Year: 1864

come to appreciate the value Of this dis
tiict and perceive the mistake Of the early
pioneers. In this district one very chi
Gent mill is already at work with prepa-
ratiohs in hand for the erection Of Others,
all to be employed upon the rock in that
ncighboihood. To the west OF virginia,
and o. the opposite slope Of the mountain
range in which the Cemstock ledge -
situated lies the Argentine district, laid
out and organized almost simultaneously
with those of Virginia and Gold Hill, and
which, after attracting good deal OF
notice in the fall Of 1859, when number
of lodges were located and some work
done, was afterwards so completely de-
serted that for time ownership was as
serted to scarcely a single claim there.
Here. too, ON the renewal OF and with
little more thorough work, the leads once
dispaifed Of are exhibiting a much more
favorable aspect a few of them having
already turned out small lots OF pay ore.
A number of other cases might be cited to
show that one of the most prolific sources
of failure in what are termed outside mines
has thus far been the superficial character
of the excavations made IN prospecting
them. In fact this would seem TO have
been the great trouble heretofore in Is
mefalda. Humboldt, and other localities
prominent before the public for number
Of years, and which, it is not to be con-
cealed, have so far come far short of their
early promise. Not but what explora-
tions in an infnity Of cases have been un-
dertaken in opposition to the teachings OF
science and common sense, and millions
of money thrown away upon mines that
were no mines at all but still the great
number of failures that have hitherto
marked our mining enterprise is to be at
tributek to the shallow and insufficient
character Of our explorations, rather than
to the absence or poverty Of the ledges
themselves. We were, soto speak, spoil. ID
by the character and position Of the first
silver mine found in the country. The
Comstock ledge, the pioneer on American
soil, exhibited at the point of discovery an
immense mass Of rich ore in its very out
erop.. Lying almost upon the surface
were the concentrated sulphurets that
first revealed to mortal eyes, caused So
much trouble to "0ld Virginia." while
engaged in gold washing at that point.
In all their subsequent researches after
this metal our people, keeping the Com
stock ever before them as their guide and
exemplar, sought only for leads under
like conditions. Hence the miscalcula-
tions and mistakes which the experience
of several years is only now beginning to
correct. We have but lately ascertained
that only very rarely do the rich ores in
these veins lie exposed as in the case Of
the Comstock, and that whether the adage
that " it takes mine of gold to work
silver mine" be literally true or not, it at
least conveys wholesome admonition to
those who purpose engaging in that somc-
what prccarious business. The miner Is
beginning to find out that pick and
shovel and sack Of -four, though backed
up by brave heart and willing hands,
are hardly adequate to the work of dri.
wing tunnels and sinking shafts, to say
nothing of the mills and reduction works
necessary to silver mining. But having
at length, after years Of tribulat:on, learned
these things, we may be expected now to
get on better with business, which, these
difficulties mastered, has rarely failed to
prove profitable to those engaged in it.