This mill is driven by water taken from the Carson River, and carried for a considerable distance through a large wooden flume. At one time it became necessary to shut off the water, for the purpose of repairing this flume. In making the repairs it was found that in many places that the heads of the nails driven into the bottom of the flume were thickly coated with amalgam. Within a distance of about three rods along the flume, the workmen engaged in making repairs collected over an ounce of amalgam. The water flowing through the flume was taken from the river, below a number of large mills, and, though far from being clear, would never have been suspected to contain floating quicksilver in such quantity as to form collections of amalgam on the heads of iron nails. In order that quicksilver may amalgamate with iron, the iron must be scratched or polished while immersed in the quicksilver; it will therefore be seen that much amalgam must have passed by before the accidental occurrence of the conditions under which the collection of amalgam on the heads of the nails could begin. As a beginning, a passing pebble must have pricked through a globule of quicksilver just at the moment when it was rolling over the head of a nail. By a succession of these accidental collisions[collisions] the head was finally covered with quicksilver, and the collection of amalgam then went on rapidly.
As further evidence that quicksilver in considerable quantities floats in the water of flumes and streams, below reduction-works, in a state of invisible division, and yet carries with it the precious metals, I may give an additional instance. At a mill on the Carson River one of the workmen required a piece of copper. Remembering to have seen some old sheets of that metal lying near the waste-gate of the flume, through which water was brought to the wheel of the mill, he went to the spot and hauled them out of a puddle in which they were lying. Much to his surprise he found the sheets heavily coated with amalgam and so eaten up by quicksilver that they were as thin as writing paper. The water pouring out through the waste-gate had a fall of about fifteen feet. It did not fall directly upon the copper plates, but in such a way as to keep them constantly splashed and wet. The plates had lain where they were found four or five years. Over a pound of amalgam was scraped off them. It would seem that in these striking instances of the unsuspected floating away of the precious metals there is for millmen food for reflection, and for inventors a field of profit and distinction.
Just what becomes of all the quicksilver used in the reduction-works of Nevada is a question which has never yet been fully and satisfactorily answered. Much floats away with the water flowing from the mills; but it cannot be that the whole of the immense quantities used is lost in that way. Quicksilver in great quantities is constantly being taken into the State, and not an ounce is ever returned. When it has been used in the amalgamation of a batch of ore, it is taken to the amalgamating-pans, and is used over and over again until it has disappeared. Whether it may float away with the water used in amalgamating, or is lost by evaporation while in the hot-bath of the steam-heated pans, there must be a vast amount of the metal collecting somewhere, as it is a metal not easily destroyed. In case it is lost by evaporation it must condense and fall to the ground somewhere near the works in which it is used, and if it floats away in the water it must eventually find a resting place on the bottom of the stream in which it is carried away.
It is an axiom among millmen that “wherever quicksilver is lost, silver is lost;” therefore there must be a large amount of silver lost, as we shall presently see. The amount of quicksilver used by mills working the Comstock ores alone averages 800 flasks, of 76½ pounds each; or 61,200 pounds per month. This in one year would amount to 734,400 pounds of quicksilver that go somewhere, and counting backwards for ten years shows 7,344,000 pounds that have gone somewhere—either up the flue or down the flume.
The quantity of quicksilver distributed monthly among the mills shows just how much is lost per month. None is sold or sent out of the country in or with the bullion; therefore, if there were no loss, the mills would never want any more quicksilver than enough to give them their first start, as the same lot could be used over and over again, ad infinitum.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF THE TERRITORY.
In 1862-3, with mills running in all directions and mines open and hoisting ore for a distance of a mile or more along the Comstock, Virginia City was a lively place. Where but two or three years before was nothing but a rocky slope covered with sage-brush and scrub cedar, were now to be seen large fire-proof brick and stone buildings, and streets crowded with men and teams.
As all goods were at that time brought across the mountains by teams, and as hundreds of teams were required to haul ore from the mines to the mills, and to bring wood and timber from the hills and mountains, as well as to do all kinds of local freighting, there often occurred most vexatious blockades in the streets. A jam of teams would take place, owing to some accident or to mismanagement on the part of some teamster, and teams rolling in from each side, there would soon be seen a regular blockade. These blockades were of daily occurrence and sometimes lasted for hours. Teamsters waiting for the road to open grew hungry, and producing their lunch-pails sat on their wagons and ate dinner, still waiting patiently for the blockade to be broken. Half a dozen stage-lines were running into the place, and these arrived loaded down with passengers—capitalists, miners, “sports,” thieves, robbers, and adventurers of all kinds. Cutting, shooting, and rows of every description became of much more frequent occurrence than at any time in the early days. The stages on all the roads leading to the city were very frequently robbed by masked men, who halted the driver with revolvers or double-barrelled shot-guns and called upon him to hand out Wells, Fargo & Co’s treasure-box. One driver was halted so often and became so well acquainted with the routine of the business, that whenever he happened upon a man with a shot-gun, he went down into the boot of his vehicle for the treasure-box. The usual plan of the robbers, after securing the treasure-box, was to form the passengers in line by the roadside, and while one masked robber stood guard over them with a shot-gun, another would search them and relieve them of their coin, watches, and other valuables. After this ceremony they would be ordered on board the stage and told to “go along.”
The stages were robbed scores of times, bars of bullion, coin, and all manner of valuables being taken. It was finally ascertained that the gang who did most of this work—indeed, made it a regular business—were men living on Six-mile Cañon, only about five miles from Virginia City. They were ostensibly engaged in mining and had leased a mill, but the bars they produced were those captured in their raids upon the stages. The mill was only a blind. Without it they would not have dared to dispose of their stolen bars. The capture of stage-coaches being considered not quite up to the genius of the gang, they finally took a whole train of cars on the Central Pacific Railroad, and got a spoil of over $50,000. But this was their last exploit. All were soon captured and the greater part of the stolen treasure recovered.
On the ridge between Virginia City and Gold Hill, called the “Divide,” and forming the suburbs of both towns, was for some years a place where footpads prowled nightly, and robberies there were of constant occurrence. A belated Gold Hiller would be hurrying to his home when a man would suddenly step out from behind a lumber-pile and tell him to hold up his hands. With a cocked pistol pointed at his head the Gold Hiller, or any other man, uniformly obeyed the order, when he was quickly relieved of his loose change and told to “move on.” A footpad would sometimes rob three or four men in quick succession in this way, provided they happened along one at a time. They were quite industrious, and were not the men to borrow or beg while they were able to make a living by the labor of their hands.