The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-07-16

secretary of state from Hamilton in
1894. Mr.. Howell is cashier of
bank in the booming southland
Goldfield, | think. Russell, Comins
& Co. were lumber dealers in Hamil
ton from 1868 to some time in the
'70's, and Senator Comins has often
talked with me about the good old
times in the town early history
Since he was young man measur-
ing lumber for the building of city
on the side of Treasure hill he has
reclaimed a large section of land in
years of his life in the work and f.
nally sold out for enough to last him
to the end of the road.
Treasure Hill.
Treasure hill shows evidence to-
day of at one time having been the
liveliest town in the west. AS |
walked through the old cemetery
felt as if | was treading on consecrat-
ed ground, and yet not single grave
contains a letter to show what par
ticular brave fellow lies under the
sod and the dew" or more correctly
speaking, perhaps, under the, sage
brush and snow. Still ! stood ua-
covered and tried to picture in my
mind the circumstances surrounding
the death of perhaps 400 men, who
came to Treasure hill to carve out a
fortune and were taken away from
this earth by smallpox or Pneumonia
in the prime of their young manhood.
| spent thirty minutes in the Treas
ure hill cemetery, hanging as 1T were
to the side of a rugged mountain ov-
err 10000 feet above sea level, ex-
posed to the winds and the SHOWS OF
one of the highest mountains in the
range, trying to pull myself to-
gether." | left the sacred spot with
bowed head and aching heart in
memory of some one | knew not who
but such is life and such is death
The mining dump of the Hidden
Treasure attracted my attention next
and as | drove through old Union
street, that at one time was the live
Hest thoroughfare in the state, if not
on the coast, l passed the old build
ing that at one time was formerly
branch of the California bank, with
the old vault standing twenty feet
above the basement, with every moor
of the building gone, roohess and
with the door closed.
Passing the mining property OF
Governor Blaisdell, Charley De Long,
ct al. could almost hear them say
Hello, Bragg, is it your When
came to the Office site of DR.. e. A.
Thomas I could almost hear his mer-
nv laugh. Treasure hill was partlc-
ularly fascinating to me as my rather
spent the winter of 80 and the sum-
mer of 10 on the hill. | pictured
the busy scenes enacted there and
wished that time had not defaced
the picture. AS thought of the day
that silver was demonetiZed and to
think that blast in the Eberhart
perhaps had as much to do with that
piece of legislation as did any other
one circumstance | could see in my
mind the hoist at the mine bringing
to the surface chunks of almost pure
silver weighing several hundreds OF
pounds, and could also see the stage
lines of Woodruff and Ennor loaded
to the thoroughbrace with bars OF
bullion, could hear the tick of the
telegraph taking the news to all
parts of the world that in White Pine
county had been discovered whole
mountain of pure silver, | did not
wonder that it sent the cold chills up
the spinal columns of every money
center in silver-using countries and
made the money sharks think their
occupation was gone. Ore was taken
out of the treasure vaults on the hill
that carried values of 1872, 900 to the
ton. 1t is estimated that between the
wears of 1869 and 1877 there were
shipped to the worlds money mar
kets $4O,000,000. On every dump
there is today thousands upon thou
sands of tons of ore that will go from
ten ounces in silver to twenty-five
ounces There are millions of dol
lars piled upon the dumps just wait
ing for cheaper ways of getting the
white metal to the snAlters to be re-
duced to pure silvei - and in turn
made into money. At the head OF
Tllapah creek, three miles from
Treasure hill are the remains of a
water system that cost $3.50, 900
There we're 1872 claims located on
Treasure hill in 1869 and 1870. The
North Aurpra has thousands of tons
of ore on its dumps today that carry
good values and the same conditions
are found all over the hill. 1t all
goes to indicate the crude manner
of mining in the days of the camps
early history.
ShermantOwn.
Shermantoyn is situated in can
yon about six miles below Treasure
hill and was a settlement of 5000
souls in 1869. The remains of ten
or twelve smelters are to be seen in
Swansea and Shermantown canyons.
The huge pile of bricks and mortar
and stone standing in the fire walls
at Shermantown are all that is left
now. Sagebrush has reclaimed it's
oyn in the streets and the stamp
frames, boilers and engine of the old
Eberhart mill tell the story of mans
mining folly forty years ago. The
principal part of the machinery has
been hauled away to the junk shop
or moved to other sections. There
are several miles of iron water pipe
yet buried which formerly carried
the water to run the mills. Great
piles of Stag remained in the open for
all these years, and contain today
more than half of their original val
ues.
Eberhart.
Eberhart was in a canyon on the
southeast of Treasure hill and the
old townsite shows signs of Great ac-
tivity. The old Eberhart fifty-stamp
mill has been dismantled and all
there is to be seen is huge pile of
broken lumber, shafting, brick and
mortar and stone giving evidence of
the way they did things" at that
time. Several cabins, pile of tail
jngS standing nerhaDS five hundred