CENTRAL AKD EASTERN NEVADA. 



449 



said to yield well, though the quartz, whiter and more compact, does not look 

 as rich as that in the main works. 



To the southwest of the main shaft a trench has been dug, stripping the 

 vein to a distance of 500 feet, thus passing a change in the formation from 

 quartzite into slate ; the yield was good all the way, and gave more gold after 

 coming into the slates. A good grade leads down from the main shaft to the 

 mills. 



Mills. — The old mill is situated just above the town on the banks of the 

 stream which runs out through the canon. It is a small frame building, with 

 blacksmith shop attached ; has for motive power a small steam-engine of 8-inch 

 cylinder, \yhich runs, besides the machinery of the mill, a small circular 

 saw on the outside, used for sawing mining and building-timbers. It has a 

 battery of five stamps, weighing about 650 pounds each ; these stamp dry, and 

 the pulverized ore is carried from a battery to a dust-chamber above by a fan 

 blower, which makes about 2,500 revolutions per minute; they claim by this 

 means to save much dust. The ore is ground and amalgamated in three Var- 

 ney pans and two settlers, which have a capacity of about five tons per twenty- 

 four hours, though the crumbly nature of their ore would permit them to stamp 

 more. Wood, as fuel, costs, laid down and corded at the mill, $3 50 per cord. 

 For timber they obtain from the neighboring hills fir and yellow pine. 



Mr. O'Dougherty, the superintendent, states that from the first opening 

 of the mine to March, 1868, the running expenses have been paid by what they 

 have been able to crush in this mill, which has yielded in all about $80,000 

 bullion. Since that date the mill has been idle, as no ore could be extracted 

 while the repairs on the main shaft were going on. At the present time, 

 September, 1869, the company is building a 20-stamp wet-crushing mill with 

 large pans of the best approved models, whose capacity may be doubled if the 

 supply of ore demands it; they expect to reduce the ore at a cost of $12, coin, 

 per ton, including mining expenses, and calculate on an average yield of $40 

 per ton, from the whole vein, which would give a very handsome profit 

 from the amount of ore now in sight. The mill is to be finished during the 

 fall, and the steam hoisting works of the main shaft are already in running 



order. 



57 



