CHAPTER HI. 



PRESENT SUBTERRANEAN WATER, 



WATER ENCOUNTERED IN MINING OPERATIONS. 



The Desert Queen shaft is 1,114 feet deep. It is perfectly dry, except at 

 the contact of the rhyolite and later andesite at a depth of a little over 300 feet, 

 where water following the contact zone was encountered. Along the watercourse, 

 which strikes north and south and dips 60 east, the rocks have been altered to 

 clay. Fragments of rocks in the channel show fresh pyrite on cracks, indicating 

 that these waters have deposited the sulphide. The water tasted very slightly 

 astringent; when first encountered it was tepid, but afterwards it became cool. 



The water was encountered in October, 1902, when the flow was about 3,000 

 gallons per twenty-four hours; it gradually diminished, till in six weeks it was 

 only 250 gallons, and later in the fall shrunk to 100 gallons. In the spring, 

 however, the flow increased to 250 gallons, and the water was cold. 



These data show that the water of the contact zone was contained in a 

 comparatively small basin or reservoir, whose surface was quickly lowered, and 

 the increase in the spring with the melting snow indicates that this basin is fed 

 from the surface. 



The Halifax shaft encountered water below 600 feet; at 640 feet the flow, 

 on July 17, 1903, was estimated by the manager at 12,000 to 15,000 gallons a 

 day, and on July 20 at 20,000 to 30,000, so it was necessary to stop work pending 

 the arrival of a pump. 



A similar copious flow was encountered in the Rescue, situated just south of 

 Mizpah Hill. At a depth of 250 feet an estimated flow of 6,000 to 7,000 gallons 

 a day was encountered along a crevice in the rhyolite, striking northeast and 

 dipping southwest at an angle of about 40. Below this there was no water till 

 a depth of 300 feet was reached, at which depth more water came in along 

 fractures striking northwest and dipping northeast. When this second water zone 

 was struck the supply of water in the first was reduced, showing that the two 

 zones are connected. On July 10, 1903, the combined flow from the two was 

 about 8,000 gallons; on July 17 it was estimated by the manager to be from 

 25,000 to 30,000 gallons. 



The Gold Hill shaft was dry to the bottom (490 feet), but a drift running 

 northward from the bottom struck water in fractures a short distance from the 



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