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Show "WESTEH3ST DMCIlSrXlSrC3 DO SILVER MINES GROW RICHER AS THEY GO DEEPER. Professor Charles E. Avery, in an article on silver mines, in the New York Conservative, says : The question is often asked why silver mines usually grow richer as they go deeper. Facts are worth more than theories and an account of some assays lately made may throw some light on the lack of silver on the top of veins, especially veins of sulphuret ores. Two assays were made that gave only three to four ounces of silver to the ton. The owner of the mine for whom they were made expressed no surprise, saying he expected it, for they came from the first excavations in a Colorado shaft abandoned some sixteen years ago. The water had partly filled the shaft, and old miners in the vinicity said the silver disappeared if the mine was left exposed. He then sent for samples obtained after further excavation and both of these gave mnch higher returns. It seems likely that under the influence of air and water the silver sulphide had oxidized to silver sulphate, dissolved and drained away. After the tremendous planing down the surface of Maine has undergone from glacial action many of the silver-bearin-g veins must have been worn down to a great depth. We might then expect the richer portions of the veins to be exposed, for if the increase first found was carried to the greatest depths the mines must be rich indeed. If we allow instead that air and water acting for thousands of years have removed the silver, we can easily see why the first two hundred feet may be poor in silver. That the mines do grow richer in silver as they descend seems to be borne out by assays personally made. Old patrons bring in samples assaying better and better. When prospecrors first came with samples of Maine ores, not one in four was of value unless as an indication, now three in five are workable ores. Some of this change is due to experience. In one case the gangue stock was brought and repeated assays gave little yield. The visit of a mining engineer soon put a stop to that and the ore gave good results. After making all allowance for this increase of knowledge, I think it proves true in Maine that silver increases with depth. In many veins poor at the top and not worth sinking a shaft on indications, the diamond drill may establish their value at a less cost. Perhaps some ingenious mechanic can modify the sand blast so it will enable drilling, sinking and tunneling to be done cheaper yet. The test of Sellers showed that quartz sand driven by one and a half horse power could cut one and a half cubic inches of granite per minute or three iuches of marble. Three horse power would then, other things being equal, drive a two inch drill hole one hundred and twenty feet in twenty-fou- r hours, and that GAZETTEER BUTTE, MONTANA, MINING NOTES. The following items of general interest are culled from the last issue of Barrett & Waren's Mining Reviezv, an excellent monthly published at Butte : All the mines of the Silver Bow Co. and their mill is running-o- Anselmo ore. The machinery for the hoisting works of the Grey Rock failed to arrive before winter set in. The group of mines consisting of the La Plata, Grey Rock, Josephine, Carlotta, Maxamillian, Mount Moriah, Broker, Pawn Broker, Pacific and Midnight, all belonging to the Silver Bow Company and among the best mines in the camp, will again be started up in the ealy spring. This company have, perhaps, done more prospecting than any company in the camp, having expended within the past two years upwards of 40,000 in developing and prospecting their mines and now are the owners of the largest group and some of the very best producing mines in the district. On the High Ore, developments continue and show large bodies of free milling ore. Work on the Diamond is temporariaily suspended. The Bell is being energetically worked and is producing large s. yields of high garde ore, both free milling and copper-silver-ore- Work on the Burnett has been resumed. Messrs. Sherer Eros., the lessees of the Raven, have a fine body of 40 ounce free milling ore. The North Star continues to yield plenty of free milling ore which is being worked in the Clipper mill. The recent strike in the Anaceda has given value to all claims on Parrot Hill and in a short time work will be resumed upon quite a number of claims in the vicinity. The Alice and Magna Charta, both the property of the Alice Company, are systimatically and energetically worked and both are producing large amounts of ore, probably 100 tons per day. On the Lexington, but four men are at work who keep the mill steadily at work. Judge Davis is sinking a new shaft in the Chicago which is showing favorably. The Anselmo continues to yield its monthly dividends with regularity. Ducie & Nichols are taking out 75 ounce ore on the Bolder. As scon as the weather will permit hoisting works will be placed on the Star West, Shonbar, Tecumpseh, Frankie, Burlington and ether mines in the distict. The strike made by Messrs. McNcmara, Jamison & Co. on the Snoozer, premises to be extensive as well as rich. We learn that the lower levels of the Gagnon arc looking well. This mine is, perhaps, without an equal in the territory as a steady dividend paying mine. The management is excellent and Supthrough granite. The difficulties in the way of cheap and rapid sinking by the erintendent Rosenthal is the right man in the right place. On the Anselmo No. 2, the work is encouraging. sand blast maybe insurmountable, but success would turn mining The Mountian Boy is producing some marvelously rich ore. from a risk to a certainly. The finest specimens ever found in the territory, except the famous Lexington near Helena, and now being daily taken from the THE SALE OF MINES. Mountian Boy mine and this property may now be safely classed as dividend paying. Adam Farraday, on the Morning Star, is taking cut plenty of In regard to the prospect of selling mines, the Netu York World 250 ore. This mine is located near the centre of the city on says it is easier to do it r.ow in New York than it was six months Montana street, and is yielding fabulously. May it continue so is boom which made not There Ffth the the It ago. says: to yield. Avenue Hotel a mining rendezvous a year ago, but there is not the horror of the word mine which was felt after Little Chief The Bctcpilas Mining Disftict, in the State of Chihuahua, joined Chrysolite and Little Pittsburg in its farewell, to dividends. Mining is on a better basis than it has been before in this city. Mexico, lies in a. canyon. The mineral veins are in a dike of Capitalists are willing to invest in good mines, but they want to diorite about a mile and a half in width. They are true fissures, be assured that they are good. Large sales of mining properties have been negotiated during the past month with noticeable ease. filled with calc spar and carrying ore chimneys of wonderful bond on a 20,-0- richness. Near the surface, the crcs are chlorides : a little lower A man who came here recently with a y property closed a bargain within 10 days after his arrival. It comes rufcy silver, sulphide and bass ores, and lower still, native was, however, an extra bargain. There is less disposition to over- silver in spikes and wire and sheets. Eight or nine mines in this capitalize than there was a year ago, and a diminished tendency locality are well known. From the Nevada, immense sums have to stocking mines at all. Sales this winter seem to be largely to been taken. The Gloria Pan is said to have been richer still and men who are not in for a stock deal, and who propose to work to have yielded enormous sums to the Spaniards. The Todos the properties bought. The genuinely rich developments of the Santos Silver Mining Company of New York own a large propast season in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico perty in that district. The outcrop was chloride of silver, and have had an excellent effect in restoring that desideratum, a the developments indicate that the property may become as famous as some of the ancient mines of the district. cautious confidence in mining properties." 20-da- 00 |