NOTICES OF MINING DISTRICTS. The chief characteristics of the Toiyabe Mountains are slates, limestone, porphyries, and granite; the latter is largely developed in the neighborhood of Austin. REESE RIVER DISTRICT. The mining locations in this district are very numerous. Compared with many of our mining districts, the lodes may be said to be narrow, but the high state of concentration in which the mineral is found renders many of the veins, though small, valuable property. The information at my command is of such a character that I greatly prefer, for the present, to refer to the reports on Lander County in the Surveyor General's Reports for 1865 and 1866, in which will be found many items of interest, rather than deal in comparatively useless generalties. This district is, without doubt, one of the most important in the State, and under the better system of management which has been inaugurated, will yield steadily improving returns of bullion. If not already organized, it is contemplated to establish a "Mining Bureau" at Austin, composed of men interested in the welfare of Eastern Nevada, having for its object, the check of fraudulent enterprises, with the dissemination of correct information to all who may require it. The example is well worthy of imitation. May it prove the nucleus of a State Bureau, having the same objects. The following statistics of the product of the mines in Lander County for the quarter ending December 31, 1866, as shown by the books of the assessor, is taken from the Reese River Reveille: "The above table embraces forty-seven mines, which have yielded more or less bullion during the quarter; and, with few exceptions, the ore reduced is of good grade, sufficiently so to admit its being worked here remuneratively. It will be observed that a number of mines, which were included in the previous quarters of the year, do not appear in the present list, as well as that several mines appear for the first time. According to the Assessor's returns, there are in Lander County and mainly in the Reese River District-fully seventy-five mines which have produced bullion during the past year. As we have remarked, the ore worked is very generally of a high grade, as the average yield per ton will show. A considerable number of the mines embraced in the quarterly lists were subjected only to testing operations, and the general result must be deemed very encouraging, and their excellent character augurs well for the future of this district. In the case of the Savage mine, the average yield of the ore is less than in several quarters preceding, but is still high, being $103.25 per ton. The yield of the Washington, Chase, Buel, North Star, Great Eastern, Semanthe, Magnolia, Florida, Timoke, Idora, Metacom, Taylor, and Passmore, etc., is grand, and as most of them are pretty well developed, they may be fairly classed henceforth among the producing and paying mines of the Reese River District.” This district is one of the many in Nevada which would derive much advantage from a well-arranged system of concentration of the ores before reduction. Many of the ores are of such a character that, though rich, they do not pay for reduction by the methods at present in use. The double sorting which they undergo in the mine and on the surface makes the cost of labor for mining high, and much valuable material has to be discarded as useless, which might be fitted, at a comparatively small cost, by the use of proper machinery, either for the roasting or the smelting furnace. This remark does not apply only to the Reese River District, but to all in which the cost of reducing the ores is large, and especially to all such as produce argentiferous galena ores. Many persons in the State have tried methods of concentration, and pronounced them failures generally, from a disregard of the first principles involved in the operation. For concentration to be successful, it is necessary first to sort the "sands," as nearly as may be, into particles of the same size, so that the difference in their specific gravity (on which concentration is based) may not be nullified by the difference in their areas exposed to the action of the stream of water by which the operation is conducted. This difficulty once overcome, the after-processes are so simplified that no difficulty need be experienced in obtaining successful results. This is scarcely the place to enter into the minutiae of concentration, even if I had time to do so; the idea is merely thrown out as one well worthy of the attention of miners in Nevada. CORTEZ DISTRICT, about sixty-five miles northeast of Austin, was discovered and located in 1863. The principal lode in the district is the Nevada Giant, the following description of which is taken from the Reese River Reveille of January 4th, 1867: "This giant vein is imbedded in the bosom of Mount Tenabo, a lofty peak some ten thousand feet above the level of the sea, and upwards of five thousand feet above the surrounding valleys. Its base, and thousands of feet up its side to the vein, are covered with small scrubby pine; while its summit, and fifteen hundred feet below, are overgrown with grass and shrubs. The scarred and rugged mountain looks eternal. Some three thousand feet above its base a monster vein of silver-bearing quartz cuts its face obliquely, burying itself in the mountain at one end, and penetrating into the valley at the other, after stretching out in palpable view the enormous length of eighteen thousand six hundred and fifty feet. Its width is four hundred feet. In the course of this extreme length, the leviathan is cut transversely by a number of small veins of silver mineral. We state this as of doubtful occurrence, for in the judgment of several persons who have examined the Giant they are not transverse veins, but lateral spurs or chimneys from the main vein, and generally exhibit mineral of a very rich character. This giant vein is encased in highly crystalline limestone. Twenty locations have been made on the vein, with the following names and dimensions: Commencing at its greatest point of altitude is the Chieftain-Genessee Company, 1,400 feet; Murphy Company, 800; Gill Company, 800; Taylor and Passmore, 800; De Witt Company, 450; St. Louis Company, 2,000; Meacham and Brothers, 400; Niagara Company, 400; Savage Company, 400; Nebraska Company, 1,200. Cortez Giant-Mount Tenabo Company, 4,000; Elmore Company, 200; Russell Company, 600; Continental Company, 1,000; Argentine Company, 1,000; Empire Company, 800; Conn and Brothers, 400; Traverse Company, 400; and the Anna Burr Company, 2,000 feet. The latter claim is somewhat broken, and at its termination the vein penetrates the earth, and is lost altogether. The vein disappears also at the upper boundary of the Chieftain. It has been opened at several points along its course, in every case disclosing good mineral. The Gill, Taylor and Passmore, and St. Louis locations, near the upper end of the vein, have been worked, the two latter considerably. The Cortez Giant, which lies near the center of the vein, is the most fully developed location, and has yielded a large amount of bullion this season. Some work has also been done on the Continental, situated towards the lower end of the vein, with about the same results as in the other cases specified. Of this wonderful vein there is little exact knowledge, but that it stands out upon the mountain's face, a huge, palpable fact. It will be developed; and when that day arrives, we believe the Nevada Giant will be almost universally regarded as among the wonderful mines of the world." There is an eight-stamp mill, with accommodation for sixteen, now running in the district, with good results. The first ore crushed was from the Berlin Lode. To obtain the best results, the ores of the district will require roasting. WASHINGTON DISTRICT, about twenty-five miles south of Austin, on the western slope of the Toiyabe Mountains, is remarkable for the abundance of its argentiferous galena ores, Of this class are those produced by the Live Oak and St. Helena mines. The latter mine has been opened to considerable depth, and shows fine galena, associated with iron pyrites. EUREKA DISTRICT was located in 1864. It is well supplied with wood and water, and there are fine agricultural lands in the neighborhood. GOLD CANON DISTRICT. (?) This I believe to be the name of the mining district organized in the neigh borhood of Egan Cañon. The following items relative to the mines in this neighborhood are taken from the "Reese River Reveille:" The best known and developed mine is the Gilligan, belonging to the Social Company, which has been prospected by an incline to a depth of four hundred feet, and yielded before the suspension of operations $60,000 worth of bullion. |