There were eight working-shafts, each about 200 feet deep,
which, with the lower entrance or portal, gave sixteen working faces.
Diamond drills were used at the lower heading requiring power; the other
fifteen headings were driven by hand-work. It was uncertain how much water
would be encountered; but from the location, it was evident that a large
quantity might be struck in any shaft, and hence it became necessary to
have ample power at hand at each opening, in readiness for such an
emergency. A pipe main was laid along the general line of the tunnel, with
its pen-stock 285 feet vertical above the surface at the upper shaft, and
549 feet above the lowest shaft. It was made of single riveted sheet-iron,
of No. 14 (Birmingham) gauge, in lengths of 20 feet, put together
stove-pipe fashion, with the joints made tight by cloth tarred strips and
pine wedges. This pipe had a diameter of 15 inches at the pen-stock,
diminishing from this to 13, 11, and 7 inches at its lower end. From it,
short branches, 7 inches in diameter, were extended to the several shafts.
It was in one place carried across the stream by a light suspension
bridge, some 150 feet long, the trunk of a tree on each side forming a
convenient tower. The aggregate length of the main and branches was 9,960
feet, with some 2,500 feet additional, for the branch to the diamond
drills.
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