88 GEOLOGICAL REPORT. 



vein, like the Evans, cuts through the lower beds of the 2d 

 Sandstone and down into the 3d Magnesian Limestone, which 

 forms the base of the bluff. From a point on the slope near 

 the base of the Sandstone a shaft has been sunk 95 feet into the 

 Limestone, and an adit has been run on the vein some 200 feet 

 from near the base of the bluff, intersecting the shaft above 

 named. The appearance, position and direction of this vein 

 seem to indicate that it is a continuation of the Evans Lode,* 

 on the south side of the ridge, which some have supposed to be 

 a part of the Mount Hope vein. 



Whether these veins shall prove to be one and the same, and 

 whether they prove to be true veins, extending down indefinite 

 ly, or merely to the base of the formation in which they are 

 found, they can not fail to be extensive and valuable. The 

 length of the two is not less than one mile, and the average 

 depth of the parts not worked, to the bottom of the 3d Magne 

 sian Limestone, can not be less than 300 feet, and is probably 

 between 400 and 500 feet. 



In estimating the profits of mining on these veins, it will be 

 safe to put down the length at one mile and the depth below 

 the Sandstone at 400 feet, and that the remainder of the vein 

 will prove as rich or even richer than the parts worked out. 

 But these estimates are made upon the most unfavorable opin 

 ions respecting the character of these lead veins. The opinion 

 expressed by some geologists that these are only Gash-veins, 

 and confined to one formation, the 3d Magnesian Limestone, 

 has no support in the appearance of the country or the charac 

 ter of the veins themselves. And I submit the proposition, 

 with all due deference to the opinions of others, that no geolo 

 gist can examine the phenomena presented by this vein, and 

 the Evans Mine, and the Virginia Mine, and make them con 

 form in any tolerable degree to the definition given of a Gash- 

 vein. On the contrary, all the facts observed point most signifi 

 cantly to the characters of true veins veins which extend 

 downwards indefinitely, without regard to the limits of forma 

 tions. With this view of the character of these veins, which I 

 conceive to be the true one, the value of these and the neigh- 



* See page 49. 



