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1853

Virginia City,NV - Storey County - c1865 - Gould & Curry Mill Stereoview Card :

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Photographic Images Start Price:200.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 800.00 USD
Virginia City,NV - Storey County - c1865 - Gould & Curry Mill Stereoview Card :
View of a scene from the last years of the Gould & Curry Mill. Stereocard, 3 x 3" mounted on heavy yellow cardstock. Focus is fair to good while contrast is low to medium. Slightly worn around top corners, with some foxing noted on left image and one stain noted at bottom of right image and on lower border. "Nevada." printed along left border, "Scene at the Gould & Curry Mill." printed on lower right border. "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by Lawrence & Houseworth, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of California." printed along the right border. "Photographed and Published By Lawrence & Houseworth, Opticians, Importers of Stereoscopic Goods, etc., etc. 317 & 319 Montgomery St., San Francisco," is printed on the reverse, inside an ornate black border. A three cent revenue stamp is also affixed to the bottom right corner of the reverse. Thomas Houseworth, photographer. The mine name honors the original men who consolidated their claims, Alva Gould and Abram Curry. Both men sold their interests in the mine at an early date. The company was also famous for its extraordinary mill. On a rocky point about 2 miles east of Virginia City, an artificial plateau was created to support a building formed like a Greek cross. At 250 ft. long, with arms 75 ft. in length and 50 ft. wide, it had approaches cut out or blasted out of hillsides. Almost $900,000 was spent on this building by the end of 1863, at which time only about 4,800 tons of ore had been reduced using the Veatch process. Initially estimated to process ore at a base cost of $38 per ton, it was closer to $50 per ton based on an 1864 estimate made by Charles Bonner, the new superintendent. Later, at a cost of nearly $560,000, the mill was almost "reconstructed" from the foundation up. (Ref: USGS, Comstock Mining and Miners, Lord, Vol. IV, p. 125)
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