The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1888-06-30
osoEoLA PLACER MINES.
A Few Points from the Report OF
Pref. G. w. Maynard.

From the Mining and Engineering
Journal of the 10th instant we take
the following written by r. W. Ray
mond:
One of the most interesting discoveries OF
| this kind is at Osceola, on the western side OF
Mount Wheeler. the highest peak of the Snake
range, in White Pine county, Nevada we
take a few characteristic points concerning 1t
from the manuscript report ola prolonged and
detailed examination by Prof. G. Maynard,
accompanied with maps. sketches aud statis-
| tics of actual working.
The gravel deposit occupies deep canyon,
Mt the mouth of which it spreads out fah-like,
towards the open foothills and the valley.
Bedrock can be clearly traced around It's
borders; and the gravel is so exposed that 1t
can be easily tested, not only by sampllng the
banks of the actual workings, but also by
shafts. cheaply sunk. Some $40,OQO have al
ready been taken from the ground, which has
Welded (apart from $1,000 in nuggets) 1876
cents per cubic yard. This does not include
workings on the bedrock, where very rich ma
terial, showing 81 toS50 per cubic yard, was
explored by shafts and drifts under Professor
Maynard's direction. The deepest shaft
strikes the bedrock at about $50 feet. The
sluicng OF all the material (9O5) cubic yards)
from the lower hundred feet of this shalt, and
from 5O-foot drift on the bed rock, yielded
something more than q cents per cubic yard
The average depth of gravel over bedrock is
about 100 feet and its area within the out
cropping bedrock rim is 1873 by 1910 feet,
giving an area of about 100 million cubic
yards of the gravel.
The source of the gold was evidently the
neighboring mountains; and the confined and
narrow canyon seems to have greatly favored
a concen ration in easily followed channels.
The present pfoprietors have never had any
difficulty on that head. Their greatest OBJ
stacle has been the lack of water. Their pres
ent ditch has never carried more than 1920
inches as maximum, and the actual delivery
averaged last year daily in miners inches as
follows: April $50, May 400, June $50, July
375, August 175, and for the autumn about lJ0.
The securing of an adequate and mo uni
form water supply is therefore the critical
question. The reputation of Nevada for run
ming water is not of the best; but tho slopes
of the Snake range on the eastern edge OF the
State are not as barren as those OF the interior
ranges Mount Wheeler, over 1900 feet
high, carries snow the year round; and its
sides are reported to present the phenomenon,
somewhat unusual in Nevada, of hemlock
forests. BY buying certain water rights,
building a now ditch about "a miles long (at a
cost of $780, 0O) and providing storage rescr-
voirs, regular supply of about 260O ~ hour
inches for seven months in the year can be Sc
cured The estimate Of quantityis based on
monthly measurements for three years of the
streams to be utilized, with liberal deductions
for leakage and evaporation,
There are no farms 20 be injured by debris,
a fact Of high Importance for the future.
While our interest in the case is merely
professional aud scientific, we feel bound to
say that the report of Professor Maynard has
Impressed us as exceedingly careful and con.
sentative. His frank declaration that he is
interested in the purchase of the property
does not in our judgment weaken the force of
his very temperate arguments and his con-
vincing array of proofs from practice. We
cannot help feeling that he has made euta
ttrong case. The financial arrangements
which his clients propose are extremely lib
eral to capitalists, involving as they do no
pecuniary bonus to anybody concerned, but.
on the contrary giving, in return for the
money required for it's development the con-
troll of The property and prior claim on tho
profits until the investment shall have been
repaid, and a large permanent interest there
after. This is refreshing departure from the
usual custom Of promoters" according to
which, the capitalist, without whose assist
ance mines can seldom be adequately develop
ed, Is asked to pay handso mely for the privil.
eye of assisting, while the owners and
middle men realize at once enough to pay
them for their trouble and risk anyhow. The
proprietors of the Osceola deposi. have set
good example. We hope that they will sue
coed in obtaining the help they need, and that
model enterprise may be developed to it's
full capacity in this secluded spot We need
not add that seclusion will vanish a. soon as
the dividends begin.