New-York tribune., 1868-12-25
MINES AND NINM,G.

State OF NcNdut, W. sec ltS SNdhV NOmsuOCh
Vein (Or collection of parallel veins forming
one great belD upon whose 600 yards Of
breadth and three miles of length stand two
large towns, big enough to support three daily
newspapers, and secure enough to barely feel
he violent earthquakes which have recently
30 shaken up and demOralized solid San Fran
cisco. The line OF the lode is easily traceable
through both towns beyond and between them,
by the great dump piles at the forty or more
perpendicular and inclined shafts, viii Ch sink
down to depths varying from five to twelve
hundred feet-Hut mostly from five to eight
hundred-beneath the surface. Each of these
forty four shafts stands within frame house
built TO protect the engine, boilers, pumps, pipe,
and hosting apparatus, heretofore so neces-
sary to draining and working each mine;
and these engines have ordinarily been obliged
to work ccaselessy night and day, to keep
the lode clear of water. Some of the mines,
have also pump works underground. Beside
these shafts the Comstock is tapped at various
depths by tunnels-sO that the visitor can suit
himself as TO whether he walks in from below
the town or is lowered down the shaft above.
In either case, when he reaches the lower
workings he will be struck with wonder at
their magnitude. A vast slOping cavity, some
6fty OF more feet wide, and of undeterminable
length, has been worked out from where he
utands to the surface. Great beams of pine
wood, l9 inches thick, have been jammed
lengthwise, as props, between the walls of this
cavity, at distances of five feet from each other
and between these again upright timbers of
the same size have been closely jointed, so that
turn which way he will, going up or down, or
along the workings, he can touch massive
l.f.u IL, t,,.,,l .,,1
on either side of him. at any mOment-a per-
fect forest OF timbers Here and there, IN the
different levels or floors, he sees the miners
picking and shOyeling and wheeling ore
from the breastwOrks or slopes, and he some
what realizes the proportions of the COmstock
when he learns that just in this way, for three
miles, he would find them working TO the
number of 1900. Poor fellows! in that sultry
atmosphere of 1909, where 25 per cent of their
strength is exhausted by the heat, they richly
deserve the SO %, per day given them. And
how much wood do you think there is used i'll
the COmstOck, for timbering9 To the value of
nearly $1,0O000O per annum! Try to compre-
hend that there are close upon seventy miles
of tunnels and shafts and drifts and slopes in
the lOde-an underground city, much larger
than that above. And this lode, which is
owned by some fifty different companies, is
said to supply about 1900 tuns OF ore daily TO
20 mills, in which 1000 more persons are en-
ployed, and is officially stated to furnish EN-
plOyment, directly and indirectly, to 100000
people.
fHR CoMsTOCK YIELD TO CLOSE OF THIS YEAR
PROSPECTIVE YIELD-PRODUCT OF OTHER
GREAT LODEs THE sUTRO AND OTHER
GREAT TUNNELS.
At the close of 1866 the mines on the Com
stock had yielded, since their discovery IN lS19,
the enormous sum of S64,0O0,OOO Since then they
have produced in QS6O about Sl7,JOO,OVO and
perhaps as much more may be estimated for this
year-which would give n total aggregate OF
e99O00,O0O up to the close of 1868. There is no
good reason to suppose that tins gigantic lode
lilo On aa
mining operations can be conducted III 1t. By
the present mode of draining it is believed that
a greater depth than 1900 or 1000 feet cannot
be reached. but with the SutrO Tunnel, Which,
running from Dayton, four miles away, will cut
the lode 1900 feet from the Isuiface--a depth of
1900 feet can. by the aid of pumps be drained
and worked. 1t has been calculated that this tnn-
mel adit will thus add at least 81 900 900 70
the silver yield and if so, the COmstock lode viii
nearly, or quite equal the Great POtOsi Of Bo-
livia, which yielded 81, 00,OO0,OOO and surpass
the Vita Madre of GuanajuatO, Mexico, from
which SS00000,OOO were taken, and the Vita
Grande of Zacatecas, Mexico, from which
was secured s6500OO,9OO. There can be no
question as to the necessity for such adlts;;
Mines have frequently been drowned out"
Some of the richest in Spain were aban-
dOned for this reasons so in Mexico and other
countries; and this has been the case from the
earliest days, for the mines of Carthhgena, in
Hannibafs time, suffered similar fate. One
of the latter. which yielded 5000 crowns per
day. escaped, through having an adit 1900 PAGES
Sutro Tunnel, when finished, will be of no very
uncommon length. There is one of seven miles
IN Hungary, blasted through the hardest trap
rock (the construction of which was commenced
several centuries ago), and into which empty
many smaller adits; there is another of eight
miles in length. in SaxOny; another in Corn
wall England, extending ten miles; and another
In Hanover Prussia, IA miles long; and long
before the Sutro Tunnel shall have worked out
the promised 81 0O0 900, ourehildren's children
may be able to walk along "a 10 or 20 mile adit
into the lowermost bowels of the ComstOck.
FAN VENTILATION AND DRAINAGE-PREsEET
HIGH TEMPERATURE-RECENT REMARKABLE
WATER PHENOMENON.
Adts are needed likewise to assist in secur-
ing good ventilation for the mines-Qtherwise
the miners either cannot work, or work poorly.
Many of the COmstOck Companies are DOW
putting in engines to drive ventilatlng fans
which will supply fresh air, through galvanized
iron tubes to the lower levels-but the SutrO
Tunnel when completed will materially assist.
They also carry off the usual flow of water
from the workings, and thus diminish the vast
expenses of deep mining. What such expenses
are. NAV lie inferred from the estimate made
early i'm 1867, by the Nevada Legislature, that
the annual product of the COmstOck, then (in
1866 and 1860 about S16,OO0,000 per annum, was
gained at an annual expense OF $155O0,0OO!
Thjs. however seems to I've greatly Over-esti-
mated but under ordinary circumstances, with
succeeding years, as the lode is worked deeper.
the relative expense in the item of drainage
will increase, until the adit taps the lode.
However, "a Nevada paper states that with
recent great increase of heat in these mines
.omes also great decrease of water I'm
factD il saws, ain our deepest mne-the Bull
hon, which has attained depth of 1900 feet
not a drop OF water is to be seen; 1t is as dry
as n GmeLiin and as hot rs an oven, In the