The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1877-01-11

its stations, now running within astone's
throw of them, and then, 10 AVOID an
intervening chasm, branching out pc
hind the mountains ngainJ and deierrihe
its arrival beyond all patience Wheh
il attaius It's terminus II Is in M dlliicult
n spot as n railway was ever brought TO-
The hills around Virginia City custer
and lDress upon ore another 30 closely
that standing upon g street ana looking
eastward. we cannot discover a valley
worth mentioning. The line Of upheavaI
extends TO TIE furthest horizon and
toward the close of the day wren the
quick and fervid transformations OF sun
get throw a melancholy glamour over the
prospect, and the shadows deepen, Mount
Davidson, on which Virginia Is en-
grated, with a peak 1000 feet high
above il and a precipitous slope several
thousand feet below II, seems the last
place in the world for the location OF a
ty Such a city IL Is, tool SbrilI,
pushing, feverish, restless, and %garioh--a
pandemonium rather, where the tumu..
OF the stock-room is perpetuated, and
business leaves nOseclusion orquiet. The
mountain il said to be one Of the Oldest
in the world, havihg existed millions Of
years ago, long before the surrounding
country made its appearance. II was
then an isolated island peak, which, after
the waters had subsidized stood pre-
eminent on a vast plain, A lapse OF
many thousand years was accentuated
by great volcanic commissions, which cast
out the masses Of ~propylite or green stone
forming the mountains that nowsurrOund
Mount Davidson, and another great CON
vulsion rent the propylitc country in
twain, and brought up u new series OF
trachytiC mountains. SO great was the
pressure from beneath when the treachyte
make It's appearance in Il demi fluid state
that the whole of the greensboro countt
was uplitted, and the line Of contact be-
tween it and the syenite which con-
s]titutes Mount Davidson, being the
plane If least resistance, a fissure was
caused there, and that tiSsurs is now
known as the Comstock lode, from which
about 5000, 600, 600 worth OF bullion has
been extracted. The moment the pres
sure from beneath ceased the fssure
would have closed had not great masses
of propylite fallen and wedged them
selves in, thus forming a support and
leaving room for nature to complete her
work. The deposits Of gold and silver
are the results of volatilzation, that il,
according to th%etheoryOf widest accepta-
ton, for very little positive evidence ex-
lists.
Penetrating downward from the busy
streets Of Virginia, the more important
mines are now within a short distance Of
1000 feet from the surface, aud until
the Sutro tunnel is complete every ton
of rock and every gallon Of water must
be hoisted up from the bottom. Water
cannot well be pumped 1000 feet by one
lift, and that which accumulates in the
mines is successfully raised in cisterns
two hundred feet apart at an enormous
and with enormous trouble.
When the tunnel reaches the shaft, how
ever, the water will pass through it into
the Carson river without either expense
trouble, and when the shafts have
been sunk below the tunnel level the
water can be pumped lip to it and a
distance of 1000 feet saved. The wood
consumed by the engines used inhoisting
accounts for the devastated forests around
Lake Tahoe, for the fumes, and for the
other branches of the lumber business,
which are conspicuous in western Nevada
and eastern California. 81 pposing
however, that the mines were as dry as
ovens, The tunnel would still be an
for the ore and waste rock, of
which, at a rou n guess, 5000 tons are
now lifted 1000 feet daily. Mr.. Sutro
distinctly disclaims credit for originating
the idea Of his work. Similar tunnels,
he says, have been constructed in the
mines of Europe for thousands Of years
and the Hartz mountains are entered by
more than dozen such, all of them de-
signed to tap the mines. The Ernest
tunnel is fourteen miles long
and, though the shafts of mines are
from 1000 to 800 feet below it, and it
Dbviates not more than three hundred
feet of pumping, this saving is deemed
recompense for its construction.