become larger and more productive the further it was penetrated in that direction; a supposition which, it is needless to say, subsequent experience has failed to confirm, most of these rich accumulations of ore having been exhausted at no great depth, and the ledge generally, though increasing somewhat in thickness as descended upon, having undergone no corresponding increment in the volume of the ores, or in the average yield of the precious metals. From many of the mines along the line of the Comstock there is at present a much greater amount of ore being raised than formerly, because of greater facilities for hoisting, and because a much lower grade of ore is now being worked than aforetime. In the earlier stages of mining at this place large bodies of metalliferous rock were left untouched in the upper levels, being then thought too poor to justify removal. Many of these, as well as thousands of tons of rejected rock thrown upon the dump piles, have since been sent to the mills and, with the present cheapened means of reduction, found to pay a profit; and thus it is, that while the average yield of the precious metals to the ton of ore has been steadily diminishing, the aggregate annual product of bullion from these mines underwent a rapid increase until three years ago, since which time it has been maintained at about the same point, the amount being about fifteen million dollars per annum. For the first two or three years after they were opened, the argentiferous ores taken from this ledge yielded from one to three hundred dollars per ton; the average of all worked being over one hundred and fifty dollars, while some small lots carefully selected went much higher, ranging from five hundred to two and even three thousand dollars to the ton. But the quantity of this class was limited, and it is probable that nearly as much equally rich ore could now be procured by carefully culling the entire mass taken out. These rich parcels were generally sent abroad for reduction, or sold in San Francisco to the dealers in metalliferous ores, who carried them to Europemostly to Swansea-for treatment.

To illustrate more clearly the depreciation that has gradually taken place in the value of these ores, or, rather, the manner in which, through the agency of cheapened and more efficient modes of treatment, the working of those of lower grade with profit has been constantly increased, we may take the case of the Gould & Curry company, which fairly represents the experience of most others in this particular. This company, during the four years extending from 1862 to 1865, inclusive, extracted from their claim the following numbers of tons of third-class ore, being the bulk taken out, with the average results stated, viz : 1862, 8,427 tons; average yield per ton, $104 50; 1863, 43,907 tons; average, $80 44 per ton; 1864, 55,602 tons; average, $73 48 per ton; 1865, 46,745 tons; yield, $45 41 per ton. For the year 1866 the amount of ore raised will probably not differ much from that of last year, while the yield per ton will be somewhat less. During these four years this company took out, in addition to the foregoing, fifty-two tons first-class ore that averaged $1,800 to the ton, and 14,103 tons second-class that averaged $234 to the ton, while one or two mines are doing better. The average yield of the leading mines on the Comstock ledge will not at present go much if any above $40 per ton; while that from the more auriferous claims at Gold Hill will scarcely yield $30. With the poverty of the ores the profits of the mine, of course, diminish, it costing but little more to work moderately rich than it does poor ores. The total number of tons of ore raised from all the mines on the Comstock ledge will reach and perhaps exceed one million and a half. The amount of ore extracted from the various mines depends upon their magnitude, the facilities for raising them, and the energy with which they are pushed. Most of the larger claims are now taking out at the rate of from twenty to fifty thousand tons per annum, and one or two at a still larger rate. The total amount of ore extracted from all the claims situate on the Comstock ledge may be roughly estimated at something over one and a half million tons.

Cost of mining, hauling, and reduction of ores.-These several items of expense vary considerably with circumstances. In estimating the cost of raising or mining the ores it is customary to include that of constructing, hoisting, and pumping works, timbering the mines, &c., as well as of the actual labor of extraction. The cost of mining the ores on the Comstock ledge averages at present about $14 per ton, the price varying from $10 to $20. For transporting the ores from the mine to the mill the cost is at the rate about $1 per ton for every mile the ore is carried, unless the distance be long, when it is less. Hauling the shortest distance usually costs $1.per ton. Where contracted for in large lots, teamsters haul from Virginia City to Carson river, seven miles, for $4 per ton. Ores treated by simple crushing and amalgamation, as most of those taken from the Comstock ledge are, can be reduced at a cost varying from $10 to $16 per ton, the average price being about $14. The auriferous ores at Gold Hill, which require but few expensive chemicals, do not cost over $8 or $10 per ton. Where water-power is used instead of steam the expense is about $3 per ton less, these all being reductions of from thirty to seventy-five per cent. on the prices that prevailed a few years ago. Where dry-crushing with roasting or smelting is adopted the expense is two or three times as great as by the above method. Not more than one-twentieth, if at present so large a proportion, of the ores from the Comstock mines are treated by dry-crushing, though upon a larger share of those taken from the ledges in the interior this plan could be adopted with advantage, the most of them requiring roasting or smelting. To the above rates, except in the item of hauling ores to the mills, which is about the same, there must be added, where these several operations are carried on in the outside districts, from fifty to one hundred per cent., the price of labor as well as most kinds of material being that much dearer there than about Virginia City. Extracting the ores from some of the extremely narrow ledges in these localities often costs four times as much per ton as from the claims on the Comstock lode, so much dead work being required to secure a small amount of ore from the former. Annual and total product of bullion extracted from the Comstock ledge.— Assuming the gross amount of ore taken from the Comstock lode to have been one and a half million of tons, a rather low estimate, and supposing it to have yielded at the rate of forty-four dollars per ton, the present average being less than $40, we have a total bullion product of $66,000,000, reckoning to the end of the present year. That this estimate of the gross product is not far out of the way, the following table exhibiting the annual yield of all the mines in Nevada tends to establish. These figures are for the most part derived from authentic sources, and although they embrace the yield of all the mines in the State, we have only to make a deduction of about five or six per cent. for the outside districts, the balance being justly credited to the Comstock lead :

*The above estimate as stated is derived from authentic sources, but it differs somewhat from the estimate made by the surveyor general of Nevada given in section 3, clause 33. with which it may be compared, as well as with the total yield reported by the principal companies on the Comstock lode as given in clauses 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42 in section 3.

An allowance of five millions of dollars would undoubtedly cover the product of all the outside mines, making that of the Comstock vein to be, as above, nearly $66,000,000. The rate at which this lode has been yielding heretofore can, in all likelihood, be kept up for an indefinite period to come, there being no example in the history of silver mining of a vein of this magnitude and character being exhausted or giving out, though many have been worked steadily for centuries and in some instances to depths three or four times as great as that yet reached on any part of the Comstock lode. The yearly turn out of these mines could easily be enlarged, as it no doubt will be hereafter, when new levels shall be opened or new claims be brought to a productive condition, and additional works shall be supplied for raising and reducing the ores. That their annual product will be augmented to twenty millions or more, in the course of a few years, seems quite likely. It could even, with the present means for extracting the ores, be increased several millions yearly were the leading companies disposed to employ a larger number of custom mills and to adopt the rushing and exhaustive system in vogue a few years ago; but which, while it secured large aggregate returns, was found to be attended with great waste and to tend to a rapid depletion of the mines. As a return to this plan cannot therefore reasonably be looked for, the anticipated increase of bullion may be expected to grow out of the causes above mentioned, in conjunction with a more economical and perhaps efficient reduction of ores, whereby those of a lower grade than are now worked can be treated with profit. The annual yield of none of the older claims has been as large for the past two years as it was for two or three years previous to that time, the deficiency being supplied by several new claims that have since become productive, such as the Hale & Norcross, Crown Point, and others. Thus the Gould & Curry company, whose mine did not begin to turn out bullion in any quantity until 1862, produced that year $858,819, in 1863 $3,887,755, in 1864 $4,921,516, and in 1865 $2,401,060, the product the present year being about the same as last. The entire amount of the precious metals taken from this mine, calculating to the end of the year 1866, amounts to about fourteen and a half millions of dollars. From the Savage mine there has been extracted during the same time about $4,500,000, the total yield for the year ending July 10, 1866, having been $1,256,663. The Hale & Norcross, which only lately began to yield largely is now producing at the rate of about $1,500,000 per annum. The product of the Imperial mine at Gold Hill was, for the year ending May 31, 1865, $854,630. For the last year it has not yielded so largely, the same remark being applicable to most of the formerly highly productive mines near it, as well as to many others near Virginia City, such as the Ophir, Mexican, Central-Chollar, Potosi, &c., from none of which has there been anything like the amount of bullion extracted the last two years that there was for the two years preceding, while upon one or two of them labor has nearly ceased. The cause of this falling off is not so much in the poverty of the mines themselves, some of which have been amongst the most prolific on the Comstock lead, and are still known to be rich, as in a lack of energy on the part of the owners in failing to provide the means for draining them of water and a renewal of prospecting operations. On some of these mines work has been suspended until more powerful machinery for hoisting and pumping can be supplied, while in a few other cases it has been for want of adequate means to go on, or because the small amounts of good ore at one time obtainable in the mine having given out, the owners have become discouraged or concluded to discontinue operations until the adjacent mines have been drained and explored.

Accruing profits, dividends, losses, disbursements, &c.—Of the net profits that have accrued to the owners of the mines upon the Comstock ledge, taking them as a whole, it is impossible to make any accurate computation. In many of the more valuable claims but little capital was at first invested, the owners being

the original locators, or purchasing them from the latter for small and often mere nominal prices. This was more particularly the case with the numerous small but extremely rich claims at Gold Hill, as well as the Ophir and Mexican near Virginia City. At first there were no taxes of any kind upon the product of these mines; the body of ore was large, exceedingly rich, easily extractedthousands of tons being found in the croppings above ground-and the most of it capable of being reduced at a comparatively small cost; wherefore the profits to the owners, or at least to such of them as had come by these properties cheaply, were, during the first three or four years, not only steady, certain, and large, but in many cases enormous; and had better judgment been exhibited at that period in working the mines, and more caution in properly securing their titles, or had greater economy in the expenditure of their proceeds, been observed by the owners, much of the disaster, loss, and, in some instances, final ruin that overtook both might have been avoided. For the development of these mines and the working of the ores few assessments were ever required, the most of them being not only self-sustaining but dividend-paying from the start. Prior to the erection of steam-mills the argentiferous ores were sold and sent out of the country for reduction, the auriferous rock at Gold Hill being worked by arrastras, a slow method, but one that answers well where the rock is rich, and simple crushing and amalgamating serves the purpose. Another advantage at this early day was, the mines were mostly owned by single individuals, or two or three at most, acting as partners, and not by large incorporated companies; and thus a source of much wastefulness and mismanagement, not to say peculation and fraud, was guarded against. So large was the income from some of these claims at Gold Hill during the period we are considering that they readily commanded from five to fifteen thousand dollars per foot, the net monthly profits derived from them varying from five hundred to three thousand dollars per linear foot. In some cases persons owning but ten feet enjoyed from this source an annual revenue of more than twenty and even approximating thirty thousand dollars. Nor were these princely revenues confined to the claims in Gold Hill, proper, (a mound of quartz some three or four hundred feet in length;) the proprietors of the Mexican and Ophir for a time fared nearly as well. This temporary productiveness of the mines, leading, as has already been observed, to the subsequent high prices and extravagant notions of their prospective value, which in turn caused the undue excitement and over-speculation that culminated, on several distinct occasions not far separated, in general disappointment and loss. How frequent and extensive these losses have been may in some measure be gathered from the following tables exhibiting the fluctuations in the prices of such mining stocks as have been generally dealt in by the board of brokers, and which, although they do not embrace all the productive mines in the State, sufficiently indicate the fate that at one time or another has overtaken a large majority of them.