TEEATMENT OF THE COMSTOCK OEES. 237 



Relation of Mines to Mills. — The mills working on the Comstock 

 ores are located at various distances from the mines, some being in the 

 immediate vicinity, while the most remote are from thirteen to fourteen 

 miles away. The several canons or ravines of the Washoe hills, leading 

 down from the croppings of the vein, where the hoisting works of the 

 mines are situated, to the valley, 1,500 or 1,800 feet below, are all occu- 

 pied by mills, thirty-five or forty in number, that are within a radius of 

 three miles, or at an average distance of one and a half miles from the 

 supply of ore. These are all driven by steam-power. More remote from 

 the mines, but nearer to the sources of fuel, are other mills, some driven 

 by steam, some by water, and some by steam and water combined. On the 

 Carson River, distant from seven to ten miles from Virginia City, are a dozen 

 or more mills, whose position gives them the advantage not only of cheap 

 fuel but also of water-power, either partly or wholly sufficient for their demands^ 

 In Washoe Valley, lying west of the Washoe hills, and separating them from 

 the Sierras, are eight or nine mills, some of them likewise enjoying the ad- 

 vantages of a partly sufficient water-power and cheap fuel, but situated at a 

 distance of fourteen miles from the mines, and incurring consequently a great 

 expense in the transportation of the ore. 



The comparative advantages of these different locations so nearly coun- 

 terbalance each other in a long-continued period of operations that it is per- 

 haps difficult to pronounce decidedly in favor of either, at least under condi- 

 tions existing previous to the completion of the railroad. The first-mentioned 

 class of mills, while paying dearly for their motive power and supply of water 

 for milling purposes, have, on the other hand, the advantage not only of cheaper 

 hauling, but, owing to their proximity to the mines, a steadier supply of ore. 

 Some of the distant mills, especially those that have water sufficient to enable 

 them to dispense with steam altogether for purposes of power, may diminish 

 the actual cost of reduction of the ore sufficiently to more than counterbalance 

 the additional cost of hauling, but they are sometimes liable to loss of time on 

 account of impassable roads or other obstacles that interrupt the constant sup- 

 ply of ore, and a few days of idleness will more than absorb the profits of a 

 month's work. , 



Nearly all the mills of the district are " custom mills ;" and the greater 



