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Monument Mine (1902) |
Last updated: 27.12.2008 09:45 |
From the 1906 Geology of the Cripple Creek District I have the following info:
------- MONUMENT MINE -------
INTRODUCTION:
The Monument mine, owned by the Monument Gold
Mining Company, of Colorado Springs, capital, $300,000, adjoins the Dillon on the north. It, too, is a small
mine, the underground workings being confined to the narrow and very irregular
area in the Monument claim that is not covered by older locations.
It is almost completely inclosed by the Granite claim on the west, the Portland
property on the north and east, and the Dillon
claim on the south.
The company was incorporated in 1898 and has operated the mine under the leasing system.
UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENT.
Access to the mine is through a vertical shaft about 550 feet in depth.
There are six levels at various distances apart.
LODE SYSTEMS.
As in the
Dillon, there are a number of narrow sheeted zones of no
great width or persistency. 'The Monument lode lies west of the shaft and runs nearly due
north and south. It dips about 80° E.
About 150 feet north of the shaft it
is joined on the east side by the Kurtz vein, which strikes northwest and dips about
70° SW. Neither lode has been followed for more than a few feet north of the
junction.
About 200 feet south-southwest from the
shaft, near the northwest corner of the Dillon
claim, is the Par Value vein, which strikes N. 8° W. and intersects the
Stonehouse lode.
In general there are in the mine two intersecting sets of fissure
zones, one striking a few degrees west of north, represented by the Monument and
Par Value lodes, and one striking nearly northwest, represented by the Kurtz and
Stonehouse lodes. The Kurtz lode has not been identified below the 285-foot level.
GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.
The general country rock of the Monument is the same granite that
occurs in the Dillon and Strong mines. The same "basalt" dike noted in the Dillon
passes through the Monument workings west of the shaft, running nearly parallel with the Monument
lode.
No phonolite dikes were noted in the workings, but the
dike which occurs in the Dillon east of the shaft may, perhaps, be cut in the
eastern part of the 309-foot Monument level. No attempt was made to determine this point at the time of visit.
FORM AND STRUCTURE OF THE ORE BODIES.
The ore of the Monument occurs as short pay shoots in bodies which are
structurally narrow mineralized sheeted zones in the granite. The sheeted zone of the
Monument vein is from 3 to 4 feet wide, but has produced very little ore. The Kurtz lode, however, which is similar in structure, contains good ore above the 285-foot level and has been stoped for a length of 125 feet on the 207-foot level.
It is noteworthy that very little ore has been found at the junction of the Kurtz and
Monument lodes, the ore on the Kurtz usually beginning a few feet away from the Monument. The Kurtz
pay shoot is the longest known in the mine.
On the 475-foot level a narrow pay shoot
has been stoped for about 100 feet on a sheeted zone which lies 70 feet west of the shaft between
the Monument and Par Value lodes and strikes N. 17° W. This zone of fissuring is apparently not known on the
level above.
Near the south end of this same level another pay shoot occurs in the Par Value
lode, extending north and south for 20 to 25 feet from the intersection of this lode
by the Stonehouse.
CHARACTER OF ORE.
There was no opportunity at the time of visit for studying typical exposures
of the ore. Although no good specimens Were seen, the original ore probably consists of
sylvanite or calaverite deposited in the crevices of the fissure zones. It is usually
more or less oxidized.
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