USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County Wisconsin, including its civil, political, geological, mineralogical archaeological and military history > Part 21
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Hacketts Diggings .- These mines are situated on Section 17, Town 4, Range 4, west. They have been idle for several years. Work has been recently resumed on them by the following parties: Hutchcroft & Pigg, and Whitehead & Co. They have now good paying mines in the sixty-five-foot opening. The annual product is about thirty thousand pounds.
Nip-and-Tuck Diggings .- Situated on the south half of Section 25, Town 4, Range 5 west. They consist of several east-and-west ranges crossed by north and south ranges. Very little mining is now done here. The parties are Selleck & Co., and Roberts & Co. The annual product is about twenty thousand pounds.
MUSCALUNGE DIGGINGS.
Situated on Section 26, Town 4, Range 5 west. Here are nu- merous east-and-west ranges, from a quarter to a half a mile in length, lying near Rattlesnake Creek. More activity is displayed here in min- ing operations than anywhere else in the district, about half of the ore smelted in the Beetown furnace being obtained here. In addition to the east-and-west ranges already mentioned, there are a great num- ber of small parallel crevices running nearly east and west and crossed by various quartering ones, forming a perfect network of veins and crevices. The following parties are operating in this vicinity :
Graham Mining Company .- This is a Milwaukee company who own and work a large tract of ground comprising the west half of Section 26. The workings are all in the sixty-five-foot opening. The following section of the Dewey and Maiden shaft is given which shows the position of strata from the top of the ridge downward:
Soil and clay 15 feet
Galena Limestone 38 feet
Tough, light rock, hard and flinty 2 feet
Opening from five to twelve feet high 12 feet
Hard rock with layers of flint. 65 feet
Opening (workings) 13 feet
Galena Limestone to top of Trenton
35 feet
Total thickness
180 feet
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MINES OF GRANT COUNTY IN 1876.
The two openings are here separated by sixty-five feet of inter- vening barren rock. The ground is drained by a level, about three- quarters of a mile long, run on the random of the lower opening, at an expense of twenty thousand dollars. It empties into one of the adjacent branches of the Rattlesnake Creek. It could easily be drained to the top of the Blue Limestone, by a level in the horizon of the Pipe-clay opening. A convenience in hoisting was noticed here which might profitably be adopted in other portions of the Lead Region. A six-inch hole had been drilled from the surface to one of the drifts for the purpose of ventilation. An artesian well bucket was then put on and all small stuff and wash-dirt was removed through the hole, thus saving a long and unnecessary transportation underground to the main shaft. The company has worked contin- uously here for many years, and now employs about fifteen men. The ground has been very productive; it produced in one year one million three hundred thousand. Its average annual production for the last nine years is estimated at three million pounds of lead ore.
James Thomas & Co .- This company has been working here for the last fifteen years. The ore is found on an east-and-west range in the sixty-five-foot opening. The diggings are dry and from 150 to 160 feet deep. Four men are employed, and the average product is one hundred and fifty thousand pounds ore per annum. The land is owned by Mr. Dewey.
Hutchcroft & Thomas .- Diggings situated 450 feet south of the preceding and connected with them underground, being the same opening, and have been worked continuously for many years. During the last year they have been idle, having been sold by the parties who operated them. When worked their annual product was one hun- dred and fifty thousand pounds.
Hutchinson, Dewey & Co .- Diggings situated on the southeast quarter of Section 26, east of John Thomas & Co., on the same range and opening. This party has been working since 1869, and has now a very good prospect. The average depth below the surface is 160 feet; in some cases it is 180 feet. They are connected with Adkinson Diggings by a quartering range. They have produced about three hundred thousand pounds in the last three years. Three men are now employed.
Adkinson Diggings .- Situated a short distance east of the preced- ing and connected with them. Access is gained to these diggings
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
through a level about a quarter of a mile long, emptying into the valley of Rattlesnake Creek. The level was run on a northeast crevice, which contained a large amount of ore, and was frequently intersected with east-and-west crevices. These diggings have been worked continuously during the last twenty years. During the last fifteen years the annual product has been one hundred and fifty thou- sand pounds of lead ore. Four men are now employed.
Showalter and Payson .- Diggings situated a quarter of a mile southeast of the preceding, and near the south line of the Dewey land. These parties commenced two years since and are now working an east-and-west range in the sixty-five-foot opening. Two men are now working here and the prospect is good. During the last two years the product has been seventy thousand pounds.
Arthur and Co .- Diggings situated 200 feet south of the preced- ing, on Mr. Arthur's land. This is a new east-and-west range discovered in the spring of 1876. A shaft has been sunk ninety feet to the sixty-five-foot opening, and a small amount of ore produced. The appearances in this new range are quite encouraging.
Ritter and Bock .- Diggings on northeast quarter of Section 35, Town 4, Range 5 west, on Mr. Ritter's land. This is a new east-and- west range, discovered in the summer of 1875. It is worked on the sixty-five-foot level. It is regarded as a good prospect, and has already produced twenty thousand pounds.
Loomis and Co .- Diggings situated on the land of the Graham Mining Co., in the southern part. This is also a new east-and-west range, discovered in August, 1876. It has produced about twelve thousand pounds. The mine is now in a condition to yield one thou- sand pounds per day.
The lead ore in the Muscalunge occurs in direct contact with the wall-rock, usually in vertical sheets, and without any of the associate vein minerals which are usually found in the other mining districts.
POTOSI DISTRICT.
The old ranges of the Potosi Diggings are included in Sections 33 and 34, Town 3, Range 3. Their general course is about north, 700 west, although some bear a few degrees more to the north. They numbered about thirty in all, which were considered separate and dis- tinct ranges; and, in addition, there were many smaller crevices, not sufficiently important to constitute ranges by themselves. Among the more important were the Long, Woolley, Gillett, Gilmore, Smith,
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MINES OF GRANT COUNTY IN 1876.
Polkinghorn, and Barbara, some of which were over a mile in length. The productive portion of these ranges is confined to the middle and lower portions of the Galena Limestone, none of the crevices having as yet proved as low as the Brown Rock. The ore is usually found in sheets of varying thickness.
Considerable irregularity exists in the formation of these crevices in the Potosi District, by which they seem to split up in the lower beds of the limestone, forming key-rocks and divergent crevices. An instance in point was seen in the diggings of Mr. Meredith, in the northeast quarter of Section 33, about three hundred feet south of the old Woolley Range, on the summit of the ridge. A shaft was sunk in the main crevice, which continued without change for sixty feet from the surface. At this point a hard key-rock, as it is called, was encountered, on which the crevice and ore-sheets divided, one part continuing vertical and the other slanting downward at an angle of about 450 for a distance of thirty feet. Here a very hard and smooth floor was found, on which the sheet was followed out by drifting for a distance of 130 feet, without reaching the end. No appearance of openings was observed. These diggings were struck about six years ago [in 1870], and have produced since then about four hun- dred and twenty thousand pounds.
ROCKVILLE DIGGINGS.
Here are a number of east-and-west ranges with flat openings, which have been worked with little interruption since 1840, and now furnish employment to about twenty miners. Mining is chiefly con- fined to the winter season. The following parties are now operating here :
Phillips & Walker .- Southwest quarter of southwest quarter of Section 13, Town 3, Range 3. These parties are working a new east- and-west range, discovered by them in the summer of 1874. The ore is found at the depth of about a hundred feet below the surface, in flat openings from fifty to sixty feet wide, whose length has not yet been ascertained; they have, however, been worked to a distance of three hundred feet. Here the lead ore is in what is known as the second opening, which lies about thirty feet above the upper surface of the Blue Limestone. Their annual product is thirty thousand pounds.
Dilger Mines .- Northwest quarter of northeast quarter of Section 24. This is a new range, discovered in January, 1876, and the works are yet confined to the first opening, which is here thirty feet above
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
the second. It has produced during the last year about forty thous- and pounds.
Hayward Range .- Southwest quarter of Section 13. It has been worked continuously every winter since its discovery in 1841, and has yielded in all between four and five million pounds, It is now worked by Messrs. Jackson & Calloway, in the second opening, which is here from thirty to forty feet wide. Its annual product is about one hun- dred thousand pounds.
Curnow and Pillow Range-Southwest quarter of Section 13. This range has not been idle during the last thirty years, and is still productive. During the last fifteen years the range has produced over one hundred thousand pounds per annum. Messrs. Nichols & Steph- ens are now mining in it, and producing twenty thousand per annum.
Emery & Davis Level .- Northwest quarter of northwest quarter Section 24. The level was begun in 1852, and is now six hundred feet long and drains the ground in its vicinity nearly as low as the second opening. It cost about twenty thousand dollars. The excavations here were of the nature of a quarry, several flat sheets of lead ore being found, interstratified with the Galena Limestone. While the level was in operation, the annual product was about one hundred thousand pounds. The level drains the Langstaff and Wiley ranges which were discovered about thirty years ago, and have been worked continuously ever since. Most of the lead ore is obtained from the first opening. The annual product is fifty thousand pounds. These ranges have been worked to the present water-level, leaving sheets of ore from twelve to eighteen inches thick, going down. The level should be run a few rods farther to connect with a north-and-south crevice; it would then probably drain all the ranges much deeper.
Stone and Bryhan .- Situated near the northwest corner of Sec- tion 1, Town 3, Range 3, on land owned by Mr. Seaton, about three miles north of the village of Rockville. The works are in the first opening, which is from eight to ten feet wide. They have been worked in the winter season during the last four years, producing annually between thirty and forty thousand pounds. They were formerly worked by Mr. Groshong, and were more productive. The mines are dry
Griswold Diggings .- Situated about a quarter of a mile south of the preceding. These are dry diggings worked in the first opening, which is here about six feet high and from ten to thirty feet wide.
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MINES OF GRANT COUNTY IN 1876.
They have been worked continuously during the last seven years, pro- ducing about sixty-five thousand pounds annually.
Henry Gillilan's Diggings .- These diggings are situated about three miles southeast of Rockville, on the Platte River. They are dry diggings and have been worked during the last four years in the first opening, which is here thirty feet wide and about six feet high. The annual product is twenty-five thousand pounds.
BRITISH HOLLOW DIGGINGS.
But little mining is now done in these mines. Thefollowing parties are now mining here :
Peak and Blair .- Northwest quarter of Section 26. These parties have also been working in the Craig Range, during the last summer [1876]. They have a flat sheet of lead ore about five inches thick, in the first opening, which here averages about twenty feet in width. The range has been worked during the last forty years. The product of the present parties has been about twenty thousand pounds.
J. Alderson's Diggings .- Northwest quarter of Section 26, Town 3, Range 3. They are situated on the Craig Range, in the village of British Hollow. This range was worked by a Cincinnati company for three years, but they abandoned it about two years ago. This company produced about three million pounds during their opera- tions. Mr. Alderson commenced mining here again in July, 1876, with a steam pump and has sunk four shafts. The workings are about one hundred and twenty feet deep in the second opening, and in the third, which is about twenty-five feet below the second. The mine has not produced much yet, as the time has been mostly consumed in prelimin- ary operations.
DUTCH HOLLOW DIGGINGS.
They are situated on the north half of Section 36, Town 3, Range 3, about two and a half miles east of Potosi. The following parties are now operating here:
Dutch Hollow Level Company .- Mining operations have been car- ried on here continuously for the last six years, excavating a level on or near the upper surface of the Blue Limestone. The level is now about half a mile long, and it is expected to reach the main shaft in about a month. When completed, the level will unwater all the Galena Limestone above it, which is here one hundred feet thick. It is ex- pected to unwater the Kendall and many other old ranges in the vicin-
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
ity as deep as the third opening. The level is not producing much now. During the year it produced sixty thousand pounds.
Rup and Son .- Northeast quarter of Section 35. This party has been working during the last six months in the Zug Range. The ore is found in the first opening, which is here about fifteen feet wide. The production has been fifteen thousand pounds.
Zug Diggings .- An east-and-west range, being the same range and opening as the preceding. Mined at a depth of seventy-fivefeet. Pro- duction one hundred and fifty thousand pounds.
Langstaff and Gillan .- Situated three-quarters of a mile north of the preceding in the creek in Section 25. The lead ore is here found in a flat sheet in the first opening, near the water-level and about thirty feet below the surface. Three men have been working here twelve months, and have produced sixty thousand pounds. In the Potosi District, including Rockville, British Hollow, and Dutch Hollow, the total production could not be definitely ascertained, as very little rec- ord of it has been kept. It is estimated at eighty thousand pounds per annum. Mining in the district is generally abandoned in the sum- mer for farming, and resumed again in the winter, in the lack of other employment. In this way, a large number of men are at work in the winter, each raising a small amount by prospecting, which forms in the aggregate the total product of the district.
FAIRPLAY DISTRICT.
The only mines in this vicinity which have recently produced any- thing are those of Black & Co., on the northeast quarter of Section 24, Town 1, Range 2, and those of Williams & Co., near the middle of Section 19, Town 1, Range 1.
Black & Co .- This property, which comprises in all about 240 acres, is owned by Joseph and Thomas Sparks. It has been known to be rich ground for many years, and to contain, besides the ore, an im- mense amount of water, which was the chief obstacle to be overcome. Previous to the operations of Mr. Black, it had been attempted by three different parties, at as many different times, but always with more or less loss. Mr. Black began work on it in 1871, by means of pumping, and continued to add pumps, engines, and pumping machin- ery at intervals. In June, 1874, there were in operation two steam pumps and two large lift pumps, with three boilers and two engines, one of them of about thirty horse-power. The company then contem- plated adding a large engine and machinery. It was estimated that
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MINES OF GRANT COUNTY IN 1876.
about two thousand gallons of water per minute were being pumped from the mine, and when the lower opening, which is thought to be about fifteen feet deeper, is reached, it will become necessary to pump about fifteen hundred gallons a minute. The mine is in the upper beds of the Galena Limestone, which is here present in its full thickness, and, indeed the first few feet of the shafts are sunk through the lowest beds of the Cincinati Group [Hudson Shales], as may be seen from the yellow clay with the characteristic shells, in any of the shallow pros- pecting holes in the vicinity.
The following section of the strata penetrated in sinking the pump shaft will give a correct idea of the formations here represented :
Feet. Inches.
Soil and clay bed
20
Pipe-clay.
10
Cincinnati Group
Bed of black clay 21
Shaly layers 10
Galena Limestone in thin layers .. 4
Galena Limestone -
Galena Limestone cap, in layers four feet thick gradually increas- ing in thickness to the bottom ... 30 Opening containing ore 30
Total depth of shaft 86
The course of the vein is nearly east and west, and five shafts have been sunk upon it, the deepest of which has reached a point a hundred and five feet below the surface. The opening now presents the appear- ance of a series of large rooms or caves, from fifteen to twenty feet wide and about fifteen feet high, for a distance of about six hundred feet. The vein was crossed in several places by bars of hard rock, one of which was sixty-five feet in thickness. The bars always caused a de- crease in the size of the opening, and sometimes nearly cut off the vein. In other places the opening contracted in width, in which case the ore usually occurred in a solid sheet, sometimes as much as seven feet thick by seven and a half feet high. In the caves or larger parts of the open- ing, the ore was found in large masses, weighing sometimes several thousand pounds. Two large masses were found which weighed re- spectively fifty thousand and twenty-seven thousand pounds. With the ore large masses of rock were found, mixed with loose dirt and a fine, dark clay. The sides of the opening were much washed and worn by water, showing a very regular stratification, with no appearance of faults or dislocations. Each of the caves in the opening had a chim- ney going down, apparently to a second opening, which has never yet been proved or worked. The upper part of the opening was some-
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
times filled with a large key-rock, having a crevice in each side of it. Sometimes, however, the key-rock was replaced by a flat cap-rock, containing crevices.
The appearance of these caverns was a sight not soon to be for- gotten. On the floor lay great masses of rock which had fallen from above, with clay continually moistened from the dripping walls and arching roof, and here and there the feeble light revealed rich masses of glittering ore.
Williams & Co .- This mining property is situated about three- quarters of a mile northeast of Black's mine and was operated by the proprietors, Thomas and Jeremiah Williams and Mr. O'Connor. In this ground the water is not nearly as abundant as in other mines. It is easily removed with a common lift-pump worked with a ten-horse- power engine; the amount seldom exceeds two hundred and fifty gal- lons per minute. Mining has been confined to the upper half of the Ga- lena Limestone. The lower clay beds of the Cinicnnati Group are also found here, but not in so great thickness as at Black's mine. The pump-shaft begins at the top of the Galena Limestone and is sunk to a depth of one hundred and six feet, at which point the top of the second opening is found, after passing through the first opening, which is sit- uated at a depth of forty-seven feet from the surface, and is probably identical with the first opening at Black's mine, which it much resem- bles in general appearance. The first opening here consists of a series of large caves or enlargements of the crevice, with chimneys going down to the second opening.
The ore was found in masses, mixed with clay and large pieces of stone, which had apparently fallen from the roof or cap. The lead ore, from its greater specific gravity, usually occupies the lower part or floor of the opening. The course of the range is very nearly east and west but bears a little north on its western end. The length of the drift in the top opening amounts to about nine hundred feet. It is about worked out at the western end, but still continues good at the eastern. Several masses of lead ore were found in this opening weigh- ing from fourteen to fifteen thousand pounds each. A singular forma- tion of ore was found in the top opening. The mine was discovered and opened in 1872, and since then has probably been the most pro- ductive and remunerative mine in the district, on account of the com- paratively small amount of water to contend with and the large amount of lead ore obtained, which has been estimated at two and a
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MINES OF GRANT COUNTY IN 1876.
half million pounds. Work was suspended on this mine in 1875, and hás not since been resumed.
Fairplay Level Company .- A stock company consisting of Messrs. Merry, Oliver, Rewell, Pier, and Natte, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, has been engaged during the last eight years in running a level on land owned by George Siddell & Co. This level is commenced on the east half of the south west quarter of Section 26, Town 1, Range 2, about three-quarters of a mile below the village of Fairplay. It has been run eastward a distance of twenty-two hundred feet, and thence south seventy feet, and has cost about thirty thousand dollars. One shift of three men is the usual number employed, and it is not expected that the level will be completed for many years. Its greatest depth below the surface is one hundred and forty feet, and forty-eight below the natural water-level. One milefurther east it will drain about sixty feet below the present water-level. This level will unwater the whole of Section 25, and will cut the following ranges in the third opening : Crabtree, Thompson, Engine, Carns, Bruce, Lost Range, Franklin, Sword, and Cave Range. The openings in these ranges are vertical; they were formerly worked and abandoned with lead ore in them going below the water. When these ranges are unwatered they will undoubtedly be very productive.
In the vicinity of Fairplay about fifty men find employment in mining during the winter; in summer the mines are idle. The greater part of the lead ore raised in this district comes from the mines south of the village, and, exclusive of the the two large mines previously described, has not exceeded fifty thousand pounds per annum for the last six years.
HAZEL GREEN DISTRICT.
The Hazel Green District exhibits considerable activity at present in mining operations, and the reports of smelters in this vicinity show that a large amount of ore is raised here. During the years 1872 and 1873, miners were attracted to other localities by the prospect of higher wages, which caused a temporary decrease in the production of lead ore; the mines, however, remained unimpaired. The miners have now returned and the mines have regained their normal produc- tive condition.
The most remunerative and continuously productive portion of the district is the property of the Hazel Green Mining Company, other- wise known as Crawford, Mills & Co. It is situated on the north-
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
west quarter of Section 30, part of the southwest and northeast quarters of Section 30, part of the southeast quarter of Section 19, the southwest and northwest quarters of Section 19, the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 18, all in Town 1, Range 1 east; also the northeast quarter of Section 24, and the east half of the east half of Section 25, Town 1, Range 1 west, comprising in all one thousand one hundred and six acres, on which more than four hundred and fifty dis- tinct mineral veins have been discovered and worked.
During the early days of mining, these grounds were worked from the surface as deep as was then possible, which was only about thirty- five feet, when they had to be abandoned. Pumping was tried on some of the larger bodies of ore, but as a general thing was found too expensive to be very remunerative, on account of the vast amount of water which the ground contained. In the year 1862, Crawford, Mills & Co. commenced their level from a point on Hardscrabble Branch, and have been working it continuously ever since. Its total completed length is about four thousand feet.
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