Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1868-10-15
Sida by side
6rnrral Sntrlliernte.
THE NEVADA SILVER MINES.
r.,v.lx.sHetches or a Mining eglOn.


LlvelF SKetc hes on a Mining Region.
The following lively sketches ofa journey
through the silver mining districts OF Neya-
ds are given by a correspondent OF the Gin
cinnati Commercial;
"a mining city is like no other IN the
world. A railroad train beside 1t is
staryeling, regular slow coach. The rise
of the former is a matter Of six months high
pressure. At the end of that period it will
contain glittering saloons, luxurious gam
inc houses. excellent stores, superb restaur-
ants, and confectioneries bursting with
plentitude and profusion. The pace
Keeps step with the quantity Of bullion
turned out by the mines. Multiply the
production of silver bars, and you multiply
the luxury. gaiety, and looseness OF the
nonulation Let the mills shut down, one
after another, and the mines beginto peter
out, and the canter declines into a slow
limp. Austin just now is decidedly too
lean for its clothes. Of all its silver mills
only one is pounding the rock into powder,
and there is new discovery overat White
Pine sixty miles east, whittier many of the
idle citizens are thronging. Now, White
Pine is not new district, but, scratching
ON its surface, some of those owning loca-
tions there suddenly turned up bed Of
chloride silver ore Of almost fabulous rich
ness. Specimens are numerous on the
streets and in the windows Of Austin, many
ofthem worth $4,000 ton.
"Day and night you see parties starting
for the new ledge. Five hundred adven-
turers are already on the ground, hunting
for locations of ore or water privileges.
One man laid claim to contiguous snow
bank. which he retails TO saloon-keepers to
ice their drinks. Restaurant and lodging
house keepers, traders of the Hebrew per-
suasion, gamblers and roughs are sending
on detachments.
GAsTRoMATIc.
Somebody has to pay for the luxury
that reipns over a town like Austin. The
free-handed miner contribu es his share.
The traveller comes in for his. A shave
costs fiftv cents in coin, newspaper twen-
ty five, decent room to lodge in, $3.50
day; boot-blacking twenty-five cents, ripe
fruit, teamed from California 81 q pound;
goods and groceries in proportion. Two
Of the eating houses are choicely kept and
a meal can be obtained for one dollar that
could hardly be excelled in Cincinnati. At
the leading restaurant in Austin, kept by
henchman, you can almost imagine your
self in Paris, when the viands are brought
to table. The proprietor is not afraid to
disclose his gastromatic processes, for from
the street you enter his kitchen, and pass
through into a neat and and inviting dining
room You can see the juicy coteettes
frizzing over the Goals, and inspect your
steak II you chose, from the moment itgoes
on the gridiron until it glides into q dish
and is irrigated with steaming nut-brown
gravy. :,
From Salt Lake westward good bread
is the rule. It is made from California
-four, to which some Of its excellence is
due but the art of making it is surprising
" well understood in this region. The
butter, however, is decidedly inferior. The
grass taste is very materially wanting in
the best and freshest for there is no grass
here, no turf, no lawns, nor meadows that
deserve the name. Wages in Austin are
lower than formerly. Miners receive in
coin four dollars per day, laborers three
dollars, and skilled mechanics four to six
dollars. Common board costs ten dollars
q week. The gentle manly bankers dis
count first class paper at two per cent
month.
STAGE ROBBERS.
When stage robbers pounce down on
their victims they command all to elevate
their hands over their heads on penalty of
brains blown out One villain holds the
lead-horsss, one covers the driver with
revolver, one assumes the same kind office
for the passengers, and the fourth does the
fumbling and rihing, considerably sparing
the ladies' if any happen there.
SALT.
1--WE have Just returned from trip of
two hundred and forty miles into South
eastern Nevada, region that three years
ago was marked on the map 'unexplored.
The journey required eight days Of staging,
four down and back. The first day carried
Us TO the mining town Of Belmont, o two
year-oldster and pocket edition ofAustin,
with its lodging houses, billiard saloons,
glittering drinking houses, and French res
taurants. Between Austin and Belmont q
salt marsh is pointed out, with the remark
that II is the best paying property in Ne
yada' The salt granules rissto the surface
during the long summersand can DO scraped
Of at the rate Of several tons day.
''Ealt Is extensively used in the reduction
Of silver ore, and this ooze from the earth
sells ON the ground for two and halfcents
Q pound. Twenty thousand dollars year
agrsping free salt from few acres is pretty
generous pay. As the yield is inexhaustible
and the demand increasing, il IL eafe to say
that Nevada salt marsh Il better than q
n.ts.,enk kaa -.
silver mill most slaborately and oonhdinely