Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1888-02-14
rssE DAYTON EHE0GEss.
In is Launched with a Rain
storm and Banquet.

Storm 2Dd sS7s,gues.
| On Sunday last there was a large
crowd at DAYTON TO witness the
launching of the scow dayton, y
which was bu 1t by Dr.. Rae & Son
! to dredge the Carson river for the
amalgam which lies in the rivers
bed. In spite of the drenching
RAIN several hundred people were
present from different parts OF the
State to witness the launching.
The hour set was l o'clock, but
at noon rain set in, and it was
finally decided by Mr.. Rae to launch
her before the time, as the creased
ways down which the barge was to
glide became SO wet that delay was
considered dangerous.
The barge was started at 10 min
utes to 1, at least a hundred men
assisting amid loud cheering. 1t
barely reached the water on account
of the delay in the rain, but couple
of hours work would float her
clear.
The craft is eighty feet long and
thirty feet wide, with an air tight
deck and air compartment between,
SO that it draws but five inches of
water, and when loaded with eighty
tons Of dredging machinery will not
draw over twelve inches.
The idea of the company backing
the enterprise is to dredge the
sands OF the Carson river for the
quicksilver that for the past twenty
years has been wasting from the
mills.
The value of the quicksilver de-
posts in the Carson river is esti-
mated all the way from fifty to one
hundred and twenty millions, being
the concentrated refuse OF the Com
stock ledge, which was wasted by
insufficient reduction appliances.
The dredging machinery is OF the
Hungarian pattern, worked by
steam, and lifts a ton of sand per
minute. The coarse gravel is dis
charged through long pipe and de-
posted on the banks OF the river,
while the finer portion is rul along
the surface of tie dredger through
sluices, and is there secured by the
ordinary quicksilver method.
In day the machine will lift six
hundred tons OF sand and handle it.
The sand is worth all the way from
two to six dollars a ton, and the ex-
pense OF lifting and sluicing it is
estimated at l3a cents per ton.
The scow draws at the most
foot of water, but there are places
in the river where the water is not
over six inches deep. This has al
ways been considered an obstacle to
the success OF the scheme. The
builder, Dan Chisholm, informed
the APPEAL representative that the
dredger excavated it's own channel
as it went along, and there would
always be at least two feet of water
for it to float in.
DR.. Rae has explored and assayed
the channel for twelve miles below
Dayton, and there is not a foot of
sand in ali that distance that will
not assay at least two dollars a ton.
The concentrates found in the bed
of the river runs as high as 5000 a
ton. The slumgullion from the
mills contains something that forms
on the bed of the river like a con-
crete, and nothing passes through
it. All the assays come from above
this concrete, and not below.
The enterprise is backed by Phil
adelphia capital, and SO far not a
cent has been asked OF anyone in
Dayton. In spite of this TACT and
the fact that the company has dis
bursed thousands in the town, a
good many people there have pre-
dicted nothing but failure for an en-
teIprise which all practical engin-
GERS fully endorse.
Alter launching there was ban
quet at the Union Hotel, with tables
spread for about one hundred guests.