Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-03-25
THE EVENING NEWS.
Friday Rv..i.s..-..--.MsreI rs, 1870
I~prored alassla:,s :sa Appliance. fer

noep Mining.
Five OF six years ago the machinery
used in the hosting works along the
Comstock ledge was of quite \ differ
cnt character, as well as capacity,
from that of the present day. This is
simply in the ordinary course Of i'm
provement and developed requirement.
More powerful steam engines are now
used. Of better and more effective pat
terms. and vast improvements are no
ticcable in reels, gearing. and the gen
eral details of machinery, as we'll rs In
cables. cages. and even the shafts
themselves. Better and more effective
pumps and pump machinery are now
in use; In fact very few even Of u
best engineers or mining s~uperintend-
ents five or six years ago were making
calculations on any workings below
GOO or 200 feet, which was looked upon
then rs a great depth. And so 1t was
for their machinery. Since then, how
ever, hundreds Of feet deeper have been
attained by means of the improved aud
more powerful machinery, and where
it was ut that time thought impossible
to work 4 mine probably Q l,OoO
or 1000 feet deep. we now find no dif-
ilculty in achieving the point even alta
much greater depth. The latest shafts
protected for deep mining, as for in
stance, the .Ophir. Virginia CONSOLE
dated. Hale 4 Norcross, Imperial
Empire, and others. are far better
located for the purpose than those OF
the early days, and We're commenced
with the idea and calculation Of going
to the depth Of 1000 and 5000 feet ;
the works at the surface are made TO
correspond.
The I4atrobe. Gould & Curry and
other tunnels projected and run in the
early days of. the Constock, for deep
mining and prospecting, are now
looked upon as mere surface arrange
ments, and Of little practical use,
except in the extraction of surface ore.
80, too, the Sutro tunnel, projected at
MI early date. was, live years ago,
looked upon rs 4 good enterprise, and
owing to the exees Of water then
f0uud-calculated 20 be Of great prac-
teal benefit as a drain tunnel, as well
Us in prospecting and developing the
resources Of the Comstock at acons'd-
cradle depth below what was then
attained. We, as well rs most people
interested, favored the tunnel then, for
il really seemed to be needed. Then
Was the proper time for the tunnel to
have been commenced, instead Of wait
ing till the present time. when the fact
has become apparent that deep shafts
will prospect, develop and work the
mines far more effectually and st q
much greater depth. Even were that
tunnel now completed, instead Of
hardly commenced, II would not inter-
sect the ledge deep enough to make IL
:: paying Institution, any more than
the I.atrobe tunnel. Ii would simply
reach the "barren belt" too deep for
working the surface ore above 1t, and
not near deep enough for what bodies
of ore may be developed below 1t.
The Comstock ledge, below the Sutro
level. eau only be worked by means Of
the hosting works at the surface, and
deep shafts, which will be sunk hun
dred. of feet below that level long
before the tunnel could attain it-yes,
long before the ~anciently projected
tunnel will reach even 4 respectable
point Of abandonment, or Sutro him
self ceases TO grieve over the loss OF
Government subsidy, and his gorgeous
but fading visions Of coveted roy
atty"