GEOLOGICAL REPORT. 47 



galena. These fissures are in the second magnesian lime- 

 stone. 



" Under a new lease, parties again commenced working here 

 last May, and with two hands and a working time of not over 

 four months, they report to have obtained 12,000 pounds of 

 mineral. It is to be hoped that the party now engaged will 

 sink their shafts deeper, and properly explore, by drifting and 

 stoping, this deposit, for it presents strong indications of a 

 perpendicular lode. 



' Valle and Skewes' Mines. These are the Cove Mine and 

 Short Lode, on the north, and the Mount Hope Mine, on the 

 south side of the Meramec. 



" The Cove Mine and the Short Lode are in township 42 N., 

 R. IE., Sec. 22, N.W. qr. They are on the side of a high 

 ridge, the height of which is about 200 feet above the level of 

 the valley. This ridge is capped with about fifty feet of sand- 

 stone, the lower portion of which is interstratified with magne- 

 sian limestone, and beneath which, so far as explored, are 

 heavy-bedded magnesian limestones, intermixed with chert and 

 quartz. 



"At the Cove Mine, the galena in found in a vertical fissure, 

 whose average width is not over six inches, the course of which 

 is N. 5 E., and with a slight inclination of seven inches to the 

 fathom to the east. This fissure has never yet been found to 

 widen out much over the above average width, but preserves a 

 nearly uniform course and width, so far as explored. This fis- 

 sure is sometimes filled entirely with galena ; at other points, 

 this is accompanied by heavy spar and calc spar ; and some- 

 times these last, with clay, fill it completely. 



" The main shaft is about 150 feet deep, at the head of which 

 is a fine exposure of sandstone that extends up to the top of the 

 ridge. South of this, sixty feet, is the bluff shaft, 132 feet 

 deep ; and south of this are three other shafts, varying from 

 eighty-eight to fifty feet in depth, and distant from each other 

 from thirty to fifty-eight feet. 



" South of main shaft, three levels have been run, connecting 

 with the different shafts ; and north, but two have been cut, at 

 a depth from each other of 101 feet into the hill, and extend 

 ing northwardly to a distance from the main shaft of over 200 



