The Broken Hill lode is the largest yet discovered.
The next most famous lode is that of Leadville, Colorado, which from 1879 to 1889 yielded $147,834,186, chiefly in silver and lead.
About this lode grew up Virginia City.
The production of this lode declined in 1876, but the total production of this country was increased by discoveries in Colorado (Leadville) and Nevada (Eureka); and in more recent years silver-producing areas in other states (Montana, Utah, Idaho) have been exploited.
The mines there occur in gneiss and schists, which are probably of Archean age; the lode has in places been worked for a width of over 200 ft.