184 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



culated to dispose of it satisfactorily. A few have been opened to a point 

 one hundred feet or more beneath the surface, others not so much. In 

 a majority of these cases the ledge has been found to expand slightly and 

 to cany an increased amount of ore. In others contrary results have 

 happened. In all, the ores have changed on reaching the water level, 

 from the friable bromides and chlorides to the more compact form of sul- 

 phurets, the latter being often associated with antimon}^ and other intract- 

 able substances. Hence the difficulty experienced latterly with the mills, 

 and the unsatisfactory results of their crushings since commencing on 

 rock extracted from the deeper mines. Whether the same troubles will 

 attend the working of ores in other districts, where the ledges are larger, 

 and in other respects geologically if not chemically different from those 

 in .Reese River proper, remains to be seen. From both the Cortez and 

 San Antonio Districts rumors of recent extraordinary discoveries have 

 lately come to hand, and which, if they be but partially true, would seem 

 to fix for them a brilliant future. 



There are at present six or seven mills completed at Reese River, with 

 several more on the way, and orders given for the machinery for a still 

 larger number; and should the mines get no set back, heavy shipments 

 of bullion from that quarter may be looked for next season. A first 

 class mill is now on the road to the Cortez District, where it is to be 

 set up and got to work forthwith. The ledges there, though few in 

 number, are said to be much larger than those at Reese River, and to 

 carry a heavier body of ore. There is also, adjacent to those mines, an 

 abundance of fuel, with a fair supply of grass ar.d water, the latter 

 being tolerabl} 7 plentiful, except at a few points, along the entire Toiyabe 

 range of mountains, in which these mines are mostl} r situated. Taken 

 altogether, there is good ground for believing Reese River and its 

 adjuncts, though they may not do all that their more sanguine friends 

 call for, will not disappoint the expectations of such as rest satisfied 

 with a fair return for their outlay and labor. 



After having thus glanced at the leading features of the more import- 

 ant mining localities, there remain yet others, whereof some are scarcely 

 less entitled to notice than those already mentioned. Keeping still 

 within the limits of Nevada Territory, we find in the Peavine District, 

 be} T ond the Truckee — in the Black Rock country, north of Hone} T Lake 

 — in the East Range, between the Humboldt and the Cortez mines — 

 near the Mountain Well, on the Overland route, and at Silver Hill, a 

 little further north — on the Forty Mile Desert — in Ruby Valley — at the 

 base of the Sierra, about Genoa — on the foothills, at Clear Creek, 

 Washoe, and Galena, and at divers other places widely scattered over 

 the Territory, not only traces, but such large and valuable deposits of 

 this metal as must shortly induce extended operations at every one of 

 the points indicated. At some of them a great deal of labor has already 

 been done, and what further remains to be discovered in this line, or 

 how large may be the product of the lodes hitherto found, the future 

 alone can determine. 



Although Washoe has thus far proved itself pre-eminently the land of 

 silver, California, as has been seen, and even Utah, Arizona, and Idaho, 

 may justly lay claim to very rich and extensive deposits of this metal. 

 In several of the northern counties of the State, mixed veins of gold 

 and silver, and in some instances of very fair silver, have been found. 

 On Greenhorn Creek, six miles east of Grass Valley, a number of ledges 

 Avere opened over a year ago. Subsequent crushings have proved them 

 to be rich, the prevailing metal in some being gold and in others silver. 



