The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-05-04
SILVER.
Its Depre citation, and the Causes that Have
Produced 1t.


Produced 1t.
rFrom the Pail Mall Gazette]
The fall in the value of silver, which
is now before a committee of the House
of Commons, and which is causing such
serious loss in Indian exchanges, is at
tribute& to different causes by different
observers. 1t has been assigned to a
panic, to the present extraordinary state
of trade, to the demonstration OF silver
in Germany, or to the increased produc-
ton of the silver mines. Probably it Is
the result of all these operating ut the
same time. The last cause, it seems to
me, has not yet been fully realized III
this country, and still less have its prob
able results in the future been properly
weighed. I happened last autumn to
have the opportunity of examining a
portion of the silver-mining district in
Nevada, and although the present pro-
duction of silver in that State is very
great, I saw that it was mere cipher IN
comparison with the enormous amount
of mineral which is as yet scarcely
touched. In spite of the depression in
trade, which was marked IN that district
by the number of miners out of work,
new localities we're being opened out al
most daily by enterprising Americans,
which will ultimately flood the market.
To take an example: In June last a
new lode of silver ore was discovered
near Battle Mountain, q station on the
Central Pacific railway, $40 miles from
San Francisco, in one of the ranges of
metamorphic schists and states which
rise from the great arid plains covered
with sage-brush, that extend, at an altl-
tude Of about 5000 feet, from the eastern
slope of the Sierra Nevadas to the western
plateaus of the Rocky Mountains. At
the time of my visit in October the works
were far advanced, and now are IN full
production. The lode runs north and
south, and in some places stands up
above the general surface of the hill like
a Sroken-down wall, measuring no less
than thirty-two feet, and making quite a
feature in the barren landscape. Through
this the silver was disseminated in de-
posits of varying richness, but in enoI-
NOUS quantities. This new locality for
silver was so little known that the geo
logical surveyors of Nevada, under Mr.
Clarence King, were at that time unac-
duainted with it. It is merely one of
many similar accommodations which will
certainly be worked before very long.
These argentiferous ranges extend south
ward from Nevada and Utah, through
Arizona and New Mexico, to join the
great mining districts of Mexico proper,
and northward in the direction of Ore
g0n and Idaho to an unknown limit.
The principal obstacles to their wealth
being realized are the hostility of the In
dams. the want of wood, and the diff
entities of carriage. These, however, are
being rapidly overcome The red Indian
is vanishing at the contact of the white
man, and railways are swiftly bringing
places hitherto inaccessible within reach
Of the Pacific and the Eastern States.
And, although the lonely plains which
sweep round the metaliferous ranges al
most like sea are treeless, the pine-clad
Sierra Nevadas on the one hand and the
Rocky Mountains on the other, offer an
endless supply Of timber. Through
many of the canyons streams mark their
courses by lines of luxuriant willows and
elder trees, and water Is to be met with
in many places, even In the sage-bush
plains" at short distance from the sur
face. The latter, if irrigated, are fertile
beyond measure. It is certain, there
fore, that the supply of silver from these
regions will be largely increased, and IN
less the demand keep pace with it the
price must continue to fall. If, as some
people assert, the present low price is
not produced by the increased supply OF
silver, there can be no doubt that the
latter cause will come into operation in
the immediate future.