Silver Mining Terms-Part 2

 

Last month I shared some mining terms—some dealing specifically with silver mining, some for precious metals mining in general. I did to to introduced you to my novellas that are part of the new Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs series. Jubilee Springs is a hypothetical silver mining town set high in the mountains of Colorado. You may reach that post by CLICKING HERE.

Here are some more mining terms:

Mill Run - A test of quality of ore after reduction.

Ore - Any natural combination of minerals. Especially one from which a metal or metals can be profitably extracted. Commonly a mixture of one or more of the following: quartz, gold, copper, silver, sulfur, iron, and nickel.

 

Silver ore

Outcrop - That portion of a vein appearing at the surface.

Patch - A small placer claim.

Petering or Peter Out - The ore giving out.

Pocket - A cavity filled with ore, or a rich deposit of precious metal.

Quartz - Metal encased in rock.

 

Silver ore

Reducing - Separating from foreign substances; the reduction of ores consists in extracting from them the metals they contain.

Shaft - A vertical or inclined excavation for purpose of prospecting or working mines.

Slag - The waste left as a residue by the smelting of metallic ore.

Soft Carbonate - Silver-bearing mineral so soft that it can be readily taken out with a pick and shovel. It is usually sand impregnated with mineral, the mineral having been carbonated or oxidized.

Sourdough - A highly experienced miner who has prospected for many years.

Square Set - A set of timbers used for support in underground mining.

Stamp or Stamp Mill - Machines for crushing ores.

Strike - A find; a valuable mineral development made in an unexpected manner.

Stull - Platforms of timbers between levels for strengthening the mine by supporting the walls, and for storing ore and depositing wall rock and waste material.

Stull Timbers - The large timbers placed across the vein or lode from one wall to another, to support the lagging upon which the ore or waste is placed.

 

Stull and Stull Timbers

Sump or Sumph - A pit sunk at the bottom of a mine to collect the water. It can be the bottom of a shaft.

Tailings - Gravel, dirt, and rocks that is left behind after extracting the minerals.

Whim - A winding machine used for hoisting ore out of a shaft.

Whim

 Windlass - A device, smaller than a whim, used to raise ore from a shaft.

Differential Windlass

Winze or Wizen - A shaft sunk from one level to the other.

Here is the book description for my second novella in the Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs series, Cat’s Meow: 

     Catherine “Cat” Everett has lost everything. She finds and adopts an abandoned, half-grown kitten. Unbeknownst to Harold Calloway, the man she has been writing to in Jubilee Springs with the intent of marriage, and enduring the disapproval of the railroads who do not allow pets to travel in the passenger areas, she decides to bring the kitten with her.

     When she arrives in Jubilee Springs, Catherine immediately falls in love with tall, lanky miner, Harold. She wants to marry him, but there is one “meowly” little problem.

    

You may purchase Cat’s Meow from Amazon by CLICKING HERE.