Silver mine

“ The popular idea of a silver-mine among most persons in the Atlantic States, appears to be that a deep hole in the form of a common well has been sunk somewhere on the side of a mountain, from the bottom of which is dug the silver ore. As the ore is dug up from the bottom of the shaft, they suppose it to be hoisted to the surface in buckets, by means of an ordinary windlass, or some such rude contrivance. What really is seen at the 294main shaft or entrance to one of the leading mines on the Comstock lode is very different. ”

“ To have done such mining the ancients must have possessed hoisting and pumping machinery, or their equivalents, with appliances for ventilation equal to if not surpassing any known to the mining engineers of the present age. There is every evidence that silver-mines were worked in many countries in the Old World at a very early day, and not a few are still being worked, in regard to the date of the discovery and opening of which there is no record. All that is known is that they seem to have always been worked. ”

“ The art of extracting the metals from their ores, lying, as it does, at the very foundation of the means by which the useful arts advance, cannot be said to have reached a high point of perfection in Greece, Rome, or the other countries from which they derived their supply. An idea of mining processes can scarcely be better given than by a description of those used in the Attic silver mines at Laurium.
The veins of silver were situated in a range of pine-covered hills of no considerable height, affording quarries of good marble, in contact with which substance the silver ore was mostly found. ”

“ Gold, silver, copper, iron and lead are found. There are also salt deposits and mineral springs. The best-known silver mines are the Rosario, from which about $90,000,000 had been extracted up to the last decade of the 19th century, and the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Reyes, discovered early in the 19th century and yielding over $85,000,000 before its close. ”

“ The placer-mines of Rogue River Valley continued to yield gold in paying quantities to white men, for about twelve years; since when, the diggings have chiefly been abandoned to Chinamen, who are content with smaller profits. Quartz-leads bearing gold, copper, and silver mines are known to exist in this valley, as well as lead, iron, and coal mines; but the limited capital of the inhabitants, and the greater security of other means of living, have caused them to remain undeveloped. ”

“ In Norway and Sweden silver-mines known before the discovery of America, are being worked. The mines of Sala, Westmania, which are yet being worked were known and worked over 500 years ago. The Cero de Pasco mines, Peru, discovered in 1630, from which no less than five million pounds of silver were taken out in forty-three years, are still productive. The famous mines of Potosi (Cerro de Potosi) , Bolivia, formerly included in the territory of Peru, discovered in 1544, are said to have yielded $1,200,000,000. The total annual yield of Bolivia at present is about 450,000 pounds. ”

“ The influence of the Washoe silver-mines does not stop on the Pacific Coast, but extends throughout the United States and is also felt in Europe. Not only are manufacturing establishments in California running to fill orders for machinery for the mines of Nevada, but many establishments in the Atlantic States and a few in European countries are also at work on certain kinds of machinery required in the silver-mines ”

“ No attempt has as yet been made to develop the silver mines of the islands. There is no doubt, however, that the silver deposits can be advantageously developed on a commercial basis because the supply of silver in the world is declining and because the neighboring countries, such as China and Japan, are on the silver standard basis.
Iron.—Valuable deposits of high grade iron ores are found in the eastern and southeastern cordilleras of Luzon. Extensive deposits are available in Bulacan, Rizal, Camarines, and Surigao. ”

“ Quicksilver mines are found at innumerable places, and many of them afford the richest ores. The new Almadin mine at Santa Clara gives the richest ore of which we have any accounts. With very imperfect machinery, it yields upward of fifty per cent, and the proprietors are now working it, and are preparing to quadruple their force. Iron, copper, lead, tin, sulphur, zinc, platinum, cobalt, &c. are said to be found in abundance, and most of them are known to exist in various sections of the country. ”

“ In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one collection; and, in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the want of mechanical and chemical knowledge renders the silver mines unproductive, for the quantity of silver obtained every year is not sufficient to defray the expenses. ”

“ Gold, associated with iron, and treated by the free-milling process, is largely found in the northern part of the district, but the greatest amount of tonnage is derived from the southern country, where the Galena silver mines, a dozen or more in number, have been discovered. That minerals in large quantity existed in this country has been known for years. ”

“ It has produced more millions of dollars than any other silver mine in the United States, its output being about one-third gold. The mining industry of the Rocky Mountain States and Territories is only in a fair way for development. The State of Colorado furnishes some very rich mining camps ”

“ About fifty miles by rail north of Spokane Falls, in the vicinity of Chewelali, is a mining district producing silver and lead ore which is reducible by smelting. The general character of the country is lime, the walls encasing the minerals being porphyry. These mines were discovered in 1883-84, but were not worked until about 1887. The Eagle Mine ore assayed three hundred dollars in silver and forty per cent, in lead. This property, situated about three miles east of Chewelah, is owned by capitalists who are able to develop it. In the vicinity are numerous mineral locations. ”

“ About one-half of the silver output of the world is obtained as a secondary product in the mining of other metals, notably lead and copper, from deposits of all geologic ages. The high-grade silver ores are derived chiefly from Tertiary deposits, and it is probable that in the future Mexico and the Rocky Mountain-Andes region will be the chief sources of ores of this type.
Of the total world silver production over 80 per cent. comes from the mines of the Western Hemisphere. ”

“ The annual yield of our gold mines is about forty millions of dollars, of our quicksilver two millions of dollars. Our silver, copper and coal mines have been opened within a year, and their value is yet unknown. All our other mining is of little importance as compared with the gold.
Gold Mines.—Our gold mines are divided into placer and quartz. In the former, the metal is found imbedded in layers of earthy matter, such as clay, sand and gravel ”

“ When I told one of the men that we were going to see if we couldn't find a mine, he just laughed, and he said that every inch of the ground all round here belonged to people that thought they'd got mines. All those little bits of piles of stones, with just a stick stuck up by them, every one of those means that a man's been digging there to find silver ”

“ You have been here in Silverland—here in Nevada—two or three years, and, of course, your position on the daily press has made it necessary for you to go down in the mines and examine them carefully in detail, and therefore you know all about the silver-mining business. Now, what I want to get at is—is, well, the way the deposits of ore are made, you know. For instance. Now, as I understand it, the vein which contains the silver is sandwiched in between casings of granite, and runs along the ground, and sticks up like a curb-stone. ”

“ The silver ores of Washoe were discovered in 1859, and mining has been fairly commenced there, but the mines of Esmeralda and Coso, within the limits of this state, were not found until the summer of 1860, and up to the present time no mills have been established there.
Silver mining differs much from gold mining. ”

“ Nearly all of the entire mining camps of the State produce both gold and silver in greater or less proportions, and with more or less galena or lead contained in the ores with the precious metals, and this great mining industry, when it is allowed to go on as it did before the demonetization of silver, will prove to be among the greatest and best paying industries in the whole Rocky Mountain region. ”

“ Native and massive silver is, however, necessarily rare, and only occurs in small and scattered portions among other metals of good quality. The better the quality of the ore, so much greater is the damage and loss from robbery sustained by the mine and master miner; and it often happens that the cost of raising the ore, extracting the silver, paying government and local duties, the repair of the underground works, supply of salt and quicksilver, together with all the expense of major-domos, and wear and tear of [14] mining utensils, loss on cargo-mules and llamas, &c. ”

“ Five hundred men, women, and children are employed at this mine, getting out the ore, breaking it up, and sorting, it. The men generally work in small gangs for a share of the sales of the ore they take out. The amount of silver mined weekly is about five thousand dollars, and the expenses one thousand dollars, leaving a net profit of four thousand dollars.
The great tiro is about 950 feet, in depth. A horizontal tunnel penetrates the hill from a level with the hacienda, cutting the tiro or perpendicular shaft at four hundred feet from the surface. ”

“ The largest shoot of ore I saw has formed very close to the point of intersection of the felsitic dike with the main vein. On the Desert Queen a long tunnel and several crosscuts have exposed ore bodies, some of which contained upwards of 200 ounces silver per ton.
The Imperial lode is one of the most promising veins of which I have any knowledge, but it requires considerable capital to properly and systematically open it. The rock is extremely hard, and the lack of wood and water are drawbacks which prevent the owners from working the mine as it should be worked. ”

“ The few wealthy families that live here, and attend to mining on a small scale, are unwilling to risk anything by expensive machinery, and foreign capitalists and miners have in the last 20 years been more attracted by the rich mines of Jesus Maria, further west. The ores of the few mines that are worked yet, contain, on an average, from three to four ounces of silver in the carga, (300 pounds.) The silver is extracted by fire. With the decline of the mines, the town also decayed, and the greatest part of the population looks at present wretchedly poor. ”

“ Silver-bearing materials can bear a high transportation charge as soon as the first process of freeing from gangue has been completed. Consequently, ownership of mines, rather than of reduction plants, is the vital factor of control over silver resources, so far as production is concerned. ”

“ However, smelters were developed in 1866 for treatment of these sulfides, and gold, silver, lead, and copper were recovered. Gradually, as the gold was worked out, silver and lead became the important products of the mines.
Sluicebox mining was a common sight near the early gold camps, where primary recovery was from placer deposits or decomposed quartz and sulfide veins. ”

“ The shafts of the new line of works all cut into the heart of the vein, and in several the “bonanzas” found were so large and so rich as to astonish the whole mining world and create a much greater and far more widespread excitement than was seen when silver was first discovered in the croppings of the vein at the Ophir Mine. All the leading mines were soon taking out their tens of millions, but when the “big bonanza” was struck in the Consolidated Virginia and California the yield of gold and silver bullion soon became a matter of scores of millions. ”

“ The new firm, Mr. Anderson, Max and Lennox, put the Silver Caves, as they called the new mine, into fine shape; constructed wagon-roads, built good houses in place of the old cabin, and in a few years were carrying on one of the most extensive mines in that part of the mountains. It came to be only one in a{216} group of good mines which were discovered on both sides of the creek, when men learned what kind of ore to look for in that district. ”

“ Besides coal, Ireland contains mines of copper and lead, found in the slate and limestone ranges, contiguous to the sea coast. Crossing from thence to Spain, we arrive in a country rich in mines, though, owing to its distracted state, for many years greatly neglected. Here lead is found in large quantities in the mountain chains.
Quicksilver is abundant from extensive veins of cinnabar in the province of Mancha. In Galicia tin has been produced from very early times. Iron ore is very abundant, and silver mines, for many centuries abandoned, are now again being reworked. ”

“ By the use of both, society has much greater security against the evil of an insufficient money volume. While a large yield, now of one, and again of the other, has taken place, there is no instance in the history of the world of an extraordinary yield of both occurring simultaneously, except in the single instance of the first discovery of the mines of America. When the gold mines have been yielding largely, there has been no special increase of silver, and during the period when silver has been produced in comparatively large quantities the gold mines have been less productive. ”

“ The mines of Pasco, like those of Potosi, were discovered, it is said, by an Indian shepherd, who, accidentally lighting a fire where the ores cropped out, found silver among the ashes. There are two chief lodes, with numerous branches, so that the whole neighbourhood may be considered as resting on a subterranean network of silver. The entrances to most of the mines are situated in the town itself; and, as every proprietor thinks only of his present profits, they are worked in so slovenly a manner that they frequently fall in. ”