The Practical Gold Mining and Leasing company, a close corporation operating on Bull hill, has made a record that its officers may well be proud of.

1900 Map showing location of Practical G.M. & L. Co. ground in the District

Map of Practical G.M. & L. Co. ground in the District

The company is operating the Trachyte, Pauper and Hannah Britt mines, and is doing good work.

Under the management of the company, the Trachyte mine has been developed into a good producer that is furnishing a splendid tonnage of ore, and the record for the past year has been 7,000 tons.

Better work has been done in the last six months than the first part of the year. A new and complete plant of machinery, including an air compressor capable of furnishing power for eight machine drills was installed and is sufficiently large enough to operate the mine to great depth.

The first ore was opened at the depth of 100 feet, the first level. The ore was encountered at a point 200 feet north of the shaft. It was sloped on for twenty-four feet wide and was all shipped without sorting, averaging $20 to the ton in gold. The ore shoot was proven to be sixty-five feet in length.

In the second level, 100 feet below, the ore shoot had narrowed somewhat and, while it was but eight feet between walls, the grade had risen to $60 to the ton, which more than compensated them for the loss in the ore narrowing. The ore shoot in this level was proven for a distance of 100 feet.

Sinking was kept ahead and the third level was opened and the ore ready to stope, long before the second level was worked out. In the third level the ore was but five feet wide, the formation was harder and firmer, demonstrating it more in place. The values were the same as found in the level above, while the ore was proven for about the same distance.

The work of sinking the shaft on down another 100 feet, making the total depth 400 feet, was completed some time ago. A level has been extended and the vein cut, which means an additional 100 feet of stoping ground ready to start on.

It is thought that with development the 400-foot level will be just as rich, if not richer than any of the upper levels.

During the past year the development made in the draw, in which the Trachyte and Pauper is situated, has been remarkable and the great mines of the future, that is, the richest ore at the greatest depth, is looked for in that immediate vicinity.

Many of the known and proven ore shoots of that locality are converging into that section, and what the future development may reveal is hard to tell.

The rich phonolite dyke opened during the year in the Deadwood, the adjoining property, has been opened in the Trachyte and is now being prospected.

In the Deadwood the dyke is getting wider and richer in values as depth is gained, and it is only reasonable to suppose that a splendid ore shoot will he found in the same dyke in the Trachyte.

Besides operating the Trachyte, the company is operating the Pauper, through the Trachyte shaft, from which a considerable depth is gained with very little expense.

Up the hill is the Hannah Britt, another property being operated by the company. The shaft on the Hannah Britt has been sunk to the depth of 525 feet, and a great deal of drifting has been performed on what is now believed to be the extension of the Wild Horse vein.

It is the intention to thoroughly and systematically develop the Hannah Britt.

L. H. Allen

The officers of the Practical company are:

L. H. Allen, president and general manager

W. O. Bye, vice president

C. E. Bye, treasurer, and

O. A. Johnson, secretary.

The officers, together with George P. Garred and C. E. Miesse, form the board of directors.

J. A. McIlwee has charge of the underground work.

The active development of the property is under the personal direction of L. H. Allen, the president and general manager, who spends most all of his time in the district.

Manager Allen is a very hard worker. A man of ceaseless and untiring nature, he is ever around the property examining every condition as it appears, and he is quick to note any change that may be made for the better.

When Manager Allen took the active charge of the properties expenses were not being made. He commenced operations in a scientific manner and the result has been the opening of a good mine.