Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-10
NEVADA.
1he GrOuth and wealth of the Silver
e~sRte-Its mines and Mining.


With the completion of the Pacific
Railroad, and the consequent introduction
of adequate capital and machinery, it can
not be doubted that the silver mountains
of Nevada will become teeming hives OF
industry and wealth, and that the treasure
extracted from her lodes will infinitely
exceed, in amount and permanenee OF
yield, the past productions of California.
AT our request a gentleman who has
spent a dozen years on the Pacific slope,
and the past four years among the silver
mines of Nevada, has prepared a few
notes of his observations and impressions
in that new region which will be found OF
much interest, To the capitalist they are
especially significant. For our eorrespOn-
dents intelligence and reliability we
youch.
NOTES OS NEvADA-ITS GROWTH.
Five years ago, when the first silver
mine was discovered in Nevada (the
Comstock lead at Virginia City that ter
ritory contained hardly a white %iphabitant
aside from the emigrants passing through
to the gold fields of California. 1t offered
no inducements to agriculture, the soil
being chiefly rocky and barren, and the
water in the streams strongly alkaline,
and hence useless. Perhaps a more for
bidding region aside from climate, which
is very salubriousl cannot be found elsa
,,1oro -, &ba oopao lafifuda
In four years of war this rocky waste
has risen to the dignity of a State, con-
tanning a population, the most enterpris-
ing in the world, numbering 10000, with
populous cities, excellent roads, telegraphs
schools and churches.
Virginia City, the metropolis of the
State, situated on the eastern slope OF the
Sierra Navadas in the original Mashoo
region, has a population Of 10000, and
will compare favorably in point of bust
ness and buildings with many Atlantic
cities, although the absence of vegetation
gives it a blank appearance so far as beau
ty is concerned
Austin, the seat of Lander county, and
headquarters of the Reese river region, is
but two years old, yet has a population OF
10000 and is thriving well.
Nevada is perhaps the only instance Of
a State being q0hoLLy based on a single in
terest, and the importance of that interest
can be judged accordingly. There is abso-
lutelv nothing there for a State to rest upon
but the silver mines. Fortunately that
basis is proving broad enough to support
an empire.
No railroad yet enters the Silver State
but the Pacific road is already climbing
the western slope of the Sierras, and 4
few months will bring the cars to Vir'
ginia.
At present all communication with Cal.
ifornia and the coast is by way of the ia
nous stage road over the summit of the
| Sierras to Sacramento in California. Over
this mountain road trains of wagons and
stages are constantly passing-latter trav'
cling at the break-neck pace of ten o.
twelve miles an hour, and using up horst
flesh at an incredible rate. The overland
stage-road traverses Nevada its whole
length from East to West, passing through
the centre Of the mining regions. Thu
surveyed line of the Pacific Railroad alsC
passes nearly through the centre of thu
State, following the valley of the Hum
boldt.
SILVER MINES AND MINING.
1t was settled very early in the history
of Nevada that her silver mines wert
rich, numerous, and practically mex
haustible, but the difficulty in 1862 wa
to discern a process by which to extrac
the metal from the baser substances with
out too great waste. Hundreds of expert
ments were tried, running through months
| consuming millions of capital, and die
couraglng many or Tne Ia1nt-hearted. But
at last the difficulty yielded to persever.
nee and science, so that now the process:
of silver quartz mining and amalgamatine
is reduced to an absolute certainty, and the
only objection to investment removed.
Those who engage in silver mining
now will reap the benefit of these early
experiments and disappointment, and
after sinking a shaft and testing their ore,
can compute with mathematical certainty
the chances of success.
To get an idea of a silver ledge, lode, OF
lead, let one divide an apple diagonally
through the middle and then place be-
tween the two parts a slice of beef-(o1
any substance unlike the apple)-a quar-
ter of an inch thick. The slice of beet
will represent the veins or leaf of silver
bearing quartz, standing on its edge and
running the whole length of the noun
tain-the upper edge cropping out at the
surface and the lower extending an I'M
known distance into the bowels of the
earth. The lode usually has a pitch OF
inclination of from five to fifty degrees,
and varies in thickness from two to forty
feet.
The hills in which the lodes are found
are rock. By some internal force, years
ago, the silver veins have been injected up
from below to the very surface of the
earth. Late geological surveys have
shown these Nevada lodges to be of the
same chain and formation as the long
known silver mines of Mexico.
Of course pure silver is rarely taken out
of these mines, it being always combined
with baser material from which it must
be separated by the milling process.
This process consists briefly in crushing
the quartz to powder, roasting the powder
or dust in intensely heated furnaces to ex-
pei several base ingredients, her amalga-
mating the silver with quicksilver, which
being stirred in with the roasted dust seeks
out and nnites with every particle of the
precious metal; then the quicksilver is
evaporated, and the pure silver remains.
This is made into bricks of various size
and shipped as bullion.
Owing to the expensiveness of the mill
ing process capital is indispensable to silver
mining. And this is the great wanto of Ne
vada at this moment. About $1,000 0 is
required to open a ledge, build an ordinary
ten-stamp mill, and pay expenses till re-
turns come.
The extreme proftableness of Nevada
silver mining has resulted in the absorp-
finn 4ha~A AnAL~rl~ OaPisai Ur OaI-
i~fornia, and this goes but a little way in
such a boundless field. Even the dry
goods merchants of San Francisco have
stripped their W business to invest in
Nevada. The rates of interest are such as
would swamp any ordinary enterprise in
the Atlantic States in a single year. For
instance, one half the quartz mills in Ne
vads have been built and started with
capital borrowed at rates averaging fire
per cent per month, and compounded every
month at that. The average rates at Vir-
ginia City now, on good paper, are two to
five per cent a month.
And yet under this terrible pressure of
usury, and with all the difficulties arising
from lack of transportation, &c, not one
mill in a hundred has failed to make the
fortunes of the builders intwo years, when
run with ordinary skill and economy.
Many of the mills already built in Ne
vada are not connected with n partic-
ular mine, but crush quartz for other par