Whitlatch

600

2

1, 200

1,000

April

29

10 00

56 00

Willow

2,800

1,400

200

Yankee Blade.

1,400

1,400

500

North Star..

1,000

1,000

500

May

1

5.00

5 50

Governor Seymour.

1,000

1

1,000

500

1 50

Diana

1, 200

1

Blue Ledge

1,000

1

1, 200 1,000

500

1 50

1,200

2.50

*Per share.

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he foregoing tables it will be perceived that several mines upon which essments have been paid are now worth nothing at all, the Baltic, osi, and the White & Murphy, in the Washoe district, the Antelope West in Esmeralda, and the Sheba in Humboldt, being cases in point. 30 be seen that in other cases of this kind though the assessments re much less, the total amount collected and expended upon these now mines is large, owing to the great number of feet they contain, the American, Amador, Buckeye, Burnside, &c., being examples of this he Alpha is quoted as worth only $70 per foot, while the assessments o $1,240 per foot, from which, if this quotation is to be accepted as its true value, it would appear that the stockholders of this mine have $325,000, besides the original cost of their grounds; a view that the ets in this particular case will hardly justify, the company owning a hoisting works and the prospects of their mine being far from desperate. Dove tables contain the names of only a small portion of the companies been organized, generally incorporated at considerable expense, for se of mining, or rather perhaps it should be said dealing and specumine in this State; nor do they indicate more than one in a hundred of s that at some time between the summers of 1860 and 1864 were to possess some considerable value, and upon which more or less work ng that period performed. These ledges were not confined to the soashoe district, meaning the central western portion of the State, but attered all over it except the extreme northern, eastern, and southern ich had not then been much explored. The amount of money expended about these ledges in various ways, the most of it in attempts at openwith shafts or tunnels, varied from the smallest sum to $100,000, being gregate very large, not less perhaps, labor included, than three or four of dollars, nearly all of which, though not illegitimately applied-the ng of these mines being a necessary measure-was practically lost, of them having exhibited a sufficient quantity of pay ores to impart any value. It must be remembered, however, that but few of them opened to any great depth, leaving a chance for the finding of more rous ores, should they ever be more thoroughly explored, as many of doubtedly will be. In speaking of this class of lodes on which more bor has been expended, no allusion is made to the still larger class, 1 by thousands, which were located under the laws of the various disd after being held for a short time were abandoned, being forfeited for the requisite improvements, and upon which, fortunately, no work was 11. But even this class did not fail in seasons of excitement to possess nominal value in the mining-share market, some of them being disposed ignorant or credulous for considerable sums of money. Fortunately e of procedure is now pretty much over with, never, it is hoped, to be stated. It will be seen by these tables that while the losses from the ion of mines upon which assessments have been paid have been heavier ashoe district, they have been quite as frequent, considering the entire and even more complete, in the outside districts, where, so far as the orts indicate, all values would seem to have been extinguished for this property. Of the seventy millions of dollars extracted from the mines a, it is questionable whether even one-third has been paid to the sharein the shape of dividends-not enough in many cases to cover the nts they have been called upon to pay; while it is well known the mines, a whole, with all improvements, would not sell for anything like what . Yet at present many of these properties are depressed in price far eir intrinsic value, as the experience of the future will undoubtedly

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Extent and cost of underground work.-Including tunnels, sh drifts, and actual stopings excavated in the business of exploitation, p and ventilating the Comstock vein, it is estimated that the various owning mines along it have executed an amount of subterranean wo nearly forty miles in linear extent. The expense attending this kin depends so wholly upon their size, length or depth, the material to b or penetrated, and other circumstances surrounding each particular c would be difficult to fix upon a figure indicating their average cost. T excavating shafts and tunnels ranges from five to fifty dollars per ru many of the larger tunnels having cost throughout more than twe per foot. These prices, as are all the other money estimates in this r based on specie values. The sinking of the larger and deeper cluding timbering, has generally cost from twenty to forty dolla The large shaft intended for both working and prospecting purposes put down jointly by the Empire and Imperial companies at estimated throughout, will cost at the rate of fifty-eight or sixty dolla This is, however, of extra large dimensions, being seven feet four inche feet eight inches, and to be carried down 1,200 feet. It will call months' time and an expenditure of about $80,000 to complete it. Sh and shafts of moderate depth, where the ground is tolerably favora excavated for six or seven dollars per foot, and sometimes for les kind of work on and about the Comstock ledge there has been between two and three millions of dollars, exclusive of the expense on the removal of the ores and the timbering up of the mines.

Number and capacity of mills, hoisting works, &c.-There are a 170 mills for the crushing and reduction of ores in the State of Nev number embraces only such establishments as are now completed an running or nearly so, there being several, some of them of large course of construction, but not sufficiently advanced to warrant s them as being already in existence. These mills carry 2,564 stamps from 400 to 800 pounds each, the average being about 600 pounds, a aggregate capacity equal to 6,322 horses. Their average cost has $60,000, or an aggregate of $10,000,000, one of them, the Gould carrying 80 stamps and supplied with two large engines, has cost, wi alterations, and surroundings, over $1,000,000; several others have $150,000 to $250,000, the Ophir, in Washoe valley, having cost Of this number 35 are driven by water and the balance by steam, a class using both water and steam. Of these mills 36 are in Story in Lyon, 10 in Washoe, 8 in Ormsby, and 1 in Douglas, a total o which are running on Comstock ore; Esmeralda county contains 21 m Lander 22, Humboldt 5, and Churchill 4. Some of these structur substantial, being built of brick and granite or other stone; some, on th being cheap and fragile; the machinery, however, is in most cases goo time many of them were erected labor, freights, and material were m than at present, wherefore they cost a great deal more than equally lishments would now do Attached to most of these mills are sho timber sheds, and, in some cases, boarding-houses, &c., the cost of wh erally included with that of the mill. Twenty per cent. or more of the not at present running, most of those lying idle being in the outsi Those employed upon the Comstock ores are mostly kept running, ex that may be stopping for repairs. Of all the mills in Esmeralda more than one-half are at work, nor have they been for the past two Lander county there are also many unemployed, particularly about Au causes of these stoppages are various; in a few cases the mills ar and not fit to do good work. In others they have been tied up with

ps been unable to run steadily for want of water. The principal trouble, , in both Lander and Esmeralda has been an insufficiency of pay-ores them running, the ledges about Austin being so extremely small that h in some cases rich, they can supply only a very inconsiderable quanore, while in Esmeralda, where the ledges are large, the good ores found e surface appear to have run out. A number of deep prospecting shafts ely been undertaken there, and it is generally believed by those best ted with the mines that bodies of remunerative ores will yet be found er depths.

of these mills run day and night, stopping only on Sundays; at which
achinery is examined and such temporary repairs as may be needed are
They employ from five to fifty hands each, the usual number being from
fifteen, though the Gould & Curry mill requires over a hundred. In &
y of cases the mill-owners also own mines and crush their own rock,
some do custom-work, reducing ores for others at so much per ton, or
1 crush it on their own account. A few crush the ores dry, though nearly
pt the wet method. It is generally calculated that each stamp will crush
f ore every twenty-four hours. Some do less and others do more, accord-
the weight of the stamp and the character of the ore. Besides these
here are in the State six smelting works, the most of them on a small
and twenty-five or thirty arastras-some driven by water, but the greater
r by horse or mule power. There are also in the State about fifty steam
g and hoisting works, many of them structures of a costly and massive
There are also in the State a number of large foundries and machine-
and over fifty saw-mills, mostly propelled by water, with one small flour-
ow running, and another being erected.

ds, ditches, &c.—A number of toll-roads, several of them extending over
rra and others quite into the interior of the State, have been built under
arters from the present State or former Territorial legislature.
The length
se roads, some of which have been very expensive and formidable works,
less in the aggregate than three hundred miles, the entire cost of their
uction having been over $500,000. One of these, the Kingsbury road,
g the sierra near Genoa, has cost, with alterations and improvements,
000; the amount of tolls it has taken in being more than double that sum.
general thing, however, these roads have not proved lucrative, the amount
s received barely sufficing to keep them in repair and pay a moderate in-
on the investment, some failing to even do this. The water ditches of
tate, built either for milling or irrigating purposes, and generally for both,
merous, but not, with the exception of two or three, of great magnitude.
Humboldt ditch, nearly one-half built, taking water from that river and
ying it to the vicinity of the principal mines, is seven feet wide on top,
n the bottom, and two deep. It will be over sixty miles long, and will
when completed nearly $100,000. Preparations are now being made for
ucting a large aqueduct, to be built of wood, for taking the entire body of
running in the west branch of Carson river from its cañon and conveying
Empire City, a distance of nearly thirty miles. The work as projected
ost over $200,000. Other ditches and flumes, not of such magnitude, but
quite extensive, are to be found at Empire City, Dayton, in Washoe and
kee valleys, and elsewhere throughout the State, the number of small ones
the eastern slope of the sierra and among the mountains of the interior,
mainly for irrigating purposes, being quite large; and gradually, as popu-
and improvements increase, the running waters of the State will be di-
d from their natural into artificial channels, to be used for irrigation and
ulsive power. There are about thirty saw-mills in the State, all but one
n by water. With the exception of three or four of limited capacity in the
e river country, they are all situated in the foot-hills along the eastern base

1