The Montana post., 1868-10-23
QUARTZ MINING.

y
pearing before the successes of the past
spring and summer. We feel that the
hour of trial is nearly over-that our
Territory has seen its worst days.
Enough has been accomplished to dem.
onstrate the richness and extent of our
quartz ledges, and TO overcome the pre-
judices occasioned by the misnnnage~
meut of incompetent superintendents,
and INSCRIPTIONS spectators. No fact
is better established than that our
quartz lodges are to be the leading ele-
ment of our future greatness and pros
peTity. Placer miring. hitherto our chief
reliance, doubtless will continue 20 be
followed with varied success, as will be
The case with hydraulics. Agriculture
will contribute its share-and stock
raising, already large, will grow into an
enormous business; but the reduction of
ores will exceed all else. in extent of ops
erations and greatness of results. This
| fact is made apparent by the successful
operations of the past SEASON. Let US
take for example, the surroundings of
! Virginia City as an illustration. Two
years ago, there were three mills in
Summit District-two were abandoned.
the supposition that the lodes would not
pay. Now there are two mills in oper-
atIcn there working with success. Hot
Springs District was abandoned last
spring. and one of the mills erected there
was removed to Rochester. Now Capt.
Maltby has fully demonstrated the value
of one of these abandoned lodes by the
most successful operations-and Hot
Springs is again in favor, as one of the |
richest localities in the Territory. The /
Atkins mill stopped operations last fall. |
in district. which Hall and Spaulding |
have since rendered highly productive.
The success of Mr.. Hendrie, and the fat |
terIng prospects of Mr.. Wann, in the |
Rochester District; the great results OBJ |
tained by Mr.. Stevens, and the rewards /
seen TO follow the labors of Mr. |
Everett in Silver Star, are glad /
dening the hearts. and reassuring the /
the hopes of many, whose minds were |
filed with gloomy forebodings, but a 1
short year ago. Extend the circle so as
to embrace the silver districts Of Mill l
Creek, Argenta and Bannack, in each 1
of which furnaces are in course cf erec-
tion, with the most fiattering prospects.
All these districts have been, so to- speak,
resurrectionized within the past year
from a condition of almost hopeless
abandonment by men who, unlike their
predecessors, went 10 work with system,
economy, aud under the instructions of
competent miners. The difficulties of
played out lodes, indifferent ores, AMI
tains high before the Eastern Professors,
have yielded to their perseverance,, and
they now begin 10 reap their reward
with the most gratifying prospects. that
il is to- be abundant and inexhaustible.
The same story OF failure and success
is told of nearly every district in the
Territory-and is equally true of all
and the truth will not be long in finding
its way to th- pockets of Eastern CAPT
talists. A high destiny awaits our Ter
ritory, in the light of which we cannot
now too carefully guard future opera
tions against the errors of the past.
That many have been deceived 10y the
stories told of the richness of our quartz,
in the early days of its discovery. is
true. but the error then was, that we
were deceived ourselves and did not,
and could not, without the aid of
machinery, know its working value.
Some excuses may be found for that
mistake in the ignorance in which it
originated. but for the great error of
sending out incompetent superintend-
ents and retaining them in service after
their incompetency had been estab-
lIshed, and expending upon their judg-
ment vast amounts of capital, there can
be no excuses.
1t was an unaccountable infatuation
which should be carefully avoided in
the future. Mining is trade-and the
most difficult of all trades. So much
depends upon experience that we may
safely say, success is impossible without
the aid of a competent miner. He
knows how to manipulate lode of
great, or of only tolerable richness, and
how TO make either remuneratiye. He
understands all those eccentricities
which are familiarly known as pockets
and ''blow-outs," and "pinch-outs," end
whether to go or to stop at a given point
of excavation. He can tell when tun-
neling is a better course than excava-
ting-and all these and a thousand
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