The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1904-12-09
COLDFIELD AND TONOPAH.
What a Miner Tells the American
Mining Magazine.


regarding the Tonopah and Goldfield
mining districts in southwestern Nevada
and has published many items of the
mines recently found there. In a re-
cent conversation with Mr.. W. Il. &.
Allen, who has had many years of min
ing experience in the western camps, ut
our request for some personal expression
OF views about the general features Of
that region, he said:
"The new gold mining camp of Gold
field, New, il less han n year old, and
the most of the development work and
actual mining has taken place within
the past four or six months. On Octo-
Der l the output OF the mines, almost
entirely the results Of leasing small por-
tons OF ground to common miners who
start without capital and necessarially
with very limited hosting works, has
reached over 81, 900 900 in value. The
returns from shipments Of ore to Salt
Lake smelters was 81. OOO, 900, and an
equal amount Of ore has been extracted,
which included the high-grade ore
sacked for shipment and the milling ore
on the dumps. By January LIST next
the output will probably have exceeded
three million dollars in gold, if all ac-
counts and records are to be credited.
New strikes are being made every week,
while the limits of the new district and
the mineral-bearing zones are steadily
being enlarged and extended.
"The Goldiield district comprises the
camps of Goldfeld, Columbia Mountain
and Diamondfield, all within a radius OF
two or three miles. The population is
estimated at fully 1000, and mining men
are fast seeking a foothold there. The
reports seem sensational, but the steady
output of the rich ore continues and
constantly increases. The principal
mines are the January, the Combina-
ton, the Jumbo, the st. Ives, the Red
Top, the Sandstone, the Velvet, the
Nernal, the Columbia Mountain, the
Florence, the Diamondfield, the Quartz
tie fraction and many others that have
found the lodges but have not yet devel-
oped such wonderful values. 1t reads
like a romance of Golconda, or the le-
gends that poured out of Pactolus, i'll
the Grecian fables-in truth, many times
as great in riches. Ores that run up
into the hundreds in train loads are
classed as low grade; ores that are
sacked and shipped, running into the
ten thousands per ton, and ores that are
too rich to place in sacks, but are canned
up in large tin cans, running in many
instances from 5000, 900 to $3.50 900 per
ton, are mentioned from week to week
in the newspapers as common occur
rences of news. Shipments of ore from
the Jumbo and the January mines have
been made averaging 81 900 to the sack.
About ten or twelve regular leases, about
one hundred feet each along the ledge,
are being worked on the Jumbo claim,
a number on the January, the Sand
storm, the Velvet, the Florence, the
Combination, and, in fact, on all the
principal groups. Many fortunes are
being made, and to the ~leasers, the ON
mon miners, the honor and credit be-
longs, just as it did in opening up and
making Tonopah, which is twenty-five
miles due north. Two such camps have
not been opened, outside of Cripple
Greek and Klondike, for twenty-five
years in this country.
"Years ago saw gold quartz from
down on the edge of Death Valley that
was more than half-both in size and
weight-pure gold. l prospected one
season in the region surrounding Tono-
opening up a new district, about 700
miles by team, camping wherever night
found us, sleeping on the dry, sandy
desert, under the clear sky, the only feed
and water anywhere being what we car
ried-unless we managed to make camp
now and then at some known spring or
well. Once in a while | saw a little ear
AVIAN OF burros and pack animals coming
or going in the direction OF the Death
Valley region, which lies one hundred
miles or more to the south. Many are
the tales that are told of those who are
lost and perish from heat and exposure,
and, what is worse han all, from the
burning thirst that man and beast grow
frenZied with. In the twenty-five years
in the mountains and the arid regions
OF the west, | never fully realized the
value of two inches of water so much
as ! did on my first trip across that
southwestern Nevada desert, when the
team gave out and l was left alone to
find my way on foot to the nearest ranch,
having sent the driver on the only horse
that could travel to find another team.
That two inches of water in the bottom
Of my flask was as precious as diamonds;
and l remember as l walked in the hot
sun that several times l stopped and
looked through the brilliant drops of
water at the sky, and wondered if ever