312 GEOLOGY AND GOLD DEPOSITS OF THE CRIPPLE CREEK DISTRICT. 
The Excelsior lode in its typical portions is also a sheeted zone in breccia and 
has been stoped above the adit level. The northernmost fissure of the zone is regu¬ 
lar and persistent, so that the lode has a fairly definite hanging wall. On the adit 
level some isolated bodies of ore have been stoped from the Excelsior at points 
where it is intersected by one or more subordinate north-south fissures. 
The pay shoot wo ked in the Virginia M. lies just west of the line of the Ana¬ 
conda lode, apparently at the point where the Virginia M. is intersected by the Work 
lode. The Virginia M. here consists of two narrow" sheeted zones a few feet apart, 
in both of which small pay shoots occur. The one now being exploited is in the 
southern branch. The ore body is about 80 feet in length and pitches w-est. The 
width of the pay shoot is only 6 inches, but the ore is of high grade. It contains 
fluorite and calaverite, the latter partly oxidized to free gold. 
The Ivittie M. or Matoa lode as seen on the adit level is a zone of crushed 
and altered rock from 1 to 2 feet wide. In places it contains considerable kaolin, 
but elsewhere is a porous and somewhat limonitic mass. Some good ore was 
stoped above from the portion of the lode in breccia, near the schist. There is 
no ore, however, on the adit level. 
The Howard flat vein contains no ore in the Anaconda ground, though it 
was very productive in the Mary McKinney. It is a regular sheeted zone in breccia,. 
For about a foot in width the breccia is divided into thin sheets separated by vuggy 
veinlets of fluorite and quartz. Above and below this thinly sheeted portion the 
fissures are separated by larger and larger intervals until the vein is no longer to 
be differentiated from the country rock. From the adit level of the Anaconda it 
is possible to crawl into the old stopes near the first level of the Burke and Fry 
or Howard shaft. Here it can be seen that the ore body in the flat vein, in places 
over 6 feet in thickness, occurred where the latter is intersected by nearly vertical 
fissures. The ore occurred in the angle between the Anaconda or No. 2 lode and 
the No. 4 cross lode of the Mary McKinney mine (fig. 32, p. 323), and the approx¬ 
imately vertical fissures are probably connected w ith these lodes. 
The Work lode has the same general character in the Anaconda as in the 
Mary McKinney mine. The sheeting, as seen on level 10, is very regular and 
closely spaced. Abundant fluorite is characteristic of this lode, but it contains 
no ore except near the point where it intersects the No. 2 lode of the Mary McKinney. 
On the adit level, near the point toward which the Anaconda, Work, and 
Virginia M. lodes converge, the breccia is traversed by a great number of fissures 
of various strikes and dips. Individually these fissures are of no importance, 
though many of them contain a little calaverite. Where two or more of them 
intersect, however, there is usually a small body of telluride ore. Several such 
pockets or bunches have been discovered and are profitably exploited by lessees. 
UNDERGROUND WATER. 
All of the Anaconda workings are above the present level of underground 
w r ater, as shown in the Mary McKinney mine, and are dry except for a little water 
coming down through the old stopes. 
