Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1881-05-03
INC sUrRo TUNNEL AND WEST.
WARD EXrLORATIONn-

rHE sUrRO TUNNEL AND WEST.
wARD KXrL0RATI0Nnl
With compliments OF O. @. Thomas,
Superintendent. the News has received
4 copy OF the annual report OF the Sutro
Tunnel Company for the year ending
March 1. 1881. neatly bound in pam.
phlst form. Having made full reference
to this report at the time Of the recent
annual meeting. when II was presented.
n IL not Necessary to repeat the details
at present. The total length OF the
main tunnel. from mouth to header. 10
20. TAO feet connecting with the old
Curtis shaft Of the Savage Mining Com
pany. and passing just beyond to the
sysnits or diorits formation. commonly
known - the "wsst val" Of the Com
stock.
Since reaching that point. some two
years ago. no further advancement has
been made to the westward, but all work
concentrated upoa the lateral drifts or
branches Of the tunnel north and south.
following the lode. and draining the
mines according to contract. The north
lateral tlnnel has been completed to .
distance Of 440S feet from the main
tunnel. connecting with the Ophir and
other mines Of the BONANZA group; in
fact. draining al the mines in that direo-
ton which are included In the contract
With the Tunnel Company. This was
effected In August last. sinco which time
further advancement In that direction
has been suspended and work concen-
trstsd in the active driving ahead Of the
south lateral branch Of the tunnel. This
10 4ll0 feet in length. having recently
made connection with the Yellow Jacket
shaft. and 10 taking the water Of the
main Gold Hill group Of mines. The
Sutro tunnel. with its north and south
lateral branches. intsrsects the Comstock
at the depth Of 1910 feet from the sur.
face OF the Savage shaft. naturally drain.
Ing the whole lode to that depth. and
allowing Of much deeper drainage BY
msans Of pumps. raising the water to
the tunnel level.
But Independent Of Its value a. .
means Of draining the Comstock to such
great depth. tho tunnel now gives the
most important facilities for carrying
explorations further to the westward.
Thus far the efforts Of all the mining
companies along the lode have been
confined to exploring and following
downward simply the n great assure.
They have drifted far to the eastward at
many points. and the tunnel itself has
practically demonstrated the character
Of the country in that direction. What
Was commonly regarded and spoken Of
In early days as the least clay wall" OF
the Comstock was long since found to DO
NO eastern boundary at all. In fact the
real confines OF the great lode assure in
that direction are even yet very impsr-
fsctly sscertainsd or defined.
And how well 10 the western wall OF
the Comstock asesrtained or dsAnsdf
Downward and eastward has been the
absorbing plan Of operations and Why
not westward? The idea 10 even enter
tanned BY mining men who have known
the lode from its earliest days, that the
old original Comstock assure was de.
parted from and left to the westward
long ego; in short. that all the most
recent bonanza Developments have been
made TO the eastward Of the true or
original Comstock assure. Such was
the case in the Hale / Norcross. and In
the ophir. on the 700 level. the lode Was
ct one time thought to have pinohsd
out entirely. the walls having apparently
drawn In together. At the present pro.
found depths there appears to bs NO
lack Of vein matter away to the eastward.
but . decided lack OF bonsnzas Of ore.
By common conssnt the hard syenits
or diorits forming the west or foot wall
Of the assure has been considered TO be
the boundary limit In that direction and
followed downward ~ such. One rea-
son for this was that the extreme hard.
nsss and intractibls nature Of the diorits
made explorations in that direction too
slow and costly. and . still more potent
reason was fear Of tapping heavy flows
Of water. Now that the tunnel 10 COM
plstsd. however, this last objection IL
obviated. for whatever amount Of water
may DO encountered will find its own
way out through the tunnel. It has
been demonstrated ct several points
along the lode tha. quartz and other
varieties Of rock formation lie beyond
that diorite iootwsll; that the "west
country" or Mount Davidson rock IL
not all OF that u character by any
means. The many ranges Of quartz
and other ledge groupings at the surface
also prove this very c~onclusively,
Westward. should explorations now
be carried with the Sutro Tunnel a. the
base OF operations. from u end OF the
lode to the other. until Il shall be prae-
ticsily demonstrated that there 10 moth
ing In that direction worth going for.
But there 10 every reason to believe that
valuable ore developments await such
explorations. This idea 10 no new one
BY any means. The Cole. MeKibbsn.
and other prospecting tunnels rup into