The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1917-02-08
OLD DBAPARAfSos
MADE PROFITABLE

The reader, no doubt. has heard Of
the salvaging of wrecked ships,
wherein the owners of the wrecked
vessel sold the wreck as it lay to a
salvage company for a lump sum.
In many instances wrecked ships
have returned thousands of dollars
profit to the salvagers. We all have
heard, also, of the salvaging of build
ings, notably the Chicago, the st.
Louis, the San Francisco, Omaha, and
other worlds fair structures that cost
millions but which were past their
usefulness at the termination of these
fairs. These big buildings were sal
vaged, and there are companies in
the business of salvaging automobiles
with success. Today in the mining
fields the salvaging of gold, silver and
other ores containing metal, which
have been cast over the dump as
worthless, is becoming most profit
able business, writes Thomas B. Ever
EFT in the Mining and Financial Rec
ord Treating these lode dumps has
made, and is now making, rich men
out of poor men with small capital
invested.
1t has been but few years since
the miner was penalized by the smelt-
ers so heavy upon ore that contained
zinc, that often it was absolutely
necessary to Gull out the zinc as close
ly as possible and throw it over the
nj fc r.f hn NJ
metals for commerce, and these
(Black Jack) zinc dumps are being
sought out and by modern methods
of ore treatment made. in many in
stances, much more profitable than
was the return of the original opera
tors of the mines.
We might also refer back to the
early days of quartz mining. The
great Comstock lode at Virginia City
Nevada, that yielded an ore carrying
both gold and silver, and which was
at the time equipped with the most
modern mill machinery then known
| for the recovery of the metal, made
loss in milling ranging from 80 to
| As per cent of the assay value of the
| ore. The dumps and tailings piles
from these noted mines have yielded
many thousands through the intro
duction of modern treatment meth
| DDS.
There are quite number of the
| old mine dumps in Nevada being
worked over at present and all are
/ III
Eureka, White Pine. and many others
of the noted old camps of Nevada
are yielding well of the precious met
ais. mostly taken from what was
thrown away years ago, before the
advent of the railroad, when the
smelling ores had to be hauled by
teams several hundred miles to Sac
ramento. California, and thence ship
ed by vessels to Swansea, Wales, fol
smelling.
The Nevada silver discoveries ere
ated mining fever that spread into
other vast regions; quickly there was
added great quantities of the pre-
cious metals to the worlds supply Of
both silver and gold. Millions upor
millions, the cream from Gods store
house, were added; but, alas! wheI
the richness of the surface wal
skinned there came the elemen
sulphur" Then losses began in tn,
milling. Device after device wa
sought and used for years to littl
avail, until man at last solved tn
problem of overcoming the resistanc
of refractory ores to reduction an,
cheap saving.
Mining of fifty years ago. and evel
twenty years later, was both wastefu
and careless, hence the advent o
modern ore treatment methods be
came blessing to not few of ou
mining men.
In at least four mining counties O
Colorado there has sprung up a re
vival of old mines and the cleaning u
about mines.