I&12. A 
 
 SucB 
 
CLOSING ARGUMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 ADOLPH SUTRO, 
 
 ON THE BILL BEFORE CONGRESS TO AID 
 
 THE SUTRO TUNNEL, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 COMMITTEE ON MINES AND MINING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OP 
 AMERICA, 
 
 MONDAY, APRIL 22, 1872. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C.» 
 m’cilL a witherow, printers and stereotypers. 
 
 1872. 
 
“I may be permitted to add, that a subterranean work so bold and gigantic should 
 lend an elevating feeling of moral strength to a people, who do not estimate thoir own 
 worth by the number of souls, but by their patriotism; this feeling becomes particu¬ 
 larly important in times when everybody strives to a paltry appearing of momentary 
 wants, and an undertaking which, in contrast to this strife, creates for a distant future, 
 must appear ennobled and of superior relations.” (Alex. Von Humboldt on the “Deep 
 Theissen Tunnel" in Saxony.) 
 
 “The execution of a work which, in times to come, will be classed in the list of those 
 great national monument s, which have for their object the lasting welfare of a country, 
 and which will secure the same for the latest generations and times, cannot be left to 
 a single mining district, but should bo looked upon as a work creating happiness and 
 glory, and worthy of the participation and promotion by the entire nation. ( Baron Von 
 Herder on the "Deep Theissen Tunnel ” in Saxony.) 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 Mr. Chairman. Eight years ago I concluded to wind np 
 all the affairs in which I was then engaged, in order to de¬ 
 vote myself to the execution of a work which I looked 
 upon and now consider of the highest importance to the 
 
 country. 
 
 At that time I expected that many obstacles would pre¬ 
 sent themselves in the execution of so difficult and exten¬ 
 sive an undertaking, but little did I dream that, after eight 
 years of toil, anxiety, and labor, I would find myself before 
 a committee of the Congress of the United States, still 
 under the necessity of demonstrating what appeared to me 
 self-evident from the beginning. 
 
 Great improvements, as the word implies, often involve 
 the abandonment of* the previous less advantageous meth¬ 
 ods, and hence we almost invariably find more or less hos¬ 
 tility from some quarter or the other, but sometimes, also, 
 opposition arrayed against undertakings which promise 
 magnificent results, prompted by greed, avarice, and jeal¬ 
 ousy. 
 
 I have encountered my full share of all these; but, as ob¬ 
 stacles after obstacles presented themselves, they only- 
 nerved me on to overcome them, and I fully concluded to 
 devote, if necessary, the whole balance of my life to the 
 execution of this one work, believing, as I do, that it is 
 one of the most important, if not the most important one 
 now in*progress on this continent. 
 
 By your permission, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of 
 the committee, I will now proceed to give a brief history 
 of the Sutro tunnel, as it is called, its advantages in facili¬ 
 tating mining operations, the bearing it has upon the 
 national prosperity, and also throw some light upon the 
 character and motives of the opposition. 
 
4 
 
 HISTORY OF THE TUNNEL. 
 
 The year 1859 marked the discovery of the Comstock 
 lode. Up to that time n,o mines of any importance were 
 known, to have existed on the eastern side of the Sierra 
 Nevada mountains, and when news suddenly reached 
 California that silver ore had been found there of fabulous 
 richness and extent, the people became imbued with an 
 immense excitement, and rushed in thousands to the spot. 
 The winter set in with its hindrances, but the rush con¬ 
 tinued. Spring came, and there was no falling off. People 
 believed, and were justified in the belief, that there in 
 Nevada they had discovered an El Dorado unsurpassed 
 by any; and being interested in mining, and feeling con¬ 
 siderable curiosity to see the spot myself, I went over 
 there in March, 1860—as soon as it was practicable to 
 cross the mountains—and began a series of examinations. 
 I had expected to witness an extraordinary deposit, but I 
 must say that I was truly astonished at the magnitude and 
 importance of the discoveries which had been mac^- At 
 that time only forty tons of ore had been taken from the 
 mines and seut to San Francisco. Their reduction yielded 
 a sum in the gross of $160,000, or an average of $4,000 to 
 the ton—the most profitable forty tons probably that have 
 ever been worked from that lode. I examined the topo¬ 
 graphy of the country, and recognized the fact at a glance 
 that nature had so favored the locality that the greatest 
 facilities existed for the construction of a deep adit or tun¬ 
 nel; and as early as the month in which I went there— 
 when I had been there, in fact, but a few days—I wrote a 
 letter to a newspaper published in San Francsico, the 
 Alta California , giving some interesting information about 
 the mines. The communication appeared on the 20th of 
 April, 1860, and contains these reflections: 
 
 “ The working of the mines is done without any system as yet. Most of 
 the companies commence without hn eye to future success. Instead of run¬ 
 ning a tunnel from low down on the hill, and then sinking a shaft to meet 
 it, which at once insures drainage, ventilation, and facilitates the \^ork by 
 going upwards, the claims are mostly entered from above and large openings 
 
 \ 
 
5 
 
 mado, wliich require considerable timbering, and exposps the mine to all sorts 
 of difficulties.” 
 
 I wrote that when I had been there only a week, and 
 when I did not know to my entire satisfaction that there 
 Was an extensive vein of ore there. Such explorations as 
 had then been made did not extend to a greater depth 
 than twenty or thirty feet. 
 
 At another point in the same article I remarked: 
 
 “Smelling furnaces, quartz crushers, and all the machinery required for 
 the successful reduction of tho ore, could be erected in the valley, and an in 
 exhaustible supply of wood and timber furnished by floating it down Carson 
 river from points some distance above, where there is an abundance of it.” 
 
 At this *time, it should be borne in mind, not a single 
 road had been constructed in that country. The discovery 
 bad barely been made, and the mines had only been open¬ 
 ed to a very limited extent. I became interested, more or 
 less, in operations there. In 1861 I erected a mill and re¬ 
 duction works, and took up my residence in the neighbor¬ 
 hood of the Comstock. 
 
 FRANCHISE BY THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 I watched the current of events, and day after day it be¬ 
 came plainer to me that there was absolute necessity for a 
 deep mining tunnel. It was clear to my mind, although 
 the idea was very generally scouted. People thought an 
 undertaking of the nature I planned could never be con¬ 
 summated in Nevada. It would take too long a time, and 
 fuuds would be insufficient, they said; but in the fall of 
 1864, when our Legislature met at Carson, I petitioned for 
 a franchise, and a bill was drafted, giving me and my asso¬ 
 ciates the right of way for a tunnel, as far as it lay in the 
 power of.the State Legislature to give it. ( a ) The question 
 of payments to be made to the tunnel company was left an 
 open one, subject to such agreements as we might be able 
 to make with the mines. It was, therefore, a sort of fran¬ 
 chise such as would have been given to a toll road, or any 
 similar improvement, and not that much. A few thinking 
 
 (a) See book on Sutro Tunnel, page 171. 
 
men in the Legislature were struck at once with the idea, 
 and they investigated the matter, although the majority of 
 them said I must be hopelessly insane to propose any¬ 
 thing of the kind, and would waste my time for nothing, 
 for the project could never be carried out—the majority of 
 them. I say, ridiculed it. But they granted the franchise 
 by a unanimous vote, nevertheless, and I proceeded with¬ 
 out delay to submit the question to the companies owning 
 and operating the mines. I had made a beginning then. 
 I had some rights with which to start out. I had obtained 
 a franchise. The question had assumed a tangible form.' 
 
 CONTRACTS WITH THE MINING COMPANIES. 
 
 A number of us entered into an association, with Senator 
 Stewart for president, and we submitted our proposition to 
 the mining companies. I demonstrated the advantages 
 of the tunnel, and in February, 1865, I published a pam¬ 
 phlet explaining the whole subject, (a) and towards the lat¬ 
 ter part of the year, after many months of labor, by dint 
 of perseverance, I succeeded in making certain contracts, 
 which were nearly all completed by February or March, 
 1866. There was no little difficulty attending my progress. 
 
 The mining companies, or the men managing the mines, 
 felt very slight interest in the question, and rather pre¬ 
 ferred not to bother themselves with listening to me. It 
 was not opposition; it was only indifference. There was 
 no opposition; yet it took me eight months of the hardest 
 work I have done in this whole matter to make the people 
 out there understand the merits of the case. We employed 
 some able lawyers", and so did the mining companies. The 
 latter retained, amongst others, Mr. Crittenden, whose 
 melancholy death at the hands of Mrs. Fair you all re¬ 
 member, and on our side were Judge Hardy and others. 
 The best lawyers of California, in fact, were retained in 
 our respective interests. They deemed the contracts very 
 important, and spent months and months in the prepara- 
 
 fa.) See pamphlet, “Necessity of a Deep Tunnel.” 
 
7 
 
 tion of agreements, by which the mining companies were 
 to bind themselves to pay the tunnel company §2 a ton on 
 each and every ton of ore that might be extracted for all 
 time to come. These agreements were executed on parch¬ 
 ment, and the care with which they were gotten up will 
 indicate at a glance that they were intended to lust a great 
 many years, and probably for a century, (a) 
 
 PEOPLE BECOMING INTERESTED IN TIIE SUBJECT. 
 
 After my pamphlet had been thoroughly distributed and 
 discussed, I found almost everybody was becoming anxious 
 to have the tunnel made. They began to comprehend it then. 
 They appreciated the magnificence of the undertaking, and, 
 instead of throwing obstacles in my way, they all joined 
 together to help me, the Bank of California among them. 
 They confessed that they could see no money in it then, 
 but they could see a great many difficulties ahead, and 
 they were willing to second my endeavors with their as¬ 
 sistance. The royalty of $2 a ton was regarded as a mere 
 bagatelle. No one thought of it at all as an adequate com¬ 
 pensation for the manifold benefits the tunnel would con¬ 
 fer; and the trustees of the mining corporations, who often 
 met at my solicitation, and whose meetings I invariably at- 
 tended for the purpose of explaining my project, the most 
 of whom had been at first unacquainted with the advantages 
 a deep tunnel would furnish, became firm in their conviction 
 that, even at a royalty of $6 or $8 per ton, it would be ad¬ 
 vantageous to them. 
 
 THE BANK OF CALIFORNIA FAVORS THE ENTERPRISE. 
 
 The Bank of California seemed particularly anxious to 
 help me. They have since been arrayed against me in the 
 bitterest hostility. They have left no stone unturned which 
 could conduce towards the breaking up of the work; and 
 ¥m. C. Ralston, the cashier of the bank, who lives in 
 princely style, in a magnificent dwelling, with sixty horses 
 
 (a) See book on Sutro Tunnel, p. 173. 
 
8 
 
 in his stables—a man who was at that time a warm friend 
 of the tunnel, and has since grown rich by manipulating 
 these mines—is now its enemy. I have in my possession 
 a letter written by him at that time, which I have never 
 produced before, for it is a private letter, given me as an 
 introduction to certain parties, which during six years of 
 warfare I have kept inviolate, although there is nothing of 
 a confidential character about it. I may as well use it now. 
 It will serve to show the opinion this Mr. Ralston once 
 entertained of the Sutro tunnel. I will read it: 
 
 “The Bank of California. 
 
 "D. O. Mills, W. C. Ralston, 
 
 "President. Cashier. 
 
 “San Francisco, May 4,1866. 
 “To the Oriental Bank Corporation, London. 
 
 “Dear Sirs: This letter will be presented to you by Mr. A. Sutro, of this 
 city, who visits England with the view of laying Before capitalists there a 
 very important enterprise, projected by himself, and known as the‘Sutro 
 tunnel,’ in the State of Nevada. This tunnel is designed to cut the great 
 Comstock lode or ledge, upon which our richest silver mines are located, at 
 a depth of two thousand feet from the surface, to drain it of water, render it 
 easily accessible at that point, and thus increase the facilities and diminish 
 tho expenses of the progressive development of these mines. 
 
 "Too much cannot be said of the great importance of this work, if practicable 
 upon any remunerative basis. We learn that the scheme has been very care¬ 
 fully examined by scientific men, and that they unhesitatingly pronounce in its 
 favor on all points — practicability, profit , and great public utility. Mr. Sutri/, 
 we presume, is furnished with the necessary documents to make this apparent; 
 and oUr object in this letter is simply to gain for him, through your kind¬ 
 ness, such an introduction as will enable him to present his enterprise to the 
 public fairly and upon its merits. 
 
 “Commending Mr. Sutro to your courteous attentions, we remain, dear 
 sirs, yours, very truly, 
 
 “W. C. Ralston, 
 "Cashier." 
 
 That this same Mr. Ralston has since been moving heaven 
 and earth to break up this tunnel enterprise I shall fully 
 explain in the course of my remarks. 
 
 LAW PASSED BY CONGRESS. 
 
 After I had finished the making of these contracts, I set 
 out for Washington, with the intention of getting certain 
 rights from the General Government which no State gov¬ 
 ernment could give me; for the fee to the public domain, {a) 
 
 (u) See Testimony, pp. 197, 222, 284. 
 
9 
 
 as far as these mines are concerned, was then entirely, and 
 is to this day to a large extent, in the Government, (a) I 
 was to secure certain immunities at the capital, and then 
 go to Europe, for the purpose of negotiating stock or ob¬ 
 taining the pecuniary loans which would be required to 
 carry out the work. Nothing was said at that time about 
 any direct aid from the Government. 
 
 I arrived in Washington about the beginning of June, 
 1866; and on the 25th of July a law of Congress was ap¬ 
 proved, (5) granting to me the right of way and other privil¬ 
 eges to aid in the construction of an exploring and draining 
 tunnel to the Comstock lode, in the State of Nevada. It 
 gave us the privilege of buying some land at the mouth of 
 the tunnel, which we alread}- owned by location, and the 
 right to take such veins of ores as we might cut in running 
 the tunnel, and which we would have had under the com¬ 
 mon mining law; confirms the rates made in these con¬ 
 tracts of $2 a ton; and makes the patents of mining com¬ 
 panies thereafter obtained subject to the condition that 
 this royalty be paid. ( c ) It was necessary that we should 
 have some such protection as this in the work, for corpora¬ 
 tions are liable to disincorporate, with disastrous effect 
 upon the binding force of contracts. I found, by consulta¬ 
 tion with eminent lawyers, that it was absolutely necessary 
 to have some such rights from the Government; and on 
 presentation in Congress the delegation from California 
 and Nevada agreed with me, and the bill which I desired 
 became a law. 
 
 NECESSITY OF A COMPULSORY LAW. 
 
 Mr. Sunderland, in summing up the evidence which has 
 been taken here, says that this law places some of the 
 mining companies who did not sign the contract under the 
 same obligations as those who did. lie says he was a 
 trustee at the time, and he did not sign a contract. That 
 is precisely what we wanted to remedy. There were men 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 190, 222,223, 373. (6) See Statutes at Large, vol. 14, p. 242. 
 (c) See Test-, pp. 221, 222, 282. 
 
10 
 
 in Nevada who were ambitious to play “ dog in the man¬ 
 ger.” They did not want to do anything. They did not 
 want to build the tunnel; but if it should be built they 
 wanted to have the benefit of it, for if we should run it in 
 it would drain the mines for them without expense. Mr. 
 Sunderland was one of those men who would not sign this 
 contract. They said— 
 
 "Oh, Sutro will huild it, and when done it will drain our mines as well 
 as others, and we shall get the benefit for nothing.” 
 
 It was necessary to compel them to make a fair contri¬ 
 bution, as I will show by a very familiar example. When 
 a number of property owners on a street want to construct 
 a sewer, and one man stays out and will take no part in 
 the work, you must run the sewer by him or it would be 
 useless, and if you run it by him he derives all the advant¬ 
 ages from it for nothing. It would be an annoying and 
 insurmountable difficulty. Hence, we find in all city char¬ 
 ters authority for provisions making it compulsory on the 
 inhabitants to pay their proportion towards sewers. It is 
 absolutely necessary that they should contribute to such 
 works, (a) We have practically the same principle and the 
 same thing to contend with in mining; and I say now, that 
 the time will come when Congress will pass a general law, 
 such as they had in Spain and Germany, to compel mining 
 companies to pay in cases of this kind. Tunnels are nec¬ 
 essary for mining; ( b ) and it is a great mistake for the Gov¬ 
 ernment to grant to any man an absolute title to a mine. 
 The Government should reserve for itself such privileges 
 as are required in the development of our mining interests, 
 the right to make certain regulations, (c) I do not know 
 but that there is a clause in the present law partly covering 
 this very point. There are such laws in Europe. I sim¬ 
 ply refer to these facts as significant from the principle 
 embodied. It has been the experience in Mexico, in 
 Spain, in Hungary, and in other countries where mining 
 is prosecuted to a considerable extent, that miners never 
 
 (o) Soo Test., p. 372. ( b ) See Test., p. 606. (c) See Test., p. 602. 
 
11 
 
 agree upon such questions, but that they take out all the 
 ore that they can get any money from, and when the mines 
 are gouged out it is impossible to find any one to make a 
 tunnel. 
 
 THE UNDERTAKING PRESENTED AT NEW YORK. 
 
 After the act of incorporation passed Congress, I 
 thought this matter stood on a basis that was not suscepti¬ 
 ble of doubt, and proceeding directly to New York from 
 Washington, I published a little pamphlet, in which I ex¬ 
 plained the advantages of the tunnel and the probable 
 income that would be derived from it. The people with 
 whom I came in contact at that time (and they were some 
 of the wealthiest and most intelligent of the residents of 
 New York) took a great deal of interest in the tunnel, al¬ 
 though somehow they regarded it as a vast undertaking, 
 the accomplishment of which would be very remote. My 
 assertions that the income from operating would amount 
 to several millions per annum made them incredulous, and 
 they argued that if that were true, I could easily raise the 
 money in California. Many of the prominent merchants, 
 bankers, and capitalists of New York, however, united in 
 subscribing to a communication to me in which they prom¬ 
 ised that, if I would go back to the Pacific coast and raise 
 three or four or five hundred thousand dollars, they would 
 get $3,000,000 for me in the east, (a) In the fall of 1866, 
 therefore, I returned to California, and submitted the prop¬ 
 osition to the mining companies. They were then in a 
 pretty good condition. They were prosperous in busi¬ 
 ness, and I found ready listeners when I demonstrated the 
 importance of the tunnel to mining operations. I pro¬ 
 posed to them to become interested in the tunnel. I 
 showed them that they could come in at such a rate that 
 it would be highly advantageous to them, for although 
 they would be independent as mining concerns, they would 
 still be owners in the tunnel enterprise, and it would re- 
 
 (a) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 53. 
 
12 
 
 turn them, by way of profit, all they would have to pay to 
 it in royalty for the ores removed when in bonanza; while, 
 on the other hand, when out of ore, without contributing 
 a single dollar, the dividends from the tunnel would fur¬ 
 nish them the means for prospecting. And they saw it, 
 and recognized the fact. They began to subscribe, and in 
 May, 1867, I think, I had $600,000 subscribed. A great 
 many private people put down their names for $5,000, or 
 $10,000, or $20,000 each, and I had a fair prospect of 
 raising $1,000,000 in San Francisco, and the whole amount 
 required, perhaps, in California. 
 
 OPPOSITION BY THE BANK OF CALIFORNIA COMMENCED, (a) 
 
 Then it was that the Bank of California stepped in and 
 concluded to break up the tunnel enterprise. But previous 
 to that time I had again visited the Nevada Legislature, in 
 February, 1867,1 think, and asked the members to memo¬ 
 rialize Congress, (b) I told them that this was an important 
 question, not only to tbe State of Nevada, but to the whole 
 country; and they responded to my wishes, urging Congress 
 in the strongest terms to aid this work. They gave their 
 reasons, (c) They showed the politico-economical demands 
 for it. They demonstrated what influence it would have 
 on the payment of the national debt. I should very much 
 like to quote from the memorial, but it would take me too 
 long. 
 
 When the California bank people observed the action 
 the Legislature of Nevada had taken, with the conclusive 
 logic of their address, they began to understand the prob¬ 
 ability that the Government would take some steps to assist 
 in the construction of the tunnel. The Bank of California 
 now came to the conclusion that it was a great enterprise, 
 and, thinking we were about to get a subsidy from the 
 United States, they set out to break it up. The Bank of 
 California rules and runs that country. They owned al- 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 17,18,166, 355, 356. (5) See book on Sutro Tunnel, p. xiii. 
 (c) See book on Sutro Tunnel, p. 77. 
 
13 
 
 most everybody in it, and anybody that refuses to bend the 
 knee to them they drive away. So they concluded to drive 
 me away; and, in their unscrupulous manner of doing 
 things, they began by making the mining companies repu¬ 
 diate their subscriptions. That was the first step they took. 
 I had worked at this undertaking then for several years. 
 I had induced some of my friends to invest some money 
 in it: my means were limited. There were large expenses 
 connected with the enterprise, in the way of making sur¬ 
 veys and maps, traveling,, arranging contracts, and em¬ 
 ploying lawyers. The bank, as soon as they had concluded 
 to repudiate, declared that we had not complied with the 
 conditions of our contracts. 
 
 THE QUESTION OF CONTRACTS. 
 
 That was in June, 1867. The contracts were made in 
 the year 1866, and we agreed in those contracts that we 
 would raise a certain sum of money by the 1st of August, 
 1867. Now, understand, in May, 1867, three months be¬ 
 fore our time expired, they commenced their opposition, 
 and said we had not complied with our contracts. I had, 
 however, taken the precaution to receive an extension from 
 the mining companies of another year, and consequently 
 our contracts ran until August 1,1868. 
 
 In order that the circumstances may be thoroughly com¬ 
 prehended, I will refer to a single company, the reports of 
 which I have in my possession. It is the Savage Mining 
 Company, of which Alpheus Bull, Esq., is president—a 
 gentleman who is connected with a great many companies 
 out there, and who is supposed to be a very good man, a 
 first-rate man, a very pious man, in fact; but in my opin¬ 
 ion a great scamp, and a mqre tool of the Bank of Califor¬ 
 nia. This is what ho wrote in his official report on July 
 10, 1866, after the contracts had been made: 
 
 “The importance of affording drainage at a great depth, if it can possibly 
 bo obtained, cannot be too highly estimated. The Sutro Tunnel Company is 
 the only party that proposes to undertake this important enterprise, and your 
 trustees have entered into a contract with that company, for the purpose of 
 effecting this great object. It is much to be desired that success may attend 
 
14 
 
 the effort, for it is, in my opinion, a work upon which depends the future value 
 and profitable working of the mines of the Comstock lode. I recommend that 
 this contract be ratified by the stockholders at their present meeting.” (a) 
 
 They did ratify it That was in 18G6. There was no 
 opposition then. Now, let us see what he says—this same 
 man—in 18G7; and a very smooth-talking fellow he is, too. 
 Recollect, now, these contracts did not expire till the 1st 
 of August, 18G7, with an extension of time made until 
 August 1, 1868. There was an extension from this par¬ 
 ticular company, the Savage company, which I might as 
 well read right here, now that I am about it, so that it 
 may be put upon the record, and that there may be no ques¬ 
 tion about the extension granted by that company at all : 
 
 "Resolved, That the president and secretary be,and are hereby, instructed 
 to enter into the following contract with the Sutro Tunnel Company: 
 
 “This agreement, made this seventh day of March, A. D. 1867, between the 
 Savage Mining Company, a corporation duly organized under the laws of the 
 State of California, and having its mine on the Comstock lode, in the State of 
 Nevada, party of the first part, and the Sutro Tunnel Company, party of the 
 Becond part: 
 
 “ IVitnesseth, That in consideration of one dollar in gold coin of the United 
 States in hand paid to the saidjparty of the first part by the said party of the 
 second part, ana of other good and valuable considerations, receipt whereof 
 is hereby acknowledged, said party of the first- part agrees and covenants that 
 the said party of the second part shall have, and is hereby granted, an exten¬ 
 sion of time for one year, from and after the period specified in articles first, 
 third, fourth, and fifth, of a certain contract entered into between the parties 
 hereto, on the thirtieth day of March, A. D. 1866.” 
 
 [Recollect this gives- an extension till the lsf of August , 
 18G8.] 
 
 -“ And it is hereby declared to be the intention of said grant of exten¬ 
 sion of time, that the operation and effect thereof shall be the same iu all re¬ 
 spects as if the 1st day of August, 1868, had been originally inserted in said 
 contract, instead of the first day of August, 1867, wherever the date last men¬ 
 tioned is found therein. 
 
 “In testimony whereof the Savage Mining Company has caused these pres¬ 
 ents to be signed by the president and secretary, and its corporate seal to be 
 hereto affixed, this seventh day of March, A. D. 1867. 
 
 " (Signed) Alpheus Bull, Pres't. 
 
 “E. B. Holmes, Sccy Savage inning Co.” 
 
 Now let us see what this man said that same year, on the 
 18th of July, 18G7, before the original contract expired: 
 
 “On the tho 26th of April, 1867, the board of trustees entered into an 
 agreement with the Sutro Tunnel Company to subscribe $150,000 towards 
 the construction of the proposed drain tunnel, upon two conditions: first, 
 that the tunnel company were to procure bona fide subscriptions to the amount 
 
 (a) See official report of Savage Company for 1866. 
 
15 
 
 of $3 000,000; and, second, that the agreement should bo submitted to this 
 annual meeting and ratified by the stockholders. The tunnel companxj have 
 failed to fulfill the first condition." 
 
 He said we .had failed to fulfill the condition that we 
 were to get $3,000,000 in bona fide subscriptions, and our 
 time had not yet expired. It was before the original con¬ 
 tract expired, and a year and over before the extension 
 expired. 
 
 Then he goes on to say: 
 
 “In addition to this, I consider there are grave reasons for doubting the 
 policy of such an agreement on the part of this company. Suffice to say that 
 I recommend the stockholders to refuse to give their approval to the agree¬ 
 ment." (a) 
 
 This Bull was the tool of a ring, which had then been 
 formed by the Bank of California, and they thought they 
 could explode the tunnel project. It was uext to impossi¬ 
 ble to obtain redress. You could not do anything in any 
 court of law. It was reported that they could manage 
 almost every judge in that part of the country, and that 
 they had vast influence with all the newspapers. They 
 thought they could ride rough-shod over my rights, but I 
 did not iet them do it, nor do I think I ever shall. I hold 
 in my hand the paper, dated April 26, 18G7, in which the 
 Savage company agreed to pay $150,000 to the tunnel com¬ 
 pany, yet that man had the assurance, three months later, 
 to say we had not complied with the conditions of our 
 contract, when we had a year and over to do it in. 
 
 RING RASCALITIES. 
 
 They put their heads together then, and said: 
 
 "Let us break up the Satro tunnel. We will get hold of it in a year or 
 two anyhow; and in the meantime wo will make the mining companies give 
 the money subscribed to the tunnel company towards a railroad, which wo 
 will build and own, and that will kill Sutro, and he will not bo able to get 
 the money ho wants.” 
 
 As a result of what I have just stated, in April, 1868, 
 this man Bull wrote in the official report of the company: 
 
 “ I am bo strongly impressed with the importance of the early construction 
 of this railway, ana tho great benefits it would confer upon this company, 
 that I earnestly recommend to tbe stockholders the repeal or amendment of 
 
 (a) See official report of Savage Company for 1867. 
 
16 
 
 the 4lli article of the by-laws, so as to enable the in-coming board of trustees, 
 if in their judgment they deem it advisable, to increase the subsidy of this 
 company to the railway enterprise by an additional sum of fifty thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 “ With this road constructed and in operation, and with a deep-drain tun¬ 
 nel which in a few years will be run, and with a further saving in the reduc¬ 
 tion of ore, and also to increase the returns of the assay value of them from 
 65 per cent, the present standard, to 80 or 85 per cent., it is reasonable to 
 believe, with all these advantages secured, we can transmit the danger of 
 profits from silver mining at Virginia and Gold Hill to anothor generation.” (a) 
 
 Now, if that record will not damn any set of men, I 
 would like to know what will. There is falsehood proven 
 on them out of their own mouths. 
 
 To recapitulate, then, you find that on April 3, 1866, 
 this man Bull, as president of the Savage company, makes 
 a contract with the Sutro Tunnel Company, and recom¬ 
 mends its confirmation at the annual stockholders’ meet¬ 
 ing in July of that year, which was duly made. 
 
 On the 7th of March, 1867, following, he extends the 
 time for the fulfillment of that contract until August 1, 
 1868. Oti the 26th of April, of that same year, (1867,) the 
 board of trustees of the Savage company, through him, 
 (Bull, their president,) subscribed §150,000 to the Sutro 
 Tunnel Company; and on the 18th of July, of that same 
 year, he repudiates it all. 
 
 The California Bank ring saw the tunnel was going 
 ahead, and while they wanted to break it up, they at the 
 same time wanted to appropriate the money subscribed 
 by the mining companies to themselves; and, in order to 
 accomplish that, they got up this railroad enterprise. 
 
 Thus we find this same man Bull, in liis next annual 
 report in 1868, recommending the subscription of this 
 identical sum of §150,000 to the railroad company, which 
 he had repudiated the year before, as far as the tunnel 
 company was concerned; and so confident was he that the 
 tunnel project was killed for good, that he lets out their 
 plans for the future, by saying that a deep tunnel would 
 be constructed before long —of course meaning by the bank 
 ring. He thought it was killed off; his indecent haste was 
 
 (a) See official report of Savage Company for 1868. 
 
17 
 
 so great that he called in the undertaker before the child 
 was dead. 
 
 THEY WANT TO APPROPRIATE AID FROM TI1E GOVERNMENT TO 
 THEMSELVES. 
 
 They now turned around, and their persecution fairlj 
 commenced. They thought the tunnel was a good thing, 
 having read my pamphlets. They had not had braina 
 enough to see it in the beginning; but when they did seu 
 it, notwithstanding our rights, obtained from the United 
 States Government, they thought they would break it up: 
 after the Nevada Legislature had shown that the Govern¬ 
 ment of the United States was interested in that enterprise 
 more intimately than in any other in the country, and they 
 concluded to appropriate any aid from the federal Govern¬ 
 ment to themselves. There you have the Bank of Califor¬ 
 nia. That is the way they do things out there. The} 
 thought in a few years I would be entirely used up, for 3 
 had no money to tight these people with, and they had 
 millions, and were making millions out of these mines 
 every year, fleecing the people, as I shall show further on. 
 I charge them with these things, and I am ready to prove 
 them. 
 
 THE RING nAS NO MONEY INVESTED IN THE RAILROAD. 
 
 "What does Mr. Sunderland say in his argument? He 
 says this tunnel ought not to receive any aid from the 
 Government, because it would ruin their railroad. Why, 
 that is no objection. They got the money subscribed to 
 themselves away from us, and with it built that railroad in 
 opposition to the tunnel. They built it several years after I 
 obtained my rights. They designed that it should break 
 up the tunnel. They tried to make people believe that, when 
 the railroad should be made, they could bring wood on it 
 so cheap, that they would be enabled to use it for pumping 
 water out of the mines cheaper than it would run out by 
 itself, and the people had no interest to differ from them. One 
 
18 
 
 of Mr. Sunderland’s reasons against the tunnel is, that the 
 railroad cost $3,000,000. The truth is, it only cost $1,500,- 
 000. According to his own statement, they got from the 
 
 mining companies-- $800,000 
 
 And a gift from three counties of- 575,000 
 
 Making a total of-$1,375,000 
 
 So there is not much of their money in it. 
 
 The railroad may cost $3,000,000, if they build it to 
 Reno, which would make it more than double its present 
 length. 
 
 Mr. Waldiion. What is its present length ? 
 
 Mr. Sutro. Twenty-three miles from Virginia to Carson. 
 
 Now, I want to call attention to the fact, that more than 
 one half of that railroad never will be injured at all. There 
 are only ten miles that the tunnel could hurt, and I pre¬ 
 tend to say that even that ton miles would not become en¬ 
 tirely useless, and that Virginia City will continue to exist 
 to a very considerable extent. He says these mining com¬ 
 panies have paid $800,000 already, and they ought not to 
 pay anything towards this tunnel. So far as I am con¬ 
 cerned, I can neither see sense nor philosophy in that 
 argument. He says, also, that if we had complied with 
 our contract there would not have been any necessity for 
 making this railroad. I have shown that these people have 
 ■prevented, us from complying with the contracts. Their own 
 statements show it. They are full of discrepancies. They 
 say they wanted us to complete the tunnel, and they threw 
 all sorts of obstacles in our way. 
 
 NO RUIN TO ANYTHING. 
 
 Mr. Sunderland next says that, if made, the tunnel will 
 ruin Virginia City and Gold Hill. It has been stated here 
 that the property there is worth $5,000,000 or $6,000,000; 
 but in any mining town everybody knows (hat mining will 
 some day cease, particularly if operations continue to be 
 carried on as they are in those miners, and property will 
 be worth but very little. I think the tunnel will injure 
 
19 
 
 Virginia City and Gold Hill some, and I think it will in¬ 
 jure ten miles of that railroad, but not much, for they 
 can take up their rails and lay them to the mouth of the 
 tunnel, and I prophesy that a large city will spring into 
 existence there. . Five years hence we shall see, perhaps, 
 50,000 people gathered near its mouth. Where they 
 have two or three thousand miners employed now, they 
 will then have 15,000; and the few thousand who will then 
 remain at Virginia City will find plenty of employment in 
 surface digging, for there will be more or less of mining 
 operations conducted independent of the tunnel. It will 
 take a long time to complete the ramifications from the 
 tunnel—fifty years, I do not doubt. In the course of time 
 we shall have in the argentiferous depths of those hills a 
 hundred miles of tunnel—nay, two hundred. That which 
 we seek to start to-day is the main artery, as it were. We 
 go in four miles, and we will have tunnels branching from 
 us in every direction; we will have a subterranean world, 
 with avenues and rock-paved streets, an interminable traffic 
 of cars, loaded with men, ore, and material, (a) There will 
 be a business in this underground world such as no one can 
 have any conception of. The whole mountain will be ex¬ 
 plored, and everything connected with mining cheapened; 
 and the objection that Virginia City and Gold Hill will 
 be injured falls to the ground; it amounts to nothing. (5) 
 
 Mr. Sunderland has also stated that the mills of the 
 Carson river will be injured. There has been a great deal 
 said here about making a large dam near the mouth of the 
 tunnel; but we do not propose to make that dam. That 
 is a dam proposed by (he commissioners. They thought 
 a dam would be a profitable investment, and that ma} 1- be 
 probably so; but in none of my pamphlets or books have I 
 ever proposed making one. There is no necessity for it at 
 all, as I will show when I reach that subject. 
 
 He has told us, furthermore, there will be $13,000,000 
 or $14,000 ,000 worth of property destroyed; that is to say, 
 
 (a) See Tost., p. 27. (6) See Tost., pp. 18£>f 186. 
 
20 
 
 in property at Virginia City, the mills on the Carson, and 
 this railroad; but I assert (the mills not being affected at 
 all) that the loss will not exceed $1,000,000. And they 
 are going to get a benefit from the tunnel of more than 
 $10,000,000 a year. The yield of those piiues will be so 
 immense, that the people there cannot help growing rich 
 from them. But Mr. Sunderland says every one will be 
 bankrupted. The solution of the enigma is, the Bank of 
 California is still bent upon breaking up our project, 
 although we are now in a condition to push our work 
 ahead. We have 300 or 400 men at work there at present, 
 and we are going to construct that tunnel in spite of all 
 their machinations. 
 
 RETURN TO NEW YORK. 
 
 After I saw the power the Bank had out there, I con¬ 
 cluded it would be of no use for me to go on there any longer 
 to try to accomplish anything. I perceived that nearly 
 everybody was shunning me, as long as it was pat¬ 
 ent that the Bank was against me, and I could not 
 raise a cent. Men of business were all afraid of the 
 institution. Most of them were more or less in want 
 of accommodations, and have business ramifications which 
 leave them at the mercy of a great, unscrupulous mon¬ 
 eyed concern, either directly or indirectly, so that they 
 may be broken and ruined any day, and no redress 
 could be had; and -when I would relate the facts peo¬ 
 ple would not believe me, and I could get no satis¬ 
 faction. I therefore concluded to return to New York, 
 where the people had told me, “You go and raise three 
 or four hundred thousand dollars.” Upon my arrival 
 I showed the documents, in which the mining com¬ 
 panies and others had. subscribed $600,000. I told them 
 why they withdrew, but I could not explain that away; no 
 matter what I might have said, t hey would not have believed 
 it. I did not know what to do about this matter. I was not 
 going to give it up, because I had said I would carry it out, 
 and I was more determined than ever not to give it up 
 
21 
 
 under any circumstances. I thought to myself, “ I have that 
 indorsement from the Nevada Legislature; I will explain it 
 to Congress, and submit it there, and let them know what 
 this Bank of California is; what a set of scamps they are, 
 and how they had acted towards me, in what had faith; 
 how they had perverted facts, and done everything to break 
 up the enterprise; and I will submit this report of the Ne¬ 
 vada Legislature, which, I repeat, is a most conclusive argu¬ 
 ment for Government aiding this work, and developing the 
 vast mineral resources of the country.” 
 
 Soon after I arrived at New York, I went in one day to 
 Leese & Waller’s, the agents of the Bank of California, 
 though I knew they would be against me, and I found a 
 placard posted up, saying that the Savage company had 
 repudiated the subscription to the tunnel company, and 
 that the same was null and void. I was astonished to find 
 in a banking office in New York a placard like that. Every¬ 
 body from the Pacific coast would come in and read it, and 
 would think I had committed some crime, or been guilty 
 of some rascality. I saw what they were up to. They 
 wanted to ruin me in New York, so I could get no money 
 there, (a) 
 
 TRIP TO EUROPE. 
 
 I concluded to go to Europe and try to raise some funds 
 there, and at the same time post myself on mining. I 
 was familiar with the great works on mining written by 
 the scientific men in Europe, who had spent a lifetime 
 in studying what had been experienced by others dur¬ 
 ing centuries, and some of whom had traveled all over 
 the world to get experience themselves, and I wanted to 
 come in contact with those people and consult with them. 
 I also wanted to visit the mines there myself, and study 
 the continuance of mineral lodes in depth. I met such men 
 asVon Beust,(6) Sir Roderick Murchison,(c) Yon Gotta, ( d) 
 
 (а) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 55. (c) See Test.; p. 614. 
 
 (б) See Test., pp. 607, 608. ( d) See Test., pp. 608, 609, 610. 
 
22 
 
 Weissbacb,(a)Kerl, (6) Rivot,(c) Chevalier, and many others, 
 the great scientific celebrities of the world. Their books 
 are used in many schools and universities. They all in¬ 
 dorsed this project. Some of their letters are published in 
 my book, ( d ) in which they compliment me on this magnifi¬ 
 cent undertaking: the greatest undertaking, they thought, 
 going on in America. They indorsed it heartily, these 
 men, thoroughly familiar with mining science. Baron 
 Richthofen, a celebrated geologist, had some time previous 
 written a treatise about the geology of the Comstock lode, 
 (e) and in regard to this tunnel, which he recommended 
 highly. They saw the benefits of the tunnel at a glance. 
 They understood its whole effect. They knew by their 
 own experiences what it would bet 
 
 CAPITALISTS ALARMED. 
 
 While I was in Europe I made some inquiries as to what 
 I could do in the way of raising money there. I had a 
 great many letters of introduction. I have read one from 
 Mr. Ralston, which I never used. I had letters of intro¬ 
 duction from many of the bankers and prominent people 
 in California to leading people in London, Paris, Frank¬ 
 fort, Amsterdam, and Berlin. They thought the tunnel 
 was a magnificent work; but a work of that kind is diffi¬ 
 cult to carry out, and still more difficult to raise money 
 for. When a capitalist lends money, he wants to have the 
 returns in hand before he lets it go. You know how dif¬ 
 ficult it is to do anything with such people; but the great 
 obstacle in 1867, about the time the Exposition was going 
 on in Paris, was a feeling all over Europe, in diplomatic 
 and financial circles, that there was going to be a war be¬ 
 tween Prussia and France. Everybody knew it was com¬ 
 ing, and the bourse, which is the most sensitive barometer 
 there is in the world, as far as money is concerned, felt it; 
 and everybody iti London told me that nothing could be 
 done with American enterprises, either railroads or tun- 
 
 (а) See Test., p. 614. (c) See Test., p. 613. 
 
 (б) See Teat., p. 613. ( d ) See book on Sutro Tunnel, pp. 33-74. 
 
 (e) See book on Sutro Tunnel, p. 95. 
 
23 
 
 nels, or anything else, because war was bound to come. 
 It did not come for two years afterwards, but it did come. 
 At that time, however, it made the impression I am pic¬ 
 turing. Tfiere was a perfect plethora of money in Eng¬ 
 land. It was lending at one per cent, a year. “If that is 
 so,” said I to them, “you ought to be glad to make a good 
 investment.” “No,” they replied, “the reason money is 
 so low is because people are afraid to invest it in anything.” 
 They would rather let it lay in the banks. But when there 
 is confidence they arc ready to invest, and it comes up to 
 four and five per cent, a year. That I did not know then, 
 hut I am quite sure I know it now. 
 
 EFFORTS IN THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 
 
 About the close of 1867 I returned to Washington. I 
 think I left Liverpool on the 1st of December, 1867. I 
 submitted the memorial of the Nevada Legislature to 
 Congress, which was referred to the Committee on Mines 
 and Mining, of which, at that time, Mr. Higby of Cal¬ 
 ifornia was chairman; the other members were Judge 
 Woodward of Pennsylvania, Mr. Ashley of Nevada, J. 
 Prbctor Knott of Kentucky, M. C. Hunter of Indiana, 
 Judge Ferris of New York, Mr. Mallory of Oregon, 
 General Ashley of Ohio, Mr. Driggs of Michigan. 
 They became, deeply interested in this question; they 
 often met twice a week, nearly every member present. 
 They would meet at that same room where the Mining 
 Committee meets now, every Monday or Wednesday, 
 and I would talk to them about mining. I went into 
 all the details of mining; explained it all to them; and 
 they became deeply interested in it, so much so, that they 
 were anxious for me to come before them and talk about 
 everything connected with mining, independently of this 
 tunnel question. I became acquainted with nearly all the 
 members of the House, and I found a great many friends. 
 After this lengthy examination of the subject they made 
 an able report to the House, recommending a loan of 
 
24 
 
 $5,000,000, with a mortgage to the Government on all the 
 Property, (a) 
 
 IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON* 
 
 Just then, when the committee was about to be called 
 in the House, the impeachment of Andrew Johnson 
 commenced, and that lasted for months. During that 
 time nothing was done by Congress; they kept on with 
 their meetings in the Mining Committee, but nothing 
 was done in the House. T do truly believe, from my ac¬ 
 quaintance with the opinions of members of that House, 
 that that bill would have passed with a three-quarters or 
 five-sixths vote could it only have been reached. There 
 was Thad. Stevens: the old man felt a great interest in this 
 question of getting down deeper into the bowels of the 
 earth than had ever been reached before in the world. I 
 explained it to the old man when he was sick, and sat by 
 him many times when he was in bed. He would have my 
 book with him in bed, and kept reading it. He said it was 
 a magnificent project. I explained to him that during 
 thousands of years man had never penetrated to a greater 
 depth than 2,700 feet, and that we should go down a mile, 
 and see what was there. Well, Thaddens Stevens was rekdy 
 to do anything for it; but Congress adjourned, and the 
 old man died, and I went home again, aftor exhausting 
 all my powers, almost despairing, and beiijg under large 
 expense, and that Bank of California quietly and secretly 
 fighting me, being in telegraphic communication with 
 their agents at Washington all the time. (6) Many members 
 of Congress promised that next winter they would cer¬ 
 tainly act in this matter. But I had accomplished noth¬ 
 ing, and returned to California again. I remained a few 
 months on that side, and then came back to Washington 
 during the 
 
 session of 1868-69. 
 
 I remained here that winter. Grant had just been 
 
 (а) See H. E. No. 50, 2d Session 40th Congress. 
 
 (б) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 56. 
 
elected President, and you know, gentlemen, that at 
 that session there was no disposition to undertake any 
 legislation. It wias a short one, and the whole time 
 was occupied in passing appropriation bills. In fact, 
 while Johnson was at the head of the administration 
 there was no disposition to do anything until after 
 Grant should come in, so I went back to California once 
 more, and kept up communication with financial men 
 all the time; but it did not succeed in doing anything. In 
 the summer of 18G9 the Ways and Means Committee paid 
 a visit to California. I saw them in San Francisco. Mr. 
 Hooper ofBoston was the acting chairman: Mr. Sclienck,the 
 chairman, having gone over to Europe. I saw the import¬ 
 ance of getting those gentlemen over to Virginia City. They 
 were a very influential committee; a committee composed of 
 gentlemen of the highest standing, and I urged them all 
 personally in San Francisco to go over to Virginia City. 
 
 VISIT OF THE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE. 
 
 "While they were in San Francisco of course they were 
 more or less shown around by the Bank of California. 
 They could not help that, because they are prominent peo¬ 
 ple, and have ramifications among all the wealthy residents 
 of the Pacific coast; in fact* they run things out there 
 pretty much, and they entertained those gentlemen to 
 some extent. I urged them very much to go to the mines 
 on their return to the east. Well, they told me that they 
 would certainly go; they promised me faithfully, every 
 one of them, that they would ; but the Bank people, who 
 had heard, in the meantime, of the determination of the 
 committee, said they would take them over. I told them 
 “all right.” It could not be helped. The Bank folks had 
 them in charge. They for a long time endeavored to per¬ 
 suade them not to go, but when they saw they were’deter¬ 
 mined upon making the trip, they concluded to take charge 
 of the party. They came over to Virginia City, and they 
 were the guests of Mr. Sharon; but they had promised to 
 come and see me. I could not possibly call to see them, 
 
26 
 
 being, as they were, in the house of ray enemies. But 
 they did come to see me at the hotel. They had mean¬ 
 while visited some of the mines and seen that I was correct 
 They were such thoroughly intelligent gentlemen, that 
 they perceived at once that I had been representing things 
 as they existed; and the very fact that this Bauk of Cali¬ 
 fornia was trying to injure me and denounce me made 
 them the more earnest in my favor. Mr. Sharon told 
 Governor Blair (and there is no more thoroughly honor¬ 
 able man than Mr. Blair in the United States) that they 
 wanted to drive me out of the country. They didn’t want 
 the tunnel built. I showed them the lay of the country, and 
 they came away most fully convinced of the justice of 
 my case and the outrageous character of’ the persecution 
 to which I was subjected. I think it was a very fortunate 
 circumstance that these gentlemen came over there, be¬ 
 cause I thought it would secure to me at last a hearing in 
 Congress. They became entirely satisfied that what I had 
 stated in regard to this undertaking was correct; they 
 went down into those miues in that terrible heat, and 
 came near fainting in the attempt. Mr. Hooper of Bos¬ 
 ton, Judge Kelley of Pennsylvania, Mr. Maynard of Ten¬ 
 nessee, Judge Marshall of Illinois, Governor Blair of 
 Michigan, and Mr. Brooks of Hew York all went down 
 into those mines. They saw it all; and if you ask any of 
 those gentlemen about it, they will express but one opinion, 
 every one of them. 
 
 SPEECH AT VIRGINIA CITY. 
 
 Well, I had now gone on some years in this affair. I 
 was about getting crushed out by the bank. They were, 
 getting more and more bitter as the time passed, for they 
 were annoyed at my persistance, which prevented them 
 from starting the tunuel themselves. I had no chance to 
 explain myself to the public. They owned all the news¬ 
 papers, and they wouldn’t print anything about the tun¬ 
 nel either for pay or otherwise, and I made up my mind 
 to get up in Virginia City, right in their midst, show up 
 
27 
 
 their rascalities, and explain the persecution they had in¬ 
 stituted against me. I made a speech there, and that 
 speech has been printed, (a) In it I made an appeal to the 
 workingmen, the men who have to delve and toil in those 
 mines with the thermometer at 100° and 110°: men who 
 become consumptive working in that heated and foul at¬ 
 mosphere. I explained it all to them, and appealed to 
 them that if each one would put in $5 or $10 apiece we 
 could go on with the work and carry.it out. Why, there 
 was the greatest enthusiasm about this 'matter. They 
 would not go to bed that night, but stoo'd about the streets 
 talking it over. They thought they could carry it out at 
 once. The Miners’ Union subscribed $50,000 then. That 
 helped to start the work going. These laboring miners 
 did that. Of course they received an interest in the Tun¬ 
 nel company, and they put in this trifling amount of 
 money. I told them that if they would go in together and 
 put in $5 a month apiece, they would own the tunnel in 
 time and would own the mines. Mr. Sunderland has 
 quoted me as saying that the Tunnel company would own 
 the mines, but he has not stated in what connection the 
 assertion was made. I did tell those people that they 
 would and should own the mines. I told them to join 
 together into a great co-operative association and build 
 that tunnel. I told them they were spending $5 a month 
 apiece for whiskey; I said, “Put it in the tunnel.” That, for 
 3,000 miners, would have been $15,000 a month. If they 
 would join together in this great work the politicians out 
 there could not afford to oppose them. Well, they came 
 and subscribed to the stock. They put in some money. 
 
 Mr. Sunderland has denounced that speech as the speech 
 of a demagogue. He says I was inciting these men against 
 the owners of these mines. These men were already bit¬ 
 ter against this Bank of California; and I told them not 
 to use any violence. I told them to go in and own this 
 tunnel. Mr. Sunderland says that was the way to incite 
 them to violence. I did not so understand it. (6) 
 
 (a) See Commissioners' Report, p. 48. (&) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 48. 
 
28 
 
 START WORK ON THE TUNNEL. 
 
 Well, we at last set to work on the 19th of October, 1869. 
 We had raised some money over there and in California, 
 and we started work. We had some festivities when we 
 started. Many of the laboring men came down, and the 
 officers of the laboring associations; but nobody from the 
 Bunk of California showed himself. They kept away at 
 that time. We started the tunnel going on a small scale, 
 for our means were limited; but we were acting under the 
 rights given us by Congress. 
 
 We started in, and we simply made a beginning, it is 
 true; but, having started, I thought we better incorporate 
 as a company in San Francisco. This was in December, 
 1869. In the spring of 1870, while I was managing our 
 financial affairs in California, raising more money to carry 
 on the work, I received telegrams from Washington that 
 I had better come on there right away; the bank had sent 
 men there to get our franchise repealed. So I rushed off. 
 I went overland, and came to Washington. What did 
 I find? Why, that Mr. Fitch, our Representative from 
 Nevada, had introduced a bill to repeal the third section 
 of the law of Congress which secured us our royalty. That 
 .was the new dodge of the Bank of California to break us 
 up. They had hired newspapers to abuse me. They 
 abused me in the worst possible manner, and warned 
 people from coming in with me; but the miners all under¬ 
 stood it. They are laboring miners, who work in the 
 bowels of the earth, and go down 1,000 or 1,200 feet, and 
 bring out the rock. These men understood it all. They 
 put in their money, and when the bank saw that we were 
 going ahead, and running this tunnel in, with the chances 
 of cutting a vein any day, they became alarmed, and hur¬ 
 ried on to Washington to get this law repealed. 
 
 THE BANK ATTEMPTS TO REPEAL OUR FRANCHISE. 
 
 Mr. Ilillyer, a prominent lawyer of Nevada, had been 
 sent on, and tried to get that law repealed. Perhaps some 
 
29 
 
 of you gentlemen recollect the fight that we had over that 
 bill in the Fortieth Congress. Then my good fortune was 
 that these gentlemen of the Ways and Means Committee 
 had been over there and seen it all, and they stood by me. 
 If they had not been over there, I should have been beaten* 
 Mr. Blair stood up for me like a man. So did Judge Kel¬ 
 ley. They all stood up for me. Those that did not make 
 speeches went around and told the Representatives that 
 this was a great outrage about to be perpetrated, and they 
 protected my interests; and the members of the Mining 
 Committee of that and the previous Congress all stood up 
 for me. The Committee had made a unanimous report 
 against the repeal, with the exception of Mr. Sargent 
 Judge Orange Ferris,a man as true as steel, was chairman, 
 and had charge of the bill; he made a gallant fight, and 
 was assisted by Mr. Strickland and all the other members 
 of the Committee. Coming here in March, I had no time 
 to see the new members of Congress, for the matter came 
 up on the 17th of March, after I had just arrived here in 
 Washington, and they had it all cooked up. They had 
 had no bill printed, so that nobody should see what was 
 being done. But I had it printed myself. I had some 
 other documents printed which showed them up. Here 
 is one of them. That bill was printed for the first time 
 in this document. They had put that bill in writing, and 
 being filed away amongst the Speaker’s papers, it would 
 have remained there until it passed, without my know¬ 
 ing anything about it, if my friends had not informed me, 
 and if 1 had not come here. The vote upon the measure 
 was 124 to 42. ( a) General Banks doubtless recollects it. 
 He voted against that bill to repeal our rights. After this 
 bill had been defeated in Congress, I had to remain here to 
 watch these people, because I knew they would try to steal 
 in something or other, and get it through in an under¬ 
 handed way. I asked to have a provision inserted in a 
 general mining bill in the Senate, protecting my rights; 
 
 (a) Soe Congressional Globe, March 17, 22, and 23, 1S70. 
 
30 
 
 and Judge Trumbull, of Illinois, stood up for our rights, 
 and showed that this sort of thing ought not to be allowed. 
 So they protected me in my rights again. 
 
 WAR BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND FRANCE. 
 
 Then I commenced negotiations in Europe once more. 
 I had a gentleman over there, an American, who had been 
 out in Nevada, and he tried to raise this money in London. 
 While he was doing that, he received a proposition from 
 Paris and went over there, and made some preliminary ar¬ 
 rangements to furnish us with 15,000,000 francs. That 
 was in June, 1869. I was waitingfor Congress to adjourn, 
 and wanted to sail for Europe on the 20th of July. I had 
 arranged to sail with Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore, our 
 former minister to England, who had agreed to go over to 
 Europe to assist me. lie was to sail with me on the 20th 
 of July. He was at Baltimore, and I was here in Wash¬ 
 ington. I met him once in a while, and we talked the 
 matter over. While he had been American minister to 
 England he had made agreat many friends over there, who 
 I thought would probably assist me, not knowing for sure 
 whether this 15,000,000 francs loan would be consummated. 
 I thought I better have all the assistance I could get. I 
 received letters from Reverdy Johnson while I was in 
 correspondence with him on this subject, written in the 
 early part of July, 1870, when this war cloud arose. He 
 wrote me, about the 10th of July, it was no use to go over, 
 and sure enough on the 15th of July, when I had reason 
 to suppose I had secured all the money required, news 
 came that war had broken out between France and Prus¬ 
 sia. That broke up our negotiations. Not another word 
 was said about it. You could not raise $5 for any enter¬ 
 prise whatever in Europe or America. After all this fight 
 in Congress; after showing the injustice of the movement 
 against me, after this great victory, and believing the road 
 to-success dear now, when I was almost certain of getting 
 the money required, the war broke out and spoiled all. 
 
What was T to do? T couldn’t raise one dollar in Europe 
 or in the United States, so I returned 
 
 BACK TO NEVADA AGAIN. 
 
 We carried on our work all the time, struggling to get 
 money to pay for it. We were paying $4 a day to our 
 miners, in 8 hours’ shifts, that is $3 in money, and $1 in 
 stock. We were using powder, tools, and timbers. We 
 had to put up steam machinery, and I had to provide the 
 funds or stop the work, arid that 1 was determined should 
 not happen. I tried to get along the best way I could, 
 waiting the termination of that European war, intending 
 to commence negotiations for money anew. 
 
 Of course that Paris matter was broken up forever as 
 soon as that war commenced; but I thought I would prob¬ 
 ably be able in England, or other parts of Europe, to 
 raise the money needed. 
 
 In December, 1870,1 was back in Washington. I could 
 do nothing in California, and I thought it probable I 
 might induce Congress to do something in this matter. 
 1 had to come here to watch these people anyway, because 
 I knew they would smuggle in something or other into a 
 law to injure me if I did not. It was a moat mortifying 
 condition of affairs to me, to see some of the Representa¬ 
 tives from the Pacific coa6t arrayed against me. They 
 nearly all opposed me. They knew the Bank of California 
 was the stronger, and so they helped the bank. I was the 
 weaker, and they tried to kick me out. That is the way 
 some of our Pacific coast politicians do. Right or wrong, 
 you always find them on the strongest side, or the side 
 which they expect will win. That is a fact, and I know it. 
 
 APPOINTMENT OF A COMMISSION. 
 
 I came back to Washington, I say, in December, 1870. 
 It was another short session. I watched after these peo¬ 
 ple. The agents of the bank kept up their misrepresent¬ 
 ations, telling members that the tunnel was all a humbug; 
 it was not necessary; that the mines bad given out; that 
 
32 
 
 there was no need for a tunnel. In the spring of 1871, in 
 order to settle this affair at last, after all these years of labor 
 and fighting and attempts to drive me away from this un¬ 
 dertaking, I asked for a commission to go out there. I said 
 to gentlemen in the House and Senate, “Send a commis¬ 
 sion out there, and let them report upon this question, and 
 let them see what there is of it, and whether I have been 
 telling the truth or not;” and a bill to do this passed both 
 branches, and the President signed it on the 4th of April 
 of last year. I thought that would settle the question for 
 good. Gentlemen of the highest character would be sent 
 out to investigate this subject, and there would be no more 
 caviling about it. *It would stop the misrepresentations of 
 the bank, because we would get these commissioners to go 
 there and examine into all the facts. And the President ap¬ 
 pointed Major General II. G. Wright, (and a more honor¬ 
 able gentleman never lived; a high-toned, excellent man;) 
 Major General John G. Foster; and Professor W. Newcomb, 
 (a gentleman of scientific attainments and straightforward, 
 honorable character.) These commissioners saw as soon as 
 they were appointed what there was about this; they saw 
 that the Bank of California was against me. They saw 
 there had been a great fight. They became rather timid. 
 They did not know precisely what course to pursue. They 
 saw they might get placed in a false position. They 
 would not say much to me after I arrived out there to meet 
 them. We were all very friendly, but the bank made des¬ 
 perate efforts to impress them their own way. I saw that 
 they would be, to a large extent, under the guidance of 
 these bank people, of the superintendents of the mines, 
 some of whom are very much under the thumb of this 
 bank, which regulates matters over there; and I perceived 
 the danger that they might not get at the 'whole truth. 
 They were very cautious, I must say, and careful, and I 
 thought they would try to get at the facts; and no one who 
 has listened to the testimony, particularly of General 
 W right or Professor Newcomb, can help thinking that 
 they are men of the highest truth and character. They 
 
33 
 
 made straightforward answers to whatever questions were 
 asked them. 
 
 EXAMINATION OF THE MINES BY THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Well, these gentlemen remained some time over there in 
 Nevada. They visited the mines under the guidance of 
 the superintendents, (a) and there are probably 200 miles of 
 drifts in those mines. Why, I can take you in those mines 
 and give you half a dozen views of the whole matter. You 
 would not know the difference. ( b) Yon cannot see the water 
 in the mines. There is a sump ( c) covered over, way down, 
 that they pump out of. They might take you into com- 
 partively cool drifts, where the ventilation is good; but 
 these gentlemen found the thermometer was 110° in some 
 places, notwithstanding. 
 
 They went down to the mouth of the tunnel several 
 times. They went down there and saw it, and took groat 
 care in examining it; but, surrounded as they were by 
 the satellites of the bank, who were straining every nerve 
 to impress them against the tunnel, it is a marvel they did 
 as well understand the matter. This man Sharon told 
 them the first time he met them that he was going to 
 break up this tunnel, (d) During the examination, I asked 
 General Wright whether he thought Mr. Sharon would 
 set aside a law of Congress, and he said certainly he 
 thought he would; he was going to break up the tunnel if 
 he could. These bank people come here to run Congress. 
 They would like to run this Government; and what I want 
 to find out is, whether they are going to run this Govern¬ 
 ment or whether Congress is. They have been running 
 the legislature out there, I know. I do not think they can 
 succeed quite as well here. 
 
 ANOTHER TRIP TO EUROPE. 
 
 While these commissioners were out there, some gentle¬ 
 men arrived there having' connections in England—the 
 
 (а) See Test., pp. 167, 182. (c) See Test., pp. 183, 184. 
 
 (б) See Test., p. 183. (d) See Test., pp. 164, 165, 177, 355, 356. 
 
34 
 
 same parties that had been negotiating for me before over 
 the water—and I showed them the whole of this affair again, 
 and they investigated it and set out for Europe; and, while 
 I was still in Nevada, I received dispatches from them, that 
 probably they could arrange some financial matters for me 
 over there. So I remained in Nevada until the 15th of Au¬ 
 gust. The commission was still there at that time. I then 
 started for New York, and on the 30th of August I sailed 
 for Europe. I came to London, and in a few days arranged 
 for $650,000 in gold coin. I remained there a few days, and 
 went to Paris. That was this last year. I went to Paris, and 
 then came right back to the United States, within thirty 
 days from the time I had left New York; and from New 
 York I proceeded directly to California and to Nevada. 
 Having the means now to start the work on a large scale, 
 we set all the shafts going, buying all the necessary ma¬ 
 chinery, and employing all the people that were necessary; 
 and our whole works have been in full progress since last 
 December. We are working day and night, and we have 
 some 300 or 400 men employed. We are pushing the work 
 ahead just as fast as we can; (a) and I believe in two or three 
 years the whole tunnel will be finished to the Comstock 
 lode, provided we can secure the balance of the money. I 
 will state that, since I came from Europe, we have made 
 another arrangement over there for $800,000 more, so that 
 we have now $1,450,000—a pretty good sum towards con¬ 
 structing that tunnel. It gives us a good start, and we do 
 not owe a single dollar to anybody. If we get any loan 
 through Congress, we can give the Government a clear 
 first mortgage on all this vast properey, entirely unincum¬ 
 bered, and with a million and a half of dollars already in¬ 
 vested. 
 
 THE COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. 
 
 After we had everything in running order out there, I 
 started back to Washington last January, but, being de- 
 
 fa) See Report of Superintendent of Sutro Tunnel for first quarter JL872. 
 
35 
 
 layed on the way by a snow blockade in the Rocky Moun¬ 
 tains, I came here rather late. When I arrived here, I 
 found that the commissioners had sent in their report to 
 Congress; and here there was another disappointment. I 
 had begun to think I was entirely out of the woods, that 
 there would be no more chance for misrepresentation now 
 that these gentlemen had been out there, who, I had been 
 led to believe, would give the most complete and exhaustive 
 statements in regard to the mines and tunnel. I was very 
 much disappointed in regard to the lack of information 
 about several important facts. Certainly a great many 
 other points are stated by the commissioners which are 
 conceded to be absolutely correct. 
 
 They state that the tunnel is entirely feasible. ( a) (Well, 
 really nobody ever doubted that except the California 
 Bank people, who said the tunnel could not be made.) 
 
 They give the cost of the work at $4,500,000. (6) They 
 state that it could be completed in three or four years; by 
 machinery in two years and a half, (c) 
 
 They also state in their report that the yield of the Com¬ 
 stock mines heretofore had been $125,000,000, and that the 
 present yield is $15,000,000 per annum. ( d ) These latter 
 facts they ascertained from the published reports and from 
 the books. There is no question about those points. No¬ 
 body doubts them at all; they are patent to everybody that 
 lives out there. 
 
 Then, furthermore, they declare the Comstock lode to 
 be a true fissure vein, reaching down into the earth indefi¬ 
 nitely; (c) that those mines will be worked as deep as me¬ 
 chanical means will allow; and that the amount of low- 
 *grade ores in the lode, which cannot be taken out now on 
 account of the expensive system of mining, is almost un¬ 
 limited in extent; that that class of ores which is abso- 
 
 ( а ) See Test., pp. 314, 321, 322,323; also Commissioners’ Report, p. 13. 
 
 (б) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 14. 
 
 (c) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 14. 
 
 ( d) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 15. 
 
 (e) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 15. 
 
36 
 
 1 utely known to remain in the mines is immense. («) There 
 is no theoretical conclusion about that. That ore they as¬ 
 certained to exist, and conclude that it has almost no limit. 
 
 IN WIIAT THE COMMISSIONERS WERE MISLED. 
 
 They also state that there would be two important veins 
 cut in running the tunnel in. ( b ) On all these points the 
 commissioners are perfectly clear. Those are all points 
 which they could either ascertain from their own observa¬ 
 tion or from records and authentic statements which have 
 been published. They are able engineers, and their calcu¬ 
 lation upon the cost is also as reliable as the nature of the 
 work will allow. They evidently tried to arrive at a fair 
 conclusion in that respect. 
 
 But now let us come to that part of the report which, 
 from the manner it was arrived at, must prove very unsat¬ 
 isfactory indeed. When they came to the important points 
 of drainage, transportation, and concentration, what did 
 they do? Why, they addressed a note to the superintend¬ 
 ents of those mines, the employes of the Bank of Califor¬ 
 nia, and asked them to answer certain questions. The 
 important part of their report they proposed to base upon 
 the evidence furnished by the superintendents. ( c ) They 
 were to tell them how much water there was in those mines. 
 They were to tell them what facilities there were for work¬ 
 ing those .mines, and what they thought of the Sutro tun¬ 
 nel; and they readily answered all these questions, and the 
 commissioners, taking those reports, gave their figures on 
 the basis furnished thereby, (d) What reliance can be placed 
 upon these deductions, when we know that most of the 
 superintendents are the sworn enemies of the enterprise? 
 The commissioners’ comparative cost of working by means 
 of the tunnel, and the way they are doing it now, is cer¬ 
 tainly erroneous. These people were all interested. Their 
 
 (a) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 20. 
 
 £) See Test, pp. 151, 152, 205, 215, 286, 287, 429, 430. 
 
 (e) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 8; also Test, pp. 2, 3, 4, 14, 15,97, 201, 
 228, 307, 329, 374. ' , 
 
 (d) See Test, pp. 2, 3,4, 14,15,97,201, 228, 307,329, 374. 
 
37 
 
 profits depend upon carrying on these mining and milling 
 operations as they are carried on now. They are all get¬ 
 ting rich and fat on them at the expense of the stockhold¬ 
 ers. They are wealthy. They want to maintain the present, 
 state of things. There are manipulations going on there 
 whicli it is not for the interest of the country to have go 
 on. These commissioners are old army officers. They are 
 not quite up to the rascalities of that bank ring out there; 
 not quite up to these stock-jobbing operations. They took 
 many things for granted which these men told them; took 
 it all for gospel; thought it was all just so. They were 
 not sharp enough for them at all. Reading their report, it 
 must strike you that they rather tried not to offend either 
 side. They did not make any positive report. They were 
 deceived to some extent by those people out there. There 
 is no question about that. 
 
 EXAMINATION OF TIIE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 It appeared to me absolutely necessarj', in order to arrive 
 at all (he facts and set matters right, to request the chair¬ 
 man of the Mining Committee to ask that these gentlemen 
 he cited before the committee, and the Secretary of War 
 was asked to have them ordered to Washington. So they 
 arrived; they testified; and we have the result in 810 pages 
 of printed matter, making the case as clear as you can 
 make any case in the world. It shows everything. We 
 did not leave a stone unturned to show up'every point. 
 Some of the gentlemen of the committee must have be¬ 
 come tired and weary. It was rather an imposition to ask 
 the members of the committee to come to twenty-five 
 hearings, night after night, although it was probably some¬ 
 what interesting to them. There are a great many scien¬ 
 tific facts brought out in the evidence. It is a valuable 
 book on mining, a great deal more so than a great many 
 other books printed by Congress; and that book is a com¬ 
 plete confirmation of everything that I have said and writ-’ 
 ten on the tunnel for the last eight years. Every statement 
 I have made is borne out there by these witnesses. 
 
38 
 
 THE TESTIMONY MAKES A CONCLUSIVE CASE. 
 
 I am glad to be able to submit the whole case upou this 
 testimony, and, taking it altogether, it is a most conclusive 
 argument upon the importance of that tunnel. I cannot 
 ask members of Congress to read the whole of that volume, 
 but I suppose they can some day look it over and draw 
 their own conclusions. We went along, and the three 
 commissioners were examined; and, by the by, they were 
 all cross-examined by the attorney of the Bank of Califor¬ 
 nia, Mr. Sunderland, sent here from the Pacific coast to 
 get out all the damaging facts he possibly could. He 
 brought out everything he could, but he did not bring out 
 one single fact that goes against the tunnel in that whole 
 examination. After the commissioners had been exam¬ 
 ined, the bank party became alarmed. They saw that they 
 weje gone up; that they had no case; and Mr. Sunderland 
 telegraphed to Nevada for two of those superintendents, 
 who had made statements to the commissioners, to come 
 on here, in order to set themselves right. lie appealed to 
 the committee, and told them that he must have those 
 people here; that their veracity had been attacked. Well, 
 we consented to it, and he insisted on examining six more 
 witnesses; and we asked the same privilege. Then the 
 committee.passed a resolution that there should be six more 
 witnesses examined on each side; that there should be no 
 more than eight hearings; and that the whole testimony 
 should be closed by the 1st of April. Well, the Bank of 
 California sent Mr. Requa, the superintendent of the Chol- 
 lar Potosi mine, and Mr. Batterman, and they were going to 
 annihilate all the previous testimony, (a) The first question 
 I asked both of them was whether they were mining engi¬ 
 neers. (6). No; never had any experience on any mines ex¬ 
 cepting those on the Comstock lode. They were glad to 
 get away from us. I asked them who sent them here, and 
 they had to admit that they were sent by Mr. Sharon, the 
 
 («) See Test., pp. 549, 550, 575. (6) See Test., pp. 101,462, 463, 504, 681. 
 
39 
 
 agent of the Bank of California; and they were glad to 
 get oft' when we let them. They were in tight quarters. 
 I had Mr. Requa tell how much profit the Chollar Potosi 
 company had paid to the Union Mill and Mining Company 
 (which is owned by the Bank of California) in one year. 
 $376,000. He had to tell all about that. That is their kind 
 of operations. They paid them over $1,000,000 for work¬ 
 ing in one single year, and the clear profit paid to the Bank 
 of California out of that sum was $376,000. (a) 
 
 TESTIMONY OF PROFESSOR RAYMOND AND MR. LUCKHARDT. 
 
 The committee thought, since there was more testimony 
 to be heard on this subject, they had better cite Mr. Ray- 
 0 mond, the United States Commissioner on Mines and Min¬ 
 ing, ( b ) and hear what he had to say on this question. Mr. 
 Raymond came here at the request of the Secretary of the 
 Treasury. How, here we had a distinguished mining en¬ 
 gineer before the committee, a man of intelligence, a stu¬ 
 dent of Freiberg, a man who had visited nearly all the 
 mines of Europe and in this country, who is president of 
 the Americati Institute of Mining Engineers. Here was 
 valuable testimony. The evidence in favor of t)ie tunnel 
 became stronger and stronger. 
 
 Then we examined Mr. Luckhardt, (e) who was employed 
 by the Bank of California (d) for five years to make reports, 
 so as to furnish them with secret information which the 
 public could not get. Luckhardt’s testimony is most con¬ 
 clusive, so is Mr. Raymond’s. They are scientific men, 
 and they showed the facts. It was about as complete'an 
 investigation, I believe, on a single subject, as has ever 
 taken place in Congress, and I do hope that members will 
 take time to read that book or devote a few hours to it. 
 
 There is an index attached, and part of it will be found 
 quite interesting. The testimony of Luckhardt and Ray- 
 
 fa) See Test., p. 520. 
 
 (5) See Test., pp. 597, 598. 
 
 (c) See Test., pp. 677,678. 
 
 (d) See Test., pp. 678,679, 680, 681, 682, 722,723. 
 
40 
 
 mond is highly valuable. It will be looked upon as a val¬ 
 uable acquisition to mining literature. As I have said, that 
 evidence is a complete confirmation of my statements on 
 the subject of the tunnel during the last eight years. 
 These Government witnesses have indorsed them. Your 
 commissioners have set themselves right on every ques¬ 
 tion by their testimony, and nearly everything has been 
 finally established. 
 
 CORRECTNESS OF STATEMENTS ATTACKED. 
 
 Mr. Sunderland, in his argument, has tried to create 
 the impression that some of my statements are incorrect, 
 lie says I have stated in one of my pamphlets that the 
 tunnel will cost $1,950,000; and that the revenue, during • 
 its construction, would be $500,000; consequently, all the 
 money required would be $1,450,000. Now, gentlemen 
 know how difficult it is to make an estimate for a work of 
 that kind. You have an illustration of that in the Hoosac 
 tunnel, in Massachusetts. They thought it would only cost 
 $2,000,000, but it has cost much more. The $1,950,000 
 given in my pamphlet seven years ago was for the main 
 tunnel only. Branches were not included in that; and 
 those figures were given in gold. Then, Mr. Sunderland 
 attacks the statement made by the committee of the 40th 
 Congress. The committee stated that that tunnel would 
 probably cost $8,000,000. These gentlemen in Congress 
 had reports on the Hoosac tunnel and every other tunnel. 
 They made the figures by drawing comparisons between 
 tho costs of hundreds of tunnels in Europe, and they ar¬ 
 rived at the conclusiou that the whole work, with the 
 branches, would probably cost $8,000,000 in currency. We 
 have now had a commission out there of very able en¬ 
 gineers. There can be no .question as to the high order of 
 ability of both General Wright and General Foster as en¬ 
 gineers. They have figured on it carefully,'and they de¬ 
 clare it will cost $4,500,000. Now, Mr. Sunderland and 
 these bank people have searched for years to bring out 
 something against me and that tunnel enterprise, and 
 
41 
 
 he has discovered that I said at one time the work would 
 only cost about $ 2 , 000 , 000 , and that is about the most 
 damaging fact he can discover. 
 
 TOTAL YIELD OF MEXICAN MINES. 
 
 lie also says that I have stated in one of these books 
 here that these mines on the Comstock produce nearly as 
 much as the whole of Mexico, and that it has been shown 
 in this examination that the mines of Mexico produce 
 $29,000,000, while the Comstock produced only $18,000,000 
 in one year. That is another damaging fact, by which he 
 wants to impeach my statements. 
 
 Now, the fact is, the mines of Mexico, between 1795 and 
 1810, when in their most prosperous condition, were yield¬ 
 ing more money than they ever did at anyone time before. 
 They were yielding then, according to Humboldt, $22,000,- 
 000 a year. In 1810, when the revolution 'took place, it 
 dropped down to $9,000,000 at once, and it went down as 
 low as $4,000,000,1 think, for a number of years, (a) It rose 
 from that to $15,000,000 or $16,000,000, until within the 
 last few years, when, under the administration of Juarez, 
 such an impetus was given to mining, that it came up last 
 year, I believe, to $29,000,000. That is one of the damag¬ 
 ing facts Mr. Sunderland brings out in all this amount of 
 testimony against my statements, which I claim now are 
 as nearly correct as they could have been given with the 
 information in m 3 ’ possession at that time. 
 
 Then he gives us some more figures here. He says I 
 state ii^ that book it costs $4,000,000 a } j ear to pump the 
 water out of the Comstock. The commissioners saj' it costs 
 $124,000. I admit that the former is a large figure. But, 
 supposing all that district be opened up, as it should be, to. 
 a depth of 2,000 feet, and all the mines connected, it would 
 nearly cost that amount to pump the water out, counting 
 all the machinery which would be required, and the wear 
 and tear, and considering the great cost of machinery at 
 
 (a) See Humboldt’s Political Essay on New Spain. 
 
42 
 
 that time. "Well, the commissioners put it at $124,000. 
 That was taken from the statements of these superintend¬ 
 ents, the agents of the Bank of California. I will say now 
 that it costs over $1,000,000 at the present time, if you 
 count the whole expense. If you get down 2,000 feet all 
 along the lode, it will cost an enormous sum. They did 
 not include any indirect cost in this report made to the 
 Government, and that causes by far the greatest part of 
 the cost of pumping. 
 
 PRESENT MANNER OF MINING. 
 
 We have shown, by the testimony of every one of those 
 gentlemen, that these mines are worked for stock-jobbing. 
 In order to explain myself, I will have to go into the mode 
 of mining as it is carried on now. These mines are opened 
 by means of shafts all along this lode. There is a shaft 
 sunk down every 2,000 or 3,000 feet. There is large 
 machinery on these shafts, (a) The water is pumped out by 
 means of great steam engines from the bottom of these 
 shafts, and the ore is hoisted out to the surface, and then 
 carried on this railroad we have spoken of to the mil’s. 
 In working mines in that way they open one level only 
 at a time. It is immensely difficult sometimes to go down 
 a single hundred feet in these shafts, and open up a new 
 level, because the water which you encounter and the diffi¬ 
 culties of pumping are very great. But they do not want 
 to open up more than one level at a time, because they 
 want to keep the condition of the mine in the dark. 
 
 STOCK-JOBBING OPERATIONS. ( b) • 
 
 I want to explain now how these manipulations are car¬ 
 ried on. These mining companies are joint-stockcompanies, 
 and they are used for speculati6n by the people who buy the 
 stock, which is scattered all over the country. It is held 
 on the street by brokers, and they speculate and operate 
 
 „(a) See Test., pp. 32, 33. 34, 179, 203, 204, 213, 371, 607, 644, 648, 691. 
 
 (b) See Test., pp. 165, 168, 174, 178, 215, 278, 300, 301, 342, 343, 344,466, 
 468, 601, 682, 683. 
 
43 
 
 in these stocks for the sake of making money out of the 
 rise, or they sell short to make money out of the decline. 
 Consequently the mines are really owned by nobody, (a) 
 Some mines, when they get in very line condition, are 
 bought up and looked after by the owners; but, as a gen¬ 
 eral thing, they are owned by nobody, as far as legitimate 
 mining is concerned. (6) Men dealing in these stocks do not 
 find out whether the mines are worked to advantage or not. 
 
 The people engaged in this kind of operation are of a 
 very speculative turn of mind. They invest $1,000 in a 
 certain stock, and when they think they see another chance 
 they pawn that stock and get $500 on it, and buy more, 
 and then they pawn that again; and the Bank of California 
 has slarted an agency at Virginia City, put a man in charge 
 by the name of Sharon to manage the bank, and they play 
 a very smart game there. They loan money on these 
 shares. Everybod}’’ speculates, every miner, or chamber¬ 
 maid, or washerwoman; and as soon as they get into one 
 stock they want to speculate in other stock, and they have 
 to pawn it, and the Bank of California, a regular pawn¬ 
 broker shop, loans money on them, (c) They have men 
 throughout these mines who keep them informed. In fact, 
 they employed Mr. Luckliardt for five years to furnish 
 a daily report about the condition of the mines on the 
 Comstock. 
 
 HOW TRUSTEES ARE ELECTED. ( d ) 
 
 How, mark what these people do. When the election 
 comes off, all this stock stands in the name of the Bank of 
 California, because jvhen they loan money on the stock it 
 is transferred to them or to one of their clerks. They 
 do not place it in the name of the bank, which would make 
 it responsible for debts, but have it transferred to the name 
 of a clerk. Then, when the annual election comes, they 
 
 (o) See Test., p. 178. 
 
 ( b ) See Test., pp. 174, 175. 
 
 (c) See Test., p. 196. 
 
 (</) See Test., pp. 346, 347, 348,349, 350, 687, 688. 
 
44 
 
 vote all this pawned stock and get all the proxies they can, 
 which gives them a majority, and so they put in a board 
 of trustees of their own making. They do not own any 
 stock in many of these mines, but they put in a board of 
 trustees and manage the mine. They also loaned money 
 to many of these mills, and afterwards foreclosed the loan, 
 and got hold of them for one-tifth of the price. Mills that 
 cost $5,000,000, they obtained for less than $1,000,000. (a) 
 They had the management of the mines, and withheld the 
 ore from the mills they wanted to break up. Thus they 
 secured many of these mills, (b) and they get $12 for every 
 ton worked. It has been shown that they can reduce in 
 their mills 1,000 tons a day, for which they get $12,000, 
 including freight on the railroad, which they also own. 
 
 PROFITS OF MILLING. 
 
 We have the statement here of Mr. Requa, one of the 
 bank’s superintendents. ( c ) lie says milling costs them 
 $4 50 per ton. Consequently they make—how much? Take 
 $2 oft* for hauling, that leaves $10; $4 50 from $10 leaves 
 $5 50, and on a thousand tons(rf) that makes $5,500 a day 
 clear profit. ( e ) That is what they make—$5,500 a day clear 
 profit. Now, by having control of a mine, it becomes very 
 easy for them to manage to get out as much ore as possi¬ 
 ble; they do not care whether the mine makes any money 
 or not, because they do not own the mine; they own the 
 mills, and consequently they take out as much ore from 
 these mines as they can, and if they have no ore, they 
 take out bed rock; take out the country rock, that con¬ 
 tains nothing at all, and send it to the mills and mix a 
 little ore with it, and crush it, and get $12 a ton for work¬ 
 ing that ore, and not enough comes out to pay for hauling 
 sometimes. (/) They make $5,500 a day profit, and it runs 
 the mines behind. If they take out $6 a ton, and the mill 
 gets $12, the mining company loses $6 on every ton. 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 351, 352. (d) See Test., p. 203. 
 
 lb) See Test., pp. 163, 354, 515. (c) See Test., pp. 519, 520, 521. 
 
 (c) See Test., pp. 176, 535. (f) See Test., pp. 203, 297, 353, 686. 
 
45 
 
 What is the result? When there is no money in the 
 treasury and the mine runs behind, the trustees, who are 
 the agents of the bank, put on an assessment, and, if not 
 paid, the stock is sold out. 
 
 uiDrNa ore. (a) 
 
 But the great game is this: By having control of a mine, 
 they know exactly what is going on in that mine, If it con¬ 
 tain but a little good ore, or low-grade ore, it sells at a low 
 rate. They-keep watching it; these superintendents have 
 men in the mine watching; and when a body of ore is struck, 
 they are shut up at once. Nobody .is allowed to go in there 
 except the few men who are digging. They put a bulkhead 
 across. They just prospect it sufficiently to find out what it 
 amounts to, and keep the men down there digging away, and 
 treating them in splendid manner, (they give them cham¬ 
 pagne.) (6) The moment they find there is ore down there, 
 they telegraph in cipher(c) to San Francisco, as it is shown 
 in the-testimony, and buy up the stock. ( d ) And sometimes 
 this ring goes to,work and breaks the stock down first before 
 they buy; they start the miners on' drifts in the wrong direc¬ 
 tion, and say there has been a cave, for fear anything would 
 leak out about it. They take out poor ore, or bed rock, 
 which necessitates assessments, and thus run the stock- 
 down. Everybody that owns stock is assessed, ( e) and they 
 get it all in the end. Wo had a-striking instance of this 
 kind in one of the mines lately. The stock went down to 
 $2 a share, when gradually the ring got all the stock con¬ 
 centrated in their hands—got it away from the poor fel¬ 
 lows who were paying assessments (/)—and then they made 
 known the existence of this ore, which they had concealed, 
 and the stock went up to an immense figure. They are in 
 a perfect fever just now. The stocks on the Comstock 
 lode have gone up from $3,000,000 to $50,000,000 in a year. 
 Just now the ring owns largely in stocks, and they will 
 
 (а) See .Test., pp. 295, 166, 174,176, 466. ( d) See Test., p. 175. 
 
 (б) See - Test., p. 175. (c) SeeTest.,pp. 176,690. 
 
 (c) See Test., p. 551. (/; See Test., p. 300. 
 
46 
 
 realize millions out of them, and they have managed such 
 operations about twice a year since the mines were discov¬ 
 ered. Most of the outsiders who buy these stocks get 
 swindled in the end, and I suppose the people out there 
 think that is smart! 
 
 CERTAIN RUIN TO OUTSIDERS. 
 
 When the stocks get about the highest the ring steps 
 out, and a crash takes place, which ruins all the others. («.) 
 And such a crash is impending now; it will certainly come 
 before many months. It will appear very clearly to you, 
 that this California Bank ring, or the Union Mill and 
 Mining Company, (it is all one affair, as has been shown 
 here,) are managing things over there just to suit them¬ 
 selves;^) and the head manipulators are Ralston, the head 
 of the Bank of California at San Francisco, and Sharon, 
 their agent at Virginia City. They get the profits out of 
 the mines and mills, and I tell you, gentlemen, they are 
 making millions out of it. I do not wonder that Mr. 
 Ralston can live in a princely residence, and keep 60 
 horses for his own use. The ring is filching it out of the 
 people. They do not get it honestly. 
 
 These people are opposed to the tunnel, and why? If 
 that tunnel go£s in, it fully opens the mines; there will be 
 no hiding; (c) from the surface down through the whole 
 length of that lode a new basis of operations will be made; 
 and it will lay open every mine down to the tunnel level— 
 yes, every mine will be laid open. They cannot hide the 
 ore any longer. That is one of the causes of opposition. 
 
 The second reason is, it will be a great deal cheaper to 
 get the ore out through the tunnel; and we shall erect re¬ 
 duction works at the mouth, which can work so much 
 cheaper and get more out, which will stop the whole of 
 their milling operations. Now, to defeat this project they 
 misrepresent it. They say the tunnel is useless. The truth 
 
 (o) See Test., p. 302. ( b) See Test., pp.l 77, 178, 686, 687. 
 
 (c) See Test., pp. 193, 214, 278, 279. 
 
47 
 
 is, it is going to stop these rascally operations, and that is 
 why they oppose it. ( a ) These mines lose $8,000,000 a year in 
 the yield, as operations are at present carried on. We can 
 get out $6,000,000 of that at the mouth of the tunnel that 
 they do not get out at all now; that is wasted now. I have 
 tried to explain the management of these mines and some of 
 the manipulations of the Union Mill and Mining Company, 
 and hope I have made myself understood. 
 
 PERCENTAGE EXTRACTED FROM ORES, (b) 
 
 There is another most important item, which these peo¬ 
 ple profit by in working these ores, and that is the tail¬ 
 ings, (c) We have shown, by nearly every one of the wit¬ 
 nesses, that they only get out 65 per cent, from the ore; 
 consequently 35 percent, remains in the tailings. The mines 
 yield $15,000,000 a year in bullion; that would therefore 
 bring the assay value of the ore to $23,000,000, showing aloss 
 of $8,000,000 a year in tailings. The Union Mill and 
 Mining Company will some day sell those tailings, and 
 get millions for them, besides the millions they get for 
 milling the ores. That is what they get, and the}’ get it 
 out of the people who own the stock. That is a perquisite 
 of the mills. 
 
 Now, Mr. Sunderland has tried to show by two of hisown 
 men, Itequa and Batterman, who were sent to testify 
 by the Bank of California, that they take out as much as 
 88 per cent. Every other witness has stated that they 
 cannot take out over 65 per cent. One of the witnesses 
 has said that they may get 72 per cent. Mr. Luckhardt, 
 who was the most competent witness we had here, who 
 was five years on the lode, and whose business it was to 
 go down into these mines and examine them, and who is a 
 scientific and educated gentleman and a mining engineer, 
 says you cannot take out more than 65 per cent., because 
 the other 35 per cent, are rebellious metal. You cannot 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 177, 310, 311, 346, 355. 
 
 (b) See Test., pp. 159, 160, 256, 311, 351, 630, 631, 632, 706, 707, 703, 754. 
 
 (c) See Test., pp. 266, 310, 354. 
 
48 
 
 take out the other 35 per cent, by amalgamation. I will 
 add my own testimony to that. I have made repeated ex¬ 
 periments for months and months—sat up all night in 
 order to follow out some experiments—to find out what 
 could be obtained by raw amalgamation, and I give my 
 testimony that you cannot get out more than 65 per cent. 
 I have analyzed what remains, and it is a combination of 
 silver and lead, copper and ziue, and other base metals, 
 and sometimes of sulphur. You might run it in the pans 
 for a year, and could not get out any more by amalgamation. 
 That portion of the ore has to be worked by smelting or 
 chlorodizing-roasting, (a) and I would not care if they would 
 send one hundred witnesses here to swear to the contrary. 
 I know there must be some mistake about their assays or 
 results somewhere; you cannot do it. Mr. Luckhardt 
 most emphatically declares so. 
 
 Mr. Raymond states, that all the reports received by him 
 give the yield at 65 per cent. It is no use for Mr. Sunder¬ 
 land, or the Bank of California people, to say that they 
 get 88 per cent.-; it is not so. 
 
 SIXTY-FIVE PER CENT. THE AVERAGE YIELD. 
 
 These rebellious ores are called in Mexico “bronzes.” 
 Every Mexican knows that will not amalgamate at all. 
 You cannot do it. It cannot be done. Mr. Requa has told 
 us they get out 92 per cent. He says that the Union Mill 
 and Mining Company paid reclamations to his company. 
 He has told us that they have paid during the last year 
 $16,400 in reclamations. In order to explain that, I will 
 state that these mill companies have to guarantee 65 per 
 cent. It is only a nominal guarantee. It does not amount 
 to anything, because they take out just what they please. 
 There is but one crowd managing it, but he says they 
 paid this reclamation. The Chollar company took out last 
 year $3,440,023, and they had paid to them a reclamation 
 of $16,400. He wants to make out that they received more 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 735, 736. 
 
49 
 
 than 65 per cent., because the Union Mill Company paid 
 that reclamation, (a) Now, gentlemen, I will tell you how 
 much that amounts to—one half of one per cent., 
 what they received back in reclamations, and he wants 
 to make us believe that is a fact worth mentioning. Sixty- 
 five per cent, were guaranteed, and they paid back one- 
 half of one per cent, or $16,400 on this immense sum 
 of $3,500,000 nearly. That is to make the people be¬ 
 lieve they pay reclamations. It is all a humbug. I do not 
 believe they get out 60 per cent.—only make the people 
 believe they get out 65 per cent, and over. (6) 
 
 Now, see what Mr. Luekhardt says about this. It is a 
 very important point: 
 
 “ Q,. So they do not seem to get out more than 65 per cent, of the assay 
 value of the ore which is returned to the mines ? 
 
 “A. I think a great many people there say that they get out 80 or 85 per 
 cent., and I think, in some instances, judging from the character of the ora 
 found, that it is possible to get out that, but not as a general thing, because the 
 ores of the Comstock are of such a nature that any man who knows the nature 
 of the ores, and knows how to judgo of ores, would consider it to bo a pre¬ 
 posterous idea to get out 80 or 85 per cent., by crude amalgamation. By 
 treating those ores bv previous processes anterior as to amalgamation, you 
 may get from 80 to 85 per cent., but I think from 60 to 65 per cent. is. the 
 general yield of those ores.”(c) 
 
 In the cross-examination Mr. Sunderland tried to con¬ 
 fuse him on that point, and wanted to know what ex¬ 
 perience Luekhardt had in milling. Now, Luekhardt is 
 the most practically experienced man we have had here as 
 a witness, and there is probably no man living at the present 
 day who knows so much about those mines as he does. Ho 
 was asked: 
 
 “Q. Then if that is the only experience you have had of milling, and the 
 only opportunity you have had of knowing what percentage is saved from 
 the assay value of the Comstock ores, how can you state that they only 
 saved from 60 to 65 per cent,? 
 
 “A Because I have so frequently assayed those ores, and 1 know their 
 character so well. I know what will amalgamate and what will not amal¬ 
 gamate: that is just as good proof to me as if I had stayed and worked thcro 
 . for twenty years." (d) 
 
 lie is a scientific man. lie knows you cannot amalga- 
 
 !?] See Test.’,’ pp°159,160, 256, 311, 354, 630, 631, 632, 706, 707, 708, 754. 
 
 (c) See Test., p. 707. 
 
 (d) See Test., p. 759. 
 
50 
 
 mate it, and that is exactly what I know. That disposes, 
 I think, of that part of Mr. Sunderland’s argument. 
 
 WATER THE GREAT OBSTACLE IX MINING. (<z) 
 
 Now, in regard to drainage, which is a very important 
 point, these people have strenuously tried to show that 
 there is no water in those mines. They have tried to im¬ 
 press that on the people, and have hired the newspapers to 
 say there is no water in the mines, and consequently, as they 
 argued, there would be no necessity for the tunnel. They 
 have done that for years. They have been trying by every 
 effort to break up the enterprise, by saying there is no water 
 in the Comstock. We have shown that to be false here 
 by the testimony of every witness, and false by their own 
 statements. Water is the great obstacle in mining. It has 
 nearly ruined some of those mining companies. After the 
 tunnel is run in, and these shafts which now exist are con¬ 
 nected with it by hore-lioles, such as you bore for oil-wells 
 in Pennsylvania, the water will run out; nobody can deny 
 that. (6) They have stated there are clay seams as tight as a 
 bottle, and that the water will all stay in, but these bore¬ 
 holes will let it run out. They have been denying my state¬ 
 ments for years. I cannot inform the whole world. I have 
 told them all they have got to do is to make a bore-hole, 
 and repeated it a thousand times, and at last we have 
 it on record to show, but they will keep on denying it not¬ 
 withstanding. That is their style of warfare. 
 
 Now, as far as the Ophir mine is concerned, I put to Gen¬ 
 eral Wright some questions in regard to the quantity of 
 water in that mine. We have the statement here of the 
 former superintendent of the Ophir mine, who says that 
 “it is a dry country, and there is no water in'it; everybody 
 knows it;” and I have shown here, by that same man’s 
 official statements, as they are called, how much water 
 they took out of that mine every day. I asked General 
 
 (а) See Test., pp. 82, 87,88, 89,91, 96,180,182, 217, 304, 306,307,308, 330, 
 331, 333, 334,335, 338,340, 358,359, 360, 361, 691,692,693,694,695, 697,742. 
 
 (б) See Test., pp. 41, 42, 232,675. 
 
51 
 
 Wright how much they were pumping from that mine 
 every twenty-four hours, according to this same superin¬ 
 tendent’s statement, lie said the weight of the water 
 was 336 tons, of 2,000 pounds each, per day, and they 
 were only hoisting 12 tons of rock. They pumped that out, 
 which is pretty nearly equal to lifting it out. Then I asked 
 him as to the average per day for the year commencing 
 with June, 1870, and ending June 1, 1871. 
 
 The average, he said, was 10§ inches. 
 
 “IIow much,” I asked, “would that bo in tons in 24 
 hours? ” 
 
 He answered : 
 
 “Tite average is seven hundred and eighth-one tons of water per 
 
 DAY IN THAT ONE MINE.” (a) 
 
 There it is—781 tons of water out of one of the mines 
 every day for a year. Let me read that statement, furnish¬ 
 ed to the commissioners by Mr. Day. These people feel 
 outraged because their statements are doubted here; they 
 may be high-toned men, but they are in with the bank, 
 and that condemns them. This is his statement: 
 
 “ I hold that there is no more certain event of the future than that the water 
 will decrease in the Comstock as the mines grow deeper, the opinions of Mr. 
 Sulro, Baron Richthofen, or any other scientific gentleman to the contrary 
 notwithstanding, and the idea of running a tunnel four miles or more in 
 length, at an outlay of millions of dollars, to tap what is almost certain to he 
 very nearly a dry fissure, seems to me to partake of the absurd in the extreme. 
 This is a dry country, and all who have looked upon it know it." 
 
 General Wright testifies that the average for last year 
 was 781 tons of water per day out of that one mine—that 
 identical mine of which that man was speaking, and of 
 which he was the superintendent. Then I asked General 
 Wright— 
 
 “ Did you make any figures on the maximum quantity for the year, as statod 
 by Mr. Day, which is IS inches?" 
 
 And General Wright ans-wered: 
 
 “Eighteen inches gives tho weight for 24 hours at 1,313 tons” 
 
 That they had to pump out per day to get out 12 tons of 
 
 (a) See Test., p. 360. 
 
52 
 
 rock, (a) That was shown by the testimony. In the Gould 
 and Curry mine he says there was more water than that. 
 
 Then, if we take the aggregate of all the mines, it amounts 
 to at least three or four thousand tons for every 24 hours 
 that they are pumping out; ( b) and then it must be recol¬ 
 lected that these gentlemen were over there at the end of 
 three years of immense drought. (c) The whole country 
 had dried up. The springs had dried up. There was no 
 water there, comparatively. 
 
 INDIRECT COST OF PUMPING, (d) 
 
 How, gentlemen, the actual expense of pumping water is 
 but a mere trifle compared with the indirect cost, which 
 is perfectly fearful; while you are sinking a shaft, and 
 are hampered with water, you cannot progress with your 
 work; thus you are shut off for months sometimes, and 
 cannot go on; and the expenses of the whole concern, for 
 office, engineers, &c., are going on all the time. The in¬ 
 direct expense of working is probably three or four or five 
 times as much as the direct cost. The commissioners did 
 not bring that into account in their report at all. It is diffi¬ 
 cult to get any data on the indirect cost. I think Mr. 
 Luckhardt was asked a question about the cost of raising 
 water. He said: 
 
 “ Where there is much water there is always a great retardation of the 
 work. 
 
 “ Q. Isn’t that a greater expense than the actual pumping? 
 
 “ A. Oh, to be sure. The pumping itself is the least of the expense of get¬ 
 ting rid of the water.” 
 
 How, as far as pumping water from great depth is con¬ 
 cerned, I have telegrams in my pocket which came within 
 the last two or three days, about this very Ophir mine and 
 also the Savage. Mr. Sunderland has stated here in his 
 speech that two-thirds of the Comstock lode is as dry as this 
 floor; and that is what they have been trying to show for 
 
 (o) See Test., pp. 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 42, 305. 
 
 (5) See Test., pp. 84. 90, 95, 378, 379, 453. 
 
 (c) See Test., pp. 180,181, 304, 307, 329. 
 
 ( d) See Test., p, 772. 
 
53 
 
 years; and I say it is not true. There is one dispatch dated 
 April 13, the other April 15. One says: 
 
 “In Savage they had to stop working on shaft between 1,400 and 1,500 
 feet levels, on account oflarge volumes of water. Ophir also much troubled 
 with water.” 
 
 Dispatch dated 15th says: 
 
 “ Expenses for pumping in the Ophir for March, $5,800. This is official 
 statement made by the superintendent.” 
 
 THEIR OWN LETTERS CONDEMN THEM, (a) 
 
 That is on the 15th of this month. Now, I want to call 
 the atteution^of the committee for a few moments to some 
 extracts that we have been fortunate enough to get hold 
 of, and at the same time I will reply to the motion of Mr. 
 Sunderland to have that testimony stricken out. They 
 have been denying for years that there is any water in those 
 mines, and that has been their great tight all along; and 
 when we offered this testimony—the extracts from letters 
 written by this same man Day, whose statement I have 
 just read, saying that “ this is a dry country, and everybody 
 that looks upon it knows it”—when we have that man’s 
 own letters, written to his superior officers in San Francisco 
 from day to day, making reports of the mine, and have got 
 these extracts sworn to by the present superintendent of 
 that mine, he made a motion to have that testimony ruled 
 out. Of course he would like to have that done. We 
 have caught them in the act now. They have been telling 
 untruths, and here we have the proofs on them. We have 
 got them on the record. Here are this man’s letters, which 
 he wrote to the president of the company from day to day, 
 stating how much water there is in the mine and how 
 much they are troubled with water, and that very motion 
 of Mr. Sunderland’s is pending before this committee to 
 have that testimony ruled out. On what grounds does he 
 want it ruled out? On some pettifogging law quibble, 
 lie says they are rt copies of copies.” We ought to produce 
 the originals. Why, gentlemen, they are copies made 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 791-810. 
 
54 
 
 from the press copybook. They are copies of letters sent 
 to San Francisco, and the present superintendent copies 
 them and swears they are correct, {a) The other evidence 
 introduced here in the commissioners’ report is not sworn 
 to in any shape whatever. They want to get the truth 
 ruled out by a legal quibble. Mr. Sunderland must think 
 that Congress is a petty justice’s court, where prisoners 
 known to be guilty are often rescued on insignificant tech¬ 
 nicalities of the law. This is the best testimony we have 
 got. It convicts them fully of a most outrageous perver¬ 
 sion of facts. It also shows the difficulties of pumping, the 
 breaking down of machinery, and the consequent enormous 
 indirect expense. I will read a few extracts from that 
 man’s letters. lie writes on June 10, 1868: 
 
 “ Depth of shaft, 287 feet. I assumed full charge on Monday. Work at 
 shaft is progressing as -well as can be expected under the circumstances. Wo 
 are raising a large amount of water, more than the pump we are using has 
 capacity for." 
 
 Then, in the same letter, he says: 
 
 “If no accident happens to the pumping machinery within the next two 
 days, the tank and screw drift, witn the necessary machinery, will bo com¬ 
 plete to station the first plunge pump, and the shaft deep enough to swing the 
 sinking pump for the second lift. That being done, I see nojreason why we 
 should not make good progress in sinking.” 
 
 June 14, he writes: 
 
 " Friday we were occupied in making preparations for putting in two 12- 
 inch pumps.” 
 
 Gentlemen, I wish to call your attention particularly to 
 the fact, that these extracts will show what the enormous, 
 indirect cost consists of, independent of pumping. The 
 commissioners only gave the presumed direct cost of 
 pumping the water out. 
 
 On October 16, 1867, this same man (Day) writes: 
 
 “Largo amount of water coming in from face of main drift, which is 
 boarded up at present to provont a run.” 
 
 October 21: 
 
 “Large flow of water.” 
 
 October 22, 1869: 
 
 “ The pump rod, to lower pumps, broke at 8 o’clock last evening, and has 
 not yet been brought to the surface. One man killed this morning by the 
 
 (a) See Test., p. 780. 
 
55 
 
 cablo breaking in tho pump shaft. It is difficult to form an estimate of the 
 delay it will occasion us.” 
 
 They do not count the life of a laboring miner. They 
 count the dollars and cents only. 
 
 October 24: 
 
 “Our present flow of water seems to bo entirely independent of the water 
 in the old mine, which I regard as indicating the existence of a body of ore 
 to the north, and separate from that worked in tho old mine." 
 
 November 6: 
 
 “The water is still rising in the shaft, and now stands about 270 feet from 
 the bottom.” 
 
 Mind, now, it says 270 feet of water in the shaft. They 
 had to get out 27Q feet of water in order to get to work again. 
 Then he goes on to say, in the same letter: 
 
 “Wo are now taking water from tho shaft at tho rate of 20,000 gallons per 
 hour; and when the machinery (hoisting) is ready for use, wo will increase 
 that amount 10,000 gallons. It is impossible, at this time, to form an intel¬ 
 ligent opinion of Che time that will bo required to free the drifts of water.” 
 
 November 10: 
 
 “ Our misfortunes, in connection with the strike of water in Ophir, seem to 
 follow ics up. Last Sunday morning, when our second or lower plunger was 
 covered about 60 feet with tho rising flood, it very suddenly ceased to throw 
 water, and is now about 200 feet under water. [That’s a dry country T] Wo 
 are building a 500-gallon tank to use with the new engine. With that, and 
 the one now in uso of 300 gallons, will enable us to raise to tho surface 16,000 
 gallons per hour. As I stated in my last, it is impossible at this time to form 
 an intelligent opinion of the time necessary to clear tho drifts of water. Of 
 one thing I am convinced, however: that our consumption of wood for the 
 next six months will be perfectly frightful." 
 
 Recollect, gentlemen, if that tunnel had been made, 
 every drop of that water could have been run out, and 
 under our contracts they only have to pay us $2 a ton for 
 the ore taken out; and they have had no ore in that mine 
 for five years; yet they protest against that tunnel. We 
 have shown that § of the mines have no ore; $ get the 
 benefit of the tunnel for nothing; only £ will have to con¬ 
 tribute to it. 
 
 December lo: 
 
 “Our progress in lowering the water is quite satisfactory. To-day it stands 
 in the new shaft about 220 feet deep." 
 
 December 19: 
 
 “ We are bending all our energies in our endeavors to free the new works 
 from water, and gaining gradually upon it.” 
 
56 
 
 It does look like a dry country—“we have now 220 feet 
 of water in the shaft !” 
 
 December 22: 
 
 “ We are working aU our machinery to utmost capacity, consequently acci¬ 
 dents are liable to occur, but will guard against them as much as possible." 
 
 December 24: 
 
 ,“I assure you there will be no let up, and I believe few drawbacks, until 
 we have the water well under control." 
 
 December 25: 
 
 “We have just succeeded in •ompleting repairs to the lower plunger or 
 middle pump, and made connection with the lower pump." 
 
 December 27: 
 
 “Yesterday evening we had the water at a lower point than at any pre¬ 
 vious time; out immediately after the first earthquake shock, it came up in 
 the shaft some 25 or 30 feet in a short time." 
 
 December 28 : 
 
 “We have the water down 25 feet below lower plunge pump, which leaves 
 175 feet in shaft.” 
 
 December 31: 
 
 "Am pleased to be able to report to you a decided gain upon the water 
 to-day—155 feet from the bottom; but it is very stubborn, and requires heavy 
 and persistent ivork. I have no doubts as to the result." 
 
 January 5, 1870: 
 
 “We are crowding the work steadily in the shaft to-day. We have only 
 130 feet of water.” 
 
 January 10: 
 
 “Since my last, we had the misfortune to lose one of our large tanks." 
 
 January 12: 
 
 “ We do not succeed in getting the water in the shaft any lower than here¬ 
 tofore reported.” 
 
 January 17: 
 
 “ We are still making vigorous battle with the water, and driving it slowly 
 down. We have it now within 110 feet of the bottom.” 
 
 January 25 : 
 
 “Owing to some delay in repairing tanks, tho wat3r is considerably up in 
 
 the shaft. 
 
 January 28: 
 
 “ We do not make rapid progress; but we do gain, and hold all that we 
 get, which is encouraging, and shows that it is entirely a question of time as 
 to when the now works will be cleared of water." 
 
 January 31: 
 
 “Mount Davidson has been shaking again, and consequently the Ophir 
 water has increased, as usual in such cases. Sunday morning there was only 
 74 feet of water in shaft, and going down nicely. To-day there is 95 feet, 
 
57 
 
 notwithstanding pumping and bailing has been going on without any inter¬ 
 ruption.” 
 
 February 3: 
 
 “There was some delay last night, both with pump and large tank, conse¬ 
 quently the water in shaft is higher to-day than usual. 
 
 February 12: 
 
 “ Water at No. 1 at 600-foot station. It sticks to that point with great ten¬ 
 acity • but we are bound to get the bent of it in timo. We will be compelled 
 Sp our large Snk about three days next week, to refill the largo cog¬ 
 wheel.” 
 
 February 14: 
 
 “ This water is a monster elephant, but I know we can handle him; but it 
 wont do to relax in the least the grip we have on it. In No 1 the water 
 about 150 feet. In old mine it has lowered in last 43 hours 3 feet. 
 
 Now, what reliance do you place ou tbat man? He told 
 the commissioners it was a dry country, and they believed 
 
 him. 
 
 February 15: 
 
 “Water in No. 1,160 feet; filling wheel will be completed this evening." 
 
 March 4: 
 
 " We are repairing again to-day at shaft No. 1. About one half the cogs in 
 large wheel gave out last night.’ 
 
 You see these are the indirect costs. These people 
 have not mentioned them at all. They were working there 
 four years in order to get down a few hundred feet in a 
 shaft. 
 
 March 5: w , , 
 
 “The repairs at shaft No. 1, spoken of yesterday are completed, and ma¬ 
 chinery moving as usual: 150 feet of water in shaft No. 1. 
 
 March 18: 
 
 “Water in No. 1, 65 feet.” 
 
 March 21: . rr 
 
 “The bucket to our lower pump has been failing for the las< : &w day 9 - “ 
 we succeed in replacing with a newly-dressed bucket, there will be but little 
 delay in pamping. Sh°ould we not succeed in tins, an extra pump, which we 
 have in readinesf, will have to bo lowered, which will cause at most only a 
 few days delay." 
 
 • March 22: 
 
 “At No. 1 we have not succeeded in drawing bucket from lower pump; 
 ; have commenced active preparations for putting in extra pumps. 
 
 March 24: 
 
 “ There is to-day 100 feet of water in No. 1; lower pumps working to 
 half capacity." 
 
 about 
 
58 
 
 March 26: 
 
 " Water to-day in No. 1 is about 80 feet; will commence filling large cog¬ 
 wheel this evening. You can assure Ophir stockholders that we are doing 
 all in our power to reduce this water. Delays to some extent are unavoida¬ 
 ble. There is no time when there is not a large stream of water coming 
 to the surface at Ophir shaft, and it must tell before long.” 
 
 March 31: 
 
 “ Have just commenced lowering pump. Putting this pump in place is 
 attended with so many difficulties, that it is impossible to say, with much cer¬ 
 tainty, the length of time that will be required, but probably about three 
 days." 
 
 April 1: 
 
 "At shaft No. 1 we are still engaged in putting down pump; getting along 
 very well; foundation to pump-bob is becoming a little shaky, and it may be 
 necessary to overhaul it before making oar next great effort at lowering the 
 water.” 
 
 April 9: 
 
 “ At shaft No. 1 we have repaired old pump, and it is doing good work.” 
 
 April 11: 
 
 At shaft No. 1 the drift is free of water. And right here allow me most 
 sincerely to tender you, as president of the Ophir S. M. Co., and your as¬ 
 sociate trustees, my heartfelt thanks for the generous co-operations with 
 which you have sustained me in this fight; for truly a battle it has been, of 
 no ordinary magnitude, and I feel that a great weight of anxiety and re¬ 
 sponsibility has been removed.” 
 
 Recollect, now, after pumping for years to get into that 
 drift—doing nothing but pumping—he comes at last and 
 says: 
 
 “ No. 1 is free from water." 
 
 He thought he had got rid of the water, but he had not. 
 He congratulated them too soon. That was April 11th. 
 
 On May 7th he writes: 
 
 Increase of water referred to yesterday still continues, but I have no fears 
 of being flooded.” 
 
 May 16: 
 
 “ Water about as last reported.” 
 
 May 26: 
 
 “ Quite an increaso of water.” 
 
 June 3: 
 
 “ Last night, about midnight, the irons on one end of our pitman rod broke, 
 which renders our pumps useless until repaired, which will not be before to¬ 
 morrow morning. Consequently, our drifts are filling with water, but I do 
 not apprehend any serious damage to them.” 
 
 June 4: 
 
 "Started pump this morning at 7 o'clock.” 
 
59 
 
 June 9: 
 
 “The pump is laid up to-day, owing to the breaking of some of tho upper 
 gearing last night.” 
 
 June 10: 
 
 “At shaft No. 1 pumping machinery is very much demoralized. Tho very 
 best that we can do, it will probably require ten or twelve days before wo 
 can regain the ends of our drifts and resumo work. I regret this very much, 
 but do not see any way by which this accident could have been foreseen or 
 avoided.” 
 
 June 14: 
 
 “Depth of water,-150 feet." 
 
 They had it dry before; now it was filling up again. 
 
 June 16: 
 
 “Water is 175 feet in depth, and slowly rising.” 
 
 June 20: 
 
 “ Pump started last evening at 7 o’clock. The water-is now lowered to a 
 depth of 60 feet.” 
 
 They put in so many more pumps that they could master 
 the water at last. 
 
 On September 2 he says: 
 
 "The water is wholly under control of the pomp." 
 
 February 16: 
 
 “In the upraising there is a slight increase of water to-day, somewhat im¬ 
 peding progress of work.” 
 
 Then there is more trouble of water; but I will read no 
 more. This man Day, I must remark, was discharged 
 last December, because the bank ring lost control of the 
 mine, and a new set of trustees came in; this is the first 
 time we have been enabled to get at any of the mining 
 company’s books. The new superintendent came in Jan¬ 
 uary, and he writes on January 2, 1872, this year: 
 
 “There are three 12-inch plunger pumps, and one of 10 inches in service, 
 ft 0 .d the fifth one, 10 inches, is under construction, and will be ready to put 
 in pfcwa as soon as needed. We arc raising 146,000 gallons of water per 
 twenty-four hours,” 
 
 That disposes of this water question. I will comment 
 on it no further. The commissioners wont out there to 
 find out all about these mines, and the quantity of water; 
 and the difficulties of pumping it out, direct and indirect, 
 was one of the principal questions to be decided. But 
 they took the superintendent’s statements, who told them 
 
60 
 
 that it is a dry country, and they made their report, based 
 upon the statements furnished by these people. 
 
 VENTILATION. («) 
 
 I now come to the subject of ventilation, and a very im¬ 
 portant one it is in mining. I cannot go into the evidence 
 at length which was taken. It would carry me too far 
 altogether. We have asked every witness we had here 
 about ventilation, and I believe they—particularly New¬ 
 comb, Raymond, and Luckhardt—spoke about the great 
 importance of ventilation in mines, and what it accom¬ 
 plishes. In this connection I will read a short extract, one 
 from the latest number of the “American Engineering and 
 Mining Journal,” which came to-day, in which are a few 
 remarks in regard to the commissioners’ report. It says: 
 
 “Our view is confirmed by an exceedingly elaborate and able treatise on 
 the Comstock vein, its mines, and their intersection by the proposed deep 
 tunnel, which has recently appeared in the Berg-geist of Cologne, one of the 
 leading mining journals of the world. The author is Bergrath Burkart, who 
 writes with all the published works on the subject before him, and draws 
 conclusions quite favorable to the tunnel. His criticisms upon the report of 
 the United States commission are rather severe; he blames the commission 
 for accepting without question the statements of the mine superintendents, 
 and shows that on the subject of mine ventilation these gentlemen have made, 
 and the commission has too confidingly adopted, assertions wholly unfounded 
 in the theory or practice of mining. The particular proposition which Burk¬ 
 art attacks is unfortunately repeated several times in the Report and Appen¬ 
 dix, viz: that when the tunnel is done, and the shafts connected with it, the 
 air-current will go straight up the shafts; and that it will be impracticable 
 to carry air to the headings where men are at work. Of course this state¬ 
 ment is ridiculous; and wc are mortified that a foreign critic should find it in 
 an official and ■professional document. The superintendents of the Comstock 
 mines are in many instances agreeable gentlemen, good business men, and 
 excellent mechanics and engineers so far as their experience goes. It is their 
 boast that none of them are “scientific theorists; ” and no doubt their prac¬ 
 tical skill is better than mere theory for many purposes. But what they 
 lack, though it may surprise them to hear it, is not theory, but practice. If 
 they had had any real practical experience in deep mining and the natural 
 ventilation of mines, they would not have talked such rubbish to the com¬ 
 mission on that subject. When a man pronounces his particular locality to 
 be “an anomaly,” says you can’t tell which way the air will go in his mine; 
 that a deep tunnel connecting the bottom of his mine with daylight, on a level 
 two thousand feet below the top, will give him no better ventilation than a 
 level connecting the bottoms of two shafts, or that the natural air-current 
 developed bv such an enormous difference in altitude and temperature can¬ 
 not be conducted wherever it is wanted throughout the mine, he is really 
 propounding the wildest kind of theory, and what he needs is practice.” 
 
 (o) See Test., pp. 179, 199, 395, 624, 625, 700, 739, 749. 
 
61 
 
 The opinion given here is by a gentleman who must he 
 seventy years of age, for he is mentioned in Ward’s hook 
 on Mexico, published in 1827, as a loading mining engi¬ 
 neer in Mexico, and who is now looked upon as one of the 
 great authorities of Germany on mining questions. This 
 gentleman has taken a great interest in the mines of the 
 Comstock lode and a deep tunnel, and he has managed to 
 obtain all the documents and all the publications on the 
 subject. I do really believe that he is more familiar to¬ 
 day with that lode'and all its general details than almost 
 any other mau, even out in that country where these mines 
 are located. About the great improvement in ventilation of 
 the mines there can be no question: (a) after the tunnel is 
 completed, connecting with shafts from the surface 2,000 
 feet in depth, there will be a draft of air through there 
 that will bring a welcome supply to the miners who are 
 compelled to delve and labor for eight or ten hours every 
 day in that stagnant atmosphere. We have reports here 
 of a commission appointed by the English Parliament, and 
 it is stated that forty-two per cent, of the miners die of 
 miners’ consumption; that they don’t find it out that they 
 are becoming consumptive until they leave the mines. 
 They feel unwell, and go off somewhere to die. It is 
 highly desirable to have the thorough ventilation which 
 this tunnel will make possible. 
 
 In regard to the saving of timbers, we find, according to 
 the testimony, there are 16,000,000 feet of lumber used in 
 that lode every year. It will last two or three years with 
 poor ventilation, and probably ten years on the average 
 with good ventilation. That would make an annual saving 
 of several hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 TEMPERATURE. (6) 
 
 The question of temperature is one of the great ques¬ 
 tions connected with ventilation, According to the state- 
 
 (а) See Test., pp. 168,169,170,171,199, 624, 625. 
 
 (б) See Test., pp. 169,170, 171, 172, 627. 
 
62 
 
 ments we have here, the heat in these mines is from 85° 
 to 110°, and nobody will pretend to say that men can do 
 as much work in a temperature of even 95° as they can at 
 70°. To put the lowest estimate upon it, twenty-five per 
 cent, in the cost of labor will be saved by having those 
 mines thoroughly ventilated, over what can be done with 
 the present system of ventilation, where the thermometer 
 rises to 100° and 110°; and when they go down deeper it 
 will be still higher. One of the most important things 
 this tunnel will do is this: it will allow the sinking of a 
 great number of shafts, (a) which, as I have shown in this 
 question of drainage, can only be made under the present 
 system at an enormous expense. They were about four 
 years and a half sinking the shaft of the Ophir mine, 
 whereas if they had had a bore-hole down to the tunnel 
 they could have put their shaft down in a year. If they 
 had these shafts all in, they could connect them at each 
 level, and have the most perfect system of ventilation pos¬ 
 sible. We have the testimony of these witnesses about the 
 reduction of temperature on completion of the tunnel and 
 the sinking of these shafts. General Foster states, on page 
 72, some facts in relation to this. I asked him: 
 
 “Should you think they could do two-thirds as much work with this high 
 temperature as with the lower one? 
 
 “A. I don’t.think they would do half as much.” 
 
 On page 173 we have Dr. Newcomb’s testimony. I 
 asked him: 
 
 “Would 3 'ou consider that, the working capacity of the men employed in 
 the mines helow the 1,000-foot level would be increased twenty-five per cent? 
 
 “ A. To what other depth? 
 
 "Q. To the tunnel level; from 1,000 to 2,000 feet? 
 
 “ A. Well, I should think it would. The lower a level the greater the 
 heat, and the more difficult to work in the mines.” 
 
 The other witnesses were asked a great number of ques¬ 
 tions on this subject, and they all agreed in their answers. (6) 
 
 ’ General Banks. There is no question about that. 
 
 Mr. Sutro. These geutlemen have disputed this all the 
 time. They make the wildest kind of arguments against 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. -12, -I:;. 4 1,193,438, 439,4 1", -11::. 
 
 (b) See Test., pp. 72, 74,172,173, 392, 393, 394, 395, 627, 699, 700, 703, 704. 
 
63 
 
 it Mr. Raymond and Mr. Luckhardt, and in fact all, 
 a< rrce there will be an increase of twenty-live per cent in 
 the capacity of labor. All these shafts could be made 
 and connections therefrom, with the greatest facility, it 
 becomes a very important question, when you employ 3,000 
 miners at $4 each a day, ($12,000 a day.) If you can save 
 twenty-five per cent, of that sum, or $3,000 a day, you 
 save over $1,000,000 a year. That the commissioners have 
 not taken into account at all. 
 
 TRANSPORTATION, (a) 
 
 I now come to transportation. Instead of hoisting out 
 this ore as it is done now, to the top of the ground, then 
 carrying it on this railroad down to the mills, (6) the ore may 
 be lowered down at a cost of ten cents a ton, and it can be 
 carried out on the railroad for from eight to ten cents a 
 ton for the whole distance by stationary engines at the 
 mouth of the tunnel, running cars in and out by means of 
 a wire rope—ten cents a ton delivered at the mills at the 
 mouth of the tunnel, (c) 
 
 General Banks. What does it cost now? 
 
 Mr. Sutro. It costs, according to the statements of these 
 
 superintendents- 
 
 General Banks. What do you think it costs i 
 Mr Sutro. It costs $1 a ton to raise it out, and waste 
 rock costs $2, or $3, or $4 a ton, in mines where no ore 
 is taken out. It costs more a ton to take out a sma 
 quantity than it does to take a large quantity Then 
 it costs from $1 50 to $2 50 a ton to transport it to the 
 mills on the river, (d) Where we propose to erect the 
 mills it will cost for transportation, according to the state¬ 
 ments of several of the witnesses, twenty-live cents a ton. 
 I put it at about ten cents a ton. According to these state¬ 
 ments, hoisting and transportation now cost trom ^ to 
 
 * (a) See Test., pp. 20,21.22,24,26,202,457,458,603,704,705. 
 
 (b) See Test., pp. 158, 309. 
 
 (c) See Test., p. 309. 
 
 (d) See Test., p. 158. 
 
64 
 
 $2 60 a ton, but I know it certainly costs from $3 to $4. 
 General Dodge states it costs, on ordinary railroads, cents 
 per ton a mile. We have to transport it over four or five 
 miles of tunnel. At five miles the cost would be cents. 
 Call it 10 cents to carry it out, and 5 cents to lower it to 
 the cars. One of the commissioners gives the cost at about 
 35 cents. It is a known fact, in all the reports we have 
 here on mines in Europe, that stationary engines, with 
 wire ropes attached, for a distance of from one to five 
 miles, are the cheapest appliances that can be used. It 
 is cheaper than rolling stock and locomotives on railroads. 
 It certainly would not cost any more than 25 cents under 
 any circumstances. What probably costs them now from 
 $3 to $4 a ton, if the whole truth were known, and the sav¬ 
 ing made, would amount to at least $3,000 a day; that is, 
 on the present yield, without counting any increased pro¬ 
 duction. 
 
 REDUCTION OF ORES. 
 
 I will now refer to the reduction of these ores. At pres¬ 
 ent they are taken to little mills all along these ravines, 
 and down the river to mills, which are scattered all over 
 the country, where they have no change for concentrating 
 independently of the difficulties from lack of water, which 
 by themselves would bo insurmountable. They lose 35 
 per cent., as I have shown already by testimony which can¬ 
 not be questioned, although these people try to show that 
 they have taken out as high as 90 per cent. It is not cor¬ 
 rect, and is .shown to bo impossible. 
 
 An important question connected with this tunnel and 
 with the whole mining interest is the concentration of the 
 ores. ( a ) We all know that the metallic parts contained in 
 this ore are of greater specific gravity than the vein mat¬ 
 ter itself, whether it be limestone, or quartz, or any other 
 gangue; and consequently, by allowing the pulp after it is 
 reduced, to pass over concentrating tables, of which there is 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 153, 248, 628, 708, 709. 
 
65 
 
 a great variety in use in Europe, we can get rid, in ten tons 
 of ore, of nine tons of waste, and retaiu one ton, which con¬ 
 tains almost the whole value, (a) 
 
 LARGE ADDITIONAL YIELD. 
 
 Now, I mean to say this, provided there are concentrat¬ 
 ing works at the mouth of the tunnel, for the erection of 
 which extraordinary facilities exist, that, after the ore is 
 amalgamated, these tailings maybe run over concentrating 
 tables, and nine tons out of teu got rid of, which leaves us 
 one ton to be reduced; we can put that one ton in a clilori- 
 dizing Stetefeldt furnace, and get 90 per cent, out of those 
 concentrations. In fact, the figures given by Mr. Luekhardt, 
 which are quite conclusive, show that, instead of getting 65 
 per cent, out of these ores, we can get out 90 per cent., 
 making full allowance for loss in concentration. Conse¬ 
 quently, we save 25 per cent above the present yield. The 
 value of the ore extracted is $23,000,000 per annum, (b) 
 which yields $15,000,000; the additional 25 per cent, would 
 amount to $5,750,000. (c) We get that out in addition to 
 what is taken out now. The reason why we can do that, 
 and they cannot at their present mills, is this: In order to 
 establish those concentrating works, you have to have, in 
 the first place, an abundance of water , which the tunnel will fur¬ 
 nish, (d) and a large space adapted to that purpose. At the 
 mouth of the tunnel there are hundreds of acres of the very 
 best land, sloping down towards the river gradually—a grad¬ 
 ual decline of 155 feet, in a distance of a mile and a half. It 
 gives the natural slope necessary to make these concentrat¬ 
 ing works self-acting. The pulp, by means of the water, will 
 pass from one machine to another, and it does not require 
 the labor of hands at all hardly. It does its own work, 
 and the worthless part of the rock, the nine tons out of ten, 
 passes off, and we retain only one; and in that manner we 
 can get some 90 per cent, out of the ore. 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 205, 206, 207, 214, 629, 708, 709. 
 
 (b) See Test., p. 160. 
 
 (c) See Test., p. 161. 
 
 (<f) See Test., pp. 628, 629, 710. 
 
66 
 
 GREAT WATER POWER WITHOUT ANY DAM. 
 
 The commissioners have stated in their report, that 
 there must be a large dam constructed on the river, in 
 order to secure a water power. We have shown most 
 conclusively, by several of the witnesses, that we can re¬ 
 duce the ore at $5 a ton, and that the whole difference 
 between water and steam power is only $1 on a ton, and 
 the saving, by means of concentration and otherwise, will 
 probably average $15. General Wright states that wo 
 would get 86,445 («) horse power, if a largo dam be con¬ 
 structed on the river; but if there is no dam at all con¬ 
 structed, if the water is taken out at that same point, we 
 get 100 feet of fall at the mouth of-the tunnel; and if 
 reservoirs are provided in the mountains, to store up the 
 water accumulated from rain and winter sno\^s, to be used 
 in summer time, we would still get 33,900 horse power, as 
 deduced from the above figures, at the mouth of the 
 tunnel; and all that is required at the present rate of pro¬ 
 duction is 2,000 horse power; that is, to reduce 1,000 tons 
 a day. That is all that is required; yet we would get 
 33,900 horse power, even if we make no dam at all. 
 
 Mr. Sunderland says the commissioners state, that if 
 that dam is - not made the tunnel will be of no value. That 
 statement is founded upon the reports furnished by the 
 superintendents, which we have already shown are not 
 correct. We have the testimony of two of the witnesses, 
 both Raymond and Luckhardt, that the tunnel itself will fur¬ 
 nish water for all these concentrating purposes. (6) Yon will 
 acquire a large quantity of water by draining six or seven 
 or eight square miles of country, at a depth under Mount 
 Davidson of 3,600 feet. It will be quite sufficient for all 
 concentrating operations. That water is absolutely neces¬ 
 sary, ( c ) and they cannot obtain it in the canons, (d) while 
 at the present mills on the river they cannot secure the 
 
 (а) See Test., pp. 380, 381, 382. (c) See Test., pp. 153, 384, 628. 
 
 (б) See Test., pp. 628, 629,YlO. (d) See Test., p. 154. 
 
67 
 
 proper fall, where they have only 8 or 10 feet of slope, and 
 are crowded in near the banks of the river, (a) We have at 
 the rnouth of the tunnel 155 feet of fall. (6) We can erect 
 the largest kind of concentrating works, (c) as 1 have 
 stated, and concentrating can he done there, according 
 to Mr. Luckhardt’s statement, at 75 cents a ton. ( d) 
 
 Mr. Waldron. Then your theory is, that the tunnel 
 will furnish all the water required for concentrating, but 
 not for power? 
 
 Mr. Sutro. Yes, sir. We mean to use coal or wood ( e) for 
 generating power, and we can mill for $5 a ton by steam 
 power where they are paying $12 a ton now. We can get coal 
 there, by constructing 35 miles of railroad, at $12 a ton. (/) 
 So that all the elaborate testimony in regard to that dam, 
 and the removal of the present mills on the river, amounts 
 to nothing. We do not want any dam. We do not require 
 any dam there. We do not interfere with other people’s 
 mills. We do not have an} r interference in any shape at all. 
 We can pay 65 per cent, for the ore at the mine , without any 
 charge for milling whatever; (g) for we can go to work and 
 take out 90 per cent, of the ore at the mouth of the tun¬ 
 nel, using the water it furnishes, and driving our mills by 
 steam power. That would make a clear saving to the 
 mining companies of $12 on each ton, or $12,000 per day, 
 or $4,380,000 per annum, and, deducting the only expense 
 they would be under—that is, the royalty—it would still 
 leave them a clear saving of $3,680,000 per year. ( h ) 
 
 EXPLORATION OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 Another important consideration in the construction of 
 the tunnel is the exploration of the country through which 
 it will pass. It will cut a number of lodes nearly at right an¬ 
 te) See Test., pp. 154,156, 383,384. 
 
 (4) Sde Test., pp. 155, 156, 157. 
 
 (c) See Test., p. 630. 
 
 ( d) See Test., p. 769. 
 
 («) See Test., pp. 187, 188,189. 
 
 (/) See Test., pp. 630, 670, 713, 773, 774, 775. 
 
 (g) See Test., pp. 633, 634, 710, 712. 
 
 (A) See Test., pp. 634, 711. 
 
68 
 
 : gles before it reaches the Comstock lode, (a) as we find it 
 stated in the commissioner’s report. That these veins of ore 
 are of considerable value they do not doubt. They contain 
 immense masses of low-grade ores, which can he reduced at 
 the mouth of the tunnel with advantage and profit, and will 
 largely increase the production of bullion in that section. 
 As a question of science, as a question of geology, of cut¬ 
 ting at that depth through a section of country composed 
 of volcanic rocks of three different geological ages, it is of 
 the highest value. Our knowledge of geology is largely de¬ 
 rived from superficial observations, and is to a great extent 
 supposititious. Here we make an exact examination of the 
 geological formation of that mountain, going through it at 
 right angles, which will be of immense value geologically, 
 and contribute largely to our knowledge on the subject. 
 
 WATER-PRESSURE ENGINES. (6) 
 
 To recur now to the value of this tunnel, as far as min¬ 
 ing is concerned, it gives us a new basis of operations 2,000 
 feet below the present surface of much greater advantage 
 than exists commencing at the original surface, (e) In this 
 connection I must refer to this question of water again, 
 and will state that this very water that is found to exist in 
 those mines, Which gives so much trouble to get out, can be 
 collected within the mines; and since a large amount of that 
 occurs within the first 500 or 600 feet from the surface, ( d ) 
 it can be carried down in pipes to the tunnel level, 1,000 or 
 1,500 feet below the point where it is collected, which gives 
 a column of water capable of operating a vast amount of 
 machinery by means of water-pressure or other hydraulic 
 engines. We have the evidence here that we get 1,400 
 horse power, and in that way we get power to go down 
 below the tunnel level at least 2,000 feet, or 4,000 feet 
 from-the surface. 
 
 (a) See Test., p. 651. 
 
 lb) See Test., pp. 215, 216, 217, 218, 389, 390, 458, 459, 618, 649, 696. 
 
 (c) See Test., pp. 216; 217, 218, 219, 449, 450, 618, 676,698, 699. 
 
 (d) See Test., p. 216. 
 
69 
 
 WE WILL REACH GREATER DEPTH THAN HAS EVER BEEN REACHED 
 BEFORE. 
 
 We turn this very water, which is now of immense trou¬ 
 ble in the mines, to account; we utilize it to go down be¬ 
 low the tunnel level. Now, what do we attain? Why, we 
 get down below the tunnel level 2,000 or 3,000 feet. It 
 allows us to go down into the bowels of the earth 5,000 
 feet, while the deepest hole dug by man since the world 
 has existed is only 2,700 feet deep; (a) and it remains for the 
 youngest nation on earth to contribute more to science and 
 geology,by giving opportunities of studying the formation 
 of mineral veins at greater depth, than has ever been ac¬ 
 complished by any other nation in the world. We reach 
 down a mile into the earth. If we show practically what 
 scientific men theoretically know to be the case, that these 
 veins reach down indefinitely, it Will give a value to our 
 mineral lands which we cannot compute. It is beyond all 
 calculation, the increased value it will give to our mineral 
 domain. It will give confidence to people. It will give 
 confidence in mining operations. I have already shown 
 what an immense saving the tunnel will make in all these 
 different manipulations of mining. It will make a great 
 highway under the mountain. It will be a little under¬ 
 ground world by itself in the course of time. We are 
 asking aid from the Government now to help us make four 
 miles of that tunnel, which will result in 200 miles of 
 tunnel. After that four miles is completed, we have a 
 main artery, as it were, and we can spread out and drift 
 under that mountain, and open up new avenues of explora¬ 
 tion everywhere. We shall have streets and avenues be¬ 
 neath that mountain. We may employ 20,000 people then. 
 All the capital required will be bone and sinew. ( b) 
 
 General Banks. Is that on one lodelf 
 
 Mr. Sutro. On that and others. There will be ramifi¬ 
 cations of-drifts on that lode and also on other lodes under 
 
 (o) See Test., p. 312. 
 
 ( b ) See Test., pp. 213, 371, 373. 
 
70 
 
 that mountain, (a) and it will take hundreds of miles of 
 streets and avenues to reach them all. 
 
 General Banks. You will want no further aid from the 
 Government at all? 
 
 Mr. Sutro. No further aid at all. 
 
 General Banks. Why will you not want more aid? 
 
 Mr. Sutro. Because, after we make that four miles of 
 tunnel we reach the mines, and have an income then that 
 will make it self-sustaining, and we can run drifts in every 
 direction, and the loan we ask from the Government will 
 be repaid in two or three years after the main tunnel is 
 completed. We shall continue running these tuunels and 
 drifts all under that mountain in every direction. There 
 can be no question about it. 
 
 IMMENSE SAVING TO THE MINING COMPANIES. 
 
 The royalty these people will pay, which is a perfect trifle 
 to them compared to the benefits they derive, will yield us 
 a large revenue. We have shown here in this testimony, 
 by several of the witnesses, that not over £ (one witness 
 said only £) ( b ) of the mines are producing, and only 
 therefore, will have to pay any royalty to the tunnel, (e) 
 The others will get the benefit for nothing, though their 
 mines will be drained and ventilated. We do not ask a 
 single cent of contribution to the tunnel company until 
 a mine finds ore and is able to pay. Probably only 
 of what they save will be contributed to the tunnel 
 company; (e?)and that is under the contracts and under the 
 law of Congress. Here is where the commissioners havh 
 made their mistake. They give a statement of the cost, 
 which does not make a fair comparison; they have left 
 out the most important facts, (e) What they do state they 
 give upon the basis of what these superintendents fur- 
 _•__ 
 
 (а) See Test., p. 734. 
 
 (б) See Test., pp. 367, 368. 
 
 (c) See Test., pp. 40, 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 213, 224, 225, 226, 362, 363. 
 364, 365, 369, 371, 556. 
 
 id) See Test., pp. 159, 203, 204, 225, 226. 
 
 (e) See Test., pp. 209, 227. 
 
71 
 
 nisli them; the people who are the enemies of this great 
 work, and whose only aim is to break it up if they can, 
 and get hold of it themselves. Now*; I want to give a 
 few figures to show the difference between the ’state¬ 
 ments which the commissioners have furnished and those 
 which have been elicited by the testimony. I will show 
 how entirely wrong and incomplete these statements are. 
 According to the commissioners’ estimate it would cost 
 about as much to work by the tunnel, and according to 
 one of their calculations would cost more, than what it 
 costs by the present method. I have taken their figures 
 as far as given, for it is quite unnecessary to question them 
 in this calculation. I have simply added what they left 
 out; what they did not bring into account; and they are 
 the most important items. But these figures will tell their 
 own story; they cannot be doubted, for they are based 
 upon the testimony furnished by the commissioners them¬ 
 selves upon their examination, and that of other witnesses. 
 
 I will now read this comparative statement, which most 
 conclusively shows an annual saving by the mining com¬ 
 panies of $9,891,151, after paying the royalty and all other 
 expenses. 
 
 FAIR COMPARATIVE STATEMENT. 
 
 Cost of working by the present method. Taking the commis¬ 
 sioners’ figures, (a) and adding what they left out. 
 
 Hoisting 365,600 tons of pay ore, at 0.51.19 
 
 cents- $187,077 
 
 Transportation of same to mills, at $1.50- 548,400 
 
 Pumping for last year (commissioners’ esti¬ 
 mate).. l r --- 124,674 
 
 Hoisting and lowering 3,000 miners, at 8 cents 
 
 each way, 16 cents-- 175,000 
 
 To this should be added: 
 
 Hoisting 365,000 tons waste rock , at $2 (b) - 731,200 
 
 (а) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 9. 
 
 (б) See Test., pp. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 209, 465, 466. 
 
72 
 
 Indirect cost of pumping at tbe 16 mines now 
 being worked, including wear of machinery 
 
 and additions, $3,000 per month- $456,000 
 
 Wages of 3,000 miners, at $4 per day, 
 
 $12,000 [a) --- 4,380,000 
 
 Consumption of timber, 16,000,000 feet per 
 
 annum, $25 ( b )---.- 400,000 
 
 Cost of milling 365,000 tons of ore, $10.50 (c). 3,838,800 
 
 Loss by present method of reduction, 35 per 
 
 cent, on $23,000,000, assay value {d)~ . 8,050,000 
 
 Total. $18,891,151 
 
 Cost of xoorking by the Sulro tunnel. Taking the commissioners* 
 figures, ( e) and adding what they left out. 
 
 Lowering 365,600 tons pay ore, at 10 cents.— $36,560 
 Transportation of same, average of 5 miles, 
 
 50 cents-- 182,800 
 
 Transportation of 3,000 miners, at 20 cents, 
 
 $600 per day- 210,000 
 
 Royalty on 365,000 tons, at $2-. r . 731,000 
 
 To this should be added: * 
 
 Lowering 365,600 tons waste , at 10 cents (/)-- 36,560 
 
 Transportation of the same, 5 miles, 50 
 
 cents (g) - 182,800 
 
 Wages 2,250 miners, at $4=$9,000 per day-- 3,285,000 
 (N. B. 2,250 miners, with the thermome¬ 
 ter at 70°, will do as much work as 
 3,000 at 90°. Capacity increased 25 
 per cent.) (h) 
 
 Consumption of timber per annum, 8,000,000 
 
 owe j-wau., jjji. i ova, ovo, out, ovo, iKJo, tu*±. 
 
 (5) See Test., pp. 37, 38, 70, 71, 369. 
 tc) See Test., pp. 58, 157, 158. 
 
 ( d ) See Test., pp. 159, 160, 256, 311, 354, 630, 631, 632, 706, 707, 708, 754. 
 
 (e) See Commissioners’ Report, p. 10. 
 
 (/) See Test., pp. 20, 24, 25, 202, 620, 621, 622. 
 
 Xq) See Test., pp. 20, 21,22, 24, 26, 202, 457, 458, 663, 704, 705. 
 
 (h) See Test., pp. 72, 74,172,173,392, 393, 394,395, 627,699,700, 703 704 
 
73 
 
 feet, $25, (8,000,000 saved by good ventila¬ 
 
 tion (#)---—-- $200,000 
 
 Cost of milling at mouth of tunnel 365,600 tons, 
 
 at $5 (5)-- 1,828,000 
 
 Loss at mouth of tunnel in reducing and con¬ 
 centrating ores, 10 per cent, on $23,000,000. 
 
 (Assay value.) (c)... 2,300,000 
 
 Cost of concentrating, 365,600, at 75 cents ( d )- 274,200 
 
 Cost of roasting and working concentrations, 
 
 36,560 tons, at $8 (e) ....... 232,480 
 
 $9,499,400 
 
 Annual saving by means of the tunnel, after 
 paying royalty and all other expenses- 9,391,751 
 
 $18,891,151 
 
 That is a fair comparison. The commissioners say it 
 will cost more to work by the proposed method. What I 
 have stated here is taken from the testimony. That is 
 clear; and when the people out there say they are fighting 
 against this royalty to the tunnel company, they do not 
 give their true motives, for they still save over $9,000,000 per 
 annum. It is the Bank of California that opposes us, be¬ 
 cause if we get mills at the mouth of the tunnel they can¬ 
 not get the tailings they keep now, and these enormous 
 charges for reducing the ore. It is the Bank of Califor¬ 
 nia and its satellites, I repeat, who are fighting this great 
 enterprise. (/) Any one who examines my statement will 
 see I am correct; common sense will teach us that it is so. 
 
 THE SUTRO TUNNEL COMPANY. 
 
 But I will drop these figures now, and leave them to the 
 examination of thinking men. Mr. Sunderland has made 
 
 (а) See Test., pp. 37, 38, 70, 71, 369. 
 
 (б) See Test., pp. 157, 158, 159, 634, 711, 712. 769. 
 
 (c) See Test., pp. 161, 628, 708, 709. 
 
 (d) See Test,, p. 769. 
 
 (e) See Test., p. 736. 
 
 (/) See Test., pp. 164,165, 177, 355, 356. 
 
74 
 
 a motion to admit Mr. Foster’s statement in relation to 
 the Sutro Tunnel Company. We never objected to its 
 admission at all. General Foster came back here at the 
 request of the attorney of the Bank of California from Hew 
 York voluntarily, without any orders from the Secretary of 
 War, or any of his superior officers, to testify a second time; 
 and he had a paper which he would not show to anybody. 
 We learned it was a statement in relation to the Sutro 
 Tunnel Company. It is stated that our stock is unassess- ; 
 able. I have said in the course of my remarks that these 
 miniug companies levy assessments on their stock, and 
 make the holders pay up for what is spent in milling and 
 other manipulations: We did not want to start out on 
 any such basis. We wanted to protect the miners and 
 laboring men who put their money in the company. We 
 put our stbck at $10 a share, so that these men should 
 have a chance to buy it; and made it unassessable, so they 
 should not be “froze out,” as this game is called. Thq 
 attorney of the Bank of California finds fault with this 
 arrangement, which is intended to.protect all the stockhold¬ 
 ers. Then he states that §7,000,000 of stock have already 
 been disposed of, whereas only §5,000,000 remained last 
 year in the hands of the company. Why, gentlemen, this 
 California Bank has been fighting us for six years in this 
 enterprise. We had to dispose of our stock at a sacrifice. 
 It is the history of every large undertaking. It is the his¬ 
 tory of every railroad company that a part of its stock has 
 gone at low prices in order to interest capitalists.. We 
 have gone through immense difficulties, and in getting the 
 first money we had to sell at a very low price; yet Mr. 
 Sunderland makes out that this is a very bad condition of 
 affairs. I think it is quite a natural condition of affairs. 
 I have stated already that we have §1,450,000 secured, 
 and we do not owe a single dollar. I think that is doing 
 very well indeed. We are giving this to the Government 
 as security.' Our means were limited. These men would 
 not permit us to raise money. They wanted to break us 
 up. How they turn round and charge us with poverty; 
 
75 
 
 after keeping us as poor as it was in their power to keep us, 
 they charge us with not having spent a sufficient amount 
 of money heretofore. But we are spending a great deal 
 of money now, as is shown by a report published a few 
 days ago by me as superintendent of the works. It is a 
 report embracing the three months just past, and gives 
 the figures as taken from the books of the company. 
 
 THE REPORT SAYS: 
 
 Yon will perceive by the annexed statements that the expenditures were— 
 
 For the month of December, 1871. $2S,821 04 
 
 For the month of January, 1872. 43,517 40 
 
 For the month of February, 1872. 50,400 41 
 
 Or a total for the three months of... $122,828 85 
 
 This does nof, include any expenditures incurred by the San Francisco office. 
 In December last work 'was commenced on all four of our shafts, and the 
 same has been prosecuted since with‘duo energy by day and night. On the 
 24th of this month the progress at the different points was as follows: 
 
 Length of tunnel. 2,801 feet. 
 
 Depth of shaft No. 1............ 120 “ 
 
 Depth of shaft No. 2. 282 “ 
 
 Depth of shaft No. 3. 147 " 
 
 Depth of shaft No. 4. 120 " 
 
 The slow progress of shafts Nos. 1 and 4 is accounted for by the fact that 
 a considerable quantity of water has been encountered, and that the pumping 
 machinery was delayed on the road. Shaft No. 2, in which the quantity of 
 water was small, has been progressing steadily ever since its first commence¬ 
 ment. 
 
 In December last a contract was made with the Diamond Drill Company for 
 the use of.diamond drills in all portions of the works. One of these drills has 
 arrived at the tunnel, and experiments are being made for tbo purpose of as¬ 
 certaining the best mode of employing it. With these drills it is confidently 
 expected that the monthly advance in the tunnel will be 250 feet, and that of 
 the shafts 150 feet. We may therefore look for a more rapid progress as soon 
 as these are in full operation, which we hope will be the case by June next, (a) 
 
 Temporary steam engines and buildings have been erected on all the shafts; 
 also extra boilers and steam pumps have been placed in operation, all of suffi¬ 
 cient capacity to reach a depth of 500 to 800 feet. After that depth is reach¬ 
 ed machinery of much larger dimensions will be required.'both for hoisting 
 and pumping. 
 
 We have received estimates for the hoisting machinery from four of the 
 machine works at Sau Francisco, the lowest bid amounting to $<>5,000. The 
 cost of transportation and erection, including buildings, will probably amount 
 to a similar sum. 
 
 No specifications for large pumping machinery have as yet been submitted. 
 They'will bo made out shortly, and bids, based upon them, iuvited from the 
 foundries. A rough estimate of its cost, and placing the same in running order, 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 328, 626, 627. 
 
76 
 
 maybe given at $200,000. All this heavy machinery should be contracted 
 for within the next sixty days, since it will require at least four months to 
 construct and erect the same, it being highly desirable for the rapid prosecu¬ 
 tion of the work that no delay should occur on that account. 
 
 The necessary tools for a first-class machine shop at the mouth of the tun¬ 
 nel—such a« lathes,.planing machines, drills, &c.—have arrived, and a suitable 
 building and steam engine have been erected. 
 
 We have almost completed an excellent wagon road, commencing at the 
 mouth of the tunnel, leading over the first summit, at an elevation of 1,350 
 feet, to shaft No. 2, situated in a ravine just beyond. From that point an old 
 road to Virginia City has been placed in repair. 
 
 The poles fora telegraph line from Dayton to the mouth of the tunnel, and 
 from thence to the four snafts and Virginia City, have been placed in position, 
 and instruments at seven different stations will be in operation before long. 
 
 We have erected commodious boarding and lodging houses for the accom¬ 
 modation of the men at each of the four shafts; also a new one of much larger 
 dimensions at the mouth of the tunnel. 
 
 The number of men employed was: 
 
 During December. 159 men. 
 
 During January... 231 “ 
 
 During February. 326 “ 
 
 I have since received the accounts for March. The ex¬ 
 
 penses for that month were $47,589 94, and the progress 
 at the different points was as follows: 
 
 Length of tunnel. 
 
 Depth of shaft No. 1.. 
 
 3. 
 
 4 . 
 
 2,852 feet. 
 165 “ 
 
 384 “ 
 
 210 “ 
 200 " 
 
 Mr. Sunderland has informed us here that the Bank of 
 California is not a stock-jobbing concern; but that the Su- 
 tro Tunnel Company is, because we have not made our 
 shares assessable. I do not see the philosophy of that. If 
 you have stock that is assessable, you can break it down 
 or put it up, according to the assessments which are levied. 
 If they are unassessable, you cannot do that; they have a 
 certain given value. Mr. Sunderland, furthermore, goes 
 on to say that we started seven years ago, when these con¬ 
 tracts were made six years ago; and that they refused to 
 put in any money in Hew York and California for a long 
 time. Why, that is nothing to be wondered at. The 
 machinations of the Bank of California were going on all 
 this time, and they determined to stop us; and now they 
 have the assurance to charge us with not raising money 
 any sooner, when it is a known fact they repudiated all 
 subscriptions. 
 
77 
 
 HISTORICAL OPPOSITION TO GREAT IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 It is, however, a historical fact, that there lias been op¬ 
 position toall kindsof improvements either by the ignorant, 
 the envious, or by those who were interested in keeping 
 up the old state of affairs, since the world began. If you 
 even look back to the great mechanical improvements 
 that have been made, the introduction of the spinning 
 jenny, and even that of sewing machines, you will find 
 there was opposition. Every sewing girl in the country 
 opposed sewing machines. They thought their occupation 
 would be gone. We find many curious things related in 
 history. Take Galileo, when he announced the discovery 
 of a new planet. They scouted the idea. There had only 
 been seven planets known before that; and the whole of 
 Italy stood up in perfect horror. They preached against 
 him from the pulpit everywhere, and the argument used 
 against his discovery was, that it was impossible that there 
 should he more than seven planets, because there were no 
 more than seven days in a week, and no more than seven 
 openings in a man’s skull. That is the kind of argument 
 they used, and some as unreasonable have been used 
 against many new ideas. Look at the arguments used 
 against the first railroad in England. They were of the 
 most extraordinary and unreasonable kind. It makes us 
 smile to read them now. There are many points resem¬ 
 bling this fight against the tunnel. If you substitute the 
 Bank of California for the Duke of Bridgewater, and Mr. 
 Sharon for Mr. Bradshaw, you have a perfectly parallel 
 case But I will read: 
 
 TIIE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. («) 
 
 The rapid growth of the trade and manufactures of South Lancashire gave 
 rise, about the year 1821, to the project of tramroad for the conveyance of 
 goods between Liverpool and Manchester. Since the construction of the 
 Bridgewater canal by Brindley, some fifty years before, the increase of the 
 business transacted between the two towns had become quite marvelous. 
 The steam engine, the spinning jenny, and the canal, working together, had 
 
 (a) See “ Lives of the Engineers,” by Sam. Smiles, vol. III. London, 1862. 
 
78 
 
 accumulated at one focus a vast aggregate of population, manufactures, and 
 trade. 
 
 The Duke’s canal, when first made, furnished a cheap and ready means of 
 conveyance between the seaport and the manufacturing towns, but had now 
 become entirely inadequate. Mr. Huskisson, in the House of Commons, re¬ 
 ferring to the ruinous delays occasioned, observed that cotton was sometimes 
 delayed a fortnight at Liverpool, while the Manchester manufacturers were 
 obliged to suspend their labors. 
 
 Expostulation with the canal companies was of no use. They were over¬ 
 crowded with business at their own prices, and disposed to be very dicta¬ 
 torial. 
 
 Under these circumstances any new mode of transit between the two towns, 
 which offered a reasonable prospect of relief, was certain to receive a cordial 
 welcome. Mr. Sanders, an influential Liverpool merchant, was among the 
 first to advocate a tramroad. Having caused inquiry to be made as to the 
 success which had attended the tmulago of heavy coal trains by locomotive 
 power, he was led to form the opinion that the same means might be em¬ 
 ployed in the transportation of merchandize. He ventilated the subject 
 among his friends, and about the beginning of 1821 a committee was formed 
 for the purpose of bringing the scheme of a railroad before the public. 
 
 The novel project, having become noised abroad, attracted the attention of 
 the friends of railways in other quarters. Sir Richard Phillips, in his ■* Morn¬ 
 ing Walk to Kew,” already sain, in 1813: “I found delight in witnessing at 
 Wandsworth the economy of horse labor on the iron railway. Yet a heavy 
 sigh escaped me as I thought of the inconceivable millions of money which 
 had been spent aboutMalta, four or five of which might have been the means 
 of extending double-line railways from London to many parts of England. 
 Such would have been a legitimate motive for overstepping the income of a 
 nation, and the completion of so great and useful a work would have afforded 
 national-ground for public triumph or general jubilee.” 
 
 Thom.os Gray, of Nottingham, was another speculator on the same subject. 
 Though ho was no mechanic or inventor, he had an enthusiastic belief in the 
 railroad system. It would appear that Gray was residing in Brussels, in 1816, 
 when the project of a canal from Charleroi was the subject of discussion, and 
 in conversation with Mr. John CockarilL and others, he took advantage of 
 advocating the superior advantages of railways. He occupied himself for 
 sometime with the preparation of a pamphlet on the subject, lie shut him¬ 
 self up in- his room, secluded from his wife and relations, declining to give 
 them any information on the subject of his mysterious studies, beyond the 
 assurance that his scheme “ would revolutionize the whole face of the material 
 world and society.” 
 
 In 1820 Mr. Gray published the result of his studies in his “Observations 
 on a General Iron Railway.” 
 
 The publication of this essay, had the effect of bringing the subject of rail¬ 
 ways prominently under the notice of the public. Although little able to 
 afford it, Gray also pressed his favorite project on the attention of public men: 
 mayors, mwnbers of Parliament, and prime ministers. He sent memorials to 
 Lord Sidmouth in 1.82Q, and..to the Lord Mayor and corporation of London 
 in 1821. In 1822 lie Addressed We Earl of Liverpool, Sir Robert Peel, and 
 others, urging the great national importance of his plan. In the year follow¬ 
 ing he petitioned the ministers of state to the samo effect. He was so perti¬ 
 nacious that public men pronounced him to be a “bore;” and in the town of 
 Nottingham, where he then lived, those who knew him declared him to be 
 “cracked.” William Ilowitt, who frequently met Gray at that time, has 
 published a long portraiture of this indefatigable and enthusiastic projector, 
 who seized all men by the button, and would not let them go until he had 
 unraveled to them his wonderful scheme. With Thomas Gray, says he, “be¬ 
 gin where you would, on whatever subject—the weather, the news, the polit¬ 
 ical movement or event of the day—it would not be many minutes before you 
 
79 
 
 would be enveloped with steam, and listening to a harangue on the practica¬ 
 bility and immense advantages to the nation, and to every man in it, of a 
 general iron railway.” 
 
 These speculations show that the subject of railways was gradually becom¬ 
 ing familiar to the public mind, and that thoughtful men were anticipating 
 with confidence the adoption of steam power for railway traction. At. the 
 same time a still more profitable class of laborers was at work : first, men like 
 Stephenson, who were engaged in improving the locomotive; and, next, those 
 like Edward Pease, of Darlington, and Joseph Sandars, of Liverpool, who were 
 • organizing the means of laying down the railways. 
 
 In 1821 Mr. Sandars authorized Mr. William James, of Bromwich, to sur¬ 
 vey the proposed railway line between Liverpool and Manchester, and agreed 
 to pay him for the survey at the rate of £10 per mile, or £300 for the survey. 
 
 The trial survey was then proceeded with, but it was conducted with great 
 difficulty, the inhabitants of the district entertaining the most violent prejudices 
 against the formation of the proposed railway. In some places Mr. James 
 and his surveying party even encountered personal violence. Near Nowton- 
 in-tho-Willows, the fanners stationed men at the field gates, with pitchforks 
 and sometimes with guns, to drive them off. A number of men, women, and 
 children collected and ran after the surveyors, bawling nicknames and throw¬ 
 ing stones at them. 
 
 Mr. Sandars had by this time visited George Stephenson at Killingworth, 
 and was charmed with him at first sight. The energy which he had displayed 
 in carryiug on the works of the Stockton and Darlington railway, his readi¬ 
 ness to face difficulties, and his practical ability in overcoming them; the 
 enthusiasm which he displayed on the subject of railways and railway loco¬ 
 motion concurred in satisfying Mr. Sandars that he was, of all men, the best 
 calculated to help forward the Liverpool undertaking at this juncture. 
 
 On his return lie stated this opinion to the committee, and George Stephen¬ 
 son was unanimously appointed engineer, of the projected railway. 
 
 A public meeting was held to consider the best plan to be adopted, and a 
 committee was appointed to take the necessary measures for the construction 
 of the road. Before entering upon their arduous duties they first waited on 
 Mr. Bradshaw, the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal agent, in-the hope of persuad¬ 
 ing him to increase the means of conveyance, as well as to reduce the charges; 
 but they were met with an unqualified refusal. They suggested the expe¬ 
 diency of a railway, and invited Mr. Bradshaw to become a proprietor of 
 shares in it. But bis reply was, " All or none.” The canal proprietors, con¬ 
 fident in their imagined security, ridiculed the proposed railway as a chimera. 
 It had been spoken about years before, and nothing had come of it then. It 
 would be the same now. 
 
 In the meantime the survey was proceeded with, in the face of the great 
 opposition on the part of the proprietors of the lands through which the rail¬ 
 way was intended to pass. The prejudices of the farming and laboring classes 
 wore strongly excited against the persons employed upon the ground, and it 
 was witli the greatest difficulty that the levels could be taken. 
 
 When the canal companies found that the Liverpool merchants were de¬ 
 termined to proceed with their scheme—that they had completed their.survey, 
 and were ready to apply to Parliament for an act to enable them to form the 
 railway— they at last reluctantly, and with bad grace , made overtures of con¬ 
 ciliation. The promised to supply steam vessels, both on the Mersey and the 
 canal. At the same time they made a show of lowering their rates. Bui it was 
 all too late; for the project of the railway had now gone so far that the pro¬ 
 moters (who might have been conciliated at an earlier period) felt they were 
 very fully committed to it, and now they could not very well draw back. Ar¬ 
 rangements were therefore made for proceeding with the bill in the parlia¬ 
 mentary session of 1825. 
 
 On this becoming known, the canal companies prepared to resist the meas¬ 
 ure tooth and nail. The public were appealed to on the subject; pamphlets 
 
so 
 
 were written, and newspapers were hired to resist the railway. It was declared 
 that its formation would prevent cows grazing and henslaying. The poisoned 
 air from the locomotives would kill birds as they tlew over them, and render 
 the preservation of pheasants and foxes no longer possible. Householders 
 adjoining the projected line were told that their houses would he burnt up, 
 while the air around would be polluted by clouds of smoke. There would no 
 longer be any use for horses, and if railways extended the species would be¬ 
 come extinguished, and oats and hay be rendered unsaleable commodities. 
 
 A Birmingham journal invited a combined opposition to the measure, and 
 a public subscription was entered into for the purpose of making it effectual. 
 The newspapers generally spoke of the project as a mere speculation, some 
 wishing it success, although greatly doubting, others ridiculing it as a delu¬ 
 sion, similar to the many other absurd projects of that madly speculative 
 period. The idea thrown out by Mr. Stephenson, of traveling at a rate of 
 speed double that of the fastest mail coach, appeared at the time so preposter¬ 
 ous, that he was unable to find an engineer who would risk his reputation in 
 supporting such “ absurd views.” Speaking of his isolation at the time, he 
 subsequently observed that he had then no one to tell bis tale to but Mr. San- 
 dars, of Liverpool, who did listen to him, and kept his spirits up; and his 
 schemes were at length carried out only by dint of sheer perseverance. 
 
 George Stephenson’s idea was at that time regarded as but a dream of a 
 chimerical projector. It stood before the public friendless, struggling hard to 
 gain a footing, and scarcely daring to lift itself into notoriety, for fear of ridi¬ 
 cule; and when no leading man of the day could be found to stand forward 
 in support of the Killingworth mechanic, its chances of success must indeed 
 have been pronounced but small. 
 
 Parliamentary contest on the Liverpool and Manchester bill. 
 
 The Liverpool and Manchester bill went into Committee of the House of 
 Commons on the 2lst of March, 1825. There was an extraordinary array of 
 legal talent on the occasion, but especially on the side pf the opponents to the 
 measure. Their wealth and influence enabled them to retain the ablest coun¬ 
 sel at the bar. 
 
 Evidence was taken at great length as to the difficulties and delays of for¬ 
 warding goods from Liverpool to Manchester, the utter inadequacy of the 
 existing modes of conveyance, and as to the practicability of a railroad worked 
 by locomotive power. Mr. Adams, in his opening speech, referred to the cases 
 of the Hilton and Killingworth railway, where heavy goods were safely and 
 economically transported by means of locomotive engines. “None of the 
 tremendous consequences;” he observed, “have ensued from the use of steam 
 in land carriage that have been stated. The horses have not started, nor the 
 cows ceased to give their milk, nor have ladies miscarried at the sight of these 
 things going forward at the rate of four miles and a half an hour.” 
 
 Mr. Stephenson stood before the committee to prove what the public opin¬ 
 ion of the day held to be impossible. The self-taught mechanic had to demon¬ 
 strate the practicability of that which the most distinguished engineers of the 
 time regarded as impracticable. Clear though the subject was to himself, and 
 familiar as he was with the powers of the locomotive, it was no easy task to 
 bring home his convictions, or even to convey his meaning, to the less informed 
 minds of his hearers. In his strong Northumbrian dialect he struggled for 
 utterance, in the face of the sneers, interruptions, and ridicule of the opponents 
 of the measure, and even of the committee, some of whom shook their heads 
 and whispered doubts as to his sanity when he energetically avowed that he 
 could make the locomotive go at the rate of twelve miles an hour. 
 
 One of the members of the committee pressed the witness a little further, 
 and put the following case: “Suppose, now, one of these engines to be going 
 along a railroad at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow were 
 to stray upon the line: would not that, think you, be a very awkward circum- 
 
81 
 
 etance?" ! ‘Yes,” replied the witness, with a twinkle in his eye, "very awk¬ 
 ward—for the coo.” 
 
 After some distinguished engineers had been examined, Mr. Aldersoa 
 Rammed uj> in a speech which extended over two days. He declared Mr. 
 Stephenson's plan to he" the most absurd scheme that ever entered into the 
 head of a man to conceive. My learned friends,” said he, “almost endeav¬ 
 ored to stop my examination; they wished me to put in the plan, but I had 
 rather have the exhibition of Mr. Stephenson in that box. I say ho never 
 had a plan—I believe be never had one—I do not believe ho is capable of 
 making one ” 
 
 Mr. Harrison, in summing up the case of the canal companies, said: “At 
 length we have come to this; having first set out at twelve miles an hour, the 
 speed of these locomotives is reduced to six, and now conies down to two or 
 two and a half. They must be content to be pulled along by horses and don¬ 
 keys, and all those fine promises of galloping along at the rate of twelve miles 
 an hour are me.lted down tc a total failure.” 
 
 After further personal abuse of Air. Stephenson, whose evidence ho spoke 
 of as “ trash and confusion,” he closed the case of the canal companies on the 
 3d of May. Mr. Adams replied for the promoters, vindicating Mr. Stephen¬ 
 son and the evidence wtiicli he had given before the committee. 
 
 The committee then divided on the preamble, which was carried by a ma¬ 
 jority of only one. The clauses were next considered, and, on a division, the 
 first clause, empowering tbe company to make a railway, was lost; also the 
 next clause, empowering the company to take land. 
 
 Thus ended this memorable contest, which had extended over two months; 
 carried on throughout with great pertinacity and skill, especially on the part 
 of the opposition, who left no stone unturned to defeat the measure. 
 
 The result of this first application to Parliament was so far discouraging. 
 Mr. Stephenson had been so terribly abused by the leading counsel for the 
 opposition, stigmatized by them as an ignoramus, a fool, and a maniac, that 
 even his friends seem for a time to have lost faith in him and his locomotive 
 system, whose efficacy he nevertheless continued to uphold. Things never 
 looked blacker for the success of the railway system than at the close of this 
 great parliamentary struggle, and yet it was on the very eve of its triumph. 
 
 The Committee of Directors, appointed to watch the measure in Parliament, 
 determined at once to make a new sutvey, and not to employ Mr. Stephenson 
 for the purpose. The survey was completed, and the bill again went before 
 Parliament. It went before the committee on tbe 6th of March, and on the 
 16th the preamble was declared proved. On the third reading in the House 
 of Commons an animated debate took place, and tbe bill carried; it almost 
 unanimously passed the .House of Lords. 
 
 Mr. Stephenson was now elected principal engineer of the road, and to his 
 8killand intelligence were mainly due its early and satisfactory completion. 
 
 THE BANK OF CALIFORNIA AND THE DUKE OF BRIDGEWATER. 
 
 We might search through history and not find a more 
 parallel case than the one I have just quoted. As I 
 have stated, all we have to do is to substitute the Bank of 
 California for the Duke of Bridgewater and the name of 
 Sharon for that of Bradshaw, and the parallel is perfect. 
 The Duke of Bridgewater, with an army of attorneys, went 
 to Parliament and presented his budget of objections. Wo 
 find the Bank of California present here in Congress 
 
82 
 
 witli theirs, (a) Look at the testimony which has been taken 
 in this case, and sec how absurd some of the objections 
 raised must appear to you; in ten years from now the 
 parties making them will be ashamed of ever having 
 occupied such a position. 
 
 They have come here to prove that it is cheaper to pump 
 out water from a depth of 2,000 feet than to let it flow out 
 by itself, They would have you believe that white is black, 
 or that water will flow up hill of its own accord. 
 
 It took years of persistent efforts to succeed with the 
 first railroad against the machinations of its enemies. I 
 have been for years trying to sustain myself against the 
 unscrupulous influence of the Bank of California, and am 
 proud to say we are now on the full road to success, 
 thanks to the noble-hearted friends I have found in and 
 out of Congress. Mr. Stephenson found one sterling, un¬ 
 flinching friend to stand by him, and that was Mr. Joseph 
 Sandar8, of Liverpool; and I want to pay tribute right 
 here to a noble-hearted, far-seeing, generous, and true man, 
 who has stood by me in the darkest hours of my trials, who 
 has counseled and assisted me at all times, who lias ap¬ 
 preciated the magnitude and importance of the work to 
 which I have devoted myself. That man’s name is Joseph 
 Aron, a resident of San Francisco. 
 
 I have recited the objections which were raised against 
 the first railroad not quite fifty years ago. That road was 
 built, notwithstanding the bitter and persistent oppposition 
 of the Duke of Bridgewater, who considered himself ag¬ 
 grieved and injured in his canal property should the road 
 be constructed. And what was the result? The develop¬ 
 ments and industry created by the new facilities for traffic 
 were so great, that the canal property became more valuable 
 than ever, and the example set immediately created a per¬ 
 fect furor for building railroads, not only in England, but all 
 over the world. To the success of this first railroad -was 
 due the construction of railroads in every country on the 
 
 (a) See Test., p. 16. 
 
83 
 
 globe. The public, which is skeptical and unbelieving, only 
 needed one single practical illustration of success. The 
 moment that was achieved opposition to railroads ceased to 
 
 exist. 
 
 A THOUSAND TUNNELS IN TniS COUNTRY. 
 
 Let this one tunnel be constructed, and the magnificent 
 results become known which will flow from it, it will re¬ 
 sult in the construction of a thousand more (a) by private 
 enterprise throughout our vast mining regions. ( b ) A new 
 system of mining and reduction will be inaugurated, and 
 the necessary capital will flow in that direction without 
 any further effort. ( c ) The magnificent inheritance of our 
 mineral domain will commence to be fully appreciated; 
 that great treasure chest, which Providence has given us, 
 will be unlocked; the nation will be enriched; ( d) trade and 
 traffic will receive an impetus unknown heretofore; and 
 our national debt will sink into insignificance compared to 
 the wealth this country will then be known to possess. 
 
 The treasure contained in this Comstock lode alone is 
 beyond computation; the developments made within the 
 last twelve months, at the greatest depth which has yet 
 been reached—1,500 feet beneath the surface (e)—has con¬ 
 vinced the most incredulous. It is sufficient to stag¬ 
 ger the mind when contemplating what treasure will 
 be developed at a depth of 4,000 or 5,000 feet, which can be 
 reached by means of this tunnel. 
 
 DUTY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 As far as the duty of the Government is concerned, it is 
 very plain. There can be no question that these mines on the 
 Comstock lode are the most important in the whole world, 
 and I do not believe that any other nation ever possessed a 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 210,211, 220, 302, 615, 616. 
 
 (b) See Test., pp. 599, 600. 
 
 (c) See Test, pp. 210, 220, 302, 313, 601, 615, 616, 637, 633, 657, 668. 
 
 (d) See Test, pp. 221, 295. 
 
 (e) See Test, pp. 220, 286, 303, 640, 684. 
 
84 
 
 scries of mines as valuable as these are. (a) Any nation on 
 the globe would he proud to possess such a property within 
 the boundaries of its country. If we inquire as to the mo¬ 
 tives of Napoleon in sending an expedition of conquest to 
 Mexico, we find that he was anxious to secure the mineral 
 products of that country. "We have in Nevada a single vein 
 of ore almost as important as all the mineral wealth of Mex¬ 
 ico. These mines are now worked for stock-jobbing pur¬ 
 poses, and are the worst managed property on the face of 
 the globe, (b) Having mines of that importance, it is to 
 the interest of the Government to have that state of affairs 
 cease to exist. They are worked in the most extravagant 
 manner, (c) The precious metals arc wasted, and they fur¬ 
 nish the worst kind of an example for other mines. They 
 discourage the people from going into mining operations; 
 and what wo want is capital to flow into that western coun¬ 
 try. As long as we have no capital flowing there we cannot 
 open up our mineral wealth. We have authentic accounts 
 that those mines have yielded §125,000,000, and that they 
 are now yielding $15,000,000 a year; and I mean to say 
 that if the tunnel was in, the yield would be increased to 
 from $30,000,000 to $50,000,000 per annum. 
 
 Scientific men may say what they please about the con¬ 
 tinuance of mineral veins in depth; it has no effect. I have 
 been for six or seven years in contact with financial men, 
 and they do not believe in any theories. In the first place, 
 they are too unscientific as a class to understand geological 
 evidences and deductions; and, in the second place, they 
 arc too much occupied to bother themselves about it. They 
 can make money easy enough without making such inves¬ 
 tigations, and they will not trouble themselves about it. 
 But if you demonstrate it practically that these mines reach 
 down, and that they can be worked profitably to great depth, 
 money will flow in that direction of its own accord; (d) 
 and, as I stated, thousands of tunnels will be made in our 
 western hills; thousands of millions of taxable property 
 will he created, and the increase of bullion will be immense. 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 63. 207. (c) See Test., pp. 212, 281, 663. 
 
 (b) See Test., pp. 301, 662, 663. ( d) See Test., pp. 210,211, 214, 220, 684. 
 
85 
 
 As regards political economy, I will not tire you out by 
 quoting any authorities thereupon. You all know that it 
 has an important bearing upon the payment of the national 
 debt(rt) We have the authority of Chevalier, John Stuart 
 Mill, Bowen, and others on that subject. 
 
 SECURITY TO THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 As far as the security we offer is concerned, it is ample. 
 We have asked that question of almost every witness we 
 have had here, and they do not doubt it. They know this 
 royalty alone will enable us to pay back the money loaned 
 us. Professor Newcomb and Mr. Luckhardt say that it 
 cannot be questioned; (b) and I venture to say that many 
 times the amount could be returned, if it were required. 
 All wc ask is the good-will of the Government to help us 
 make the first four miles of this tuuncl, and then we will 
 make a hundred miles in addition. Wc. do not ask any 
 gift of the Government. We only ask for so much help 
 to get this tunnel in-. We give the Government the first 
 mortgage on this property; and, as has been shown here 
 by every witness, there is no question about the security 
 at all. Even if there were not an abundance of ore below 
 the tunnel level, the low-grade ores, which amount to hun¬ 
 dreds of millions of dollars, which we shall be able to extract 
 above the tunnel, alone will secure several times what we 
 ask. (<?) These people who oppose the tunnel say there is no 
 necessity for any aid; that the land at the mouth of the tun¬ 
 nel will be worth §3,000,000, (d) and that the income will 
 be $6,000,000 per annum. That is all very well to tell us; 
 but we may not have a dollar of income until the tunnel 
 is completed to the Comstock lode. If we have an income 
 of from $2,000,000 to $6,000,000 per annum thereafter, we 
 can pay that money back very soon. We are now at work 
 on this tunnel. We are pushing it forward day and night. 
 We have invested the limited capital we have, and are push¬ 
 ing it along, to show our own faith in the work. Now, the 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 313, 542. ( b ) See Test., pp. 210, 211, 63G, 072. 
 
 ■(c) See Test., pp. 19,63,151,152, 205, 20G, 207, 208, 398,555, 684, 035, 733. 
 
 (d) See Test., p. 557. 
 
86 
 
 Government ought to step in and come to the rescue. Our 
 money will probably be exhausted in another year from 
 now, and the work may come to a stand-still. 
 
 Mr. Sunderland has criticized this bill. lie says this 
 bill is for Mr. Sutro, and that it does not mortgage all the 
 property. Now, we ask you, gentlemen of the committee, 
 to make that bill so perfect that there can be no doubt 
 about the security given by a first mortgage. We want to 
 mortgage to the Government the royalty we receive from 
 these mines; and that royalty is as good security as the 
 Government would ask; and we want to mortgage every¬ 
 thing we have besides. According to the statements made, 
 we have $700,000 a year to receive from royalty, while 
 these people are saving $9,000,000 at the present capacity 
 alone. If the yield is trebled, which it likely will be, why 
 the income from that source will be $2,100,000, and the 
 saving to the mines $27,000,000 per annum. We are ask¬ 
 ing for a loan here, and not for a gift. The Government 
 will have entire control and revision of our accounts. Un¬ 
 less we make a correct report of the income, our rights 
 are forfeited; and there are commissioners to be appointed 
 under the law, who make their reports to the Government. 
 
 THE BANK OF CALIFORNIA COMPOSED OF PATRIOTIC MEN. 
 
 Mr. Sunderland has told us that if the Government puts 
 its money in it, it ought to own the tunnel. It is not the 
 policy of this Government to go itself into such enter¬ 
 prises; but it is the policy of the Government to foster 
 great interests, and aid in the development of the country. 
 The Government does not want to go into mining operations 
 and own these works. The attorney of the Bank of Cali¬ 
 fornia has told us that if we get this aid, our stock would 
 go up to par, thus enabling us to fight them. He cannot 
 mean that we will fight them, but we will be able to take 
 care of ourselves and resist their opposition; but if we do 
 not get this aid, they can continue their fight and prevent us 
 from obtaining the means to construct the tunnel; for they 
 still cling fondly to the hope that they can delay us in obtain¬ 
 ing the means, and thus possibly break us up yet. What 
 
87 
 
 interest have they in coming on here to Washington and 
 opposing a loan to this work? Are they such patriotic men 
 that they come here to advise the Government what to do? 
 Why, the very fact that they have agents here to oppose us 
 ought to help us. They have been trying to show all along 
 that this tunnel is useless. They come here lobbying 
 against us, and trying to upset this great work, in order to 
 leave us to our fate. We have spent hundreds of thousands 
 of dollars already, and we expect to spend $1,000,000 be¬ 
 fore we receive a dollar from the Government. 
 
 WILL CONGRESS ASSIST TIIE LABORING MEN. 
 
 Let us look at the other side of this question. Who are 
 the people favoring this work? Why, the laboring men. 
 Every one of these witnesses has shown that the laboring men 
 and the Miners’ Union are favoring it,(a) while the Bank 
 of California is opposed to it. Now, I say, will the Gov¬ 
 ernment consider the interests of these laboring men ? They 
 have invested their savings in this tunnel; and while this. 
 Government has done much for great corporations, let it 
 come forward now and assist these laboring men. (b) These 
 working men are interested in this tunnel; hundreds, nay, 
 thousands of them are now or will bc.(c) They want to see 
 this work carried out. They want to be relieved from the 
 terrible doom they are condemned to in those mines, ex¬ 
 posed to a heat of 110°, breathihg air almost deprived of 
 oxygen, which slowly kills them. We have had an instance 
 at Gold Hill where fortij-iwo miners were burned to death. (d) 
 Every mine-owner ought to be compelled by law to construct 
 shafts and outlets, and, if that tunnel goes in, we shall have 
 an outlet for them; they will have a chance to escape. 
 
 Take the humanitarian view. These mine-owners ought 
 to be compelled, everywhere throughout the United States 
 —in Pennsylvania and all the other mining sections—to 
 furnish outlets of escape. Good ventilation, besides giving 
 an immense saving to the mine-owners, is a great relief to 
 these poor men, and protects their health. These com- 
 
 (n) See Test., pp. 17. 16G, 1(58. 203, 311; 355, 4G3, 464. 
 
 ( b) See Test., pp. 186, 385, 386, 387, 395. 
 
 (c) See Test., p. 312. (d) See Test., p. 465. 
 
88 
 
 missioners were not allowed to go into a single mine, as 
 they have stated, but that they were accompanied by the 
 superintendent; and they asked these miners how they felt, 
 and they said “quite well,” yet,these commissioners could 
 not imagine how that conld be when they felt so faint them¬ 
 selves. All the inquiries were made in the presence of 
 these superintendents, and the miners did not tell what 
 they desired to say for fear of being discharged.(a) 
 
 POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 It has been the policy of this Government to aid great 
 interests and foster science. We have had numerous ex¬ 
 ploring expeditions; extensive geological surveys; sent 
 ships to the north pole; and sent an expedition into 
 Brazil to explore for coal; have sent others to make astro¬ 
 nomical observations. An appropriation just passed gives 
 §50,000 to observe the transit of Venus in three years from 
 now. It has been the policy of this Government to foster 
 science and the acquisition of knowledge. Here we have 
 a work that will do more for science and geology than any 
 investigation heretofore made,(6) and at the same time will 
 directly add to the wealth of the n,;tion.(c) Thousands of 
 millions will be added to our wealth, and all this will be 
 accomplished without the actual contribution of a single 
 dollar by the Government. ' We are spending millions 
 every year for commerce. Here is an interest as important 
 as any we have in this country; and I mean to say that, 
 in ten or twenty years from now, this mining interest will 
 be almost the leading one in this country.(d) 
 
 The Government has done nothing for the mining inter¬ 
 est as yet. We have paid our proportion of taxes in these 
 mining regions. We have no manufactures to protect. We 
 have no commerce, and no rivers and harbors to be improv¬ 
 ed. The mining regions have not received a dollar from the 
 Government in any shape whatever. We have contributed 
 more than §3,000,000—yes, many times §3,000,000—dur¬ 
 ing our short existence, in paying towards the support of 
 
 (a) See Test., pp. 109, 166, 167, 168, 208. (c) See Test.' pp. 616, 617. 
 
 (b) See Test., pp. 65, 210. (d) See Test., p. 600. 
 
the maufacturing interests in the East. Now, what do we 
 ask here for this mining interest? We ask simply a loan of 
 $3,000,000 in carrying one a work that will do more than 
 anything else you could do to promote that interest. 
 
 I have hurried over the latter part of this subject some¬ 
 what, and still I have almost wearied you out. It is a vast 
 one, and of great importance. It is one which you gentle¬ 
 men living in this part of the country hardly realize; but 
 if once you travel over that immense country to the Pacific 
 coast, you will be astonished. You may read descriptions, 
 but without seeing for yourselves you cannot fully under¬ 
 stand them. That vast area of country has been designated 
 on the maps as the Great American Desert; but while the 
 land there is almost unfit for agriculture, those mountains 
 are perfect fountains of wealth, and I come to Congress and 
 ask you to help us along against the overwhelming monop¬ 
 oly which is keeping our prosperity back, and which has 
 been trying to ci^ish us out for years. I believe that dur¬ 
 ing all these struggles I have contributed somewhat to tho 
 knowledge of our vast mineral resources. I have published 
 books, maps, and pamphlets, which have been seen and read 
 by public men, and awakened an interest in the examination 
 of this great subject of mining for the precious metals. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I will 
 now close my remarks. I must have almost exhausted 
 your patience in having you listen to me so long, though I 
 am sure' I have not done half justice to this great subject. 
 
 In closing, then, I want to call your attention to the fact 
 once more, that this is not a gift, not a subsidy, not an ab¬ 
 solute expenditure by the Government; but simply the ex¬ 
 tension of its good-will, the granting of a loan, with the 
 ' most ample security, to assist in the execution of a work 
 w^ich must enhance the property value of this country to 
 the extent of thousands of millions; and let me say to you, 
 gentlemen, that you will point with a feeling of pride to the 
 day when by voice and vote you assisted in the execution 
 of a work which will hereafter be looked upon as a proud 
 monument to the enterprise of the American people. 
 
INDEX TO ARGUMENT 
 
 Page. 
 
 Introductory remarks. 3 
 
 History of the tunnel. 4 
 
 Franchise by the legislature. 5 
 
 Contracts with the mining compa¬ 
 nies . 6 
 
 People becoming interested in the 
 
 subject. 7 
 
 The Bank of California favors the 
 
 enterprise. 7 
 
 Law passed by Congress. 8 
 
 Necessity of a compulsory law. 9 
 
 The undertaking presented at New 
 
 York. 11 
 
 Opposition by the Bank of Califor¬ 
 nia commenced. 12 
 
 The question of contracts. 13 
 
 Ring rascalities. 15 
 
 They want to appropriate aid from 
 the Government to themselves... 17 
 The ring has no money invested in 
 
 the railroad. 17 
 
 No ruin to anything. 18 
 
 Return to New York. 20 
 
 Trip to Europe. 21 
 
 Capitalists alarmed. 22 
 
 Efforts in the Fortieth Congress... 23 
 Impeachment of President John¬ 
 son. 24 
 
 Session of 18G8-’U9. 24 
 
 Visit of the Ways and Means Com¬ 
 mittee. 25 
 
 Speech at Virginia City. 26 
 
 Start work on the tunnel. 28 
 
 The bank attempts to repeal our 
 
 franchise. 28 
 
 War between Prussia and France.. 30 
 
 Back to Nevada again. 31 
 
 Appointment of a commission. 31 
 
 Examination of the mines by the 
 
 commissioners. .... 33 
 
 Another trip to Europe. 33 
 
 The commissioners’ report. 35 
 
 In what the commissioners were 
 
 , misled. 36 
 
 Examination of the commissioners. 37 
 The testimony makes a conclusive 
 case. 38 
 
 Page. 
 
 Testimony of Prof. Raymond and 
 
 Mr. Luckhardt. 39 
 
 Correctness of statements attacked. 40 
 
 Total yield of Mexican mines. 41 
 
 Present manner of mining. 42 • 
 
 Stock-jobbing operations. 42 
 
 How trustees are elected. 43 
 
 Profits of milling. 44 
 
 Hiding ore. 45 
 
 Certain ruin to outsiders. 46 
 
 Percentage extracted from ores. 47 
 
 Sixty-five per cent, the average 
 
 yield. 48 
 
 Water the great obstacle in raining. 50 
 The average is 781 tona of water 
 
 per day in one mine. 51 
 
 Indirect cost of pumping. 52 
 
 Their own letters condemn them.. 53 
 
 Ventilation... 60 
 
 Temperature,. 61 
 
 Transportation. 63 
 
 Reduction of ores. 64 
 
 Large additional yield. 65 
 
 Great water-power without dam... 66 
 
 Exploration of the country. 67 
 
 Water-pressure engines. 68 
 
 We will reach greater depth than 
 has ever been reached before.... 69 
 Immense saving to the mining 
 
 companies. 70 
 
 Fair comparative statement. 71 
 
 The Sutio Tunnel Company. 73 
 
 Superintendent’s Report on the 
 
 Sutro tunnel. 75 
 
 Historical opposition to great im¬ 
 provements. 77 
 
 The Liverpool and Manchester rail¬ 
 way. 77 
 
 The Bank of California and the 
 
 Duke of Bridgewater. 81 
 
 A thousand tunnels in thiscountry 1 . 83 
 
 Security to the Government. 85 
 
 The Bank of California composed 
 
 of patriotic men. 86 
 
 Will Congress assist the laboring 
 
 men?. 87 
 
 Policy of the Government. 88 
 
 90 
 
REPORT OP THE COMMITTEE ON MINES AND 
 MINING. 
 
 The Committee on Mines and Mining, to whom was referred H. R. 1173, 
 entitled “A bill to aid in the construction of the Sutro tunnel from the pro¬ 
 ceeds of the sale of mineral lands,” after careful consideration, have prepared 
 the accompanying substitute, and recommend its passage: 
 
 Your committee have patiently and carefully investigated all the questions 
 having any bearing upon the subject; they have heard the evidence of tho 
 commissioners and other experts; they have listened to the arguments for and 
 against the bill; and, without commenting at length upon the details of their 
 investigations, beg leave to submit the following statement of facts and con¬ 
 clusions; 
 
 1st. Our mineral domain is almost unlimited in extent, and of inestimable 
 value. 
 
 2d. The mines on the Comstock lode are the most valuable in the world. 
 
 3d. They have yielded already $130,000,000 in bullion. 
 
 4th. Their present annual yield exceeds $15,000,000. 
 
 oth. Their future yield, by means of a deep tunnel, will be almost incal¬ 
 culable. 
 
 6th. Deep tunnels are necessary for the full development of our mining 
 interests. 
 
 7th. The Futro tunnel is of the highest importance to the future profitable 
 working of the mines on the Comstock lode. 
 
 8th The construction of thi^ tunnel was authorized by the Legislature of 
 Nevada. 
 
 9th. The mining companies on the Comstock lode contracted for its con¬ 
 struction. 
 
 10th. The Legislature of Nevada memorialized Congress to aid in its con¬ 
 struction. 
 
 11th. Congress, by special law, endowed it with certain rights and priv¬ 
 ileges. 
 
 12th. Congress reaffirmed those rights by a refusal to interfere with them. 
 
 13th. Congress again reaffirmed them by provisions in two general mining 
 
 laws. 
 
 14th. Congress sent out a commission to report upon the facts concerning it. 
 
 loth. The commissioners made a report, recommending the work to favor¬ 
 able consideration. 
 
 16th. Some points in the report not being entirely clear, tbe commissioners 
 were fully examinod by your committee. 
 
 17tli. Other witnesses, amongst whom was Professor Raymond, the United 
 States Commissioner on Mining, were also examined. 
 
 18th. The testimony (which accompanies this report, embracing 810 pages) 
 makes a conclusive case in favor of the tiflinel. 
 
 19th. The construction of the tunnel is entirely feasible. 
 
 20th. It will cost from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. 
 
 21st. It will take from 21 to 3.1 years to complete it. 
 
 22d. It will be of immense benefit to the legitimate owners of the mines. 
 
 23d. It will secure the health of the miners by good ventilation. 
 
 24th. It will create an outlet for escape in case of fire. 
 
 25tli. It will establish a new basis of operations 2,000 feet below the sur¬ 
 face. 
 
 26th. It will drain the water to that depth by its own flow, and dispense 
 with the numerous steam engines now required. 
 
 27th. The water contained in the mines may be utilized as a great water 
 power to pump the water, by means thereof, from below the tunnel level. 
 
 28th. Greater depth may be reached thereby than has ever been reached 
 before in any mines in the world. 
 
 91 
 
92 
 
 20th. It will stimulate explorations on all portions of the Comstock lode, 
 and may increase its yield to £50,000,000 per annum. 
 
 30th. It will develop several lodes in the course of its construction. 
 
 3lst. Immense quantities of low-grade ores exist on the Comstock lode and 
 other lodes cut by the tunnel. 
 
 3_'<1. These low-grade ores can only bo utilized by means of concentrating 
 works. 
 
 33d. Extraordinary facilities exist at the mouth of the tunnel for the erec¬ 
 tion of improved concentrating and reduction works. 
 
 34th. The tunnel itself will furnish sufficient water for concentrating and 
 amalgamating purposes. 
 
 35th. Cheap motive power can be secured, with coal from the Rocky Moun¬ 
 tains and firewood floated down Carson river. 
 
 3Gth. As a geological survey, penetrating into this argentiferous mountain, 
 it will be of the highest value to science. 
 
 37th. It w*ll serve as a pattern work for all the other mining districts. 
 
 38th. Its success will give confidence in mining operations. 
 
 39th. A practical illustration of the downward contiuuance of mineral 
 lodes will give high value to our mineral domain. 
 
 40th. It will make capital flow in that direction. 
 
 41st. it will result in the construction of hundreds of tunnels by private 
 enterprise. 
 
 42a. It will populate our vast mining regions, and create millions of dol¬ 
 lars of taxable property. 
 
 43.1. It will establish a mart for western produce and eastern manufactures. 
 
 41th. The total yield of gold and silver will be largely increased. 
 
 45tb. The increase of the stock of the precious metals has a tendency of 
 increasing the money value of all property. 
 
 46th. That increased value relieves the burdens of the people by reducing 
 the rate of taxation. 
 
 47th. It has a most important bearing on the payment of the national 
 debt. 
 
 48th. The Sutro tunnel is now in full progress of construction. 
 
 49th. The company has secured funds to the amount of $1,500,000, and is 
 expending upon the work at the rate of $50,000 per month. 
 
 50th. The work is of national importance, and the aid provided for in this 
 bill will secure its early completion. 
 
 51st. The security to the Government is unquestionable, ample, and satis¬ 
 factory one half of the royalty alone yielding at the present rate of produc¬ 
 tion $305,000 per annum. 
 
 .*32(1. Under the bill reported the aid extended shall not exceed $2,000,000. 
 
 53d. The company is required to spend an equal amount to that loaned by 
 the Government. 
 
 54th. One half of all the income will be paid over to the Government 
 semi annually. 
 
 55th. The sum loaned, together with interest, will probably be repaid to 
 the Government within a few years after its completion. 
 
 56th. No money will be paid until the commissioners to be appointed shall 
 report the completion of each section, as prescribed by law. 
 
 57th. A non-compliance with the provisions of this bill will forfeit all 
 rights under the same. 
 
 68th. The aid extended only applies to the first four miles of tunnel to the 
 Comstock lode. 
 
 59th. This first section of the tunnel will form, as it were, the main artery 
 or highway, from which ono hundred miles of branch tunnels may be con¬ 
 structed. 
 
 60th. No further aid will be required; for after the tunnel reaches the 
 mines, the income will be sufficient to make it self-sustaining. 
 
 61st. We would, in conclusion, indorse the language used in the closing 
 
93 
 
 paragraph of a report to Congress made by a former committee, recommend¬ 
 ing a loan of $5,000,000, in the following words: 
 
 ‘‘•That taking into consideration the magnitude of the undertaking, the 
 large yield of bullion winch will to directly secured thereby, the great influ¬ 
 ence by its successful completion upon all our mining interests, the stimulus 
 it will give to mining generally, the positive proof it will furnish of our im¬ 
 mense mineral wealth, and considering the importance of attaining those results, 
 in view of our large national debt, ordinary wisdom and foresight should com¬ 
 mand that the aid asked for the construction of this important work, or a 
 much larger sum, if it were necessary, should be granted, even were no security 
 whatever offered for its repayment.” 
 
 For further and detailed information upon the subjects embraced in this 
 report, your committee refers to— 
 
 1st. The act of the Nevada Legislature, entitled “An act granting the 
 right of way, and authorizing A. Sutro and his associates to construct, a min¬ 
 ing and draining tunnel,” approved February 4, 1865. (See book on Sutro 
 Tunnel, p. 71.) 
 
 2d. The contracts with the mining companies. (See hook on Sutro Tunnel, 
 P- 173) 
 
 3d. Law of Congress, entitled “An act granting the right of way and 
 granting other privileges to aid in the construction of a draining and explor¬ 
 ing tunnel to the Comstock lode in the State of Nevada,” approved July 25, 
 
 1866. (See U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. 14, p. 242.) 
 
 4th. The Comstock Lode, its Character, &c. By Ferdinand Baron Richtho¬ 
 fen: Dr. Phil, San Francisco. Towno & Bacon, printers, 1866. (See book on 
 Sutro Tunnel, p. 95 ) 
 
 5th. Joint memorial and resolutions by the Nevada Legislature, asking 
 Government aid in the construction of the Sutro Tunnel, 1867. (See book 
 on Sutro Tunnel, p. 13.) 
 
 6th. Report to the Legislature by the Senate Committee on Federal Rela¬ 
 tions on the foregoing memorial, 1867. (See book on Sutro Tunnel, p. 77.) 
 
 7th. Resolutions by the Nevada Legislature, January, 1867. (See book on 
 Sutro Tunnel, p. 92.) 
 
 8ih. Report to the Mechanics' Institute of San Francisco, by a special 
 committee appointed to investigate the merits of tbo Sutro tunnel, April 4, 
 
 1867. (See book on Sutro Tunnel, p. 141.) 
 
 9th. Report on the Sutro tunnel by the Hon. Joseph S. Wilson, Commis¬ 
 sioner of the General Land Office, Washington, June, 1868. (See Miscel¬ 
 laneous Documents No. 156, 40th Congress, 2d session.) 
 
 10th. Report of the Committee on Mines and Mining to the United States 
 House of Representatives, recommending an appropriation of $5,000,000 by 
 the Government. (Pub. Doc.: see Report No. 50, 40th Congress, 2d session.) 
 
 11th. Proceedings in the House of Representatives of the United Slates, 
 March 17, 22, and 23, 1870, and in the United States Senate, April 27 and 
 28, 1870. 
 
 12th. "An act authorizing and requesting the President of the United 
 States to appoint a commission to examine and report upon the Sutro tun¬ 
 nel,” approved April 4, 1871. 
 
 13th. Report # of the commissioners on the Sutro tunnel. (See Ex. Docs. 
 No. 15, 42d Congress, 2d session.) 
 
 14th. Evidence taken by the Committee on Mines and Mining, 42d Con¬ 
 gress, 2d session. 
 
 15th. Reports of the United States Commissioners on Mines and Mining 
 for the years 1866, 1867, 1863, 1869, 1S70, and 1871. 
 
 IIexby Waldron. Walter L. Sessions. 
 
 Nath. P. Banks. Francis E. Siiober. 
 
 Worthinqton C- Smith. Pierce M. Young. 
 
 James S. Neuley. Chas. W. Kendall. 
 
SUBSTITUTE FOrf H. R. 1173. 
 
 As agreed on by the Committee on Mines and Mining. 
 
 A Bill to aid in the construction of the Sutro tunnel from the proceeds of the sale of 
 mineral lands. 
 
 Whereas onr public lands contain mines of the precious metals which are un¬ 
 surpassed in extent, and can, with proper development, be made speedily 
 to enhance the value of all property, and thereby relieve the burdens of 
 the people; 
 
 And whereas a wise policy indicates that the revenue derived from our min¬ 
 eral lands should, to some extent, be devoted again to the much neoded 
 development of that important interest; 
 
 And whereas Congress, by an act approved July twenty-fifth, eighteen hun¬ 
 dred and sixty-six, authorized the construction of a draining and exploring 
 tunnel to the Comstock lode, in the State of Nevada, and granted to Adolph 
 Sutro certain rights and privileges, which have been assigned, transferred, 
 and set over to a corporation, duly organized under the laws of the State of 
 California, and known as the “Sutro Tunnel Company;” 
 
 And whereas great benefits will accrue to the people of the United States 
 from the construction of said tunnel, which, as a great geological survey, 
 penetrating into an argentiferous mountain to a greater depth than has yet 
 been reached by any similar work in the world, will establish the value of 
 our mineral domain; 
 
 And whereas the principal wealth of our mineral regions consists in low- 
 grade ores, which can only be utilized by means of improved reduction, 
 concentration, and smelting works, for the erection of which extraordinary 
 facilities exist at the mouth of said tunnel; 
 
 And whereas this work bears a national character, and its magnitude is be¬ 
 yond the capacity of private enterprise, and the security offered to the 
 Government is ample for the repayment of any sums to be advanced under 
 this act: Therefore, 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
 of America in Congress assembled , That the Secretary of the Treasury is here¬ 
 by authorized and directed to keep a separate account of all moneys received 
 by the United States from the sale of mineral lands, and the same shall be 
 used in fostering the mining interest, as Congress may hereafter direct. 
 
 Sec. 2. That whenever the Sutro Tunnel Company, a corporation duly 
 organized under the laws of the State of California, shall have hereafter com¬ 
 pleted five hundred lineal feet, in the aggregate, of its tunnel and shafts, thS 
 Secretary of the Treasury, upon application to him by said company, shall 
 from the aforesaid moneys, or from any other moneys in the Treasury not 
 otherwise appropriated, pay as a loan to said company fifty thousand dollars; 
 and in like manner shall pay as a loan to said company a like sum upon the 
 completion by said company of each and every additional five hundred feet 
 of said tunnel and shafts, as hereinafter specified: Provided, That each install¬ 
 ment of said loan shall be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury to said com¬ 
 pany only after the said company shall have expended, according to the 
 report of "the commissioners hereinafter provided for, an additional equal 
 amount of its own funds in the construction of said tunnel and shafts: And 
 provided farther , That all payments under tlris act shall be made out of ap¬ 
 propriations hereafter to be made. 
 
 Sec. 3. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized to ap¬ 
 point a board of three commissioners and fix their compensation, and to fill 
 
 94 
 
95 
 
 vacancies in said board whenever they occur; and whenever the superintend¬ 
 ent of said company shall file in the Interior Department his sworn affidavit, 
 setting forth that five hundred lineal feet in the aggregate of said tunnel and 
 shafts have been completed in accordance with the provisions of this act, the 
 Secretary of the Interior shall thereupon notify the said board of commis¬ 
 sioners to examine the same, and it shall he the duty of said commissioners 
 forthwith to make such examination ; and if they find the same completed in 
 conformity with this act, and in accordance with plans and specifications of 
 Baid tunnel and shafts, to be approved by them, and filed in the office of the 
 Secretary of the Interior, they shall file their report thereof with the Secre¬ 
 tary of the Interior, who shall thereupon notify the Secretary of the Treasury 
 that said company has become entitled to the payment of fifty thousand dol¬ 
 lars under section two of this act, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
 thereupon pay to said company the sum of money to which it is entitled; and 
 from time to time, as other five hundred feet of said tunnel and shafts are 
 completed, they shall be examined, reported upon, and like sums of money 
 paid, as hereinbefore provided. 
 
 Sec. 4, That, in order to securo to the United States the repayment by said 
 company of the sums so loaned, with interest thereon, and of the compensa¬ 
 tion of the commissioners, the payment of said sums shall, ipso facto, constitute 
 a first mortgage and lien on the whole of said tunnel, together with all the 
 lands, franchises, easements, privileges, engines, buildings, and appurtenances 
 thereunto belonging. And, after the completion of said main tunnel to its 
 intersection with the said Comstock lode, fifty per centum of the net amount 
 collected for royalty, tolls, drainage, transportation of ore, rock, and material, 
 or in any other manner, after deducting the necessary expenses, shall, on the 
 first day of January and on the first day of July in each year, be paid by the 
 said company into the Treasury of the United States, which moneys shall be 
 applied to and be used for the repayment of the sums so loaned and paid, to¬ 
 gether with interest thereon at the rate of five percentum per annum until the 
 whole amount shall bo repaid to the United States, and such net amount shall 
 be ascertained and reported by the commissioners upon inspection of the books 
 and accounts of said company, or otherwise, as they may deem proper; and 
 on failure or refusal of said company to pay the said sums of money, or any 
 part of them, when required so to do by the Secretary of the Treasury, in ac¬ 
 cordance with the provisions of this act, the said tunnel, with all tho lands, 
 franchises, easements, privileges, engines, buildings, and appurtenances there¬ 
 unto belonging, may be taken possession of by the President of the United 
 States for the use and benefit pf the United States, as hereinafter provided. 
 
 Sec. 5. That the conditions upon which aid shall be extended to said work 
 are as follows: 
 
 First. That the aggregate amount to be loaned under this act shall not ex¬ 
 ceed the sum of two millions of dollars; and said company shall prosecute tho 
 construction of said tunnel with all reasonable diligence, and shall complete 
 tho same to tho Comstock lode within five years from tho date of this act. 
 
 Second. That the said tunnel shall, from its initial point in the foot-hills 
 near Carson river, extend in a westerly direction four miles, more or less, 
 to and beyond tho easterly limit of the Comstock lode, and branches shall be 
 constructed from said tunnel northerly and southerly to such extent as may 
 by said company be deemed profitable and expedient. 
 
 Third. That said main tunnel shall, throughout its entire length, have a 
 cross sectional area of at least one hundred and forty square feet, including 
 timbers and space for drainage, and shall, on or before its completion, be pro¬ 
 vided with all necessary timber supports, double railroad tracks, and working 
 shafts, the whole work to be substantial, permanent, and workmanlike, and 
 to be subject during its progress to the examination and approval of the board 
 of commissioners herein provided for. 
 
 Fourth. That the last rive hundred thousand dollars to be loaned under this 
 act shall be retained by the United States until after the said company shall 
 
96 
 
 have erected reduction, concentration, and smelting works, of the most ap- 
 
 E rovdd kind, at or near the mouth of said tunnel, at a cost of at least five 
 undred thousand dollars: and the said sum retained shall be paid to said 
 company by the Secretary of the Treasury whenever the said commissioners 
 shall report, in the manner hereinbefore provided for, that the said company 
 has complied with all tho provisions of this act. 
 
 Fifth. That before any moneys shall be loaned by the United States, the 
 said company shall file with the Secretary of the Interior an acceptance of 
 this act, and a declaration that said company consents to be bound by the 
 conditions herein imposed. 
 
 Sec. 6. That in case of failure on the part of said company to prosecute 
 said work, or to complete said main tunnel within the period herein specified, 
 or to keep the same in good repair and condition, or to repay the full amount 
 of said loan and interest thereon within twenty years from the date of tho 
 passage of this act, or of neglect to perform any and all the conditions herein¬ 
 before stated, at any time prior to the repayment to the Government of the 
 said sums so loaned and paid, the President of the United States may declare 
 all rights of said company under this act forfeited, and may tako such pro¬ 
 ceedings as he may deem advisable to terminate the possession of said 
 company.