THE COMSTOCK LODE. 93 



oxides of iron and manganese. It is important to observe here that the periods 

 of most active crushing of the quartz were prior to the introduction of the 

 stephauite. Angular fragments of quartz, which are found imbedded in the 

 clay, never contain that mineral, while they are often more or less charged 

 with the silver glance ore. 



Mode of Continuance in Depth. — So far the study and consideration of 

 the lode has been confined to its past and present history. More interesting 

 than these, by far, is its future condition and its probable mode of continuance 

 in depth. In some respects this is the most difficult and perplexing period for 

 an out-look which has occurred since the working of the district. During the 

 last three years the gradual convergence of the bonanzas, both in the Gold Hill 

 and the Virginia group, has given an unfriendly aspect to the lower region of 

 the lode, and cast a decided shadow upon the future. In many places, as has 

 been seen, the lode was found to terminate in a mere line of fissure scarcely 

 marked by even-a thin parting of clay. It began to be very seriously ques- 

 tioned by careful men whether, sooner or later, the whole of the ore-channel 

 would not follow this unfortunate example, and close out altogether. The 

 walls in Gold Hill decidedly converged, those in Virginia approached each 

 other with a rapidity which bade fair, after a few hundred feet deeper, to 

 bring them together, and it looked very much as if 600 feet at the utmost 

 would end the productive zone of the Comstock. Against this view were 

 the prominent facts of the immense masses of vein-material, which analysis 

 of the various constituents proves to have been introduced from some dis- 

 tant source. To suppose these poured in from the surface is an hypothesis 

 so utterly at variance with all our ideas of the past condition of the range 

 as to be untenable even for a moment. It is considered as certain that 

 those vein-materials which are not either portions of the country -rock 

 that have fallen into the chasm, or such as are clearly derived from their 

 decomposition, have been introduced from below. This indefinite source 

 of supply most probably lies at a considerable depth beneath that portion of 

 the east country-rock which is most thoroughly decomposed by solfataric 

 action. It became a matter of intense interest to discover those points 

 where the great gashes of the ore-channel should open out into the true 

 or deep-seated fissure, and when mine after mine worked downward and 



