, 1881-04-09
Our Mines.


|. NJ. Tayler, the well-knowa mining
man, in response TO the toast, " The
Practical Miner" he made the following
speech, which contains SO many good
things tha; We give it herewith as worthy
Of preservation:
In ISSa- 10. when the cOmst,ck mines were
discovered. silver mining Was \ new business
to the American people. The moneyrd men
and capitalists Of San Francisco soon saw that
| il was destined to become one Of the leading
| industries af the Pacific Coast, and they natu-
rally looked 10 the mining schools ct Europe
for scientific ~ well as practical men to guide
them in wha. g. them was a new held
Processes were introduced for the purpose
Of workin, these ores, which had been IL sue.
ceSsful operation for 100 years in Swansea and
elsewhere in Europe. The results proved
them q be a total faiiure when applied here.
Labor aud materials were high. the ORES Were
totally different from those hitherto handled.
and for the first two years fully one-half the
cold and silver contained IN the ore was lost in
working il.
Practical men soon SAN that 10 work these
ores p.ohtahlv, labor-saViny machinery would
have 20 be introduced Millions OF money
were spent in experimenting, improvements
were gradually made in handling and reduc-
in. ores, until at the end Of twenty years
more progress has been made in practical min
iny than in 10 years before.
A few locomotives and stationary engines
now DO the work that required the service OF
5000 mules and IOO. 900 poems IN Mexico, or
no, ,OD0 slaves in ancient times. An ore body
which required 100 years To exhaust IN Mexico
A =,
the advances that have been made IN deep
vein r,ininy that the so-called scientists have
been compelled TO pull uT and move ON to
keep pace with well founded facts and findings.
Now. who are the men who made these nm
proveInents in mining. Was 1t by the geoio,
gist who came from every part OF the world
anil theorized Is 10 the fuTmtticn OF VEN sys-
tens and PIiucene rivers, No theory OF vein
mining is Of any benefit % a practical miner
that cannot he demonstrated by facts, and no
fact has ever been demonstrated except by the
pick, shovel and drill.
Science i the result OF experiment, and only
when discoveries have been proven by ex-
pertinent to Re successful do they become certi-
he'd facts When the seolosist goes IN ad'
vance of the pick he goes in the dark
Were the improvements IN mining niaue oy
Government surveyors, who have Deem sen,
out IIUQ. llllt lltuC W tiatI ots bsN
belts and examine the deep workings OF the
Ccmstock and other mineral lo.lss, but who
spent most of their time in chasing horned
toa.is and winged bugs, 1t is true they sur
yeyed the deep workings of the Comstock, but
after these surveys were put on paper the
mattsr-of-tsct miner knew about rs much OF
them as he would Of the hierosiyph!cs carved
by the Aztecs on the basalt rocks OF Arizona
What have the men done who have been
elrcated at Freiburg and other mining schools:
4 mining school education Is very good
thing, for it FITS man for the witness stand,
enables him To use technical terms and ambis;-
uous phrases for the benefit ct thore who know
nothing If mining from practical standpoint
a standpoint which he never VIII attain
until he enters the great laboratory ot Nature,
where he will find his diploma OF little use
His mining education does not really begin
until he takes change OF mines to superintsna
and direct sheir working. build and run re-
ductiou works, when, after the mistakes,
f,ilures and experiences Of lifetime, he will
know something Of mining.
No. the men who have built up legitimate
mining in America are the labsring men, sone
Of whom crossed the Plains with an OK team
men who cnmrnenced mining with roeksr,
from the rocker to the long tom, from the long
tom to the sfuice box, and from that to by.
draulics. After they worked out their shai-
low :. J;.,uinrs they turned rivers from their
nba,,sls cleaned uu their auriieruus beds,
i..iIt ditches and fumes, and conveyed water
from distant rivers ON 70 high mountain tops
They are the men. too, who invented the
power drill and powerful explosives, enabling
them to run deep adits and open ~ the beds
of ancient rivers.
They created the system of hydraniics, en-
abling them To level mountains and c"iiect
their golden sands by passing volume oi
water through q six inch ir"n nozzle equal IN
force to l00O-horse power. and they bnilt I'M
proved stamp mills to work prohtably the low