Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-03-12
THE co,lsT0CK LODE.
,u IN. New York stakeholder. Fob, ls.

STOCK lOue winch Will oe touuu VI iutet-
est. OF one of the two towns Virginia
city aud Gold Hill) built as it were upon
the lode, he says:
Virginia city is certainly n of the
characteristic places Of this re-
markable region. If my readers will
imagine q mountain side Of the Sierras
without a tree, amid grand hills, where
nothing green can be seen for fifty
miles, with deep, bare valleys, and in
the distance, beyond Carson river, great
blue mountain.peaks capped with snow,
and on this mighty mountain slope, n
little, low built town-say $4,000 in
habitauts, with brown wooden houses
and q few brick stores, and in its streets
a throng and business almost like that
Of Broadway, they will have q feeble
impression Of the 'Silver city 1t is
more than q hundred miles away from
the first link Of civilization, and yet
coaches, wagons, and the stream OF
mountain -schooncrs' pour into it IN
ceasingly these last are enormous
freight vans, drawn by twelve or SIX
teen mules, which carry everything
pianos, glass, fruit from every region,
silk, machinery, clothing, wines, 'urni-
ture, and all that luxury needs or money
purchases. The town, with parallel
streets, is built on the mines, and IS al
ready falling into the cavities, whieh
fact seems to trouble the citizens very
little. About the city, and in it, are
the tall chimncys and the gray stone
buildings Of the famous mining COM
%panics, whose names are known through
the world. The town is cut oil from tho
pleasures, the art, and the civilization
Of tho outside world. 1t makes up Tor
il with the e%xcitements Of the stock
market. All day long the streets boil
oyer with stock speculation. 1t is n
most striking contrast above, the clear
blue sky, like that of the high Alps
with its infinite depths on n few steps,
the loneliness Of q desert around, the
vast solitudes and mighty snow-peaks
of the Sierras ; and below, men rushing
to and fro with wild excitement to
speculate by telegraph in the mining
market Of San Francisco. Itis like the
sudden transferences Of the William
stree. Gold room to the top Of Mount
Rigi."
OF the lode says:
1.-THE Comstock lode, on which tho
silver mines Of Virginia City and Gold
Hill are situated, is probably the most
productive mineral vein in the world.
1t is only a strip Of land three miles
long by COO yards wide, yet it yields
Sl2, 900 900 annually. Five thousand
men are employed on it during the year,
and the product Of each workman is
about $4,000 per aunum-an average OF
production, probably equaled on no
other mineral vein in the world. In
1865 there were &c companies working
it, who owned 22,25s feet, and had ex-
cavated ABOUT IS miles of tunnels and
drifts, and 81 miles Of shafts, winze and
iuclines, with some 80 miles more Of
chimueys, etc. The longest tunnel
made is the Latrobe-3,200 feet the
greatest depth penetrated is by the
Gould 4 Curry, S2l feet. These COM
panies have "a hosting and pumping
engines, a~ggregating more than 1900
horsepower &C mills are employed in
reducing the ore, with an aggregate CO.
pacity for crushing 1880 tons daily.
They consume annually about 22,265
cords Of wood, at q cost Of about SIG
per cord. Their wood and timber to-
cether are estimated to cost annually
about 81, 900, 900. Mount Davidson, in
which this famous vein occurs, is a
barren mountain, mainly OF granite,
through serpentine, quartz, syenite,
gneiss and talcose and ~calcareous rock
enter into its composition. Its summit
is 1897 feet above the sea level, while
the vein itself and Virginia City are
about $500 feet. The lode is q regular
assure vein, and subject to the displace-
ments and faults Of mineral veins, which
throw such an uncertainty over all
mining operations. At one place it may.
be entirely interrupted by t~rapdykes or
other rocks, or the wall-rock may be
imbedded in it or other matter destitute
of ore. The ore, too, is often deposited
in 'chimneys' which run lengthways
with the vein, and thus carry the rich
deposits out OF n property into an
other /; so that the unfortunate company
which had been gathering their hun
dreds Of thousands one month may be
entirely without income the next and
yet after penetrating deeper, they may
again strike on even n richer deposit, or
they may labor for years without meet
ing with any"
The writer descended into the Savage
mino
In the Savage, we were placed on a
platform in q shaft, and with u warning
from my conductor, we disappeared as
if BY magic from the cheerful surface
of the world, and descended with fright
full rapidly some 600 feet into the bow
els Of the mountain, getting wild Gimp
ses as we passed of what seemed dark
caverns, with lights cleaning and mys-
demonstrating forms welding the pick
axe-which were tho various levels with
their workmen-until we landed quickly
near the bottom. These steam-worked
shafts and platforms, however, seem
very dangerous things, aud | hear Of
constant horrible accidents in them. It
was remarkable how dry and commodi-
u the various wings and levels and
galleries were in this mine. Ny guide
took fragments from each rock Us we
CROPPED around tho mine, and gave esti-
mates of its value with perfect conf
dence. This will pay $40 n ton this,
SIS; this, $50; this, $500; and this,
$4,000 I while all l could discern was a
more or less dark shade Of the sulphur
cts. He says (what hear everywhere)
that the companies now are careful not
to commit the error Of the Gould &
Curry, and bring all their best ores ut
once to the mill but they mix them and
so average their product. They all are
working with far greater economy than
they used to and when n branch Of the
Pacific Road touches Virginia City they
hope to DO able to bring down their ex-
pense for fuel (now Sl5 n cord) and for
lumber (now S45 per thousand) ut least
one-half. My guide-a very intelligent
foreman who has risen from the work.
men-says that the miners are constant
ly investing their savings in one, two
or three OF the shares Of these compan-
les, and, knowing the precise condition
Of their own mines, they often make
I---