302 QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



nortlieast part of the upper mine by Mr. J. W. C. Maxwell, who was for 

 many ^-ears superintendent, and the account published by Professor Whit- 

 ney show that these ore bodies also consisted essentially of broken rock 

 the interstitial spaces of which had been filled in with ore. The various 

 bonanzas showed little evidence of systematic arrangement, though they 

 were often connected by stringers or "hilos" of ore; but the plan of the 

 workings proves that the prevailing sti-ike was northeast and southwest. 

 There are two well marked veins in this mine One of them, the Kew 

 Hope lode, was enormously rich and was ver}- remarkable for the fact that 

 the ore was mainly composed of metacinnabarite with which a little cinna- 

 bar was mingled. This vein is in the eastern portion of the ore-bearing 

 ground. It strikes approximatel}^ northwest and southeast. The other vein 

 is at the southwestern portion of the ore-bearing grouiid and is known as 

 the Elvan Streak vein. This is a misnomer, for elvan is quartz projihyrv, 

 while at New Idria neither this nor any other eruptive rock occurs. The 

 Elvan Streak is for long distances a clean-cut fissure, filled with decom- 

 posed attrition products which are impregnated with cinnabar. In contact 

 with the vein are ore bodies, in part stockworks and in part impregnations. 

 This vein strikes in about the same direction as the New Hope, and near it 

 at one point were found some tons of metacinnabarite. To the southeast 

 it is cut out by a clay seam. Ore-bearing ground has also been developed 

 by the Bell tunnel, the deposit consisting of a very large but low grade 

 im])regnation of cinnabar in sandstone. 



Disposition of the ore bodies — Tlic disposltlou aiid fomi of the deposits as indi- 

 cated by the above notes are sufficiently intricate, Init the structure of the 

 country is still further complicated by the presence of a clay wall running 

 diagonally across the ore-bearing ground near tlie eastern end and divid- 

 ing the New Hope vein from the remainder of the itrincipal deposits. The 

 presence of this wall renders plausible each of two distinct theories as to 

 the fissure system of the mine, but leaves neither free from doubt. 



The plan of the workings is so complex as to be very difficult to fol- 

 low and the records of the mine contain no vertical section of the ground. 

 Cross-sections were perhaps unnecessary to those thoroughly fiimiliar with 

 the workings, but it is impossible for others to obtain an accurate idea of the 



