The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1905-03-25

As GAACo tOh Reh EAohtko(of ea0
Messrs. Wisner and Humphrey for
Butte.
Where the Mines Are Located.
Ruby Hill, whose history is part Of
Eureka, is two miles west Of Eureka,
on a northwesterly spur Of Prospect
Mountain. From the discovery Of Eu.
reka in 1864 up to the Summer Of 1869
all the mining in Eureka district was
done in New York Canyon ON the east
flank of Prospect Mountain. In that
year some Cornish miners discovered q
very promising ferruginous outcrop,
and from this discovery dates the be-
ginning Of the great prosperity that
made Eureka world famous.
The party located many claims and
subsequently San Francisco capitalists
bought the Buckeye, Mammoth. Sem
tinel and others and united them under
an incorporation known as the Eureka
Consolidated Mining Company. Dur
ing the next few years interpretations
took hold of the Richmond, K. K,
Phoenix, Jackson and others.
That same year dates the successful
treatment of the Eureka ores, aud in
1878 there were 16 furnaces operating
in the neighborhood of the town of Eu-
reka. Ruby Hill furnished 80 per cent
Of all the ores treated. They were self.
1uxing, carrying from 10 to 80 per cent
of lead, and sufficient iron and silica to
obviate the necessity of importing
foreign material for smelling purposes.
The history of the industrial growth of
Eureka Mining district is the history
of the first successful treatment in
America of argentiferous lead ores.
Worked Only to Water Level.
The Richmond and the Eureka Con.
are the most extensively developed
mines on Ruby Hill. Large and valu-
able hosting and reduction works have
been erected and their combined divi.
dends up to the year 1898 had reached
and passed the ten-million dollar mark.
But little is known of the future
possibilities of the Ruby Hill mines be-
low what is called the water level. The
deepest place where ore has been mined
is about the 1900 level of the Eureka
Con-, where the dip of the lode carried
the workings so far to the eastward
that it became necessary to sink q new
shaft. The new shaft was sunk to q
| laDfHx 4f 1000 Feat x1hau rrota~ a. ~
with such force that the miners barely
escaped with their lives. The engine
on the shaft had not the capacity to
keep the pumps running and it was re-
placed with a new lie. This, too,
failed to control the great volume of
water and in 1883 operations in the new
shaft were stopped.
The Richmond mine lies to the west
of the Eureka Con. and as the water
rose in the latter it flowed into the
Richmond, and the two companies have
never been able to compromise on a
plan to drain their mines, or to work
below the water level, though Mr.. Fries
states the Eureka Con. has always been
anxious and ready to do its share.
For years the upper levels have been
systematically worked. and miners have
tributed, but no development has been
done.
1t now seems an assured fact that
these two great properties are to conn
under one management, and that the
new company will renew active opera
tions on an adequate scale to drain the
mines and ascertain if there is ore as
rich below the water level as has been
found above it.
Eureka COunty's Proud Record.
1t is worthy of note that Eureka Min
ing District has been mainly self-sus-
tanning. 1t has never been bolstered
up by anything but its proud record of
a total yield Of $50. 0OO. 900 up to 1888.
and over $500. 600. 900 from Eureka
County up to the present time.
There are many undeveloped mines
in Eureka and there are millions of tons
of low.grade ore waiting for reduction
facilities at home, or lower freights
and smelling charges. The time seems
near at hand when capital will lend its
aid to restore Eureka to the center of
Nevada's great mineral producing Sec
ton.