Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1881-03-18
sUrRO TUNNEL.

A correspondent Of the New York
Grophic who il evidently interested in
the sutro tunnel writes . shsrt eommu-
uiea,ion to that paper. from which Ne
make the following extract:
While q bonanza discovery in the Com
stock lodo would send Sutro up, 1t occupies
, better position Than any Of tho Comstock
mines. An investor in any one OF these
mi.es must wait for . ''strike' In his own
mine before Q rise In value, and must pay
assessments till the strike comes. sutro
tunnel stretches ont 10 many mines 10
constantly advancing, and . strike In any
mine 70 which 10 leads would MAKE is
shsrer In this discovery. Neanwhiie IL
stock, a. You say, 10 non-sssessabls. Fur
Their than this. the working OF low grade
ore has never received any attention stths
Comstock, and ore that In other mining
districts would be Of great value lies there
awaiting use. The Sutro Company will
have the working Of this ore. and they
believe il win be . source Of great profit.
bonanza developed anywhere along
the Comstock, or several Of them. would
simply afec. the Sutro Tunnel Company
to the extent Of the increased royalty from
the ere extracted. a. agreed. upon In
consideration Of the tunnel draining the
ninss. instead Of BY the ore that would
be sent out through the tunnel. The
tunnel only taps the lode at the depth Of
1000 feet, and no ore has ever been sent
out through II. a. II 10 found 70 be much
moro advantageous 10 raise ore to the
surface from that depth. than to run IL
four miles out through the tunnel.
directly away from the mills. The vast
amount Of rich ore from the hundred
million bonanza Of Consolidated Virginia
and California extended to the level Of
the Sutro tunnel and even below. The
cost Of raising II to the surface directly
to the mill was less than II would have
been to send II out through the tunnel.
away from all milling and transportation
facilities.
Even the low grade ore proposition Ii
not likely to DO Of benefit TO the tunnel
company. other than tho royalty. a. the
vast majority OF Il. 90 far a. 10 known,
lies above the level Of the tunnel and
near the surface. Even that lying below
the tunnel level can b raised TO the sur
face cheaper than run out through the
tunnel. There are millions Of tons in
sight. but to say that "ths Sutro Com
pany will have the working Of it," oil
that IL will be . "souros Of great profit"
to that company other than the royalty
10 simply not ~justiAable. either from
present or past experiences. II will b
borne in mind that this ''royslty" IL Q
certain stipulated amount per ton upon
all the ore taken from the mines Of the
Comstock. whether IL passes through
the tunnel or not. and only from the
mines drained by the tunnel, in consid'
Grafton Of such drainage.
This IL the main revenue Of the tunnel,
and that revenue can only be increased
from its present in~signiAcant amount BY
an increased production Of Z from the
lode. Two dollars q ton for all ore thai
pays $40 or more to the ton. and one
dollar for all under $40 10 the royalty
bat the two dollar proposition 10 practi
cally played out" sutro Tunnel stoci
il unassessable. which IL an extremely
comfortable circumstance to holders oI
Il who are 20 long waiting for Q ''rise.'
The chief prospective value and i'm
portancs OF the Sutro tunnel beyond II,
uss for drainage. consists in the assist
ance 1t a give toward carrying future
explorations Of the great ore belt farther
to the west at oil points. II is in con
tenn lation to eventually carry the uair
tunnel itself farther west directly through
the base Of Mount Davidson 10 possibl,
mineral Developments west Of the Com
stock.