MINES OF BEACON HILL. 
353 
From the foregoing description it appears that the El Paso ground is cut by 
a number of fissure zones striking approximately N. 35° E. and dipping 70° to 75° 
NW. To this prevalent system the nearly east-west vertical C. K. & N. lode is a 
marked exception. 
CHARACTER OF ORE. 
The ore of the C. K. & N. lode consists of calaverite, which occurs chiefly in 
the vugs and narrow veinlets of the sheeted zone composing the lode. The calave¬ 
rite is usually associated with quartz and fluorite, and locally with pyrite and sphal¬ 
erite. The pyrite and sphalerite were apparently deposited before the calaverite 
and carry small values, $5 or $6 per ton being about the maximum. Free gold is 
rare in the C. Iv. & N., and the pay shoots contain practically no oxidized ore. 
Some low-grade ore in the C. K. & N. lode on level 4 shows an indistinctly banded 
vuggv aggregate of quartz and purple fluorite. The banding is apparently due to 
the replacement by these minerals of the very thin granitic slabs between the closely 
spaced fissures of the sheeted zone. 
No ore was being taken from the El Paso or Tillery lodes at the time of visit. 
Specimens of Tillery ore from level 1 near the old shaft show the occurrence of both 
calaverite and tetrahedrite, associated with fluorite as implanted crystals on the 
drusv quartz lining the vugs and narrow fissures of the sheeted zone. Some of 
these fissures show a nearly solid filling of quartz and barite, with pyrite and sphal¬ 
erite. These minerals belong to an earlier generation than the calaverite and tetra¬ 
hedrite. None of the ore formerly mined from the El Paso lode near the old shaft 
was seen. The ore of the large pay shoot in this lode northeast of the new shaft 
consisted chiefly of shattered granite containing innumerable reticulating veinlets 
of quartz. These small, irregular fissures are seldom completely filled, but are 
vuggy or merely lined with drusy quartz. The valuable constituent of the ore is 
calaverite, which occurs in the vugs and on the drusy surfaces. Galena, stibnite, 
and chalcopyrite are said to be occasionally present in the ores. 
The value of the El Paso ore ranges from about $8 to several thousand dollars 
per ton. In general $40 or $50 ore is considered good. 
PAY SHOOTS AND LODE STRUCTURE. 
The C. K. & N. lode is a typical sheeted zone in granite. The ore is rarely 
over 7 inches wide and is confined to one or more vuggy quartz veinlets. The ore 
forms practically one continuous shoot, which has been stoped from level 2 to the 
highest point at which pay ore occurs—namely, 100 feet above level 1 and 150 feet 
below the surface. On the east the pay shoot ends above level 1 at the zone of 
northeast Assuring already described, but between levels 1 and 2 it extends about 
125 feet farther along the El Paso dike. Toward the west the pay shoot extends 
into the C. K. & N. mine, the upper limit of the ore pitching down at a somewhat 
steeper angle than the slope of the hill, so that at the C. K. & N. shaft it is about 
200 feet below the surface. The length of the shoot on level 2 within the El Paso 
ground is nearly 800 feet. No stoping had been done on levels 3 and 4 at the time 
of visit, though recent work is reported to have shown large bodies of good ore 
