underwent a rapid increase until three years ago, since which time it has been
maintained at about the same point, the amount being about fifteen million dol-
lars per annum. For the first two or three years after they were opened, the
argentiferous ores taken from this ledge yielded from one to three hundred dol-
lars per ton ; the average of all worked being over one hundred and fifty dollars,
while some small lots carefully selected went much higher, ranging from five
hundred to two and even three thousand dollars to the ton. But the quantity
of this class was limited, and it is probable that nearly as much equally rich
ore could now be procured by carefully culling the entire mass taken out.
These rich parcels were generally sent abroad for reduction, or sold in San
Francisco to the dealers in metalliferous ores, who carried them to Europe
mostly to Swansea for treatment.
To illustrate more clearly the depreciation that has gradually taken place in
the value of these ores, or, rather, the manner in which, through the agency of
cheapened and more efficient modes of treatment, the working of those of lower
grade with profit have been constantly increased, we may take the case of the
Gould & Curry company, which fairly represents the experience of most others
in this particular. This company, during the four years extending from 1862
to 1865, inclusive, extracted from their claims the following numbers of tons of
third cla-s ore, being the bulk taken out, with the average results stated, viz :
1862, 8,427 tons; average yield per ton, $104 50; 1863, 43,907 tons; average,
$80 44 per ton; 1864, 55,602 tons; average, 73 48 per ton; 1865, 46,745
tons ; yield, $45 41 per ton. For the year 1866 the amount of ore raised will
probably not differ much from that of last year, while the yield per ton will be
somewhat less. During these four years this company took out, in addition to
the foregoing, fifty-two tons first class ore that averaged 81,800 to tire ton, and
14,103 tons second-class that averaged $234 to the ton, while one or two mines
are doing better. The average yield of the leading mines on the Comstock
ledge will not at present go much jf any above $40 per ton ; while that from
the more auriferous claims at Gold Hill will scarcely yield $30. With the
poverty of the ores the profits of the mine, of course, diminish, it costing but
little more to work moderately rich than it does poor ores. The total number
of tons of ore raised from all the mines on the Comstock ledge will reach and
perhaps exceed one million and a half. The amount of ore extracted from the
various mines depends upon their magnitude, the facilities for raising them, and
the energy with which they are pushed. Most of the larger claims are now
taking out at the rate of from twenty to fifty thousand tons per annum, and ons
or two at a still larger rate. The total amount of ore extracted from all the
claims situate on- the Comstock ledge may be roughly estimated at something
over one and a half million tons.
104 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Cost of mining, hauling, and reduction of ores. These several items of ex-
pense vary considerably with circumstances. In estimating the cost of raising
or mining the ores it is customary to include that of constructing, hoisting, and <
pumping works, timbering the mines, c., as well as of the actual labor of ex-
traction. The cost of mining the ores on the Oomstock ledge averages at pres-
ent about $14 per ton, the price varying from $10 to ^20. For transporting the
ores from the mine to the mill the cost is at the rate about $1 per ton for every
mile the ore is carried, unless the distance be long, when it is less. Hauling
the shortest distance usual 'y costs $1 per ton. Where contracted for in large
lots, teamsters haul from Virginia City to Carson river, seven miles, for $4 per
ton. Ores treated by simple crushing and amalgamation, as most of those
taken from the Comstock ledge are, can be reduced at a cost varying from $10
to $16 per ton, the average price being about $14. The auriferous ores at Gold
Hill, which require but few expensive chemicals, do not cost over $8 or $10 per
ton. Where water-power is used instead of steam the expense is about S3 per
ton less, these all being reductions of from thirty to seventy five per cent, on
the prices that prevailed a few years ago, Where dry-crushing with roasting
or smelting is adopted the expense is two or three times as great as by the above
method. Not more than one-twentieth, if at present so large a proportion, of the
ores from the Comstock mines are treated by dry-crushing, though upon a larger
share of those taken from the ledges in the interior this plan could be adopted
with advantage, the most of them requiring roasting or smelting. To the above
rates, except in the item of hauling ores to the mills, 'which is about the same,
there must be added, where these several operations are carried on in the outside
districts, from fifty to one hundred per cent., the price of labor as well as most
kinds of material being that much dearer there than about Virginia City. Ex-
tracting the ores from some of the extremely narrow ledges in these localities often
costs four times as much per ton as from the claims on the Comstock lode, so
much dead work being required to secure a small amount of ore from the former.
Annual and total product of bullion extracted from the Comstock ledge.
Assuming the gross amount of ore taken from the Comstock lode to have been
one and a half million of tons, a rather low estimate, and supposing it to have
yielded at the rate of forty-four dollars per ton, the present average being less
than $40, we have a total bullion product of $66,000,000, reckoning to the end
of the present year. That this estimate of the gross product is not far out of
the way, the following table exhibiting the annual yieJd of all the mines in
Nevada tends to establish. These figures are for the most part derived from
authentic sources, and although they embrace the yield of all the mines in the
State, we have only to make a deduction of about five or six per cent, for the
outside districts, the balance being justly credited to the Comstock lead :
1859
$50, 000
I860
100, 000
1861
2, 275, 000
1862
^ 6,500,000
1863
12,500,000
1864
. . 16, 000, 000
1865
16,800,000
1866
16,500,000
70, 725, 000
*The above estimate as stated is derived from authentic sources, but it differs some-
what from the estimate made by the surveyor general of Nevada given in section 3, clause
33, with which it may be compared, as well as with the total yield reported by the principal
companies on the Comstock lode as given in clauses 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 4:<i in
section 3.
WEST OF THE ROC^Y MOUNTAINS 105
An allowance of five million of dollars would undoubtedly cover the product
of all the outside mines, making that of the Comstock vein to be, as above,
nearly $66,000,000. The rate at which this lode has been yielding heretofore
can, in all likelihood, be kept up for an indefinite period to come, there being
no example in the history of silver mining of a vein of this magnitude and
character being exhausted or giving out, though many have been worked steadily
for centuries and in some instances to depths three or four times as great as
that yet reached on any part of the Comstock lode. The yearly turn out
of these mines could easily be enlarged, as it no doubt will be hereafter,
when new levels shall be opened or new claims brought to a productive
condition, and additional works shall be supplied for raising and reducing
the ores. That their annual product will be augmented to twenty millions
or more, in the course of a few years, seems quite likely. It could even,
with the present me,ns for extracting the ores, be increased several millions
yearly were the leading companies disposed to employ a larger number of cus-
tom mills and to adopt the rushing and exhaustive system in vogue a' few years
ago ; but which, while it secured large aggregate returns, was found to be
attended with great waste and to tend to a rapid depletion of the mines. As a
return to this plan cannot therefore reasonably be looked for, the anticipated
increase of bullion may be expected to grow out of the causes above mentioned,
in conjunction with a more economical and perhaps efficient reduction of ores,
whereby those of a lower grade than are now worked can be treated with profit.
The annual yield of none of the older claims has been as large for the past two
years as it was for two or three years previous to that time, the deficiency being
supplied by several new claims that have since become productive, such as the
Hale & Norcross, Crown Point, and others. Thus the Gould & Curry com-
pany, whose mine did not begin to turn out bullion in any quantity until 1862,
produced that year $858,819, in 1863 $3,887,755, in 1864 $4,921,516, and in
1865 $2,401,060, the product the present year being about the same as last.
The entire amount of the precious metals taken from this mine, calculating to
ihe end of the year 1866, amounts to about fourteen aud a half millions of
dollars. From the Savage mine there has been extracted during the same time
about $4,500,000, the total yield for the year ending July 10, 1866, havirfg
been $1,256,663. The Hale & Norcross, which only lately began to yield
largely, is now producing at the rate of about $1,500,000 per annum. The
product of the Imperial mine at Gold Hill was, for the year ending May 31,
1865, $854,630. For the last year it has not yielded so largely, the same
remark being applicable to most of the formerly highly productive mines near
it, as well as to many others near Virginia City, such as the Ophir, Mexican,
Central-Chollar, Potosi, &c., from none of which has there been anything like
the amount of bullion extracted the last two years that there was for the two
years preceding, while upon one or two of them labor has nearly ceased. The
cause of this falling off is not so much in the poverty of the mines themselves,
some of which have been amongst the most prolific on the Comstock lead, and
are still known to be rich, as irf a lack of energy on the part of the owners in
failing to provide the means for draining them of water and a renewal of pros-
pecting operations. On some of these mines work has been suspended until
more powerful machinery for hoisting and pumping can be supplied, while in a
few other cases it has been for want of adequate means to go on, or because the
small amounts of good ore at one time obtainable in the mine having given out,
the owners have become discouraged or concluded to discontinue operations
until the adjacent mines have been drained and explored.
Accruing profits, dividends, losses, disbursements, fyc. Of the net profits that
have accrued to the owners of the mines upon the Comstock ledge, taking them
as a whole, it is impossible to make any accurate computation. In many of the
morp valuable claims but little capital was at first invested, the owners being
106 RESOURCES OF THE 'STATES AND TERRITORIES
the original locators, or purchasing them from the latter for small and often mere
nominal prices. This was more particularly the case with the numerous small
but extremely rich claims at Gold Hill, as well as the Ophir ind Mexican near
Virginia City. At first there were no taxes of any kind upon the product of
these mines ; the body of ore was large, exceedingly rich, easily extracted
thousands of tons being found in the croppings above ground and the most of
it capable of being reduced at a comparatively small cost ; wherefore the profits
to the owners, or at least to such of them as had come by the^e properties
cheaply, were, during the first three or four years, not only steady, certain, and
large, but in many cases enormous ; and had better judgment been exhibited at
that period in working the mines, and more caution in properly securing their
titles, or had greater economy in the expenditure of their proceeds been ob-
served by the owners, much of the disaster, loss, and, in some instances, final
ruin that overtook both might have been avoided. For the development of these
mines and the working of the ores few assessments were ever required, the
most of them being not only self-sustaining but dividend-paying from the start.
Prior to the erection of steam-mills the argentiferous ores were sold and sent out
of the country for reduction, the auriferous rock at Gold Hill being worked by
arrastras, a slow method, but one that answers well where the rock is rich, and
simple crushing and amalgamating serves the purpose. Another advantage at
this early day was, the mines were mostly owned by single individuals, or two
or three at most, acting as partners, and not by large incorporated companies ;
and thus a source of much wastefulness and mismanagement, not to say pecula-
tion and fntud, was guarded against. So large was the 4 income from some of
these claims at Gold Hill during the period we are considering that they readily
commanded from five to fifteen thousand dollars per foot, the net monthly profits
derived from them varying from five hundred to three thousand dollars per linear
foot. In some cases persons owning but ten feet enjoyed from this source an
annual revenue of more than twenty and even approximating thirty thousand
dollars. Nor were these princely revenues confined to the claims in Gold Hill,
proper, (a mound of quartz some three or four hundred feet in length ;) the pro-
prietors of the Mexican and Ophir for a time fared nearly as well. This tem-
porary productiveness of the mines, leading, as has already been observed, to
the subsequent high prices and extravagant notions of their prospective value,
which in turn caused the undue excitement and over-speculation that culminated,
on several distinct occasions not far separated, in general disappointment ancf
loss. How frequently and extensive these losses have been may in some measure
be gathered from the following tables exhibiting the fluctuations in the prices of
such mining stocks as have been generally dealt in by the board of brokers, an'd
which, although they do not embrace all the, productive mines in the State, suf-
ficiently indicate the fate that at one time or another has overtaken a large ma-
jority of them.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
107
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108
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
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WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS.
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110
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
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WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS,
111
Table showing t.Tte fluctuations in mining shares from June 29, 1866, to Scp-
tcmler 30, 1866 -
Name of company.
June
29.
July
10.
July
20.
July
30.
Aug.
10.
Aug.
20.
Aug.
30.
Sept.
10.
Sept.
20.
Sept,
30.
Gould & Curry per ft.
$700
$725
$720
$705
$715
$740
$700
$710
$600
$610
Ophir .do.
210
235
280
245
272
320
210
210
200
207
S'lva^e do
900
865
925
950
1 200
1 150
1 085
1 160
1 100
1 115
('"'ollar-Potosi do. .
183
185
190
171
180
173
] '!)
136
115
111!
1 1 ill e &, Norciws do..
Slu'ba do
1,275
1,260
1,300
1,425
1, 6GO
1,650
],600
1,750
1,680
1,800
I);riey do
5i
*i
\Y ; do -West do
Bullion ' do ..
57
58
47*
47
25
27
20
23
20
15
El Dorado - do
24'
50
47
38
39
27i
1H
14-1-
-1 '
4
Sierra Nevada do .
2
4i
5
41
2i
6i
N
2|
Yellow Jacket do . .
7CO
580
590
945
722
630
730
770
685
682
Baltic . do
Sacramento . . do
Lady Bryan do
Imperial do . .
ICO
104
94
94
94
90
95
%
84
82
Crown Point . do
9UO
700
850
875
925
950
935
880
825
875
Belcher do . .
162
170
155
130
149
108
125
120
115
94
Alpha do .
206
100
95
50
115
120
103
80
Confidence do..
55
50
51
43
59
4i)
55
De Soto do
3-i
These tables cover but a comparatively shot period and do not show the more
extreme and violent fluctuations that took place during the earlier periods
in the history of mining speculations. Thus in the earfier part of the summer of
1859 the Ophir ground could be bought for one hundred dollars, and the Gould
& Curry for three dollars per foot. In less than eight months the former had
risen to $1,000, and the latter to $600 per foot, and though the Guold & Curry
stock, owing to assessments, and the fact that no ore was being taken out, fell
during the summer of 1861 to $200 per foot, we find that less in than- two years
from that time it was selling currently at the rate of $5,000 per foot, and again
but one year thereafter for less than $1,000, and though it subsequently rallied
somewhat, selling in April, 1865, for a little over $2,000 per foot, it can at the
present time be bought for about one fourth that sum; nor is this an extreme
case, most of the other claims on the Comstock ledge having undergone similar
vicissitudes, while some at Gold Hill have fluctuated still more widely. At one
time the Empire ground could not be bought at $10,000 per foot; now it can be
had for a little more than $1,000. The Sheba, Daney, Wide West, Burning
Moscow, Real del Monte, and others that might be named, though now selling
for almost nominal prices, and some of them not salable at all, were once sell-
ing currently at $500 per foot, unon most of them expensive mills and hoisting
works having since been erected. Hundreds of claims that during these period-
ical seasons of excitement were finding buyers readily at sums varying all the
way from one to a hundred dollars per.foot are now no longer heard of, being in fact
of no value whatever. In the shares of the productive mines on the Comstock
ledge it is beileved no further depreciation will be likely to take place, but rather
that most of them will advance in price, the payment of dividends suspended
upon many of them during the past year being gradually resumed, and though
not so large as formerly, with a prospect of being continued hereafter. The
Hale & Norcross company are now making monthly dividens of $75 per foot ;
the Yellow Jacket, of $50 ; the Guold & Curry, of $25 ; and many other com-
panies greater or less amounts, while a few, owing to extra expenses the past year,
112 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
are not making any, but expect to do so in a few weeks or months. Previous
to June 1, 1865, the Empire company had taken from their mine a sum total of
$1,500,000, of which $287,500 were paid in dividends. Including the product
of the present year, the Gould & Curry company have taken from their mine
a grand total of $14,000,000, of which $6,500,000 have been paid out-in gen-
eral disbursements and improvements ; a little over $3,000,000 for work done by
custom mills ; the balance, something over $4,000,000, having been paid to the
stockholders in dividends, while the assessments levied have been comparatively
small. The extent to which assessments have been levied upon the principal
mines in various parts of the State recently, dividends, dc., can readily be seen
by reference to the following tables :