416 GEOLOGY AND GOLD DEPOSITS OF THE CRIPPLE CREEK DISTRICT. 
WATER LEVEL AND OXIDATION. 
The Vindicator mine forms part of a drainage basin, in which are included 
the Findlejr, Hull City, Lillie, and Golden Cycle. First water was found on the 
500-foot level, where at one time 100 gallons a minute were pumped. At 1,200 
feet below the collar it was necessary to pump 500 gallons a minute. At the pres¬ 
ent time (1904) no pumping is done and the water stands a little below the 900-foot 
level. The shaft between the 800 and 1,200 foot levels was entirely dry, even dusty, 
and so were the drifts until the veins were crosscut, when a big stream issued. 
The water is potable, and for some time the supply for the town of Victor was 
drawn from the Vindicator pumps. All the veins are oxidized down to the 500- 
foot level, and part of the rock is reddish brown and soft. Even on the 800-foot 
level some of the veins are still oxidized. 
GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 
As may be seen on the geological map, the Vindicator mine lies in the north¬ 
eastern part of a rounded area of syenite surrounded by breccia, and this syenite 
in its northern part connects by gradual transition with a branch of the Altman 
area of latite-plionolite. Short crosscuts to the northeast on the 500-, 650-, and 725- 
foot levels show that the breccia lies almost in the foot wall of No. 1 vein near 
the Vindicator and Lillie shafts, as it does near the surface. At the Sigel vein, in 
the extreme southeast part of the property, the rock is a very much brecciated 
latite-phonolite. A main contact between the massive rock and the normal breccia 
lies very close to No. 2 shaft and the Hull City line. A rock from level 6 of No. 2, 
30 feet west of the shaft, proved to be a breccia, as is all of the country rock in the 
adjacent part of the Hull City property. Examination of rock sections has shown 
that some of the supposed massive latite-phonolite from level 12, a few hundred 
feet south of the shaft, is really much brecciated. The same applies to some speci¬ 
mens from level 16, northwest of the shaft. In fact, the normal breccia in this 
part of the district is very apt to contain a large amount of latite-phonolite, and 
it is often impossible to draw a well-defined line between solid rock and breccia. 
The principal rock appearing in the workings from one end of the mine to the 
other is a latite-phonolite of normal type, with large porphyritic feldspar crystals, 
while syenite occupies relatively small areas. To distinguish between these closely 
allied rocks is often difficult, and in many places they are connected by transitions. 
Still it is somewhat surprising, in view of the prevalence of the syenitic rock on the 
surface, to find such small bodies of it in depth. The best known mass of syenite 
is exposed on several levels at and just west of the shaft. On the eighth (500-foot) 
level there is a sharp contact between latite-phonolite and syenite 50 feet south¬ 
west of the shaft. The latter rock continues for 100 feet southwest and then 
appears to gradually change to latite-phonolite. On level 10 syenite, with transi¬ 
tions to fine-grained types, appears between the shaft and the Vindicator vein, 30 
feet southwest, but the crosscut does not extend farther in that direction. On 
level 12a very fine-grained latite-phonolite appears at the station, but changes with 
sharp contact to syenite, which continues for 300 feet southward and there again 
borders sharply on latite-phonolite. On level 14 a similar contact is well exposed 
