The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-11-13
Comstock CaNinu.

comstock Gazing.
The following account of the famous
old 'Comstock lode, taken from the
Boston Transcript, will be of interest
to many who were familiar with the
great mine in early days:
The old mining camp of Virginia City
IN sinking into the deep canyon on the
side Of which it is built, and has al
ready slipped down hill eleven feet
within the last few years, according to
Professor George j. Young, head of the
geological department of the University
of Nevada. Professor Young declared
that the steady sinking is due to the
crumbling of the fifty-year-old under
ground timbering in the Comstock
mines. Only few days ago an old
glory hole caved in and left an
opening several hundred feet deep.
Nowhere in the annals of mining is
there more fascinating story than
that of the Comstock lode. In the case
of the ComStock lode the credit for the
actual discovery is considered to be-
long to the brothers Aaron and Hosea
GroSh. who persisted so miserably from
frontier hardships, and heirs made an
unsuccessful attempt to assert a claim
to the results of their discovery To-
ward the end of the forties Aaron and
Hosea Grosh, sons Of Judge Grosh of
the Pennsylvania court of appeals.
went out to California to seek theil
fortunes. With them was associated
a young Scotchman named Buck and a
miner named Comstock. This latter
man they had picked up somewhere or
another in the mountains: and in their
letters home they described him as
absolute, suspicious character in need
OF home, but whose unQuestionable
familiarity with mining matters would
be of immense benefit to them. After
the death of the brothers. Comstock
took possession of the claim and held
1t by force. 1t appears that he did not
know the value of the property. as
he threw away quantities of a strange
blue stuff" which was mixed with tie
gold ore. A farmer picked up some
pieces of the rejected blue stuff" being
told that it was worthless, and TOOK
them to Nevada City as a curiosity.
There the best two assayers in the
town set to work at it, and showed
that ton of the blue stuff was worth
$l,5S0 in gold and S4,791 in silver. or
S6,356 in all. This was the "base metal"
which the guilelesS miner had been
throwing away. The news soon spread.
and when the Nevada City miners
gathered to talk it over, they found
that two of their best men. Judge
Walsh and Joe Woodwork, had saddIed
their horses and a pack mule and
started before daylight for Virginia
City That was, enough to cause an
immediate stampede, but the two
quick-witted ones managed to buy ont
nearly the whole of the Comstock
group of claims before the news of the
discovery arrived.
When the actual mining once began.
the history of the lode lost something
of its romantic character. and became
largely record of changes and con-
solidation of ownership. Yet there are
important chapters here and there. and
not the least interesting is the inven-
ton of the square SETS" which have
new possibilities into min
ing, and which were called out by the
of the Comstock lode, which
was so wide that it could not be mined
with safety by the old system of tim
bering.. A German miner named Deide-
sheimer, who had reputation for
ingenuity, was trusted with the task
Of deVlsing remedy. and after spend
ing month in the Ophir shaft he or
dered lot of timbers from four to six
feet long, mortised and tenoned at
the end so that they could be put to-
gether in a series of interlocked cribs |
filling the whole chamber as fast as
the ore was removed. In a few months
the mine was successfully stopping out
ore" from wall to wall across a de-
post of sixty feet in width
Another of the great mechanical |
features of the ComstOck mining, |
which belongs to engineering rather, |
han to invention. is the famous Sutro |
tunnel, which for various reasons de- |
serves a unique place among enter
orises of the kind. Sutro, a young |
miner of small means, became con- |
linced that the only way of working
he lode to a great depth with econ |
)my and safety, was TO dig a great |
unnel from the floor of the Carson
ALLEY, four miles distant from the
ode, to serve as drain, fire ESCAPE
md cheap exit for ore dug from all
he mines in the lode. At first everv-
hing went smoothly although many
we're skeptlcal on account of the vast
less of the scheme. A franchise was
and contracts were made with
he mine owners.
Then came thunderbolt, The syn
icate which was all powerful on the
,omstock changed its corporate mind
ecfded to neglect the safety of its en-
loyes, and cancelled it's contract.
But Sutro showed gigantic faith in
lis scheme. and set to work to raise
he money for his tunnel and to trust
o events to compel the mine owners
o enter it. He went to New York. he
vent to Europe. in search of investors
4 his coyote hole" as it was con-
called, but everywhere
rganized capital had forestalled him
nth discrediting stories He worked
18th Herculean energy, and even had
bill reported in congress- recon-
lending a loan of S5.0OO.0oo. but the
of Andrew Johnson COM
lg Just then, prevented it from com
lg to a vote.
Then he turned to the home field
cyan war against the syndicate for
S criminal neglect Of the safety of
lie miners. and raised enough money
v popular subscription to begin his I
Innel within the stipulated time. Rut
nexpected mechanical difficulties
rose. and if it had not been for the
nely invention of improved drilling
nd pumpin machinery the tunnel
ould probably have failed. But ~
as COMPLETED within the renuircS
me. and events had justified Srtro'S