278 GEOLOGY AND GOLD DEPOSITS OF THE CRIPPLE CREEK DISTRICT. 
Lincoln vein varies, according to circumstances, from a few inches to 30 feet in 
width. 
The gneiss is cut also by a number of nearly horizontal fissures with generally 
southerly dip. These fissures, as well as the more nearly vertical lodes, have 
influenced the deposition of ore, as will presently be shown. 
CHARACTER OF ORE. 
The essential constituent of the Abe Lincoln ore is calaverite, which occurs 
with quartz in little vuggy fissures in the gneiss. Fluorite occurs occasionally 
with the quartz. Some of the veinlets on level 3 contain galena, pyrite, and tetra- 
hedrite intimately associated with the pyrite. As a rule pyrite formed first, then 
tetrahedrite (when present), and finally quartz and calaverite. The galena appar¬ 
ently formed at about the same time as the quartz and calaverite, but is of sporadic 
occurrence. The ore on levels 1 and 2 is said to have contained very little silver, 
but on level 3 ore containing G or 7 ounces of gold per ton carries as much as 2 
ounces of silver. No ore was seen at the time of visit on levels 1 and 2, but it is 
said to have been practically unoxidized. No oxidation was observed on level 3. 
The ore on levels 2 and 3 as mined in 1903 and 1904 is of medium grade. 
PAY SHOOTS AND LODE STRUCTURE. 
Some ore occurred in the Gold Pass basalt dike above level 1. It is said to 
have been rich, but was found in small isolated shoots of an aggregate length of 
about 500 feet. None of this ore was seen at the time of visit and its mineralogical 
character is not accurately known. It was probably partly oxidized. The Lillie 
lode contained a pay shoot which just above level 1 was about 300 feet in length. 
The ore occurred in the veinlets of a narrow sheeted zone in gneiss. So far as known, 
this pay shoot does not extend for more than a few feet below level 1, crosscuts on 
the lower levels having failed to find even a distinct continuation of the Assuring. 
The pay shoots visible at the time of visit all occur southeast of the shaft, at 
the intersection of two or more of the fissures in the gneiss, wliich are individually 
rather indistinct and seldom very persistent. Although the ore bodies at these 
intersections are of irregular form, yet the ore is confined to the actual fissures and 
to the accompanying irregular fractures, and does not, as in the Ajax, Thompson, 
and some other mines, permeate the granitic rock. These fissures are as a rule only 
a fraction of an inch in width. For a distance of half an inch or so from the fissure 
the gneiss contains disseminated pyrite and is greenish yellow in color. Beyond 
this narrow zone the gneiss is normally fresh and unaltered. The walls of the 
fissures are usually lined with a film of pyrite and upon this are deposited the quartz 
and calaverite, sometimes with tetrahedrite and galena. The fissures are in some 
cases of microscopic width and can be traced only by the narrow zone of greenish 
alteration in the gneiss, which is always an indication of the presence of ore. A 
typical ore body being opened at the time of visit on level 3 occurs at the inter¬ 
section of at least three distinct sets of fissures. One set strikes nearly north and 
dips east at about 75°. It forms a well-defined zone of sheeting from 6 to 20 feet 
in width. Another set strikes northwest and dips southwest at about 45°. The 
