Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-12-28
MINES AND MINrNG-rHE oomsTocK

Eds. TIMES :-Mucn nus peou oaiu onu
a great deal written regarding the "Com-
stock Lode" but in no instance have
we heard or read anything conveying
facts, or the probabilityof such, regard
its past, present and ~futurei theories
have been presented from time to time,
by individuals whose efforts owe their
origin, not to years Of mining expert
ence, or from comparisons drawn under
favorable or %unfavorable auspices, but
apparently from a very meager n lin
tied experience in matters entirely for
eign to their former occupations; IN TINS
am sustained by the present appear
ance of the explorations and hitherto
made developments of the Comstock,
for where in the history of mining can
such reckless extravaganza be seen or
met with as greets the eye in storey,
along and on the Comstock! venture
to say no other lode in the world could
have sustained itself under such man
agement; but the one for which TINS
| communication is intended: 'To make
money requires money" and, If the
same care and attention, combined with
good Judgment and the strictest econo-
my, be given to mining, as is given by
the merchant, manufacturer, etc., to
their respective occupations, success
would be a certainty. We oil know
that If the merchant requires a compe-
tent accountant, he does not select a
person ignorant of mathematics; if he
has a lawsuit, involving large amounts,
he does not select a clerk from q dry
goods house, or a butcher from his stall,
to manage and carry through to a sue
cessful issue his suit. If, again, he
combines with others TO construct for
or purchase q vessel, he does not on the
completion of the purchase Of the same,
select a person ignorant Of navigation
and nautical affairs, to command and
take charge of that vessel. On the con-
trary, if he is the sound, prudent bust
ness man we take him to be, his selec-
tions will be made from the best sources
The party whos has been educated
as an accountant; the lawyer whose
name and antecedents in the Courts are
fully established; the practical man
thoroughly conyersHnt with nautical
matters, and whose name is almost a
guaranty to success, would more than
probably be the selections that would
made. How is it on the other hand
with mining, a science Il may say yet
in its infancy, differing as it does from
almost any other business, owing to the
many changes continually presenting
themselves from its hitherto reconcile
labratory Of nature, requiring years OF
experience, combined with sound judg-
ment and good administrative abilities
to become a proficient in. There are
many now engaged in mining who sup
pose that the only guaranty for success
is in the selection Of a person possess
ing a great deal. of goaheaditiveness,
and one who is generally known in the
community as "a capital fellow" the
past ought in q measure to disabuse
such ideas.
Old miners are at times apt to be con
ceited the adage "that any fool can
take out ore, but to find ore requires
the MINER" may or may not be true ;
but one thing is, evident, no person
thoroughly acquainted with mining will
jeopardise his reputation by the erection
of buildings, hosting works and ma
chinery to be driven by the agency of
steam, and place the same on the crop
pings of a vein ranging from thirty to
over two hundred feet wide, trusting to
its stability for a foundation, while he
is continually undermining the same in
the extraction Of the ores beneath.
In the original development Of the
Comstock, l have yet to learn of a single
superintendent having been employed
that was ever partially conversant with
mining; placer miners, clerks, nautical
men, farmers, merchants, lawyers, and
men without knowledge or profession
of any description, were the architects
or projectors; a heterogeneous mass,
equaled only by a similar gathering on
the plains Of "Shinar," with a view of
constructing q tower whose summit
should reach the heavens-simply to
guard against "high water !" and had
traficking in stocks been known in those
days, a board Of brokers would unques-
tionably have been formed, who would
have tbulled" the stock even higher
than tho ediice itself. The enormous
and foolish expenditure of money, as
seen in the county Of Storey, should GER
tainly prove that l am correct in my as
sertions, and without the slightest ex-
aggeration, | think I am safe in saying
that millions Of dollars have been thrown
away-or washed away in the shape of
tailings-and that too, by the two prin-
cipal mines in operation at the time ;
all from want of proper knowledge in
the manipulation of the ores. Notwith-
standing these deficiencies there are men
at this day who ardently wish for a re-
turn of those superintendent.
In ls6l-2-3, two of those superinten-
dents were on the most friendly terms
with the writer Of this article they
were most accomplished business men,
but entirely ignorant of mining; never
theless, they were extremely successful
in striking the first large bodies of ore
in the Comstock; large dividends were
made; the Eureka of the capitalist had
been discovered, and all went well for
the time. Let the future take care of
itself, was the text from which all
preached. The stock of one of the
mines went up to over Sc, 900; the other,
some $4,000. A similarity of opinion
existed in the minds of these companies,
touching the qualifications of their
agents, and it seemed that all that pre-
vented an exhibition to the mining
world, of these gentlemen, was the want
Of a ligature. To-day, these same
stocks are quoted at $3.50 and $3.50.
Now, if the assertions of the Freiberg
prophets Tor, rather, those young gem
tlemen that go from this country to
learn mining in Rreiberg, and who gen.
orally return with less information than
they started WITH, that ~"silver mines
never give out" be true, how comes
this terrific margin2
By this / do not wish to be under
stood as saying that the Comstock lode
has given out, as in q future article I
will explain to the best of my ability
my views on that point. l simply ask,
why this margin We all know that
from the deterioration of the ores in the
topest depths attained in the C%omstock,
that IL takes over three tons of ore nj