on an elevation thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, in
a region of perpetual snow; it has always been worked in a very rude
manner, yet it has already produced $250,000,000, and shows no signs of
exhaustion. The annual product of the silver mines of South America, at
the present time, is estimated to be $22,000,000. Their total product,
to the present time, has amounted to $2,430,000,000. The silver mines
of Mexico were wrought long before Cortez revealed them to the eyes of
Europe, in 1513. Their annual product, at the present time, is estimated
to be $30,000,000. The total product, to the present time, has amounted
to $3,834,000,000. In 1850 Nevada was not reckoned among the
silver-producing countries of the world. In 1867 she could proudly point
to an annual product of $13,000,000; but it has declined to $6,000,000
at the present time. The total product of silver in Nevada has amounted
to $340,000,000. The largest nugget of silver yet obtained was dug up in
Arizona, and weighed 43,200 ounces, valued at the same number of
dollars. The highest silver deposit in the world is on King Solomon's
mountain, in Colorado, fourteen thousand feet above the Pacific Ocean.
The annual product of the silver mines of North America is estimated to
be $76,480,000. Their total product has amounted to $4,783,000,000, more
than one-third of the entire product of the world from the earliest
times to the present day. The annual product of the silver mines of
America at the present time is estimated to be $98,480,000, and their
total product has amounted to $7,170,000,000, more than three-fifths of
the entire product of the world, from the earliest times to the present
day. The export of silver from the United States, since 1848, has
amounted to $413,292,757. The annual product of the mines of Europe at
the present time is estimated to be $15,000,000; and their total product
has amounted to $2,600,000,000. The annual product of the silver mines
of Asia (including Australia, New Zealand, and Oceanica), at the present
time is estimated to be $480,000; and their total product has amounted