The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-09-02
THE BIG BONANZA. "
to be ths Richest Mine in
the World:

VISIT TO THE MINES BY ONE OF THE TRIBUNE
srAFF-B UNDLEsS wEALTH-TRIP DOWN
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF sILvER-BoUNTIFUL
| WEALTH.
A member of the editorial staff of the New
| York Tribune has made q personal inspec
ton of the Nevada silver mines and written
an interesting statement of the wealth there
produced and also very pleasing descrip.
ton of the incidents of the visit. The state
ments of fact are carefully made from the
most trustworthy authorities. Some pas
sages of the letter are given below: It must
| be confessed that, to all appearances, there
was boundless prosperity. We were in the
melting and assay building. Bars OF gold
| and silver, worth from s.. 900 to 81 900 each
| were stacked up by hundreds in the rooms
and halls. wagons were being loaded with
| them, and they were thrown about as il they
were so many pigs of iron. In one room
| half dozen men were working over as
many furnaces, melting the silver and mold
/ ing 1t into bars-very hot work. In the
| mine, close by, $50 men were employed
night and day, with no Sunday play-spell.
Engines, hosting works, machine shops
chutet, railroads, sswmills and build
ings large enough for the worlds fair, wree
on every hand, in value reaching into the
millions. The machinery in one mill cost
quarter of million of dollars. and one en-
CINE in the Savage mill cost $4,000. In the
Consolidated Virginia mine alone 1000, 600
feet of lumber are used every month for
bulkhea6s, and 10000 cords of wood are
burned in one year In the several mills and
mines belonging to Mackay, Fair & Co
They have between 5000 and 1000 men
employed at an average price of 81 per day.
The payroll of one mine, which L saw nv
self tor the month of June, amounted to
about 5000. The firm pays $40 900 quar-
ter, or 100000 year, as tax Cd the produc-
ton of bullion for one mine. The discount
and express charges on bullion to San Fran
cisco cost the company about $4,000
month. The assay department, spoken of
above, is able to melt, bar, assay, and stamp
100000 day in gold and silver bars in
CONFERENCE.-The gold being about As per
cent. The weight of the bars is from 90 to
ITO mounds.
THE PRESENT YIELD OF THE MINE
is circumscribed, not by the amount OF ore
that can be taken out, but by the limited
capacity of the hosting machinery. The
present hosting capacity of the Consolidated
Virginia mine is about ], 500 tons daily, and
the shaft in the Gould & Curry mine, which
mine connects by drift with the first named,
is capable of hosting about 100 tons in add.
ton. Nine mills are now employed in
crushing the ore of this one mine. An i'm
mense new mill is now building, capable of
doing the work OF eight, and there Is also a
new shaft sinking jointly by the Caliafornia
and Consolidated companies, about a
thousand feet east of the present one. This
will tap the Bonanza at two different points
When these improvements are finished, the
two mines can be worked up to
their capacity. Mr.. Flood and Mr.. Fair both
say they expect to ship $4,000, 900 of bullion
month when they get fairly started. While
this seems an extravagant estimate it would
not be more remarkable than the discover
les already. Indeed, it is held by experts,
among them DIR. Lindermsn, Director Gen.
eral of the mint, who went into the mine at
the same time / did, that there are from ten
to fifteen millions of collars of ore in sight.
DR.. Rogers, OF the University of Pennsylva-
nie, an experienced mineralogist, said the
ore seemed practically inexhaustible, and
from the manner in which it lay, he though
there was no doubt there were millions In
it," Gen. LIE Grange, Superintendent of the
San Francisco mint, is of the same opinion.
CHARACTERISTICS OF VIRGINIA CITY.
The letters of introduction which made
me known to Mr.. Mackay and the respecta-
Bile company in which 1 found myself, were
sufficient to insure me unusual opportuni-
ties and most patient courtesies. We ar
rived here at about 10 o'clock on Sunday
morning, DR.. Linderman, General LIE
Grange, Mr.. Crawford and myself. The
Consolidated Virginia is situated in the
the railway station. Here is city of about
$4,000 inhabitants, two or three years
old, about 1000 above the level of the sea,
with inhabitants in the garb of laborers,
but with the habits of Parisians. Here are
restaurants as fine as any in the world,
though not so extensive as some, nor as
elaboration appointments; here are drinking
saloons more m
any in San Francisco, Philadelphia
or New York, and here
are shops and stores which are
dazzling in splendor. The people here seem
to run to jewelry. have never seen finer
shops than are here, and the number of dis- |
monds displayed in the widows quite over
whelms ones senses. The club room is |
nearly as well furnished as anyin New York |
except In pictures, books and bronzes, and |
the manner of living of the inhabitants
generally Is on higher scale. No coin less |
than quarter of a dollar is needed here. |
and when offered dime to the artist who
polished my boots he gave me such a look |
that would have been proud to exchange /
places with him and give him the dime to |
boot. He handed the money back to me, |
and for fear of making another mistake / |
gave him five dollar gold piece, and he
gave me the change. have never been in |
place where money is go plenty, nor where |
it is spent with so much
ExTRAvAGANCE AND RECKLESsNESs.
Every man in the street seems to have his |
pockettul of gold; one who would pay less
than % cents for morning paper would be
looked upon as a sneak thief. The houses
are mostly of brick on the business streets,
and the sidewalks swarm with people. 1t is
as difficult to get along on G street in the
evening as 1t is to 90 along Broadway in the
in the neighborhood of Fulton street in the
middle of the afternoon. Every young
blood in the city, and every old one too, for
that matter, has his fast horse oy his pair and