Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1880-01-01
LAKE MINING DISTRICT.
THE MAMMOTH MINE REGARDED Az TAILCRB
GROSS hISMANAGBMENr AND BLUNDER-
ING IGNORANcB fHR GaIxP CAUSE
ONLY $27 400 BULLION PRODUCED AT a COST
OF OVER $20O,GO0
BOOZE, December 81, 1879.


APPEAL correspondent has gathered An in
teresting history of that region and some &C
count of ths causes which have led to it's
failure as profitable mining district.
For the past year or more there have been
such glowing accounts of hat the Mammeth
mine was going to pan out that the public
will hardly be prepared to learn now that the
mine is regarded as failure. Your inform
ant, who has spent some months in Mammoth
| City, one of the best known writers on
mines and mining on the coast, is a shrewd
observer and kns vs. whereof he speaks; and
what is more, is like the APPEAL, not afraid
to tell the truth He attributes the failure
of the district so far chiefly ;to the gross
ignorance and blundering ncapacity Of those
| " no have been entrusted with the develop
Inent Of the principal prospect there. There
never was a company or set of stockholders
SO despoiled of their resources as those of
the Mammoth mine. From the very time,
nearly two years ago, when George L. Dodge
sat on a stump 900 feet below the Mammoth
Groupings and said, II don't want to know
Now IiCu khcy %Ict tHt1 10 lOT d ueil any
how" down TO the day when the Groupings
new Sl4, 100 trainSay proved An abomnin-
| able failure. the aftirs of the Mammoth
have been administered With aa ignorance
and recklessaess that merits judicial inyestiga-
ton. The superintendent, from Lambeth,
who, our informant says, used to herd sheep.
down to Hardy, whom Col Fair kicked out
of the Ophir and drove off the Comstock for
cause, have been men of low Intelligence,
comparative inexperience, and of no stand
Ing in mining circles. Yet to them has been
entrusted tbs expenditure OF an amount of
money estimated by some as high ~ $500
900. Lambeth spent several Thousand
dollars on a treste work to briag ore down
the lnountsin. II blew down the frat high
wind. Then he spent several thousand more
on chute lined with sheet iron, through
which the ore was to be shot down the hill.
The first car load converted it into tooth
picks Then $50 600 was spent on mill
go stamps to rus by water po~er). This
mill was built mile away from the mine
when it should have been built at the mine
When it VAS all coaplated two important
discoveries were made. to wit: that the ore
would Mt pay for milling and that tho
water power was not sufficient to drive the
mill if it did. One day big SNOW storm
came along, demolished the pan room
and operations ceased for the Winter
In the Spring a little streak of specimen ore,
very rich, was found in the mine, and the |
stock went booming from IS to SIS. Jim |
Morgan, JOhany Landsrs and several other |
knowing enes improved the occasion to get |
out Il was then resolved by some of those |
who got IN and assumed the management, to f.,
rebuild the mill, put in 20 more stamps and
run it by steam. They borro"ed the money,
some 500, 900, from tbs Bank of California,
and by way Of inspiring confidence, made
Tom Bel Prssiaent-a figure head President |
They sent up Hardy to superintend oper-
atoms. Hardy formerly cattle herder
Oh the San Joaquin plains. then he handled
the yard stick In thread and needle store in
Sacramento, and it was III both these occu.
pations that ne learned what he knows about
mining. Hardy's first brilliant stroke was
the construction Of . new tramway to convey
ore from the mine to the mill He built it on
grade of over 500 feet to the mile, and the
osded cars, five tons each, were to run in
couples, by gravity-controlisd only by the
he brakes He laid the rails around sharp
curves on dead level, and housed it all over.
lice The first oar he ran through jumped
he track at the first curve and smashed itself
o pieces. The next one did the same anu
learly killed the brakeman. Then the intel i
lgent lariat Singer that bis onter rail
ught to have been elev sted arouiIa the curves
lie tried 10 do it bat found thar ii lie ,d th.
airs would not pass through tae covering, and
lso through !oEg tunnel through whica the
Dad lay. Then tho yard stick man began to =
wear, and for week she fairfield air abou.
aamnoth took on all the colors of the r.ir
ow. 1t was resolved tha: tbs tramwav was
failure snd that tie old trost}cwerk must
gain be used Bat hurs it was discovered
hat willis the finishing touches acre beisl
Mt sE the WORK, the old ons b ID been
Urn down, More swearing. more cayulean
,.aosPhere. Tncn Il took ,hrve weeks to gs
piid tae old tcestie. Cost Of who'll. exoer-
nrn', rebuilding, etc, about SO 900. 81
ifor.nant says tba, the nj is Row ruann..
'aani"dioaIy ua ore that vii. net abotl. s.
ton l. Cr3sL.. han, Oh to,-, . l..