Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1879-07-26

Facts and Figures ~Geneerning Some
Of Our Mines.
The extract copied below is from the
columns Of the New York "Bullion;" Was
signed "R," aud doubtless was written by
Colonel G.. Collier Robbins. The state
ments contained in the article are all cor
rect, save that in which the credit Of prov
ing that the smelling Of the ores Of this
district was practicable is claimed for
Colonel Robbins. The credit Of this, a.
every old.timer knows, belongs to Major
Mccoy:
The county of Eureka lies north and
east Of the geographical center Of Nevada,
and between the parallels 80 deg. 10 min.
and Al deg, and between the meridians Of
lis deg. As min. and 116 deg. IS min. west
Of Greenwich. The county seat, Eureka,
is I. 1000 feet above the sea. The own con-
meets with the Central Pacific Railroad by
a narrow-gauge road. 30 miles in length,
costing over 81 ZOO, 900. all local capital,
no aid from the Government having been
received.
In 1854 the first mines were located by =
party Of prospectors in search Of . new
Eldorado, but nothing Of Importance was
discovered until 1869. In the spring Of
that year Mr.. C. 6tetefeldt. M. E., built .
small furnace. which was Afterwards
bought by Major w. W. Mccoy. It was
not successful, and was soon abandoned.
In the fail Of 1869 Colonel G.. Collier
Robbins built . small draft furnace for
the Buttercup Mining Company, which was
emincntly successful. and to Colonel Rob-
bins is due the fact Of proving that the
smelling Of the ores Of the district was
practicable. The Buttercup Company was
. New York corporation, and was the first
to call attention to the value Of the district.
In 1864 there we're probably not more than
twenty mining claims recorded. At the
present writing there are several thousand.
The character Of the ore Is varied. the
principal ores being argentiferous and au-
riferous c~arbonates, md sulphurets Of
lead. One Of the great features OF the snc-
cessful smelling, however. has been that
the ores are self-Huxing-that is, while the
ores already mentioned are in the prepon-
derance, there are sufficient quantities OF
ferruginous and s~ilicious ores to make the
reduction simple and thorough. The Eu-
reka Consolidated and Richmond mines
are the largest and best SO far, aud are the
only ones developed to any extent. al
tuOukus GUN phTcu W tuo ultucc VI GuioPcs
the British Isles, and those Of the Com
stock. they, too. are in their infancy. The
group known as the Eureka Consolidated
cost originally $4,000. During the year
1878 the bullion product reached the neat
little sum OF IS. 491 900. and will be quite
equal to that amount for the present year.
1t might be we'll to state here that not one
fifth OF that sum in outside capital has al
together been invested in the district. In
the year 1869 the total bullion product did
not reach Sl00, 900 T; for the present year,
it is estimated that it will be Sis, 000. 900
at the very least calculation. For 1878 it
was over $40, 000, 900.
The Richmond Company's mines sold in
1871 for something like $100, 900. They
now produce nearly that amount monthly.
The stock is all held in the English mar
ket, and the quotations and dividends can
be seen daily in the London ''Times
This Company have the four largest lead
smelling furnaces extant, each having .
capacity of 80 tons Of ore daily. They
refine their own base bullion by the Luce
and Rozan process, a French patent, and
an improvement upon the Did Pattison
capitalization. The greatest depth attained
in the Richmond group is about 900 feet;
the greatest in the Consolidated nearly
l 1000. The Consolidated Company have
five Cotton furnaces, and keep three in con-
slant operation. Since 1871 nearly S4,-
O0o, 900 have been paid by the CONSOLE
dated in dividends. We visited the mine
q few weeks ago. and examined it thor
oughly, and find that there is enough in
sight to warrant dividends for q long time
to come. A new discovery has been re-
ported on the 14th level, but has not, -
yet, been authenticated.
1t is sn imposslbility to state the past.
present. and future OF one of these two
great mines in q single letter; for as much
space as we have already written would be
required to describe the ores alone, but
suffice it to say that, rich as these proper
ties are, there are at least . dozen others
in the district-perhaps more which
nave brighter prospects than either Of
them had in the spring OF 10.