MINES SHULLSBURG DISTRICT. 713 



about 100 feet long, and there were several of 50 feet each. The product to that time 

 was 4,000 pounds of lead ore, and fifteen tons of drybone. They have been working 

 continuously since, producing small amounts. 



Phoenix Lead Mining and Smelting Co. Sec. 13, T. 1, R. 1 E. A great deal of 

 mining has been earned on here since a very earlyday, and the ground has been very 

 productive of ore. The principal vein, which is known as the Ellis sheet, was discov- 

 ered by a miner of that name, about thirty-five years since Its course is N. 20 E., 

 and it has been worked for a distance of about half a mile. The workings so far have 

 been confined to the Galena limestone, of which there is a thickness of 150 feat at the 

 pump shaft, at the summit of the ridge. This shaft has been sunk to a depth of 115 

 feet, leaving thirty-five feet of the formation unexplored, exclusive of the underlying 

 Trenton limestones, which have here a thickness of about fifty feet. The sheet of ore 

 is nearly perpendicular, and varies from two to eighteen inches in thickness as deep as 

 the shafts were sunk. The same system of surface mining obtained here as at other 

 places, by means of which the ore was extracted down to the natural water level but a 

 short distance below the surface, leaving the main body of ore untouched. In this man- 

 ner more than 2,500,000 pounds of lead ore were obtained. In the year 1865 a level 

 was commenced with a view to drain the ground, and was prosecuted with slight inter- 

 mission until 1872. Its present length is 1 ,700 feet, and when completed it will drain the 

 ground to a depth of 135 feet. Several other large east and west ranges traverse this 

 ground, among which are the Bobineau, and the Dowd & McGinnis, on the W. hf . of 

 the S. E. qr. of Sec. 14, T. 1, R. 1 E., which have yielded heretofore not lass than threo 

 million pounds. 



SHULLSBURG DISTRICT. 



StopHne Diggings. The property is situated on the N. W. qr. of Sec. 28, N. E. qr. 

 of Sec. 29 and S. E. qr. of Sec. 20, all in T. 1, R. 3 E. Although the mine is not in 

 operation, it is in a condition to be worked on very short notice. 



The following information in regard to it was- obtained from the owner, Mr. Edward 

 Meloy, and personal inspection of the ground. Nearly if not quite the entire thickness 

 of Galena limestone is present at this locality. The northern outcrop of the Cincinnati 

 group is found about a mile to the southwest. The pump shaft has been sunk in a 

 natural chimney to a depth of 112 feet below the surface, and has now reached what is 

 known as the green bed or cap of the Shullsburg openings. The water was removed by 

 an engine and lifting pump discharging 500 gallons per minute. All the water came 

 up in the shaft through the chimney. While the pump was in operation, two springs 

 situated respectively one-half mile east and northwest of the shaft ceased to flow. 

 There are two principal ranges here, one baaring N. 30 E. from the pump shaft and 

 worked for a distance of 800 feet northeast of the shaft, and the other bearing N. 10 E, 

 about 140 feet west of the shaft worked about 500 feet, connected by a quartering range 

 running north of east. 



These ranges were struck in 1863, and worked until 1869, and are thought to be a 

 continuation of the Shullsburg elevator ranges. Two shafts, sunk on the range, bear- 

 ing N. 30 E., have turned out 1,000 pounds to the foot without any drifting and the 

 whole tract within an area which would be embraced within three acres of ground had 

 produced about 600,000 pounds. In every shaft from which ore has been raised, the in- 

 dications of large bodies below are very strong, 



A very peculiar formation was found in sinking on the N. 30 E. range. Commenc- 

 ing at a depth of 35 feet from the surface, a hard brecciated limestone sets in, filled 

 with pyrites, and in some cases with galenite; this formation continues as deep as the 

 shafts were sunk. This was not found on other ranges in this locality, and is a mode 

 of occurrence peculiar to one range. 



