SILO-SILVER. 



521 



and others started in many places. Plain gros-graiu 

 dress siiks were made by 1866, and brocaded silks 

 and satins were attempted on a large scale even 

 earlier. The manufacture of silk laces was estab- 

 lished at Brooklyn in 1871. That of handkerchiefs 

 was of slow growth till 1876, when it received a re- 

 markable impetus from the Centennial Exposition, 

 which indeed aided the silk industry generally. The 

 manufacture of various other kinds of silk goods 

 was attempted ; silk trimmings became a very large 

 branch of the industry, while silk tapestry and vel- 

 vets were introduced as new branches of manu- 

 facture. A great advance was made in the produc- 

 tion of dress silks of every color and variety, the 

 American goods of this kind surpassing French 

 g >ods of the same grade, and selling at lower prices. 

 In 1874 the silk goods manufactured in the United 

 S ates were valued at 816,269,157. By 1880 they 

 had increased to $31,519,723. There has been a 

 steady increase since. 



The production of raw silk in this country by no 

 means kept pace with this progress. Since the 

 M'li-m multiwiulis excitement the silk product lias 

 not been an observ.ible element in the manufacture. 

 Silk culture began in California in 185i, and gradu- 

 ally grew until it became a mania, but has died away 

 again and is now almost extinct. In the census 

 y>ar 1880, the amount of silk produced in the 

 United States was too small and scattered- to bo 

 estimated, while the importations of raw silk reached 

 ti,.V>VJ3G "> s - The Woman's Silk Culture Associ- 

 ation of Philadelphia was founded during the Cen- 

 tennial Exposition, and has made active efforts to 

 arouse interest in the industry, but as yet with slight 

 success. Other associations are the Kansas State 

 Silk Station at Peabody, and the State Board of 

 Silk Culture at San Francisco, each of which is en- 

 deavoring to awaken interest in the industry at their 

 respective localities. It has also been actively taken 

 up by the Agricultural Department at Washington, 

 where a filature for the reeling of silk from Amer- 

 ican cocoons was established in 1886. Cocoons wero 

 purchased from the three associations above named, 

 but so far the cost of the experiment has been 

 greater than the value of the product. It is con- 

 tinued, however, with the hoj>e of more success. 

 Eggs of the large Milanese variety of silk-worm are 

 being distributed by the department, from which 

 good results have been obtained. The history of 

 silk production in America, however, is not one to 

 encourage any extravagant hopes in that direction, 

 the industry never having proved sufficiently prolit- 

 a'.il'- to largely enlist American interest. (c. M.) 



KILO. See ENSLLAGE. 



SILVER, a precious me'al which, more than any 

 other, is found in combination with dif- 

 ^'U' ' '^A^ ferent substances, as sulphurets, oxides, 

 flep ) ' an< l otuel ' metals. It occurs in several 

 geological formations, widely separated 

 in age and locality, and is therefore very generally dif- 

 fused. Of mineral ores experiment has proved that 

 only one in seventeen is free from silver, while minute 

 traces of it exist in sea-water and in organic sub- 

 stances. Gold never occurs in nature uuassociated 

 with silver, and the latter is said to be never wholly 

 free from gold. It is, indeed, more commonly found in 

 connection with gold and lead than with any other 

 minerals. Yet, despite this combination, there is a 

 natural distinction between the veins of the several 

 metals. In Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico, for 

 instance, the prevailing ores of precious metal are 

 distinctively silver, the gold usually occurring in 

 minute particles entangled in the sulpho-salts of sil- 

 ver and other metals, the weight of silver being 

 greatly in excess of that of gold. On the other hand, 

 in tho Califomin (.'old-belt gold occurs as flakes 

 or I'Vi-n masses with only a small percentage of sil- 

 Voi,. IV. 2 H 



ver alloy. The main sources of the world's supply 

 of silver for two hundred years after the discovery of 

 I America were Mexico and South America, but the 

 mining enterprise of the United States within re- 

 cent years has developed vast deposits in the moun- 

 tains of the Pacific slope, and the yield of this coun- 

 try is now considerably in excess of that of any other. 

 Of the silver-producing fields of the United States 

 the valuable mines of Nevada are situated on the 

 eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, nearly 

 opposite to the centre of the California gold de"- 

 posits on the western slope. Here, much to the sur- 

 prise of prospectors, were found vast deposits of ore, 

 which quickly dispelled the formerly prevailing 

 theory that silver exists in the United States only in 

 small quantities in connection with other ores. In 

 1859 two prospectors, Comstock and Jenrod, found 

 on Mount Davison, near the shelf on which Virginia 

 City is now built, what seemed "a vein of very dark 

 ore." Specimens of this were sent to San Francisco 

 for assay, and proved to be quartz rich in silver. The 

 news of this discovery quickly spread, nnd miners 

 flocked to the new silver locality in multitudes, the 

 whole mountain being soon staked ont in claims. 

 Of the several veins that were opened, the richest 

 was that since so well known as the Comstock. 

 Here the dip of the ore is almost perpendicular, and 

 the expense of working the vein has proved very 

 great. Other veins of silver ore run parallel to this 

 along the eastern slope of the mountain, there being 

 several such IK Its of ore which are nearly one thou- 

 sand feet long and have been traced nearly four 

 miles in different directions. In some oases these 

 veins have been reached by horizontal drifts in the 

 mountain-side, their great dip rendering this feasible. 

 During the period since the opening of these 

 mines about $300,000,000 in value of silver have 

 been taktn from them, though recently there lias 

 j been a decided falling off in the output of the 

 Conistock lode. As the depth of the vorkings made 

 the requisites of ventilation, pumping, and raising 

 the ore very expensive, it was decided to excavate a 

 draining and ventilating tunnel to the several veins. 

 This has been accomplished by the remarkable Sntro 

 | tunnel, which enters the mountain-side 2000 feet 

 below Virginia City, and is 14 feet wide, 12 high, 

 and nearly 5 miles long, with numerous lateral gnl- 

 leries. Along it passes a double-track tramway to 

 carry ont the ore, with water-drains on each side, 

 while the mines, once almost unbearable in temper- 

 ature, are now cooled and ventilated. There are 

 several other silver-mining localities in Nevada, Eu- 

 reka being an important one, and the silver yield of 

 the State is about three times its production of gold. 

 The mines of Arizona wero first discovered about 

 150 years ago by adventurous priests who brought to 

 Mexico marvellous tales of the wealth of native sil- 

 ver in the mountains of the North. Multitudes of 

 Spanish adventurers flocked to this locality, and 

 worked the mines for nearly a century, at the end of 

 which time the Indians, whom they had forced to 

 work for them, rose and drove them off. When the 

 United States obtained possession of Arizona there 

 were no mines in operation, the Apache Indians 

 having full control of the country. These savages 

 gave great trouble to the early American miners, yet 

 the old Mexican mines were gradually opened, and 

 worked successfully, while new discoveries of rich 

 deposits, often of almost pure silver, were made. 

 The richest deposits of Territory are near the town of 

 Tombstone, where high-grade and easily worked ores 

 exist abundantly. The mineral belt of Tombstone is 

 about 8 miles wide, from east to west, and 25 miles 

 long, embracing an area of nearly 200 square miles. 

 Hither miners have flocked in numbers, and the 

 veins have been extensively worked. About 200 

 miles easterly from Tombstone, in the Lake Valley 



