The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 23, 1905, Page 20

TR REVIEWS TONOPAH AR TR RS S SMELTERSARE CHOKED BY OUTPUT. STONEHAM DEPICTS Brw. J STONEHAM. J Stone- eritie mp and er of mines ge of the 1to over- may be poted prejudice r and fuel the added to ated by r nearest L necessary that $100 per ton ginal dis- e Tonopah a. covering outeropped CONDITIONS AEE CONQUERED. of the faith ia , has overcome conditions, and versa Ly in Southwestern Nevada. men be given e position it orid. sited a west- ideas of ed by read- Tonopah must a disappeintment. absence of the dirty is generally de- ¥ attired in top siouch hat, out of each v sup- £ the hours away by town or 1 pieces on the ing dance y-gurdy bouses cater to his amusement at night. In place of this, although the town is “run wide open,” it is as quiet and as orderly at any up to dato city. There is mothing attractive about the cou through w the Tonopah railroad pesses on its way to the camp. It crosses long siretches of sandy desert, bare of all vegetation but a scanty growth of the sagebrush which gave Nevada the title of the *“Sagebrush State.” The desert is bordered by ranges of bare, rugged, forbidding look- ing mountains, in many places curiously and brilllantly stained with mineral or of a dark brown hue, betraying their volcauic formation of lava It is a treeless, waterless region; and naturally and almost unconscioualy the traveier says, “surely if this country Is not good for mining, is it good for anything?’ Yet here at certain seasons sheep have been pastured for years, growing fat on some varieties of sage and the occa- sional juicy bunch grass which springs up after the winter snow has melied away. And beneath these desert sands a plentiful supply 6f water can found, while many a clear spring of purest water flows In the canxons of those desolate looking mountains. ATTRACTIONS OF DESERT. With all its drawbacks this vast desert has its great attractions to hun- id be of the| he barrier of prejndice | he £ demonstrat- | here in Tonopah, | be | TUESDAY, MAY 23, ‘1505. would never wish to live A climate unequaled in the its conti s sunshine; in winter light o sional falls of except on the summits of its mountain _peake, a summer ho than San Francisco, with cool the clear desert air and the won- sunrises and sunsets casting 1y indescribable colors on the alns give a charm to the country which imperceptibly enthralls the resi- dent until he declares the desert to be his home. Here in a sandy reach of the San An- tonio Range the Tonopah Railroad 1nds the traveler in the town of Tono- nestling between the mineralized mountains now being divested of thelr burfed wealth. For a few miles he has seen the smoke stacks and the head- its rom the solitude and desert to the busy depot is startling. The frelght yards are piled up with all kirds of commodities from groceries to furniture and mining machinery. quiet of the Here are vast piles of hay, lumber and coal, mingled with freight cars loaded with ore for the smeliers. Im- mense wagons with wheels six feet eight inches wide, two and tched together in a line, and drawn by from tw: e to twenty-twe rses end mules, are loaded up with kinds of supplies for such distant ps as Goldfield, Bulifrog and Ka- Watch how the teamster drives his twenty-two animals with a single line, and directing them by his voice, sses out of the crowded freight yards and ns a cormer in a style that uses despalr and envy to rise in the breast of the ordinary driver. 1In astonishment the new arrival wen- ders at all this activity, these enorrious piles of tons of goods, the many teams and the general unmistakable signs of busy prosperity. Here within a few yards of the depot is the Tonopah Ex- | tension mine, close by is the Tonopah mill and the Midway mine, and but a short distance away at the foot Mount Oddie is the Movtana Tonopah land the Tonopah mine; and perched like an eagle’s nest on the side of the mountain is the North Star and a dozen other mines near by. These are the use of it all, the same cause that built up San Francisco, the rush for gold, a prosperous mining camp the | Breatest civilizing agent throughout the | world. TONOPAN’S MAIN STREET. The main street of Tonopah, where fiye short years ago stood one small linen tent. runs southward for half a mile through the town. The sidewalks are concreted and the street is lined with handsome stores and two-story buildings, mostly of frame, but there are also some substantial stone struc- tures occupied by banks and .stores. with the upper floor as offices. On the rising ground to the west. some hand- some residences of stone, frame and adobe have been built by the wealthier residents, who are also endeavoring to cultivate trees. Tonopah is estimated to have a popu- lation of between four and five thou- sand_people, which will undoubtedly be greatly increased in the near future. It has two banks—the Nye and Ormsby County Bank and the ageney of the State Bank and Trust Company—both financial- ly strong and doing an immense and rapidly Increasing business. “And a National Bank has just been organized. It hae three churches, oneé each of the Presbyterian, Catholic and Episcopalian depominations, & Jarge schoolhouse with a. daily attendance of over 150 pupils, an | opera-house, a splendid social club with | a membership of 200, famed for its hos- ipl'n]hy to visitors; two hotels and a | large number of comfortable well fur- i nished rooming houses. The stores, most of which are, as are | the private residences, lighted by elec- | tricity, carry enormous stocks of every ‘\clnsi of goods, from a pair of overaliz i to diamond rings worth $1000 each. By | a recent act of the Legisiature Tonopah has been created the county seat of | Xye County and a contract has just | been let for the building of a stone | Courthouse to cost $26.000, Indeed, | 6tone quarried oné mile from the town {is rapidly replacing the old frame | buildings and on Main street alone four | stone structures are nearing ‘comple- | tion, and & pew hotel of stone is also | about to be built. Ir, all over $300,000 | worth of new buildings are contracted | for. There are no police in Tonopah. . Or- der is kept by the Sheriff, his deputies and a Constable, who, with a Justice of the Peace, find time hanging heavily | on their hands, so little Have they to do. i A movement is now oun foot among vast wealth of Nevada's new — PRAISES THE CALL. BY GEORGE S. NIXON, U. S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA. [} THE San Francisco Call is to be congratulated. Nothing hitherto published gives any adequate conception of the mining ficlds. The future of . | Tonopah, Goldfield and Bullfrog wwill dwarf into petty. little- ness all the present great mining districts of this hemisphere, and the news sent ont of Nevada will set the minds of men, the world over, aflame with desire to participate in the almost illimitable riches of this new Golconda. » ite s + r of different mines, but the change | of | ‘Ihe citizens to incorporate the town and invest it with the dignity of a | Mayor and obtain municipal govern- ment and the many improvements that follow in its train, 'such as a larger | schoolhouse and a high school. - The citizens of Tonopah represent every grade from every rank of life—lawyers, stock brokers, doctors, dentists, mining engineers, store keepers, miners and the miscellaneous crowd that is invari- ably aksociated with a mining camp. Balls and other social functions are frequent and the Masons, Elks, Eagles |and other orders are strongly repre- sented. What was always regarded as the great drawback to Tonopah—tHe water | supply—has now been solved. A.com- | pany of California capitalists acquired what is known as the Rye Patch, situ- ated fifteen miles north of Tonopah, and. by sinking wells has secured a practically unlimited supply of pure water. A large pumping station with { pumps capable of raising 400,000 gal- | lons of water per day has been con- structed and the water is pumped up into a reservelr on the summit of a | mountain and flows by gravity through | seven-inch main to Tonopah, where it is conneeted with all the business houses, the flre hydrants and most cf the private residences, the total outlay of capital being over $220,000. NEWSPAPERS OF TONOPAH. | Besi@es a daily paper, The Tonopah Daily Sun, a very creditable journal re- cently established, the camp has two weekly papers, The Tonopah Miner of twelve pages, which gives the mining news from all the districts of South- western Nevada, tile editor belng Sam €. Dunham, a well-khown and briiliant journalist. The other weekly mining raper is the Tonopeh Bonanza, the pio- | neer journal of “theé camp. This is owned by W. W. Booth, . | Tonopah is well served by two local | telephone companies with house to | house connection -and extending to | Goldfield, and one company has contin- | ved its wires to Bullfrog. A local tele- | graph company, cennects with the | Western Union at ville, and the | Western Unioh Telegraph Company has also just completed its own line to the town. i | Among the' improvements about to be undertaken immediately is a sacond electric light plant 'and a franchiss has also been granted for a complete sew- erage system; while the growth of ile | town is so rapid that a streetcar rys- tem is admitted to be necessary. The discovery of Tonopah, like many another great mining camp, was al- miost a matter of chance. .On tho west slope of Mount Oddlie outeropping views | were found by James L. Butler of hard barren looking hungry quarts, heavily | stained with black oxide of manganesa, | which passed from hand to hand befors it was finally assayed, partly because the discoverer had not the means o pay for assaying and partly bceause its appearance was no - inducemeént to an assayer to de the work for an ‘n- terest in the claims: , We know now that some time in the dim and distant past these veins had been disuovercd by otliers and perchince the sama reii- son caused them to be disregarded and again become a secret of the daser®. | But the richness of the ore and tlin | faet that it would stand $75 per ton | freight as well as-smelter charyes and still pay a splendid profit;,sgon . caused the. fame of Tonopah te:'be noised abroad. The owners not having «api- tal to open up the mine resorted to the leasing system and in all about 200 verbal léases were ‘granted on what are now known the Mizpah, Valiey View and Burro Nos. 1 and 2 veins. Not all of the leases proved profit- able, for in some the.values were scat- tered or spotted, and in some the ore was too low grade to bear the heavy expense entailed in marketing it. Nevertheless, the output from these leages was so-great that soon smel- ters at 8an Francisco, Everett and Ta- coma were choked with Tonopah ore. In the meantime water had been found on the sixty miles bf’ desert between Tonopah and Sodaville. “the railroad poirit, thus enabling leasers tg ship out at a profit ore of a minimum value of $100 per ton. \ The leasing period ended on Decem- ber 31, 1901} and In about thirteen months to that date the camy had pro- duced about $3,000,000 worth of siiip- ping ore, ruhning from $100 ts $500 per ton, in addition to which the leas- crs left op the dumps for treatment at some future time about 20,000 tons “low-grade” ore valued at an average of $47 per ton. And the mine was sold. TONOPAH COMPANY OF NEVADA. Philadelphia capitalists organized a company known as the Tonopzh Mining Company of Nevada with a eapital of $1,300,000, of which 300,000 were pref- erence hares and constitited a mort- gage on the property, bearing 8 per cent interest per atnum, and the only out- cropping veins ‘mt Tonopak, covering but a small area, passed into their ‘yolun- sion on January 1, 1902, 4 Because the main work of the camp was concentrated on this property, be- cause these were the only veins that appeared the surface,'the pess proclaimed it & “ene-mine camp.” Other companies were formed—t| the Midway, Belmont, North Star, Weést End, Salt h!‘:yh end Fr went up they were organizets of these ‘had in_their ‘gfound and era of “blind sinking’ decried, called for X has been so marvelously. opening up some -of the | greatest mines in A3 to The Tonopah Mining Ce Beveoped s pickirty iy g : _richest and {on its dip at the 800-foot level, and the the: m'prt'ue‘u- of which a plant will be uously since January 1, 1902, and tite underground workings now amount | to ‘nearly = three miles, most of| which are in ore of payable grade: | The main three compartment working shaft, known as the Mizpah No. 1, has been sunk vertically to a depth of 845 | feet, and cut through the Mizpah vein | principal development work has been done on the 500 and 300 foot levels. | The Brougher shaft has been sunk on the dip of the vein to a depth of 100; feet in a shoot.of high-grade shipping, | Which at the lowest depth well main- tains its values. Two other shafts, ! the Cutting and the Lynch, have also | been*sunk o a depth of 300 feet on the | same: vein and are also in high-grade | ore. Thirteen hundred and fifty feet lcast of the Mizpah No. 1 shaft, tiie Desert Queen shaft has been sank to a depth of 1127 feet and throush. it the | Mizpah veln is being opened up in the ground belonging to the Tonopah Bel- mont Development Company. One other shaft, known as the Silver Top, has been sunk to a depth of T4 feet on the Valley View vein and drifts 4 have been run east on the 340 and 440 foot levels and west on the 50 foot level. This vein |s sixty-eight feet wide on the 300-foot level and 1s mastly of milling grade ore, but having from three to eight feet of shipping ore on the hanging wall side. The Mizpah vein Is from five feet to fourteen feet wide and the highest grade ore occurs in shoots at Irregular intervals. Both veins have an east and west coursa. Since its discovery the production of the rilne is as follows! Extracted By lessees, $4,900,000; shipped by company to date, $4,270,940; total, $5,270,940. During the current year the com- pany has paid, off the 300.000 preference shares, and on the 22d of April last dis- tributed a ‘dividend of 25 cents per share, amounting to $2§0,000, and it is understood that regular quarterly divi- dends will be paid hereafter. The mine is well equipped for extenslve develop- ment work, Immense self dumping ore bins are nearing' completion and rail- road trackk have been built up to the varjous shafts to facilitate ore ship- ments. In 1903, the company realized that in order to supply the necessities of Tonopah and carry to the smelters the vast tonnage of medium grade ores, which were not sufficiently high grade to bear the cost of hauling by team, the camp must be provided with a rall- road, and statistics then showed that a narrow gauge road with a moderate equipment and two passenger coaches would handle with ease all the freight and passenger traffic which would be offered to it. THI TONOPAH RAILROAD. The construction of the road was commenced on January 2, 1904, and its {otal length frdm . Soda- ville, where it connects with the Car- son and Colorado Rallroad, is but sixty- five miles. Thére are no engineering difficulties, yet owing to unavoidable delays in the arrival.of materlal and equipment it was not completed until July 23, 1904, Almost immediately after a series of exceptionally heavy cloudbursts washed out several miles of tracks which had to be rebuilt at great expense and de- layed the commencement of the actlial working of the road until September 7, 1904. At the time when this road was planned Goldfield was unknown and even when copstruetion. was com- menced but one mine .in that camp, the Combluation, was shipping ore. Before its completion Goldfield had assumed vast proportions and the immense in- crease of incoming freight and the heavy shipments of ore from that camp taxed the faeflities of the road to the utmost ard paralyzed the Carson and Colorado Railroad. . ' The business of the Tonopah Railroad is now so heavy that it takes seven passenger coaches and two Pullman cars to accommodate the 5000 passen- | gers who travel over it every ntonth, while the incoming freight averages over fifty carloads per day, and ore shipments exceed 2000 tons per weelk Tlie freight yards cover an extent of fitteen actes and a repair shop 260 feet long and 50 feet wide fitted with the latest hydraulic machinery s constant- 1y busy. And still the capacity of the road is too small and it and the Carson and “Colorado R:nraad are being @MHered to standard gauge. - WILL INCREASE ORE OUTPUT. |1 'When this is e«ml_gtptl in July the true significance of this great camp will be seen in a vastly increased output of ore. To relieve the pressure further a standard gauge railroad is being built to Goldfield connecting with the Tone- pah Railroad nine miles from Tonopah, and this road will probably be in opera- tign, in.September. e Topopah Rail- ropd, which is owned by the Tonopah Mining Company, has called for a con- siderable outlay of capital,-but it is not only a most valuable asset .but alse the source of a large reven On the compietion of the standardiz- ing of'the ratiroad the Tonopah Mining Company will proceed to Wfi : carry into effect plans for the ope: ate with r value, e ou of ore will also be enormously m:»'&-a. These plans include the operation of the mines by electrical power, for the “trfi‘:f;th L o railway, it e Sontaete o S e i, Sk ey B RSN R “ecknins the Istavt devices in duplicats to ‘in- bk electrical | of $51.000 on August 28, 1902, and the hoisting machinery, ore crushers, etc., at the mine will be operated and the surface and underground workings fur- nished with light. .he mine is under the management of Frank A. Keith. THE TONOPAH BELMONT CO. Under the same management and virtually upder the control of the same capitalists is the Tonopah Belmont De- velopment Company, having a capital of $2,000,000, with 850,000 shares i{n the treasury, and owning over 200 acres of mineral ground adjoining the Tonopah Mining Company's claims on the east and covering the eastern extension of that company’'s vein system. The chief developments in.this mine have been carried on through the Desert Queen shaft of the Tonopah Mining Company and the eastern extension of the Mizpah vein {8 now being explored on the 700, 860 and 900 foot levels. This mine has, like others in the camp, produced some ore of extraor- dinary richness, but no attempt has been made to do otherwise than main- taln an average grade of about $50 per ton, and of this quality over 3000 tons have béén shipped, The property is perhaps best, if tersely described in the words of a visiting mining engineer of world-wide repute, who, after a careful Inspection of the property said, “The Belmont is going to make a great mipe.” One other company is under the same management and control and that is the Jim Butler Tonopah Mining Coi which was formed in August last with ! a capijtal of $2,000,000, having 600,000 shares in the treasury. This organlza- tion is a consolidation of the Tonopah Salt Lake, Gold Hill, Tonopah Fraction and Tonopah City companies and con- veyed to the new company 340 aeres of splendidly located ground in the heart of the camp, which in the Salt Lake, Fractlon and Gold Hill mines had been proved to contain several veins of high- grade ore. From the Gold Hill mine ore to the value of $15,000 had been shipped, the Salt Lake had shipped ore to the value of $17,000 and the Fraction had contributed $25,000 worth. Under these circumstances it I8 no wonder that the new organization, mainly due to the efforts of Charles L. Knox of the Montana Tonopah mine, was greeted with enthusiasm. The whale of the treasury Stock offered, viz., 100,000 shares, was subscribed for at par in a few hours. No time was lost in starting work on the property, and by arrangement with/the Tonopah Mining Company, operations were com- menced through the Silver Top shaft on the Valley View vein and drifts on that _vein east from the 440-foot' level and west on the »5d0-feet level were commenced to the Jim Butler ground. The first-named drift is nearing the boundary, but the latter has been stop- ped on account of bad air and opera- tions have been transferred to what is known as the Wandering Boy shaft and a crosscut from this is now being run to the vein from which the Frac- tion Company extracted its ore and which has been explored to a depth of 400 feet. 'In the meantime the Jim Butler mine has shipped out 250 tons of ore and it is the intention of the management to maintain regular ship- ments hereafte That the propesty will very\ shortly develop into one of the great mineés of the camp is the unprejudiced opinfon of those most competent to judge. THE MONTANA COMPANY. Next {o the Mizpah niine, as the prop- erty of the Tonopah Mining’ Company is familarly called; no property is more popular than that of the Montana Tono- pah Mining Company, which is faith- fully described at length in another columin. Thi§ was the first Tonopah company to pay a dividend, -and the mine which has shipped out in carload lots the richest ore from the camp. The date of its next dividend, which ecan not he far aistant, is a matter for daily dis- cussion in Tonopah. The mine com- menced operation with a cash capital first shipment of ore was made in May, 1903, and since that date the mine has been self-sustaining. The output of this mine is as follows: May, 1908, to Sept. 1, met.... $50,26158 Sept., 1903, to Aug., 1904 .... 256,028 15 Average value, $104 per ton. $306,289 73 | From Septemiber 1 to April 29, inclu- sive, there were shipped out 8453 tonms, the returns for which have not' yet been issued, but iucluded in this was a banner shipment in January of fifty-two tons which netted over $27,000. Out of these refurns the. company has paid: For the Bainberger triangle fraction, $18,000; aividend, $30.000; for construc- tion rallroad switches, $19,600; also heayy items for machipery, wages, and the many miscellaneous expenses which are .involved in the operation of a great mine. In addition to this the company has on the dumps over 30,000 tons of milling ore, which, en a most | conservative estimate, will net $15 per| ton, representing a total net valuation of $450,000. The ore reserves blocked out are estimated at over $6,500,000. all seven gein; have. been proved 2 in the mine and four are producing high grade pping ore, of which about fty "tons are shipped dafly, and - this amount could easily be quadrupled it | railroad oars were obtainable. It is; utterly impossible to predict the won- | ”tfll future of this great mine. wzi ro the enormous tonnage of payable ore in sight in the mine one 3 take.into consideration the possibilities ' of these veins at depth, the length on their course yet to be drifted on and he im se amount of territory cwned | the comp: robably zb small gr}!o-. only one sixth, al- up. ‘and it will be s et ored and | properties owned by all mines is whether the veins go down and granted that one man can see far- ther into the ground than another, there is nao doubt that these ores are of primary origin and should therefore continue to great depth. MIDWAY MINING COMPANY. Adjoining the Montana Company’s claims on the west and covering the ex- | tension of its known veins and those yet undiscovered, is the property of the Tonopah Midway Mining Company, which has but recently come into great prominence by reason of having opened up another of Tonopah's phenomenally rich ore bodies. The company owns five claims and has a capitalization of 1,000,000 shares of $1 each, of which 250,000 were placed in the treasury. The main shaft has reached a depth of 545 feet and with crosscuts and drifts the total amount of underground work amounts to over 4500 feet. Ome vein was cdt in the shaft at a depth of 450 feet, and three other veins in crosscuts to the north. All these veins carried ore of payable milling grade and, in places, streaks of high grade shipping ore. It was not, however, un- til the end of February of this year that the north crosscut entered what is now known te be the tension of the south vein in the Mon- tana mine and one of the richest pro- ducing veins of that mine. At the point where it was struck in { the Midway it was eleven feet wide, and for the whole width showed some of the most wonderful opened up in Tonopah. It has now been drifted on for 100 feet west, and 150 feet east and still maintains its great values, varying in width from four to twelve feet, all shipping grade, and is being further expiored by winzes and raises. In the gourse of this develop- ment work, since the twenty-fifth of February, 725 tons of ore have been shipped, but the returns for 559 tons only have been received and netted the company $70,84759; an average of $142 84 per ton. There are now 3500 tons of ore on the dump, of an average values of $40 per ton, while the ore blocked out in the mine is imated at $4,250,000. To more rapidly deyelop the niine, a new seventy horsepower hoisting en- gine has been ordered with cages, cars and also a Gates ore crusher by which the output of the mine will be greatly increased. From the present great showing in the mine it is easy to pre- dict for it a wonderful future. Fur- ther exploration will undoubtedly open yp in its territory the great “Macdon- ald” and “A. B. K.” veins on their western course from the Montana mine, ! while the unkonwn possibilities of its great extent of virgin ground can not be estimated. THE NORTH STAR PROPERTY. On the eastern extension. of the Mon- tana Tonopah's vein system is the prap- erty of the North Star Mining Company, comprisipg five claims-and a tunnel site. . A main shaft on the western slope of Mount Oddie has been sunk to a depth of 1060 feet, and about 3009 feet of crosscutting and drifting has been done, the west drift connecting with the east drift of the Montana mine on the 512 foot level. Four veins have been opened up that carry milling values with bunches and streaks of shipping ore. One carload (i5 tons of ore was shipped in July last, which is sald to have netted about $200 per ton. < " The company is capitalized for 1,000, 000 shares of §1 each, of which 400,000 were placed in the treasury. The mine was closed down in April last, no rea- son being given by the directors. THE WEST END. Adjoinjng the Tonopah Mining Com- iany's property, slightly south of west, is one full claim owped by the Tonopah Fixtension Mill' and Mining Company, but more popularly known as the West End, having a capitalization of 600,000 shares of $1 each, of which 200,000 wers reseryed for treasury. The main shaft has been sunk to a depth of 780 foet, pagsing through a big bedy of low grade ore. A crosscut nerth from the 400 foot level has been run through this, and it s now being drifted on east and west. Assays as high as 3200 have been ob- tsined and the indication for encounter- ing & body of shipping ore are excel- lent. This claim is splendidly located ising if the western extension of the Valley View vein sys- tem is not opened up. The principal owner of this property is Mr. F. M. Smith of San Francisce, who is so well-known as the “Borax King.” McNAMARA MINING COMPANY. On the morth” sideé of the West End mine and also adjoining a part of the ‘fonopah Mining Company’s ground on tite west is a fractional claim owned by the McNamara Mining Company, having a2 capital of 3§00,000, @ivided into 500.- 000 shares qtl um:nch. of which 200,000 were placed in treasury. The shaft has-been sunk to a depth vtm::: feet with crosscuts south from this level and north from the 350 foot lavel. The management €laim to have open. ed up two ins- and also claim that he a of a vein now dnopah Extenston The mattér is now the property is mow eing. 8, crosscutting :nd sinking on various levels, ‘In the Tonopah the owners of the largest ied by cheries M. S and repesented In Tonopa! by John Kane, who s prestdent and ghal’ ses of thelr compantes, in ‘which he also owns a large interest. The mm question In regard to [idated Mining Company, the McKane Min- western ex- | specimen ore’ ing Company of Tonopah and the Midway Extension Mining Company, which em- brace a total of 434 acres. All these properties are situatsd on the western course of the Tonopah vein system, and bave a total extreme length north and south across the vein system Of 12,000 feet or nearly ome and a nalf miles, and a continuous length on the | course of the Mizpah vein system of 3400 | feet or over one and a half miles through | the ground of the Tonopah Extension and McKane Mining Company’s claims. All of the properties are being actively de- veloped, the most promiment being the Tonopah Extension mine, which adjoins the Buckboard claim of the Tonopah Min- ing Company on the west, the MacNa- mara on the north and the Sandgrass claim of the Tonopah Mining Company on the south. This was the first property purchased lby Mr. McKane and work was com- | menced In May, 1303, a shaft being start- |'ed on what was thought to be the course of the Mizpah vein, which happily proved currect. At a depth of 220 feet the shaft entered a vein in which it continued for | 50 feet, dipping out of the shaft at about 270 feet. This vein, known as No. 1, has been explored to a depth of 500 feet and | opened up on its western course for 00 | feet on the 40-foot level, while the east- | ern drift is now within a few feet of the Tonopah Mining Company's boundary, having proved that it is the extension of | Mizpah vein, and the sinking of the main shaft has now been resumed. Where crosscut on the 5¥-foot level it is 18 feet wide and will average clear across from $0 to 3100 per ton. At the 400-foot level a parallel vein was found which has been proved to be 36 feet wide, of milling grade. Both of these veins carry high grade shipping ore, and have also produced specimen ore of great value. The total amount of underground work in this mine amounts to about #00 feet, ex- Posing ore of the estimated value of 312,- 230,000, and there are also over 50 tons of ore on the dump assaying $30 per ton. On October 29 the mine commenced shipments and from that date to April 29, six months, 4355 tons have been ship- ped, the present output being from 20 to 300 tons per week. The management of this company are not yet at liberty to glve the exact returns for the total amount of ore shipped, which is graded to an average value, although some con- siderable quantity of very high grade ore has been marketed. As an instance of this it may be stated that one car load shipped the first week of this month realized over $3090 per ton net. The mine is splendidly equipped with a powerful hoisting plant, a twelve drill compressor plant and a Gates ore crusher with a capacity of 100 tons per day. This mine is remarkable for the fact that for the full 60 feet for which vein No. 1 has been explored on its course it is thé most perfectly denned vein in the camp, and shows no evidence of faulting. On the 40-foot level of this vein ore is now being mined from a stope 14 feet wide, every pound of wuich is shipping grade. As this property covers 3000 feet | on the course of these two gigantic veins it may justly be described as the great- est mine iIn Tonopah to-day. On May 15 the company declared a dividend of & cents per share, payable July 1. McKANE MINING COMPANY. The western extension of this ground Com- is owned by the Mcsane Mihing pany of Tonopah, having ten patented clafms, which are 3o located that they sive a length of 4500 feet on the courss of the two veins in the Tonopah Exten- sion mine. The main shaft of this prop- erty is located 3130 feet west of the Ton- opal: Extension shaft, and has now reached a depth of 1060 feet, but has not yet éntered the lode porphyry. This is a most remarkable instance of “blind swmking,” were being no indications of mineral on the surface. It is probable that crosscutting for the vein will com- mence at the 1100-foot level. Adjoining the Tonopah Extension mine on the south are three patented claims owned by the Red Rock Consolidated Mimng Company, where the main shaft is now down 265 feet. A 60 horsepower | steam hoist has recently been installed at the mine and the shaft will be pushed to the 300 level before crosscutting. This ground had most encouraging surface values and some valuable veins will un- doubtedly be openmed up at depth. Adjuining the Midway mime on the west are two patented claims and one fraction owned by the Golden Anchor Mining Com- pany. The shaft on this property reached a depth of 750 feet, and a crosscut north from this level has recenyly cut a vein over twenty feet wide of milling value. but which In places assayed as high as §1i0 and 3200 per ton. This vein is now being opened up and the main shaft Is lalso beicg sunk to the %0-foot level, from whick point another crosgeut will be run to the vein. It is quite impossible to overstate the Value of this discovery, got only to the owners of the mine, but also to the Mid- way and Montana Tonopah companies. and in fact, to the entire district. The geueral appesrance, mineralization and character of the ore bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the Macdonaid vein in the Montana mine, but whatever vein it may be, it adds considerably to {the value of the Midway asd Montana through which ground it must pass, while it Ircreases considerably the known pro- ductive area of the camp. Adjoining this property on, the north is the Bobtail claim and others comprising the property of the MIDWAY EXTENSION COMPANY. These claims run north and south and ‘cover the extension of any veins running ‘west from Mount Oddle which