THE COMSTOCK MINES. 163 



place where cut to the flume, about $1 75 on the average ; so that the tot il 

 cost of cleKvery at the end of the flume or raih-oad track is covered by $4 50. 

 Allowing $2 per cord for transportation thence to Virginia, and it may there 

 be sold profitably at a price from twenty-five to fifty per cent, less than that 

 ruling hitherto, which, of late years, has averaged about $16 per cord. A 

 similar reduction may be expected in the costs of timber and lumber. 



The cost of transportation of ore from the mines to the river mills has 

 been of late years between S3 and $4, sometimes reaching $5 per ton, dur- 

 ing the season for bad roads. Eailroad transportation will reduce this, prob- 

 ably, to something between Si and $2 per ton. 



The costs of mining the deposits of low-grade ore will not only l^e 

 lessened by the means just referred to but, probably, still fui-ther reduced by 

 the greater accessibility of the ore-bodies and the ease with which the ore 

 can be extracted ; less careful labor being required in the assortment of the 

 rock and in its removal to the surface. During the past few years the mini- 

 mum value of ore taken to the surface from the Savage mine has been about 

 $22 or $23 per ton, anything of less vahie than that, being too poor to aiford 

 a profit. By placing that limit considerably lower the quantity available for 

 extraction will not only be largely increased, thus diminishing the costs per 

 ton, but the labor involved will be much less, as the masses of ore are larger 

 and require less trouble and time in selection or assortment. A correspond- 

 ing reduction in milling costs may also be expected^ by treating the ore in 

 mills that are not only driven by water power, but that will have enlarged 

 capacity ; working much larger quantities of the poorer rock than is now 

 worked of the richer rock in the same or less time and with consequently 

 diminished costs ; the loss of a small percentage of the value contained in a 

 poor ore being of less importance than it is in a rich one. 



Thus it is behoved that these large bodies of poor quartz, hitherto una- 

 vailable, hold out much promise for the future under the conditions introduced 

 by cheap transportation, and a reduction in the price of labor, which cannot 

 much longer be deferred. 



SuTRO Tunnel. — Another enterprise, possibly destined to exercise great 

 influence on the future welfare of the Comstock mines and the adjacent 



^According to late intelligence received from Virginia City, the custom price of mill- 

 ing in some mills has been reduced to $9 per ton, including transportation of ore. 



