THE SILVER SANDSTONE FORMATION AT SILVER REEF, UTAH.
The Silver Reef Miner has suddenly developed into a geological critic, and with a stroke of its pen demonstrates "to all intelligent and unpre-judiced minds" that the two reefs of silver-bearing sandstone at Silver Reef are but parts of the same beds dislocated by a great fault.
The geologic opinions of our esteemed contemporary are, to say the least, misty; and its agreement or disagreement with the conclusions arrived at by Mr. ROTHWELL, after the most careful investigation, and stated in his report on the Stormont Company's property, is of so little consequence as not to call for any remark on our part; but the Miner sees fit to cite in support of its "fault theory" some well-known experts. It says:
"Mr. Louis Janin, who, as a mining expert, has few equals and no superior, expresses the opinion unqualifiedly that the Buckeye Reef is a faulted and dislocated portion of the White Reef. Mr. Charles Hoffman, the trusted mining expert who organized the Leeds Mining Company, was of the same opinion. G. F. Williams, M.E., former Superintendent of the Leeds Company's mines, was also of that opinion, while Mr. A.G. Bemis, the former able Superintendent of the Stormont Company's prop-erty, is unswerving in the belief that the Buckeye is but a faulted por-tion of the White Reef."
It is somewhat unfortunate for our contemporary that Mr. JANIN, who happens to be at present in this city, informs us that, never having given the subject that close examination which he considered necessary, he has no "unqualified" or definite opinion upon the subject. Mr. WILLIAMS, who probably gave the subject more attention than any other expert pre-vious to Mr. ROTHWELL'S examination, arrived at the conclusion that there is no fault, but that the reefs are parts of different beds. We are not aware of Mr. HOFFMAN'S opinion; and as Mr. BEMIS is not in any sense an expert, his opinion, whatever it may be, is of little conse-quence.
The results of Mr. ROTHWELL'S examination are thus stated in his re-port above-mentioned, and need no further remark:
"The remarkable general resemblance between the beds of these two reefs; the curious coincidence of a series of red and gray sandstones and sandy shales, with bands of greenish and red clay shales of the most marked characteristics occurring in precisely the same stratigraphical order in each reef, and, above all, the occurrence of fossil plants and silver ores in certain beds of similar appearance in each, naturally lead to the supposi-tion that these reefs are composed of the same beds broken off between the reefs by a great fault. A closer examination, however, reveals a cer-tain dissimilarity between the ore-bearing beds, and the most careful search has failed to find any data to confirm this theory of a break or fault between the reefs. I have, therefore, concluded that the beds form-ing the Buckeye Reef run under the White Reef," etc.
It was not, however, to defend these views that we have noticed the remarks of the Miner. That paper has of late been waging war with the Christy Company, and it has occurred to the brilliant and upright genius who "runs" our contemporary that the double-reef theory adopted by Mr. ROTHWELL is favorable to the property of the Christy Company, and that consequently Mr. ROTHWELL must have manufactured it to order for so much money—according to the more or less usual custom in some Western mining camps. It could not affect the ingenuity of the theory, nor detract from the courtesy and delicate sense of honor and honesty which dictate this infamous supposition, to say that Mr. ROTH-WELL did not examine or report professionally upon the Christy Com-pany's mines, or do any other professional work for that company.
It appears to us, however, that our contemporary is entirely mistaken in its appreciation of the effect of its "fault" theory upon the value of this and other property on the Buckeye Reef; for if there were in reality a fault, and the silver-bearing beds of the White Reef were parts of those in the Buckeye Reef, we should have a positive demonstration of the richness of the Buckeye beds down to the line of assumed fault, which would, in most places, be over one thousand feet. No such demonstra-tion now exists, and we should be inclined to consider the establishment of the fault theory as a benefit and not a disadvantage to mines situated on the Buckeye Reef. Of course, since the question whether it were an advantage or disadvantage to any particular property has nothing to do with the facts in the case, it had no bearing whatever on the conclusions of Mr. ROTHWELL or the other experts who examined the district.
