Year: 1859

........a....s.a......... .......4 ...-.4
otits principal stream, at an elevation of
sixty feet from the water, are located the
celebrated Steamboat Springs. The white
calcareors deposition marking thelt site is
over Thousand feet long, with three or four
large assures extending nearly its entire
length, through which the steam escapes
from the boiling cauldron beneath, making


noise like huge vessel under full head of


steam. In other places there are craters or


basins open, in which the water can be seen
bubbling and boiling and surging to and fro,


as if the fires of the internal region were
below, and the club-footed gentleman him=


self were stirring them up with long pole.


The water of these springs contains various


medicinal properties, such as Magnesia, So


da, Sulphur, Alum, etc, the salts of which
are found plentifully around, crystalized by


the evaporation of their solvent. The wa


ter when cool smells and tastes like that of
the celebrated Blue Lick Springs of Ken
| lucky. A strip of verdure skirts the brook
that flows at the base of the Steamboat
Springs, and all else around is boundless
waste. Even the eternal sage brush, which
abounds everywhere on the eastern side of
the summit, does not here attain its usual
size.


The Washoe Diggings,
From the Springs, for distance of twelve
miles, we pass up canon and across the


ridge upon which the great quartz ledge Is
located. This range Of hills runs mostly


north and south course, and parallel with
the main ridge of the Sierra Nevada, con-
nected at intervals with low hills which d.


vide the different valleys which lay between


the two, and may properly be termed the
foot hills of the eastern slopes. From this
summit may be seen, stretching far out in


the interior, the great Saharas of America,
upon whose boundless burning sands the
hopes of many a poor emigrant have been
wrecked.


The quartz ledge which is now being


worked extends along the eastern slope of


this ridge, and is found to be rich in miner
al, so far, at but two places-at Ophir at
the head of Six-mile Canon, and at Gold
Hill, at the head of Gold Canon. At Ophir
are the noted Comstock claims, considered,


and no doubt correctly, the richest claims
ever yet discovered. With proper machinery
and facilities for economical labor they could


be made to yield amounts that would as
tonish the world. The extent of the paying
lead is question anxiously asked by every
body, but not yet answered. Other parties
have been prospecting for more than
month all round the Comstock claims, and
as yet have found nothing that would pay
even moderately well. The parties owning
the ledge seem to have no inclination to


prospect it further at present, as by so doing
! Some idea might be formed by outsiders Of
the extent of its richness. AS it appears


to-day, they have merely skinned off the


surface below the ledge to the depth of q
foot, and sunk through the decomposed


rock for about twelve feet This they have


been washing in rockers, the tailings from
which are crushed by arastras and by this


rude process | am told they have made as


high as $3.50 in one day, to one rocker. At


the bottom of the excavation, which is only


forty feet long, the hard ledge has beeh


struck for space of six inches in length by


six or eight feet long With this hard ore


they can do nothing with their present me-


theds. There are different reports as to the
| fhof


contains 5000 in silver to the ton, but do


not think there are more than one or two


parties here who know what it really is


worth. Judge Walsh of Grass Valley has


considerable portion of the ledge. Seyer-
al hundred weight of the ore has been for


warded to San Francisco that it's true value


may be known, the best mode of extracting
the pure metal aseertained. 1--WE are in
formed that subsequent assay has proved
the ore to be worth fully $500 to the ton.-
Ed. PRESS. 1t is said to contain silver,
gold and copper.


Near here, Mr.. McNeal Of Nevada County,


has found lead of Magnetic Iron; said by


a mineralogist to be richer than any hereto
| fore discovered. 1t can be of little value,
however, until after the P. r. X. is COM


pleted


Two miles south Of 0phir is Gold Hill;


where they have been working ON the soft


portions of the same ledge, (the hard ledge


not having yet been struck which pays


nearly as well as it does above. The gold


here is said to be worth more per or, as it
does not contain SO much silver The little
water they had has given out, and the few


here are engaged in prospecting and devel-
oping the ledge. The lead is claimed for
miles above and below. Gold Hill contains
six houses and blachsmiths shop two
edifces of wood, the others of canvass.
They are making good wagon road to Car
son river, over which quartz will he-con-