206 GEOLOGY AND GOLD DEPOSITS OF THE CRIPPLE CREEK DISTRICT. 
The slope length is subject to great variations. In small shoots it may be but 
a few feet, while in the majority of ordinary ore bodies characteristic of the camp 
this dimension ranges from 50 to 300 feet. In exceptional cases, as in the Elkton 
and Mary McKinney veins, the stope length is 1,700 or 2,000 feet. Owing to the 
prevailing steep pitch there is little difference between the breadth and stope 
length. The pitch in the great majority of cases is steep, ranging from 45° to 90°, 
and is generally northward, but there are also a number of southward-pitching 
shoots. In some mines adjoining veins have shoots of opposite pitch. Thus in the 
Midget mine the Cobb ore shoot pitches 45° NE., while in the Bonanza King vein 
the pitch is 60° SW. A south- 
CNOSS SECTION LONGITUDINAL SECTION J ., , . , , . . „ . 
ward-pitching shoot is also found 
in the Hoosier, Ironclad, Pinnacle, 
and Joe Dandy mines. Reversal 
of pitch is sometimes observed. 
In the C. O. D. mine the shoot, 
with an average horizontal length 
of 100 feet, pitches 40° S., but 
below level 6 turns and becomes 
inclined northward, at the same 
time decreasing in value. A simi¬ 
lar case was observed in the Gran¬ 
ite mine, where the principal shoot, 
with a greatest stope length of 350 
feet, pitches north from level 5 to 
level 7, while below it turns south- 
FI °- “-Diagram illustrating use of terms in descriptions of ore wftrd The greategt thickness i s 
30 or 40 feet. In case there are sev¬ 
eral shoots in one lode, these do not necessarily have the same form nor the same pitch. 
The pitch length of the shoot varies greatly. An average in the more impor¬ 
tant mines would probably be 500 feet, but this is very considerably exceeded in 
many cases. The Lillie-Yindicator and the Stratton’s Independence-Port land 
shoot (of the Independence No. 2 vein) are the longest actually proved, having 
attained 1,500 feet. The Cheyenne shoot of the Isabella mine is 1,250 feet long, 
and the same figures are recorded in the Wild Horse shoot. In other mines, like 
the Mary McKi nn ey and the Elkton, the true length is as yet undetermined. It 
is necessary to distinguish between absolute and truncated pitch length, the latter 
term applying to those shoots which have been truncated by erosion. The Chey¬ 
enne shoot of the Isabella mine is one of the few larger ones in which the absolute 
length has been measured. 
GENERAL FORM OF THE SHOOTS. 
The preceding discussion has assumed that the ore shoots have the normal 
elongated form which is ordinarily characteristic of them. There are, however, many 
exceptions, as will be seen from PI. XIX, which represents the outlines of a 
great number of Cripple Creek ore shoots. Ordinarily the ratio of pitch length 
and breadth for the ore shoots varies from 2 : 1 to 3 : 1. In the ore shoots which 
