GOLD MmiNG IN COLOEADO. 533 



have been already noted in connection with the other lodes, but the pyritous 

 ore is more exclusively iron rather than copper pyrites; in fact, the small 

 proportion of the latter, at least in the Ophir, is very marked, and the iron 

 pyrites is not only gold-bearing but the Ophir ore carries more silver than is 

 generally associated with the ores of the district similar to these in other 

 respects, the average assay of the first-class ores sold at the Smelting Works 

 showing about 6 ounces of fine gold and 12 ounces of fine silver to the ton. 

 The ground is generally hard, requiring the aid of powder for its removal. 

 Very little of it can be picked down. The mine is opened by means of two 

 shafts, one at 125 feet from the eastern boundary of the property, the other 

 about 60 feet further west. Both of these shafts have reached a depth of 

 about 600 feet. The upper part of the mine was not worked by the present 

 owners and little or nothing is known now of the distribution of ore in the 

 ground taken out ; a considerable portion of the mine was poor and is left 

 standing, but nearly all above the 467-foot level is regarded as exhausted of 

 its valuable contents. The earlier owners worked out what they found with- 

 out much attempt at regular methods, and the first level driven as a prepara- 

 tion for back-stoping was carried forward by the present management at a 

 depth of 467 feet. Sixty feet below that another level was driven nearly the 

 entire length of the property and stoping carried on above it, while the east 

 shaft was sunk with the view of opening another level below in advance of 

 the needs of the mill. 



The two shafts are well timbered up and the eastern one is divided into 

 two compartments, one of which is devoted to hoisting, the other to the pump 

 and ladder-way. The pump, which is in two lifts, the lower one being at 467 

 feet deep, has 8-inch plungers, but the column is a 6-inch pipe, chosen of this 

 diameter to save freight. The water is raised from the bottom to the pump- 

 cistern in buckets ; the quantity is comparatively slight ; although this mine 

 is the deepest on the lode, the pump seldom runs more than two hours per 

 day. 



Hoisting is done in both shafts by iron buckets that are operated in the 

 manner already described as common in the Territory, by means of belting 

 and a friction-brake. The engine for driving the pump and operating the 

 winding apparatus is at the east shaft, and has a 9-inch cylinder. There is 



