In West Calico, 2 miles west of the Waterloo, is the Langtry group of claims. The principal development is on the west end of the Langtry Mine. The Langtry may be called the anomaly of the camp, as it is a fissure vein pure and simple, or, more strictly speaking, two fissures.
The strike of these two fissures, which are 60 feet apart, is nearly parallel, but they will undoubtedly meet in depth. That on the south side dips northerly, while the other pitches toward the south slightly. Both stand at a high angle, and it is doubtful if they will converge inside of 250 feet from the surface. The veins are composed principally of a coarsely crystallized baryta with quartz, containing brown iron oxides, lead carbonate, ochre, manganese oxide, and chloride of silver. The average value of the ore was about 22 ounces per ton. The veins vary from a thin seam to over 10 feet in width on the north vein, having an average width of 3 or 4 feet. These veins occur in the “outside” or “mud” country, which lies along the flank of the southern slope of the Calico Mountains. The mud shales and argillaceous sandstones here lie nearly horizontal, the veins cutting them at an angle closely approximating 90°.
The low price of silver during the past two years has resulted disastrously to the mining industry in Calico District. The great Waterloo, for many years the largest producer, and employing not less than 150 men in mines and mills, was closed down, as it seemed foolhardy to exhaust the great ore bodies when the profit derived from the extraction and milling of the ores was merely nominal. For years these mines had kept the sixty-stamp Boss process mill and the fifteen-stamp pan mill at Daggett busy night and day, but in the spring of 1892 the stamps were hung up and the mines closed, awaiting better prices for silver.
The Silver King Mining Company (limited), of London, has continued to operate, dropping twenty to thirty stamps night and day, under the superintendency of William S. Edwards. The King Company owns or controls three important groups of mines in this district, viz.: the Odessa, the Oriental, and the Occidental. The Odessa made a record during the early history of the camp by the production of ores of high grade. The policy which was pursued in those “palmy days”—to gouge out the rich ore whenever it could be found, without regard to future condition of the mine—left most of the mines in very bad shape. The Odessa is now recovering under the new management, and the property is being systematically opened, and it is thought all the ore can be extracted. In this mine are stopes from which thousands of tons of ore have been mined, and there is not a stick of timber of any kind in them.