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Show APPENDIX NN. 1261 1 are annually used by the Comstock and its co- operating industries. This immense amount of wood may be better conceived of when we remember that if it should be piled up 8 feet high it would cover an area of 100 acres. The square timber is used in great quantities in the mines, in the construction of galleries, shafts, inclines, & c, and in stoping. The fertile plains and hill- sides of California furnish the subsistence for the men and women of the Comstock, and for their horses, mules, and cattle; and the manufactories of the Pacific coast provide most of the machinery for the mines and mills, although some coin* s from the far- off Eastern States. As everywhere on the Pacific side of the Rocky Mountains, there are great numbers of Chinamen about the Comstock. They are not allowed to be employed in the mines or mills, or in any of the work conuected therewith, being prevented by the miuers' union. They find employment as laundry- men, as household servants, as peddlers of vegetables, and as gatherers of garbage and wood. The wood business is a fine illustration of how a thrifty race cau make money out of the most unpromising materials. A Chinaman gets a donkey and a pack- saddle, and spends all his time during the summer going out on the hills and grubbiug up the stumps and roots of the fir and pine trees which were long ago cut down. When he gets as much as his donkey can carry, he loads him up and drives him back to the place where he has his woodpile. It is a picturesque, but not a pleasant, sight to see a dirty Chinaman driving an overloaded donkey, possibly lame and trembling with pain and exhaustion, along some lonely road. In the winter, when the snow is on the ground and the roads are impassable in the country, John loads up his doukey with the smallest amount of wood which will make a respectable showing, and travels about the streets in search of some one who wants his load of wood more than they want a dollar. The Chinamen have never succeeded in making friends of the white men, and I cannot but think that the canse lies in their utter iuoffensiveness. They will submit tamely to all kinds of neglect, contempt, and abuse, and this only begets the feeling in the mind of the strong, hearty, world- buffeting American or European that they are unworthy of any consideration. In the land of fighting- men, they are the non- fighters, the cringing class; and as long as they are so, they will be treated in the same manner as at present. All the supplies, machinery, wood, lumber, & c., are brought to the market by the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, which is itself a wonder in that land of wonders. It was first completed from Virginia to Carson in the winter of 1869 and 1870, and has since been extended to connect with the Central Pacific at Reno. It is an immense auxiliary to the mining interests of Nevada, as we see when we consider the vast amount of freight of all kinds carried and the great use it is in transporting ore to the mills* There are at the present time about fifty mines being worked or prospected on the Comstock and its branches, but of this number there are ouly five or six which pay expenses; all the rest are working on assessments. There are about 400 incorporations on the Comstock, employing a nominal capital of $ 3,000,000,000. This would be the-actual value of the mines incorporated with the stock at par. Their values, at the ruling prices of June 1,1876, according to the San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board, was $ 163,580,000. The following table, taken from the report of the State assessor for the quarter ending September 30, 1876, will give an idea of the condition of the principal inineB: Abstract statement from the quarterly assessment- roll of the proceeds of the mines of Storey County, Nevada, for the quarter ending September 30, 1876. Name. Belcher* California Consolidated Vir-ainia. t ChollarPotoei*... Crown Point* Imperial Justice t Ophirt OvermTaonta* l. Jl 4 I 936 1* 18 061 ; 97 97 2 $ 566,976.10 5,156, 026. 84 1,533,308. 64 129,998. 47 65,676.3: 94, 857. < H 214,071.3 « i| 969,096.72 11,393.461 7,743, 305.00 11 * 6 f ffi $ 216,552.001351, 866. 00 $ 568,418.00| 354, 881. 4dl 742, 643. 701 1, 445, 468. 43 315, 850.05| 191, 660. 30' 1, 145,036. 64 142,167. 83 .1 74,660.00 15,153.50 18,180.00' 62,203.50' 76,025.50 273,585. OOJ 328, 302.00 17, 560. ( X 5,278.44 217,027. 83 17( 1,000.53 33,333. 50 141, 684.50 601,8o7.00 22,838.44 4,345,794. 87 2 * .2 9 . $ 113,395.22 3, 710,55* 41 613,323. 45| 25,999. 6? 13. 135.2' 61.523. 5* 85, 98K 54 387. 63a 2,278. 5,013,841.53 3* 99,335.10 * 80 per cent, deducted by law and exempt from taxation. t60 per cent, deducted by law and exempt from taxation. |