STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 179 



would have paid largely but for the want of water — a trouble that pre- 

 vented the great mass of miners making more than common wages, 

 many not being able to do even this. Ditches having been commenced 

 for supplying the diggings with water, it is thought the yield will be 

 larger next season, when it is likely numbers will again repair to that 

 section. Owing to the severity of the winters and the depth of snow, 

 the most of the population leave in the fall, returning again about the 

 first of April. In the latter part of the summer and early in the fall 

 quite an emigration set in towards Arizona Territory, being incited by 

 the reports from that region of rich dry diggings having been discovered 

 at a point some two hundred miles east of the Colorado River. There 

 would seem to have been but little foundation for these rumors, as nearly 

 all Avho set out returned without visiting the locality, being satisfied 

 with the statements of such as had been through and were coming back 

 empty handed. As nothing more has been heard lately of these mines, 

 it is fair to conclude they did not amount to much. 



Mining labor the past season, more particularly in the northern por- 

 tions of the State, has been scarce, owing to the heavy emigration to 

 Idaho, Reese River, and other remote localities, causing an advance in 

 wages of fully twenty-five per cent. 



SILVER MINING. 



Of all our metalliferous pursuits, silver mining is the one that for the 

 time being engages most the public attention and absorbs the largest 

 amounts of capital. It is but four years and a half since our people first 

 entered upon this business, which was initiated by the discovery of the 

 Comsloek lead about that time, in the Washoe country. Wholly unac- 

 quainted with this branch of mining, it is not wonderful that many mis- 

 takes should have been made, followed by consequent loss, in these first 

 efforts at carrying it on. Everything had to be learned — not only the 

 management of ores, but the exploitation of the mines, which, besides 

 being far remote and difficult of approach, were situated in a country 

 remarkably destitute of everything needed for their speedy development. 

 That we should be shipping from those mines, in the fifth year of their 

 discover, twelve millions of dollars worth of bullion, with a good pros- 

 pect of increasing it largely the next, should be generally satisfactory, 

 however a few may feel sore over the losses they have sustained. To 

 show that this estimate is well founded, we have the fact that Wells, 

 Fargo & Co. sent from their office in Virginia City, during the month of 

 November last, seven hundred and forty-six thousand seven hundred and 

 fifty-one dollars in bullion, which, as is commonly supposed, embraced 

 only about two thirds of the amount taken from the Territory; while 

 many persons conversant with the prospect are of opinion that the pro- 

 duct for eighteen hundred and sixty-four will exceed twenty millions of 

 dollars. That it will be sufficiently lai'ge to justify the calculations made 

 in certain quarters is not at all probable, these evidently having been 

 based upon the tales of travellers, the representations of stock dealers, 

 and other equally loose and unreliable data. 



The argentiferous leads are not confined to the neighborhood of the 

 first discoveries, but have since been found scattered over all parts of the 

 Washoe country. None, however, has elsewhere yet been met with 

 carrying so large a body of rich ores as the original Comstock at Vir- 

 ginia City. Some claiming to be equally rich, but comparatively small, 

 have been found at other points. The localities of the other principal 



