Topographical sketch showing the locations of the principal mines of that portion of Lander Hill now producing ore

5. It is found that the veins of Lander Hill frequently "pinch," and contain large barren intervals, sometimes only showing a clay seam where the vein should be. This is a disastrous peculiarity for mining on the present system of small ownerships. The profits of the bonanza are wasted in the administration of the mine, and there is nothing saved for the period of dead work in exploration. None of the mines have extensive reserves. But on the other hand, these narrow but persistent veins may be followed in the firm faith that they will widen again and contain ore. What is needed is a proper system for prospecting work, reducing it to its lowest cost.

6. There is a great deal of low-grade ore not sent to mill. Small as the veins are, their product is still further reduced by wasteful sorting. The rich ore only is sent to mill, and has, therefore, to bear the cost of the whole extraction. Of course the second class ore is made all the poorer by such handling, (the average of the whole being reduced,) and is less likely than ever to be profitably reduced. Concentration of the dry pulp, so as to give a rich product for roasting and amalgamation, if it could be successfully carried out, would work a great and beneficial change in the management of the mines. A great many persons (see Mr. Browne's last report, page 401, note) seem to think the cost of the ordinary concentration is what prevents its use in Reese river, and not to be aware that it is the actual loss of silver ore in the operation which renders the use of concentration by water impossible. This loss sometimes amounts to 80 per cent. At the Comstock mines there are extensive sluices and other apparatus for catching and concentrating tailings, but the lightest portion of all, which floats further than the tailings themselves, is the sulphurets of silver. The desideratum is a dry concentrator. The particles of sulphurets are specifically heavier than quartz; it is their shape and fineness which make them float in water. But the thinner medium, air, if properly employed, might give better results. I have never heard of dry concentrators being tested in Nevada, but I presume they will be tried before long.

7. The necessity of roasting the ores with salt before amalgamation is a serious addition to the cost of treatment. Mining and milling cost subtracted, there is no margin of profit, in most cases, on ore which assays less than $75. This is the real secret of the high milling results from Reese River ores, so often boastingly compared with those of Washoe. Mining is never on a sound and prosperous footing until low-grade ores are successfully reduced. Even on the Comstock vein, as I have shown, this is not the case to such an extent as might be wished; but in eastern Nevada the waste of low-grade ores is still greater. In a certain sense the high yield per ton reported from these districts is a measure of the wastefulness of mining. It represents, not the average quality of the veinmatter, but the quality of that portion of it which is rich enough to pay for milling. These remarks do not at present apply to White Pine; but there is little doubt that, sooner or later, the profits of mining, even there, will depend upon the cost of reduction and the treatment of low-grade ores. I have already spoken of concentration as a possible cure for this evil; and it remains to be added that any reduction of mining or milling cost will sensibly increase the amount of ore reduced in Reese River and similar districts. The gradual fall in wages and living expenses will do something; and among inventions for the saving of expense the new chloridizing furnace of Mr. Stetefeldt promises to be highly beneficial. It saves a great deal of the cost of roasting, and, what is even more important, a part of the saving is in fuel-the scarcity of which in Nevada, and the disastrous consequences of its exhaustion, are not to be measured by its present money value.

8. I do not see any reason to believe that the resources of Reese River district are exhausted. On the contrary, they have but just been skimmed. Not a single mine is deep enough to be upon the undisturbed and settled portion of its vein. At the same time, it is evident that a consolidation of properties and a new and more economical system of mining will be required for the adequate future development of the district.

The principal producing mines at the present time are the Manhattan North Star, the Buel North Star, the South American, and one or two others. The old Yankee Blade, in Yankee Blade cañon, three miles north of Austin, has been reopened with success; and the Chase mine, one mile further north, supposed to be the same as the Tuolumne vein in Yankee Blade cañon, is producing rich ore in small quantities, and is being gradually developed for systematic working.

The valleys of Nevada.-Like a great many other so-called deserts, the great American desert is not so bad as it is painted. There are spots in it which seem to be forsaken alike of nature and of man; but a greater part of the sage-brush country-even the alkali country-is inhabitable, and capable of sustaining a rural population. Nevada, in an agricultural point of view, perhaps at present the most forbidding of all the States, will ere long supply her own people with the necessaries of life.

The lands of Nevada may be divided into three classes-those which are absolutely worthless, (say one-third of the whole area;) those which could be made productive by irrigation; and those which may be occupied as ranches without irrigation. The latter class is far more abundant than a casual observer might suppose. The history of eastern Nevada furnishes a curious illustration of this fact. For the first year or two after the country was opened by the pioneers it was thought impossible to keep stock in these mountains and valleys through the winter. Now horses and cattle of all kinds are turned out for the winter, and actually fatten on the white sage and the "bunch grass." The latter is a product remarkably adapted to this climate. It starts very early-as soon as the snow disappears from the valleys-comes speedily to maturity, and, when the rains cease, wisely dries up and turns into a nutritious, standing hay. Its most useful peculiarity is the tenacity with which it clings to its seeds, which (in the variety known as sand-grass) are small, dark grains, which the Indians thresh out and convert into bread, and which cattle devour with avidity, even digging in the snow, sometimes, to obtain them. This grass grows in bunches, almost as if planted in hills; and the traveller may frequently discern at a great distance patches of these bunches, sometimes several square miles in extent, contesting with the sage-brush the occupation of the arid soil, and forming, with their light straw-color, a striking contrast to the dusty green and gray of the latter. I should think this grass might be cultivated with success on many sandy soils of the east, and would convert useless waste lands into valuable pastures. On the other hand, it is likely that winter wheat and barley would do pretty well on some of the land here, even without artificial irrigation, since they would escape the destructive effects of the dryest season. At present there are many ranches in the valleys of Nevada where stock-raising, haying, a little cultivation of grains, and a little dairy-work are carried on with success.

The topography of eastern Nevada is formed by a succession of valleys, separated by meridional ranges of mountains. In travelling eastward from Virginia City, by the overland road, the stage, for days together, alternately climbs over these ranges, or traverses, often enveloped in clouds of irritating and suffocating alkaline dust, the level lands between.

A remarkable peculiarity of these valleys is that they are not connected with one another. Each has its own water-system and its own level. Smoky valley lies much lower than Reese River valley, yet there is no water flowing from one into the other. They are rather like terraces than ordinary river valleys. Frequently they do not contain any main streams at all; when they do, it is merely the snow-water from the mountains which unites in the centre of the lower lands. All the rivers, creeks, brooks, and springs finally stop short, and "sink”—that is, spread into pools, and disappear, partly by absorption into the porous soil, and partly by the rapid co-operation induced by this dry and ever-shifting air. That evaporation has a great deal to do with this phenomenon may easily be proved. In Smoky valley, for instance, which has no river, almost all the tributaries from the mountains "sink" before they can find their way to the middle of the vast plain. One or two attain the barren honor of reaching the goal, and ignominiously disappearing in a puddle there. But riding along the road in the early morning, one will find many a musical brook of clear, cold water, rippling across the way, and, with vain ambition, attempting the passage through the desert, through which one can trace its path for miles by the livelier green of the brush, or perhaps by a scanty fringe of willows along its banks. Return in the afternoon, and the samé channel will be as dry as though it had forgotten the taste of water; yet the snows above are melting abundantly, and the soil cannot absorb more at one time than another. It is the evaporation which makes the difference. The ground is covered in many places with efflorescence of alkaline salts, formerly in solution in the springs. These alkaline deposits have not been utilized, except in Humboldt county, where they furnish soda and lime fluxes for smelting. The salt-marshes, however, which are formed by the evaporation of saline springs, are eagerly occupied, and the salt is collected and sold to the quartz mills, where it is used in chloridizing the sulphuretted silver ores to prepare them for amalgamation. The manner of obtaining the salt is very simple. It is shaved from the smoothed surface of the ground, and packed in sacks for transportation. In a short time there is a new coating of salt on the same ground. Experience has shown that more is obtained by frequent gathering in this manner than by waiting for a greater depth of salt to accumulate. The product is, of course, not pure. It contains many alkaline salts; and, from the color which I observed in some of the flames of the reverberatories, I believe that considerable chloride of potassium is mixed with the chloride of sodium. In purchasing salt, however, the mill-men only care to know what proportion of chlorine it contains, and on this basis the price is regulated. Some of the marsh-owners, I believe, have attempted to refine their salt by boiling or by re-solution and evaporation-but I doubt whether the manufacture could be made profitable. The impurities in the salt are not known to be greatly injurious in the furnaces; and the mills would hardly be willing to pay more in proportion for their chlorides for the sake of getting them pure.

Cortez district lies about 60 miles northeast of Austin. In topographical and geological features, it strongly resembles Reveille district. The principal mountain chain runs north and south. It is the range east of the Toiyabe and comprises the high peak of Tenabo. The western declivity is a steep cliff of granular dolomite. Near the summit is an intercalation of quartzite more than 300 feet thick, and stretching along the range for miles. This quartzite belt was considered to be a vein by the first discoverers, and christened the Nevada Giant. It carries no ore, but both above and below it are found masses of ore similar to those of Reveille district, but on the whole not so rich in silver, and more debased with H. Ex. Doc. 54——6