The Portland daily press., 1865-11-11
The Silver Mines of Nevada.


no vein has ever been worked OUT They in
"a cline downward perhaps at average angle OF
about d. degrees and increase in richness anu
size as the earth is penetrated, indicating Ihat
they have been thrown up from impenetra-
BILE depths below. ,.,lA~ ~.
The productions of the most celebrated Sill
STA yer mines of the world have been almost faba-
lous The Freberg mines of Saxony, from
1924 to 1850 yielded the enormous amount of
~ 2OSOoO tons of pure silver. These mines are
. still worked and are still productive, The
Hanover mines in the Hartz Mountains, pro-
,3q duced 100000 worth in 1854 iae
sf. s The Mexican mines have far outdone any
upon the eastern continent The San Avaseo
mines gave its stockholders s54,0O90OO in
three years. Other mines did nearly as Wen
For twenty years ending with 1862, the SILVER
~ mines of Mexico are estimated to nave yieio-
ed $4OO,OOOOO0. Mines that have been con-
stantlv worked for two or three centuries be-
tray no signs OF failure.
.sel.s' From 1s49 to 1862 the shipments of gold
from California to foreign countries, were
$40 - s75oOO0O0O, and the gross product for the
last sixteen years is put down at not less than
$1y050,000O0O
Incalculable as this product seems, the short
90 sA history of Nevada shows that the largest pro-
All, fits have been derived from silyer mining.
This State has been opened up to the world
only about four years, and yet leading New
York paper concludes an able article on its
silver wealth by saying: r.
'' ave believe that there is gold and silver
enough in the Sierra Nevada Mountains TO
- pay the national debts of the United States
and of England ten times But these
ass precious metals are in the mountains, and not
laying around loosely upon the outside of the
rocks" s5arvr s5g9D BRA
Bishop Simpson of the M. E. Church, after
visiting Nevada, delivered lecture in New
- York from which the following is an extract:
- 81 was there surprised to find the best pa
pers written on the subject of the resources
rtt and wealth of Nevada were from the pen of
the agent of Louis Napoleon saw again
~ the footsteps of the French Emperor there,
ii and thought he was looking to see what de-
gree of wealth could be found, in case these
" 4 United States should in time be Dissolved
That wealth comprises that which the nations
of the world never have yet contended for.
Were the debt of our nation to amount to 20
AgT 0o00O0,000 of dollars, there is wealth enough
there to pay it all end giveto every soldier who
returns from our battle-felds masket ofsilver
inplace of iron and when the iron-cadscome
back rom the scenes of victory before Charles
: 6E ton and Mobile, and have swept away thesde-
fences OF Wilmington; when the iron-cads
come back into our harbor,-there shall be
z silver enough left to pilates those boats more
heavily than they are plated with iron. 1 do
TIA mot speak now from idle speculation, but
speak OF that wealth from observation and ac-
tual calculation"
One of the Senators from this new State, in
asam a lecture in Cooper Institute delivered at the
.sl request of New York capitalists, estimated
that the "time is not far distaut when the pro-
duct of the mines tof Nevada) viii reach the
30 enormous sum Of 500O00,O00 per annum."
We have not time to collect or space to
print more upon this particular phase of our
subject. A few facts of more particular
character r n Z q
The oldest and probably best-known mines
of Nevada are those of Washoe District, Of
,3If which Virginia City is the leading town.
These mines have. been longest opened and
most fully developed -55s y
The official reports from some of the best
mines of Washoe, suchas could and Curry
"ophir' and Empire" show average yield
a of $500 TO the ton of ore The average yield
ofthe celebrated Comstock Lode is from $50 to
$40 per ton But though thelargestamount of
xLg silver hasbeen taken from this district owing
to the early discovery of its mines and the large
amount of capital invested in them, by far
the richest mines are found farther east--in
,IS the eastern portion of the State, in the Reese
River District, Lander County, of which re-
gion Austin, now containing from 5000 to TO-
600 Inhabitants, is the leading town. Of ores
" taken from the mines in this region, and crush
0e0, or 5000 per ton. About 81 tons crushed
at another mill, consisting of all kinds of ores
,751 taken from the mines, gave an, average yield
t4l4 of $23050 per ton. At the Little California
Mill at Austin, SOB tons were crushed from
Dec. 1884 to July 1865, yielding S23036 per
ton. -. ~
..aI. Col D. e. Buell. one of the discoveries of
these mines, built the first mill in Austin and
has run mill all the, time, is well inform
ed on the yield the ores Of the best mines at
Austin viii work, by mill process, and average
8 AL3 of$2J9 to $3.50 per ton & IL 81 90
To show how the Developments on Reese
a' b River have been made, and also to conclude
this article, We give extracts from letter from
Mr. j. 20. Vandenbosch, Vice President of
the first National Bank in Austin, in answer
Kew to inquiries OF a gentleman in San Francisco
He says writing Feb.7, 1854: 9iase s5.s.aTI.
l In answer to your inquiries about the de-
velopement and prospects OF the Oregon Mil
and Mining Company, and silver property in
and about AUSTIN take pleasure in stating
that little over two years ago. the parties
composing the present owners of this came
- here The country was entirely wild; no Set
- = Elements nearer than Virginia City, -Four of
us went to work at that time without any cap
sa8f itaL Good luck fayoredu We made some
rich discoveries and located the 'North-Star'
Oregon and Southern Light Mines. We
commenced building our mill in the spring of
v-ls6S lack of capital compelled us to proceed
very slowly, and we did not complete the mill
s8 G until last fall tlS64). Wecommenced to crush
some rock in our mill Jan. 6, 1864, but had
frequent delays. ), Until the completion of the
mil, we did not work more than two or three
,31gf tons OF ore per day. IA TTlf2 -yes
WORKING under all the disadvantages of a
new country, over four hundred miles distant
from San Francisco, or other place wherefrom
to get necessary tools, machinery. supplies &c
high wages, high frelghts, WORKING on horro1y
f edcapitaI at high Interests month. and oe
ten difficult to procure at all, we obtained tIe
following results - - ' wy
''Buit complete ten-stamp min,
with roasting reverberatory fur ID : |
naces amalga1nating apparatus, -
&C., at a cost of(coin) s12OOoOOo
Expenditures on North-Star = IVY
Min lcoinl LII 81. .s.,,r tseaii..c 80 100000
Expenditures on Ore ron Mine 80,
80 tcoin) y J y e. II n 100000
-ag Expenditures on Southern
Light Mine (coin) a. .ssois9 100000
- BLACKSMITH TOOLS teams office
fixtures, mining Tools and 81 2
~. r rsrsal glSksilver 0ro3r~r~, 100000