1880-1890 Smith 1943

Grant H. Smith The History of the Comstock Lode 1850-1920, Geology and Mining Series No. 37, University of Nevada Bulletin: Reno, Nevada, vol. XXXVII. 1 July 1943, no. 3, (revised 1966), Ninth printing, 1980. 305 pp. 1870s, 1860s

     [p. 52] "Stewart was an able and diligent a United States Senator [from Nevada] as there was . . . When his second term expired in 1874 he did not contest with [p. 53] Sharon for reelection, but turned to mining-in Bodie, in the Panamint Range, and elsewhere-always without a success . . . About the year 1884 he formed a law partnership in San Francisco with William F. Herrin, counsel for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Although Stewart had not lived in Nevada for many years, he returned in 1886 and was again elected to the United States Senate (succeeding James G. Fair), and for two additional terms, with the assistance of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Nevada was ably represented in the United States Senate during those years, where Jones [1873-1903] and Stewart [1865-1874; 1886-1904] served as the spearhead in the contest for the remonetization of silver."

[p. 249] Chapter XXV Fire in the Stopes-Low-Grade Operations in the Bonanza Mines-The Comstock Milling Monopoly-The Last Washoe Process Mill-Losses in Tailings-Tailings Reworked

[p. 249] Fire in the Stopes

     [p. 249] "The immense quantity of timber used to fill the stopes of the Virginia and the California was often remarked upon: "Every ton of ore extracted from the Con. Virginia and California mines leaves a corresponding vacuum. That space is filled with solid 14- and 16-inch timbers, leavving only a sufficient space between the huge bulkheads for the passage of men and cars . . . The cost of these timbers at the mines is $21 per thousand feet (board feet), but even at these figures, it is much cheaper to fill with timber than to employ men to fill with waste rock."

     [p. 249] "Not less than 150,000,000 feet of timber, board measurement, had been packed into those stopes and workings-enough to builld a dozen small cities-and a fire would turn the mines into a volcano. Lord tells of that danger and of the vigilance of Mackay and Fair.

     "Fortunately, no fire occurred until May 3, 1881, when the bonanza ore was exhausted. There was no hope of quenching it, so all drifts and other openings into the stopes were closed and sealed in order to shut off the supply of oxygen. [p. 249] Three years after, when the fire was brought under control by the injection of carbonic acid gas, the upper stopes were opened and the extraction of low-grade ore was begun. Meantime, the bonanza mines had been levying assessments to carry on deep mining. That hope failed at the end of 1884, the pumps were drawn, and the lower workings began to fill with water. The shares of Con. Virginia and California, which had already fallen to 15 cents, then sold at 5 cents. The Bonanza Firm had not given the stock any support for years and the speculative public lost all interest until the low-grade operation proved unexpectedly profitable.

[p. 250] Low-grade Operations in the Bonanza Mines

     [p. 250] "In 1883 Senator J.P. Jones, who had been mining low-grade ores from the old stopes of the Crown Point and the Belcher for three years (as a lessee) [Jone leases his old mine (s) in 1880] was given a lease on the Con. Virginia stopes from the 1550 level upward under an agreement to pay a royalty of 50 cents a ton for every ton milled. All of the openings into the stopes had been sealed since the fire broke out in 1881 and it was stipulated that he should not begin operations until the stopes could be entered. [Footnote: "When the fire burned out the millions of feet of timbers which had been packed into the stopes as the ore was removed, the whole country caved downward to fill the vacancy. The cave extended far up on the hillside back of the town leaving a long crack like an earthquake slip. So great was the pressure in the stopes that pieces of old 14-inch timbers were compressed to 6 and even 4 inches and resembled petrified wood. The town itself slid downward a little, but without damage except to brick buildings." Nevada Historical Magazine for 1911-1912.]

     [p. 250] "Mackay was in Europe practically all of that year engrossed in the affairs of the proposed Atlantic cable, and it is evident that neither he nor Superintendent Patton had much confidence that the fills and margins of the old stopes could be mined at a profit. All of their efforts during the preceding four years had been spent on a search for a new ore body below the Con. Virginia bonanza. Development work down to and including the 2900-foot level had been a continual disappointment, and on January 1, 1885, deep mining in the North End mines was abandoned. Ten months later the water was at the 2000-foot level and still rising.

     [p. 250] "Patton notified Jones in the spring of 1884 that he had extended a drift into the stopes at the 1200-foot level and that he could begin operations. Jones commenced in May, and up to November 1, 1885, had mined and milled 18,487 tons of ore yielding $310,109.69, or $16.70 a ton, valuing silver at $1.2929 an ounce. The discount brought the value down to $14 a ton.

     [p. 250] "As soon as it appeared that Jones was succeeding, the Con. Virginia company began to extract low-grade ore below the 1550-foot level. For economy of management and operations the Con. Virginia and California companies were reincorporated on October 1, 1884, as the Consolidated California and Virginia Mining Company with a capital of 216,000 shares of the par value of $100 each. The company itself mined 19,670 tons, yielding $15.91 a ton during the first year, which gave a small profit. Mackay wanted the company to take over all of the operations and he [p. 251] persuaded Jones to surrender his lease to the company by agreeing to give him a one-third interest in the new milling company to be organized to mill the ores. James L. Flood who had taken his father's place in connection with mining affairs, was the third partner. [p. 251 Footnotes: James C. Flood [ -1889] died in 1889 of a long and distressing illness with Bright's disease. It is said that Mackay and James L. Flood bought all of the stock in the treasury at the market price when these operations were begun.]

     [p. 251] "The Jones lease was surrendered on January 1, 1886, and the Consolidated Company entered upon ten years of very profitable mining in and about the old stopes, although the operation would have been far less successful except for the lucky discovery of three narrow sheets of good ore adjoining the old California stopes. The first one was found in the summer of 1886, the second in 1891, and the last in 1894. It happened that the first was encountered after Mackay returned to take charge while Superintendent Patton took a vacation. Fair had done little crosscutting on either side of the bonanza owing to the rush of water that followed the cutting of clay walls. In these later years the stopes were practically dry as the water had been drained by deeper workings.

     " . . .

     [p. 252] ". . . Mackay and Flood . . . withdrew from the Comstock in 1895.

     " . . .

     [p. 252] "During the years 1884 to 1895, inclusive, the mine produced 860,661 tons of ore, yielding $16,447, 221, coin value, or $19.11 a ton, from which dividends amounting to $3,898,800 were paid, after the payment of $1 a ton royalty to the Sutro Tunnel Company. The value of the gold exceeded that of the coin value of the silver by nearly $2,000,000. The average milling charge was $6.50 per ton, with an 80 percent recovery rate. Mackay and Flood had large idle mills at that time, which enabled them to make a low milling charge . . .

     [p. 252] "It is interesting to note that the low-grade operations in the bonanza mines yielded more in dividends than were paid by any of the other Comstock mines in all their history with the exception of three-the Savage, the Crown Point, and the Belcher.

     " . . .

[p. 282] Chapter XXVIII "The 1886 Deal"-The Revival from 1886 to 1894-The North End Mines Pumped Out 1899 to 1920

     " . . .

[p. 284] The Revival From 1886 to 1894

     [p. 284] "When the Combination shaft stopped pumping in October 1886, men thought the Comstock was finished. All that remained was the low-grade ore in the old upper levels which had been so honey-combed with workings that there was no hope of finding another bonanza, and only a chance of encountering some fair ore that had been missed. Nor did the remaining low-grade ore give any promise. Those old upper ore bodies had been stripped time and again of all rock that would pay a profit. The stock market was on its last legs.

     " . . .

     [p. 285] "The Belcher and the Crown Point, controlled by the Jones interests, and the Yellow Jacket, by the Sharon interests, reduced 750,000 tons of ore averaging $12 a ton, mill returns, during the eight years following 1882, but only to the advantage of their mills. No dividends were paid, but on the contrary a few assessments were levied when the mill returns failed to pay the expense of mining and milling. Such of the other mines as could find a little ore were producing on the same basis.

     "[Footnote: Comstock mines during the past three years have been steadily increasing the yield from low-grade ores extracted from old workings in the upper levels; no dividends being paid, but nearly all steadily levying assessment. Of course there is no profit in the business on that basis," says the Mining and Scientific Press of December 27, 1884, "and yet most of those interested in the operations of these mines manage to get a profit out of them by ownership of the mills that crush the ore."]

     " . . .

[p. 291] Appendix Table of Production of Comstock Mines from 1859 to January 1, 1882. Notes on Table. Comstock Production and Profits from 1859 to 1882. Table of Production of the Comstock Mines from 1882 to 1919, Inclusive.

     " . . .

     [p. 295] "The production up to 1871 was approximately 60 percent silver and 40 percent gold. Thereafter the Crown Point and Con. Virginia bonanza changed that by returning a slight excess in favor of gold. After 1880, silver fell rapidly in value and the total value production of the Comstock may be stated at 55 percent silver and 45 percent gold.

     " . . .

[p. 295] Comstock Production and Profits from 1859 to 1882.

     [p. 295] " . . .

     ". . . [estimates based on] the sale value which increases the yield of the bonanza mines and of the Crown Point and of the Belcher by about $10,000,000.

     ". . . [estimates of the value of recovery from tailings] "worked by various private mills" ought to be $23,765.000 . . . The Bonanza Firm alone produced about $12,000,000 from tailings, up to 1881, and Sharon and Jones as much more.

     [p. 296] " . . .

    "Lord's estimate of private profits is $2,000,000, whereas the Bonanza Firm alone made $9.070,728 from milling contracts, including profits from tailings and Sharon and associates, and Jones and associates in like manner, gathered in an additional $10,000,000. (It was not considered "good form" at that time to refer to private profits.) The total of private profits was not less than $20,000,000. Expenditures by nonboard companies (referred to as "private companies"), and by individuals, from which no returns were had, may be placed at $11,000,000.

     " . . .

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 Kelyn Roberts 2017