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Show WHITE PINE DISTRICT, NEVADA. The first discovery of silver-bearing lodes in White Pine was made in the autumn of lStJo, about twelve miles distant from tho present centre of mining operations. For two years, however, the district seems to have had no particular attraction, and offered no very tlattering inducements to enterprise for the exploration of the ledges at that time known to exist. It was not until 1807 that Treasure llill the iinis fatuus which attracted so ' many thousands to itself was discovered, discov-ered, or rather pointed out to the whites by an Indian. It is in this i isolated ridge, which does not exceed three or four miles in length, and one and a half or two miles in width, that r the principal silver deposits thus far developed, have been found. The crest f of the hill is only about hall' a mile long, from north to south, and cou-taiussome cou-taiussome of the most important mines , in the district such as the Aurora South, Aurora Consolidated, Hidden Treasure, and liathbun. The cele- brated Eberhardl chum is on the southern slope of the hill, about 7u0 I feet lower than the summit of the hill, i It is oniy the southern end of tho ridge which has, thus lar, proven very rich. Extensive prospecting has ben done on the northern portion, but the oro deposits developed differ essentially from those in tho south, inasmuch as tho silver is more intimately combined with metals of inferior value. The ledgeupon which thcKberhardtclaim is located, partakes moro of tho nature of a true fissure vein than any other ot tho productive deposits as yet developed de-veloped in the region. The width ot tho vein, between the walls, which are limestone, is 2u0 ieet. The gangue of the oro is made up of pieces of broken limestone of irregular shape aud size, and held together by hue granular quartz. The silver is generally found in tho form of chloride of silver, tiucly disseminated throughout the gangue. So far, the explorations have not (reached a lower depth than 1W feet. Oro of immense value has been mined, for instance: During the first summer's sum-mer's operations a lot of ore oi'2'2 tons had an average assay value of $i,000 per ton, and netted when reduced the sum of $V'6,45'.'.46. Most of the mining min-ing done has been in the form of quarrying, '2j men being able to get out and prepare for milling an average of 26 tons perday, yielding $loO per ton. The total yield of the tberhardt mino up to September, 1 tV.t, amounted amount-ed to 61,5"0JX'0, the total quantity of ore extracted up to that time, as given in the Company's records, being about o.Ui'O tons, thus giving an average vield of $v!00 per ton. llurinp; the quarter ending December 3l,lo0, the Aurora South mine produced 2,437 tons of ore, yielding an average of $-i;i..v;i per ton; and the Aurora Consolidated Con-solidated during the same quarter produced pro-duced 2,u72 tons of ore, which yielded onlv $2S 50 per ton. The Consolidated Consolidat-ed Chloride Fiat Company extracted from its mino durine the eight months ending January, l7u, b,T40 tons of ore, at an averatro cost per ton oi SM.. From this oro io7o.7(i'j. 0 was obtained, or an average of j U.46 per ton, at a milling cost of $14.i''. per ton, or a total per ton ior niLiinc and mining of $2. IS leaving a profit ot 1 S.'.' rr ton. The ore produced from the Hidden Treasure mine in early dnva was remarkably rich, 211 i tons obtained during the quarter ending end-ing September o, 1-w, yielding f'.'J. Subsequent operations have been earri'-J on a more cxteoMVC scaift. .mi lar-e t!;e !" ore mined yicd-ou.v yicd-ou.v noui to S"U per ton. In the last quarter of lsij, ifoii tons were obtained, yielding $ jl.TS per ; ton. During the same period tho ore mined from the Treasure Hill mice amounted to 2,445 ions, and yielded $43 per ton. The ores of the Treasure Hill mines are simple in character, and readily worked by the ordinary Washoe process. pro-cess. Most of the higher grade ore are reduced by dry crushing; while. for the reduction of those of lower grade, wet crushing U preferred. The price of labor employed in the mills ranges from $4 to $6 per day. Water is furnished fur-nished the mills by the White Pine Water Company, at the rate of $1 per day per stamp, this being equal to from 50 cents to $1 per ton of ore crushed. It is obtained from a spring found in a canon on the east side of the range of mountains immediately east of Applegarth canon. ThU spring is said to yield 5,000,000 gallons per day. , The water-works have a daily capacity of 2,ju0,000, and were constructed at an outlay of $300,000. Fifteen mills existed in the vicinity of Treasure Hiil in September, 1SG9, haviug an aggregate of 153 stamps and a capacity to cruh about 3u0 tons of rock per day. During the year 1S69, 2$,3r.'S tons of ore the aggregate product of all the mines of the district dis-trict was crushed, and $1,S22,S67.79 obtained from it, averaging $64.19 per too. The bullion product of the district, dis-trict, lrom the commencement of operations in 1S6S up to January,lS70, is estimated at $3,5u0,000. This has been based upon data chiefly obtained from the books of the various express companies or forwarding agents, through whose hands the bullion has passed. Although the average yield of the ores has been gradually decreasing, decreas-ing, it is still sufficiently high to permit per-mit a fair, and with the gradual reduction reduc-tion in cost of operations, a large margin mar-gin of profit. The great question, and the most important one, is that of the quantity of available ore and the extent ex-tent of the deposits, and this can only be answered by actual development. 5. F. Bulletin. |