422 



MINING mDUSTRT. 



SECTION V 



MINING AND MILLING IN WHITE PINE DISTEICT. 



The first discovery of silver-bearing lodes or deposits in the region now 

 Imown as White Pine District vras made in the autumn of 1865, on the west 

 side of Pogonip, or White Pine, Mountain, near where the Monte Christo mill 

 now stands, ten or twelve miles distant from the present center of mining 

 operations. The district was organized in the month of October of the same 

 year, deriving its name from the mountain on whose sides an abundance of fine 

 timber is found. Its limits were so defined as to include an area of twelve 

 miles square; and a code of laws was devised and adopted by the miners, in 

 accordance with the general usage in such cases, to regulate the location of 

 claims. 



The earlier discoveries of silver, though considered sufficiently important 

 by the owners to induce them to proceed with the development of the ledges 

 and to erect a mill for working the ores, were not such as to attract great 

 attention from other parties; and it was not till about two years later that the 

 first claim was located on Treasure Hill, to which point the observation of 

 white men was then directed by an Indian. This claim was made on the 

 ground since developed by the Hidden Treasure and Rathbun companies, and, 

 about two months later, was recorded, on the 14th of November, 1867. The 

 Eberhardt mine, still more remarkable for its great wealth, was located in 

 January, 1868, and during the summer of that year the great developments 

 followed which attracted thousands of people to the scene of the new discov- 

 eries, and made the name of the district famous far and wide. 



Treasure Hill, within the limits of which the principal silver deposits, 

 thus far developed in the district, have been found, is an isolated ridge, about 

 three or four miles long, in a north and south direction, by one and a half or 

 two miles wide. Its eastern slope descends steeply, precipitously in some 

 places, to Applegarth Canon, which divides Treasure Hill from the next east- 

 ern range of mountains. On the western side the surface is likewise steep, 

 descending to the bed of the canon below, and then rising again, forms a low 

 ridge, known as the Base Metal Range. This ridge is nearly parallel in trend 



