cient bank, and then they came to a bed of gravel of such character that the theory of the primeval river was fully established. But the tunnel was not deep enough.

It was far above the bed rock, and the water stood, as before, between the miner and the gold. Months of labor had been lost, and it was uncertain whether the next tunnel would strike the right level, nor could it be known whether the bed would be rich enough to pay. Nevertheless, hope and confidence, the chief divinities of the miner, and he is happy in their smiles even when privation is his companion and when experience tells him that no gold fortune is in store, continued to sustain him.

The Table mountain prospectors, however, had reason and experience, as well as hope and confidence, to cheer them, and the second tunnel was undertaken with the encouragement of many men who had sneered at the first. The right elevation had been struck this time, the bottom of the river bed was reached and was drained by the tunnel, and the gravel was found to be extremely rich. Ten feet square of superficial area yielded $100,000. A pint of gravel not unfrequently contained a pound of gold. The whole mountain was soon

claimed.

The State echoed with the discovery. A stream of lava had filled up the bed of an ancient river for thirty miles, and in the course of ages the earth and slate that once formed the banks were washed away, leaving the basalt to mark the position of the golden treasure. Other similar deposits were found elsewhere, and other explorations, as bold in their conception but less successful or less important in their results, were undertaken in nearly every county.

26. THE FRASER FEVER.

The years 1856 and 1857 were marked by no peculiar excitement or sudden change. The working of the gullies and river bars and beds was gradually becoming less profitable and productive, the quartz and ditch interests continued to grow larger, wages kept their downward tendency, and the number of hired

laborers increased.

In 1858 the State received a shock that was felt in every fibre of her political and industrial organization. Rich diggings were found in the spring on a bar of Fraser river, and it was asserted and presumed that there were large tracts of excellent placers in the upper basin of the stream. The presumption was not without its foundation in experience and reason, but after all it was but a presumption.

The miners, however, were not disposed to listen to any doubts; they were ready to sacrifice everything in the hope of finding and being the first to enjoy another virgin gold field like that of California.

In the course of four months, 18,000 men, nearly one-sixth of all the voters in the State went to Fraser river, and many thousands of others were preparing for an early start. The confident belief prevailed that "the good old times" of '49 were to come again.

Servants threw up their positions, farmers and miners left their valuable property, wages rose, houses and land fell in value, and many persons believed that California would soon be left without a tenth part of her population.

All this excitement was made before any gold had been received in San Francisco, and before there was any direct and trustworthy evidence of the existence of paying diggings beyond the limits of a few bars, which could not give occupation to more than a hundred men.

Suddenly, and with no material addition to the evidence, the conviction burst on the people that Fraser river would not pay, and five-sixths of the truant miners had returned before the end of the year.

* 27.-DISCOVERY OF THE COMSTOCK LODE.

A party of emigrants discovered placer diggings on Gold cañon, a little tributary of Carson river, east of the Sierra Nevada, in 1849, and a permanent mining camp was established there in 1852.

It was observed that the gold contained a large proportion of silver, in some claims nearly one-half in value, but this fact was not without precedent in the placers of California, and was regarded simply as a misfortune for the miner, who did not receive more than $10 or $12 an ounce for his dust, while that obtained on the western slope of the Sierra usually sold for $17 or $18.

The Gold cañon diggings had been worked for seven years, and gave employ ment to about fifty men, when, in the spring of 1859, the miners, following up a rich streak of placer gold, came upon a quartz lode in the place now known as Gold Hill.

A couple of months later, some miners, in following up a placer lead in which the gold was mixed with about an equal weight of silver, came on the lode from which the metal had been washed down.t

They were working here in a rude way, with no idea of the value of their claim, when James Walsh, an intelligent quartz miner from Grass valley, passed

The credit of this discovery has been claimed by so many parties, and the testimony is so conflicting, that I am induced to give at least two of the popular versions. Substantially they agree upon the main points. (See section 4, Resources of Nevada.)

fs. H. Marlette, surveyor general of Nevada, in his annual report for 1865, gives the fol lowing history of the discovery of the Comstock lode :

"In 1852, H. B. and E. A. Grosch or Grosh, sons of A. B. Grosh, a Universalist clergyman of considerable note, and editor of a Universalist paper at Utica, New York, educated metallurgists, came to the then Territory, and the same or the following year engaged in placer mining in Gold cañon near the site of Silver City, and continued there until 1857, when, so far as I can learn, they first discovered silver ore, which was found in a quartz vein, probably the one now owned by the Kossuth Gold and Silver Mining Company, on which the Grosh brothers had a location.

"Shortly after the discovery, in the same year, one of the brothers accidentally wounded himself with a pick, from the effects of which he soon died, and the other brother went to California, where he died early in 1858, which probably prevented the valuable nature of their discovery from becoming known. In the mean time placer mining was carried on to consid erable extent in various localities, principally in Gold cañon.

“In 1857, Joe Kirby and others commenced placer mining in Six Mile cañon, about half a mile below where the Ophir works now are, and worked at intervals with indifferent success until 1859. On the 22d day of February, 1858, the first quartz claim was located in Virginia mining district, on the Virginia croppings, by James Finney, generally known as Old Virginia, from whom the city of Virginia and the cropping have taken their name. This must be considered the first location of the Comstock lode, unless we consider the Kossuth claim as upon one branch of the Comstock, which may not be impossible in case we adopt the one lode system, for the lode is about one hundred feet in thickness, and its strike would take it to the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, as explorations prove, as I have been informed, the Virginia croppings to be the outerop of the western portion of the Com stock.

"The discovery of rich deposits of silver ore was not made until June, 1859, when Peter O'Reilly and Patrick McLaughlin, while engaged in gold washing on what is now the ground of the Ophir Mining Company, and near the south line of the Mexican Company's claim, uncovered a rich vein of sulphuret of silver in an excavation made for the purpose of collecting water to use in their rockers in washing for gold. This discovery being on ground claimed at the time by Kirby and others, Comstock was employed to purchase their claim, whereby Comstock's name has been given to this great lode, by which those entitled to the credit of its discovery have been defrauded-a transaction, to compare small things with great, as discreditable as that by which Americus Vespucius bestowed his name upon the western continent, an honor due alone to the great Columbus.

"From this discovery resulted the marvellous growth of Nevada. Immediately the lode was claimed for miles: an unparalleled excitement followed, and miners and capitalists came in great numbers to reap a share of the reported wealth. The few hardy prospectors exploring the mountains for hidden wealth soon counted their neighbors by thousands ; soon walked along miles of busy streets, called into existence by the throng of adventurers, and soon the prospectors were ransacking almost every part of the (at present) State of Nevada in search of silver lodes."

their place and examined their mine. His attention was attracted by the dark gray stone which he suspected was silver ore, and as an assay of it he sent a ton and a half of it to San Francisco, where it was sold for $3,000 per ton. He and some friends then bought out four of the five partners, paying $22,000 for four-fifths of 1,800 feet, or at the rate of $14 per foot.

Some shafts sunk on the vein showed that the gray stone, a rich sulphuret of silver, could be obtained in large quantities. The lode was soon claimed as far as it could be traced, and the market value of the shares rose so rapidly that before the end of the year $1,000 a foot had been offered for a portion of the lode.

28.-THE WASHOE EXCITEMENT.

The excitement about the silver mines spread throughout California in the spring of 1860, and thousands of miners crossed the mountains to work in the newly-discovered mines or to seek for others.

In every town companies were formed to equip and send out prospectors, and the work was continued on a large scale for three years. Thousands of square miles, never before visited by white men, were explored and examined, and many thousands of metalliferous lodes were found and claimed.

It was in 1860 that the silver districts of Esmeralda, Bodice, Potosi, Coso, and Humboldt were discovered, besides many others of less note. The chief silver mining town grew up at the Comstock lode, and was soon the home of a large and excited population. Every man owned thousands of feet of argentiferous lodes, and considered himself either possessed of a fortune or certain of soon acquiring one.

The confidence in the almost boundless wealth of the country was universal, but many were bothered to convert their ore into ready cash. Men who considered themselves millionaires had sometimes not enough money to pay for a dinner, and in their dress they looked like beggars.*

The following extract from a letter written at Virginia, in April, 1860, gives a vivid picture of the condition of society there at that time:

"Of a certainty, right here, is Bedlam broke loose. One cannot help thinking, as he passes through the streets, that all the insane geologists extant have been corraled at this place. Most vehement is the excitement. I have never seen men act thus elsewhere. Not even in the earlier stages of the California gold movement were they so delirious about the business of metalliferous discovery. Hundreds and thousands are now here, who, feeling that they may never have another chance to make a speedy fortune, are resolved this shall not pass unimproved. They act with all the concentrated energy of those having the issues of life and death before them. They demean themselves not like rationa! beings any more. Even the common modes of salutation are changed. Men, on meeting, do not inquire after each other's health, but after their claims. They do not remark about the weather, bad as it is, but about out-croppings, assays, sulphurets, &c. They do not extend their hands in token of friendship on approaching, but pluck from their well filled pockets a bit of rock, and, presenting it, mutually inquire what they think of its looks. During the day they stand apart, talking in couples, pointing mysteriously hither and yon: and during the night mutter in their sleep of claims and dips and strikes, showing that their broken thoughts are still occupied with the all-absorbing subject. I shall be able to convey to your readers some idea of the intensity of this mining mania, when I assure them that this portion of the American people do not even ask after newspapers, nor engage in the discussion of politics. Little care they whom you choose President; conventions and elections, wars and rumors of wars, are nothing to them. They have their own world here. Here, bounded by the Sierra and the mountains of Utah, spread over the foot-hills and the deserts, is a theatre beyond which their thoughts are not permitted to roam; to this their aspirations and aims are all confined. Whatever of energy, ambition, and desire are elsewhere expended on love, war, politics, and religion, are here all devoted to this single pursuit of finding, buying, selling, and trading in mines of silver and gold. Everybody makes haste to be rich; and so great is the mental tension in this direction, that it may well be questioned whether, if a sweeping disappointment should overtake them, many will not be reduced to a condition of absolute lunacy. What guarantee this wildly-excited multitude have against the happening of this fearful contingency, I am not fully prepared to say, having, as yet, not been able

29.-THE BARREL AND YARD PROCESSES.

There was much difficulty in extracting the metal even from the richest ore. There were no mills to crush the rock, no skilful metallurgists to reduce the ore, and no confident opinion in regard to the best means of extraction. The simple processes used for reducing auriferous quartz would not suffice. The gold exists in the metallic form, and so soon as the rock is pulverized can be obtained by washing or amalgamation. But silver is in chemical combination with baser substances, and must be separated from them by chemical influences before the metal will submit to unite with quicksilver, by which it must usually be caught.

All the silver produced in civilized countries was obtained by two processes, the Frieberg German barrel, and the Mexican yard or patio. In the German process three hundred pounds of the ore, finely pulverized, are mixed with water to the thickness of cream, and after the addition of some salt, iron pyrites, scraps of iron, and quicksilver are put into a strong barrel, and kept revolving rapidly for fourteen hours, at the end of which time the silver and quicksilver have united, and they can easily be separated from the mud by washing. The barrels are rapidly worn out, the amount of work done is little, and the labor required is much. In the Mexican process the pulverized ore is mixed with water, salt, iron pyrites, and quicksilver, and left out in an open yard for three weeks, the mass being stirred or trodden with mules occasionally. of reducing is very slow, and is unsuited to the cool climate of Nevada, in latitud 38, and at an elevation of 5,000 or 6,000 feet above the sea.

30.-THE PAN PROCESS.

This mode

There was a general belief that some mode of amalgamation better than either of these could and would be devised, so while one set of men were engaged in hunting and opening mines, another set were busy in studying a mode for reducing the ores. A satisfactory result was not reached for several years, but it came at last in the invention of the pan process, as distinguished from the barrel and yard processes.

The pan is of cast-iron, about five feet in diameter and eighteen inches deep. Five hundred or a thousand pounds of ore are put in with salt, iron pyrites, quicksilver, and enough water to make a thin mud. A muller revolves on the bottom of the pan, and serves to grind the matter, which is not fine enough, and also brings all the particles of the ore into contact with the chemicals and the quicksilver. Besides the motion of the muller, various devices are used to keep up a regular current, so that all portions of the mixture are successively brought to the bottom, and exposed to the action of the quicksilver. In some pans heat is applied. The American process extracts silver from the common sulphuret ore as thoroughly as any other process, with much more rapidity, and with less expense. It is, therefore, in almost universal use in the American silver mines of the Pacific slope, and has been introduced into Mexico, where it will probably in time supersede the yard process. While the metallurgists were working away at their pans, the miners generally were afraid to erect mills lest buildings and machinery might be unsuited to the new modes of working.

The mills that were built charged $50 and $60 per ton for crushing and

to give the subject much examination since my return. To attempt eliciting information from those now here, only tends to confuse and complicate what is already incomprehensible. If you talk with one man, he is only concerned lest the argentiferous metal be rendered worthless by the superabundance here met with; while another, with equal opportu nities, and perhaps better ability for forming a correct judgment, derides the idea of there being any silver apart from the Comstock vein, telling you that the whole thing is an in verted pyramid, having that truly wonderful lead for å base."

amalgamating, though the same work was done at Grass Valley, only one hundred miles distant, for less than $5 a ton.

The amalgamation was so conducted that only the free gold was saved. All the silver and much of the gold were lost. Ore that contained $500 to the ton was sent to the mill if it yielded $70 or $80, leaving about $10 profit, and a loss of $400 of silver.

The value of the ore and the amount of silver lost were precisely understood, but there was no remedy. It was necessary to take some silver from the mines at any sacrifice to keep up the confidence of the shareholders. Although the ore in sight was worth millions, the bullion sent across the mountains from Nevada amounted to only $90,897 in 1860.

The next year, however, the export rose to $2,275,256; in 1862 to $6,247,074. and in 1863 to $12,486,238. This increased rate might well astonish the world. and dazzle people in the vicinity.

31.-GROWTH OF THE WASHOE EXCITEMENT.

The silver excitement which pervaded California in the spring of 1860 continued to increase steadily for three years.

Washoe, by which name the mining region near the Comstock lode was generally known, was the main topic of conversation, and the main basis of speculation. Everybody owned shares in some silver mine. High prices were paid to strangers for mines at places of which the purchaser had never heard until a day or two before the purchase. Men seemed to have discarded all the dictates of prudence. Their judgment was overwhelmed by the suddenly acquired wealth of a few and by the general anxiety of the many to buy any kind of silver shares. People acted as though there were so many rich silver mines that men who had been searching for them would not be so mean as to offer a poor one for sale. Three thousand silver mining companies were incorporated in San Francisco, and 30,000 persons purchased stock in them. The nominal capital was $1,000,000,000, but their actual market value never exceeded $60,000,000, and not one in fifty owned a claim of the least value. And yet the organization of each company cost $100 on an average, and that money had to be paid by somebody. Although the mines were in western Utah, which was organized afterwards into the Territory and then into the State of Nevada, the shares were mostly owned in San Francisco, and that place was the centre of speculation and excitement, of profit and loss. On every side were to be seen men who had made independent fortunes in stocks within a few months. The share in the leading mines on the Comstock lode were the preferred security for loans by money lenders and banks.

The shares, or feet, as they were more commonly called, (for in most of the companies a share represented a lincal foot lengthwise on the vein,) of the Comstock claims advanced with great rapidity, in some cases as much as $1,000 per month.

A foot of the Gould and Curry mine, worth $500 on the 1st of March, 1862, was sold for $1,000 in June; for $1,550 in August; for $2,500 in September; for $3,200 in February, 1863; for $3,700 in May; for $4,400 in June, and for $5,600 in July. Other claims advanced with a rapidity less rapid but scarcely less startling. In the middle of 1863, Savage was worth $3,600 per foot; Central $2,850; Ophir $2,550; Hale and Norcross $1,850; California $1,500; Yellow Jacket $1,150; Crown Point $750; Chollar $900, and Potosi $600.

32.-VIRGINIA CITY.

Virginia City, the centre of the mining industry, rose to be the second town west of the Rocky mountains. It had a population of 15,000, and the assessed value of its taxable property was $11,000,000. The amount of business done