The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07
Review Of Mines and
Mining in California

lumbia The capital is fixed at s25o,oo0 in Ell
shares The object of the promoters of this COM
pany is no doubt, TO do big business if they are
successful IN getting the money. According to the
prospectus they do not possess a single property,
every ng is in the future, and the drec ors will
await the advice OF the Canadian ad visory board
(who are very far on before entering into any
tracts. This is rather curious, but II the public
find the money, properties Of some sort another
no doubt will be found.
curious circumstance is revealed by a letter
sent by Messrs. Lumley & Lumley 10 the financial
press: The New Goldfelds OF British Columbia
Limited, the prospectus of which was issued few
days ago Will have a namesake under the ii le
of the GOdfelds of British oumbia Limited,
and 1t may be assumed that the latter COMPANY
was registered before the one which has just been
hurriedIy brought do not think much of the
New Goldfieds OF British Colu mbia, Limii ed and
hope, therefore, that the other undertaking will be
a more valuable one. 1 need hardly warn my
readers that they should be extremely careful with
reference to new British Colum bian enterprises,
of which hear we are to have quite a rush
Dan de Quille completes In tho current num-
ber of the Mining and Scientific Press highly
in nteresting account of the possibilities of
American Flat and the proposition being
talked of by mining men of Virginia City and
Gold Hill of draining the "fat" by tunnel
which would cut through the underlying
quartz veins at depth of from 1000 to 1900
feet. The mountain would thus be pros pected
and drained at the same time.
American Flat is a basin-lik depression
covering several hundred acres, south of the
Gold Hill mines. There are many quartz
lodes below the basin, and there was q rush to
them in the boom times, when American City
fiourished on the fat Most of the mines
were drowned out by the floods of su rface water
at 500 feet or so. and where the battle was
kept up with powerful pumps, final defeat was
acknowledged at 800 to 1000 feet In the
abandoned Rock Island is a wide vein yield.
ing ore running from $50 to 800 a ton, and
in the Baltimore, silver ores running higher
were found. There is q large supply of the
opinion that main branch of the Comstock
lode underlfes American Flat, and that
bonanzas are hidden there. The idea is to ex.
tend the Sutro drain tunnel to American Flar
from the Crown Point or the Alta on the Com.
stock, the length OF the extension required
being 1900 feet from the Alta. This is an
alluring scheme, and seems TO carry the las,
possibility that the glories of the boom times
will ever return TO Virginia City.
The illustrated lecture on the cyanide pro.
cess delivered in Academy of Sciences Hal,
last Monday evening by Professor S. 8. Christy
of the State University greatly interested an
audience that overfowed the hall. Professor
Christy has long given special study to the
problems connected with this comparatively
new method of gold extraction, and he mas
made important contributions to the science
and literature of it. His laboratory history OF
the process was of special interest to metal.
lurgists present One of the things that he
emphasized was that the delicate process
could not be successfully operated by any one
but an expert chemist and metallurgist L,
would not do to set up fine plant and hire a
muscular miner to operate 1t. There is much
advance to be made in this process, but, valu.
able as It is and will remain, it will continue
to be one rather supplementary of the Older
processes Professor Christy advised the saving
of all tailings of as low value as so cen Il
a ton as they might be sold at profit one OF
these days. The problems connected with the
cyanide process with which metaliurgists are
now laboring concern mainly the getting O,
the gold out of the solution after it has been
dissolved. The cyanide process as already put
into practical operation in the treatment oi