say, more than two miles above the sea level. It has a population at
the present day of less than fifty thousand, though it contained at
one period more than three times that number. It has been repeatedly
shaken by earthquakes, and in some of these earthquakes a great many
people have lost their lives. All supplies must be brought from a
distance, as the country in the immediate neighborhood produces
absolutely nothing.
It is not a beautiful place of residence, and those who dwell there
are almost entirely devoted to the production and preparation of
silver.
An idea of the richness of the mines may be formed, when it is known
that between 1556 and 1800 the mines of Potosi alone yielded nine
hundred and twenty-five million dollars’ worth of silver.
[Sidenote: PROCESS OF AMALGAMATION.]
Silver mines are pretty much alike in all parts of the world. They
are also not much unlike mines of other metals. They are opened by
shafts, tunnels, and the like, the same as other mines, though each
locality has some processes of operations peculiar to itself. The
ordinary methods of separating silver from its ores are based either
upon forming an amalgam of the metal with the mercury, or in bringing
it into combination with lead, and afterwards separating it. The ores
of Mexico and Peru are treated by both processes. Some of the richest
ores are picked out and thrown into the furnace. The amalgamating
process, which was long used in the silver mines of Mexico and Peru,
and is still generally practised there, was invented more than three
hundred years ago. The ores are crushed by stamping machines, and then
ground with water, in machines called arastras, a sort of circular
mill, run by mule power. It is ground to as fine a condition as
possible, and, after being allowed several days to dry, is spread out
in circular heaps, about fifty feet in diameter and a foot in depth.
To every ton of this substance three bushels of salt are added, and
the whole is then carefully mixed. A chemical substance, of a coppery
character, is then added, and a sort of fermentation takes place, in
which great heat is thrown out. Quicksilver is then added, in small
quantities at a time, and crudely mixed in, until the whole mass forms
an amalgam. The whole process occupies from four to six weeks. The
amalgam is then separated from the mass of ore by a system of washing
similar to that practised in collecting gold. The mercury is then
separated from the amalgam by the ordinary process of evaporation, and
in the same manner as if removing it from gold.
Sometimes silver is found in masses which are nearly pure; but this
is very rarely the case. The largest quantities have been discovered
in the copper mines of Lake Superior, and in some of the mines of
Norway and Saxony. Some of these masses exceed five hundred pounds in
weight, but ordinarily they weigh but a few ounces or pounds.
Specimens of native silver are frequently found in the beds of rivers,
very far from any other deposits of this metal. The richest mines of
this metal, at the present day, are in the United States, particularly
in Nevada and Utah. The great Comstock lode has already been referred
to. In November, 1859, the discovery of silver mines at Lake Washoe
became known, and in the following year the products of the mines were
sent out in such large quantities as to lead many people to suppose
that the commercial value of silver would be greatly cheapened.
[Sidenote: SILVER MINES OF NEVADA.]
Mines have been opened in various localities throughout Nevada, but
the richest of them, and, in fact, almost the only ones, of any great
value, are on the Comstock lode. Its ores are very rich. The vein is
of unusual width, and it has made fortunes for a great many men, and,
on the other hand, has taken fortunes from a great many others. Some
of the most extensive mining speculations ever known in California
have been in these mines. Their value has greatly fluctuated; in some
years the product has exceeded twenty millions of dollars, and the
price of shares in the mines increased accordingly; then the product
would suddenly fall off, and down would go the stock. Sometimes
dividends would be made every month, and suddenly they would be
followed by left-handed dividends, or assessments. In San Francisco
a single day has witnessed the reduction to beggary of men who at
sunrise could boast of considerable wealth; the following day might
witness their return to wealth, or the return of others to poverty.
Nearly all the men who made money in Nevada a few years ago, and
did not kill themselves by riotous living, are now poor, and have a
brilliant prospect of remaining so.
[Illustration: ONE METHOD OF WASHING FOR SILVER.]
[Illustration: ANOTHER METHOD OF WASHING FOR SILVER.]
VI.
SILVER MINING IN NEVADA.
HOW GOLD WAS DISCOVERED IN NEVADA.—A PECULIAR “BLACK SAND,”
AND WHAT CAME OF IT.—SILVER CURSED AND THROWN AWAY.—ACCIDENTAL
DISCOVERY OF THE VALUE OF THE ORE.—H. T. P. COMSTOCK.—THE
COMSTOCK LODE.—HOW MINING RECORDS WERE KEPT.—YIELD OF THE
NEVADA MINES.—BONANZA AND BORRASCA.—THE BIG BONANZA.—THE GRAVE
OF THE FORESTS.—“WASHOE ZEPHYRS.”—PAY-ROLLS OF THE MINING
COMPANIES.—INTERESTING DETAILS.
Probably the most remarkable silver mines of the world are those
of Nevada. It is difficult to estimate, with absolute accuracy,
the amount which has been taken from them. They were only recently
discovered, and the story of their discovery is quite romantic.
Very naturally, the gold miners of California drifted over the Sierra
Nevadas, into the great Utah basin, in search of gold. During 1850,
and the following years, gold discoveries were made on the eastern
slopes of the Sierras. The first discovery was made by some Mormon
emigrants, who were on their way to California; the snows had not
melted upon the mountains, and they were compelled to camp, for some
time, on the Carson River. They had no expectation of gold, but simply
went to prospecting by way of killing time. They did not work very
long at the business, but continued their journey to California as
soon as the season permitted. Other emigrants coming along from time
to time, continued the work, and by 1852 there was quite a mining
population along the Carson River and its tributaries. None of them
made large fortunes, but most of them did well.
None of them had any thought of silver, and they knew so little
about silver ore that when they found it, they were ignorant of its
character, and cursed it as a nuisance. They found a heavy, worthless
sand, looking like pulverized iron, that settled upon the quicksilver
in their rockers, and prevented the amalgamation of the gold. The
gold was not of a fine quality, as it was mixed with a considerable
quantity of silver. For a considerable time, the miners worked on, and
it is said that some of them had regular hours, which were devoted
to swearing at this black sand, which was continually in their way.
The gold in the placer mines of California was worth from sixteen to
nineteen dollars an ounce, while the gold taken along the Carson River
was worth not more than eleven or twelve dollars.
[Sidenote: THE FAMOUS COMSTOCK LODE.]
In the spring of 1859, quite a party of miners was at work in what
was known as Six Mile Cañon. They lived at Gold Hill, where a small
village had grown up, not far from their working place. There was a
scant supply of water, and they concluded to made a sort of reservoir
by digging a hole, and turning the small stream into it. They located
this reservoir a little way above the place where they were working,
and after digging about four feet, they found what afterward proved to
be the decomposed silver ore of the now famous Comstock lode. They did
not find silver, at least, they did not know that what they found was
a deposit of black sulphuret of silver, which was nothing more than
the pure metal in a decomposed state.
They concluded to try some of this curious looking dirt in their
rockers. It yielded well. They found that they were digging out gold
very rapidly, but they were puzzled as to the character of the dirt
containing it. They pushed on further and further into the vein, and
taking the lumps that were left on the screens of the rockers, pounded
them up with hammers and in mortars. So rich was this substance, that
one man was able to take out one hundred dollars a day.
The party consisted of four men, one of whom was H. T. P. Comstock,
an adventurer who had wandered about the Pacific coast for years,
and had never accomplished anything of importance. There was some
dispute as to the title to the location, but it was finally agreed
that there should be an equal division of the land in the lode. Very
soon it became noised about that the miners had “struck it rich,” and
there was great excitement in regard to the new digging. A notice was
recorded, claiming the ground on the lode, and the land around it.
The names which were recorded in this notice were Peter O’Reilly, H.
T. P. Comstock, Patrick McLaughlin, J. H. Osborne, and E. Penrod. This
location was the famous Comstock lode, which has since yielded so many
millions.
[Sidenote: SILVER AS A NUISANCE.]
Gold mining was carried on there for some weeks after the location of
this claim. A gentleman familiar with the history of the discovery,
says that as soon as Comstock obtained a position in the party, he
elected himself superintendent, and did all the heavy talking. He was
conspicuous on all occasions, and very soon was considered not only
the discoverer, but the originator of the lode. Work was diligently
pushed, and for weeks the miners dug the rich decomposed silver
ore, washed the gold out of it, and let it go to waste, throwing it
anywhere to get it out of the way. It was an intolerable nuisance,
and it is safe to say that those miners swore about it to an extent
greater than is recorded of “our army in Flanders.” It gave a certain
unpopularity to the diggings, on account of the inconvenience it
caused. It was worse than the black sand that everywhere abounds in
gold mines, because that does not interfere with the amalgamation.
Comstock was a free-handed, generous fellow, having very little regard
for his own money, or that of anybody else. It was the custom, in
those days, when a lady visited the mines, to offer her a pan of dust,
and to take it from the richest part of the lode. On one occasion,
several ladies visited the mine, and the usual courtesy was offered.
It was so arranged that they obtained one hundred and fifty dollars
or more for each pan. The last of the ladies was young and pretty;
Comstock wished to be polite, and so, while her pan was being passed
out, he slyly dropped a handful of gold in it. The result was that her
prize amounted to more than five hundred dollars.
Many tons of the black sulphuret of silver were washed away, until,
in the month of July, 1859, a man named Harrison visited the new
diggings, and took a piece of the ore away with him, as a curiosity.
Being in California, shortly afterwards, he gave this curiosity to a
gentleman in Grass Valley, Nevada County. This gentleman carried it to
be assayed, and it was found to yield at the rate of several thousand
dollars per ton.
Harrison said that there were tons and tons of the stuff lying around
in the mine where this was taken out, and so it was determined to
keep the matter a secret, to go as speedily as possible and obtain
possession of the place. Everybody was sworn to secrecy, and of course
everybody told his intimate friend. The result of the assay was known
late one night, and by the next morning, everybody in Grass Valley
knew all about it. Two of the men were off before daylight, and in a
few days hundreds of people were _en route_ for Washoe.
[Sidenote: EXCITEMENT IN WASHOE.]
The discovery created great excitement. The news spread rapidly
throughout California, and all sorts of people, who could get away,
and many who could not, proceeded immediately to Washoe. Washoe was
the sensation of the day. The population increased with magical
rapidity. The whole country around was visited by prospectors, who
laid out claim after claim, staking out the whole region, and the
most extravagant stories were told concerning its wealth. The mining
recorder had a busy time of it, and took in a great many fees for his
work. The book of records was kept at a drinking saloon, and lay upon
the shelf behind the bar. Anybody could consult it who wished to, and
if a man made a location, and was not satisfied with it, he would
proceed to alter the record to suit himself. The result was that dates
and places in the book were very much altered, and it is difficult to
understand many of the claims.
Curious stories are told of the sharp practices of the miners and the
lawyers they engaged. It is said that during a mining suit in those
times, there was a controversy about a stump which was understood to
mark the boundary of a certain claim. The lawyer on one side one
afternoon produced several witnesses, who said they could swear to the
stump and its location. Next morning, the jury proceeded to the spot.
It was found that the stump had been removed during the night, and the
whole ground around was so carefully leveled and covered with loose
rock, that its former position could not be ascertained.
Gold mining was carried on as before, after the value of this blue
stuff had become known. It was no longer thrown away, but was
carefully gathered up and put in sacks and barrels for transport to
San Francisco. Comstock never made a fortune out of the discovery.
He sold out his interest for ten thousand dollars, most of which he
never received, and wandered off in another direction. He had numerous
infelicities of varied character, and finally died, in 1870, in
Montana.
[Sidenote: SCARCITY OF FOOD.]
Prices were high, for some time, at Washoe, owing to the immense
immigration, and scanty supply of provisions. It is said that in the
early part of 1860, hay was worth fifty cents a pound, and barley
forty cents. As it was too expensive to keep horses, many of the
miners shot them, or let them wander off in the hills and die of their
own accord. Flour was worth seventy-five cents a pound, coffee fifty
cents, and bacon forty cents. Lumber was worth two hundred dollars a
thousand, and other things were held at proportionate prices.
The community was not the most orderly in the world, and fights were
of frequent occurrence, so frequent that they became monotonous. The
weather was not altogether tropical in its character. There were
frequent sand and rain storms, in the spring, and settlers became
acquainted with what is known as the Washoe “Zephyr.”
This “Zephyr” is a wind that blows down from the mountains, at
irregular and unexpected intervals, and, as one of the residents
expressed it, “has no nonsense about it.” A man from that region once
described it to me as follows: “You may think you have seen wind some
times, but you haven’t until you go to Washoe. It takes the roof off
of houses; it will blow a donkey five miles over a mountain; and it
will shave the hair off the back of a bull-dog, if it happens to take
him tail-ways. That ‘zephyr’ is the reason so many men in Nevada have
lost their hair. A bald man has a good chance with it. A fellow with
a good thick crop has no show at all. When the ‘zephyr’ comes, the
air is full of sand, tin roofs, cats, old boxes, furniture, wagons,
anything and everything. It makes no difference. The only way to save
yourself from being blown off is to lie down on the ground and take
hold of something, and hold on there until the ‘zephyr’ is gone.”
[Sidenote: FIRST MINE UPON THE COMSTOCK LODE.]
The first mine upon the Comstock lode was known as the Ophir. The
first shafts that were sunk were merely round holes of no great depth,
and not constructed upon scientific principles; but as the value of
the mine became known, shafts were built in a scientific manner, and
lined with timber. The first hoisting apparatus was the common hand
windlass. That gave place to the horse-whim, and that, again, to steam
machinery. The first of the latter which was put in was during the
year 1860, and was a common fifteen horse-power engine. By the end of
1860, the mine had reached a depth of nearly two hundred feet. The
vein of rich ore was found to be forty-five feet wide. Nobody had ever
seen such a width before, and the miners were at a loss for means to
support the roof above. They sent to California for an experienced
engineer, and after his arrival, it took him several weeks to arrange
a suitable plan.
He arranged a system of “timbering in square sets,” which is still
used in all the mines of that region. Timbers were framed and kept
together in the shape of cribs, which can be carried up to any desired
height. If the vein is wide, the cribs are filled with waste rock,
which forms pillars of stone, and thus supports the mines. In 1861, an
engine of forty-five horse-power was put in, with an eight inch pump
and some improved machinery for hoisting purposes. This was thought to
be frightfully extravagant at the time, but, compared with the present
machinery, it is a most insignificant affair.
It may be well to explain, here, the meaning of the word which has now
become incorporated into our language, “bonanza.” It is a Spanish
word, meaning, practically, “in good luck,” or rich bodies of ore.
Opposed to it is the term “Borrasca,” meaning “in bad luck,” or in
barren rock. There are always, in the Nevada mines, some companies
which are working in Borrasca, while others are working in Bonanza,
and the great advance and decline in the values of the mining stock is
due to this fact. When a company is in Borrasca, its stock is low; in
Bonanza, there is a very rapid advance. In the latter part of 1870,
an immense bonanza was found in one of the mines. A few months before
this discovery, the stock of the mine sold at three dollars per share.
A few months afterward, it sold for $1,825 per share. Another mine,
whose stock had sold, previous to the discovery of the bonanza, at
a dollar and a half a share, rose to $1,525. During the excitement
growing out of the discovery of this “big bonanza,” the increase in
the mining stock on the Comstock lode was nearly fifty millions of
dollars.
The mines on the Comstock lode have swallowed millions of feet of
lumber. It is estimated that not less than eighty million feet are
annually lowered in the mines, never to be returned to the open air.
In a single mine, six million feet are consumed annually, and at the
same time, about two hundred and fifty thousand cords of wood. For
miles around, the mountains have been stripped of their forests, and
the country presents a wild and barren appearance. Nearly all the
mountains within fifty miles of Virginia City have been thus denuded.
Fuel has become so scarce and dear that search has been made for coal,
and it is now extensively used as fuel, though, at present, it costs
nearly as much as wood.
[Sidenote: EXTENT OF THE MINES.]
An idea of the extent of the mines may be formed by a glance at
the pay rolls. On the first of every month, over half a million
dollars are paid out to the employés. Of the principal companies,
the Consolidated Virginia pays $90,000, Crown Point $90,000, Belcher
$65,000. There are several whose pay rolls average from $20,000 to
$30,000 per month, and many companies whose figures exceed $10,000.
Then, in addition to this, are the wages of the men employed in the
mountains, cutting timber, and bringing it to the mine, and for other
kinds of work.
[Sidenote: YIELD OF THE COMSTOCK VEIN.]
The yield of the Comstock vein, in ten years, is estimated at two
hundred and twenty millions of dollars, or an average yield, annually,
of thirteen millions, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In
1874, the yield exceeded twenty-two millions, and in subsequent years
it was larger.
The mines have been subject to the usual accidents of similar works
in all parts of the world. Many men have lost their lives there, from
falls through the shafts, from the breaking of cables, from falls of
rock, and various other causes. The mines have been on fire several
times, the gases generated from the earth assisting the burning of
the immense masses of timber. The heat in the mines is, at all times,
very great, and consequently the wood becomes exceedingly dry, and
liable to ignite at the slightest opportunity. Some of the fires are
attributed to spontaneous combustion, but it seems more probable that
they are the result of carelessness. Virginia City, which stands above
the mines, has also suffered very greatly from the same cause, and on
one occasion, almost the entire settlement was swept away, involving a
loss of millions of dollars.
But in spite of accidents, calamities, the rise and fall of stocks,
Washoe “zephyrs,” and other things, the work goes steadily on, and the
mines of Nevada, year after year, continue to hold their place as the
greatest and most remarkable silver mines in the world.
[Sidenote: WORKING A MINE.]
During the month of April, 1877, the shipments of the California
mine have been $1,600,000. If we read the brief announcement, every
month, on a certain day, that a certain mine has paid a dividend of
$1,080,000, we have not the slightest idea of what is necessary to
be done in order to make such an announcement possible. Every one
who ever owed a note in a bank, knows that thirty days is a very
brief period of time. To cause a mine to produce $60,000 in a single
day, is a tremendous feat; to continue this product daily, through
weeks and months, almost without variation, is a marvel. It takes
forethought, endurance, judgment, and nice calculation, such as
very few men possess in this world. The ore from which this mighty
yield is extracted, lies hid away almost a third of a mile below the
earth’s surface. It lies where consuming heat and baffling waters
join their forces to try and drive away the invading miner. While
the ore is being hoisted, every month, 1,250,000 feet of lumber
has to be lowered and put in position, to keep safe the weakening
caused by the mighty excavations. While one level is being worked,
another has to be explored, for a drain of 500 tons of ore per day
would soon level a mountain down. Then the Comstock is an uneasy
fissure. In a single week, sometimes the swell of the ground shivers
into splinters fourteen-inch square timbers. Shafts and drifts and
inclines and tracks have to be watched incessantly, for a mine,
like a glacier, seems ever to be working. This is all below ground.
Above the surface is a world of machinery, always to be kept in
order—steam engines, air engines, cables, cages, air pipes, pumps,
and all the multiplied devices intended to expedite the work and
lessen the dangers of mining. Five hundred men have to be lowered
into and hoisted from the depths daily. Three hundred cords of wood
have to be provided daily for fuel. And there must be no delays, no
serious accidents. The needed repairs must be anticipated and provided
for; the accidents must be anticipated and guarded against; the
explorations must be carried on months in advance; the supplies must
never fail. A vast space of forest land, thirty miles away, has to
be denuded of its timber, yearly, to fill the insatiate maw of this
one mine. It requires 15,000,000 feet of timber, and 100,000 cords
of wood, annually, to supply the mine, and to furnish fuel to hoist
and reduce the ores. How many can appreciate the ability necessary to
carry on this work without any mistakes? Many a man of mind sufficient
to accomplish the feat, would fail through sheer lack of physical
strength. The work means being up at five o’clock in the morning;
means two or three daily journeys into the depths, and when anything
unusual happens, it means standing guard day and night, like a ship’s
captain in a storm, until the trouble is over. It means a mind large
enough to take in the immense work going on at a glance, yet careful
enough to include its smallest details, and exact enough to anticipate
the wants of the enterprise months in advance. For ten months, the
California mine has monthly given up this tremendous yield.
[Sidenote: LIST OF BONANZAS.]
The following list of the bonanzas of the Comstock will be interesting
to all who are watching the marvelous history of that mammoth vein:
1. Ophir and Mexican.—Discovered on the surface, and extended 500
feet in depth. Average width of ore, 15 feet; cubical contents,
112,000 tons; approximate value of ore, $22,000,000.