The Kennecott Mines
"Lunch at Bonanza," Chapter 21, "Legacy of the Chief," pt 6 |
ABOVE: Upper Mother Lode camp in Potter Gulch |
“We will continue to extend the Jumbo
incline downward, as there is still some remote likelihood of ore-body
extensions at still lower levels.
“The Bonanza has been explored to the limits of the Mother Lode
boundary. It has been fully prospected. We now consider this mine as
essentially done. Instead we will concentrate our greatest efforts in
the adjacent Mother Lode property. The Mother Lode incline will be
extended, possibly another thousand vertical feet, since this area
remains the most promising.
“Also, the upper reaches of the old workings on the McCarthy Creek side
--the Marvelous vein--needs to be fully opened and explored. You will be
directed soon to submit plans for a small-scale operation in that area.
Although I personally hold little hope that we will find anything of
significance there, we need to fully prospect that area so we can assure
our shareholders that all possibilities of finding new ore-bodies have
been exhausted.”
“Having said that, it is my personal feeling that the end of the mine is
now in sight. I believe this is obvious to all of you fellow engineers.
The quality and quantity of the ore below the 1,252 stope is not
encouraging. The trends are discouraging. I will recommend to the board
that we downgrade this mine to secondary status. It is time to look
toward implementing a plan of full scale retreat in advance of closing
our interior Alaskan operations and shutting down our railroad."
BELOW: McCarthy Creek downstream from the Mother Lode claims, looking south. |
No comments:
Post a Comment