The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-11-24
1.-THE NEVADA CAMPS
General Frank Hall Shows He Is Ignor-
ant Concerning Them

I met a man from Goldfeld, New,
this morning. He is one of the old-time
Colorado miners who looks at all min
ing conditions with an eye single to
what they will pay. Among other
things he said there was a report an
Goldfeld that the great Montgomery
Shoshone mine at Bullfrog had reached
the bottom of its ore, and things were
looking rather blue in that widely her.
aided bonanza. He did not vouch for
the accuracy of the rumor, but said It
was floating around. Whether true or
false, it may be set down as a fact that
all the desert country from Tonopah to
Goldfeld and Bullfrog, including the
newer camps, are entering upon condi-
lions that will lead inevitably to a
showdown of their actual value as gold
producers. During the last year or two
we have had certain figures of ship
ments sent out by wagon trains to the
railway that ran hundreds and thou.
sands per ton. We have had assays
showing extraordinary values, and
statements without end of the rich ore
bodies in sight in various properties.
Those who have read the Southern
Nevada papers dis~passionately, with a
view to discover the value of the other
grades besides those giving picture as
saws, have reached the conclusion that
the bulk of the ore is like that produced
in Colorado, ranging between $40 and
$50 per ton, and that it is of no value to
the producer unless it be milled-that
is to say, amalgamated and cyanided.
The situation at Goldfeld, for example,
has been radically changed since the
railway arrived. Some of the mines
are equipped with mills, a majority be-
ing five and ten stamps. Now, that
the long, costly, wagon haul has been
superseded by rapid transit, other mills
but none of large dimensions, are going
in. This process of handling ores en-
ables the miners to work all grades that
are workable, and get the bullion from
the plates, which furnishes capital II
hand for developing their mines.
That country has all the advantages
of improved processes that have beer
evolved by long experimenting in
Colorado and other mining states. But
the endurance of the gold-bearing de
posts is still problematical. Outside Of
Tonopab, where the problem has beer
more extensively worked out, there arr
as many opinions on one side as the
other. Nobody knows, or will know
until the hills have been penetrated
below the present productive zones
Stock speculation is subsiding, giving
place, SO to speak, to legitimate en-
deavor, a phase hat all mining mel
understand. At what depth, assuming
permanency of the veins, will the pres
ent free milling stuff be displaced by
sulphides, and when sulphides come IL
will the ore be rich enough to bear ex
pensive freight charges to the neares
smelling center? 1t is conceded tina
smelling annot be carried on in any
part of the Nevada desert, since tn,
requisite elements of coal, coke an(
fuxes are lacking. All these questions
are taking the place of the more o.
less visionary ideas that have upheu
that section since it's discovery abou'
two years ago.
The man I talked with said: "Tt
my mind there is no state equal to Colo
RADIO, for here all the conditions ar,
known. We know just what to do will
our mines and ores, for there is nearl,
fifty years of history to bank on. Blu
out there the major problems are ye'
to be solved, and no man may tell wha'
the solution will bring"
The above article, which is plainly
intended as a "boost' for Colorado a
the expense of the new mining camps IL
Southern Nevada, is from the pen O.
General Frank Hall, the mining edito,
of the Denver Post. 1t shows a woefu