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., 1873, 1872, 1860s
[p. 126] Chapter XV The Gloomy Year of 1870-The Crown Point Revival in 1871-The Boom of 1872-Sharon-Jones Contest for Senate
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[p. 135] "Sharon was now to swallow another bitter pill. Jones, a seasoned politician, had himself called "The Commoner," spent his newly won wealth regally, and was triumphantly elected in January 1873-an office which he filled with credit to himself and his State [Nevada] for thirty years. Senator Jones was chiefly distinguished for his eloquent advocacy of silver and as the best story teller and poker player in the Senate.
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[p. 135] "Harry M. Gorham, nephew to Jones, says in his interesting little volume My Memories of the Comstock (1939): "When Jones went to the Senate he took off a balance sheet, and he was worth $8,000,000."
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[p. 137] Chapter XVI The Crown Point-Belcher Bonanza-The Gold to Silver Ratio-The Silver Question.
"The Crown Point-Belcher bonanza was an ideal ore body. It was fairly uniform in value, easily mined, remarkably free from base metals, and, unlike the other major ore bodies, it lay upon the footwall of the Lode, which at that point had a dip of about forty degrees. The ore extended from the 900- to the 1500-foot levels in both mines, and was widest and richest on the 1300 level where it had a length of 775 feet, and, in the Belcher, a width of 120 feet measured on the horizontal. At the 1300-foot level the ore split horizontally into two bodies, like a fish, with two flat tails, one branch continuing down the footwall, the other descending at a slighter dip. In the Crown Point a narrow parallel body was found lying about 40 feet east of the main body. This extended from the 1200- to the 1400-foot levels and produced considerable ore.
[p. 137] "Superintendent J.P. Jones, in his report for the year ending May 1, 1873 (the first since 1870), [Footnote: He prefaces his report for 1873 with the statement: "The last general report submitted by the superintendent was dated May 1, 1870. At that time the Crown Point mine was yielding nothing." He does not make any explanation for the failure to report to his stockholders in 1871 and 1872. The report of 1873 covers all three years. (It is printed in U.S. Mineral Resources for 1873, pp. 177-186.)], told of the ore on the different levels of the Crown Point (exclusive of an equal portion in the Belcher), and continued: "It thus appears that the ore body has steadily increased in length, width, and richness as we have descended upon it, and there is every indication of its continuing to do so . . . It is fair to presume that we have passed below the range of surface disturbance, and that the vein will penetrate the earth in its present shape to an indefinite depth." But his hopes were soon to bw shattered, for the ore body [p. 138] contracted somewhat on the 1400-foot level, where the values were lower, and practically terminated on the 1500-foot level.
[p.138] "That wise mining engineer, Rossiter W. Raymond, in [1872]
[Footnote: A year earlier Raymond wrote: "Both companies [Crown Point and Belcher] are digging pell-mell to see which can produce the most in the shortest time. Belcher now produces nearly 500 tons of ore daily, and is making preparations to produce between 500 and 600 tons. Furthermore, workings of this style on the Comstock have taught us what result to expect." (U.S. Mines and Mining for 1872, p. 118). Raymond was critical of the Comstock practice of "gutting the mines."] hisU.S. Mines and Mining Report for 1873, written before the ore body was fully developed, warns the Comstock operators not to expect the ore to continue in depth:
"I do not doubt that the present year, while it cannot exhaust the great ore body from which the Crown Point and Belcher have obtained so much profit, and the proprietors of other mines so much hope, will nevertheless reveal more clearly than they are now known the limits of that body or of its richest mass. Whoever believes that these mines have now at last entered upon a solid and continuous body, extending indefinitely in depth, and precluding for the future the necessity of explorations, will find himself mistaken."
[p. 138] "The stopes were so large on the 1300-foot level that square-set timbering alone would not hold up the ground without reinforcement, and both mines were required to use millions of feet of heavy timbers to fill in their square sets and build bulkheads as the ore was removed, just as the Con. Virginia and the California were compelled to do a few years later and on a larger scale.
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[p. 142] [Footnote:"Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 418 (1893) . . . The Crown Point-Belcher bonanzas, with its great yield and potential future, doubtless influenced the demonetization of silver. The Con. Virginia bonanza was not discovered until March 1, 1873, two weeks after the Act was passed.
"A party of European capitalists, mostly French, arrived yesterday from Lake Tahoe. Today they spent several hours exploring the Belcher mine. (Gold Hill News, July 7, 1873) That great body of ore, of unknown possibilities, may have influened France to suspend free coinage in 1874.
"A special train from California arrived at Gold Hill on July 4, 1873, bearing W.C. Ralston, William Sharon and family, Michael Reese, Mr. Gensi (special agent of the Rothschilds), Mr. Newlands, Daniel C. Gilman (President of the University of California), Stephen Franklin (Secretary of the Bank of California), ex-Mayor Thomas H. Selby, Mr. Seward (U.S. Consul at China). The party visited the Crown Point and Belcher mines and departed for Lake Tahoe. (Gold Hill News, July 5, 1873.)]
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