Show THE AMERICAN FLAG MINE M INE by L 0 HOWARD M E the american flag mine is situated on the northern edge of the productive area of the park city mining district of utah about thirty five miles southeast of salt lake on branches of the D R G and union pacific railways on the west it is bounded by the properties of the silver king coalition mines company which will have paid at the end of the present year dividends of and on the south and southeast by the ontario silver min ing ig company which has disbursed in the neighborhood of in dividend payments the american flag mining company has an all authorized capitalization of 1000 00 1 shares its officers are H P dark clark of salt lake president F V bodfish of salt lake vice president and general manager john cain of salt lake secretary james owen of colorado springs colorado and john pingree of ogden utah additional directors early history the american flag mine was located loica ted in 1896 by william curtis the first work done was the tunnel at the bottom of empire gulch in which the mine lies to cut what afterwards became known as the rhodin vein from which curtis is said to have taken between and the first shipment having been made two years X W Z ac J A jk S al r w L A L 0 howard photo by office and shaft house of the american flag mine park city after the property was located the principal feature in connection with this development was the fact that the values were largely in gold all the other ore occurrences in the district having been noted for high silver values with little gold at this time the property comprised 92 acres to which otie other claims have been added until today the company controls acres and a length of about feet along the strike of the main veins in 1902 the main working shaft was started at a point about feet north of the old curtis tunnel and on the east side of empire gulch about ninety feet higher than the portal of the curtis tunnel feet above park city station and feet above sea level it was sunk 1000 feet before any stations were cut the tenth level being the first to be opened the mine was thus opened from the bottom up these are the two openings available for working the property the tunnel having little value at this time however this shaft is now down 1120 feet it was dry to the bottom except for a time between 1905 and 1908 when the ontario drain tunnel at the 1500 foot level of the ontario mine was caved since then the water has stood about fifteen feet below allf ht 41 P wa S IJ r 7 A A 9 all X r i 4 V I 1 the 1100 from 1907 up to 1910 operations were carried on rather haphazardly the ore of shipping grade having been mined as fast as encountered without Put putting tilt more ore in sight and leaving only low grade available when the present management took hold a vast amount of development was necessary from august 3 1904 up to december 15 1913 the total production of the american flag mine was tons of a gross value of an average of per ton little has been received from lead and copper in the ore the values paid for being gold and silver the pro property perty being noted for having a higher ratio of gold to silver than its neighbors smelter charged run about per ton and freight for 30 ore and 2 for ore of greater value from this ore ounces of gold and ounces of silver were obtained development in taking up the development of the property 1 I will speak of the veins which have been opened only in a general way leaving the details to the geological portion of the article the mine is opened as stated before by a main shaft and the curtis tunnel the main shaft is two compartment each 4 ft 6 in by 5 ft in the clear and has reached reached a depth of 1120 feet A is carried in one of the two hoisting compartments stations have been cut and levels driven on the fourth fifth sixth seventh eighth ninth tenth and eleventh at approximately foot intervals except for the tenth which is about sixty feet below the ninth at the fourth level the vein was cut at forty five feet southeast of the shaft and a drift run about feet to the south connecting a raise at feet through which an outlet to the surface is obtained by means of an incline at feet which was sunk about feet from the por tal of the curtis tunnel not shown in section on the ath the main vein was cut in a distance of twenty five feet A drift was run on the vein for feet to the south i until the vein was vas faulted by a porphyry J dike about twenty four feet across at 3 about feet from the shaft crosscut a raise connects with the fourth level at the sixth level the vein is very close to the shaft A drift has been run on the vein feet to the south to the same dike exposed above with a raise to the fifth level just beyond the foot mark this drift has also been driven to the north about feet at the seventh the shaft passes through the vein and drifts have been run both north and south 1075 feet to the south and feet to the north raises to the sixth have been put up at seventy five feet feet and feet south and seventy five feet north other raises have been started a approximately foot intervals at the eighth the vein is on the opposite site side of the shaft A drift in the v vein ein to the north about feet connects by raise with the level above to the south the drift extends about feet or eighty to ninety feet beyond the dike raises have been put up at and feet south the ninth is a short level extending feet to the north with two raises to the eighth and feet south with a raise at feet and dinzes to the tenth at fifty and feet the tenth level was started only sixty feet below the ninth in order to get as close as possible to a lime quartzite contact it extends feet to the north with two raises to the ninth and feet south at feet a raise has been started to connect with the eighth the eleventh level is one of the most interesting in the mine for it has been driven further than any other level to the north following the main vein out feet 41 0 to J lei rug REVIEW renew B froni from the shaft A was put down about thirty feet to water level at feet the shaft and some ore was taken out t this level extends to the south a few feet beyond the tenth and is connected with lt it by raises of nd feet the development on the main vein comprises then about feet of drifts only a small portion of the property being so far developed in this area the best ore has been removed leaving a fairly large amount of low grade ore in place and as filling which can be cheaply won when desired for milling but which is expensive to hold in place until that time the other vein which has been developed to any extent is the easter vein which was found last march this has been opened on the three lower levels the physical and mineralogical characteristics PARK CITY G 01 ae 0 01 PARK FAM MINING DISTRICT FLAG properties ENCLOSED iti IH HC H 4 V Y atres L lne s of this vein will be discussed under geology suffice lee it to say that it is striking and dipping in such a way as to intersect the main vein to the south and on the dip on the nintha ninth a crosscut was started eighty five feet south of the shaft shaf tand and picked up the easter vein at feet to the east on the tenth a crosscut at feet intersects the easter vein in a distance of feet and a drift has been run feet to the north and feet to the south on the eleventh a crosscut was started on an angle a few feet from the shaft which cuts the easter at feet the level has been opened on the easter about feet to the north and feet to the south or just bey beyond oaid the intersection main vein on this level a raise is being put up feet from the crosscut to connect with the tenth and this connection should he be finished before this article appears geology the workings of the american flag lie in the great central area of weber quartzite dipping about 20 20 degrees to the northwest which forms the wall of the fissures which are the basis of operations at present although between the eighth and tenth levels are intercalated beds of blue and brown lime the main vein which lies southeast of the shaft at the surface and feet southwest of the shaft it forms the foot wall of the vein the hanging being quartzite the hanging having fallen about fifty feet A crosscut has bean run east in the hanging to a second vein about f feet this second vein dips about eighty degrees to the northwest to the tenth level flattening at that point so that it would appear that the two will intersect at about 1200 feet in depth it strikes north 57 degrees east this second vein known as the easter has at the end of the crosscut a quartzite hanging and lime foot the block between the two veins having drop same level about eighty feet to the south and likewise on the upper levels the por J phyra dike standing nearly vertical has cut off the vein which was encountered again feet to the east its character beyond this fault is somewhat different there being more sulphide present and considerable zinc A grab sample taken here by the writer showed ounce gold ounces silver 6 per cent lead I 1 per cent copper and 75 per cent zinc still further south about sixty feet beyond the large porphyry dike another one is found which j the vein has faulted this dike is very pro djs 6 TO ora tu t U a S sectary e C 43 broken Bno KeNOe ORE a f 07 ile f Z Zy K 17 7 ou ya rf ca leei Y oo 00 C 2 jL VL vo bleyel sL eYet eyEL 50 0 r CP M falb al 61 no kj va 0 7 14 7 ry 0 ra L PT PIMA aji al 71 ail aa 9 M r ao 1 I ZA i Z Z cleir L S L i JI ir T tt U av s IT 1 I 1 1 L 1 11 l EV eal EL which the shaft passes through at the foot level has a dip to the southeast of from 63 to 80 degrees and a strike between north 30 east and north 45 east the crushed zone is made up of bands and streaks of crushed material stained with iron and manganese and although it does not appear very rich to the eye of the casual observer it has carried some very high values in gold and silver the ore is largely quartz cemented with iron and material A bed of impure lime dipping to the northwest and thirty five feet thick has been found on the levels from the eighth fo iq the tenth at the ninth level eighty ped below the ninth the fot of the easter is quartzite and the hanging lime these two veins lie in fault fissures marking the planes of a block blo C k fault faul t the area between having dropped about fifty feet the filling of the main vein is mainly shattered quartzite heavily stained and carrying its values in gold and silver whereas the easter vein has a high content in lead in addition to the gold and silver both are oxidized to the alth level the sulphides sulp hides becoming more abundant be low that level the main vein has cut the easter and displaced it about forty feet horizontally as evidenced where the intersection was opened upon the alth on this bounced and firm in distinction to the ot other which is largely decomposed soft and talcy dalcy both veins are notable for the high content in gold compared with silver mining and equipment s the ore mined is thrown or wheeled in to chutes leading to the main drifts on th thea levels where it is loaded in one ton cars and crammed to the shaft hoisting is don on two single deck cages to tracks aboa the bins where there is storage capacio capacity for loo tons of ore the ore may be dump ed over 2 inch grizzlies grizzlier grizz lies to a sorting table where low grade is picked out and throw to a hopper from which it is crammed t t 1 I I 1 the f fines in es and rich coarse are the h dump shoveled heeled to another chute loaded into cars s re elevated and dumped into the shipping ore is hauled to park city for fifty bins ins cents a ton the shaft is equipped with a steel forty feet high with 5 inch sheaves I 1 the g hoist is a vulcan second motion dou ble drum with 20 inch by 14 inch cylinders the drums are six feet in diameter and 2 toot foot face and the hoist is capable of 1101 hoisting sting at a rate of 1000 feet a minute the ropes are one inch and linch l inch dia diameter one of them being of the locked coil type the hoist is rated at horsepower there are two 54 inch by 16 inch erie city boilers rated at 80 horsepower each and two snow boiler feed pumps 41 mch inch by 2 inch drifting is done with piston drills of which there are one water sullivan two 2 inch two inch one 2 inch sullivans and two 3 inch holmans for there are used five waughs baughs type 80 and two sullivans the compressor capacity is somewhat limited at present consisting i of a rand imperial type 10 cross compound compressor with cylinders water for boilers is obtained from the overflow of the daly judge mill tank at the creek level is a pump for emergencies there is no bunkhouse bunk house equipment owing to the nearness of the mine to park city labor about twenty five men are now employed on an eight hour shift it is expected to put on another shift as soon as the connection liec tion between the alth and levels is made six of these men were drifting on oil ore at the time of the writers visit and were producing about ten or twelve cars of ore a day or eight to ten tons all of this ore came from development and as soon as is well under way the perman production should be much larger development now on the actual development now being prosecuted consists of raising from the alth to the level drifting north on 10 and 11 and drifting south on the intermediate above 10 crosscutting for the easter vein south of the fault and raising from 9 to 7 A H lundquist an old colorado miner has had charge of the property for the past three years and has been responsible in a large rge measure for the showing that the company is making the easter vein important the opening up of the easter vein has made eade a new mine of the property the birne me bed previously mentioned about thir ty fy five feet thick dips to the northwest where the easter vein cuts it some rich ore re was opened up A series of raises were e put up from the and drifts run to 0 them just below the lime quartz alte e contact A continuous drift feet long has no now w been driven having a quartzite foot and a lime hanging above this drift has just begun but the back shows a 30 inch vein the whole length which persists remarkably with but a few inches of variation either way from this width W the writer took a sample across the vein for a width of thirty inches at a point where he knew the value was good the assay on this sample showed ounces in gold ounces in silver per cent lead and per cent copper that this assay was not unusual for this is evidenced by a shipment of thirty nine tons made in june of this year when this drift was being driven the ore was not selected but was extracted as it came in the drift with no attempt at and very little sorting indeed it is so decomposed that little sorting on the vein matter itself is pos possible sible such wall rock as was broken was thrown aside the as A W Z V low L AA MW 0 4 looking up empire canyon daly judge portal and mine buildings on left and mill on right silver king coalitions alliance tunnel upper right much of this is on american flag ground photo by L 0 howard say on which settlement for this shipment was made was as follows ounces gold ounces silver per cent lead for a gross value of a ton A feet long and 30 inches wide of such ore is an indication of what has been accomplished with the small amount of development undertaken As the extends into the lime there is always the possibility of getting a body of ore in the contact between the lime and quartzite beds where rethe the great bonanzas of the district have been there are indications of bedded deposits at several points and in the block between the two veins a minor fault fissure was followed into the lime and shipments made from a bedded deposit there As the proceeds upward to the top of the lime in the hanging the fissure tightens up but widens again when ahe the becomes lime and the hanging quartzite and there is every hope that rich ore |