Show gigantic enterprise of goldfield deep mines company working out just as predicted in the very beginning by A J moore one of the most pretentious pieces of mine development in the country is in progress at goldfield nevada it is the shaft of the deep mines company the ground for this four compartment shaft is broken 9 feet wide by 22 feet long and with each foot of depth reached 15 tons of muck has to be raised the shaft is now at depth of 1920 feet with the 2400 foot level as the four machines drills are used in the bottom when rhen the timbers are placed in position the shaft is five feet wide and 17 feet t beet long in the clear inside of the four compartments two K M ix K f R K al X X R X ri aft L V OF GOLDFIELD DEEP MINES PLANT BIRDS EYE VIEW or OF SURFACE room machine shop boint change buildings building are lit in order named house compared pared when hen known that the beginning at tank at left size of buildings may be com store house bit bull diny not lot carpenter shop at extreme right in the wheel and back itaya of 34 24 by 2 24 21 1 inch oregon pine other in IH 80 feet to center of cheave nho showing Tring include oil storage Mt orase warehouse and garage 1 1 l 10 lo l o at iivo cirp are designed for hoisting one for a manway fourth contains the air pipes electric wires etc the entire interior of the shaft from the ft level to the 1650 ft level is is cemented and is as dry as any plastered room two sets of 0 pumps are installed at the ft level and at the 1600 ft t level and each pump is of a ca capacity lacity of gallons per minute in the equipment of the shaft and methods employed several innovations have been adopted that is innovations to this section of the country cementing of shaft end drifts to prevent water from rotting the timbers and absorption of electricity from the cables have been employed in some of the big copper mines mines but never before to any extent west of utah how the cementing Is done in cementing the interior of the shaft is first covered Z with ordinary chicken wire and the cement applied with a cement gun designed for the purpose to apply the fine cement is sent dry through a nozzle by compressed air at tle the nozzle it meets a spray of water and the mixing is done 1 right at that point the corn compressed presse air shoots ane of coated ted to the chicken wire which is coa against of about one inch when this has dried a second coating about the same thickness is ia applied some of the cement has been in place nearly four years the slightest lightest does not show a crack nor carry s and today around the alia shaft ft the ground cementing dampness before down dr droppings drippings drip pings are carried settle the water is allowed to from the the shaft to be caught up and pu pumped aped back of and the se sec c ft level the lower levels one station is at ond at the 1600 ft level and a third will be established at the 2400 ft level when reached the hoisting plant the is 80 feet to center of the sheave wheel whee I 1 it is built of oregon pine the backstays back stays are 24 inches by 24 inches and the balance of the built in proportion the hoist is double drum of h p and the cable moves at rate of 1000 feet per minute A bucket leaves the I 1 bottom of the shaft goes to the top is dumped automatically and goes back to be loaded again in five minutes to operate the hoist electric motors air compressors and all other machinery 1360 h p is required and arrangements have been made to put into commission commission an extra p when required furthermore H G mcmahon general manager has arranged with johng john G Kirchen mckitchen Mc of the tonopah extension to take power from the big h p diesel plant of the tonopah extension so far only the first unit of 2000 h p of this plant has been in but on september the second unit of 2000 h p went into commission and power is is now available in case of a breakdown break down by the nevada california power company precautions against mine flooding every precaution has been taken to provide against i floddin flooding g the mine at the and at the 1600 ft levels big water reservoirs have been built first the station floors are cemented to a depth of six inches then at each station and which will be repeated at the 2400 ft level when reached reservoirs feet long with cemented floors and walls have been constructed each of a capacity of gallons the method of caring for the water reservoirs is quite new in the west A big dam is built near the station and a scraper automatically y operated is installed one man operates it sending it back and forth over the floor of the reservoir until thoroughly cleaned the scraper is carried over the dam and dumped automatically into the skip about one ton a day or 30 tons per month of sand and silt collects in the bottom of the reservoir the sand is thus removed from the water and greatly reduces the wear on oil the pumps and water column pumping equip equipment ment leadin loading g skips the pumping equipment is in duplicate and each pump at each station has a capacity of gallons per minute each pump has its own motor and the plunger pumps which raise the water to the 1600 ft level are also operated by separate motors the plungers raise the water to the reservoir at the 1600 where it is allowed to settle and then the big pump on the 1600 lifts it to the reservoir on the and from there the next set of pumps lift it to the surface the water is delivered to the surface almost as clear as spring water another device new to the west but very successfully used at butte montana is a loading skip at the bottom of the shaft it holds about 15 cubic feet of dirt and is raised to the shaft skip by compressed air three skip loads fill the shaft skip and four men do the same amount of mucking as is is ordinarily performed by five the whole raises aia and d dumps automatically and besides the saving in time and labor reduces the risk that is always present when buckets are used in the shaft plant and equipment most complete the surface equipment includes transformer house change room machine shop hoist house carpenter shop blacksmith shop oil storage tanks garage and warehouse the deep mines company operates a supply warehouse for profit nearl nearly all of the supplies from powder to tb nails used a at t the other T properties in goldfield and burrou surrounding n dink camps is purchased at the store room of the deep mines company this is done not only for the small profit obtained but in order that the company may at all times have a good supply on hand of everything needed one man gives his attention to the running of the store the entire equipment is considered by mining men who have visited the deep mines workings as one of the most complete and economical in the country the deep mines workings have been inspected by several very noted men and no end of others not so widely known the pumping plant was installed after a two months trip to various camps where there was a serious water problem corrin barnes and elmer burt visited the water troubled mines of california arizona new mexico colorado montana and utah and made a thorough examination of each plant corrin barnes looked into the problem of capacity of pumps and ease of handling with possibilities of breakdowns while elmer burt looked into the problem involved in installation and cost of running between the two a very efficient and economic economic system was adopted how the enterprise was conceived the whole project is the outcome of the efforts of H G mcmahon and I 1 A darcy the idea probably started with 1 I A darcy as he was in charge of the atlanta when it opened good ore in a foot below the 1750 ft level A large tonnage of 40 ore was opened here but it was located in a ft sunk from a crosscut and at a point nearly one mile from the shaft the long haul and the heavy water flow was prohibitive of profitable mining it remained for H G mcmahon to effect a consolidation of several companies and act as executive in carrying out the project of deep mining every other camp has staged b a comeback from the comstock to cripple creek by deep mining why not goldfield the idea was also helped along from the fact that J B turner had opened a new along the shale contact in the jumbo extension nearly was extracted from this ore shoot the theory of the various mining engineers who have made a careful study of the conditions in goldfield are to the effect that the shale which outcrops in the booth on oil columbia mountain is the bedding plane of large ore deposits all predictions working out after much effort on oil the part of H G mcmahon several companies were consolidated and the deep mines company formed the company has an ail estate of about acres tt comprises the atlanta C 0 D the merger blue bull goldfield Coni combination and five claims taken from the goldfield consolidated with all of this property under one management PI G mcmahon then proceeded to finance the in proposition that he has been successful is evidenced that the shaft of the deep mines is now at depth of 1920 1 feet fully equipped and fully paid for and still going the equipment has been expensive but it is designed for long usage that the theory of the engineers will prove correct is so far evidenced by the fact that at each point the each exa formation predicted has been encountered ered for the past P feet or so the shaft has been in the vein that NV was a s ire pr il dieter dieted would be encountered the botton bottom of the shaft sha now showing 9 quartz carrying copper this was the i exact and pd formation first encountered in the atlanta atlan ta at depth before the ore was located assays essays as high as 3 per cent that copper have been had however it is not expected expected an ail of commercial size and value will be encountered the of much above the 2400 ft level that is the objective 01 work before any lateral developments development is started |