GOLD MmiNG m COLOEADO. 499 



Bohtail Mine. — The first of tlie above-named companies, the " Bobtail," 

 owns more than one-half of the developed portion of the lode, and is therefore 

 able to carry on its operations more advantageously, in some respects, than the 

 neigliboring mines, that are much shorter in extent. The upper portion of the 

 ground is said to have been worked in early days by various parties, who gouged 

 out what they could without method or regard for the future, and although it 

 yielded largely in rich ores, the present company, working the mine since 

 1864, have not only encountered a good deal of poor ground, but have been 

 obliged to spend much money and patient effort in providing proper machin- 

 ery and getting the mine into a suitable condition for economical operation. 

 It was originally opened by several vertical shafts, two of which have been 

 continued by the present company, and are now connected with an incline, 

 through which all the ore is hoisted to the surface. The accompanying sec- 

 tion indicates the general character and extent of the work. The hoisting 

 machinery is at the west end of the property, from which point the incline 

 starts and, going easterly in the plane of the vein, but descending at an angle 

 of about 20°, connects first with the vertical shaft near the center of the 

 mine, and afterward with the east shaft, about fifty feet from the east bound- 

 ary line. A carriage, operated by the winding machinery at the surface, 

 ti'avels on a tramway in the inchne, carrying the bucket, which latter, by an 

 ingeniously-devised contrivance, is lowered into either vertical shaft on ar- 

 rival at the point of junction of the shaft with the incline, and, on being 

 hoisted, resumes its place on the carriage, and is thus taken to the surface. 

 When connection with the east shaft is desired, the central shaft is covered 

 b}' a bridge. The east shaft, which is the deepest on this mine, had reached 

 a depth of 440 feet in the summer of 1868, and was then in progress of fur- 

 ther sinking. The central shaft was between 300 and 400 feet deep. Fur- 

 ther west, directly under the shaft-house, is another vertical shaft, not far 

 from 400 feet deep, but which had been a long time unused, even previous 

 to the suspension of other work, on account of excess of water. The vein, 

 in this part of the mine, is said to be pinched, or, as locally termed, "in cap," 

 and, at present, not very promising. It is not drained by the present pump- 

 shaft, and as the water is too abundant to be removed by the means at hand 

 the work of sinking was interrupted. 



