Show THE LEADVILLE DRILLING CONTEST denver mining reporter the greatest drilling contest in the history odthe west was concluded at leadville last week during Durin glast last summer many drilling contests were held all over the west from the british columbia line to arizona many daany records were made but owing to the varied kinds of rocks used no nd line could be made on the relative skill of the different miners the ou ouray ay drillars adrille dr illers s H hupps apps and lindquist hold a record of inches in gunnison Qun nison granite whilst the butte men drilled considerably over dver fifty inch esat spokane in order to settle the question as to the merits of the best drillers drillars dr illers mr janies james knight of the leadville herald democrat engineered a contest that brought all the best teams together k seven teams in all enter entered ed but the number would have been greater if the reputation of the contesters cont estors who actually drilled had not been so great the wonderful talent of the men is shown bythe by the fact that in minutes they put down holes that aggregated 1532 15 32 inches or more than twenty two feet in the hardest rock known the rules under which the contest pro ceded were very simple the time of drilling was fifteen minutes to each team As many drills as the team thought sufficient could be used size of steel seven eights of an inch A water pourer was allowed A timekeeper for the team and a coacher who could assist by advice eight pound hammers were used the word go was said and imme immediately i the men went to work one striking and the other turning burning alternately the men drilled as long as they saw fit without changing changed drills when they saw proper without restriction of rules the most beautiful part about these drilling no contests is the changing between the men and the changes of drills it is always the same man who changes the drills the changes of drills is done in this manner the turner who is kneeling has the drills arranged by his knee the bits pointing toward the hole when he decides to change drills he turns with one hand and with the other grasps the next drill pointing at and close to the hole 0 e immediately the hammer was taken off the head of the drill the old drill was drawn out and immediately the new drill was inserted so rapidly was this done that not a stroke would be lost the rapid withdrawal of a thirty six inch drill and the insertion of a forty inch drill single handed and so rapidly that not a perceptible slacking up was seen is one of the most marvelous sights of a drilling I 1 contest mckenzie of leadville and freethy of butte showed remarkable skill in this department part ment if the latter were a few inches taller he would be possibly the quickest and best change in the world mckenzie deserves the honor now the changes of men are in this way when the coacher gives the word to change the turner rises just before the last blow of his partner who id after ter striking the blow falls to his knees and commences to turn immediately after the other man has struck a blow thus but little time is lost so expert are the champion drillers drillars dr illers that some of them for example mckenzie and make lost less than one half second between all changes we regret that we will be unable to give the entire analysis of the work of the performers but in our next issue we will endeavor to work out the results so that the causes of victory and defeat will be more apparent it seems obvious however that and ross of british columbia lost the first prize through slowness in that all important branch changing the results were as follows malley aad chamberlain leadville first prize drilled inches ross and british columbia second prize drilled 39 1316 13 16 inches mckenzie and make leadville and davey and freethy butte shared third and fourth prizes drilled 37 7 16 inches hupps and lindquist Lindquis fc ouray drilled 38 1132 inches tarr and stewart leadville drilled 36 1116 11 16 inches pittman and coughlin boulder colorado drilled inches |