Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1898-11-30
Some Interesting data on the big
Pumping Project,

Pumping Project,
The Examiner gives the following rs
garding the plan TO clear the lower levels
Of the Coinstock Of water:
Now FIR doep-levcl mining.
BY january !, 1893. the new pumps
are to ne placed and the drainage Of the
Comstock will begin. what then?
viii Pine street ever know again the
exciting times oft~enty years ago9
win the stock exchanges ever he
crowded again to the doors and the floor
swarming with brokers ~jnstlim2 one
another and shouting TO the caller a.
though RedIam ha3 been turned loose.
These are questions which mining
! men have been asking one another ever
since the proposition 10 unwate~ the .
lower levels Of the Comstock took d"@-
mite shape and gave promise Of reall,T.
In spite Of the juggling IN stock: IT.
spite Of She unfair deals-aui there w>.r.
many 81 then-manipulated from '!a
inside. ii is now pretty generally admit
tel that there has been no such wide
prosperity since the hOnanzL days Of
TWENTY-FIVE wears ago. Then money was
quickly made and rapidly spent Al
.he ~storekceperS along Montgomery
street douriShea in those days, aud where
one taiuing stock broker now scratches
for a living hundreds then grew wealthy.
In considering the unwatering problem
as the miners call ii, or to use simple
English. The drainage ~ the Comstock
lode below the level Of the Sutro tunnel
many questions Suggest themselves. and
without repeating them answers may I've
shortly SET forth.
The mines have been worked as deep
as 1900 feet. though the majority are bat
a few hundred feet below the Sutro tuu-
mel level. which is roughly 100 feet be
low the surface. Al mining below this
), tunnel is referred 10 as deep level min
ing. Since November. 1855. zone of this
deep mining has been done. The reasons
were manifold. one was that the men
who controlled the mines had made vast
= fortunes, had become more cautious be
cause OF their wealth, and az d gambler
who has waXed rich is apt to favor a law
closing up the games 80 they did not
find the proposition to shut down Wi
welcome. This Was not the principal
reason, however. Ventilation was a
: serious problem; Lut chief Of all was the
drainage difficulty. Pumping had be-
come 80 expensive Is to eat up the profits
, and every mining man saw the limits o.
the Cornish system Of drainage were
close az hand. Cord~ood cost SIC s. cord
t and 10 cords d day were used to keep the
: machinery going. The Tremendous
: pumps had cost 81 800. ~ to install, an,
the operating expense was S697 ,440 4 year
. exclusive of repairs. There was constan
IS fear that the great pump rods-made 0
se~venteen-inch Oregon pine and heavil,
braced-would collopse under their OWL
weight and cripple the shafts. Then. toe
when the pumps were at their best the.
could scarcely keep the water down, anS
l. the pumping was OF the s!Owe.t KIN
5r At every 200 or 300 feet there was "a res
ervoir station. and the water was life
to by installments from one st0tion to III
0 next until finally il reached the Sutr
Of tunnel level and there discharged.
"a 1t is now proposed TO dispense entirel
e with all his cumbersen machinery an
the pulnp which is to replace the old
" time Cornish outfit, with its massiv
y beams, bobs and balance weights, is nov
-. being constructed in his city. fit pei
forms all hat is claimed for it, this ne
pump will be operated at one-twelfh tn
cost uf the old one aud will perfOrI
of double the work. 1t has few aud simp'
working parts and needs no attendant
nj The pump is started by the opening of
valve and as long as there is water in Il
Of pump it will keep going. Water r0w :
re is to be used TO operate il and il is mo.
m massive on account of the tremendoI
,e pressure of water which must pa,
through it. One hundred gallons
water must be delivered 10 the pnmp {
re drain sixty gallons. and ar the amount
water to De taken out is about six mil
of ion gallons a day, sixteen millions mu
IN pass through the pumps and II AT tt
r. Sutro tunnel Level in every t~Henty-fot
IL hours.
re The pump itself can be lowered dow
to any required depth and will NOR III
y til the power supplied by the head
&C. water is of set by the power required
lift the water to the Sutro tunnel level.
The power is to he supplied at tt
in mouth of the shaft from the reservoirs
the Gold Hill Water Company and IL
pressure available will be a head
about zoos feet. This column Of wat
'h viii pass into the punp aIi owing to i
'i tremendous pressure viii. in escaping /
" Jh- outlet. rau*ea suction ii me PHI
the extremity Of which is in the sum
Then every ole hundre gallons fro
the surface of the mine will lift six