The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-06-26
A WILD WESTERN TALE.
Mountain Travelling Eastward With n
Town Upon Its Back
Ri1tt nj

A Mountain Travelling Eastward With n
Town Upon Its Back
Butte Mining Journal.
"There are many strange things connected
with the Comstock mines" said an old resident
of Virginia city to San Francisco Examiner
man. "You must recollect that while the main
workings extend from the north of Gold hill
to Virginia and below, distance of three
miles, there is total of 252 miles of tunnels,
drifts, slopes, sumps, quips and turns, making
up the interior as a total. Think OF it-252
miles farther by far than from the Golden Gate
TO the Nevada line, and farther than across the
great state of New York. Why, look around
a little. You might so as far as from Wash
ington to Baltimore and back. sgain, and YOU
wouidli' be 4lsls.l nioresthafl half way through
the Comstock. When you think of the great
depth of these mines, the gigantic, incompre-
hensible weight Of the mass resting upon the
t1mbers and the travelling mountain, in which
are these mines and on which is Virginia city,
you involve propositions again that have
Stumped the deepest thinker
"Eor instance, queer, polished sticks, as
smooth as mahogany and no thinner than my
cane are every once in q while being taken out
of the old workings. They are as hard and as
heavy as iron, and q knife will make no mark
on them. Now, what are they? Originally
they were twelve-inch solid timbers, and the
millions of tons bearing upon them in all di-
rections, perpendicularly as well as laterally-
for it is only in this way that mines can be tim
are found sometimes in bits, sometimes in long
pieces, taken out where caves have occurred
and the workings displaced. No known me-
chanism at present, nor i'll any age in the past,
so far as history recounts, has such power to
compress and work marvels with wood. The
silent old mine has stumped the scientists.
"You have asked me if it is really true that
Mount Davidson is slowly travelling eastward,
with the town of Virginia on her back and her
mines within. 1t is true, and this again has set
our ablest men TO scratching their heads. BY
the careful estimate of engineers it is seen that
Virginia City has travelled down hill ten feet in
fifteen years, or abou. two-thirds Of q foot
year. 1t is concluded that it is owing to the
vast underground workings, but just how it is
done is problematical. At any rate, however,
the people of Virginia City are not afraid Of
the trip they are taking. They have been with
it too long to get alarmed about it now
''In the consolidated Virginia and California
mines of the Comstock was another strange
thing, too, that for long time caused deep
study and vast expenditure of money. The
fires which broke out IN the 1,500-foot level
and burned for years seemed inextinguishable.
Every known means were tried. There was q
remember, and the owners were anxious to get
at it. 1t was no use, so they put in seven solid
feet of bulkhead and shut it up. 1t burned for
, seven years, and it was only year ago that
'carbolic gas was injected by means of costly
machinery and the hidden fires put out. The
gas in there was so deadly that not man could
approach it as it was escaping. 1t would have
been instant death. Now the best ore Of the
Consolidated Virginia and California is COM
ing out of that place where the unseen fires
long ragged"