the silver as is present as horn-silver. Samples of this ore having been brought to Mr. Alexis Janin, in White Pine, and doubts having been expressed as to the possibility of working it without roasting, he com menced a series of experiments of which the treatment with salt and sulphate was the basis. These experiments succeeded beyond expectation. Mr. Janin found that even the base ores yielded as readily to the suasion of chemicals as the Comstock slimes; whereas, when treated with quicksilver alone, the yield hardly exceeded 40 per cent. This does not apply to the free ore, which, as I have said before, amalgamates readily without chemicals; although the yield is materially increased by the use of salt and sulphate. Some time after these experiments had been concluded, Mr. Janin was appointed amalgamator in chief at the Meadow Valley Mining Company's mill, then building in Dry Valley, ten miles from Pioche City. The mill started up on the 18th of July, 1870, although steam was raised and a few pounds of ore crushed on the 15th, for the purpose of trying engine, etc. The mill at that time had 20 stamps of 650 pounds weight, each making eighty drops per minute; ten pans, H. I. Booth & Co.'s pattern, calculated to hold 2,800 pounds of pulp; five settlers, (conoidal separators, unfit for this kind of ore;) two small agitators; and two concentrators, Hungerford's patent. Since that time the following additions have been made: Ten stamps, 750 pounds; four pans, like the old ones; two flat-bottomed settlers; two 12 by 6 feet agitators, and two revolving buddle-concentrators, patent of Stephens and Randal, 20 feet in diameter. This is an excellent invention, where water is plenty and the difference in specific gravity between "pay" and waste well marked. On starting up the mill there was one serious drawback to contend with. Owing to the miscarriage of a letter there was not bluestone enough on haud to last more than a week. Almost the first ore crushed was that which had originally been selected for smelting, and contained a very large percentage of lead. Nevertheless, it yielded 80 per cent. of the silver. From the moment, however, that the supply of chemicals was exhausted the percentage fell. Pending the arrival of bluestone from San Francisco, there was shipped to mill purposely comparatively poor ore to avoid unnecessary loss. Even after the arrival of bluestone, it was difficult to impress the amalgamators with a sense of the absolute necessity of obeying instructions. In their opinion, it did not make any difference whether chemicals were used or not, and, as far as their experience went in other mills, they were doubtless cor rect in this idea. Quantity Yield Per cent. exper ton. tracted. Remarks. 1870. Tons. lbs. July 18 to Aug. 31 1, 161 400 $66 39 About 58.00 Working 20 stamps, partly with out chemicals. The falling off in percentage in January is due in Mr. Jauiu's estimation to the fact that coarser screens were used on the battery. Where 80.65 20 stamps. 82.52 20 stamps. 81.82 Running partly with 30 stamps. the pans are poor grinders, as is the case with those of this mill, it is, tc say the least, foolish to crush $130 to $135 rock through a No. 4 punched or a No. 20 brass-wire screen. This is what was done in January. The bullion varies exceedingly in fineness. For over two months, from September 15th to end of November, the average fineness was over 800. Previous to this, and subsequently, the average has been much lower. It is not strange that ores containing so much lead should give very base bullion; moreover, a certain amount of the copper of the bluestone is precipitated and amalgamated, forming a triple alloy of silver, lead, and copper, with a very little gold. The extra amount of silver extracted by the use of sulphate and salt more than counterbalances the amount of copper entering into the amalgam. Thus, paradoxical as it may seem, finer bullion is in reality extracted by the use of sulphate of copper. Mr. Janin has introduced a very simple method of extracting the greater part of the lead from the amalgam, and consequently from the bullion. The quicksilver and amalgam, after leaving the settlers, is strained in sacks suspended in a large box filled with water, which is heated with steam by means of a half-inch pipe. Lead amalgam, at the temperature of boiling water, remains liquid, and consequently strains through with the excess of quicksilver. A certain amount of silver and of copper amalgam also passes through. This is now run off into a smaller box, cooled with water, and when cold is strained in the usual way, leaving an amalgam of lead containing a small amount of the other metals. This lead amalgam when retorted gives bullion containing from 6 to 20 per cent. silver, very little copper, and only a trace of gold. The amalgam remaining in the first sacks gives bullion from 550 to 680 fine in silver, and finer in inverse proportion to the amount of copper in the ore. The lead bullion is shipped from here by slow freight when suffi cient accumulates to make a load. From a charge of ore of normal character the bullion extracted by different modes of working would be nearly as follows: Amalgamated without chemicals.. ...300 to 350 fine. Amalgamated with CuO, SO and NaCl, and not strained in hot water .. ..400 to 450 fine. Amalgamated with CuO, SO3 and NaCl, ( 1st amalgam 550 to 680. strained in hot water. 2d amalgam 60 to 200. The Meadow Valley ores contain on an average $5 in gold to every $100 in silver. This proportion is very constant. Of this gold from 45 to 55 per cent. is extracted. The bullion contains from .0003 to .0015 parts gold. Occasionally a bar will contain as high .003 parts, and at other times so little that it is not taken account of. As I have re marked, the average ($125) ore contains only from 40 to 50 per cent. of the silver as chloride; in what state the remainder is present I am not prepared to say, but probably as a sulphide, possibly as an oxide, these being the two combinations which yield most readily to the action of salt and sulphate. The ore is admirably adapted to concentration. The "pay" appears to be mainly in a "heading" of gray carbonate of lead, very easily sep arated in the sands. The gangue is quartz, the country rock quartzite. All the tailings, after leaving the agitators, flow into a tank from which they are raised by a China pump to a second tauk, and from there dis tributed over two concentrators. The tailings assay on the average about $25, and the concentrations will range from $150 to $300, accord ing to the amount of water used in concentration. The apparatus is self-discharging. One serious drawback in the working of lead ores is the large loss of quicksilver. The loss of quicksilver in working free ores increases with the richuess of the ores. I am informed by the former superintendent of a White Pine mill that in milling $100 ore his loss was a trifle less than three pounds per ton. This is excessive for free ores, and it is probably due to the fact that the silver was all present as chloride, and had to be decomposed at the expense of the quicksilver. It is more than probable that sulphate and salt convert the silver into the metallic state. However, it is necessary to remember the fact that, these ores being richer, apart from the question of baseness, it would not be just to compare the loss of quicksilver with that sustained by mills on the Comstock, where ores are much poorer.. During the months of October and November the average fineness of bullion from this mill was over .800. The loss of quicksilver per ton was respectively 2.39 and 2.40 pounds. Both in preceding and succeeding months, with bullion not exceeding .500 to .600 fine, (after passing through the hot-water straining process,) the loss has been as high as 476 pounds per ton. This is due probably to the formation of chloride of lead and subsequent formation of subchloride of mercury. Another source of loss is the formation of lead amalgam. This contains but very little quicksilver, having the dull appearance of lead, and floats off in flakes. Lead unites with quicksilver in greater proportion than either silver or copper. The proportion of retorted bullion to amalgam on the Comstock and in White Pine is as 1:5-6; in amalgam containing a large amount of copper as 1:7-74; and in very base lead-amalgam as 1 : 4. From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that the value of proper proportions of bluestone and salt in working rebellious ores is established beyond a doubt. There are some drawbacks attached to the "process," which are, however, more than overcome by its advantages. These drawbacks are 1st. Destruction of muller plates and castings, which are strongly attacked by chloride of copper. The same evil is encountered in working roasted ores containing much copper. 2d. The greater loss of quicksilver. 3d. The formation of baser bullion. This last objection does not hold good, as has been shown, on ores the yield of which is so materially increased by the aid of chloride of copper as is the case with ours. I am indebted for the important data given above to Mr. Alexis Janin, the accomplished superintendent of the Meadow Valley Mill. Mills and mining claims.-Prior to the erection of the Meadow Valley Mining Company's mill, Raymond and Ely erected a five-stamp mill at Meadow Valley. These gentlemen were the owners of the Burke, the Creole, and other mines in this district. Subsequently to the erection of this mill a second one of ten stamps was built in Meadow Valley by James Mee, who had a contract with Raymond & Ely for working 15,000 tons at $25 per ton, guaranteeing no percentage. The Raymond & Ely property was recently incorporated in San Francisco. Up to the time of the purchase of this property by San Francisco capitalists, the average percentage extracted from all ores worked at the two mills above mentioned was 42.90 per cent. It is needless to say that they worked without chemicals. They have now struck a body of free ore and are doing well. There are other incorporated companies, but their claims not having as yet produced much ore are not talked of. These are the Meadow Valley, Western Extension, and the Pioche Silver Mining Company. The claim of the No. 7 Mining Company was recently purchased by the Meadow Valley Mining Company for $100,000 and merged into this company. The principal companies operating in this district, and the mills running, up to the end of the calendar year 1870, may be briefly catalogued as follows: Meadow Valley Mining Company.-Capital stock, $6,000,000, in 60,000 shares, at $100; value of stock at present quotations, $30 to $35, 1,600 feet. Meadow Valley Western Extension Mining Company.-Capital stock, $600,000, 6,000 shares, at $100, quoted at $6; shaft, 150 feet on threefoot vein; very little prospecting done; 200 feet. Raymond & Ely Mining Company.-Capital stock $3,000,000, 30,000 shares, at $100, quoted at $20 to $21; feet, comprise the Burke and Creole mines and others. Pioche Silver Mining Company.-Details unknown. The district, of course, abounds in "outside claims" of various degrees of merit. The above-mentioned are the only prominent ones, with the exception, perhaps, of the Washington mine, not incorporated as yet. Mills.-Meadow Valley Mining Company's mill, 30 stamps, 55 to 60 tons capacity; Mee's mill, 10 stamps, 18 tons capacity; Raymond and Ely's old mill, 5 stamps, 7 tons capacity. In process of erection, (will be completed in a few weeks:) Chicago Mill, 10 stamps-a custom mill. The country around Pioche City is excessively dry and barren. Water has to be hauled into the city a distance of several miles, and is sold at the rate of 6 cents per gallon. Dry Valley, where the Meadow Valley Mining Company's mill is sit uated, is ten miles from Pioche City. Water is conveyed to the mill by means of a ditch three miles long. Meadow Valley is an oasis in this desert. Water is here abundant. There is a Mormon settlement, Panaca City, in this valley, where vegetables, &c., are cultivated. The Yellow Pine mining district was visited by Mr. C. A. Luckhardt, mining engineer, during the summer. He has furnished me with the following report: The northern and eastern part of the State of Nevada, celebrated for its mineral wealth, is densely populated in comparison to its western and southern portion, where an area of nearly one hundred and forty square miles is still uninhabited by white men, and but superficially explored. On the thirty-sixth parallel, in Lincoln County, about ten miles north of the boundary line of California, lies Yellow Pine mining district, com prising an area of twenty miles east and west by sixty miles north and South. A range of mountains termed Mountain Spring Range slopes gradually southward, leaving Nevada and entering California, and forming one of the boundaries of that great basin which stretches from the Providence Mountains southwestward for one hundred and forty miles to the Pacific Coast Range, and northwestward for one hundred miles and over to the southeasterly slopes of the Inyo or White Mountains. The southern extension of the Mountain Spring Range, called the Potosi Mountains, forms the greater portion of Yellow Pine mining district. The district is bounded north by the Mountain Spring Range; east by the Opal Mountains; south and west by a dry lake, which is a portion of the basin above spoken of, and called Mesquit Valley. The nearest mining districts to Yellow Pine are: to the north, the New York district and Pahranagat; to the west, the Amargoza mining district; to the south, the Clark district; and to the east, the El Dorado mining district. Besides the settlements of these districts, the nearest towns to Yellow Pine are Callville, sixty miles in an easterly direction, and Fort Mojave, a Government post, eighty-five miles in a southeasterly direction, both situated on the Colorado River. At present Yellow Pine is reached from the Pacific coast by the old Salt Lake route, a distance of two hundred and eighty miles from Los Angeles via San Bernardino, over which passes all the travel of this entire southern country from west to east, and vice versa. The Colorado River, passing about fifty miles directly east of Yellow Pine, is navigable for five months of the year as far up as Callville, and a wagon-road is under construction, which will change the present western desert route from Yellow Pine to one crossing the Opal Mountains to the Colorado River, and following it to Fort Yuma, a distance of about two hundred miles, where steam navigation commences up the river or down the coast. The Potosi Mountains have an altitude varying from 5,000 to 6,300 feet. They are a very rugged chain, with deep and abrupt cañons. They have a general north and south course. The prominent points in the vicinity are: Charleston Peak, 8,500 feet, situated in Mountain Spring Range; Potosi Peak, 6,400 feet, situated in Potosi Mountains; Clark Mountain, 6,000 feet, belonging to Clark mining district, and situated in the Opal Mountains. The greater part of Yellow Pine district consists of hilly and mountainous country, covered with cedar, juniper, and nut-pine, in the lower bills to an average of eight cords per acre, farther up in the mountains to ten cords. The price of cordwood is $2 50 and that of charcoal 16 cents per bushel at Yellow Pine. On the higher plateau, north of the district and in its northern portion, occur at intervals patches of land fit for agriculture, but of limited dimensions, until the valley is reached, which runs in a southeasterly direction for seventy miles in length, formed by the Vegas and Mountain Spring Range, toward the Colorado River, where larger tracts of fertile soil are met with. Some of these have been settled partly by farmers and the various mining companies of the vicinity, and are yielding fair crops. In the southern portion of Nevada, for miles and miles, nameless mountains and valleys are met with, and people have settled only where mines have been discovered; but there is no doubt that larger tracts of good soil exist in the highlands north of Yellow Pine, to which country no attention has yet been paid. All the mountainous country northwest of the basin, including Yellow Pine district, abounds in sweet-water Springs, carrying from to 9 inches of water, while in the low desert lands west of the district only alkaline waters are found. Yellow Pine is not a new district. Work now visible, done years ago, such as ruins of old furnaces, shafts, and tunnels, and tradition, show that it has been known as a "Potosi" to the old Spanish priests employed at the different missions in California, and also to the Mormons, many years ago. The reasons for abandonment by them are not known, but it is certain that large amounts of lead have been produced for home consumption, regardless of its silver value. The Indians occupying the country in the immediate neighborhood of Yellow Pine are Pah-Utes, a very indolent, lazy tribe. They do not cultivate their soil, and are not dangerous. They relinquish their timber lands gradually to the while settlers by peaceable exchanges for the necessaries of life, and a few energetically administered lessons would soon teach them to regard theft as a crime. |