The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1901-06-20
Suggestion Which San Pedro,
Los Angeles aud Salt Lake
Road May Profit By.
The Route Is Perfec tIy Feasible
and Road Would Pass
Through Rich Country.
Rapid Development OF Ely's Min
ing Resources Demands
Railway Facilities.

Now that the value of Ely's mining
resources has been established, and
there is no longer any doubt as to the
permanency of the deposits Of copper,
gold, silver and lead In this immediate
vicinity, the people Of this camp, and
those who have invested their money
in mining properties here, realize that
before smelters can be established or
the mines be made to produce heavily,
railroad must be built through
Steptoe Valley to provide mills and
smelters with fuel and supplies and
carry the output to the market.
Under present conditions it costs
$3.50 a ton TO haul the ores OF this
camp to the railroad, and when to this
is added the treatment charges, it will
be seen that it requires a pretty good
grade of ore to pay charges without
taking into account the necessary
profit to the mine operator,
AT the present time, 1t is safe to say,
there are hundreds of thousands of
tons OF ore on the dumps and in sight
in the vicinity of Ely which in any
camp in Colorado or Utah would be
called rich, but which cannot be ship
ped from here owing to the expense of
getting 1t to the smelters. For exam
pie, it has been proven by actual
experience that ores carrying 40 per
cent lead will just pay freight and
smelter charges without leaving a
penny for the operator, and this is
true, in a relative degree, of all other
mineral bearing ores. The result is
that ores ranging in value from $40 to
$50 ton are not shipped from this
camp, for the reason that the miners
can not realize enough from their sale
to insure them profit on the opera
tion of their properties. There APP
pears to be practically no limit to the
amount OF ore OF this grade which
could be produced here, but the men
who own the properties prefer to
devote their time to prospecting or
working for the big companies, rath-
or than to operate their own mines on
the uncertainty of shipping results.
The attention OF the San Pedro, Los
Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Com
pany is called to the fact that it can
profitably abandon the old grade
through Lincoln county, leaving it to
its rival, the Oregon Short Line, and
build through White Pine and Nye
counties, and in this way pass through
a country the local business of which
will be many times that which can
possibly be furnished by the territory
through which the other proposed
road passes.
That railroad through this section
is entirely feasible has been proven,
and by traversing the route through
White Pine and Nye the distance be-
tween Salt Lake and Los Angeles
would be very little II any greater than
that via the Lincoln county route
In 1880 w. N. McGill surveyed a line
for the Carson and Colorado River
Railroad from Salt Lake City through
this county, the objective point of
which was Los Angeles, and so salts
factory was the result of that survey
to the company that grading was
actually done on several miles of road
out OF Eureka to connect with the
proposed main line through this
county.
Mr.. McGill informs us that the line
surveyed by him at that time ran a
little south OF west from Salt Lake City,
skirting the southern end of Great
Salt Lake, thence in a southwesterly
direction across the southern point Of
Great Salt Lake Desert. From there
White Horse Pass afforded passage
through the range, and from that
point Antelope Valley and Bone Springs
provide access to Steptoe Valley. From
the point where the road would enter
Steptoe the distance of seventy miles to
Ely is through perfectly level country
and after crossing the range via West
Camp there is another stretch OF 1875
miles which is equally as level.
The line thus proposed would be al
most a direct one from the point Of
entrance into Nevada to Los Angeles,
and in addition to securing the business
of Ely it would pass in close proximity
to such well known districts as Deep
Creek, Dolly Warden, Spruce Noun
tain, Kinsley, Cherry Creek, Shell
Creek, Muncy Creek, Aurum, Queen
Springs, Duck Creek, Warm Springs,
Ward, Taylor, Saw Mill Canyon, Troy,
Broom and many other camps, the
mines OF which are only awaiting the
advent OF a railroad to become heavy
producers, and the tonnage OF which
would alone warrant the building of a
road.
This Is the route which is now sub
mitted for the careful consideration oi
Senator Clark and his associates in the
San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake