162 MINING INDUSTET. 



at $1,500,000. From Virginia and Gold Hill the road descends to tlie level 

 of the Carson Eiver Valley, passing through country that involved some heavy 

 expenses in construction of the line, but in which the highest grade adopted but 

 little exceeds 100 feet per mile. Striking the river at the nearest available 

 point it follows along its course within easy reach of the mills that are situated 

 along the river, and deriving their power from it. From Carson the branch 

 track is laid directly up to the foot-hiUs of the mountains, so as to receive 

 timber and fuel at the mouth of the canon or valley from which these sup- 

 plies are obtained. Higher up in the mountains, and along the sides of the 

 canons, there still remain extensive tracts of woodland, affording large sup- 

 plies of timber and fuel. Saw-mills are conveniently established there, and 

 engaged in manufacturing lumber, many varieties of which, together with all 

 the cordwood, are delivered cheaply at the mouth of the canon, the present 

 terminus of the railroad track, by means of a flume.^ The cost of cutting 

 cordwood is, at present prices, $2 60 per cord, and of moving it from the 



^ This flume consists of a Y-sliaped launder or trough, made of two-inch i)lank, 18 

 or 20 inches wide, supported by a light trestle-work, and in which a rapidly flowing 

 stream of water carries down cordwood or timber (of such length as the curves of the 

 flume will permit the passage of) from the head of the caiion to its mouth. In a flume 

 of this description, now delivering such material at the end of the track, light timber 

 or i)lank, 10 feet in length, are easily floated and transported. The average grade of 

 the flume is between five and six degrees. The minimum grade employed is 1 : 64, though 

 rather too light ; 1 : 33, or three feet in one hundred, is a very good grade with 

 a fair volume of water. The flume referred to is five miles long. Cordwood is said to 

 make the entire journey in eighteen minutes, and fifty-one cords of wood have been 

 transported from the upper end of the flume to the place of delivery in six hours. At 

 the end of the flume is an iron gTating, having the reverse shape of the trough and 

 inclining upward from the bottom to the upper edge of the flume. The water passes 

 through this grating, while the wood shoots upward on it and falls over the edge of 

 the flume to the ground, when it is piled up or loaded upon the car. This simple 

 method of handling wood cheapens its delivery very much. No men are required, 

 excepting those who supply the wood to the flume at the upper end, and those who 

 receive and pile it at the other end. 



Along the course of the flume there are feeding streams, brought in from side- 

 cafions, at intervals of one or two miles, to increase the supply of water and compen- 

 sate for the wastage occasioned by leaks or overrunning. 



In some of the steeper side-canons there are dry shoots, or similar flumes without 

 water, used as feeders to that just described, the inclination being sufficient to allow 

 the material to slide by the force of gra-saty alone. By this means wood is easily 

 delivered from points where wagon roads would be impracticable. 



