THE SILVER MINES AT WHITE PINE, U,S,

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 528, 5 June 1869, Page 4

THE SILVER MINES AT WHITE PINE, U.S.

From late American papers brought to Auckland by the clipper Novelty we make the following extract :-*** The discovery of the mines of Treasure ' Hill, and building of the present city upon it, now astonishes the world, and will long stand as one of its great wonders. Whether its prototype in history or not ! was known, we cannot at present tell, but tho nearest like it, in its discovery, isolation, wealth, and character, seems to be the great peak of Potosi in South America. That lofty peak of tho Andes ia described as reaching some thirteen thousand feet into the sky, is, from where it rises above the surrounding mountains, gorges or valleys, some ten miles in circumference, and its silver, as every schoolboy knows, was discovered by an Indian, who, in pursuit of a goat up to the precipitous, j rocky sides grasped a bush to aid him in his ascent, and this giving way at the roots, exposed some glittering silver beneath. This was several centuries ago, and since then countless millions of the precious metal have been extracted from that single mountain, until it is but a honey-combed shell, and it is not yet exhausted of its treasure. Treasure Hill is isolated like Potosi, is of a similar formation, of equal size, or perhaps a little larger at the base, and not quite so high ; its mines are of Indian discovery, and its i'uture promises equal brilliancy, and equal if not superior wealth. Two years since, a degraded and starving Indian carried to a camp of miners a piece of the ore from the locality of the Hidden Treasure Mine, and this led to the exposure of the wealth of Treasure Hill. In the explorations following, quantities of pure silver were found where trees had fallen and burned, or where the Indians had built beds on the beds of chloride ore, reducing the easily smelted rock to metal, Such discoveries, made in different localities, naturally created a wonderful excitement, and plainly indicate its unexampled wealth. Following the discovery of the ore which crowned the summit, came the discovery of the great Eberharclt deposit, jor vein, then those of Chloride Flat, ' Pogonip, Sunnyside, and the " Base Range," all most surprising in their wonderful richness. The geological formation of the mountain is as singular as its riches are rare. It is an isolated peak of fossiliferous limestone, overlying silurian rocks at a great depth, and these having a foundation on those of tho primitive age. Into the crevices, caves, chasms of the limestone, or in displacements occasioned by the action of thermal waters rising from the primitive and silurian rocks, were deposited the lime, silicia, spar, and ores which now constitute the mines and veins of the hill. By such process of change has been formed that singular feature of mineralogy — fossiliferous quartz. The limestone has been carried away by the action of the water, while all its features, the form and character of fossils, have been preserved in the obtruding silica. These crevices, chasms, caves or displacements, .are in every portion of the hill, and of every size, from that of a bull's eye to that of the mammoth chasm of the Eberhardt, and ihe continuation of each, with increasing or varying richness, may be followed to an indefinite depth. A body of ore, small at the surface, may at a greater or less depth expand to a great size, and vice versa. Such formation is very advantageousfor mining, as the ores are in vast quantity, pure and rich, and easily mined. The exhaustion of the hill is almost a matter of impossibility, and none now living will see it accomplished. As of the mountain to which we have compared it, hundreds of years hence will see a prosperous mining community about the sides and base of Treasure Hill.