658 



NEVADA. 



The mines of precious ores, which form the 

 most important among the material resources 

 of Nevada, seem to be increasing in number 

 as well as extent of operations, they being gen- 

 erally under able and energetic management. 



The following official abstract statement, relat- 

 ing to mines in Storey County for the quarter 

 ending June 30, 1879, will give an idea of their 

 yield, expense, proceeds, and of the taxes col- 

 lected on them by the State : 



The value of gold and silver bullion yielded 

 by the Consolidated Virginia and California 

 mines, respectively, during the first six months 

 of 1879, was as follows: 



On June 30th the Sutro Tunnel was actually 

 opened to discharge the water of the flooded 

 mines, and the day was celebrated with extraor- 

 dinary festivities. The following particulars 

 of the opening were written by a newspaper 

 correspondent on the same day : 



The final completion of the Sutro Tunnel, for the 

 reception of the water from the Comstock mines, was 

 celebrated in the Carson Valley to-night. After ten 

 years of ceaseless labor day and night, and the expen- 

 diture of $6,000,000, the powerful engine of the com- 

 bination shaft of the Hale and Nprcross and Savage 

 mines was started -up this morning at precisely 6 

 o'clock, discharging the water into the Sutro Tunnel, 

 at the mouth of which it made its appearance in one 

 hour and twenty minutes, showing a temperature at 

 first of 101, which gradually increased to 118 in eight 

 hours. The water in the long-drowned-out mines was 

 lowered one hundred feet. Everything worked well. 

 The wooden boxes, constructed of three-inch tongued 

 and grooved Sierra Nevada pine, did not show a leak. 

 No steam escaped from them, so that the tunnel showed 



barely an increase of temperature after the hot water 

 was turned on. 



Among the natural resources of Nevada, the 

 great forests which cover a large proportion 

 of her surface appear conspicuous ; and, of all 

 trees that grow on her soil, the most note- 

 worthy is the nut-pine, for its utility on ac- 

 count both of the wood, which may be put to 

 a great variety of uses, and of the fruit, which 

 is of exquisite taste. The following is an ac- 

 count of it : 



It furnishes fuel, charcoal, and timber for the mines, 

 and together with the enduring juniper, so generally 

 associated with it, supplies the rancnes with abun- 

 dance of firewood and fencing. Many a square mile 

 has already been denuded in supplying these demands, 

 but, so great is the area covered by it t no appreciable 

 loss has as yet been sustained, "besides its general 

 uses, this tree yields edible nuts, which are excellent 

 as food, and in fruitful seasons the pine-nut crop of 



home with dancing and feasting. Tlie cones, which 

 are a bright grass-green in color, and about two inch- 

 es long by one and a half in diameter, are beaten off 

 with poles just before the scales open, gathered in heaps 

 of several bushels, and lightly scorched by burning a 

 thin covering of brushwood over them. The resin with 

 which the cones are bedraggled is thus burned oif, the 

 nuts slightly roasted, and the scales made to open. 

 Then they are allowed to dry in the sun, after which 

 the nuts are easily threshed out and are ready to be 

 stored away. They are about half an inch long by a 

 quarter of an inch in diameter, pointed at the upper 

 end, rounded at the base, light brown in general color, 

 and handsomely dotted with purple, like birds' eggs. 

 The shells are thin, and may be crushed between the 

 thumb and finger. The kernels are white and waxy- 

 looking, becoming brown by roasting, sweet and deli- 

 cious to every palate, and are eaten by birds, squirrels, 

 dogs, horses, and men. When the crop is abundant 

 the Indians bring in large quantities for sale ; then 

 they are eaten around every fireside in the State, and 

 oftentimes fed to horses instead of barley. Long be- 

 fore the harvest-time, which is in September and Oc- 

 tober, the Indians closely examine the trees, and as 

 the cones require two years to mature from the first 

 appearance of the little red rosettes of the fertile flow- 

 ers, the scarcity or abundance of the crop may be pre- 

 dicted more than a year in advance. W hen the har- 



