New Chicago No. 1 Mine, Ottawa County, Oklahoma, USAi

Regional Level Types
New Chicago No. 1 Mine	Mine
Ottawa County	County
Oklahoma	State
USA	Country

New Chicago No. 1 Mine, Picher Field, Tri-State Mining District, USA

New Chicago No. 1 Mine, Tri-State Mining District, USA

The New Chicago mines, No. l and No. 2, the New Chicago Mining Company, are located on two leases, No. 1, 160 acres, forming the NE. ¼ of sec. 28 and No. 2, eighty acres, forming the NE. ¼ SW. ¼ and the SE. ¼, SW. ¼ of sec. 28, of T. 29 N., R. 23 E. Mining on the two leases was begun in 1918 and the combined production from 1918 to 1928 was 85,811 tons or zinc concentrates valued at $3,507,415 and 14,770 tons of lead concentrates valued at $1,472,645.

The ore in 1927 was being mined from nine shafts. The shafts 3 and 8 were located on the NW. ¼ NE. ¼ sec. 28, shafts 5, 7, and 9 on the SE. ¼ NW. ¼ sec. 28, and shaft 6 on the NE. ¼ SW. ¼ sec. 28. The ore was being mined principally at levels ranging from 203 feet below the surface in some of the shafts to 214 feet in others, and in a few places, at a higher level, thirty-five to forty feet above the lower, at about 175 feet below the surface. The ore is typical jasperoid, in more or less broken “bouldery” ground, the broken ground being cemented with a mixture of jasperoid and ore. The much broken ground also contains many small cavities, a few large enough to be called caves, which are lined with ore mineral, dolomite and calcite. Straight or ramifying veins of dolomite, calcite and ore mineral extend throughout the broken ground. Mineralized veins of galena, or of galena mixed with dolomite, were noted in places which were obviously of somewhat later deposition than the prevailing jasperoid ore forming the principal part of the matrix or cement of the boulder ground.

The mine stopes worked from the above shafts have a usual height of six to fourteen feet, but in a few places they reach twenty feet. The width of stope is variable, usually from twenty to sixty feet, but in many places they are over one hundred feet in width. The slightly undulating roofs of the stopes are supported by rock left as pillars or by timber. The narrow runs generally follow the trend of the main fractures. “Limestone bars” extend through the ore runs in a few places. Crumpled shale lenses are intercalated between limestone strata showing the effects of pressure and folding.

The mill shaft, or shaft 1, is located in SE. ¼ NE. ¼ section 28. The main mining level there and in the western part of the mine worked from this shaft is 143 feet below the surface. The stope level rises to 135 feet in the eastern part of the workings. The ore-body is in the form of a broad flat run with stopes from fifty to 250 feet wide and from ten to fifteen feet high. The ore-bearing rock as stoped out has a flint or jasperoid floor and a ceiling of shaly limestone, “green lime” or “chloritic lime.” The ore formation is somewhat “bouldery.” Fracturing is common and the ore tends to follow the fracturing. This lease is overlaid with only twenty to thirty feet of shale (Cherokee or Mayes) below which is generally twenty to thirty feet of gray limestone of the Mayes formation. The ore-body at the 155- to 143-foot level is between sixty and eighty feet below the top of the Boone and is immediately under the “green lime” horizon. The ore is approximately in or above the oolite horizon.

Shaft 2 is located in the northeast part of the SE. 1/4, NE. 1/4 section 28. The eastern part of the mine workings is on the 143-foot level the same as that of shaft 1 but in the central and western part, the stopes are inclined, the ore-body pitching down either with the dip of the strata, or with the inclined fractures. One stope in following the ore pitches down to the north- west, from 143 feet down to 191 feet, where the ore is being delivered through an ore chute to a hopper, being dropped twenty-five feet to the 216-foot level of the stopes in the No. 3 shaft. Another stope pitches down to the west from the 143-foot level to a 170-foot level. The ore-body in both stopes pitches down along inclined fractures which trend N. 30° to 40° E. and N. 30° to 40° W. The ore-body in the inclined stopes is mainly broken “bouldery” ground with good ore filling the openings between the “boulders.” The stopes are from twenty-five to 125 feet wide and eight to ten feet high with a few “chimneys” twenty to forty feet high.

The ore south of shaft 4 is mined from the 188-foot (below surface) level and that north of the shaft from the 202-foot level, the north stope gradually pitching down to a 228-foot level 350 feet north of the shaft at the property line. In pitching down to the north the ore-body follows a local northward dip of the strata and also the general northeast and the northwest trends of the fracturing. An ore-body 600 feet southeast of the shaft is mined from a 194- to 201-foot level. The stopes developed in the mine workings of shaft 4 are twenty-five to one hundred feet wide and ten to fifteen feet high.

The Birthday mine, operated by F. W. Evans, is located on a twenty-acre lease forming the W. ½ NW. ¼ NW ¼ sec. 28, T. 29 N., R. 25 E. The mine was started in 1920 and from 1920 to 1928 the production was 7,516 tons of zinc concentrates valued at $316,459 and 1,902 tons of lead concentrates valued at $177,567.

The mine was worked from three shafts, the mill shaft near the central part, a north shalt, and a south field shaft. The underground workings are of relatively small extent and are not connected, and only the workings at the mill shaft and at the south field shaft were visited in 1927.

At the mill shaft the ore was mined at 222 feet and 234 feet below the surface, the stopes on the upper level, however, being partly cut down to the lower. At the lower level the stopes are about eight feet high and at the upper level about fifteen feet. The ore formation is the usual jasperoid breccia type, the ore at the lower level being in relatively “tight” ground and that at the upper in much broken and more open “bouldery” formation. In places, however, the bouldery formation extends through both lower and upper levels.

At the south field shaft the ore was mined at levels of 167 feet and 157 feet below the surface. The ore-body forms a flat run from fifty to 150 feet wide with height of stope of twenty to thirty feet. The ore-bearing ground varies from relatively “tight” to much broken “bouldery” formation. Where the stope at the upper level slopes down to the lower level there is a zone of much broken bouldery ground showing an abrupt bend or dip in the strata, being apparent in the roof or the stope as well as in the floor.