SURVEY OF COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO. 115 



division. The ore assays from three to six ounces gold per ton, and is 

 sokl to Professor Hill for treatment in his smelting works. 



A somewhat singular phenomenon is the occurrence, at ISTo. 4 Gregory 

 Lode, (Bruce's claim,) of three separate veins in a breadth of fifteen feet. 

 These veins are named the Dead Broke, Gregory, and Foote and Sim- 

 mons. They are divided from each other by thin w\alls of country 

 rock, in some places two inches and less in thickness, but were virtually 

 regarded and wrought as one vein. A little higher up on Gregory hill 

 these veins diverge in three different directions, and at a depth of two 

 hundred and sixty feet in the Smith and Parmelee shaft the latter, two 

 are seventy feet apart. 



Smith and Parmelee mine. — This claim was wrought for the first 

 forty ieet as one vein. It there divides over a mass of country rock, 

 and, as above stated, the veins diverge continually at lower depths. At 

 the surface in many places, the lode in which this claim is situated ap- 

 pears to dip with the country rock, but deeper the latter becomes almost 

 horizontal, while the vein continues its course downward as a true fis- 

 sure vein. At a depth of two hundred and sixty feet work was con- 

 ducted on the north vein, and a cross-cut Avas run out to the Gregory 

 lode in which there are one hundred and sixty feet of good ore which 

 has not yet been stoped out. The level in the Gregory vein has been 

 run east and west eighty feet. 



The breadth of the vein is, on the average, two feet, and of the iron or 

 pay streak, ten inches. The average assay value of the ore is one hun- 

 dred and twenty-five dollars per ton. It is sold to Professor Hill. At 

 a depth of four hundred and fifty feet there is another level run, and 

 this is as deep as the Gregory vein j^roper has been wrought. In this 

 level the appearance of the ore is unchanged. The mill and machinery 

 had been overhauled and put into better condition than ever before, and 

 the management having fallen into new hands everything seemed to be 

 conducted with an energy and attention to details which cannot fail to 

 make the enterprise a success. Twenty-five five-hundred-pound stamps 

 were at work, the hoisting machinery was in good order, ventilation 

 perfect, and the stalls in good condition. The cost of these large tim- 

 bers is enormous, and out of all proportion to the other appointments of 

 the mine. One of them, eight to ten feet long, will cost ten dollars 

 before it is in its place. 



Briggs^s mine. — This claim adjoins the Smith and Parmelee, and is 

 ow^ned and superintended by the brothers Briggs. Everything about 

 the mine and mill indicated that work Avas being conducted with intel- 

 ligence and care. The condition of ladders and cribbing was good. I 

 will venture to make one suggestion of an improvement which will 

 apply to the majority of all the mines here, as well as to this one. In 

 some cases, where deep shafts or other dangerous places must be jDassed 

 by the miners in their passage to and from their Avork, a proper regard 

 for their safety should induce the company to see to it that every acci- 

 dent which could endanger life is guarded against.* In some few cases 

 this has been overlooked. The Gregory and Briggs veins, together at 

 the surface, are fifty feet apart at a depth of four hundred and fifty feet. 

 The distance between the wall rocks varies from four to eighteen feet. 

 The appearance of the ore improves, the lower the vein has been fol- 

 lowed. 



At the bottom of the shaft, the Gregory vein widens out to eight feet, 



* An accident has since occurred in this mine by which three men were killed. 



