Unwatering the Comstock Lode

AN operation of immense interest to miners and mining generally has been in progress for the past five months in Nevada, in the district embracing the well known Comstock mines. The remarkable circumstances connected with the discovery and development of the wonderful lode upon which these famous mines are located is a matter of comparatively recent history—too recent to require more than a passing reference. The wild speculation, which followed their discovery, forms one of the most thrilling pages of the annals of the Far West. It is estimated that up to the year 1886 the assay value of the gold and silver extracted from these mines amounted to $500.000,000. It was during this period of greatest production that the race of California multi-millionaires arose. Up to 1886 the exploration of all the territory embraced in the Comstock lode was industriously pursued, one shaft reaching a depth of 3,300 feet, but the exhaustion of ore bodies of high grade and the large expense attending milling and mining together with the heavy tax necessary in controlling the enormous volumes of water which every where flowed from the ground caused an abandonment of all mining below the 1,600-foot level. Another element of difficulty was the high temperatures experienced on the deeper levels, which increased as the shafts were lowered until miners were able only to work in shifts of a few moments in length.

In a few months the water arose to within 1,640 feet of the surface opening of the Consolidated California and Virginia shaft, and at that level it has remained for nearly thirteen years. Above this level mining has been prosecuted with some success since the lower levels were flooded, and it is now believed that all pay ore bodies above the 1,600-foot level are practically exhausted.