222 
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY OE SILVERTON QUADRANGLE, [bull. 182. 
during the preceding year it had averaged about $32 per ton. The 
decrease in the price of silver was already affecting the profits of the 
company. In 1892 the ore raised amounted to 14,291 Ions, which 
realized approximately $247,232, or an average of only about $17.40 
per ton. The cost of mining was about $13 per ton. This great 
decrease in value was due not only to general fall in the price of sil- 
ver, but to a falling off in the grade of the ore. The shaft had been 
sunk to the tenth level, but no important bodies of ore were discov- 
ered in the 200 feet between the eighth and tenth levels, and the prod- 
uct was chiefly from the nearly worked-out stopes of the upper levels, 
from No. 3 to No. 7. In 1893 the shaft was carried down 136 feet 
below the tenth level and a crosscut started on the eleventh level. 
The ore raised amounted to 7,280 tons, which sold for $18.40 per ton. 
The water now pumped from the mine amounted to 60 gallons a min- 
ute. In 1894 a large quantity of ore was extracted, chiefly from the 
ninth to the twelfth levels, of which the greater part, being low grade, 
went to the Silverton matte smelter, then beginning operations. In 
1895 the maximum tonnage for an} 7 year — 14,833 tons — was extracted 
from the mine, but the average value was lower than ever before. 
The annual tonnage, average sales value of the ore per ton (gross 
value less cost of treatment), average cost of mining per ton, and 
amount of dividends paid, covering the eight years in which the mine 
was in most active operation, are shown in the following table, com- 
piled from the annual reports of the directors of the coni{)any: 
Tonnage, ore values, cost of mining, and dividends of Guston mine. 
Year. 
1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
1892... 
1893 
1894 
1895 
Total 
I Average 
Ore raised.! sale value 
per ton. 
Ton: 
315 
,882 
69. 127 
$363.25 
131.50 
109.80 
70. 65 
17.40 
18.40 
12.80 
10.70 
a 91. 81 
Average 
cost of 
mining per 
ton. 
Amount of 
dividends 
paid. 
$53. 50 
$77, 941. 90 
32.60 
181,875.00 
32.25 
315,250.00 
18.90 
426,800.00 
13.10 
146, 712. 50 
17.30 
9. CO 
10.20 
— I- 
a23.43 1,148,579.40 
a Average. 
In 1897 the mine was compelled to cease operating, the low grade of 
the ore and the decline in the value of silver having acted together 
to render further work unprofitable. The total output since 1888 has 
considerably exceeded $2,500,000, of which nearly half was distributed 
in dividends. In all, 14 levels had been worked and a depth of nearly 
1,300 feet attained. To free the mine from water at this depth the 
pumps were required to raise over 100 gallons a minute and great care 
