Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1911-08-05
TREMENDOUS ORE
DEPOSITS OF
YERINCTON
JAMES HUMES VISITS DISTRICT
AND REPORTS ON SOME OF
THE PROPERTIES

James Humes, who visited the Yer
ington district for the first time a few
weeks ago, for the purpose of examining
the Malachite property, gives the follow
ing account of his visit to the Reese
River Reveille, of Austin:
81 visited the Yerington Mining Dis
trict the latter part of June for the pnr-
pose of examining mining property
adjoining the now wel-known Mason
Valley Copper Company's mines. This
property and the Bluestone, the Nevada
Douglas, the Mcconnell, Western Ne
vada, Yerington Malachite, Butte &
Yerington, and many others have been
examined by some of the best mining
experts in the country, with view to
ascertainng whether the district could
afford the necessary equipment to reduce
the low grade ores at a profit The
outcome of these investigations is the
erection of modern smelling plant of
800 tons capacity near Wabuska, on the
Nevada & California railroad.
Concentration of the ores is unneces-
| sary, not by reason of high grade, but of
the mineral content and the gangue
The ores will average 4 5 per cent cop
per- The location of the smelter is ideal,
being on the high ground at the lower
end of the valley, and far enough away
from the farming land so that there will
be no possibility of damage to that in
dustry from the effects of the smelter
fumes.
The smelter is connected with the
mines and the Nevada & California rail-
road by fine standard gauge line This
line is called the Copper Belt Railway
1t is finely equipped. Two standard To-
comotives await the completion of the
smelter, which will be about the first of
November. III the meantime large gaso
line car does the work. This machine
is modern in every respect. The pas
senger rates are 0S5 per mile
Happily the mines have been promoted
/ by the right kind of men. The princi-
/ pial owners in the Mason Valley Mining
/ Company are Wm. B. Thompson, of
New York, (who has several good pro-
motions to his credit) and George Gum,
who has made good at Ely. They are
the builders af the smelter at Wabuska
which will treat all the ores of the dis
trict at a level rate of 81 90 per ton.
The Orem people, who are the owners
! of the Nevada Douglas, took upon them
selves the burden of building the rail-
road, so with pull all together boys"
spirit these two companies are going to
do world of good for that part of the
State. | understand that the freight
rate on ores will be level one of 40
per ton The haul from Mason Valley
mine is about Is miles, and although
the distance from that mine across the
mountains to the Nevada Douglas is
about miles the railroad haul will be
nearly 40 miles.
The geology of the mines is garnet,
limestone and dolomite intersected by
porphyry dikes. The main ore bodies
occur i'll hssured zone, about 200 feet
wide, with a strike of northeast and
southwest.
The method of mining the ore is the
simplest known to miners The slopes
we saw were so feet i'll width, drifts were
run along each side of the ore body and
short raises put up far enough to accom-
modate the chute mouth. Then the ma
chimes are set to work breaking the ore
the full width of the ore body, and just
sufficient of the broken ore is drawn off
to admit the erection of the machine
bars against the back and on the loose
rock The only timber needed is the
cribbing in the raises. These raises are
used for men going up and down and
for air passages. The sides and back of
the slopes require no timber, II renee
their mining costs for breaking ore will
not exceed Is cents per ton. The Mason
Valley and the Nevada Douglas mines
have over | ZOO, 900 tons each blocked
out and there is about so, 900 tons of
mined ore OH the dumps of the Mason
Valley company ready to be shipped to
the smelter end the most of this ore
will average better than 4 per cent cop
per. representing a valuation of over
500, 600
This visit to Yerington was the first
the writer had made to that section of
the State, and while standing on the
line of the Mason Valley and the Yer
ington Malachite mines (this last, the
one under examinaton), we were, for
few minutes, thrown into a retrospective
mood. For mile to the north of us we
could see the surface plant of the Blue
stone, which, seven years ago, was i'll
the possession of friend who had offered
the writer a responsible position at this
property. This friend, {. s. Batterman,
was native of old Virginia City, and 1t
was he that precipitated, and carried out
to a finish, the fight between Heinze and
the Amalgamated Company of Butte,
the most spectacular and bitter mining
warfare recorded i'll the annals of min
ing litigation the world has ever known.
To the east and joining the Yerington
Malachite, is the Butte & Yerington,
owned by the Globe Exploration conf
pany of Butte. We are stockholder in
this company, but were surprised to hnde
that they had property here, And
directly under where we were standing,
the Mason Valley company had dia-
mond drill at work. This drill was the
property of the writer five years ago,
when he was operating ii i'll the mines of
Bullfrog. 1t was surprise to us to find
it here. These things make us think
that he must be dead one" who can
not find interesting things in mining.
Taking the natural resources, III COM
bnation with the money and BRAINS that
are being taken in there from the out
side, we think the people of Mason VAL
ley are especially favored.