GEOLOGY OF THE COMSTOGK LODE AND 

 THE WASHOE DISTRICT. 



BT GEORGE F. BECKER. 



CHAPTER L 



THE COMSTOCK MINES. 



Importance of the Comstock mines. The gCOlogy of the CoMSTOCK LODE, thoUgh 



of great interest from a purely scientific point of view, derives its chief 

 significance from the economical, industrial, and technical importance of 

 this extraordinary ore-deposit. The yield of the Comstock is supposed to 

 have exerted a seriously disturbing influence on the monetary system of the 

 civilized world, and its treasures have been exploited with an unexampled 

 rapidity. It is the chief focus of mining activity in the region west of the 

 Rocky Mountains, and represents the most highly organized phase of tech- 

 nical mining which has been reached west of the Mississippi River. 



The present report deals exclusively with the geology of the Lode, 

 and of so much of the surrounding country as is supposed necessary to a 

 full comprehension of the occurrence of ore. The Geological Survey, how- 

 ever, will issue other volumes dealing witli the Comstock from difl'erent 

 points of view. Mr. Eliot Lord has prepared a report upon the history of 

 mining on the Comstock; and Mr. W. R. Eckart has in preparation a volume 

 on the mining machinery in use. The volumes now being prepared by 

 members of the Survey on the census of the mineral industries, will also 

 contain mucli technical information concerning the mines of the Lode. 

 Some of the readers of the present report, however, are unlikely to refer 

 to the other volumes relating to the subject, and to them a few introductory 

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