176

CROFUTT’S NEW OVERLAND TOURIST

nin nee penne

erations immediately wnder the city, from

1,500 to 2,200 feet.

The Enterprise and the Chronicle—both |

daily and weekly papers—are published
here.

The religious and educational interests
are well represented by churches and
schools.

There are a number of hotels in the city,
at which the traveler will find ac-
commodations. The INTERNATIONAL is
the principal one.

At both Virginia and Gold Hill, are
located great numbers of smelting furnaces,
reduction works and stamp mills, all thun-
dering away, night and day. The fires
from these works, at night, light up with a
lurid glare all surrounding objects. There
are no two cities in the world more cos-
mopolitan; here, meet and jostle, the peo-
ple from every land and clime; the rich

and the poor; the miser and the spend-|

thrift; the morose and jolly. Seif here
predominates. “Rich to-day, poor to-
morrow,” isthe rule. Ail gamble in min-
ing stocks, from the boot-black or servant
girl to the Rev. Mr. Whitetie, or the Bo-
nanza-Nabob. The whole peopleare alive
to each movement of the “stock indica-
tors,” as much as the “Snowballs” were
in Baltimore twenty-five years ago on the
lottery and policy business; 4-11-44 was
their god; the tick of the “indicator” is
the god of iiis people. The saying that
“Tt is not birth, nor wealth, nor State—its
git up and git that makes men great,” has
been thoroughly demonstrated by many ot
the citizens of Virginia City and Gold Hill.

Eariy History—The first gold mines
were discovered in 1857, by J oe Kirby, and
some others, who commenced mining in
Gold Canyon (Gold Hill), and continued
working the place with indifferent success
until 1699. The first quartz claim was lo-
cated by James Finney, better known as
“ Old Virginia,” on the 22d of February,
1858, in the Virginia mining district and
on the “Virginia Croppings.” The old
prospector wt his name to the city, crop-
pings and district. In June, 1859, rich de-
posits of silver ore were discovered by
Peter O'Reilly and Patrick McLaughlin,
on whatis now the ground of the Ophir
Mining Company. They were engaged in
gold washing, and uncovered arich vein
of sulphuret of silver, when engaged in
excavating a place wherein to catch a sup-
ply of water for their rockers. The dis-

covery was made on ground claimed by

Kirby and others. A Mr. Comstock was
pi prided to purchase the claims of Kirby
and those holding with him, hence, Com-
stock’s name was given to the lode.

Tue Comstock Lope—is about four
miles in length, the out-croppings extend-
ing in a broad belt along the mountain
side. It extends under Virginia City and
Gold Hill; the ground on which these
cities are built being all “honey-combed ”
or undermined; in fact, the whole moun-
tain is a series of shafts, tunnels and cav-
erns from which the ore has been taken.
The vein is broken and irregular at inter-
vals along its length as far as traced, owing
to the formation of the mountain. It is
also very irregular in thickness. In some
places the fissure ranges from 30 to as high
as 200 feet in width, while at other points
the walls come close together. The great-
est variation in width occurs at a depth of
from 400 to 600 feet from the surface. The
principal silver ores of this lode are steph-
anite, vitreous silver ore, native silver and

very rich galena. Pyrargyrite, or ruby |

silver, horn silver and polybasite, are
found in small quantities, together with
iron and copper pyrites, zinc-blende, car-
a of lead, pyromorphite and native
ol

S The number of mills in and around Gold
Hill and Virginia, and at other points,
which work on ore from this lode, is be-
tween 75 and 80. They are scattered around
through several counties, including Storey
(where the lode lies), Lyon, Washoe and
Ormsby, from 30 to 40 in number being in
Storey county. The product of the Com-
stock lode has been beyond that of any
silver vein of which we have any record;
furnishing the largest portion of bullion
produced on the Pacific Slope.

From the Mining Directory of the
American Mining Agency of Chicago, we
learn that the gross yield of all the mines
of the precious metals in the State of
Nevada, for the six years commencing
with 1871, have been $176,734,150. The
yield of the “Bonanza Mines ” for the first
nine months of 1877, were $23,434,000, of
which $17,280,000 were paid out in divi-
dends. This would make the yield for the
year, at the rate of $31,247,000. Big medi-
cine! eh?

But let us return to Reno before we get
to watching the “indicator: ” and start
once more for the West.

Leaving Reno, our course is south of
west, up the Truckee River. The hills are