Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1911-07-25


cred in April, 1905, and in the
spring of the following year a con-
siderable amount OF placer gold |
was taken from the surface of
many of the mining claims, but !
it was not until April, 1909, that |
the now producing placers were dis
covered.
The town of Manhattan is built
in ravine which terminates i'll
Smokey Valley, dropping zoe feeC
in seven miles. The mines are To-
Gated on rolling hills on both sides
of the town cut by numerous ra-
vines and gulches, all of which
join the main gulch. 1t is in this
main gulch in close proximity toI
the town that gold was first found
and proved in payable quantities
for a distance of nearly five miles.
The gulch, which is from 100 to
500 feet wide, is filled with loose
gravel and smoothed rocks, the
depth to bed rock varying from
80 to GO feet.
Careful prospecting has demon
strated that there are two parallel
gold bearing channels of an aver
age width of 20 to 40 feet the
pay streak varying from to 2h
feet and occasionally four feet in
thickness This is generally over
laid with a bed of solid clay ma
terial which stands well and obvi-
ates the use of supporting timbers.
At present ten different outfits.
covering only about two miles oil
the gulch, are at work, some of
which recover the gold by crude
methods, but that employed by Tom
Wilson is an instance of system
attic working.
On this ground the depth to
bed rock is 80 feet where the chan
nels have been crosscut and par
allel drifts run in the pay gravel
which is hoisted to the surface by
an electric hoist in a small bucket
which automatically dumps the dirt
into a bin having a floor set at an
angle of 45 degrees. From this
the dirt is washed by a three-inch
stream of water operated by one
man into revolving rectangular
screen of one inch mesh which
dumps the large rocks into "a car
and the smaller and finer dirt is
carried down riffled sluces in which
the gold is subsequently amalgam-
40 yards every "a hours with
force of % men divided into three
shifts. Electric power costs 50
per horse power per month and
three cents per kilo watt per hour,
The total cost Of operating i G..
timated at from $3.50 to $500 a
yard. The value of the ground va
ries from 50 to 81 a yard with oc-
casional patches yielding as higL
as $50 and a net unusual find OF
nuggets on the bed rock worth
from $50 to $75 each, the largest
OF these containing 1925 worth OF
gold Practically all the gold re-
covered is coarse and rough, show
fno il 1
tie. Water for sluicing purposes
is piped from the neighboring
mine. or from mill sumps, in only
one instance has water been en-
countered in the workings.
While it is difficult to obtain re
liable data of the monthly OUTPUT
of gold it is safe to say that the
yield to date exceeds 100000
and one plant is credited with I
total of over $4,000 for the montl
Of May
The absence Of fine gold from
all these workings led to a care
full investigation by Percy Train
a local assayer, as to its ultimate
resting place which has now ap
parently been located in dry lax,
bed in Smoky Valley, where tn
gulch terminates This bed cover
an area of $500 acres and ties
holes sunk on it have yielded mos
encouraging prospects in fine gol,
and it is now proposed to test
thoroughly with a core drill. Shoul
il carry payable values it will prov
ideal dredging ground to which a.
ample supply of water from Pea
vine creek can be diverted at yer