The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1922-07-01

Eureka County:
No tears will be shed in Eureka
over the reported sale of the Eureka
& Palisade Railroad to a Michigan
syndicate. The citizens of that camp
and the taxpayers of the county will
look forward with earnest desire to
the formal change of ownership as
they will not be brought to a full
realization of the benefits until there
has been a complete reorganization.
Good men have been identified with
the company from it's earliest in
ception. but few could remain for
any length of time owing to the con-
slant friction and the endless tur-
moil which hostile interests perpetu-
ated in the management. Thecompany
never was in touch with the two
great industries of Eureka County,
and mines and stockgrowing suffered
from the management Withholding
facilities that would have enabled
shippers and business men to have
made greater strides toward pros
perity. The rumor that Henry Ford
does not matter much either way. al
though it is possible that his infiu-
ence may solve the problem of cheap
ening cost Of operation while ex-
tending the service. The transfer of
this railroad should be the motive
for a Fourth Of July celebration in
old Eureka as a 9 of commemo-
rating the emancipation of the peo-
Pile from one of the most grasping
and unconscionable monopolies that
ever defied a State government. The
sale means the regeneration of Eu-
reka, which has suffered more than
any one can conceive from the sell
fshness of men who would not oper-
ate q railroad nor permit others to
buy what should be n of the best
paying short railroads of the Pacific
Coast. Had a more liberal manage
ment been at the head, or the Mills
syndicate been amenable to advice,
Eureka would have been the gateway
for the immense traffic created by
the discovery of Tonopah when 1t
was suggested that a selfsustaining
line ~favoring a farming country
would have had an outlet to the main
line by way Of Eureka and Palisade.
The total yield of ore from the
mines of the County from 1873 to
1895 is conservatively estimated at
$125, 100000, which would have
been greatly increased had it not
been for the high freight rates ex-
acted by the railroad which gave no
thought to the possibility of increas-
ing tonnage by making more attract
i've rates on base ores. Discovery of
the Eureka district dates back to
1864. but during the first few years
very little progress In mining was
made and 1t was not until the Sum-
mer Of 1870 when David E. Buel and
Isaac C. Bateman bought the Buck
eye and Champion mines upon Ruby
Hill and the same year sold them to
the Eureka Consolidated Mining
Company of San Francisco that ac-
tive mining and smelling was con
menced on q large scale. During the
interim and for some time afterward
a great deal of ore was shipped to
Austin for treatment. To the dis
covery and development OF Eureka.
the county for several years owed its
growth and prosperity and to its
commercial growth was due the cred
It for the first successful treatment.
by smelling, of silyer-lead ores in
the United States. The first expert
ment in smelling was made in Eu-
reka in 1856 and that. like others
which followed 1t, resulted in fail
ure, until 1869 when Major W. w.
Mccoy and Col. G. Collier Robbins
commenced the operation of draft
and blast furnaces and the first sue
cessful runs were made by them. In
1871 the Richmond Mining Company
of London, England. purchased some
claims adjoining those of the Eu-
reka Consolidated on Ruby Hill and
soon commenced the erection of fur
naces. In 1878 sixteen furnaces were
operating, reducing from 1000 to
1900 tons q day. These furnaces also
bought custom ores from the outly-
ing mines of Nye and White Pine
Counties. The district was famous
for economic extraction for the rea-
SON that it abounded with all nat
ural huxes required for the cheap
reduction of ores, including iron, sill
lea, lead and lime. rendering 1t the
natural smelling center for all mines
within q radius Of 100 to $50 miles.
In the Fall Of 1889 the railroad COM
panies. acting under the influence OF
r. C. Chambers and Richard McIn-
tosh Of Salt Lake City. who had pu :
chased the Diamond mine on Pros-
pect mountain. reduced the rate of
transportation on N to Salt Lake