Mr. Carlyle estimates that 10,535 lineal feet of tunnel will be through solid rock, and 9,643 through decomposed rock requiring timbering,

Shaft No. 1 is 74 feet by 134 feet, and shafts Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are 73 feet by 14 feet, outside of planking. They are timbered and planked from top to bottom, and divided into two com partments-one for pumping out the water, and the other for raising the excavated material. Preliminary tunnels are driven from the bottom of these shafts in both directions till they meet. These tunnels are in solid rock, five feet in width and seven feet high, the top being a semicircle. In rock requiring timbering they are of a box-shape, four feet wide on top, five feet on bottom, and six feet four inches inside of the timbering, with a channel below for drainage.

TIME REQUIRED TO FINISH TUNNEL.-"The time required to sink the different shafts on the Sutro tunnel, and make connections of the drifts from the same, I estimate as follows, on the basis that four feet can be sunk per day on the shafts, and five feet made on the drifts:

Connection from drift No. 1 in 462 working days. "Connection from drift No. 2 in 693 working days. "Connection from drift No. 3 in 708 working days. "Connection from drift No. 4 in 815 working days.

"Since all these shafts would be progressing at the same time, the connections from shafts Nos. 1, 2, and 3 will be made before those of No. 4, and the whole time, therefore, required to finish a preliminary tunnel to the Comstock lode would be 815 days.

The enlargement of this preliminary tunnel will progress from the mouth from time to time as the connections are made, and will be completed up to a point midway between shafts three and four by the time the last connection is finished. From that point 4,618 feet would still remain to be enlarged, which would occupy 116 days. The total time, therefore, required to complete the Sutro tunnel to the Comstock lode would be 931 days, or two years, six months, and 21 days."

The committee would remark in regard to the removal of the rock for 4,618 feet, that estimating the sectional area at nine yards, the amount is only 13,854 cubic yards, on which, as the cut can be worked all along the top and at the two ends, sufficient number of men can be employed to remove it in the time indicated.

Mr. Carlyle then cites numerous instances of shafts sunk by different companies, and tunnels driven to the Comstock lode, which prove that his estimate of four feet per day in sinking shafts, and five feet in driving tunnels, whenever prosecuted with energy, is confirmed by experience, making due allowance for their size and other circumstances, which in some cases have retarded work.

Your committee are of the opinion that, with proper energy, a sufficiency of capital, and provided no extraordinary obstacles are encountered, the tunnel might be finished in the time stated, but it is so well known that delays are met with in works of this kind, from causes impossible to anticipate, that it is probable that an additional time of least one year may be occupied. It is safe to say that, making all due allowance for contingencies, the tunnel can be completed in from three and a half to four years.

SECTION XX.

EASTERN NEVADA.

The eastern Nevada mining region, as the term is used, is understood to include that part of Nevada constituting the counties of Lander, Nye, and Lincoln; being considerably more than half the State; or embracing an area of three and a half degrees of longitude and seven of latitude, if we include the portion of territory taken from Arizona and added to this State by an act of the 39th Congress; making an aggregate of about 60,000 square miles, or an area equal to the entire State of New York, with several of the lesser New England States added. This great region, at the beginning of the present decade, was almost entirely unknown to the world, as it was unoccupied and unexplored, save one or two routes travelled by the emigrant from the valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific coast. It had been crossed along the line of the Humboldt river, and upon the more direct route, part of which is now the road taken by the great overland mail. Frémont and other explorers had also crossed by different routes, but they had regarded it as a sterile waste, and without looking for minerals or what might give value to the country, sought only for routes or passes by which they could most expe

difiously leave it. So little was learned from these explorations that until within a few years past the country had been marked upon the maps as an unexplored region, generally destitute of vegetation and water, and sparsely occupied by a homeless, wandering, and degraded race of Indians. The desolation and sterility, not only of this particular region, but of all the country lying between the Rocky mountains and the Sierra Nevada, had become so generally acknowl-. edged, that the wish had been expressed that these ranges of mountains might come together, and this great region be obliterated from the surface of the earth. The general appearance of the country throughout the "great basin" indicates that a partial elimination has taken place, as, topographically it presents the appearance of having once been a vast plain, which being pressed by the two great mountain ranges bordering on the east and west, broke or wrinkled the surface into parallel ridges and valleys whose axial lines quite regularly extend north and south. These corrugations are a prominent characteristic of the country south of the Humboldt river, and north of the 36th parallel of latitude. A peculiar feature of this section is, that it has no outlet to the sea, but its streams, which, though generally small, are quite numerous, flow from the mountains to the valleys, sometimes for a considerable distance in the valleys, and then are lost in the sand. The mountains, which rise precipitously, are from a few hundred to 5,000 feet above the subjacent plain, and as the general elevation of the plains is about 5,000 feet above the sea, the most lofty peaks attain au altitude above tide-water of 10,000 fect. These hills and mountains are usually covered with scanty patches of pine, cedar, and mahogany trees, furnishing excellent fuel, but generally valueless for building material, although there are localities where there are groves of pine, from which a fair quality of lumber is manufactured. These hills and valleys, if forbidding in their general aspect, and apparently barren, produce a most excellent and nutricious species of bunch grass, and constitute a very superior grazing country; while in the many cañons of the mountains, and in all the large valleys, are tracts of land of an exceedingly productive character. The lands susceptible of profitable tillage amount in the aggregate to a considerable area, and are capable of furnishing most of the products of the farm grown in temperate climates. The grasses, grain, and vegetables are of good quality. Agriculture and manufactures can be conducted on a limited scale, and will be great assistants to the chief resource of the countrymining. The mineral-bearing veins of eastern Nevada were first made known in 1862, at the time when attention was called to the subject by the developments made upon the "Comstock ledge," and from which near $75,000,000 of silver have been taken. The history of this discovery says:

Early in the month of May, 1862, William H. Talcott, an attaché of the stage station at Jacobs's Springs, a post on the transcoutinental stage route, while hauling wood from the hillside, now within the limits of the city of Austin, discovered a vein of metal-bearing quartz, and carried a small quantity with him to the station. The rock proving to contain silver, the ledge was located as a mining claim, and named the Pony, as the discoverer had formerly been a rider of the pony express. On the 10th day of May, 1862, a mining district was formed, including an area 75 miles in length east and west, and 20 miles north and south, and named the Reese river mining district. A code of laws was adopted after the custom of miners, and William M. Talcott, the discoverer, elected recorder, and the claims already discovered were recorded.

The extent of the district east and west is nominally 75 miles, but really it ouly extends from the western base of the mountain to the summit, about three miles.

This was the inauguration of the Reese river mining region. Its name is derived from a small stream called Reese river, flowing from south to north through the valley which borders the western base of the mountains. The extreme length of Reese river is about 150 miles, when it empties into the Humboldt, but the water usually sinks and is lost before reaching the latter stream. The valley averages about five miles in width, and contains some good agricultural

land. The mountain range in which the silver was found received the name of "Toiyabee," an Indian word, meaning a range of hills. This range is of about the same length as the river, and is from 5 to 15 miles broad through its base, and rises above the subjacent valley from 1,000 to 5,000 feet. It is geologically composed of primitive rocks, of which granite or gneiss and slate are the principal, with quartzite, limestone, serpentine, porphyry, and others as occasional varieties. In all are found veins of quartz-bearing gold, silver, copper, lead, antimony, and other metals. In its general character, appearance, and formation it resembles the numerous other ridges running parallel to it through the country, and from 10 to 30 miles distant from each other, separated by valleys generally containing a proportion of tolerable soil, yet unoccupied and irreclaimed. The discovery of silver being made known, the news spread rapidly and the people flocked to the locality. Situated on the line of the overland stage and telegraph, it was convenient to reach. The site for a large town was surveyed, and Austin was built; now incorporated as a city, with its mayor and board of aldermen, city officers, police, a city hall, a daily newspaper, saloons and stores, a national bank, private banks and assay offices, costly churches, public and private schools, public halls and lecture rooms, comfortable private dwellings, gasworks for lighting the city, water-works and pipes supplying the houses, sewered streets, stages running in all directions, and the telegraph connecting it with all parts of the world-in fact, possessing the usual features of a city. Referring again to the history of Austin in the directory of the city, the writer says: "Centrally in the State of Nevada is the young and happy city of Austin. Should its locality be sought for on the map of America, it will be found where is usually marked the vacancy of the unexplored regions,' in latitude 30° 29′ 30′′, and in longitude west from Washington 40° 4′, or 117° 5' west from Greenwich, England, being almost precisely in the geographical centre of Nevada."

This centre is conveniently reached from the east or west, and without hardship or danger. The great trans-continental highway runs through it with a daily stage, mail, and express. Two other stages, running between Austin and the Pacific, carry passengers and freight at very low rates. By daily stage the journey from San Francisco to Austin is performed in four days, at the cost of $50. By the other stages the time is greater by one or more days; the cost is from $15 to $30. The road is good, and freight wagons bearing 10,000 to 15,000 pounds weight are taken over it. The distance to San Francisco is 473 miles, of which more than half is travelled by steamboat and railroad. From the east the traveller leaves the Missouri river by the cars of the Union Pacific railroad or its branches. After the present year (1867) the cars will quickly and easily bear him 600 miles westward over the great plains, and thence by stage 900 miles through Bridger Pass by Salt Lake to Austin, requiring about 10 days of travel. Great bodies of immigrants cross annually with their own conveyances, subsisting their animals upon the native grasses, or, as may be done at the present time, purchasing forage which is produced at the settlements along the road. This mode of travel greatly lessens the expense, but requires from 40 to 60 days for the journey.

The laws and customs of Nevada, which are recognized by the government of the United States, permit miners upon the discovery of metal-bearing lodes in an unoc cupied locality to organize a mining district, designate its bounds, pass a code of laws regulating the location and tenure of mining property, and choose a recorder of locations. These districts are usually from 10 to 20 miles square, though governed by the physical features of the country and the contiguity of other districts. REESE RIVER DISTRICT-HOW CLAIMS ARE ACQUIRED.-Reese River district, Lander county, was the first organized, and has given its name to the surrounding country. Its mineral belt comprises an area on the western slope of the Toiyabee mountains, about two miles in width and seven in length. The dimensions were formerly greater, but the area mentioned comprises what

is now considered as the district. Upon organization a code of laws was adopted regulating the size and manner of location of mining claims. The law as first passed accorded to the locators of a vein the ground and all the mineral it contained for a width of 200 feet on each side of the vein located. In a few months large additions were made to the population, and the law was amended so as to restrict ownership to the lode or vein actually discovered and located, with the privilege of occupying the surface necessary for working the mine. The mining laws of other districts in eastern Nevada do not differ materially from those of Reese river. The laws of Congress acknowledge the validity of these rules and permit miners to go upon the public lands and take possession of the mines, promising no interference. These laws explain themselves. The ground is public and open to all the world. Any man can go upon it, and by finding a vein of gold, or silver, or any other ore can make it his own, and is assured and protected in his title. In no other country is such a privilege given. A country stored with wealth invites the people of all the earth to come and take possession and become independent land-owners and miners.

Within the limits of the district over 6,000 locations have been made, but this does not indicate the number of distinct silver-bearing veins known to exist. There are many hundreds of known value. These veins are in the granite rock, and are from six inches to three feet in thickness. They generally lie parallel to each other, with a strike northwest and southeast and a dip to the northeast. A movement of the rock has at scne places been made, and these ledges are broken or have "faults," and the angle of their dip is not so great.

MODE OF WORKING.-The veins are usually explored by means of an inclined shaft commencing where the ore appears at the surface, and following down with the dip of the ledge. When, after thus sinking a distance suflicient to render certain the existence and character of the vein, it is thought desirable to open it as a mine, and to work it conveniently, a perpendicular shaft is sunk at a point some distance from the outcrop, as the ground permits, calculating to pierce the vein at a depth of 100 feet or more beneath the surface. These shafts are of different dimensions, the best being about 5 by 15 feet. The cost of sinking such a shaft and securely timbering it is about $60 per foot of depth.

DESCRIPTION OF ORES.-A belt of silver-bearing veins runs from Marshall cañon, in the southern part of the district, northerly to the Amador district, a distance of about six miles. This belt is about half a mile in width. In it are a great number of parallel veins similar in character and generally rich. The different localities are designated as follows, commencing at the south: Miguel cañon, Marshall's cañon, Union hill, Central hill, Lander hill, Emigrant cañon, Telegraph cañon, Yankee Blade, and New York ravine, the northern line of the district separating it from Amador. Each of these localities is locally known for its particular mines in the more advanced stages of development. Those of the district most systematically opened are the Great Eastern, Timoke, Oregon, North Star, Florida, Magnolia, Savage, Diana, Troy, Buel North Star, Providencia, Kaleseed, and some others on Lander hill, in the city of Austin, and within an area of a few hundred yards square. These are veins, the gangue being quartz, of 10 inches to two feet in width, of highly concentrated ore, easily and cheaply mined. On Central hill are the North River, Hubbard, Naiad Queen, Penobscot, and others, which are well developed and have produced a considerable amount of bullion. On Union hill are the Whitlatch Union, Camargo, Silver Chamber, and Tuscarora, from which bullion has been taken. At Yankee Blade and in the vicinity are the Confidence, Maggie, Ontario, Yankee Blade, Whitlatch Yankee Blade, Miami, Chase, Metacom, Midas, Green Emigrant, Vineyard, Vedder, and Sclavonia, most developed and of the best promise, while many others are located, partially developed, and regarded as valuable. A catalogue of the locations made in the district, or an opinion regarding them, would be useless; many have been abandoned after some slight

developments. The general character of the ore throughout the district is the same in the same relative positions. At the surface, and to the depth of 50 to 70 feet, where water is found, the vein matter is loose and friable, has a dirty or earth-stained appearance, and the silver is found in the form of a chloride ore, presenting a dark or straw-colored appearance. When the water is reached the vein matter shows the white, clear quartz, and the ore, then usually an antimonial sulphuret, is quite black, and, contrasted with the white quartz, presents a beautiful appearance. Its value is readily ascertained by one experienced in observing it. The ore taken from below, where the water has long existed in the earth, often contains beautiful crystals of silver. From these mines are obtained specimens which adorn the cabinets of the mineralogists, the lovers of the beautiful and unique, and the curiosity hunter.

The limits of this report do not permit a full description of the varieties of ores, nor the discussion of the formations of the veins. It will suffice to notice the manner of their development, and to show their value. In the district, as

has been said, are more than 6,000 locations of mines of 500 to 2,000 feet each. Probably 1,000 of these have been so far developed as to prove that they possess a value; but of this number only a few are at present mined. A description of a few of the most noted on Lander hill will give an insight into the character of all and an idea of the extent of operations to be undertaken in the future.

THE NORTH STAR, belonging to the Manhattan Company, was located in 1862. In its first stages of development it was opened by an incline, which exposed chloride of silver ore, and was mined with some profit. At a greater depth the ore was a sulphuret. Subsequently a perpendicular shaft was sunk, piercing the vein at the depth of 200 feet, and with powerful steam hoisting machinery the mine is still worked with profit. The vein is encased in granite, is generally about 14 inches in width, and is mined without the aid of powder. In February last, of some hundreds of tons mined and reduced at the mill of the company, the average product was $240 per ton of 2,000 pounds. The workings of the quarter ending June 30 show 507 tons, and a product of $149 40 per ton. The ore found in this mine, as in all the others in the district when below the line of permanent water, is commonly denominated a sulphuret, although it comprises several varieties of ore containing sulphur.

THE OREGON is a parallel vein within a few hundred feet of the North Star, belongs to the same company, is worked by the aid of the same machinery, and in all respects resembles it.

THE GREAT EASTERN is opened by a perpendicular shaft, and is advantageously worked. In one month, to the labor of 30 men it produced 137 tons of ore, which returned of bullion an average of $346 77 per ton, or an aggregate of $47,507 50. The vein is from 10 to 30 inches in thickness, averaging perhaps 18 inches. The gangue is a clear white quartz, and the ore, which constitutes a large percentage of the vein, is an antimonial sulphuret, or, as locally termed, a ruby silver, from its dark red or ruby color. The mine was first opened by an incline following the inclination of the ledge, which dipped at an angle of about 30° from a horizontal, to the depth of 250 feet, developing much good ore, although the vein was very narrow. For the better opening of the mine a perpendicular shaft was sunk at a distance of 400 feet northeast of the croppings, which pierced the ledge at a depth of 300 feet. At this depth it was found of greater size and value than in the incline. It is unfortunate that at the date of this report the workings should be in barren rock. A depth of 350 feet has been reached, and extensive explorations have been made without finding ore of the quality which heretofore made its workings so profitable. The mine is worked through the vertical shaft before spoken of, which is divided into compartments to create a current of air, that passes down one compartment and up another, affording excellent ventilation. At the greatest depth (350 feet) the