Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1880-03-31
SECRET CANYON.
The story of the sieddes e. sscrtrnnd
M Mine.

Francisco, gives the subjoined history Of
the Geddes& Bertrand mine-mos of the
facts set forth being true, and within the
knowledge of all old settlers in Eureka.
The correspondence appears in the Stock
Exchange of the 25th inst:
Agreeable to my promise to give you q
sketch O! some of my recent mining trips,
l begin with Secret Canyon. This is a Sc
qnestered nook in the Prospect range. six
miles south of Eureka. The principal
mines are the Vanderbilt groupe, which
consists of four mines. OF these four. two
are the well-known Geddes and Bertrand !:
the other two are the Bertrand No. 2 and
the Stockton. l was surprised at the ex-
tent and richness Of the property. and, az
1t has only lately been reapened, wondered
why that had not been done before. On
this hangs a tale.
STORY OF THE GEDDEs AND
Eleven years ago two young adventurers
discovered a rich prospect in Secret Can
yon. The White Pine excitement was at
its height at the time, and hundreds of
people iocked over from Eureka. from
Hamilton, Austin and elsewhere, to see the
new find. One Of these people offered
$50. 900 for it, in cash, and was refused.
AhC II Wh5 uoWu oO lcet tutD. NDtn u
got to SO feet, another man paid $25, 900
cash, to bond the mine for 1885 000-mere-
ly to bond it. He could not get his in
tended purchaser to close in time, and so
forfeited his SIS, 000, and the mine remained
unsold. Meanwhile. Geddes and Bertrand
pegged away at it and found it to be richer
as they pegged. They now refused to sell
it for 500 900. They took out about $780,
900, and then began to be insane. They
ran off to San Francisco to spend the
money, leaving the mine to take care of
itself. How quickly and foolishly they
spent their money, the sports of the day
can tell you. When they went back to the
mine they took out another Si00, 900, and
become still more crazy. They thought it
was a smelling ore, and must have extern
sive reduction works erected on the spot.
Full of misdirected energy, they went to
work at it Immediately. There was no rail-
road then from Palisade to Eureka. The
mine is within six miles of a city and a
railroad. at the present time-it was, at
that time a hundred miles away from a
railroad, and several hundred from a city.
Everything bad TO be dragged across the
desert ores one way, supplies the other.
The ores were sent to Hamilton, to Austin,
to Reno, and e"en to San Francisco to re-
dnce. OF course, none but the richest ores
u ofuih otth i'iB obd ABtilSif u ais
portation. The nearest points-Hamilton
and Austin-were, respectively, 40 and 80
miles distant. No ores worth less than
Sl00 would pay to send all the rest were
thrown aside as valueiess, and immense
heaps of them ekvolades," the Greeks
called them-lie outside the shafts to-day.
But, although 500 ores would pay, they
would barely psy there was no profit in
them. The cost Of freightage across the
desert, the cost Of reduction, the wasteful
and negligent processes employed, the al
lowaDces, etc, made the the cost OF freight
ing and i~nsuring the bullion, and many
other expenses peculiar to smelling a mill-
ing ore at reduction works situated from 40
to 800 miles OFF. in the mid-t Of deserts.
and at a time of great excitement-all
these charges took the stuffing out of Sl0U
ores-yes. and out of Sl25 ores.
RESULT OF THE ASSAYS.
Now, many Of these ores are very rich.
l aesayed a piece of stedtefeldtite, taken
from the Stockton mine, which went 81, sS5
to the ton, and the black part OF the sample
by itself assayed SIS, 0d0. All the No. !
selected ores taken together will assay $3.50,
the No.2 selected $3.50, and tbs No. 3 Sc
leeted about $3.50 but when you come to
average all the ores, good aud bad select
ed and rejected, those sent to be reduced
and those thrown away on the waste damps,
/ doubt if they will go much over 800,
though I am quite confident thai they will
so this high, and probably higher. In
other words, the general average % the ores
is higher than ttat of the big bonanzas al
Virginia City. But it was uo high enough
to pay much Of a profit afrer sending even
the selected Nos, ], 2 and 3, a distance of
40 to 800 miles to be reduced. 1t followed
i that every ton OF fine ores witch our young
Adventures shipped away cost the extrac-
ton of several tom OF low grade ores
and, finding this expensive, they began to
send the upper grades of these also.
In a word, they failed. They took out
half a million dollars, spent it foolisbly,
got into debt trying to accomplish impos-
sibilities, and finally had to see their mag
niiicent property foreclosed and sold by the
Sheriff. Meanwhile they had, though at
great cost, greatly improved it. They for
titled the title 10y purchasing or fighting
every adverse claim in the neighborhood.
They bought the adjacent mines they put
up, at the last moment, an expensive
smelling works a steam hosting works,
and a dozen structures, of various kinds.
They improved q spring of water, some
miles OIL, and brought the water to the
mine in iron pipes. They sunk shafts, ran
tunnels and pierced the earth in many di-
rections to prove the vein" and they
wound up every few weeks in San Francis
co to waste more than they had expended
ON the mine. When the property was sold
it fell into the hands of a banker or mer-
chant, whose first idea was to sell it. In
this he Mas not succ ssful, and so the prop
erty was forgotten, and nobody supposed
that it was of any great valne. All the
while, however, there were 1000 tons Of
500 ore lying on the dumps, and plenty
more in sight inside at not over 800 feet in
depth. Oh, the blind folly and stupidity
Of mine : management! !" Even after the
railroad was built, and the conditions Of
mining in the vicinity were revolutionized,
nobody thought of looking after this rich
and neglected mine.
The White Pine excitement was over;
the rush" was now to Virginia City and
Secret Canyon, and its mass of easily
/ acquired wealth was forgotten. However,
the banker went to look at it, put a few
men TO work upon it upon shares, and was
astonished and full Of regret at the rapidity
with which these honest workingmen got
rich, and then went to see it again. He
now learnt that even the scorle at the fur
mace, which had only been worked a short
time when Gedles and Bertrand failed,
was rich enough to reward a Mormon ma
rauder, who had carted away several tons
of it to Salt Lake City, hundreds of miles
away, and he was thus furnished with the
reason why the original proprietors had
failed, viz: their utter innocence of the
art of smelling ores. Under the circum-
stances the banker did what every sensible
man should do, when he finds that he is
not thoroughly acquainted with a matter
in which he has a pecuniary interest-send
for professional advice. The banker sent
for me, gave me carte blanche TO examine
the mine and make a full report upon it,
and of I started one morning some few
weeks ago. Next day l reached Palisade.