S8
GOLD MINING IN ALABAMA.
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ore is less than 1 per cent. Assays of concentrates have shown from $90 to over $600 per ton.
A few years ago a complete and well-constructed 10-stamp mill of Western pattern (Fraser and Chalmers) was erected on the property about 700 feet east of the outcrop. A vertical shaft was started in the mill house with the object of cutting the vein in depth and hoisting the ore direct to the grizzly and crusher, situated at the top of the building. This shaft was sunk to a depth of 50 feet and then abandoned for lack of funds. In the spring of 1895 the property was leased to the Fair Mining and Milling Company of Chicago, which began operations by sinking three (3) vertical diamond drill-holes. The first of these was driven to a depth of 205 feet without cutting ore. The cores showed granite at a depth of 55 feet, which alternated with the garnetiferous country schists to the bottom of the hole. The second hole, bored about 150 feet east of the old workings to a depth of 130 feet, also failed to reach the vein. The country schists were passed through at 60 feet, below which they alternated with granite. The third hole, only 80 feet east of the old workings, was drilled to a depth of 70 feet. After passing through the country schists, granite was encountered at a depth of 47 feet, immediately below which the quartz-vein was found 12 inches in thickness; below that a layer of soft gouge, and below that garnet-schist and granite. A working shaft was started at this point.
In gold quartz-veins of this size the result obtained by diamond drill borings might often be misleading, as the gold-bearing vein can at times be distinguished from other quartz only by its gold contents; about this the drill-core, and still more the cuttings used as assay samples, can give no reliable information. However, such explorations may disclose other facts of interest, as, for instance, in this case the discovery of granite overlying the vein in depth, which may give a clue to the formation of the vein and more intelligently direct search for it.
The prospecting work at this mine was done with a small Sullivan drill (f-inch core). The drill runner furnished by the Sullivan Diamond Drill Company, of Chicago, received $90 per month. The cost of underground labor in this district is $1 per day and for top labor 80 cents to $1; cord wood, 75 cents per cord; freight to Heflin (by wagon), 14 miles, 20 cents per 100 pounds.
Xear the center of this county, at Wedowee, some placers have been operated.
The Goldberg district lies in the extreme western part of the county, running partially into Clay county near Abner. Attention has been paid in this direction almost entirely to placer mining along the bottom of Crooked creek. A very considerable amount of prospecting has also been done on the vein formations, but no regularly producing mines
