2009

San Francisco,CA - October 27, 1863 - Bell, G. W. Assay Office Memorandum of Deposit :

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Historical Memorabilia Start Price:125.00 USD Estimated At:250.00 - 450.00 USD
San Francisco,CA - October 27, 1863 - Bell, G. W. Assay Office Memorandum of Deposit :
Memorandum of deposit by I. H. Dall and assay of “4 Silver Bars” No. 1451, 1452, 1453, 1454 listing weights, fineness, and dollar values of each. Total Value: $6,768.75. Dall's Mill was in Virginia City. The Dall’s Mill, Land’s Mill and at least a dozen others were small, independent mills that processed ore under contract with the mining companies. This was an early form of what we call today “custom mills”, whereby mining companies can take their ores to these mills to crush, treat and remove precious metals. In the early 1860s, this was the accepted and customary system - especially on the Comstock, where this system was used to great extent in the first decade of production, However, the mills were only as good as the operator. In some cases, near-surface high grade ores were mined, such as those at the Ophir and Gould & Curry, and sent to one or more different custom mills. If the operator was no good, they would receive next to nothing, even though the assays indicated high grade ore. Those mill operators usually only lasted a few weeks to months, until they were “found out.” During the Highway 50 widening project, circa 1991, a batch of very high grade tailings from the Dayton area, about ten tons, was received at our facility at the Flowery Mine. This unique batch of tailings ran about 10 ounces per ton gold and 100 ounces per ton silver. These were clearly some of the very early tails produced from one of the custom mills, and in this case, all of the ore ran through the mill and out the tail race, waiting for us to find it 130 years later.