Year: 1878

At the c. and G. shaft there is large
room in which the miners change their
clothing on going into and coming out
of the lower levels. On coming out OF
the mine their clothes, a wooden shirt
and pair of wooden drawers or cotton
overalls, are reeking with perspiration
and are more or less soiled by the dust
that has settled upon them. In the
changing room id large trough with
supply OF hot and cold water. Here the
miners wash the clothes they have worn
in the mine before leaving for their
homes, hanging them up on racks to dry,
in order that they may have clean CLOTH
ing when they next 20 down into the
lower levels. In this tank or trough
some 600 men daily wash their clothing
when going off shift and in its bottom
there collects about fifty pounds per day
of sand and clay. Yesterday COL FAIR
had the curiosity to have the assayer of
the Consolidated Virginia assay Office
make an assay of the sediment deposited
in the washing tank, and the following
is the result: Gold per ton, $12S.60
silver, $l36 SO, making total of $259 10
per ton TOR the dirt washed out of the
shirts and overalls of the miners. Here
tofore the washings of this trough have
not been saved. but they will now prob
ably he taken care of by some one, as in
the course OF a year they would amount
to quite snug little sum.


Iu the large jewelry manufactures the
world over, where the workmen handle
aud file and burnish gold AMI silver, they
are required to Wash their hands in o
marble tank, and the amount of the
precious metals saved in this way in the
course of year is something astonish
ing.


We are now able to see that since the
opening of the mines of the Comstock
half dozen large fortunes must have
been sown broadcast over the country
by the winds. The amount of ore that
would stick upon the clothing Of the
miners is as nothing compared with that
blown off wagons and cars by the wind.
The fine ore thus blown away is generally
of tho richest character. From a train
of forty cars in going from this place to
the mills on the Carson river through
"Washoe zephyr" the loss would
probably not fall short of a ton. OF late.
however, the precaution has been taken
of securing the fine ore by wettipg down
the loaded cars before the departure OF
the trains from the ore houses.


In the early days, wpeu hundreds of
teams were engaged in hauling the rich
ores of the Ophlr to Washoe Valley, the
wagons being all day on the road, i'm.
mense amounts must have blown away
Hs In crossing the mountain and winding
around the points of the hills the WIND
often blew hard enough to scatter moi
only the fine PARTICLES of ore. but also
Jumps of considerable size from the
wagons. piled and rounded up as they
generally were. 1t could hardly be e1
pected, however, that in those days any
one would think of the foe ore blowr
OF the loaded wagons when no one paie
any attention to the Jumps that wer'
rolling of, and when it WAS not unusua
ior teamsters to stop and fill up chucl
holes with the rich ore upon theI


wagons. As men at that time did no
think OF saving the tailings running t,


waste from the mills, and almost as r. 'cl
as the ores that went under the stamps
we can hardly find fault of tn N for pay
Ing no attention to the ore blown fron
the wagons and scattered along the road
BY the teamsters Now, however, al
though late in the day, We are becoming
wiser, aud find that even in the wash
lngs of the dirty clothing of the EN-
ployes of one mine there ia little bon
ANA Of So. 900 per annum.