518     NOTES  ON  THE  NEW  ALMADEN  QUICKSILVER  MINES. 
railroad  and  cars.  This  level  enters  the  hill  about  300  feet 
from  its  summit,  and  is  driven  into  a  large  chamber,  formed  by 
the  removal  of  a  great  mass  of  cinnabar,  leaving  ample  space 
for  the  hoisting  and  ventilating  apparatus  employed  in  working 
the  mine. 
At  this  point  a  vertical  shaft  descends  to  an  additional  depth 
of  nearly  800  feet,  over  which  is  placed  a  steam  "  whim  "  with 
friction  gearing  and  wire  rope,  worked  by  a  steam  engine,  and 
by  means  of  which  all  the  ore  from  the  various  workings  of  the 
mine  is  conveniently  discharged  from  the  cars,  which  convey  it- 
out  of  the  level  to  the  dressing  floors. 
The  first  thing  which  strikes  the  observer  on  entering  the 
mine  is  the  liberal  scale  of  its  exploration.  Everything  indi- 
cates a  liberal  and  judicious  use  of  capital  in  the  development 
of  a  property  which,  upon  any  other  principle  of  exploration, 
would  probably  have  been  unremunerative.  We  note  also  the 
absence  of  the  usual  galleries  or  levels,  cut  at  regular  distances 
of  ten  fathoms,  common  in  the  exploration,  for  example,  of 
copper  mines,  and  of  other  metallic  deposits  in  which  the  ore 
is  confined  to  well  characterized  veins. 
In  order  to  reach  the  lower  workings  of  the  mine,  the  ob- 
server may  employ  the  bucket  as  a  means  of  descent,  or  he 
may,  in  a  more  satisfactory  manner,  descend  by  a  series  of 
ladders  and  steps,  not  in  the  shaft,  but  placed  in  various  large 
and  irregular  openings,  dipping  for  the  most  part  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  magnetic  north,  and  at  an  angle  of  30°  to  35°. 
These  cavities  have  been  produced  by  the  miner  in  extracting 
the  metal,  and  are  often  of  vast  proportions ;  one  of  them  mea- 
sures 150  feet  in  length,  70  feet  in  breadth,  and  40  feet  in 
height — others  are  of  smaller  dimensions ;  and  they  commu- 
nicate with  each  other,  sometimes  by  narrow  passages,  and  at 
others  by  arched  galleries  cut  through  the  unproductive  serpen- 
tine. 
Some  portions  of  the  mine  are  heavily  timbered  to  sustain 
the  roof  from  crushing,  while  in  other  places  arches  or  columns 
are  left  in  the  rock  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  principal  minerals  associated  with  the  cinnabar  are 
quartz  and  calcareous  spar,  which  usually  occur  together  in 
sheets  or  strings,  and  in  a  majority  of  cases  penetrate  or  subdi- 
