Professor Whitney was very anxious to be allowed to send the skull to the Atlantic States and Europe, but the owners would not part with it for that purpose. The plaster cast taken was sent to Dr. J. Wyman, of Cambridge. It would seem that the conclusion arrived at in San Francisco was that the skull was that of a man belonging to a pre-historic race. He probably was adorned with a tail. At the time the great fissure was formed in which the Comstock lode was deposited, or perhaps at the time the fissure was being filled with its rich ores, this pre-historic creature was probably fooling about the edge of the chasm, looking down into it to see what discoveries he could make, when the earth crumbled beneath his weight, and he rolled down and was incorporated in the heart of the vein. His sad fate must have proved a salutary warning to all others of his tribe, as his skull is the only thing in the way of ancient human remains that has ever been found in any mine on the lode.
THE MAN-EATER
CHAPTER LXVIII.
SOME INTERESTING CREATURES.
There are in operation, in all, in the vicinity of the Comstock, mills, the aggregate of whose stamps is over one thousand.
The Consolidated Virginia Company give employment to the following mills: Consolidated mill, sixty stamps and crushing capacity of 230 tons per day; Sacramento mill, 50 tons; Mariposa, 12 stamps, 40 tons; Hoosier State, 18 stamps, 50 tons; Devil’s Gate, 10 stamps, 35 tons; Kelsey, 15 stamps, 45 tons; Bacon, 20 stamps, 50 tons; Occidental, 20 stamps, 50 tons; total, 195 stamps, 600 tons per day. The pay-roll of the men employed in these mills amounts to $35,000 per month.
At Silver City, about five miles below Virginia City, on Gold Cañon, are a considerable number of fine mills (some of those mentioned above among the number) in all of which steam is the motive power. A branch of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad runs to Silver City and supplies these mills with ore, wood, and all other articles required. Near the town are several mines—the Silver Hill, Dayton, Kossuth, Daney, and Buckeye—on which are in operation first-class hoisting-works, and the southern continuation of the Comstock is supposed to pass through the ground on which the village stands. It is already a lively camp, boasts a tri-weekly newspaper—the Lyon County Times—and should the hopes of the mining-companies now at work in that vicinity be realized, will soon be one of the leading mining-towns of the State.
On the Carson River are a large number of first-class reduction-works that are driven by water-power. The Eureka mill, of the Union Mill and Mining Company, of which company Mr. Sharon is a principal stockholder, is one of the finest mills on the river. It contains sixty stamps (the same number as the Consolidated Virginia mill) and is provided with a proportionate amount of amalgamating-machinery. It is run on ore from the Belcher mine. It is connected with the Virginia and Truckee Railroad by a tramway over two miles in length. The Brunswick mill, also on the river, contains fifty-six stamps and works Crown Point ore. The Merrimac, Santiago, Morgan, and Mexican mills are all on the Carson River and receive their supplies of ore over the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. Some of these mills are very picturesquely situated, being surrounded by high, rocky hills and having near them, on the bars of the river, handsome groves of willow and cottonwood trees.
Carson City contains no mills, but the interests of her business men are identified with those of the mining towns above. The town, which contains about 8,000 inhabitants, is situated in Eagle Valley, at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and contains many fine buildings, both public and private. Carson City is the capital of the State. The capitol building and the United States’ Mint are imposing structures, built of a handsome grey sandstone obtained at the State Prison quarry, about one mile east of the town. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad Company have large machine-shops and other large and substantial buildings at Carson.