The C&C Shaft was a joint venture of the Consolidated Virginia and California mines (the former was the best producer on the Comstock). By 1873, both were under control of the "Bonanza Firm" owned by Mackay, Fair, Flood, and O'Brien, and work began on the C&C Shaft, intended to provide access to depths up to 3,000 feet below the surface, and connected by lateral tunnels to not only Sutro Tunnel, but also mines as far away as Gold Hill. By the early 1880s, the shaft reached a depth of 2,450 feet but by 1883 the deep ore body was exhausted. In 1884 the mines were combined to form the Consolidated California & Virginia Mining Co., and work continued into the 1940s. Total production from 1873-1934 was just above $82.6 million.
The Combination Shaft was started in 1875, when the owners of the Chollar-Potosi, Hale & Norcross, and Savage mines combined efforts to sink a deep shaft to explore greater depths of the Comstock Lode. At a depth of 3,250 feet, the Combination Shaft was the deepest shaft on the Comstock Lode, and at the time the second deepest in the world. Only low grade ore with little value was found at that depth, and temperatures reached as high as 130°. In addition, by the mid-1880s, flooding was so substantial that the two Cornish pumps, capable of removing about five million gallons of water each day, couldn't keep up. By October 1886, the Combination was too cost prohibitive to operate and the pumps were shut off; within 36 hours water had flooded up to the 2400 foot level. The shaft has sat dormant since, though a protective metal grate was placed over the entrance in 2012.
The Ward Mine, located on the Divide between Virginia City and Gold Hill, was first located in 1860, but little work was done until the mid-1870s, when the Ward Shaft was sunk. Work ended the Ward continued in the early 1880s before reopening from 1889-1894. The Ward Shaft was later used from 1903-1912 for exploration and for pumping water from neighboring mines (notably the Yellow Jacket).
The Union Shaft, on the Union Consolidated Mine located in 1859, was a three-compartment shaft began in the late 1860s. By the late 1870s, water was reached at the lower levels and the world's largest Cornish pump (at the time) was installed for roughly $410,000. The shaft was operated by the "Bonanza Firm" and jointly served the Union Consolidated, Mexican, Sierra Nevada, and Ophir mines. A reported $2,454,000 was produced from the Union between 1879 and 1918.
The Mexican Mill was a ten-stamp, 100-ton cyanide mill built in 1911 to treat ore from the Mexican mine and its neighbors. It reportedly operated successfully for a number of years.
The Sierra Nevada Mine on the west slope of Sevenmile Canyon was first located in 1859, and worked intermittently until the 1940s. In the early 1870s, it supported a twenty-stamp mill. Total production from 1866-1933 is estimated at $1.8 million.
The Comstock Lode
Virginia City • Mines & Mills • Six Mile Canyon
Gold Hill • Yellow Jacket Mine • American Flat
Silver City • Mills • Dayton • Rock Point Mill • Sutro
Daney Mine • Carson River Canyon Mills • Eureka Mill
Bibliography
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