USA > Nevada > Eureka County > Eureka and its resources; a complete history of Eureka County, Nevada, containing the United States mining laws, the mining laws of the district, bullion product and other statistics for 1878, and a list of county officers > Part 2
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Ruby Hill, the principal town of importance outside of Eureka, is situated about two and a half miles westerly from Eureka, on a hill bearing the same name, and is the seat of the great lode of the district. There are situated the famous Richmond and Eureka Consolidated mines, Jackson, Phoenix, K. K., and others; of which we speak hereafter. The popu- lation consists of about 900 thrifty miners, with their fami- lies. The streets are well laid out, many handsome buildings adorn the same, among which can be mentioned the Miners' Union Hall and Theatre, a neat and cosy building, Roman Catholic and Protestant Episcopal churches, many neat stores and saloons, and the immense hoisting works of the several mining companies, cuts of which are herewith given. The Miners' Union; a body of miners 600 strong, organized for the purpose of pecuniarily protecting themselves and families
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
from the many disasters which usually occur in mines, is in a flourishing and thrifty condition, and to them and their su- perintendents is due the credit of the scientific and successful manner of deep mining in Nevada. The Ruby Hill Mining Report, a weekly paper published at that place, is strictly devoted to the mining interests of the district, and has proven itself a valuable informer to strangers in that respect.
The remaining towns of the district, Mineral Hill, Palisade, and Beowawe, are of lesser importance than Eureka. Min- ral Hill was at one time a point of some little importance. Furnaces and a mill were erected by an English company, but the venture did not prove remunerative, and latterly little or no work has been prosecuted.
Palisade is a thriving village of some 200 inhabitants. This is a busy place as it is the junction of the Eureka and Palisade railroad, where are located their machine and workshops. Most of the box and flat cars of this company are made here in their own shops. The amount of freight handled at this station is enormous. Large piles of base bullion pigs piled up at the freight house can always be seen awaiting shipment. This bullion is freighted here from the smelting furnaces at Eureka, by the Eureka and Palisade railroad, which alone handled 31,038,884 pounds during the year 1878.
One great item of freight taken down over this road is timber from the Sierra Nevada mountains, for use in timber- ing up the mines at Eureka.
Palisade, beside the machine shops above named, has sev- eral large buildings, used by the railroad company, for freights and storage, and one a fine, commodious passenger station ; these with several stores, hotels, restaurants and saloons make up the town.
The station is supplied with water from a huge tank, situ- ated upon the mountain side, to the north, 300 feet above
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
the station. This tank in turn is supplied from springs situated further up the mountain, that never fail in their supply. The Hay ranch, also the property of the Eureka and Palisade road, is situated eighteen miles south of Palisade. Here the company have 2,500 acres of bottom land fenced, on which they cut annually about 1,000 tons of hay, which they bale and store away in warehouses. The company run freight teams from the end of their road at Eureka, and- in connection with it-to Pioche and all intermediate places. These teams are composed of eighteen mules each, with three and sometimes four wagons coupled together-as illus- trated-employing from 300 to 400 mules, each team haul- ing from 30,000 to 40,000 pounds. In winter, when their mules are not in use, they are kept at this station, and the hay is harvested by the company and used for their own stock.
Beowawe; the depot of the mining districts in the Sulphur range, is somewhat smaller.
The oldest resident now living in Eureka is Mr. John S. Capron, who came to the district early in November, 1868; and perhaps to no one was the camp more indebted for its early prosperity than to him. The " Pioneer " restaurant was established by him on the present site of the Rail Road store, June, 1869, for the purpose of boarding the men employed at W. W. McCoy's furnace. This soon became a popular place of entertainment for the public, thus offering a general meeting place for all persons visiting the district, while the superior intelligence of the proprietor, and his accurate and extensive knowledge of the country, offered most timely and effective aid to many who afterwards settled, spent and made money in the camp. Not only so, but many a poor fellow whom "hard luck " rendered unable to foot his bills, found encouragement and sound advice in the proprietor's words, and support at his generous table.
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
Daniel Dalton was one of the locators of the famous Rich- mond and Eureka Consolidated mines, which have netted millions of dollars to their present owners, yet the unfortu- nate locator was left to die in a poor-house a few weeks since, with but one or two sympathetic friends to pay their last respects to the departed prospector.
The first postmaster of Eureka was Mr. George Haskell, who received his appointment through the influence of Harvey Carpenter, then postmaster at Hamilton, Nevada. This was done, and the latter's commission soon followed. He was one of the number who failed to profit by the advan- tages offered to carly settlers, and while others who followed him have grown rich, he still pursues fortune's fickle goddess, among the mines of Bodie.
At this period the camp was not known by any name, and for three weeks Haskell racked his brain for a suitable one, and he finally hit upon that of "Napias," which in the Shoshone dialect means " silver." To point in after years to what he had reason to believe would become a noted place and say that he had baptized it, was doubtless Haskell's ambition, and the cause of his solicitude. Yet how many to-day remember either Haskell or the name over which he pondered so long? Like others, he made no calculations for the uncertainties of life, and had forgotten that
"The ambitious youth who fired the Ephesian dome, outlives in fame The pious fool who reared it."
In July, 1874, a disastrous flood, caused by heavy rains, visited Eureka, which resulted in the loss of seventeen lives, and property to the value of $100,000. During the spring of the present year the town was visited by a destructive conflagration, sweeping away one-half of the town, in which one life was lost, and property to the value of $1,000,000 was '
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
destroyed. But notwithstanding these serious calamities, Eureka is pronounced to-day by the California and Nevar a press as being the most prosperous mining camp in the State.
In conclusion, it is but justice to state that to W. W. McCoy, G. Collier, Robbins David, E. Buel, Geo. W. Cassidy, C. C. Goodwin, and the late and lamented Isaac C. Bateman, Eureka is indebted to-day for her existence, and to our own present townsmen for her prospeirty.
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
CHAPTER II.
Progress of the County's Industries-Bullion Product-Furnaces-Treat- ment of Ores.
The main industry of Eureka county is silver mining. The ores demanding reduction by smelting process, the man- ufacture of charcoal is a necessary adjunct to mining. There are several localities outside of Eureka district where mining is profitably conducted.
There are now in Eureka sixteen furnaces, whose daily capacity varies from forty to sixty tons. The Lemon M. & M. Co. has also erected a mill of fifteen stamps. This was in operation for a few months, but milling ores have not yet been found in sufficient quantity to render it remunerative, and it has long been idle.
It is impossible to obtain correct statistics of the charcoal manufacture of Eureka. Its production has so far kept pace with the requirements of smelting that there has been no material change in the price for over four years. The sup- ply, however, is limited, and before long our smelters will look to the illimitable forests of the Rocky mountains and the Sierras for their coal.
A full account of the various mines of Eureka would re- quire many volumes of greater bulk than ours; but we will endeavor, in the following pages, to give such descriptions as we can glean from the best and most authentic sources.
It may be briefly stated that the area of the ore-producing region is extended with every year. Four years ago, nearly all the ore produced in the district was extracted from a few mines on Ruby Hill. While their yield has increased, new and large bodies of ore have been opened elsewhere, and the mines of Prospect mountain, McCoy Hill, and other localities,
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
bid fair ere long to rival in productiveness the mines of Ruby Hill itself. The experts differ as to the character of the form- ation of the ore bodies in the district, but the best opinion appears to be in favor of the existence of true fissure veins.
The main cause of the unexampled prosperity of the min- ing interests of Eureka is to be found in the character of the ores. They are self-fluxing. They carry from 15 to 60 per cent. of lead, and sufficient iron and silica to obviate the necessity of importing foreign material for smelting purposes. Eureka is the only known mining district possessing this all- important advantage.
The total bullion yield of Eureka district for the year 1869 was less than $100,000. Since that year it has steadily increased, until the yield for 1878 was $10,000,000.
The total amount of foreign capital invested in mining in Eureka certainly does not exceed $1,500,000, including assess- ments. In return therefor there has been extracted and reduced, in less than seven years, over $20,000,000; and min- ing in Eureka is yet in its infancy. Not only are new mines being continually opened, but in all the mines increased production follows an increase of depth, and not even in the oldest mines has great depth yet been attained. The history of Eureka lies in its future.
The sixteen furnaces in the neighborhood of the town and their capacities are as follows: Eureka Consolidated, 5 fur- naces, 300 tons; Richmond Consolidated, (limited), of London 6 furnaces, 360 tons; Atlas, 2 furnaces, 120 tons; Hoosac, 1 furnace, 50 tons; K. K. Consolidated, 1 furnace, 50 tons; Matamoras, 1 furnace, 45 tons; total daily smelting capacity, 925 tons. The cost of smelting (running two or more fur- naces) has been $13 per ton, and about 85 per cent. of the precious metal is saved, when the charge is properly fluxed.
The following article illustrates the modus operandi of the treatment of the ores peculiar to this district:
A PRIMITIVE FURNACE. From a Sketch by F. C. Robbins.
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
TREATMENT OF ORES MINED IN EUREKA DISTRCT. BY JOHN A. PORTER, M. E. (Supt. K. K. M. Co.)
"All ores mined in Eureka district are taken to the town of Eureka for metallurgical treatment.
"A branch of the Eureka and Palisade railroad furnishes a means of transportation for the mines of Ruby Hill, while ores from other parts of the district are conveyed to the fur- naces by wagon, and in some cases by pack train.
"Smelting in the lead blast furnace has been found by far the most profitable means of working Eureka ores. The method employed is technically termed the "Iron Reduction " process. Ruby Hill furnishes ninety-nine per cent. of all ores treated, which, from their chemical composition, admit of direct treatment in the blast furnace.
"The addition of proper ore for flux is highly beneficial, and frequently necessary to insure profitable smelting.
"With prodigal use of fuel, however, nearly everything will 'go through,' and it is owing to this fact that vast losses have occurred. Happily for Eureka the day of muscular chem- istry has nearly passed, but as fuel and labor command the highest prices, the first requisite is to smelt in quantity, and for this reason losses are allowed that this may be ac- complished, which in more favored localities would be criminal.
" The smelting works of Eureka are built upon the hill- sides immediately surrounding the town. The machinery and furnaces are covered by capacious buildings so arranged that ore and fuel can be easily received above the works, and carried at trifling expense to the charging floor of the furnace.
"The furnace generally in use at Eureka is a combination of the Rachette and the Pilz. The arrangement of twyers and the discharge of slag at end resembling the former, while capacious bosh and deep sump remind one of the latter.
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
" The former originated from a furnace of the Pilz pattern, built by Chas. V. Liebenan at the Eureka works, which was at that time the largest furnace in the district.
"During the past few months two mammoth furnaces have been erected at the Richmond, which in capacity surpass any furnaces for lead smelting in this country or abroad. The average amount treated daily by each exceeds 80 tons of ore in addition to fuel and flux. They were designed by Mr. E. Probert, manager of the Richmond. These furnaces are about 7' x 5' in clear at twyer line.
"A furnace to smelt about 50 tons of ore daily, of pattern heretofore used, has the following dimensions : height, from fuel hole to twyer line 10' to 12'; distance from breast to back of furnace, both at feed hole and tweer line, 4 to 5 feet; distance between twyers 2} to 3} feet; sump, 2 feet. From sump to feed floor furnaces are now constructed entirely of sand-stone, which is taken from a quarry at Pancake, some thirty miles east of Eureka, in blocks of suitable dimensions for building.
"This sandstone is easily worked, and is unsurpassed for furnace building. Owing to the excellence of this material, smelting campaigns of over twelve months have been occa- sionally made, and a furnace is seldom " blown out" under six months.
" Blast is furnished by the Baker, Root or Sturtevant blowers.
" Great difference of opinion exists as to the quantity of air required for successful smelting. The size and number of twyers being different at different works, it is unsatisfac. tory to gauge by mercurial pressure.
" With 7 twyers having nozzles of 3" a pressure of over 1" mercury should probably not be exceeded. From § to 12" mercurial pressure is the usual amount used.
" The fuel used in smelting is charcoal of most excellent quality, weighing over 17} lbs to the bushel. It is burned
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
from nut pine (Pinus Monophylla), within a radius of forty miles of Eureka. The price per bushel for the past five years has averaged about 28 cents.
" After ore and fuel is delivered on the feed floor it is measured into the furnaces by shovels.
"About 25% of fuel is required. For Ruby Hill ores a small percentage of quartz ore as well as slag is desirable. These ores contain an unusual percentage of iron and so little silicic acid (as low as 3% that it would be impossible to smelt in a blast furnace, were it not for the arsenic con- tained, which relieves the slag from a portion of iron.
""The products from smeltiug, are work lead, speise and slag.
"The work lead having greatest specific gravity, occupies the deepest part of the sump, and is drawn off from the fur- nace by means of an automatic tap.
" The lead is rather soft, containing as principal impurities arsenic and antimony.
" The automatic tap is simply a basin connecting with the lowest part of the sump by means of a canal.
" The lead in the basin, standing at the same height as lead in furnace, is easily ladled. This automatic tap was first used by Messrs. Keyes and Arnst, at the works of Eureka Consolidated, and patented by them. It is conceded by all metallurgists to be of the greatest importance in lead smelt- ing.
" Upon the lead a layer of speise forms, which is tapped at the front of furnace, from a spout placed from three to four inches below the slag floor. This spiese, or iron, as it is termed by the workmen at the furnaces, is almost pure arsenic of iron. The slag forms the highest molten layer in the furnace, and flows almost constantly, while speise is occasionally tapped, as it accmulates in the furnace.
"The following are partial analyses of K. K. and Richmond normal slags :-
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
K. K., No. 1.
RICHMOND, No. 2.
Si O2 27.68
Si O2 17.52
Fe O. 55.60
Fe O. 65.73
Al x Mn O
6.32
Al x Mn O. 5.68
Ca O.
4.52
Ca O 4.32
Pb O ..
.11
Pb O .. 2.90
"The great difference in iron and silicic acid in the fore- going analysis, is accounted for by the fact that in the K. K. mine, a large quantity of calcareous quartz ore occurs (Si O 80% Ca O 10%), which furnishes flux for bringing slag to a higher percentage of silicic acid. It is impossible at the Richmond and other mines of Ruby Hill, to obtain this material at all times in sufficient quantities, and conse- quently, a more ferruginous and less desirable slag is the result.
"The principal losses made in smelting occur in flue dust, speise and slag. The first is purely mechanical, occurring through particles of ore being carried out of the stack by blast. This dust is somewhat richer in gold than the ore treated, pointing to the fact that gold is very minutely divided.
" In the speise the loss is also greater in gold than silver, 'while in the slag owing to its basic nature, assays but a trace in gold, and only a dollar or two in silver per ton. In a total loss of about 12 per cent., the proportion of loss in dust, speise and slag, may be roughly estimated as 8:3:1.
"In the above estimates, smelting without dust chambers, is referred to. At both the Richmond and Eureka Companies, quite a saving of flue dust is effected by long flues.
"The following notes from short smelting campaigns, with- out dust chambers, on K. K., Phoenix and Hamburg ores, will serve to illustrate the percentages of loss and amount of fuel used.
"Hamburg ore was treated in a furnace rather under aver- age capacity. In the three campaigns, the amount of fuel
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
was taken from actual coal purchased, and includes all waste.
"The quantity of ore treated is also exact, every pound having been weighed as delivered at the furnace, and a clean up made at the close of each run.
" From the nature of the ore, which was received at the works in finely divided state, exact samples were obtained.
K. K .- LOW GRADE ORE.
K. K. Ferruginous ore (moist) 10,816,162 Ibs.
66 Silicious 1,341,402 "
Purchased 1,159,698 "
.
Total moist ore 13,377,262 1bs.
Dry ore, 11,602,160 1bs .; assay value, $215,530 28.
Bullion produced 18,690 bars; 1,691,614 Ibs .; assay value, $187,423.08.
Charcoal used, 217,253 bushels; working percentage, 87%.
HAMBURG-LOW GRADE ORE-TWO MONTH'S RUN.
Hamburg, moist 4,976,060 1bs.
Dry .4,329,173 lbs; assay value .... $70,823 56
Purchased " 371,588 bs .; . 18,218 55
Total amount 4,700,761 Ibs .; assay value .... $89,042 11
Bullion produced, 741,945 Ibs .; assay value, $78,788 59.
Charcoal consumed, 95,473 bushels.
88% working percentage; silver, 87%; gold, 90%: cost of smelting, $17 per ton.
PHOENIX-LOW GRADE ORE-ONE MONTH'S RUN.
Phoenix Moist ore 2,479,760 1bs.
Dry 2,107,796 Ibs,; assay value. ... $40,575 20
Purchased Dry ore 272,649 Ibs .; 11,405 41 Total amount. $2,380,445 1bs .; assay value. ... $51,980 61
Bullion produced, 3,796 bars; 361,807 Ibs; assay value, $44,456.42. Charcoal consumed, 43,819 bushels; working percentage, 854%.
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
CHAPTER III.
General Geology of the District.
Immediately east of the long and narrow gulch, in which lies the town of Eureka, we find some high lava hills, which extend, interrupted by valleys, very nearly to White Pine, 400 miles distant to the southeast. Bordering on the lava hills, and extending also west of the town a few hundred yards, are trachytic tufas of whitish or pinkish color. These rocks, probably volcanic ash, are used for building material. When freshly quarried they may be easily shaped with an axe; but, on exposure, they lose much water and become quite hard. The tufas extend southerly along the main gulch about one mile. South of the town we note also other gulches; the most westerly, called Goodwin Cañon, skirts along Prospect Mountain; the next, called New York Cañon, runs more or less parallel with the main gulch, and ends in a species of basin against a portion of Prospect Mountain; the next to the east follows along southerly, and, crossing a low divide, forms the highway to Scout Cañon District. The main gulch receives some minor tributaries from the east and passes on to Fish Creek Valley. At the point first mentioned, south of the town where the tufas give out, occurs a prominent ledge of sandstone, from which rock has been taken for lining the smelting furnaces. This sandstone reef is largely devel- oped on the eastern side of the Diamond Range, facing Newark Valley, and appears again some 15 miles to the east, as a part of the coal measures at Pancake. It is hence called Pancake Rock. The mechanical aggregation of its quartzy particles varies very much. In some specimens the sandstone is dis- tinctly granular; in others it appears compact, tough, and close-grained. Only the former variety is used for the fur-
1131954
FOLWAR ING PALPRESS ORLD
EUREKA CONSOLIDATED FURNACES. From a Photograph by Louis Monaco.
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
naces; and when so used it must be built in with the edges of the bedding exposed to the fire; otherwise, it shales off in large flakes. But one fossil has been found in the Eureka reefs. This appeared like a short section of a small wood screw about three inches long and nearly half an inch thick. The fossil was surrounded by a hollow cylindrical space, leaving the articulations free, the extreme ends of which formed part of the inclosing rock. The specimen has unfor- tunately been lost. In New York Cañon we find a series of true clay shales, which furnish the tamping for the furnaces. On the western side of the same gulch we find a high ridge of calcaro-silicious rock, called Silver Hill. This last contains some specimens of ore, and has been located for mining purposes. In places it has yielded some very rich ore carrying chloro-bromide of silver. No well marked deposit has, how- ever, as yet been uncovered. A similar ore in similar rock has also been found on and near Adams Hill, about three miles west from the town.
Adjoining the town, a little south of west, are two hills of trachytic tufas, and again west of these an isolated hill of massive quartz or quartzite called Caribou Hill. In places this hill shows some very rich specimens of chloro-bromide of silver, but not as yet in any great quantity.
Due south of the town and west of the main gulch, not delineated upon the map, is a high mountain of massive quartz or quartzite, whereon are situated the Hoosac and other mines. The Hoosac has yielded large quantities of antimoniacal lead ores, some of which were very rich in silver, but carried no gold.
In this respect they, in common with the ores found in the silicious lime ridges, differ from the lead-bearing ores of the dolomitic limestone, all of which latter carry more or less gold.
Southwest of Caribou Hill we come to Ajax Hill and Ruby Hill. The former is merely an easterly continuation of the
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EUREKA AND ITS RESOURCES.
latter. The quartzites and silicified limestones extend in a north- erly and southerly direction from Adams Hill on the north to and beyond the Hoosac mine on the south. A heavy line of calcareous shales is found, more or less continuously, between the same points. They seem to bear some fixed relationship to the quartzites, and are probably the remnants of conform- ably deposited beds. Back of Ruby Hill, to the south, the high peak of Prospect Mountain towers about 2,000 feet above the valley. It consists superficially of limestone, and has, on both flanks, many outcrops of ore which seem to occupy a succession of gash veins. On the western side of the mountain,, the quartzite reappears and extends to the south for several miles in the direction of Spring Valley. Still west again we find the limestones, wherein there are some few mining locations. The limestones extend onward to the west, a distance of about 60 miles, until we approach Smoky Valley, which bounds, on the east, the Toiyabe range of mountains, in which are the granite formations of the Reese River and other districts. To the east of Eureka, the same broad belt of dolomitic limestone extends quite to the limits of the Great Basin, and is broken only by the valleys, and by occasional outpourings of the volcanic rocks, and rare appearances of the deep-lying granites.
The Eureka limestones carry Silurian and Devonian tri- lobites in but two places, as far as known at present. The one is at a point near the northwesterly end of Ruby Hill, in the direction of the extreme southerly spur of Adams Hill, and the other is in New York Cañon, directly east of the Mor- timer mine, at a point about 2} miles south of the town. These fossils are all small; the largest being about the size of a finger nail.
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