Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1905-06-24
RALSTON
ON TONOPAH
Noted Mining Engineer of CALI
tornia Praises southwestern
Nevada In An Interest,"
ing Address.

fore the Callf0TnlA miN
tion. in San Francisco, a short time
ago. Col. w. C. Ralston, the noted
mining engineer, gave a graphic de-
scription of Tonopah and Goidielo.
He spoke in part as follows;
Mr. President ind Ladies and
Gentlemen Of the Convention;-I was
asked some time ago to prepare a
naner for This convention on Goldfeld
and Tonopah, New. At that time
nromised TO do so. But later
stated that | would, in an informal
wav. without attempting to put 1t in
the form of a paper, state a few
things about Goldheld and Tonopah
that might prove of interest have
visited Tonopah and Goldfeld twice
within the past few months, and at
Tononah visited three or four OF
the largest mines, | was, to say the
least. surprised. | had heard, as
many of you, no doubt have heard,
the fabulous tales about the amount
Of rock in sight in the Tonopah-Ne-
yada. so-called and the Montana
Tonopah. Like many others. | said:
"WelI, If they have so much ore in
sight. and 1t is so rich, why don't
they work it?" After reaching
'Tonopah, talking with the people
there and finding out the fact, which
had NOT occurred to me at the time,
that the Tonopah mine, the main
property there belongs to Philadel-
phia people, | then realized for
the first time that 1t was not owned
by men who we're miners; and they
were shipping their ore by teams, and
now latterly by rail, and realizing
therefrom a small amount only of
what they should get, expecting in
the future to put up a plant of their
own to work the ore.
It really was a splendid sight to go
through that property and SCI *
posed and opened up, it is claimed a
million tons of ore; and l have no
doubt there was that amount in
sight and having, as they say, an
average of from $40 to $50 per ton.
II sounds fabulous, but it neverthe-
less Is the fact. 1t is a silver and
gold ore. In some places in the mines
they have made strikes that are inn
mensely ricn. In the Valley View
vein they have from four to six inches
of ore in one place and that will
go $4,000 and $4,000 a ton. 1t Is
ruby silver, nearly, but not quite,
solid, and there is more silver in some
of the pieces that you take out than
there is rock. The Montana Tonopah
mine which is a parallel wien to the
Tonopah, has opened up a great many
hundred thousand tons of ore. This
Is also a silver ore, and, as in the
other mine, it has considerable value
in gold. ,
The veins in Tonopah run easterly
and westerly. Most of them stand
out about go or 10 degrees pitch
from the horizontal. The formation
at Tonopah has been proven to be
similar to that of the Comstock lode
and a great many people believe that
u is going to develop ore far ahead
in extent and In value of the old Com
stock. The Tonopah Extension mine,
which Is some distance-some 1000
feet-away from the Tonopah, has
opened up the richest body of ore
so far found in the camp, which is
also a silver ore. so that this gives a
known extent of this body of ore of
between 1900 and 5000 feet in
length,
nave been surprised to hear men
who have beeen brought into that
region say that the mines have not
been developed. Well. now, at Tono-
pah, II is true, they are not down
very deep-only l9g0r9 feet-but
doubt very much if there are any
other mines in the world that car
show the value in sight 4sfrom the
amount of work done that ethey car
show there. The discovery of the
Tonopah Extension mine was made
by extending a shaft down four OIL
five hundred feet before they struck
any values at all, and at other mines
around there shafts are being SUM
and ore is being opened up very, yer,
extensively and very rapidly.
Going from Tonopah out toward
Goldheld you find the same kind Of
rolling country that you ind every.
where in Nevada. 1t is a desert, will
no water to speak of; and, by thu
way, might state here that thu
Tonopah-N Nevada property built (
railroad from Sodaville to Tonopah, ,
distance of sixty miles, which, hai
brought 1t within civilization"
say that, because the roads were
very bad, very dusty and thev az,