Evening star., 1924-03-02
Famous Silver Mine. Reopens
And Films Will Be Gamers

~ peculiar and very important
III interest to Rochester is the
cleaning OF new paint on
the shacks at Virginia City,
Nev. That statement seems rather far
fetched, but 1t Is true.
Paint in any mining country means
hope. Paint In Virginia City at this
particular time means the reopening
Of the famous Comstock mine, the most
prodigal silver-producing center the
world has ever known. Revival Of this
mine means much to Rochester, where
one Aim company alone uses three
tons Of silver bullion a week to pro-
duce 100000 feet Of motion picture
Aim.
Mined silver becomes silver nitrate,
which catches the fieeting image on
aim, according to q bulletin Of the
National Geographic Society. Thus,
the nickers that millions see on pic
ture screens. side-splitting antics,
narrowing sobs OF heroine. dark
tragedy, and all the happy-eyer
afterwards do not come out of Holly
wood originally; they are dug out of
the Nevada mountains. as--
OF little less interest is the reopen
ing Of the mine itself. Many fortunes
were made in the old days at Vir-
ginia City and many others got their
start in that widest and richest of
mining towns. 1t was there. that Sam
uel Clemens, alias Mark Twain, an
idle. penniIess miner. joyfuily accept
ed reporters job on the Virginia
City. Enterprise, at $25 a week. That
was In the early sixties.
A few months later the Comstock
rush was on. Clemens, with go much
money In his pockets he did not stoop
to collect his salary, covered" the
I silver rush for the Enterprise.
Years later he wrote Tor prosterity his
impcrishable "Roughing It..
the memories recalled by old timers
of the rush when the big virgin lode
| of silver was discovered on gaunt
shoulder Of Mount Davidson. While
there were many other mines on the
| mountain. Comstock was the great
est Of them all, and 1t was Comstock
which drew the miners like magnet,
in spite of: the fact that they could
only work in tWenty-m minute shifts
because Of the extreme heat in the
bowels OF the mine. 1t was not an
uncommon occurrence to see the men.
on reaching the surface after their
days toll, reel and fall unconscious
to the ground, SO great was the
~x. vAk t. - ,go - q
| tho miners went, and the others,
which paid the same wages and
where the work was more comfort
| able, experienced the greatest dim
Guilty In obtaining men to mine the
| ore.
One single unbelievably rich vein
in the Comstock produced $500, 600, 200
| worth OF silver. Yet, with all this
wealth Of silver, which had only to
be worked to be obtained, there had
to be a "salted NINE" there had to
be tricksters trying to get something
for nothing. An adjacent PIE began
producing nuggets which became the
wonder Of Virginia City. Stock went
sky high. On one OF the Jumps of
native silver" was discovered the
| legend. ted States Of" and 1t was
plainly apparent that the mine had
been "saitetd" with melted half
dollars. Stock fell.
There is still silver in Mount Da-
| wilson, but 1t was not until many
old claims were consolidated that the
new plant could be put up to make
extraction on a largo scale pay" the
Geographic Bulletin says. Except
for the United States. government.
the Photographic industries are the
greatest users Of silver today. The
United States produces one-third of
the worlds silver. Mexico is a close
! competitor and Canada follows third.
"Silver is good soldier" the bull
letin continues. "The Comstock rush
was at its height in 1868, when the
United States was torn by civil war.
It is said that millions, poured in