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., 1883, 1880s
[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. 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.]