64 Mmma ikdustey. 



SECTION III. 



GENEEAL STEUGTUEE AKD MODE OF OOCUEEENOE OF THE OOMSTOOK: 



LODE. 



Fissures. — ^We have now completed a sufficiently detailed examination of 

 the interior structure of the lode to convey to the reader a fair idea of its mate- 

 rials and their mode of arrangement. The minutiae of description might have 

 been multiplied to an indefinite extent, each separate mining-claim furnishing 

 ample detail for an independent treatise; but, in order to compress this account 

 within as narrow limits as possible, the majority of the minor details have been 

 omitted. It is proposed now to review in a general way the interior conditions 

 of the lode, assembling the notes in a somewhat systematic manner. In prep- 

 aration for this, the reader is recommended to make careful examination of 

 the Atlas-Plates from 2 to 12. ' 



First will be considered the system of fissures. In the Gold Hill part 

 of the lode there are three distinct lines of dislocation, which define the lead- 

 ing outlines of the lode. They are, first, the two crevices which diverge from 

 a common surface-line and project downward through the propylite ; and, lastly, 

 the third fissure which, after indistinctly traversing the disturbed and altered 

 west country-rock, advances eastward in a nearly horizontal position, cutting 

 ofi" and terminating the westernmost of the two diverging fissures, then, 

 continuing still further eastward, gradually bends to a steep pitch, and in 

 depth communicates with the eastern fissure. Below 1,200 feet, then, the 

 Gold Hill division will be but a single steeply -inclined vein. These three 

 fissures are never planes, but present toward the lode a series of undulating 

 convexities. As a group they trend with a certain general parallelism, 

 occasionally converging toward each other, and in the case of the Gold Hill 

 mines bending westward concentrically around Gold Eavine. The most 

 southern direction of the group of fissures is north 28° east. After continu- 

 ing this course, to the northern part of the Yellow Jacket claim, they sharply 

 recurve round the canon and continue to the Bullion, with a direction slightly 

 west of the magnetic meridian. 



From the Bullion to the point of greatest amphtude of the Virginia 



