
whether faced with calcareous spar motor
within 100 feet from them, that all the paying
ground has been hitherto discovered With such





prsing that efforts to follow on these walls have
been SO soon relaxed, especially at cele-
brated locality in the western portion of the
same State such remarkable success has at
tended the deep explorations on what is there
called understand, " the contact vien." The
summit of mountain of 5000 feet altitude, and
destitute of water, is not perhaps a location to
favor economical working but the region pos
sesses advantages over most mining districts in
the total absence of any need of pumping gear,
m hnr
from<the tenacious nature of the rock. Eb-
erhardt mine-Nothing has been attempted
here in the way of development since 1872
Your first Superintendent raised the last ore that
was in sight at the time of the company's taking
possession, and then commenced level from
the sump of shaft known as the Keystone.
Driving in a sOutherly direction away from the
wall, which is here an east and west one, and
ended by sinking winze to the east of that
driving to depth of seven fathoms. The great
est depth reached in this mine 391S fathums,
but the full extent of driving the lowest level
just alluded to is but % lineal fathoms with
none of it along the wall And yet it is mine
that must have returned over 500 900 dol. to its
original and present pruprietors collectively it
retains its guiding II as true at its deepest IS
at its near surface the ledge matter holds fair
proportion Of low grade silver ore aSsaying from
to 10 dolls. per ton and there is nothing to in
dicate material change in the ground more
than that it has bee me temporarily poor-
fiuctuation to which all metallferous
deposits are subject. With this description
of its present aspect pass on to the North
Aurora and Ward Beecher These two mines
being contiguous may be regarded as one, and
looking at ii from mining point of view it is
but fair to say that richly indeed has the ground
rewarded its explorers. From two levels of only
81 and 2319 fathoms depth respectively. now
pretty well run together by series of cayer-
nous chambers has been turned out an ex traor-
binary mass of silver of unusually high
grade and some yet remains to come. These
chambers have been spoken of in earlier re-
ports under the names of Ridsdale, De Pass,
Fearless, Wyon and Baxter. and many have
given the impression that they were detached
pockets" and the mine in consequence uncer-
tain and "banchy" This is not the case, for the
ore has been true to it's bearings, and faithful to
its WALL which in this part of Treasure Hill
runs north and south, and therefore at right
angles TO the direction of similar wall which
governs the Eberhardt deposit. Some poorer
ore remains in most Of the chambers alluded to.
and occasionally some tributers will get a set


in them which produces remunerative yield.
There is also high grade stuff in the compost
ton of some of the pillars left to support roofs
which cannot at present be disturbed; but the
compaDy's main-it csn almost be added sole
resource is just now the ore from the Baxter
(dlids, as it is locally called, the &C MAXWELL }
chamber, wich may be safely computed to have
in sight between four and five thousand tons of
ore varying from so to 60 dolls. per ton That
there may be further discoveries of equally val
liable ground on the same level it is only natural
to expect and your Superintendent, who. from
his long practical experience OF the strata ne is
working in, and his thorough capacity as a
miner, is far better judge of the chances before
him than any stranger to the district can posi-
bly, be, entertains hope of being able to find a
continuation of the g Baxter in the portion OF
the mine now being explored to the north OF it.
But the vitality of the mine cannot be allowed
to rest on this prospect. There has been pro-
duced from this almost superficial working a
great deal more value than is ordinarily the case
(466,000 to date), and chief regard must now
be paid to what is below. The third level may
be taken for one of 48 fathoms. 1t consists Of
a driving going with some diviation' for short
distance for break, along the guiding wal
north. and reckoning all ramications, this has
now advanced Sc fath0ms from its point of start
ing the % Central shaft, and also of another
drift following south on the wall from the same
point. For the sake of restricting expenses this
southern drift is at present suspended at dls
tance OF q h fathoms. The ledge matter is at
tached to the wall explored by these drifts
throughout their length, except in the break be
fore alluded to, which has served to shift the
wall more to the east, and here and there stones
OF ore have been picked from it which have as
sayed IA to Is dollars to the ton. The mine
deepest exploration is the incline. To explain
this may remind you that the central shaft first
cuts the north and south wall at the dept from
which the third level was driven t48 fathoms)
and as the wallis dip to the eastward still con-
tinued down from here at an angle OF 40 deg.
itwas of course judicious to descend upon it. To
depth of 81 fathoms the wall on which the in
cline was leaning, kept it's smooth surface and
tolerably correct angle. but after that it went
abruptly vertical. The men being unable to
take the same Dip because of the defective ven
tilation it caused. continued at the former grade,
and are now about six fathoms further down
than where the change of angle occurred. 1t is
felt, however, that it will never do to part from
the Guiding friend" and as soon as artificial
ventilation is procured. cross-cut will be
driven backward in the direction where the wall
must yet be- Changes of this kind are occa-
sienally omens of coming success, and as the
ledge matter that is being penetrated at the deep
est occasionally show spots of chloride, and pro-
euce stone of Is doE ore, it is the general expec-
stion that this alteration may be an instance.


he total vertical depth Of the mine is now 76ss


Stnoms for AGO feet), and all the explorations


u~low the second level may be called "dead


nesiN, and put to the credit of the present Su-


psisaNsendent. Capt Drake. He has my sym


tensss Tor the Indifferent success that has at


the u MS research, but he is better consoed by


-0aection that what he has done has been