Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1875-01-18
E,.t.rn Mlnlna Excltsmsnts.

ullninS tot kuiu euu shssA sas ~
ern States. Their heads are very level
on coal and iron, but when they find. or
think they find. precious metals. they
Immediately become demented. They
hunt up an "old. experienced CAL
ifornia miner" who. perhaps, lived
there. or worked in a mining town, and
knew nothing Of mining. to tell them all
about IL. II he has been in California.
il Is enough for them, and his pre-
dictions are implicitly believed. Now.
not one man In Ave hundred In this
State knows anything about practical
mining whatever; and nins-tenths OF
those who have worked in the mines
hero would not DO competent 10 take
charge Of ons Very few men are good
managers. and still fewer are the ex-
perts whose judgment n 10 the future
OF n mine may be relied on. Still these
Eastern people believe anything the
California miner" tells them. especial
ly IL IL Is favorable.
The latest excitement We have heard
Of il the discovery Of "six miles OF
silver" at Nswburyport, Mass. A man
named Rogers found some metal. thought
II was valuable. and then studied gsol-
ogy and minsralogy to find out what 1t
was. He kept his secret until he bought
the land. in company with arich farmer.
paying $3.50 for Il. He found float aud
ut six feet struck the "trus vein." The
Boston advertiser contains q long NC
| count Of the matter. which, for ignor-
ance Of mining. 10 rich. but We have
only room for . few extracts:
The pieces taken from the pit, Ms dug
by Mr.. Adams. exhibited vein structure.
the upper Ave inches being composed OF
galena, while the under three inches
the three inches next TO the supposed
foot-wall-contained considerable gray
copper ore or tetrahsdrits, galsna,
quartz. copper and iron pyritss. -Four
specimens were assaysd. Tho first,
eosrso-grained galsna. assaysd for silver,
yielded $56 81; and the second, fine
grained salsna. SO 90 per ton, the
third, a comparatively pure piece OF gray
copper, containing also some quartz and
gaiena. assayed for silver. copper and
incidentally for gold. yielded OF silver.
Sl,270 per ton; gold. 1929 per ton; and
about "a per cent. OF copper. The
fourth specimen. weighing about three
pounds. tried for lead. was found to BE-
nearly pure. and hammered quite read
ily. The lead was 50 per cent. Of the
whole matter. The mine has been bond.
ed for 500, 600.
The advertiser then goes on TO state
that systematic mining operations were
commenced by sinking a shaft ten feet
square. "As tbs shaft increased in
depth the vein. which Is what Is known
as u assure vein-that 10. metal between
two walls Of granite, where. in all prob
ability il wa thrown by volcanic action
the vein broadened from three feet at
the surface to seven feet at present
working-twenty-ivs feet down. As
tho men descend the vein grows richer
and purer. the proportion Of silver and
gold increasing, while that OF the lead
remains about the same. The south
wall has not yet been reached. The
usn are therefore working on the pure
metal. the north wall being perfectly
perpendicular. In consequence OF thi.
TACT, which Is totally without q parallel
in mining history. there IL but the
smallest possible expense incurred in
removing the ore-about 81 per ton.
About ten tons are taksn out. being
hoisted up in baskets every twenty-four
hours. To work this quantity only four
msn are required by day. and n relisv-
ing gang Of equal number by night.
This ore, which is piled in q store
house, as ut present mined, yields
100 per ton silver, $40 OF lead, and
sIl OF gold: n total Of Sill. The
cost Of smelling and separating Is
SO per ton. no the profit is Sl5O per
ton. Another shaft has been sunk al
most as deep a. the other. anu they
have q iour.foot vein. They have out
1915 tons Of ore" The Advertiser then
gives US some figures. saying $1,000
per day is pretty good profit; this is
what they expect; ''and this from o sin
Gle shaft only twenty-five feet down.
without operating the drifts. or lateral
veins" Mining experience. however.
has demonstrated that a assure vein Is
always without bottom. This vein Ia
estimated by biologists to extend in its
general direction twenty degrees cast OF
north about six or seven miles In length.
Bearing this fact in mind. the wealth to
be reasonably expected from this ''fnd"
can only be estimated by comparison.
The Comstock lode in Nevada. hitherto
supposed to be the richest silver mine in
the world, yields only $40 per ton on
the average. while that at Nswburyport
yields Just double that. The Mariposa
mines. which were sold a few years ago
to a company for so. goo. 900, yielded
only SO per ton silver. The Belcher
mines, in Colorado, which yield about
so per ton. divided $780, 900 among
the stockholders rs the profit Of work
during the month Of August. 1874. And
these mines had not the additional
profits acsruing from the production Of
lead. A correspondent Of the New
York Tribune describes the whole thing
in nearly the same language. and that
experienced Colorado and Nevada min
srs are going to work them in the
Spring.
All this reads like a pretty good joke
10 us. Of course. although they are evil
IDENTIFY in earnest there. II is nc eIas-
geratien. whatever. 10 state that. in all
probability. there are from n to i've
Lodges per day found on this coast in
different localities. but not more than
one in fifty amounts 10 80 very much af-
ter all. Tho ''perpendicular foot wall
which ID without q parallel in mining
history" seems TO be going to help
them out with the ore, in some way net
explained. We strongly suspect, more
over. that the yield" spoken OF is sim
ply assay value. aud when gresnhorns
work the ore they will not get even the
60 or 40 per cent. which we obtain here.
Any miner can tell what a difference
there Is in an assay OF sPccimens and ay-
erags yield OF ore. A piece % ore from
a mine may assay $1,000 per ton and
perhaps ten tons OF ore crushed just as
It amt from the ledge may not yield
500 for the whole ten tons. Any n
who knows anything about mining will
admit that this often happens. To get
at any proper figures Of such values, q
quantity Of ors-sevsral tons-should
be crushed. sampled by competent per-
snns .nl s.xcfal assavs made Tha