, 1860-05-31

! Tho Nn8hoc Silver n1fnc8.-.An Enfu-
v1rAbIc View.
The San FRANCISCO correspondent of the n.
] 7. Courier and Enquirer, under date Of May
| Alb, writes as follows:
| wroteyou SIX months ago, with some par-
ticutarity Of the Washoe fever. Washoe is the
new silver region on the side Of the Sierra Ne
vada, or on the road to and from Salt Lake and
Missouri. There il really little more nosit;vefv
known than there was then.
:, Altogether, suppose, fifty or sixty tons of
! the more valuable su'phurets hare been brought
to this city from the afashoe country since tue
opening Of the drst mine in September last.
The three companies wnose c]aima embrace the
whole OF the Comstoek lode, namely the Ophir,
the Mexican, and the Spanish Compaui. IS, hare
nov piled up at the mouths Of their drifts from
l,000 to 1.200 tons Of ore, which may be esti-
mated to be worth 800 per ton. None Of these
Companies have any men now actually engaged
IN the extraction Of ore. They give employ.
ment to few men, who are occupied in select
ing and breaking up the ore for transportation
to Saa Francisco;
l give you these details because efforts are
making to enlist New Yoik capitalists in yari.
GUS Washoe enterprises; aud specific and reli-
able information, will, believe, be acceptable to
many Of your readers. There are now in this
city eight or ten tons Of ore from the 0phir
mine, tor which 81 200 per ton have been Of
fered, and which will probably yield nearly
$1,000 per ton. But this fact, unexplained,
would oaly serve to delude persons contemp1a-
ting IN Investment in Washoe specutatiops
This ore is selected by careful and expert
miners from The mass Of that brought to the
surface, As worth smelling. 4 gent eman who
has just returned from the mines, md who saw
the men at work IN preparing the ore for the
San Francisco, informs me that this valuable
ore, Of nhlch assays are made IN San Francisco.
bears to the mass Of that which Is blasted out
and brought to The surface a. paying rock, the
proportion Of about one in one hundred.
The most suspicious fkct connected with the
"Washoe excitement" is, that 60 little work has
been done there, and such meaere results OBJ.
tanned. The operations in that region since its
discovery have been chiefly confined to tsur
face mining" which is explained to be, marking
the Recorders onics, and selling them out to
people who have money to buy with In truth.
the transactions up to this tue hare been yery
similar to the speculations in town lots and
Western lands, so rife twenty years ego Nor
has there been any such mad and precptate
migration to this mining district as was anpre-
headed. The seaaou has been very severe
one The mountain passes have been filled with
snow, and it has been impossible to transport
provisions or mining tools for the use OF a con-
siderable population. ardent California statl-
clans predicted q loss to this State during the
current gear Of tiftr thousand men who would
be carried of by the "Washoe fever" Not
more than fire thousand people age now in the
valleys comprising the silrer region, and the
number returning Is thought to be greater than
that going over.
In ny individual opinion Washoe is a bubble
which is already pricked; aud although it is
possible TINT capital may extract a larceamouut
Of metal from such lodes as that OF the Comstock
discovery, l Jet anticipate no considerable re.
suits from operations upon eyen that basis,
1t seems to be concsded that there are no re-