Year: 1879

tain and discovered no vein of ore bearing quartz till
the Comstock struck.


Should the argument of the several vein theorists
be supplemented by the demonstration of fact it
would be of vast benefit to this portion of Nevada it
would give great impetus to mining. cause great
increase of population and give and prolonged
life to the community. What the old companies can
do is known. what their mines may be likely to
produce is pretty we'll estimated; but if lodges
to be found here would be virgin soil on which
new companies could operate, and from which as
great or greater fortunes could be made as in the
past. In brief. there would be new birth to every
thing; Virginia City would double its population.
and towns and hamlets would spring up on the
descending mountain receding to the great highway
of Western civilization.


DIAGRAM THE BoNANZAs


The interior Of a mine is as we'll known to its
management and is accurately mapped for them
is the most valuable property on the surface of
the earth. There is guessing of locality OF the
direction and character Of the work done by the
miners. Every inch of ground-good and bad
is known to the management from the notes of the
mining engineers and from their personal obser-
vation The extent of the great bodies that have
been found on the Comstock is represented this
diagram taken from the notes of those engineers,
and will give the reader better idea of the bonanzas
than whole volume Of print. The lower portion Of
the bonanza in the Consolidated Virginia and Cali
fornia is not given, its extent is not yet known.
The vertical shafts represented here in white


lines sunk from the surface and the incline shafts
in black proceeding from the vertical will awaken
some thought of the magnitude of enterprise that
sinks into the ground 1000 900 feet in the pur
suit of its daily business yet this work is but
mere speck compared with what is within the mine
and cannot be represented by lines of the finest
tracing When the vertical shaft has been sunk the


first hundred feet landing station" is made each
side of the shaft and from there tunnelling,
'leves," cut, both north ana SOUTH the width
of the claim, in hopes Of striking ore. From these
levels at fifty feet from the shaft is made
east and west. II in that crosscut there any in-
dications of another parallel cross-cut may
be made fifty feet apart or If without
encouragement. the second and other cross-cuts
made hundred feet apart all throughout the
extent of the levels. If seam of ore is found in
either the levels or the cross-cuts it is followed
wherever 1t may lead. In the meantime that this
work being done the shaft is sinking deeper and
deeper, levels made every hundred feet.
and cross-cuts are made ON this level in the same
way before. When body of ore is "struck," be
it small or large, 1t is carefully worked" having
the safety of the miners in view. If on the floors
of either of these levels there should be the evil
dences OF "a winge," vertical incline, will be
sunk to the level below serving the double purpose
of following and obtaining the and also for in
creasng ventilation The tortuous drifts that
made in following veins of ore the working Of the
"stopes. bodies of ore in mine. if represented
on paper would resemble more a confused. tangled
up spider web. than any other thing can think Of


THE MINES NOT IN ORE.


While this diagram exhibits the bonanzas that have
been found it also tells of the unproductivc labor
In by far the largest portion of the lode The Sierra
Nevada. prominent, had a small bonanza of
gold the surface, to the amount of about
S2.OOo000 and then had to pass through Wilderness
of troubles and perplexities. The Bullion and the
Exchequer have gone down 2,100 feet and have not
yet taken out q dollars worth of ore. while they
have expended millions in labor, machinery and iti
cation. The Union and Mexican also on the list
nonproducers of ORE yet the Union stands at this
writing at the head Of the stock list. Mexican has
yielded only trile of bullion and also stands
high on the list The technical word sympathy"
explains this anomaly. Bullion and Exchequer are
between the bonanzas that have been worked out,
Union and Mexican next ncighbors to the Ophir
and the Sierra Nevada. where new bonanzas are
known to be, and from that fact alone even though
they had not their own present hatterng prospects,
'sympathy' would bear them up. Those who have
been grandly successful must, naturally. experience
feeling of great satisfaction. yet with all their dis
couragements have failed to observe in those un-
rewarded the slightest evidence of weariness. Those
also who had bonanzas and have worked them
OUT continue to prospect and develop with unabatcd
vigor and with undiminished confidence in success.


THE GREATER RICHER THE ORE


Between the surface and the 1000 foot level twelve
bodies of worked out. yielding 352O.3o9 tons
Of of average of $40 65 per and producing
S103.425,074 in bullion. The net profit in working
these bodies s22. .S13. $50 in dividends Between
the 900 foot level and the 1900 foot level two great
bodies OF ore were found-the first in the Belchcr
and Crown Point and the second in the Consolidated
Virginia and California. The former is worked out"
and the latter is still yielding paying ORE" Up
to the 1st of January of the present year
these two bodies yielded 2,4l3.l2l tons.
averaging SCI 80 per ton. and producing
Sils, ,4GG.62o in bullion. The net profit In working
these bodies was Ss4, $4,000 in dividends. These
figures show that while the quantity Of extracted
between the 1000 foot and 1900 foot levels was
1107 1s5 tons less than the amount which the lode
yielded between the surface and the 1000 foot level
the production of the lower section OF the lode
was si50tl sos in of tho upper section.
the net profit realized from the working OF these
was SOL 522 720, 400 per cont greater than that
yielded by the upper portion of the Assure.


CONFIDENCE FUTURE.


That large bodies of will be found at greater
depths than yet attained Is general conviction here.
and the unproductiyc labor on any portion of tho
lode, or at any time is to the mining mind only
the farmers winter preceding the coming harvest.
The Comstock at no period of its history had
the confidence of the people as II has to-day conf
dcncc begotten of educated experience. Everybody
is sanguinc and the most common expression heard
in the country is that ''mnng has just begun" To
others this might the very hazard of gambling;
to the Comstock miner IL is legitimate enterprise.
less hazardous than the commerce of the
The conviction with him that large bodies OF ore are
in the mountains. and that he can reach them