Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1874-01-24
TIE surRo TUNNEL ROYALTY.

TIE sUrRo TUNNEL ROYALTY. \
We most heartily commend tho ut
terances Of the Virginia Chronicle, In
its issue Of last evening. upon that
most monstrous imposition known As
the Sutro Tunnel Franchise. II any
thing were necessary to be added to
the facts Of the case, - presented by |
tho Chronicle, to force conviction upon
the mind Of any reasonable man, there
are . hundred which. without search,
can DO found and urged. The fact ls,
that, instead Of paying . royalty to
the Sutro Tunnel Company Of two dol
lars for every ton Of ore extracted from
the Comstock lode after the tunnel
shall have interssc:ed the lode at Its
objective point-the Savage shaft-and
BY cross drifts presumably have drained
the mines, those mining companies
which first entered into q contract with
the protector Of this tunnel have. In
u opinion. ample grounds for bring
Ing suit against the Company for on
fulnllment OF Its portion OF said con-
tract. and for the indefensibly pro-
ionged aud outrageous delay attending
the construction Of said tunnel. When
the shafts Of the Savage. Gould 4
Curry, Hale & Norcross aud Chollsr-
Potosi had attained = depth Of Ave or
six hundred feet, and were flooded
with water, the projected tunnel. u
then arrived at the ledge, wonld have
been q Godsend. When these shafts
had attained q depth If one thousand
feet, and Left most Of the water leo far
as is at present KNOWN above them. Its
usefulness was p~roblematicsl. Now
that at least two OF the mines named
have shafts aud lncllnes reaching far
below the tunnel level. while it has yet
three miles Of solid rock to bore. the
necessity OF such q drain TOR this Is Its
main valued has no existence, and the
royalty imposed by is lncorporative
act Is become an outrage OF the most
fragrant character.
Let Us take for example the cAss, Of
the Sierra Nevada on the one hand and
the Crown Point on the other. The
former mine 10 fully . mile from the
Savage shsft. This company las for
years been working surface ore, which
pays, perhaps, two dollars per ton
above the cost Of extraction aud MILL
ing. This ore 10 extracted from the
surface or from = depth Of FROM W to
three hundred feet. No man will yen-
ture to assert that Il will be cheaper to
sink a shsft 2,0OO feet In depth, to con-
meet this mine with q cross DRIFT from
tho Sutro Tunnel, and then convey the
ore seven miles to the Carson river,
where there are, As yet, no mills for
working Ii, than to hoist both rock and
water to the surface = distance OF 300
feet.
The Crown Polnt mine Is over q
mile south Of the Savage shaft. This
company Is to-day extracting ore from
point below the tunnel level. All wa
ter raised Is used, and much more could
be. IL 10 daily extracting about 400
tons OF ore, which Is hauled to the Car.
o river by u railroad built mainly
for that purpose. Yet according to the
franchise now held by the Sutro Tun-
mel Company, whenever said sdis, ora
cross drif, therefrom shall reach the
Crown Point niue. It's owners will at
once be forced to pay sali Tunnel
Company two dollars for every ton OF
ore extracted, aud for what? Because
theoretically q Sutro Tunnel will
drain the Crown Point mine. Prac-
tically, however, even II 1t were
now connected with that mine,
It would be absolutely OF no
value as q means OF drainage, the
working depth to day attained In this
mine being considerably greater than
che tunnel level. But rs we have stat.
ed the face Of the Sutro Tunnel Is yet
nearly three miles from the Comstock
lode. At Its present rate OF progress
10 will not interseet the lode within
five years. There will then remain
fully one mile Of cross drlft to DO
driven before the Crown Point IL
reached. q good years work. TO Whist
depth will the Crown Point be worked
SIX years hencee II Is safe TO say, es-
timsting from our past mining histo-
~, that before that time not only the
Crown Point but a dozen other mines
will DO worked 20 a depth Of ut least
5000 feet. With the machinery now
In place at several OF our leading
mines this depth can be- attained. With
the use Of compressed air engines,
what Limit IL there to their working?
Ventilation Ia secured by connecting
shafts, water from the upper levels Is
caught In tanks and hoisted. The
bottom Of nearly every leading mine
Is dry. OF what use then thi, tun-
mel? It Is valueless for drainage, use
Less for ventilation ; Ia q word II has
dragged Its slow length along until
whatever value IL might have had has
disappeared. Only Its franchise re-
mains; a tax upon the greatest bullion
interest Of the world, an inju.tios tn
milne owners and q clog upoo pros
pecting enterprise.
A QuERY.-rhc Sacramento Record
assumes 40 correct and cites the report
Of the San Francisco Chamber Of Com-