the last session of Congress, providing for the sale of mines upon the public. domains, though exciting some apprehension among miners at first, and perhaps somewhat imperfect in its details, is now generally approved, and will, no doubt, result in benefit to both the government and those most affected by its operations. By enabling the present claimants to secure titles to their mines, it will increase the confidence of capitalists in this species of property, and thus greatly enhance its value and tend to promote its more rapid development. The only title heretofore enjoyed or obtainable by these claimants has been one of possession, held under sufferance from the general government and by virtue of the local laws, rules, and regulations of the several mining districts, and which latter, though generally wholesome and just in their provisions, were always brief and insufficient, considering the momentous interests constantly growing up under them, and not unfrequently contradictory and obscure, or otherwise imperfect and objectionable. The laws of the various districts, though similar in their general features, often differ in some of their provisions. They are, however, so nearly alike in all essential particulars that the few examples hereunto appended will serve sufficiently to illustrate their common character. 5.—GENERAL VIEW OF THE MINES OF NEVADA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, UTAH, MONTANA, AND IDAHO.

General view of the mines of Nevada.-In considering the mines and the metalliferous territory of Nevada it has been customary to divide the State into several sections designated as follows, viz: the Washoe, the Esmeralda, the Humboldt, and the Reese River districts, each of which covers a large area of country and contains a number of those smaller subdivisions known as mining districts. The Washoe region.--This embraces all the central and western portion of the State, and includes the counties of Douglas, Ormsby, Washoe, Story, and Lyon, which, united, contain only as much territory as Roop, scarcely half as much as either Esmeralda or Churchill, and not one-quarter that embraced within the limits of either Humboldt, Nye, or Lander county. Notwithstanding its comparatively diminutive size, Story county contains more than one-third of the taxable property as well as of the inhabitants of the State. The only mines considerable and well-established value in the Washoe region, those upon the Comstock lode, being also in this county, and from which is extracted more than ninety per cent. of all the bullion produced in the State.

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Upon the discovery of the Comstock ledge a large population was drawn over the mountains, the number of inhabitants within the boundaries of the present State of Nevada being somewhat larger in 1863 than at this time. Prospectingthat is, exploring the country for metalliferous veins-was at once commenced and pushed with vigor; a good proportion of the Washoe, Esmeralda, and Humboldt regions having been subjected to a pretty thorough inspection during the first three years following the discovery of silver. Within this time thousands of ledges were located throughout all parts of this extensive Territory. Many of these were of large size, well defined, and frequently prospected well, sometimes largely, in both gold and silver upon the surface. Others were of less magnitude, lacked the features of true veins, and were quite or nearly barren of the precious metals. In some cases free gold abounded in the croppings, but the preponderating metal, so far as any existed, was silver, the most of these being located as argentiferous veins. Upon a few of the larger and more promising a large amount of work was performed, while upon a majority but little or nothing was done; the sums expended upon them, however, could not in the aggregate have been less than eight or ten millions of dollars, some estimating it much higher. All this large sum of money was spent in the mere preliminary business of prospecting and exploring a class of mines which, with but few exceptions, have thus far proved unproductive, and may be set down as possessing

no present market value, many, even of those upon which large sums had been expended, being now abandoned. The total amount of bullion extracted from all the mines in the Washoe, Esmeralda, and Humboldt regions, apart from those on the Comstock lode, will not this year amount to half a million dollars, a sum considerably less than what was realized from them during several preceding years. It is not to be inferred, however, that all these mines will ultimately prove worthless. A considerable number only require more careful management and a sufficiency of means to secure for them deeper and a more thorough exploration to render their working almost certainly remunerative and perhaps largely profitable. Excluding eighty per cent. of all the ledges located as belonging to a class so manifestly worthless that no work should ever have been performed upon them, one-half of the remainder may be set down as possessing such signs of value as would warrant a moderate expenditure to prove more fully their character, while the balance may justly be considered as being lodes that with judicious management and the application of a moderate sum can speedily be developed into productive and paying mines, many of them being already in an advanced stage of exploration, a few having steam hoisting works attached to them, and a still smaller number mills also for reducing their ores. The great mistakes made in these earlier efforts at silver mining, as displayed both in the regions under consideration and elsewhere, consisted in locating and attempting to open so many worthless ledges, and in the superficial character of the work performed generally. Through this means vast sums were uselessly thrown away, and by so much scattering the work applied, nothing was done effectually. Had this labor been concentrated upon a few of the more promising lodes, many of these would no doubt now have been yielding large quantities of millable ores, whereby the annual yield of bullion would have been much increased, and the useless expenditure of millions of dollars have been saved, besides our actual knowledge of the metalliferous resources of the country been greatly extended. These were mistakes honestly made through ignorance, and are not to be confounded with those growing out of the spirit of cupidity and speculation that at one time prevailed, and of which sufficient has been said elsewhere. They are, moreover, mistakes that, having abundantly evinced their mischievous effects, are now being generally avoided. One cause that led to the expectation that this superficial style of working should suffice, was the fact that the accumulations of rich ores that led to the discovery of the Comstock vein were found quite upon the surface; hence it was thought that in all cases bodies of pay ores should in like manner be met with, if not in the croppings, certainly at no great depth below them, a supposition contradicted by the experience of silver miners nearly all the world over, these rich masses upon the surface being of rare occurrence. A partial excuse can also be found for this indiscriminate practice of locating ledges in the additional fact that many of them were as large and often much larger, and to all appearance equally as valuable as the Comstock; the difference, generally speaking, only being made apparent where, after reported trials of the ores taken from different and often from great depths, they were found to be valueless. In many of these ledges the walls were as regular, the mass of vein-stone as great, and, judging by the eye, as likely to be metalliferous as that of the Comstock; hence, many companies operating in the contiguous as well as in the more remote districts, encouraged by the resemblance of their ledges to the great mother vein, persevered in their efforts until large sums were expended, yet without reaching the hoped-for deposits of rich ores. In many of these cases operations, after being suspended for several years have again been resumed with the purpose that they shall be carried on to a point determinate of the probable value of the lode in process of exploration. At present several of these deep prospecting shafts are being sunk in the Washoe section of country, and, as it is reported, with the most hopeful prospects. There are, moreover, in this region many

ledges on which work has been steadily kept going since their commencement four years ago, the method of opening being by means of tunnels which have not yet reached the vein; some of these are to be several thousand feet in length, and will yet require a year or two for their completion; the owners remaining, meantime, in ignorance of the precise character of their ledge. In Alpine county, which, though in the State of California, is situate entirely on the eastern side of the sierra, and generally considered as belonging to the Washoe region, there are, beyond any question, many argentiferous lodes of great magnitude and undoubted value. Upon several of these heavy works of exploration have been in progress for three or four years, and which, as they approach completion, begin to reveal many valuable features in these ledges. Owing to the protracted nature of these works but little bullion has yet been produced in this county, though it is likely a handsome sum will be turned out the coming year, as a number of mills and smelting works are being erected in that section.

Of the one hundred and seventy mills in the State, eighty-nine, carrying 1,440 of the 2,564 stamps, are in the Washoe district. These mills have a capacity equal to 3 841 horse-power, and cost, in the aggregate, over five and a half million of dollars, all the other mills in the State having but 2,481 horsepower, and costing but $5,500,000. Here, too, are most of the water-mills, thirty in number, that are running in Nevada. Of these eighty-nine mills, thirty-six, carrying 625 stamps, 1,500 horse-power, and costing $3,000,000, are in Story county. Two of them are driven by water; the balance by steam. There are also in this county ten arrastras driven by water, and one smelting establishment. In Lyon county there are thirty-four mills, having 489 stamps, 1,286 horse power, and costing $1,705,000. Eleven of these mills are propelled by water. There are five arrastras in this county, and one metallurgical works. Washoe county contains ten mills, 200 stamps, 610 horse-power, costing $5:20,000; seven of them are driven by water, and several by water and steam combined. Ormsby county contains eight mills, 123 stamps, 435 horse-power, costing $375,000. Nine of these mills are driven by water, and three partly by water and partly by steam. Douglas county has but one mill, five stamps, ten horse-power; cost $5,000; driven by water.

The Esmeralda region is generally considered as coextensive with Esmeralda county, and as also covering a contiguous strip of mineral territory on the California side of the line. It is, for the most part, an elevated, dry, and barren country, containing but little agricultural or grass land, and no timber except the scattered patches of piñon, heretofore described, much of it being destitute of even this. It embraces within its limits over twenty mining districts, some of which contain mines of much importance. Esmeralda district, the earliest settled portion of this region, contains two-thirds of all the population, they being residents of Aurora, the principal town in the county. Upon the mines in this district also has most of the heavy work been done, and here are located three-fourths of all the mills that have been erected in that section of country. Several of these, being very extensive and complete in their appointments, cost large sums of money; but, as yet, none of them have accomplished much in the way of turning out bullion, partly because some have been grossly mismanaged, or their operations suspended by protracted and costly litigation, but chiefly because the ledges first opened, and which were generally considered the best in the district, prospecting largely upon the top in silver, and often also in free gold, grew barren, or pinched out as descended upon, or suffered such interruption and displacement as to render it impossible longer to identify or follow them. Hence, for the past two or three years most of the mills about Aurora have been idle, and chiefly because they could not get a sufficiency of pay ore from the mines in the vicinity to keep them running. It is the opinion of geologists that most of these disturbances are confined to the first few hundred feet beneath the surface, and that below that point these ledges, which promised so

well, and some of which really were so rich above, will again be found regular, compact, and, most likely, highly metalliferous. At all events, confiding in this theory, several companies have resolved to test this question by sinking deep prospecting shafts on a number of the largest and most promising lodes at this place, powerful hoisting and pumping works having been provided for this purpose, and some of the shafts having been sunk several hundred feet lower than any level before attained. This work is to be prosecuted till some definite results are arrived at, and it is now believed by those most conversant with the subject that in the course of the next year quite a number of the mills about Aurora will be able to run on ore obtained from these deep workings, and that the whole of them will be able to do so, running full time, in the course of a couple of years more at the farthest. With the general disappointment in the character of the mines at large, the suspension of work upon those esteemed as of the better class, and the stoppage of the mills erected at so much cost, business of all kinds has greatly declined, population has fallen off nearly one-half, and real estate has so declined that it will not sell for one-quarter the prices readily commanded, three or four years ago, the depreciation of mill and mining properties being more marked than any other. Mills that cost a quarter million of dollars would not now sell for a third of that sum, while mines that were selling currently, under the stimulus of popular excitement and the artful machinations of speculators, at three and four hundred dollars per foot would not now sell for one dollar, the most of them being considered of so little value that their prices are no longer quoted on the lists of mining stocks dealt in by the brokers. Some mines in this region, however, of more recent location, and situate mostly in the outside districts, exhibit, as before stated, many satisfactory evidences of permanency and wealth, the most noted of these being in Silver Peak and Red Mountain districts, on the eastern margin of Esmeralda county. The Silver Peak mine in the former contains a large body of argentiferous ores lying very near the surface. A ten-stamp mill running upon this extracted, during the few months it was in operation, a large amount of bullion, the entire mass of the ore yielding by the most simple process over one hundred dollars per ton. This mine having been sold to an eastern company, nothing has been done upon it for the past six or eight months, the ten-stamp mill having been removed to Red mountain, a few miles west, where it is to be run in conjunction with a small three-stamp mill put up there two years ago, and which has also been running with success; the ore at that place abounding in free gold to such an extent that it merely requires crushing and running over blankets. It is the intention of the Silver Peak company to put up a large first-class mill the coming year upon their mine. In the Columbus district, lying between Silver Peak and Esmeralda, there are a number of unmistakably rich ledges, but they have not yet been much developed, and it would be too soon to pronounce an opinion upon their probable permanency. No mills have yet been built at this place, though one is talked of as likely to be taken in next summer. The number that could be kept running would, in any event, be limited, the district being but scantily supplied with wood and water. In the Volcano district, near Columbus, a great variety of metals and minerals have been found, there being here, besides veins seemingly rich in gold and silver, immense reefs of magnetic iron ore, numerous cupriferous lodes, large and highly impregnated with copper; also saline pools surrounded with. heavy deposits of salt, and, according to Dr. Blatchley, generally esteemed good authority, veins of true coal of the bituminous variety, two of these, varying from three to four feet in width, having lately been found by him while on a tour of extended research throughout the southeastern part of the State. In the Montgomery, Hot Springs, and Bodie districts, lying mostly in California, there are also many ledges of favorable aspect, some of them of well-ascertained value, there being in the last-named district two large mills, one of which is

running successfully, and the other nearly ready for operations. In Lake district, also in this county, and situate on the west side of Walker lake, a large number of gold-bearing ledges were discovered in the summer of 1865, and though prospecting extremely rich in this metal on the surfaces, they have not yet been opened to a sufficient depth to fully establish their value as permanent mines. Two small mills are in course of erection in this district, and there is no doubt but they can obtain enough ore to give them profitable employment for some time at least.

In view of the many promising mines scattered over all parts of the Esmeralda region—the long and varied experience enjoyed by the inhabitants in every department of mining enabling them to avoid the mistakes of the past and to conduct the business hereafter with greater efficiency and economy-it is but reasonable to predict that this interest will soon undergo a revival, and the country meet, in part at least, the expectations entertained of it at an early day.

The mills built in Esmeralda county, twenty-one in number, carry in the aggregate 241 stamps, have a propulsive capacity equal to 672 horse-power, and cost $1,150,000. Only two of them are driven by water. There are also ten arrastras and two small smelting works in this region. These mills are distributed over the country as follows: One of ten stamps and one of three at Red mountain, three of small capacity in Hot Spring, Blind Spring, and other districts south of Aurora, two in Bodie district, and the balance on Walker river and in the Esmeralda district proper.

The Humboldt region. This section occupies the northwestern corner of the State, covering the counties of Humboldt and Roop, and, for the sake of convenience rather than from its geographical position, also that of Churchill, lying south of the former. The appearance of the country, as well as the general character of the mines, is very similar to those of Esmeralda; nor does the history of operations here differ materially from that of the latter. The same difficulties were encountered and the same mistakes made here as there. Owing to the careless manner in which many of the claims were located, the obscurity and imperfection of the laws, and the still more imperfect manner in which they were enforced, a majority of all the titles, more particularly those to what were considered the better class of mines, became involved in litigation, thereby retarding their development and destroying confidence in them generally. Millions of feet of unprospected ledges were sold, sometimes fairly, but oftener through misrepresentation and chicanery, and the proceeds, amounting in the aggregate to vast sums, were spent usually in every manner of extravagance and folly, and rarely in any persistent and well-directed efforts at opening the mines. Towns were built, hotels and saloons of luxurious style were erected, real estate in these embryo cities went up to enormous prices, everybody seeking to get rich from speculating in city lots or "feet," as these mining properties were designated, but little being done meantime towards advancing the business that should have first been looked after, the opening up and proving of the mines. Mills were also procured and put up at heavy expense before it had been ascertained that enough ores could be had to keep them running, this latter mistake not having been committed to the same extent in Humboldt as in the Esmeralda and some parts of the Reese River regions, where more than two-thirds of the mills have remained constantly idle from the causes set forth. It is also true that an equal proportion of the entire number of mills put up in Humbol it have been doing nothing much of the time; the principal advantage here being that only a small number of mills, and these mostly of an inexpensive kind, were erected.

In the Black Rock country, lying in the western part of Humboldt county, many ledges claimed by the finders to be good were discovered during the past year. These veins are large, and some fair tests have been obtained from them by mill process, yet they are not enough opened to afford any decisive clue as