The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1905-09-12
ELECTRICITY REvIv1NG coMsIoCh
MINES

MINES.
George Ethe. bert mas an interesting
article IN pubic opn.on on the supJec.
of the work electricity IS dong TOT IN
old Comstock. III viii repay any one 70
rood If and earn what IS not generaly
known:
The last chapter of the famous Com
stock MN romance is beng enacted 20
,4av under conditions of supreme ln.er-
est to The word. 1t is typ.cai OF me
changes winch have converted GOD NIL
ing rom ventures of .uek and u-cei-
ta,nty INTO scient,nc industrial lnsess-
ments. what science ten and twShsS
years ago could not accomplish, he e-ee
tncal engineer IS s.ow.y out surrey 40
ING toaay. and the process weal.h Of
the great Comstock ioue Will be oe--V-
cred from its subterranean beds lniee
and five thousand feet be.ow me earths
surface, to be ADDED 10 the world $ store
of go.d.
For upward OF twenty years now the
large group of god mines ASSOCIATED
WIN the coms.ock lode nave been pfac-
tlca4.y die. Although m.n.ng eng.Aee.s
knew that miAIons OF uo4ars OF so-d
were hiaden in the great VEINS OF roSAs
when ran eastward and westward even
to the very edge of Virginia Guy, I was
Impossible to secure 1T IN paying guam
tities owing to the flooding OF The mines
and the terrific heat encountered at the
lower levels. Thus for near.y a quar.er
of a century Virginia CITY has been
standing on a god NINE worth mil.ons
Of doiiars, but SC cunn-ngly had na.u4e
guarded and protected her weal1h that
the best ingenuity of man could not
touch it.
thirty-nve mics away and carrying a
large current of e,ec.rlcai power INTO
the mines the engineers have practicany
so.ved the problem OF unwaterlng the
Comstock mines and of reducing the
temperature of the lower Levels so tina
miners can work comfortably TWO aid
Sutro unnel. In al the years of prac-
teal abandonment of the mines. engi.
neers have perslstently tried one scheme
after another to reach the hidden wea.lh,
and great fortunes have been sunk in the
mines by engineers and capitalists.
These efforts appeared justified. however,
ed be.ow the working levels. In 1876 the
Consolidated Virg -nia-the name appled
to about ha.f of the southern mines of
the Comstock lode-produced l42,O 900 tons
of ore. which yielded SIG, OOo,0 90 worth OF
gold. and from 1872 to 1879. the Gator
MIA, or northern group of mining Gains,
yielded upward of sos. 900. 900 worm of
gold. So rich and abundant was the ore
in places that it had to be mixed with
waste rock and material Of an inferior
grade to work it conveniently. But
troubles began early. and paying rocA
was freakish in its yield. Sometimes
the gold would suddenly give out at un-
expected points and crop VI at others.
Fortunes were made and lest within a
few days. John W.. MacKay and James
G. Fair found princely fortunes in the
mines. and when they made their bonan-
"a discoveries in 1872 the price of the
mines doubled and quadrupled with days
and weeks.
The great lode known as the Comstock
runs north and south. and is a little
over four miles in length, and from one
hundred to twelve hundred feet in
width. 1t extends down to unknown
depths, even to 5000 feet under the very
city of Virginia City. Hundreds Of
shafts have been sunk along the line OF
the vein. and the total number of the