Abstract statement of the assessment-rolls of the proceeds of mines of Humboldt County, Nevada, for the year 1870.

Company.

Vista district.

ELKO COUNTY.

Cope district.-I have not yet been able to visit this district personally, nor could my deputy do so. For this reason I cannot speak as intelligently of the situation of its mining industry as I should wish to, especially as, from correspondence, I must come to the conclusion that this district, as well as the neighboring one of Bull Run, promises to become quite important in the near future.

It appears that during the year the development of the mines in Cope has satisfactorily progressed. The Argenta and Excelsior mines have been worked with great vigor during the summer, in order to prepare them for the extraction of large quantities of ore in the fall. By that time it was expected to have the mines sufficiently opened to give employment to forty or fifty miners in extracting ore. The Independent, El Dorado, and Monitor, have also been energetically worked.

There was only one dry-crushing and roasting mill in Mountain City in the summer, and as the ores carry large quantities of base metal, and cannot, therefore, be worked to advantage by the wet-crushing mills, which were first foolishly erected, this one mill (P. F. Davis's, formerly Vance's) was continually overcrowded with work. Finally, Mr. Norton resolved to add roasting-furnaces to his 10-stamp mill, but whether this programme has since been carried out I do not know.

In Bull Run district several mines have been worked throughout the year, and the ore has been brought to Mountain City for reduction. About one hundred miners are reported to have been engaged here in mining in the summer.

Lone Mountain district is situated twenty-eight miles north of Elko. Its name is derived from the position of the mountain, rising alone from the plain, but which properly belongs to the chain on which Mineral Hill, Railroad, Cope, and Bull Run are located, further south. Although this district is a very promising one, there is no work being done this winter. Several mines will, however, be opened in the spring. There are three formations of rock running through the mountain, namely, limestone on the east, and granite and slate on the west. The mines now located are mostly in the limestone, though the most important are situated between the granite and slate. The most promising is the Paulina. It contains 800 feet, and is situated between the granite and slate; its course is north and south; dip 50°. A shaft is sunk near the center of the claim, 50 feet. The vein is 4 feet wide, very regular, and the ores are steadily improving in descending. The average yield of the ore in the bottom of the shaft is $120 in silver per ton, and 25 per cent. lead. This claim is also opened on its northern extremity; it is traced for a mile. Several locations to the north promise well, and one to the south, owned by parties in San Francisco, has a shaft sunk on it 50 feet deep, showing the same characteristics of the ore as Paulina. The Paulina was located by Messrs. Lowe, McKenzie & Smith, who sold one-half of the mine to Messrs. E. V. Robbins and J. W. Hussey. The same parties own also the Monitor, located in the limestone. A shaft has been sunk 40 feet, and some stoping is done on this lode. Its width varies from 6 inches to 4 feet. The ore taken out is sold for $20 per ton, on the dump. It was hauled to Elko, and there smelted. The road from Elko is very good, affording plenty of water and grass nearly the whole year round. At the foot of Lone Mountain there is a stream of water that, in its lowest stage, furnishes 100 inches. If ores needing concentration, or milling-ores, should be found hereafter, this water would be extremely valuable. On the southern end of

the mountain is a very strong vein of iron, containing some copper and silver. A shaft has been sunk on it 20 feet, and a drift run across the vein for 16 feet; but the hanging-wall has not been reached. From indications on the surface, the vein is supposed to be 40 feet in width. The time must soon come when this vein will be valuable for its iron, especially as a flux for quartzose-lead ores.

Railroad district.—Mr. J. W. Hussey, of Elko, has kindly furnished me some notes on Railroad district, the substance of which, together with other information, is embodied in the following:

The principal mines are situated on the eastern slope of Bunker Hill Mountain, the highest peak in the district. Two spurs putting out from the main range form a horseshoe, or crescent, and within this crescent the principal labor has been done. Bunker Hill Mountain is 9,050 feet above the level of the sea, and mines have been discovered within 200 feet of the summit. The mine most developed in this horseshoe is located on one of the principal spurs, and is called the Last Chance, No. 2. Its conrse is nearly in accordance with that of the main range northwest and southeast, and cutting the spur on which it is located at right angles. The claim is 600 feet in length, and is developed by an incline, sunk to the depth of 90 feet, following the foot-wall. The hanging-wall was not reached until, at the depth of 60 feet, a drift was run across the lode, which was found to be 13 feet wide. A tunnel was run, cutting the lode at the depth of 90 feet, and communicating with the incline. The pitch of the lode, to the depth of 60 feet, is at an angle of 37°. At that depth it changes to 60°, which it now is. The principal ores, to the depth of 60 feet, were galena and carbonate of lead, with occasional streaks and spots of sulphuret, and the oxides of copper diffused through the lead-ore. At this point red and black oxides of copper came in strongly on the foot-wall, to the width of 8 feet, and, as the incline descended, native copper, in considerable quantities, was found diffused through the red oxides. The copper-ores continued for 20 feet in depth, when they gave way to galena and carbonate of lead again; but the ore was richer than found above. Whilst the upper ores will yield from $30 to $150 per ton in silver, those found underneath the copper yield from $50 to $300. The pure galena, which is concentrated in the center of the vein, yields upward of $200 per ton in silver. At the depth of 90 feet the lode is found to be 21 feet wide, 17 of which is good smelting-ore. The walls are limestone, very smooth and regular, with bodies of spar lining either wall. This is a characteristic of the mineral-veins of this district; the sides are usually lined with spar, and just before reaching a vein in a tunnel large bodies of spar are encountered in the country-rock. A shaft is now being sunk in the tunnel on the vein, 15 feet from the foot-wall, which was down 20 feet in November, finding the same ore at that depth as encountered in the tunnel. This mine was purchased of the original owners about one year ago by E. V. Robbins, of Chicago, Illinois, and by him sold to J. W. Hussey, acting as agent for a company of New York capitalists, under whose directions recent developments have been made. The mine is now in condition to yield 40 tons of ore per day. Developments are still going on, as probably the company will not erect furnaces before spring. This is the largest deposit of leadore ever found in this vicinity, and bids fair to become as celebrated as the famous deposits at Eureka.

are

Easterly of the Last Chance, and 150 feet farther down the spur, situated the Lone, True, and Red Jacket mines. These locations are in close proximity, and supposed to be on the same lode. They pro