cent. of the value of the ore mined from the Comstock. The yield of bullion last year was in round numbers, say, $15,000,000, which would show the loss to have been about $8,000,000. The enormous extent of this loss is well understood, but so far no feasible means of lessening it without diminishing the net profits on the result have been suggested, or at least shown to be practicable. Exceptional lots of ore will work nearer to the assay value, but only in rare instances. How small a percentage of the metal which escapes the mill is saved by future operations will appear under the next heading. The great difficulty to contend with lies in the cost of labor and fuel. The average yield of all ores worked at the present time does not probably exceed $35 per ton, equivalent to a loss of $18 90 per ton, supposing $35 to represent 65 per cent. of the assay value of the ores. If by using the Freiburg process we saved 80 per cent., the average yield per ton would be $43 12, or an advance of $8 12, which would not cover the additional cost of labor and fuel. The price charged for treatment by the Freiburg process in this district is $45 per ton, with a guarantee of only 80 per cent. Its non-applicability to low grade ores is at once apparent, the cost of reduction being greater than the average yield of the ores. To make it available, it is evident that the additional 15 per cent. of the assay value saved must cover the increased cost of reduction, which is, say, $31, so that it will prove valuable only when the ores are worth $200 per ton and upwards. In practice a lower grade than that may be adopted, it being found by experience that the percentage of loss in working ores by the net process increases with the greater value of the mineral. Under these circumstances we must look rather to improvements on the present modes of treating the "tailings" from the mill by concentration or otherwise.

HALE AND NORCROSS MINE.

Table showing the assay value of the ore extracted during twelve months operations, also the yield and loss per ton, the percentage of yield and loss, and the entire results.

NOTE. This table is copied from records on file in the office of the company. The original, prepared by Mr. Thompson, was marked out to six places of decimals for the cents. The omission of these will account for its apparent trifling discrepancies.

GOULD AND CURRY MINE.-Table showing the average value of the ore reduced during the year ending November 30, 1866, the yield at the mill and the loss per ton. (G. & C. annual report for 1866 :)

NOTE. This table does not show the entire yield of the mine for the year, large quantities of ore being reduced at "custom mills." The statement refers only to ores reduced at the large mill owned by the Gould and Curry Mining company.

CONCENTRATION.-Concentration is employed only in the treatment of the "tailings," or sands from which all the metal has been extracted which could be saved in the mill. The tailings are usually turned into the nearest watercourse, (many mills being so situated as to have no facilities for the construction of reservoirs,) and the right to use them rented to other parties. Many plans have been suggested for their concentration, but the one in general use is extremely simple. It consists merely in passing the sands through shallow sluice boxes, the bottoms of which are covered with thick blankets. The fall of these sluices is considerable to prevent packing of the sands, but the stream of water is regulated so as to cover the blankets with a thin sheet only. In this way the heavy metalliferous particles are retained in passing over the rough surface of the blankets, the lighter sands passing off in the water. After a sluice box has been running several hours, the water is turned off, the blankets washed in a tank of water, and returned to their places. This constitutes the entire treatment. When the tank is nearly full of tailings, it is emptied and the resulting mass considerably increased in value by the elimination of waste sands, is ground and amalgamated in the manner already described. Latterly this has become quite an extensive branch of our mining business, and is said to yield a good return on the capital employed.

The following items are taken from the report of the surveyor general for 1866: Details of blanket washings in Six-mile cañon for 1866 and 1867.

Number of mills discharging tailings into the cañon, 12.

Probable number of tons worked during the year 1866, 100,000.

Estimated value of tailings saved and worked in 1866, $72,000.
Saving per ton of ore worked, 72 cents.

Length of sluices, 22,000 feet.

Cost of sluices, $20,000.

Estimated value of tailings saved and worked in 1867, $164,000.
Saving per ton of ore worked in 1867, $1 64.

Average value of tailing saved per ton, $20.

These items show only a portion of the operations. The total value of all tailings saved in this manner was probably about $200,000 for 1866, which will be doubled for 1867. These figures can only be considered approximations, but they serve to show how small a percentage of the gross loss is saved by these means, and how large a field is yet open for improvement.

SECTION XVII.

YIELD OF THE MINES, NET PROFITS, ETC.

The following tables, taken from the circular of the San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board, will be found of interest in this connection:

Table of the products of some of the principal minces in Virginia and Gold Hill; also showing dividends paid and assessments levied on the same during the year 1866.

Production of bullion by Storey county during the year ending December 31, 1866.

In United States currency this represents a value of $18,072,934, on which federal taxes were paid as follows:

From January to July, inclusive, of one per cent. on $9,402,062.
From August to December, inclusive, of one per cent. on $8,670,872.

Total tax

$56, 412 37

43, 354 36

99,766 73

Production of bullion in Storcy county for the first seven months of 1867.

NOTE.-The month of March was characterized by the most severe snow-storm which has yet been experienced in Virginia. The roads were nearly impassable for two weeks-to such an extent, indeed, that firewood rose from $16 to $45 per cord, and was scarcely obtainable even at that price. The mills situated at some distance from the mines were entirely cut off from new supplies of ore, and reduced only such reserve as had been accumulated; hence the marked diminution in the monthly production of bullion.

Table of assessments levied on Comstock mines during the first six months of 1867.

Dividends of the leading claims on the Comstock lode-Continued.

The aggregate yield of the Comstock lode since its opening has been so fully spoken of in the preliminary report, that I shall here confine myself chiefly to a comparison of the operations of 1866 with the first six months of the present

year.

Although the first table does not show the entire yield of the mines for 1866, which reached, as shown elsewhere, the sum of $14,167,071, it will answer as a basis for an inquiry into the actual profits of mining enterprises in this district for the year, inasmuch as mines owned by private companies, the returns of which are not madepublic, are generally worked only while they prove profitable, or at any rate yield sufficient bullion to cover the actual expenses of their development. By striking out of the assessment table the items relative to the Lady Brian and Daney mines, which are not on the Comstock lode, we have the following result:

Dividends paid during 1866..
Assessments paid during 1866...

Net profit for the year 1866......

$1,794,400 00 1,232,380 00

562, 020 00

Equal to about five per cent. of the gross yield of the mines under consideration. The table shows, however, that out of the 11 mines producing bullion, only seven realized sufficient over working expenses to warrant them in distributing the surplus to the stockholders in the form of dividends. These dividends show the net profits of the seven mines for the year 1866 to be the following percentage of the gross yield. Gould and Curry 15.5, Savage 20, Hale and Norcross 29, Imperial 19, Empire 6.5, Yellow Jacket 9, and Crown Point 17.

The first six months of 1867 show a very marked improvement on 1866; for there is not only an actual decrease in the amount of assessments levied, but an increase in the number of dividend-paying mines, a very great advance on the production of bullion, and a really gratifying improvement in the percentage of profit on the gross operations.

From the tables it will be seen that during this period dividends were distributed to the amount of $1,968,200, from which deduct the assessments of $380,280, and there remains $1,587,920 as the net profit on $7,064,653, or about 22 per cent., against five per cent. for the year 1866. This result is due to many causes, among which may be mentioned freedom from litigation, final settlement of conflicting interests, reduced cost of milling, and small expenditures for necessary outside improvements. In 1866 the latter item was unusually heavy. To such causes as these may we look for the improved financial condition of mining interests on the Comstock lode.

The actual profits on the capital invested in our mines is a difficult question to approach, surrounded as it is by so many uncertain and fluctuating conditions,