The Sutro tunnel to the Comstock lode in the state of Nevada. Importance of its construction, and revenue to be derived therefrom
31 p. 23 cm
Public-domain full text preserved in the Mountain Man Mining Library. Original source: archive.org.
The Sutro Tunnei
To The
In The
State Of Nevada.
Importance Of Its Constrcction, And Revenue To Re Derived Therefrom.
A. Sutro.
NEW-YORK, SEPTEMBER 1st, 1866.
Htlu-liorh :
.JOHN A. (JRAY & GREEN, PRINTERS, STEREOTYPERS, AND BINDERS, CORNKIl OF FRANKFORT AND JACOH .STREETS,
!
lOi flujIMt
Showing* tlu‘ liocalioiis of llu‘
Sutro Tunnel
And The.
Comstock Lode
And The.
State Of Nevada, United States Of America
/h'fnr/i
CJ/A:' / '. I/O/'/'AfA.XX ,
Scalf 2 IiM'lu's to 1 mile
m ii '4
lIlIHlIli
0m
Z.istrinSW/H-
Swai'isea O,/ 'tsivr W
v%j
x/i/ir
wjm
CRANTtO
Acres
l.ikho<it-.ipii
''il''
'If.
1 ,
i r
“T
ir
‘I
‘ Jf
It-
1 r
- T
T
1 ''
1 f
J
11
“ 1 1
1 ' Vi
1 '
1
Tf
1 f
Jl
r -
- E
T
1 r-
1 1
" r
1 -
—
- 1
li
'
"ii
1'
K
If -
' 1
1 r '' '
1 ;r“‘
- 1 r
1
T ’
1
1 1 "
;
'
K
1
1 1
1 r
Jl.
U: -
The Sutro Tunnei
To The
Comstock Lode
In The
State Of Hetada.
Importance Of Its Constkoction, Anb Revemie To Ee Deriveb Therefrom.
Bt
A. Sitting.
NEW-YORK, SEPTEMBER' 1st, 1866.
John A. Gray & Green, Printers, 16 & Is Jacob Street.
New-York, September 1,
Mr.
Dear Sir : The following statement, concerning an enterprise which may be looked upon as one of the most important in the United States, is hereby submitted to you for examination.
The general facts contained therein will be indorsed in New- York by all the leading California bankers, -commercial houses, and private individuals, amongst whom may be mentioned for special reference :
Messrs. Alsop & Co.,
“ Eugene Kelly & Co.,
“ Duncan, Sherman & Co.,
“ Lees & Waller,
“ Wm. T. Coleman & Co.,
“ Wakeman, Gookin & Dickinson.
On the Pacific coast a general reference may be made to all the bankersi commercial houses, scientific men, engineers, miners, and the population at large.
Requesting you to peruse these pages with the attention the importance of the subject deserves, I am, dear sir.
Your most obedient servant,
A. Sutro,
Attorney in fact for the Sutro Tunnel Company.
t
f
s
#' /
I
. V'
I ‘
u
r
.v
f
-v
f
$
; f
r
“t
k 1%
r. ►
A
]
M
Jtk
Contents.
Pagb
The Comstock Lode, . . 7
A True Fissure Vein, . 7
Mining Companies, . 7
Yield of Bullion, 8
Importance to Nevada, . 8
The First Mine in the "World, . 9
Cost of Mining, 9
Ev'entual Abandonment, . . . . . . . . 10
The Remedy — A Drain Tunnel, . 10
The Harz Mines in Germany, . 11
The Ernst- August Tunnel, . 12
Yield of the Harz Mines, . 12
Other Great Tunnels, . 13
The Mining Companies can not construct it, . . . . 13
Act of the Legislature, . 14
The Contracts, . 14
Act of Congress, . 15
Rights Granted, . 15
The Sutro Tunnel, . 16
Dimensions of Tunnel, . 16
Geology of the Country, . 16
Cost of Tunnel, . 17
Revenue of the Tunnel Company, . 17
The Contracts with the Companies, . 18
Transportation of Ore, . . . 18
Impft’tant Fact, 19
Transportation of Men, . . . . . . . . . 19
Transportation of Waste Rock, 20
Transportation of Timber, etc., etc., . 20
Limited Production of Ore, . . . 20
Production to be largely increased, . 21
Extent of Lode, . 21
Increased Revenue, . 21
The Company’s Land — Virginia and Gold Hill, 22
Page
Decreased Value of Property, . 22
Removal to the Mouth of the Tunnel, . 22
Removal of Mills, . 23
Scarcity of Water, . 23
Sale of Water, . 24
Contributions from other Mines, . . . 24
Discovery of Mines, . 24
Mines heretofore located, . 25
Abandoned Mines belong to Tunnel Company, 25
Silver Star District, . 26
The Flowery District, . 26
Other Mines, . 26
Blind Lodes, . 27
Their Importance, . 28
Condensed Statement of Facts and Conclusions, 29
Recapitulation of Cost and Revenue, . 31
%
ft
The Comstock Lode.
The Comstock lode in the State of Nevada is situated on the eastern slojDe of a range of hills, east of, and running parallel with the Sierra Nevada mountains ; from its outcroppings the hills slope down to the val ley of Carson river.
A True Fissure Veik.
The Comstock lode is a true fissure vein, or a vein formed at a very remote period, by some great volcanic convulsion, causing the crust of the earth to be rent in two, thus creating an immense fissime or chasm, several miles in length, from one hundred to two hundred feet in width and extending fr’om the surface downward, at an angle of forty-five degrees, to the very bowels of' the earth. Through this large, open fissure ascended steam and vapors, gases, acids, snljhur, chlorine, and fluorine, carrying with them silica and metallic particles fti a volatile form, which in the course of untold ages grad ually filled up the fissure and, after undergoing many chemical changes, formed what is now known as the Comstock lode.
The predominating metal of the lode is silver, which constitutes about two thirds of the value of the bullion ; the other third consists of gold.
3Iikiko Companies.
On this great vein, which was discovered in the year 1859, some thirty-five companies own claims, amongst
. wliicli we may mention : The 0|)hir Mexican, Gonld & Curry, Savage, Hale & Horcross, Cliollar Potosi, Impe rial, Empire, Confidence, New- York & Washoe, Yellow Jacket, Crown Point, and Belcher.
Each com]3any owns a given number of feet, from ten to fourteen hundred, along the length of the lode, and is entitled to all the ore contained between the sides or walls of the fissure, with all its dips, sj)urs, and angles, and within its north and south boundaries, to any dejDth it may be possible to carry mining works.
Yield Of Bulliox,
This great vein, the most important one at present worked in the world, and probably the most prolific one of wdiich 'vve liave any historical record, has yielded in the last four years to April 1st, 1866, $51,380,588.
Its present annual yield is about hundred thou sand pounds avoirdupois of gold and silver bullion, worth $16,000,000, equal to over one quarter of all the gold and silver produced by all the States and Territo lies on the Pacific coast, or equal to one third of all the silver produced per annum in the whole world, and exQediiig the present total yield of all the silver mines of Mexico.
Dipoktaxce To Nevada,
The importance of the Comstock lode to the State of Nevada will be well understood, when it is consider ed, that, as the Comptroller’s books of the State last year showed, the taxable property of the five counties sur rounding the Comstock lode, and which derive their en tire value from these mines, amounted to $24,238,061 — while cdl the rest of the State of Nevada., embracing eighty thousand sguare miles., with its thousands of mines., had only $5,499,315 of taxable property.
f
The Eiest Mine In The Woelh.
The Comstock lode is ]3ronoiinced by competent geologists to be a larger, more extensive, and more per manent vein, than either the celebrated Veta Madre of Guanajuato, or the Veta Grande of Zacatecas, both of which have poured out their treasures for the last three hundred years, the former having yielded about $800,- 000,000, Uie latter over $650,000,000.
A. larger interest is concentrated here within the com pass of a few miles than on any other spot on the globe / and the continued productiveness of these mines is a matter which not only concerns the State of Nevada, or the Pacific coast, but the whole United States and the commercial world at large.
Cost Of Mining.
Notwithstanding the immense yield of these mines they are in the aggregate a source of but little profit — for it almost costs $16,000,000 jPr annum, expended in pumping out the water, extracting the ore and reduc ing it, to obtain $16,000,000 worth of bullion; this will be readily understood, when we consider, that these mines have already reached a depth of from five to six hundred feet, and in some instances seven hundred feet, and that every pound of water and ore has to be hoisted that distance. Over thirty steam-engines are constantly at work on the mines, day and night, and every cord of wood consumed has to be purchased at the rate of sixteen dollars in gold.
Some of the mines, it is true, are still paying hand some dividends, and are likely to do so for some time to come ; but others are working at little or no profit, while the great majority are productive of a positive annual loss.
Eventual Abandonment.
Many other difficulties are encountered in mining downward through perpendicular shafts, but it can not come within the scope of this paper to enumerate them ; it must suffice to state, that experience in all places and at all times has shown, that mines at some time reach a dej)th, where the constantly increasing cost of min ing exceeds the yields and it is the uniform opinion of mining engineers, that that depth will be reached on the Comstock lode before the lapse of many years, 23rovided no other means for draining and working the mines be adopted, and that this proj)erty, now worth $25,000,000, including its surroundings, will thus be come entirely valueless for all practical j)urposes, and deprive one hundred thousand people of their occupa tion and means of subsistence.
This ultimate result is most clearly foreshadowed in the enormous but steady decline of the shares in nearly all the Comstock mining comj)anies, a fact so notorious as to be absolutely beyond question.
The Kemedy - A Drain Tunnel.
But nature, which has placed these mines two thou sand feet above the adjacent valley, has thereby pro vided the means to run or construct a horizontal adit or tunnel about twenty thousand feet in length, which would cut the mines at a dej>tli of two thousand feet below the croppings, and which would remove all the obstacles at present encountered, by drawing off the water and extending facilities for working the mines. Such a tunnel woidd jflace these mines in a condition to he worhed profitably and economically for a hundred years to come and woidd secure to the %Dorld many hum dreds of millions of dollars in gold and silver.
THE IIAEZ MmES m GEE]\rANY.
Worhs of this hind have hy experience heen found to he a matter of necessity and have been carried out wherever nature favored such an .undertaldno;.
Now let us see what has been done in other parts of the world in order to obtain drainage in mines. A late wuiter, speaking of the completion of the great drain tunnel in the Harz mountains in Germany, says :
Already in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the mechanical appliances for raising water were found to be insufficient, and it was found to be a matter of necessity to construct drain tunnels. The first one, called the Sev enty-eight feet Tunnel, was completed in 1525, the Frank- ensharner Tunnel in 1548, the One Hundi’ed and Four teen feet Tunnel in 1551, and the Haven Tunnel in 1573. By means of these Tunnels, which were connected with all parts of the mines, it was found possible to work them for about two hundred years ; but toward the end of last century it became impossible to master the water, and in consequence it was concluded, in the year 1771, to run a still deeper tunnel ; work was commenced in 1777 and the same was completed in 1799. It was called the Deep George Tunnel, and its length, including cross-cuts, is fifty-seven thousand feet ; it drains the mines under Clausthal to a depth of nine hundred feet.
“ This relieved the mines from water for a while, but as work progressed and greater depth was attained, the flow of water increased so rapidly that the grandest pump-works were found to be insufficient.
“ The topographical features of the country are such that no deeper drainage could be obtained, except at an apparently impracticable distance, and in consequence the danger was imminent, that these mines, wffiich had
supported thousands of persons for centuries, would shortly have to be abandoned entirely.
“the ERNST AUGUST TUNNEL.
“In the year 1850, C. Borchers, a celebrated mining engineer, first conceived the plan to commence a tunnel in the Dukedom of Brunswick, at a place called Gittelde, which would give a deeper drainage, of about three hun dred feet, below the Deej George Tunnel, or a depth un der the church of Clausthal, of about one thousand two hundred feet. Surveys were made and the distance found to be seventy-two thousand feet or about fourteen miles, and the time estimated to complete it was twenty- two years. On the 21st July, 1851, work on this great tunnel called the ‘Ernst Auofust Tunnel’ \vas com-
r O
menced, and on the 22d of June, 1864, the last connec tion was made ; it therefore took only twelve years and eleven months to complete this, the greatest of all mining W’Orks.”
Yield Of The Harz Mines.
It may as well be stated here, that the mines of the Harz produce about $500,000 in precious metals j)er annum, an amount taken from the Comstock every fort night. JVoWy if they found it a matter of necessity and economy to run a tunnel fourteen miles long in the Harz mountains in order to obtain an additional drain age of three hundred feet in a country where fuel is cheap how evident must it appear, that a tunnel into the Comstock, less than four miles in length, which will give drainage to a depth of two thousand feet, and -which would secure the future working of the richest mine in the world, must prove of great benefit.
Othee Geeat Tunot:Ls.
At Freiberg, in Saxony, tlie mines would have been abandoned hundreds of years ago had it not been for drain tunnels ; the great adit called the “ Rotheschoene- berger Stollen,” eight miles in length, is not quite com pleted, and another one, which will be twenty-four miles in length, is already proposed and advocated by all the mining engineers at this great seat of learning.
In Austria, at the celebrated mines of Schemnitz, a tunnel exists, called after the Emperor Joseph IL which has a length of over nine miles.
In England, where mining is carried on in the most intelligent manner, the slight elevations above the sea- level do not allow of deep drainage by adits ; but wher ever any elevation exists it has been taken advantage of. Thus we find at the United Mines near Redruth, in Cornwall, a drain tunnel which has a length, including its branches, of from thirty to forty miles while its great est depth under the surface at any one mine is four hun dred and twenty feet, and the average of depth under all the mines only one hundred and eighty feet.
The Mixing Companies Can Not Consteuct It.
The mining companies on the Comstock lode are the parties most directly interested in the execution of this work, and why they have not already undertaken it requires some explanation.
The stock of these different incorporated companies, some thirty-five in number, is divided into many thou sand shares; these shares are owned by many thou sand persons in San Francisco, New-York, and other places, and are constantly changing hands. Their price is regulated, to a large extent; by the amount of actual or prospective dividends, and the momentary owner.
generally ignorant of all details relating to liis prop erty, can seldom be persuaded to apply any portion of its products to improvements tliat will not immediately enhance the money value of his shares. This of course applies more particularly to the productive mines ; the non-productive ones can scarcely be ex]3ected to raise any funds for that purpose.
Act Of The Legislature.
The Legislature of Nevada, well understanding the difficulties which would be encountered, and the delay which would occur in leaving this all-important matter to the mining companies, and foreseeing the ruin which would be brought upon the country by neglecting it, jpref erred to intrust this matter to an active individual with a view of getting outside capital to construct the tunnel and consequeutly in February, 1865, granted a franchise to A. Sutro, giving him the exclusive right for fifty years to run a tunnel to the Comstock lode from the adjacent foothills, leaving the question as to charges and rates to be paid by the mining companies, open to negotiations.
The Contracts.
piTliese negotiations were at once entered upon, and after some six months consumed in efforts to unpress the mining companies with the necessity of making the most liberal terms, in order to procure the required capital, a contract, drawn by the most able lawyers on the Pacific coast, was at last agreed upon, and finally signed by all the leading mining companies. The terms of this contract will appear hereafter in treating on the revenue of the Tunnel Company.
Act Of Congeess.
After the above preliminary steps had been taken, it was considered necessary, in order to put the enterprise upon a still more solid financial basis, to apply to Congress to secure still further rights for the proposed Tunnel Company. At its last session Con gress passed a bill, wliich was approved by the Presi dent of the United States July 25, 1866, entitled, “ An act granting to A. Sutro the right of way, and granting other privileges, to aid in the construction of a mining and draining tunnel to the Comstock lode in the State of Nevada.”
Eights Geanted.
That bill grants :
1st. The right of way through the public domain for seven miles, on or along the Comstock lode or any other lode, which may be develojied or discovered by the tunnel.
2d. The right to select one thousand two hundred and eighty acres of land at the mouth of the tunnel.
3d. The right or title to the mines for two thousand feet on each side of the tunnel, equal to five thousand and eiglity acres of mining land.
4th. It makes all the mines of the Comstock lode, or on any other lode benefited by the tunnel, tribu- taiy to the same, and compels the owners of all those mines to pay to the Tunnel Company the same rates of charges, as agreed uj)on in the above-mentioned con tracts, and makes their title subject to that condition.
THE SUTEO THHlSrEL.
The mouth of the tunnel is situated in the valley bordering on Carson river, three miles northerly from the town of Dayton; it will have a total length of twenty thousand one hundred and seventy-eight feet.
In order to expedite the work, it is proposed to sink four shafts on the tunnel route to the tunnel level, which will be about fom* thousand feet apart. From the bottom of each of these shafts the tunnel will be constructed by drifting each way toward its mouth, and toward the Comstock lode ; thus nine points are obtained to work upon at the same time.
The Comstock lode runs north and south ; the tunnel from east to west;’ it therefore cuts the lode at right angles. After reaching the lode, drifts will be extended along the same, northerly and southerly, in order to reach each minino: claim.
O
Dimexsioxs Of Tuxxel.
It is j)roposed to make the tunnel about twelve feet square and provide it with two substantial railroad tracks; one to run cars in, the other to run them out ; under the track a cDain will be constructed for the purpose of carrying off the water.
The cars, which will have a capacity of five tons, will be propelled by means of a wire rope, set in motion by a stationary engine at the mouth of the tunnel. Full particulars of construction and cost will be found in the elaborate report of the Chief-Engineer, E. Gr. Carlyle, Esq.
Geology Of The Couxtey.
The country through which the tunnel passes, offers no serious obstacles, to its construction ; the different
formations are remarkably favorable for tliat kind of work, and consist of volcanic tufa, tracliytic breccia, track yte and greenstone porphyry, the latter in a decom posed state ; the Mount Cenis tunneling machine will make rapid progress in these rocks.
For further details concerning the geology of the country, we refer to the able report of Baron Kicht- hofen, a Euroj)ean geologist well known to the scientific world.
Cost Of Tunnel.
Great care and labor have been spent in order to amve at a correct estimate of the cost of the work. From actual bids by competent miners, including the sinking of shafts, bids made by San Francisco foundries for the necessary steam-engines, estunates on the cost of timberage, including all materials consumed, buildings, salaries, etc., etc., the total cost as given in detail in the engineer’s report, already referred to, is computed at $1,983,616.50 for the main tunnel. A large paid of the cost is caused by erecting and maintaining the steam- engines on the shafts, during the progiuss of the work
Eevenue Of The Tunnel C0:Mpany.
The principal sources of revenue to the Tunnel Com pany will be as follows :
1st. From the contracts with the mining companies on the Comstock lode
2d. From the sale of land at the mouth of the tunnel.
3d. From the sale of water.
4th. From the discovery and ownership of mines within four thousand feet along the tunnel route.
5th. From charges for drainage of mines outside the four thousand feet.
The Conteacts With The Companies — Deainage.
These contracts provide, that after the main tunnel is completed and actually drains the mines, or if they are not drained, then after a lateral drift reaches under any mine, which is to he considered di’ainage, a royalty of two dollars for each and every ton extracted from any part of the mines, of sufficient value to he reduced at any mills, is to he jiaid to the Tunnel ComjDany for all time to come.
The present yield of the mines is about fifteen hun dred tons per day, and taking that as a basis, the Tun nel Company would have a revenue from that source of three thousand dollars jer day,
Teanspoetation Of Oee.
Under the present method of mining the ore is hoisted to the surface high up on the side of the moun tain, at an expense of from one to two dollars ler ton, and after it reaches there, it has to he hauled down the mountain again on wagons, involving an expense of from four to five dollars per ton, to the mills, which are mostly situated in the valley.
After the tunnel is completed, this expense will he largely reduced, for instead of mining downward through shafts and hoisting out the ore, each comjiany can enter its mine through the tunnel at a depth of two thousand feet, and work upward on the vein. The ore, by its own gravity, will fall down to the level of the tun nel, and the Tunnel Company agrees to run it out of the tunnel, to its mouth, for one dollar per ton ; this alone will make a saving to the mining comj)anies of from five to seven dollars per ton and, as a consequence, the mines will he worked entirely through and by means of the tunnel. Therefore all the ore hereafter extracted from the mines will he transported by the Tunnel Com-
pany, and will secure, under tlie present ratio of extrac- tion, a revenue of fifteen hundred dollars ][)er day,
Impoetaxt Fact.
A careful examination of tlie works in the different mines on the Comstock lode discloses tke fact, well known to all tlie su23erintendents, tkat an immense body of low-grade ore exists in tliose parts already explored wliicli it does not pay at present to extract, and wliicli will have to remain in tlie mines until after the comple tion of tlie tunnel, when tlie facilities for clieap mining will so far reduce tlie expenses attending tliereon, tliat tlie wliole of tills great body of ore will be made avail able, and can be extracted and reduced to advantage. This ore assays from ten to tliirty dollars per ton, and the quantity, of that character, is estimated by the very best and competent authority to amount to four mil lions of tons. In some places it has been used to fill up drifts, in others, after examination and trial, it has been left standing untouched. In the Savage mine alone four hundred thousand tons of this kind of ore exist.
The Tunnel Company from this source will derive a sure and certain income of from eight to ten millions of dollars,
Traxspoetatiox Of Mex.
The number of men at present employed in the mines is about one thousand at each shift of eight hours, or three thousand in every twenty-four hours; the con tracts provide that each man transported into the mine shall pay to the Tunnel Company twenty-five cents for that service, and twenty-five cents more to be brought out again, which gives fifty cents for the round trip, or a daily income to the Tunnel Company from that source of fifteen hundred dollars.
TEA:N'SPaETATIO]S‘ OF WASTE EOCK.
In making explorations' and drifts in mines, large bodies of worthless rock have to be traversed, and this rock, debris or earth has to be removed from the mine. The explorations carried on on the Comstock lode in waste rock are very extensive, and about one thousand tons of it are taken from the mines daily ; this also will find its way to, and will have to be transported through the tunnel, as the only means of egress, giving the Tun nel Company an additional revenue of one thousand dollars jper day.
Teanspoetatioix Of Tembee, Etc.
The annual consume)tion of timber for the support of the mines is sixteen millions of feet, board measure, which will have to be transported through the tunnel; also all tools, powder, materials, etc., etc. A revenue from transporting this miscellaneous matter may be ex pected of two hundred dollars per day.
Lemited Peoduction Of Oee.
The revenue of the Tunnel Company from the con tracts with the Comstock lode, as specified above, will amount to seventy-two hundred, dollars daily., taking the futme yield of the mines, in tons, to be only equal to that at the present time ; this estimate, however, is en tirely below the man'h.
The difficulties in mining, abeady referred to, which exist at the present time, prevent the mines from being worked to their full extent. Three fom’ths of the lode are producing no ore at all, and it is therefore the remaining fourth alone which, notwithstanding the immense obstacles in the way, produces fifteen hundred tons per day.
Production Largely Increased.
After connections are made witli tlie varions mines fi’om tlie tunnel, facilities will exist for cheap mining which will give a great impetus to explorations.
While it is necessary now for each mining company to erect costly steam-engines and hoisting works, in volving the outlay of large sums of money, which they often can not obtain, and which machinery, when erected, requires many thousand dollars per month to keep in motion, after the tunnel is completed, none whatever will be required. All mining will be simply carried on by the labor of miners, and the principal ex- jienditure of the mining companies will be the wages paid to the men ; as long as no ore is extracted, and no iocome exists, no tribute is to be paid to the Tunnel Company ; exploratione can therefore he carried on at a trifling cost. As soon as ore is found and extracted, the mining companies will have the means and be com. pelled to 23ay the agreed rates to the Tunnel Company.
Extent Of Lode.
The Comstock lode has been traced to a length of over three miles ; beyond that, north and south, it has been found impossible to trace it definitely; at the depth of the tunnel all irregularities will have ceased, and it is probable that the lode will be well defined and may be traced for several miles beyond its present limits.
Increased Revenue.
The reasons here enumerated make it quite evident, that the present yield of fifteen hundred tons daily wall be more than tripled, and may reach five thousand tons per day., while the annual product would be increased from $16,000,000 to at least $50,000,000.
The revenue of the Tunnel Company in consequence will he almost three times the amount stated above, and at such rate of iroduction, would amount to about six and one half million dollars jer annum.
THE company’s land - VIEGINIA AND GOLD HILL.
Virginia City and Gold Hill, the most important towns in the State of Nevada, are situated on the side of the mountains, immediately below tlie outcrops of the Comstock lode, and have a population of fifteen thou sand souls. They derive their existence entirely from the business transacted in connection with the mines. The miners, the teamsters, in fact all the men employed in or about the mines, reside there ; the different compa nies have their offices there; we find banks, stores, hotels, in short, every thing to make up a city.
Decreased Value Of Property.
The real estate with improvements in Virginia City and Gold Hill, exclusive of any mining jiroperty, was taxed in 1865 at $6,882,084. If the mines should cease to be worked, property would become entirely valueless, and since the only means of securing the per manence of the mines is the construction of the pro posed tunnel, people owning real estate at these places can not seriously complain should they be forced to a
Removal To The Mouth Of The Tunnel. -
This will be a natural consequence of the execution of the work ; whenever the mines are entered throudi the tunnel, the miners will have to reside at its mouth ; all the business connected mth them will be transacted there, and the towns of Virginia and Gold Hill will he transferred there likewise.
Tliis will make the Company’s land situated at the
moiitli of tlie tunnel very valuable, and many tlioii sands of town lots will be sold. Tlie revenue from that source can hardly be estimated ; it would amount to a very large sum of money.
The Mining Companies will each have to secure a dumj), or a place to deposit their ore; they have ac. quired the privilege under the contracts to buy what ever land they may require for that pw'pose not exceed ing ten acres for each Comjoany at the rate of $5000 per acre,
Eemoval Of Mills.
The steam mills, which are at present scattered in a circuit of fifteen miles around the mines, and have cost from five to six millions of dollars in their erection, will also have to be removed to the mouth of the tun nel. At that place they will have to pay nothing for transportation, since the ore — without rehandling — may be dropped from the cars, wdiich bring it out of the tunnel right in front of the stam2:>s. Mills situated at a distance coidd not reduce the ore at the same price, after paying several dollars per ton for transportation, and consequently could not compete with those at the mouth of the tunnel. The only course left to them is to remove to the Tunnel Company’s land.
Scaecity Of Watee.
A lar2:e number of mills are situated in the ravines leading down from Virginia. The water which supplies them is jumped out of the mines. Whenever the lat ter are drained, by means of the tunnel from below, no water can be obtained any longer to sapjly them, and they would, ind-ependeDtly of any other consideration, have to be removed.
Virginia City would also labor under these disadvan-
tages to some extent, were tlie city to continue in its 2:)resent place after tlie completion of tlie tunnel.
Tlie Tunnel Company may safely calculate tlie pro ceeds from their land for town lots, ore-dumps, and mill- sites, at $3,000,000.
Sale Of Watee.
The body ot water issuing from the tunnel perma nently may be estimated at 20,000 gallons per minute, a quantity quite sufficient to supply the city, every steam-mill in the country, and then leave enough to irrigate many acres of land.
The price paid for water at Virginia City is $50 per month for every miner’s inch; at one third that rate the Tunnel Company would derive a revenue from this source alone of $200,000 per annum.
Coxteibutioxs Feom Othee Mixes.
All mines in the neighborhood of the tunnel, outside of the four thousand feet granted to it, and which may be reached by lateral drifts and thus benefited by the tunnel, are made tributary to the same by Act of Con gress. 'No doubt a considerable revenue mil arise to the Tunnel Company from this source in the course of time ; but, as something totally indefinite, it is impos sible to make any estimate of it.
Discoveey Of Mixes.
We now approach a subject which may projDerly be looked upon as the most important feature of this tunnel enterprise ; we refer to the discovery and devel opment of mines along the tunnel route, granted by Act of Congress to the extent of four thousand feet in length on every lode discovered.
Tlie proposed tunnel will penetrate to tlie very centre of this great silver-bearing mountain contain ing tlie Comstock lode, and traverses a country chiefly consisting of greenstone porphyry, a formation pro nounced by Humboldt and others to be eminently pro- liflc of silver mines.
Independent of any theories, even a superflcial exam ination of the tunnel route discloses the fact, that a number of highly-promising silver veins exist, which will be cut by the tunnel at a depth varying from five hundred to fifteen hundred feet below the surface.
Mixes Iieketofoke Located.
Immediately after the discovery of the Comstock lode, an examination of the country lying to the east ward was made, and many veins were discovered and located, promising in their outcrops as well as the Comstock lode itself. But the latter, eclipsing every thing in its neighborhood, absorbed the interests of capitalists to such an extent, that the former mines remained in the hands of the poor miners, who, for a year or more, expended their energy in making shafts, which, after reaching the water-level, were abandoned for the lack of means to erect the requisite steam machinery.
Abaxdoxed Mixes Beloxu To Tuxxel Compaxy.
Under the Act of Congress only those mines are ex cepted from the grant to the Tunnel Company, which are held in conformity with the local mining laws and regulations ; since none of the owners, having made those locations at an early day, have complied with them, such mines, without exception, will become the property of the Tunnel Company.
Silvee Stae Disteict.
Amono: tlie mines in tlie neisrliborliood of the tunnel we may mention, in Silver Star district, tlie Monte Cliristo, from wliicli silver ore Las been extracted, fully equal in appearance and value to that taken from the Gould & Curry mine near its surface; tLe St. John’s, from which quite a number of tons of excellent gold and silver ore were taken ; and the Occidental, yielding to-day some very good ore, which keeps a twenty-stamp mill constantly employed.
The Eloweey Disteict.
Further east, and to the north of the tunnel route, we find the Flowery mining district, in whicli several hundred locations were made at an early date ; these mines are also entirely abandoned, with the excejition of the mine of the Lady Bryan Company, which still continues to make explorations with remarkable jerse- verance, and from whose mine some fine sulj)huret ores and bunches of native silver have been taken ; several hundred tons of ore from this mine have been reduced, yielding an average of forty dollars per ton — exceeding the average of the Comstock. The vein upon which this mine is located is one of the most powerful ones in the State of Nevada, having a width near the surface of over tliree hundied feet.
Otiiee Mikes.
Independent of these veins, which are well defined and have been opened to some extent, we find indica tions of mines all along the j)orphyritic belt ; to the eastward of the trachitic range, heretofore mentioned, which rises two thousand feet above the valley, we have the clearest and most positive proof of the exist-
ence of a very ricli mine, or a series of mines, htj the occurrence of loose 'pieces of quartz or float roc\ as the 'miner calls it exceedingly rich in silver and wliicli cover tlie undulating liills where they sloje into Carson Eiver Valley. This quartz must necessarily have been detached at some point on the eastern slope of the mountain range, since it could not have been carried over its summit ; but the precise spot of these veins has never been discovered, the degradation of the hills for thousands of years having covered over the country to a considerable depth.
Blind Lodes.
It is a fact well known to every miner, that many lodes exist which do not reach up to the surface, and which are usually discovered accidentally, while running drifts or tunnels for some other lode ; in min ers’ they are called “ blind lodes,” an expres sion derived from the fact that they are not visible at the surface. Ujion these blind lodes the miner builds his hopes ; they give him nerve and perseverance to fol low his toilsome labors ; their mysterious existence, the wealth which they are presumed to contain, and the uncertainty of their precise location, have a j)Ower- ful bearino: on the imao:ination of man, and are the levers which induce the undertaking of tasks by even single individuals from which they would otherwise shrink.
In a mineral -bearing region the hopes of discovering and opening valuable mines by running horizontal adits into a mountain are generally well founded ; but nowhere on the face of the eaidh do we find a mountain-range containins: a vein as valuable as the Comstock lode, and a formation equally favorable for the existence of a series of mines. It is not only reasonable to suppose,
but quite evident, tliat the immense convulsion wliicli rent tlie eartli in two, and created tlie fissure wliicli is known as tlie Comstock lode, at the same time must liave cracked and opened the earth’s crust in many other places.
Their Biportatice.
These are only theories, but they are theories believed and adopted by every scientific man and by every com mon miner, and confirmed by experience. It may, there fore, safely be predicted, that the proposed tunnel, which will penetrate to the very bowels of Mount Davidson, will discover and open more treasure and wealth to the east and west of the Comstock lode than were ever before discovered by any toork of this kind.
Independently of the large revenue the Tunnel Compa ny will derive from draining the Comstock lode, from the transportation of men, ore, rock and timber; independ ently of the great value of the Company’s land ; inde pendently of the revenue from the sale of water ; and independently of any other consideration, the discovery and develo]3ment of the mines contained in this argen tiferous belt, would justify the construction of this Tun nel. simply as an exploring work, and for that purpose alone it should be looked u]3on as one of the best planned., legitimate and promising mining enterprises ever undertaken in any mining district.
Coistden'Sed Statement Of Facts And Conclusions.
The facts contained in the foregoing pages and the conclusions drawn may he summed up as follows :
Isfc. The Comstock lode is a true fissure vein, extend ing downward much deeper than the work of man can ever reach.
2d. It is the most valuable and productive mine in the world.
3d. It produces $16,000,000 per annum, and leaves, in the aggregate, but little profit to the owners, on ac count of the expensive system of mining.
4th. A tunnel can be constructed twenty thousand feet in length, which will secure the profitable working of these mines for one hundred years to come.
5th. The proposed tunnel is a work entirely feasible.
6th. Similar and much larger works have been carried out in other mining countries.
7th. The main tunnel can be constructed in from three to four years.
8 th. It would cost not exceeding two millions of dollars.
9th. In all probability, not much over half that sum will be required to carry out the work, the revenue from the sale of land, and the opening of mines outside of the Comstock lode, giving sufficient revenue to comj)lete it.
10th. The revenue from the Comstock lode, after the main tunnel is completed, will far exceed the expense in constructing the branch tunnels.
lltli. The revenue of the Tunnel Company, under the contracts with the mining comj)anies alone, after its comjdetion, will amount to from two and a half to six and a half millions of dollars per annum,
12th. The revenue from the sale of land may be estimated at three millions of dollars.
13th. The annual income from the sale of water will amount to two hundred thousand dollars.
14th. Independent!} of any other consideration, the 023ening and discovery of mines on the tunnel route justifies the construction of| the tunnel.
15th. A company organized a capital stock of ten millions of dollars will j)robably not be called ujon to pay in more than fifteen cents on the dollar.
16th. After completion of the work, that stock should be worth more than par; it pay from two and a half to six and a half per cent jper month on its par value, by revenue from the Comstock lode alone.
I7th. The Comstock lode contains four million tons of ore, exposed to vieiu hy the present mining loorhs assaying from ten to thirty dollars per ton, which can not be reduced profitably, at the present time.
18th. That ore must remain in the mines until the completion of the tunnel, when the reduced expenses in mining will make it possible to extract it to advan tage.
19th. The Tunnel Company will derive a sure and certain income from this body of, ore alone, amounting to from eight to ten millions of dollars.
31
Recapitulatiok.
Cost of Tunnel.
Construction of Main Tunnel, as per Specifications in Chief-
Engineer’s Report, . $1,983,616
Estimated Revenue derived from various sources during con struction of Main Tunnel, . 600,000
Actual amount of capital required, . $1,483,616
Revenue from Contracts with the ComstocTc Lode : First., tahing the present Extraction of Fifteen Hundred Tons per Day as a Basis of Revenue
for the future., ice get a Daily Revenue for :
Drainage 1600 tons, at $2, . $3000
Transportation of ore, 1600 tons, at $1, 1600
Transportation of men, 3000, at 60 cts., . 1600
“ of M'aste rock, 1000 tons, at $1, . . . 1000
“ of timber, etc., etc., . . ... 200
Revenue per day, . $7200
Or per annum of 300 days, $2,160,000
Revenue from the sale of water, 200,000
Total, $2,360,000
Second Assuming the Daily Exti'action to Increase to Five Thousand Tons
after Completion of Tunnel:
Drainage, 6000 tons, at $2, . $10,000
Transportation of ore, 6000 tons, at $1, . 6,000
Transportation of men, 6000, at 60 cts., 3,000
“ of waste rock, 2000 tons, at $1, . . . 2,000
“ of timber, etc., etc., 800
Revenue per day, . $20,300
Or, per annum, of 800 days, $6,090,000
Revenue from the sale of water, 200,000
Total, . $6,290,000
From the sale of land the proceeds are estima,ted at, . . $8,000,000
The revenue arising from the discovery and development of mines on the tunnel route can not be estimated.
N. B. — All estimates on cost and revenue are on a gold basis.
f