THE LODE QUESTION. 115 



sible to state with certainty what the original ore channels may have been. 

 No doubt many cracks, fissures, and vents through which the ore-bearing 

 solutions passed have been completely closed since the ore was deposited, 

 and it is likely that in many such openings the ore has left very little trace of 

 its passage. When the openings were small, these solutions would naturally 

 pass with considerable velocity, and little or no ore would be precipitated. 

 The immense pressure of the surrounding rock would be sufficient to 

 completely close many ore channels. The ore that has been exposed in the 

 Albion mine is a continuation of the Richmond west ore body, and nearly 

 the same conditions prevail in this part of the hill as in the Richmond. 



Discussion of the meaning of the words "lode," "horse," etc. In a WOl'd, the main fisSUl'e 



and the secondary fissure branching from it inclose between them a mass 

 of limestone which is penetrated in many places by crevices. The ore 

 bodies occur within the limestone mass and are all connected with the fissure 

 system just described. The ore bodies are usually lenticular or irregular in 

 form, but sometimes follow the fissures as tabular masses. What name is 

 to be given to this occurrence, though no doubt important from a legal 

 point of view, is a verbal rather than a scientific question. There are por- 

 tions of it to which no one has hesitated to apply the name of lode or vein. 

 In the usage of English-speaking miners the terms vein and lode are 

 nearly but not quite synonymous. A vein may or may not carry ore, for it 

 is perfectly correct and entirely usual to speak of a vein of calcite or other 

 barren mineral, a connection in which the word lode could not be applied. 

 In reference to ore deposits, lode is not used to denote the filling of very 

 small fissures, for a stringer might be called a vein of small size, but scarcely 

 a lode. It is most often used to indicate the contents of more complex fis- 

 sures, or as synonymous with composite vein, system of veins, etc., while 

 the term vein, with qualification, usually refers to the filling of fissures 

 of a simpler character. Thus in the early days of the Comstock the two 

 main branches of the deposit were known as the "east vein" and the "west 

 vein," while the whole system was called the ComstoQk lode. So, too, 

 Henwood says:" "The wider parts of lodes rarely consist of veinstone only, 

 but inclose also blocks of the adjoining {country), and thus assume a brec- 

 ciated structure. Their widest portions often (take horse) split, but such 

 separate veins are seldom rich." 



" Metalliferous Deposits, p. 84. 



