TEEATMEXT OF THE OOMSTOCK ORES. 259 



water. The blankets are taken up frona time to time and washed out in a 

 tub of water, usually once in twelve hours. While the blankets of one table 

 are being washed the stream is turned so as to run over the neighboring 

 tables. The concentrations washed from the blankets are collected and 

 worked in pans. They usually yield from $18 or $20 to $30 per ton. 



In each of the principal canons or ravines in which the mills are situ- 

 ated, below Virginia City, are continuous series of blanket-tables, making in 

 the aggregate several miles. Some of the tables are owned by mills, dis- 

 charging tailings into the canon, but generally they belong to other parties, 

 who agree with the mill-owner for the use of the tailings. According to the 

 report of the Surveyor General, Mr. Marlette, there were in 1866 over 2,200 

 feet of blanket-sluices in Six-Mile Carton. Their cost is estimated at about 

 $1 per foot, including blankets. 



At the Santiago mill, on the Carson River, there are sixteen tables, side 

 by side, 100 feet long. They belong to the mill, which crushes 50 tons of 

 ore daily. The tailings pass over the tables, yielding about five tons daily 

 of concentrations, which produce about $20 per ton. Two men are necessary 

 to attend to them. Of the sixteen tables eight were designed for use in the 

 night, leaving the blankets to be washed in the day-time when the stream 

 passed over the other eight ; but when the washing is performed day and 

 night, eight tables are sufficient for the quantity of ore above mentioned. At 

 the Brunswick mill, also on the Carson, the amount of ore crushed, and the 

 quantity and value of the concentrations were in about the same proportions 

 as above given. The profit accruing from this source to the mill reduces con- 

 siderably the original cost of crushing and amalgamating. 



The following are the results of working some concentrated tailings, 

 from the Atchison mill. The assays, on which the original value of the tail- 

 ings is predicated, were made of samples selected from the heap. In the sev- 

 eral months included in the report, the proportion of the number of assays 

 to the number of tons worked was not always the same. In the best lot 

 there was one assay for about 10 or 12 tons of the concentrated taihngs. 



