108 SILVER-LEAD DEPOSITS OF EUKEKA, NEVADA. 



This is not surprising when the nature of the ground is taken into account. 

 The two fissures, which are everywhere accompanied by a thick casing 

 of clay, meet at a point much nearer the surface in the Phoenix, the line 

 of junction gradually descending as the Albion is approached. This line 

 of junction corresponds very nearly with the water level, showing that the 

 closing in of the two fissures forms a sort of flat funnel which debouches 

 in the Eichmond mine. The water level in this mine is something below 

 the level of Diamond Valley, where the Eureka Canon enters it. It has 

 already been mentioned that there is a considerable zone of fissured ground 

 in the lower levels of the Richmond. This broken ground naturally per- 

 mits a tolerably free circulation of the water, and as the water level in this 

 mine is about what it would be in the upper part of Diamond Valley it is 

 reasonable to suppose that a permanent water level has been reached in 

 the Richmond. Irregularities in the distribution of water are often brought 

 about by the intervention of blocks of unfissured ground, or by the pres- 

 ence of clay seams. An illustration of this was given by the occurrences 

 observed in a drift from the 1,200-foot level of the Richmond shaft. This 

 shaft was comparatively dry down to a depth of 1,230 feet. The last 500 

 feet were sunk in quartzite. At 1,200 feet a cross-cut was started through 

 this rock to the north. No water that could not be easily handled with 

 bailing tanks was encountered, and when the limestone was penetrated it 

 was found to be nearly dry, the water from the quartzite being excluded 

 by the clay. In driving a short drift to the northeast from the main cross- 

 cut, however, a stream of water was struck which became unmanageable 

 without the aid of pumps, and it rose to near the 1,050-foot level, and at 

 this point it has remained, notwithstanding the large flow of water that 

 there has been from the Eureka mine. This Eureka water, however, did 

 not flow down the shaft, but into a winze which was sunk on what appears 

 to be the fissure of the Ruby Hill fault. The ground near this fissure is 

 much shattered, and the disappearance of the water goes to prove that this 

 condition continues to some depth. 



water in the Locan shaft. — In the Locan shaft, which has now attained a 

 depth of over 1,200 feet, it had always been possible to control the water, 

 which was first encountered at a depth of 700 feet, with the hoisting 



