NEVADA'S DEAD TOWNS 



were scarcely less marvelously rich, giving rise 

 to one of the most violent excitements that 

 ever occmred in the history of mining. All 

 kinds of people — shoemakers, tailors, farmers, 

 etc., as well as miners — left their own right 

 work and fell in a perfect storm of energy upon 

 the White Pine Hills, covering the ground like 

 grasshoppers, and seeming determined by the 

 very violence of their efforts to turn every 

 stone to silver. But with few exceptions, these 

 mining storms pass away about as suddenly 

 as they rise, leaving only ruins to tell of the 

 tremendous energy expended, as heaps of giant 

 boulders in the valley tell of the spent power 

 of the moimtain floods. 



In marked contrast with this destructive 

 unrest is the orderly deUberation into which 

 miners settle in developing a truly valuable 

 mine. At Eureka we were kindly led through 

 the treasure chambers of the Richmond and 

 Eureka Consolidated, our guides leisurely lead- 

 ing the way from level to level, calUng atten- 

 tion to the precious ore-masses which the work- 

 men were slowly breaking to pieces with their 

 picks, like navvies wearing away the day in a 

 railroad cutting; while down at the smelting 

 works the bars of bullion were handled with 

 less eager haste than the farmer shows in gath- 

 ering his sheaves. 



201 



