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Show RECOUNTS STDRK DF IJE FLOOD Drift on 1200 Level of Eureka Eu-reka Con. Strikes Subterranean Subter-ranean River. The rejuvenation of old Eureka Is a maltf r of gratification to Andy BtiOSOn, Nevada btatc mine Inspector, who spunt hlo boyhood and young manhood days In that rl'.h and historic carnp. When u lad of 1G years he WU a full-fledgud "tilbu-ter" "tilbu-ter" In the Eureka CODCOlid&Ced mine on Kuby hill, and there, according to the .Nevada Stale Journal, he laid Cttfl foundation foun-dation ol hlH education as a inlnei', under the tutelage oi men of resourco, who to und ground that taxed their ingenuity to hold In the huge slopes Uiai were opened, many of which yielded colossal fortunes. Andy says that ihe biggest stope in the Kureka Consouoateu was j;adnuiri's, DOt the Holts chamber. Deadman s aiope, or chamber, was so r.amod be.ause fourteen men lost their lives there In a caie of ground. The b'ope extended to the H00-foot H00-foot level of the Lawton siiait. The Pottl chamber also was a big producer of rich ore. It extended, from tue fcureka Consolidated Con-solidated into the Richmond mine, and the extraction of ore by me Eureka Consolidated Con-solidated across tne dividing line led to the famous lawsuit between the two companies. com-panies. ytinson's father was foreman at the ICurelta Consolidated and Andy was pump engineer in the Iogan shaft w hen that deep shaft was sunk. J. H- McKenzie, then a husky, scrappy youth, had chaige of the pumps underground. He was " Jack" McKenzle to his gentle little playmates play-mates of those days. On the night of the "big water" Andy was on shift. He says that the long crosscut on the 1200 level had apparently reached the contact between be-tween the shaie and the ore-bearing limestone, lime-stone, or very near to It. The face of the crosscut was seamed with Iron, Indicating Indi-cating the proximity of the lime, and streaks of limestone were mixed with the shale. The night shift set up their machines ma-chines and started to drill their ground. The drill holes spurted water with such force that the men feared a flood, and "beat It" for the shaft, leaving their tools behind. They were none too soon, for the water burst Its bonds, caving In the face of the crosscut, and before the men could get In the cage and give the signal to hoist they were almost submerged. sub-merged. When the water started the big pump was running nine strokes per minute. It was speeded up to nineteen, but made no impression on the flood, which filled the three-compartment shaft at the rate of thlrty-slx feet an hour with the pumps doing their besL For weeks and weeks the pumps were run unceasingly. Finally the water was lowered several hundred feet, when another subterranean river was tapped, and It came again with renewed force. After several weeks of work the water was lowered to the top of the station sta-tion set on the 100, but the utmost efforts ef-forts failed to un water the crosscut. Finally Fi-nally Tom Read, superintendent of the mine, ordered that the work be stopped. This was in 1835 lr '86. Concerning what was found In the way of ore. Stlnson says that no living man ever saw the face of the 1C00 crosscut after the water opened the way; but that the fluid was heavy with Iron stained sediment akin to ore in appearance, and that this sediment, deposited along the water ditch, assayed $40 per ton in stiver and gold. From this Andy deduces that the ore will be found on the 1200 level when the mine finally is unwatered. Stinson has always believed that Eureka Eure-ka would come into Its own some day, and contended that the old mines contain fabulous fortunes In mill ore of high grade, besides a "vast area of undeveloped ground. He confidently expects Eureka to take its place as one of the largest producers of the state. |