The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-21 00:00:00

WHITE PINE.

(Front the San Francisco Mining and Scientific Press.)
The ores found on the top of the high hill which
has recently become famous under paragraphic
headings of " White Pine"—the location of another
city of the interior—are very pure chlorides, found
in irregular deposits under a thin stratum of lime-
stone, and filling crevices, caves, and variously
shaped openings, in dolomite. Such is the most re-
liable information that his come to us. As chloride
ores are always surface ores, it is not at all impro-
bable, however, that the regular veins will soon be
discovered, leading down to greater depths, where
the ores will assume the character of sulphurets.
Richness, to $16,000 a ton, is nothing very wonder-
ful for chloride deposits, but the extent of some of
these deposits at White Pine makes their occur-
rence a matter of interest in the history of mining.
The Eberhardt deposit is from 40 to 50 feet wide,
and from 80 to 100 feet in length. The depth has
not been reported, but it is the opinion of the miners
that the distance in that direction is greater than the
dimensions horizontally. Similar rich deposits have
been found in all new silver mining countries, and
some of them have been described very fully, so that
we can make comparisons as to the nature and in-
fluence of the country rock upon such deposits,
and the character and relationship of the mineral 4

associated therewith. Surface infiltrations, such as
these will probably turn out to be, would not be
influenced, however, in any manner by the country
rock, except as to the existence therein of a ten-
dency to cave-formation, and the consequent offer-
ing of suitable receptacles for infiltration or preci-
pitation. Shermantown and Hamilton are the
names of two new towns in the vicinity of the Eber-
hardt and Keystone mines. This rich locality is on
the top of a wooded hill 9,000 or 10,000 feet in
height, having gradually sloping sides—distant
easterly from Austin 120 miles, and southerly from
the overland stage road (as ne.tr as we can learn)
about 45 miles. In the ravines where there has
been considerable denudation of the dolomite it is
observed to be 400 feet thick, and overlying a
formation of slate. Down in the valleys
where silver ores have been discovered they
are not so likely to be chlorides, but sul-
phurets and combinations with the snlphu-
rets of lead and antimony. how it hap-
pc ns that these extensive deposits of chloride are
found mainly on the top of the hill, and not in the
valleys, is a fair question for the local geologists.
As the dolomite is found teaming with fo4sils, there
will be no difficulty in determining the age and
relationship of this formation to other sections, and
possibly that of the slates as well. Great simi-
larity has been found to exist between the White
Pine and the Reveille district, which is more in a
southerly direction from Austin. Everywhere along
the borders between the dolomite range and the
granite or slate rocks the veins and deposits are
said to be found only moderately rich. It is not
probable that White Pine chloride deposits are con-
tinuous, either in a vertical or horizontal direction.
Locally, they may extend sometimes for a consider-
able distance under the limestone capping, like the
copper and iron tasenlauefer mined in many parts
of the world ; but nothing so continuous or regular
as these has ever been found elsewhere in the case
of silver ores. Speculation and adventure are more
likely, therefore, to reap the first rewards than
capital. The chloride is said so be mixed with a
little darkish silica, but to be otherwise very clearly
parted from the country rock. Assays go up as
high as $5,000 to $lO,OOO. The highest authenti-
cated assay that we are aware of was one made by
Boalt and Stetefeldt, at Austin, which reached
$16,000. As it would certainly not require more than
15 to 18 cubic feet to make a ton, some of these
deposits, it would appear, must range from 2,000
to 1,000 tons. The Eberhardt mine, it is said, has
already produced more ore containing $l,OOO to the
ton than either the Mexican Ophir, the Gould and
Curry, or any other of the mines on the Comstock
lode. Mining at White Pine is not entirely a new
thing. The mines were discovered three years ago
on the west side of a range of hills, and the build-
ing of a will was commenced last year. In June,
1867, an Indian came to the carpenters' camp, and
said they were net at the right place, that there was
more silver on the other side ; and as an evidence
of the truth of his assertion he showed a piece of
rock worth $2,700 to the ton. It was not until No-
venther that the elaim4 were located and the im-
portance of the discovery made public. The snow
in the canons does not disappear till May. Three
mill: are under way, and that of Captain Page will
be completed in less than a month's time. At
so considerable an altitude winter sets in about
the end of November. As wood is very plen-
tiful cabin quarters accommodation will not be want-
ing ; and the winter promises to be a gay one at Sher-
mantown, and Hamilton, and the surrounding
branches.

The Virginia Enterprise, Oct. 25th says " there is
no getting around it, the White Pine mines are
rich—wonderfully rich. All the letters received
here from there, and all the men who come in from
there, tell the same story. Parties who have exa-
mined the mines say that they are doubtless the
richest, ever discovered in any part of the world.
Mr. Wm. Woodburn, of this city, who spent some
days in the mines, says he believes there is enough
silver in the one small range of mountains in which
the White Pine mines are situated to pay off the
National debt—large as it is. His account of the
nature of the silver deposit agrees with that of all
others who have visited the mines, namely, that
it appears to be a vast stratum of limestone, as
wherever shafts have been sunk through this
limestone cap the rich ore has been found.
In some places the rich ore has been forced
up to the surface through crevices, while in
others shafts must be sunk to the depth of from
10 to 30 feet before the ore is found. The depth
of the deposit is not known, no shaft having been
cut through it. The Eberhardt Company, the of lest
in the district, have drifted in one direction a dis-
tance of 180 feet, with cross shafts 60 to 70 feet in
length, and all in a solid mass of ore worth from
$2OO to $20,000 per foot. On Chloride Flat, on
the same mountain, the same kind of ore has been
found by every shaft that has passed through the
limestone. All the miners who have struck ile'
have piled about their shafts large heaps of ore ;
ranging in value from $2OO per ton up to the fright-
ful figures we have ventured to mention above. We
might make out a long list of the lucky ones, but
as it might create an inconvenient excitement
among their poor relations we refrain. It is
enough to say that men who were about our streets
four months since without a cent are now worth so
much silver that neither they nor any of their
friends can calculate its valve."
The Rev. A. F. White, State Geologist of Ne-
vada, is examining the mines at White Pine. The
Virginia Enterprise, Nov. 18th, says :—" A corres-
pondent at White Pine writes as follows :—The
rich specimens that go abroad from here are from
the Eberhardt and the mines in that vicinity. It
is a fabulously rich mine. But little work has been
done in it, and yet there are now in sight many
millions worth of ore. I was through the mine to-
day ; saw it all ; but it's nu use for me to describe it
to you, for I can't do it, and if 1 could it wouldn't
do any good "

Fifty thousand miners are expected in the White
Pine district of Nevada to begin operations in the
spring.

REPEAL OF 7HE TRN URE-OF-OFFICE
ACT.

General BUTLER has, we presume, fulfilled his
expressed intention of pressing the repeal of the
Tenure-of- Office Act, when Congress met, hav-
ing before its adjournment introduced a bill to
effect that purpose. The telegram from Wash-
ington last Monday says the bill had been
passed by the House of Representatives on that
day by 119 votes against 47. All the mino-
rity were Republicans, and all the Democrats
voted with the majority, so we have the General
surrounded again by his old partisans, if it was his
bill they thus unanimously aided him to pass. The
Tenure-of-Office Act can be justified only on the
plea of an absolute necessity, if it can be justified at
all. Those who passed it allege that Mr. JOIINSON
openly threatened to set Congress aside in recon-
structing;theSouth, and io use his appointing power
to further his policy. Congressreplied by passing the
Tenure-of-Office Act, and Mr. JOHNSON met Con-
gress by removing Mr. STANTON, then Secretary of
War, the man the Legislature had more particu-
larly in view in enacting the bill. This drove Con-
gress into Impeachment, and Mr. JOHNSON but
scraped over the shoals without an inch to spare.
Though defeated in this move, the progress of the
fight answered the purpose of the Legislature, for
it disabused the South, as well as the PRESIDENT
himself, of the notion that he could contend against
both Houses, almost unanimous in their opposition.
This Act was the symbol of the quarrel between
the Legislature and the Executive ; the end of both
draws nigh ; and the desire is to get rid of it, as
Indians bury the hatchet as a sign of peace.
There is also the wish that the new Congress
and the new PRESIDENT may step on the stage
unshackled by the quarrels of their predecessors,
the Executive untrammelled by restrictions injuri-
ous to the public service. That a party existed
among the Republicans who deAred to keep the
Act in operation is evident from the division, and
it is well known that the extreme Radicals are far
from placing entire confidence in the President elect.
One of their leaders treated last New Year's Day, the
sixth anniversary of Emancipation, as one for humi-