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187
REJPORTS
\
UPON
THE MINERAL RESOURCES
OF
THE UNITED STATES,
BY
SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS J, HOSSUJROWNE AND JAMES
W. TAYLOR,
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE,
1 867.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 29, 1867.
Resolved, That there be printed for the use of the Treasury Department one thousand copies of the Report
of J. Ross Browne upon the Mineral Resources of the States and Territories west of the Rocky mountains.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February 12, 1867.
Resolved, That ten thousand copies of the Report of J. Rosa Browne on the Mineral Resources. <fec., in
addition to those already ordered, be printed for the use of the members of this House ; and that a copy of the
rules prepared at the General Land Office to aid in the disposal of the mineral lands, under law, approved
February 26, 1866, for that purpose, be added to each copy of such report ; and that one thousand copies of the
*ame be printed for the use of the Treasury Department.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February 25, 1867.
Resolved, That the same number of copies of the "Letter of the Secretary of the Treasury of February
13, 1867, with the Report of the Special Commissioner for the Collection of Mining Statistics east of the Rocky
mountains," be ordered to be printed as were of the "Report of J. Ross Browne on the Mineral Resources,"
&.C.; and that the same be bound together for the use of the House.
Attest: EDW'D McPHERSON, Clerk.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, February 6, 1867.
Resolved, That ten thousand copies of the Report of J. Ross Browne to the Treasury Department on tha
Statistics of Mines and Mining be printed and bound for the use ofthe Senate, with a title-page and index.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, February 27, 1867.
Resolved, That ten thousand copies of the letter of trie Secretary of the Treasury of February thirteenth,
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, transmitting1 to the House of Representatives a Report by James W. Taylor
upon Gold and Silver Mines and Mining east of the Rocky mountains, be printed for the use of the Senate,
and that one thousand of said extra copies be placed at the disposal of the Secretary of the Treasury.
Attest: J. W. FORNEY, Secretary.
LETTER
FROM
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY,
TRANSMITTING
A report upon the mineral resources of the States and Territories west of the
Rocky Mountains.
JANUARY 8, 1867. — Referred to the Committee on Mines and Mining and ordered to be
printed. *
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 8, 1867.
SIR : I have the honor to transmit a preliminary report upon the mineral re-
sources of the States and Territories west of the Rocky mountains by Mr. J.
Ross Browne, who was appointed special commissioner under a provision of the
appropriation act of July 28, 1866, authorizing the collection by the Secretary
of the Treasury of " reliable statistical information concerning the gold and sil-
ver mines of the western States and Territories."
An introductory communication from Mr. Browne is also enclosed, which will
indicate the scope of the report, with some suggestions in regard to the future
prosecution of the inquiry into the situation and prospects of gold and silver
mining in the United States.
The commissioner has evidently availed himself of the best experience of the
State of California, especially in the department of geological and mineralogical
observation ; and the present compilation of its results cannot fail to be a wel-
come contribution to the public information.
If Congress shall make the necessary appropriation for this object, it is the
purpose of the Secretary to secure a similar body of scientific and statistical in-
formation in regard to the mining districts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Mon-
tana. A report upon the production of gold and silver in those Territories, and
in the Vermillion and Alleghany districts of the United States, by Mr. James
W. Taylor, will be forwarded from this department to the House of Representa-
tives at an early day.
I am, very truly, your obedient servant,
H. McCULLOCH,
Secretary of the Treasury.
Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, August 2, 1866.
SIR : In entering upon your duties as special commissioner to collect mining
statistics in the States and Territories west of the Rocky mountains, it is im-
portant that you should clearly understand the objects designed to be accom-
plished by this department and by Congress.
The absence of reliable statistics in any department of the government on the
subject of mines and mining in our new mineral regions, and the inconvenience
resulting from it, induced Congress at its last session to appropriate the sum of
ten thousand dollars for the collection of information of all kinds tending to
show the extent and character of our mineral resources in the far west.
The special points of inquiry to which your attention will necessarily be
directed are so varied, and embrace so large a scope of country, that it will
scarcely be practicable for you to report upon them in full by the next session
of Congress.
I entertain the hope, however, that you will be enabled by that time to
collect sufficient data to furnish, in the form of a preliminary report, the basis of
a plan of operations by which we can in future procure information of a more
detailed and comprehensive character.
The success of your visit to the mineral regions, in carrying out the objects
contemplated, must depend in a great measure upon the judicious exercise of
your own judgment, and upon your long practical acquaintance with the coun-
try, your thorough experience of mining operations, and your knowledge of the
best and most^conomical means of procuring reliable information.
• The department will not, therefore, undertake to give you detailed instruc-
tions upon every point that may arise in the course of your investigations. It
desires ta impress upon you in general terms a few important considerations for
your guidance, leaving the rest to your own judgment and sense of duty.
1. All statistics should be obtained from such sources as can be relied upon.
Their value will depend upon their accuracy and authenticity. All statements
not based upon actual data should be free from prejudice or exaggeration.
2. In your preliminary report, a brief historical review of the origin of gold
and silver mining on the Pacific coast would be interesting in connection with a
statement of the present condition of the country, as tending to show the pro-
gress of settlement and civilization.
3. The geological formation of the great mineral belts and the general char-
acteristics of the placer diggings and quartz ledges should be given in a |pncise
form.
4. The different systems of mining in operation since 1848, showing the
machinery used, the various processes of reducing the ores, the percentage of
waste, and the net profits. *
5. The population engaged in mining, exclusively and in part; the capital
and labor employed ; the value of improvements ; the number of mills and
steam-engines in operation ; the yield of the mines worked ; the average ~of
dividends and average of losses, in all the operations of mining.
6. The proportion of agricultural and mineral lands in each district ; the
quantity of wood land ; facilities for obtaining fuel ; number and extent of streamy
and water privileges.
7. Salt beds, deposits of soda and borax, and all other valuable mineral
deposits.
8. The altitude, character of the climate, mode and cost of living ; cost of
all kinds of material ; cost of labor, &c.
9. The population of the various mining towns ; the number of banks and
banking institutions in them;, the modes of assaying, melting, and refining
the charges upon the same for transportation and insurance
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 5
10. Facilities in the way of communication; postal and telegraphic lines;
stage routes in operation ; cost of travel ; probable benefits likely to result from
the construction of the Pacific railroad and its proposed branches.
11. The necessity for assay offices and public depositories; what financial
facilities may tend to develop the country and enhance its products.
12. Copies of all local mining laws and customs now regulating the holding
and working of claims.
13. The number of ledges opened and the number claimed; the character of
the soil and its adaptation to the support of a large population.
Upon all these points it is very desirable that we should possess reliable
information. Whatever tends to develop the vast resources of our new States
and Territories must add to the wealth*of the whole country.
I am extremely solicitous that the information collected should be ample and
authentic.
Trusting that you may be enabled to make such a report as will be of great
public utility, and at the same time promote the interests of the miners to whose
industry and energy. so much is due,
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. McCULLOCH,
Secretary of the Treasury.
J. Ross BBOWNE, Esq ,
Washington, D. G.
LETTEE
FROM
J. ROSS BROWNE,
SPECIAL COMMISSIONER FOR THE COLLECTION OF MINING STATISTICS,
/
TO THE
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA,
Not-ember 24, 1866.
SIR : I had the honor to send you by last steamer a preliminary report on the
mineral resources of the States and Territories west of the Rocky mountains.
Congress, at its last session, appropriated ten thousand dollars " to enable the
Secretary of the Treasury to collect reliable statistical information concerning
the gold and silver mines of the western States and Territories," &c. Under a
letter of appointment, dated August 2, 1866, and in accordance with detailed
instructions of same date, I entered upon the discharge of the duties assigned
to me, immediately upon my arrival at San Francisco, September 3, ultimo.
The views of the department as to the impracticability of reporting in detail
by the next session of Congress were fully realized when I came to consider
the magnitude of the subject and the immense scope of country over which the
inquiry extended.
You were pleased to express the hope, however, that I would be enabled to
collect by the meeting of Congress " sufficient data to furnish, in the form of a
preliminary report, the basis of a plan of operations " by which information of
a more detailed and comprehensive character could be procured in future.
To obtain any geological or statistical data whatever, within the brief space
of two months, precluded the possibility of a personal visit to the mineral re-
gions prior to the transmission of my report. The experience of Mr. William
Ashburner and Mr. A. Remond, members of the State geological survey, sat-
isfied me that it would be utterly impracticable to examine the mines of a single
district, much less of all the States arid Territories west of the Rocky mountains,
within that time. Mr. Ashburner spent eight months in procuring data for
a single table, showing the operations of the principal quartz mills in Mari-
posa, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, Eldorado, Plumas, Sierra, and Nevada
counties. Mr. Remond spent three months in visiting the principal mines and
mills in that part of Mariposa and Tuolumne counties lying between the Mer-
ced and Stanislaus rivers, and three months more in preparing tables showing
the results of his observations.
Under these circumstances, and in view of the fact that I had already visited
nearly every mining district within the range of nay instructions, and was fa-
miliar with the topography of the country and the general condition of the
mining interest, I deemed it best to avail myself of such reliable sources of
information as were immediately accessible. San Francisco being the central
point of trade and commerce for the Pacific coast, afforded facilities in the way
of statistical data and scientific aid which could not be obtained elsewhere.
From this point nearly all the capital radiates, here the records of all mining
enterprises are kept, and here centre the products of the mines.
8 . EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
The report to which your attention is respectfully invited embodies the re-
sults of many years of careful and laborious research. It is compiled from origi-
nal data furnished by the most intelligent statisticians and experts known on
this coast, as well as from notes made by myself during the past three years.
"" In many respects this report is imperfect. No reliable system has hitherto
existed for the collection of mining statistics, such as the governments of Eu-
rope have long since deemed it expedient to establish. The existing system in
the British colonies of Australia and North America, though not adapted to our
mineral regions, or to the habits and customs of our people, is both thorough
and comprehensive. Surveyors and registrars are appointed for each district,
and all mining operations are carried on under their inspection. Monthly and
quarterly reports are made by them, under the direction of a supervising officer,
whose duty it is to collect and arrange all the data thus furnished for publica-
tion. These reports show the actual condition of every branch of mining in-
dustry from month to month and quarter to quarter, so that at the expiration of
the year a complete history is given of the progress of development and the
profits and losses of mining. A permanent system like this, established upon a
somewhat different basis, is greatly needed in our country.
One of the difficulties already experienced in the collection of mining statistics
on this coast is the disinclination of parties interested to expose the secrets of
their business. Either the business is not remunerative and they desire to en-
courage further investments by false representations, or by withholding the truth ;
or, if unusually successful, they may consider it to their interest, in view of fur-
ther purchases, arrangements, or contracts, to avoid giving publicity to the facts.
I am inclined to believe, however, that the advantages of fair and truthful state-
ments, in the encouragement of immigration, the reduction of the cost of labor,
the promotion of confidence in mining enterprises, and the establishment of a
more uniform system of laws, will soon become apparent. Indeed, the difficulty
to which I refer is not so general, even now, as might be supposed. I have found
mining companies, doing a steady and reliable business, nearly always disposed
to furnish the desired information. The cases of refusal are exceptional, and
there is usually a cause for it, well understood by persons familiar with mining
enterprises.
Another difficulty, which, however, will not exist to so great an extent here-
after, has been the conflicting character of statements made by different parties.
In many instances where the sources of information are equally reliable, but
where conflicting influences prevail, it is almost impossible, after the lapse of
any great length of time, to get at the exact truth. Even facts, seen from dif-
ferent stand-points, appear differently to the most conscientious persons. In
cases of this kind, where the proofs on either side are not positive, I have pre-
ferred— sometimes at the expense of prolixity — to give the different statements,
especially where there is a general concurrence of testimony as to the main facts.
Thus, it will be seen that the amount of bullion produced on the Pacific coast
is variously estimated by the best informed and most intelligent men. Mr. Ash-
burner's estimates are somewhat lower than those usually accepted by the public,
but I believe they are well-considered. Gold and silver are so generally blended
together under the head of " bullion," that none of the express companies or
bankers have hitherto kept separate records of the products of each. It would
be very difficult to obtain correct returns on this point, unless the numerous
assay offices and the authorities at the branch mint could furnish details of the
quantity obtained by parting, or by estimating the bullion passing through their
establishments — the two metals are so universally alloyed with each other.
Mr. Swain, superintendent of the branch mint at San Francisco, a gentleman
possessing both the means and the disposition to inform himself on this subject,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 9
estimates the product of gold and silver for Oregon, California, Nevada, and
Washington Territory, as follows :
In 18G1 $43, 391, 000
In 1862 49, 370, 000
In 1863 52, 500, 000
In 1864 ^ 63, 450, 000
In 1865 : ; 70, 000,000
Well-informed parties estimate the product for 1866 as follo.ws :
California $25, 000, 000
Montana 18, 000, 000
Idaho 17, 000, 000
Colorado 17, 000, 000
Nevada 16, 000, 000
Oregon 8, 000, 000
Other sources 5, 000, 000
Total 106, 000, 000
Great differences of opinion, however, exist as to the accuracy of this esti-
mate. To some it appears exaggerated, while others pronounce it far below
the actual yield. The imperfect returns received for the last nine months would
seem to warrant the conclusion that it is not an unreasonable estimate. For in-
stance, the product of Oregon is assumed to be $8,000,000. Statistical tables,
supposed to be worthy of credit, show a probable yield for that State of
$20,000,000. In 1865 the generally accepted estimate for Oregon was $19, 000,000,
though that was probably above the actual product. There is good ground for
believing that the result this year will be considerably above that of the last
year. The same may be said of the Territories of Idaho and Montana.
In like manner, the capital in circulation in California, and necessary for the
transaction of business within the limits of the State, is vari^u^ly estimated at
from $25,000,000 to $50,000,000. It is believed that $10,000,000 is annually
shipped up to the mines to defray the current expenses of mining ; but there is
no record of the return of this amount in the form of a circulating medium.
Assuming the estimate of the product of bullion, as above given, to be ap-
proximately correct, it will be seen that the States and Territories on the Pacific
slope produce annually upwards of $100,000,000 of the precious metals, a
quantity more than four times as great as the total product of the world less
than thirty years ago. The improved processes for the extraction of these
metals from their ores, made within the past two years, and the constantly in-
creasing area over which gold and silver mines are being developed, furnish
strong guarantees that there will be no abatement in the product for years to
come, provided government places no impediments in the way by impolitic
legislation. The recent financial panic in Europe afforded an illustration of the
importance of encouraging this branch of industry. Within sixty days during
that panic there was exported from San'Francisco the enormous sum of $ 12,000,000
in gold and silver, without which, it is well known, the commercial interests of
the United States would have suffered in sympathy with those of our best
customers in England. The shipments of specie from San Francisco to New
York during the first eight months of 1866 amounted to $27,729,010.
There is a more striking form in which the importance of the gold and silver
mines of the Pacific coast on the national welfare may be illustrated.
The product of these metals for the present year exceeds in amount all the
gold and silver in the national treasury, and in all the banks in all the States.
10 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
t
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury shows that the bul-
lion in that department on the 1st of August 'last was $61, 000, 000
The banks at New York, at same date, report having 5, 000, 000
The banks at Boston and Philadelphia report GOO, 000
The last quarterly report of all the national banks in the United
States, outside of the above cities, reports 1, 600, 000
State banks outside of those cities estimated at 1, 500, 000
Total. . , 69, 700, 000
The approximate estimate already given of the gold and silver product of
the Pacific States and Territories for 1866 shows a total of $106,000,000, or
nearly double the combined bullion of the government and all the banks in the
country.
For convenience of reference the report transmitted to you is divided into
sections and clauses, of which the following is a brief summary :
Section 1 contains a historical sketch of the discovery of gold and silver in
the territory of the United States west of the Rocky mountains ; the excitement
consequent upon the development of rich placer diggings in California ; the
crude means adopted in the early stages of gold mining on the Pacific coast ;
the introduction of improved processes, and the extraordinary results that fol-
lowed in the sudden increase of commerce and the extension of the area of
civilization. In this section a sketch is also given of the discovery of the
Comstock lode and the development of the silver mining interest east of the
Sierra Nevada mountains.
Section 2 refers chiefly to the geological features of California, and the prom-
inent characteristics of the principal lodes in the great mineral belt. The pres-
ent production of the gold mines is given from actual data derived from inves-
tigations made by Professor Ashburner, of the State geological survey, and a
comparison is made between the products of California and Australia. Detailed
descriptions are given of a few leading mines in Grass valley and Mariposa,
showing the expenses and profits of gold mining as a permanent business.
Section 3 give^minute details and statistics of the gold and silver mining in-
terests on the Pacific coast ; the improved processes and results ; the exports of
treasure from San Francisco, with the amount received from the mines ; cost of
extracting the ore and reducing it ; the average yield ; the machinery in use ;
capital and labor employed, and cost of working.
Section 4 gives a historical and topographical sketch of Nevada ; the prom-
inent characteristics of the principal silver mines ; the alkali lakes, salt-beds,
wood and water privileges, and general products. Carefully prepared statistics
are given in this section, showing the expenses of silver mining, the various pro-
cesses of crushing and amalgamating the ores, the number of mills in actual
operation, the profits and losses, with a general review of the condition of the
mining interest. It also contains brief sketches of Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Wash-
ington Territory, Montana and Arizona, with such reliable data, showing the con-
dition and prospects of the mines, as could be obtained.
Section 5 is devoted to the copper mines of the Pacific coast. In this paper
a history of the discovery of every notable copper lode is given ; the extent of
the veins; the quality of the ore; the process of reduction; the costs of
machinery and working ; the yield, and the profits and losses. Special atten-
tion is called to the great national importance of this interest.
Section 6 contains a report on the quicksilver mines of California, with sta-
tistics of production.
Section 7 gives the history of the discovery of borax in California ; tlie pro-
cess of working the borax deposits ; their extent and value ; some account of
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 11
the sulphur deposits ; and reports on the tin mines of Temescal, and the coal
and iron resources of the Pacific coast.
Section 8. Mining regions, population, altitude, &c.
Section 9. An annonated catalogue of the minerals found west of the Rocky
mountains.
Section 10. Mining titles ; the laws and customs of foreign governments ; the
crown right, and peculiar doctrines held under that right ; the recent legislation
of our own government ; recommendations of the Secretary of the Treasury ;
passage of a law for the sale of mineral lands, and general approval of the pol-
icy adopted.
Section 11. Local customs; difficulties arising therefrom; the necessity of some
uniform system ; importance of congressional legislation for the systematic
working of the mines, and the establishment of a permanent .policy for the de-
velopment of the great mineral resources of the country.
Section 12. A list of the most important works published in reference to the
geology, mineralogy, and metallurgy of the Pacific coast.
Section 13. Population of the mining regions ; agricultural resources ; table of
distances, &c.
From the above synopsis it will be seen that an earnest attempt, at least, has
been made to meet the wishes of the department as expressed in the letter of
instructions hereto appended. Want of time for a more systematic arrangement
has been the only serious obstacle to move satisfactory results.
One of the most important subjects considered in the report is the discrep-
ances existing between the local rules and customs upon which a material part
of the late mineral land law is based and the statutes of the States and Terri-
tories. The policy of granting titles to the miners in fee-simple has met with such
universal approval, and the time has been so short since the law went into oper-
ation, that I have serious doubts as to the expediency of an immediate change.
Attention has been called to some of the difficulties arising from the loose inter-
pretations given to local rules and customs, and in many cases the entire im-
practicability of determining what they are or ascertaining where they are to
be found. Some provision requiring official records to be kept might, perhaps,
have a beneficial effect. Reasons doubtless exist for the differences in the size
of the claims in different districts. The rules which would apply to the Reese
River district, where the ledges are extremely narrow and close to each other,
would scarcely be applicable to districts in which the ledges are of great width
and far apart. Still, without descending to details in a general law, some regard
should be had to uniformity ; and especially some fixed principle should be
adopted as to the local laws which shall govern in all conflicting cases. The
policy of giving every advantage to the practical miner over the mere specu-
lator will at once be conceded. This, I think, can only be carried into effect
by national legislation. A general law, based somewhat upon the principles
incorporated in the mining law of Mexico, but more liberal in its provisions,
will probably be required before long. The holding of claims without working ;
the seizure of mining property for debt; the abandonment of claims; the de-
struction of timber ; the monopoly of salt-beds ; these are subjects worthy of
serious consideration.
In the preparation of a preliminary report I have been compelled to depend
chiefly upon the labors of other and abler hands. To Mr. Hittell, author of a
very excellent work on the resources of California, Professor Whitney, Mr.
Ashburner, and Mr. Gabb, of the State geological survey, Professor Blake, au-
thor of various standard works on the geology and mineral resources of Cali-
fornia, Baron^Von Richthofen, the distinguished German savant, Mr. Degroot, an
experienced statistician and topographer, Mr. Bennett, a mining expert, tho-
roughly familiar with the mineral regions, to Dr. Blachley, of Nevada, and
others, I am indebted for nearly all that is really valuable in the report.
12 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
It is my intention to visit the various mineral districts of the Pacific slope
during the coming spring and summer. Personal examination of the mines,
increased experience, and sufficient time for the careful preparation of the ma-
terial collected, will enable me, I trust, to present for your consideration, before
the next meeting of Congress, a report better worthy of your approval than that
just submitted. Reliable statistics and valuable information, showing the re-
sources and products of our new States and Territories, c'annot fail to result
beneficially to the country and the government. Nothing can tend in a greater
degree to encourage immigration and the investment of capital.
The question arises, how can the object be best accomplished in the future ?
A statistical bureau for the Pacific coast has been recommended.
It is manifest to my mind that the work cannot be properly done by bureau
organization. Information derived from interested parties by means of blanks
and circulars, sent out over the mining regions, would be very imperfect and
for the most part unreliable.
The plan that appears to me most feasible would be —
~~lst. To authorize the appointment in each State and Territory of an able and
experienced geologist, familiar with all the operations of mining.
2d Annual reports to be made by each officer so appointed and assigned to
duty, under official instructions, to the supervising commissioner at San Francisco.
3d. The commissioner to make a visit every year to each mining district, for
the purpose of personal inspection of the mines, and conference with his assist-
ants ; after which he would be prepared to make his annual report to the Secre-
tary of the Treasury.
Proper measures, of course, would be taken to secure the official returns of
assessors, surveyors, tax collectors, and other local State or territorial officers.
The expense would be comparatively trifling, inasmuch as the services of pro-
fessional experts could be had without requiring their entire time. A small
compensation to each would be an object of some importance.
An appropriation of $25,000 would probably be sufficient to inaugurate such
a system, though a much larger amount could be advantageously expended.
In the hope that these suggestions, hastily made and informally stated, may
at least furnish some ground for action, I have the honor to be, very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
J. ROSS BROWNE,
Special Commissioner.
Hon. H. McCuLLOCH,
Secretary of the Treasury.
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 13
SECTION 1.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF GOLD AND SILVER MINING ON THE PACIFIC
SLOPE.
1. First mention of gold. — 2. Gold found before 1848. — 3. Marshall's discovery. — 4. The
gold discovery in print. — 5. Excitement abroad. — 6. Pan washing. — 7. The rocker. —
8. Mining ditches.— 9. Miners' " rushes."— 10. Gold Lake and Gold Bluff.— 11. The
"torn." — 12. The sluice. — 13. Placer leads traced to quartz. — 14. A gold-dredging
machine. — 15. Decrease of wages. — 1C. Growth of the quartz interest. — 17. Failures
in quartz. — 18. Improvement in quartz minmg. — 19. The hydraulic process.— 20. Hill
mining.— 21. Decline of river mining.— 22. " Rushes" to Australia.— 23. The Kern
river excitement. — 24. Ancient rivers. — 25. The Tuolumne table mountain. —26. The
Fraser fever.— 27. Discovery of Comstock lode.— 28. The Washoe excitement.— 29. The
barrel and yard process.— 30. The pan process.— 3 1 . Growth of the Washoe excitement.—
32. Virginia City. — 33. The silver panic. — 34. Litigation about the Comstock ledge. —
35. The many-lode theory. — 36. Expenses increasing with depth. — 37. Some charac-
teristics of Esmeralda, Humboldt, and Reese rivers.— 38. Sutro tunnel project and— 39.
Baron Richthofen's report.— 40. Columbia basin and Cariboo mines.
1.— FIRST MENTION OF GOLD.
The first mention of gold in California is made in Hakluyt's account of the
voyage of Sir Francis Drake, who spent five weeks in June and July, 1579, in
a bay near latitude 38° ; whether Drake's bay or San Francisco bay is a matter
of dispute. It certainly was one of the two, and of neither can we now say
with truth, as Hakluyt said seriously, ''There is no part of the earth here to be
taken up wherein there is not a reasonable quantity of gold or silver." This
statement, taken literally, is untrue, and it was probably made without any foun-
dation, merely for the purpose of embellishing the story and magnifying the
importance of Drake and of the country which he claimed to have added to the
possessions of the English crown.
If any " reasonable quantity" of gold or silver had been obtained by the Eng-
lish adventurers, we should probably have had some account of their expedi-
tions into the interior, of the manner and place in which the precious metals
were obtained, and of the specimens which were brought home, but of these
things there, is no mention.
Neither gold nor silver exists " in reasonable quantity" near the ocean about
latitude 38°, and the inference is that Drake's discovery of gold in California
was a matter of fiction more than of fact.
•
2.— GOLD FOUND BEFORE 1848.
Some small deposits of placer gold were found by Mexicans near the Colo-
rado river at various times from 1775 to 1828, and in the latter year a similar
discovery was made at San Isidro, in what is now San Diego county, and in
1802 a mineral vein, supposed to contain silver, at Olizal, in the district of Mon-
terey, attracted some attention, but no profitable mining was done at either of
these places.
Forbes, who wrote the history of California in 1835, said " No, minerals of
particular importance have yet been found in Upper California, nor any ores of
metals."
It was in 1838, sixty-nine years after the arrival of the Franciscan friars,
and the establishment of the first mission, that the placers of San Francisquito,
14 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
forty-five miles northwest from Los Angeles, was discovered. The deposit of
gold was neither extensive nor rich, but it was worked steadily for twenty years.
In 1841 the exploring expedition of Commodore Wilkes visited the coast, and
its mineralogist, James D, Dana, made a trip overland from the Columbia river,
by way of Willamette and Sacramento valleys to San Francisco bay, and
in the following year he published a .book on mineralogy, and mentioned in it
that gold was found in the Sacramento valley, and that rocks similar to those
of the auriferous formations were observed in southern Oregon. Dana did not
regard his discovery as of any practical value, and if he said anything about it
in California no one paid any attention to it. Nevertheless, many persons had
an idea that the country was rich in minerals, and on the 4th of May, 1846,
Thomas O. Larkin, then United States consul in Monterey, a gentleman usually
careful to keep his statements within the limits of truth, said in an official letter
to James Buchanan, then Secretary of State : " There is no doubt but that gold,
silver, quicksilver, copper, lead, sulphur, and coal mines are to be found all over
California, and it is equally doubtful whether, under their present owners, they*
will ever be worked."
The implication here is that if the country were only transferred to the Amer-
ican flag, these mines, of whose existence he knew nothing save by surmise, or
by the assertion of incompetent persons, would soon be opened and worked. In
sixty-six days after that letter was written, the stars and stripes were hoisted
in Monterey, and now California is working mines of all the minerals mentioned
by Larkin save lead, which also might be produced if it would pay, since there
is no lack of its ores.
3.— MARSHALL'S DISCOVERY.
The discovery of the rich gold fields of the Sacramento basin is an American
achievement, accomplished under the American dominion, by a native of the
United States, and made of world-wide importance by American enterprise and
industry, favored by the liberal policy of American law.
It was on the 19th day of January, 1848, ten days before the treaty of Gua-
dalupe Hidalgo was signed, and three months before the ratified copies were ex-
changed, that James W. Marshall, while engaged in digging a race for a saw-
mill at Coloma, about thirty-five miles eastward from Sutler's Fort, found some
pieces of yellow metal, which he and the half dozen men working with him at
the mill supposed to be gold. He felt confident that he had made a discovery
of great importance, but he knew nothing of either chemistry or gold mining, so
he could not prove the nature of the metal or tell how to obtain it in paying
quantities. Every morning he went down to the race to look for the bits of the
metal; but the other men at the mill thought Marshall was very wild in his
ideas, and they continued their labors in building the mill, and in sowing wheat,
and planting vegetables. The swift current of the mill-race washed away a
considerable body of earthy matter, leaving the coarse particles of gold behind,
so Marshall's collection of specimens continued to accumulate, and his associ-
ates began to think there might be something in his gold mine after all. About
the middle of February, a Mr. Bennett, one of the party employed at the mill,
went to San Francisco for the purpose of learning whether this metal was pre-
cious, and there he was introduced to Isaac Humphrey, who had washed for
gold in Georgia. The experienced miner saw at a glance that he had the true
stuff before him, and after a few inquiries he was satisfied that the diggings
must be rich. He made immediate preparation to go to the mill, and tried to
persuade some of his friends to go with him, but they thought it would be only
a Waste of time and money, so he went with Bennett for his sole companion.
He arrived at Coloma on the 7th of March, and found the work at the mill
going on as if no gold existed in the neighborhood. The next day he took a
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 15
pan and spade and washed some of the dirt from the bottom of the mill race in
places where Marshall had found his specimens, and in a few hours Humphrey
declared that these mines were far richer than any in Georgia.
He now made a rocker and went to work washing gold industriously, and
every day yielded him an ounce or two of metal. The men at the mill made
rockers for themselves, and all were soon busy in search of the yellow metal.
Everything else was abandoned ; the rumor of the discovery spread slowly.
In the middle of March, Pearson B. Reading, the owner of a large ranch at the
head of the Sacremento valley, happened to visit Sutter's Fort, and hearing of
the mining at Coloma, he went thither to see it. He said that if similarity of
formation could be taken as proof, there must be gold mines near his ranch, so
after observing the method of washing, he posted off, and in a few weeks he was
at work on the bars of Clear creek, nearly two hundred miles northwestward
from Coloma. A few days after Reading had left, John Bid well, now represent-
ative of the northern district of the State in the lower house of Congress, came
to Coloma, and the result of his visit was that in less than a month he had a
party of Indians from his ranch washing gold on the bars of Feather river,
seventy-five miles northwestward from Coloma. Thus the mines were opened
at far distant points.
4.— THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN PRINT.
The first printed notice of the discovery was given in the California news-
paper published in San Francisco, on the 15th of March, as follows :
" In the newly made race-way of the saw-mill recently erected by Captain
Sutter on the American Fork, gold has been found in considerable quantities.
One person brought thirty dollars to New Helvetia, gathered there in a short
time."
On the 29th of May the same paper, announcing that its publication would
be suspended, says :
" The whole country, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from the sea-
shore to the base of the Sierra Nevada, resounds with the sordid cry of gold !
sold ! gold ! while the field is left half planted, the house half built, and every-
thing neglected but the manufacture of picks and shovels, and the means of
transportation to the spot where one man obtained one hundred and twenty-eight
dollars' worth of the real stuff in one day's washing ; and the average for all
concerned is twenty dollars per diem."
The towns and farms were deserted, or left to the care of women and children,
while rancheros, wood-choppers, mechanics, vaqueros, and soldiers and sailors
who had deserted or obtained leave of absence, devoted all their energies to
washing the auriferous gravel of. the Sacramento basin. Never satisfied, how-
ever much they might be making, they were continually looking for new placers
which might yield them twice or thrice as much as they had made before. Thus
the area of their labors gradually extended, and at the end of 1848 miners were
at work in every large stream on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, from
the Feather to the Tuolumne river, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles,
and also at Reading's diggings, in the northwestern corner of the Sacramento
valley.
5.— EXCITEMENT ABROAD.
The first rumors of the gold discovery were received in the Atlantic States
and in foreign countries with incredulity and ridicule ; but soon the receipts of the
precious metal in large quantities, and the enthusiastic letters of army officers
and of men in good repute, changed the current of feeling, and an excitement
almost unparalleled ensued. Oregon, the Hawaiian islands, and Sonora sent
their thousands to share in the auriferous harvest of the first year ; and in the
16 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
following spring all the adventurous young Americans east of the Rocky mount-
ains wanted to go to the new Eldorado, where, as they imagined, everybody
was rich, and gold could he dug by the shovelful from the bed of every stream.
Before 1850 the population of California had risen from 15,000, as it was in
1847, to 100,000, and the average increase annually for five or six years was
50,000.
As the number of mines increased, so did the gold production and the extent
and variety of the gold fields.
In 1849 the placers of Trinity and Mariposa were opened, and in the follow-
ing years those of Klamath and Scott's valleys. During the last sixteen years
no rich and extensive gold fields have been discovered, though many little
placers have been found, and some very valuable deposits, previously unknown,
have been brought to light in districts which had been worked previous to 1851.
6.— PAN WASHING.
In the first two years the miners depended mainly for their profits on the pan
and the rocker. The placer miner's pan is made of sheet iron, or tinned iron,
with a flat bottom about a foot in diameter, and sides six inches high, inclining
outwards at an angle of thirty or forty degrees.
We frequently see and hear the phrase " golden sands," as if the gold were
contained in loose sand ; but usually it is found in a tough clay, which envelops
gravel and large boulders as well as sand. This clay must be thoroughly dis-
solved ; so the miner fills his pan with it, goes to the bank of the river, squats
down there, puts his pan underwater and shakes it horizontally, so as to get the
mass thoroughly soaked ; then he picks out the larger stones with one hand
and mashes up the lAgest and toughest lumps of clay, and again shakes his
pan ; and when all the dirt appears to be dissolved so that the gold can be car-
ried to the bottom by its weight, he tilts up the pan a little to -let the thin mud
and light sand run out ; and thus he works until he has washed out all except
the metal which remains at the bottom.
7.— THE ROCKER.
The rocker, which was introduced into the California mines at their discovery,
is made somewhat like a child's cradle. On the upper end is a riddle, made
with a bottom of sheet-iron punched with holes. This riddle is filled with pay-
dirt, and a man rocks the machine* with one hand while with a dipper he pours
water into the riddle with the other. With the help of the agitation, the liquid
dissolves the clay and carries it down with the gold into the floor of the rocker,
where the metal is caught by traverse riffles or cleets, while the mud, water, and
sand run off at the lower end of the rocker, which is left open. The riddle can
be taken off so that the larger stones can be conveniently thrown off.
In places where there was not water enough for washing, and where the gold
was coarse, the miners sometimes scratched the metal from the crevbes in the
rocks with their knives ; but the pan and rocker were their main reliance for
three or four years.
In many places the rich spots were soon exhausted, and there was a rapid
decrease in the profits of the miners. It was necessary that they should devise
new and more expeditious methods of working, so that they could wash more
in a day, and thus derive as much profit as they had obtained by washing a
little dirt.
8.— MINING DITCHES.
The chief want of the placer miner is an abundant and convenient supply of
water, and the first noteworthy attempt to convey the needful element in an
artificial channel was made at Coyote Hill, in Nevada county, in March, 1850.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 17
This ditch was about two miles long, and, proving a decided success, was imi-
tated in many other places, until, in the course of eight years, six thousand
miles of mining canals had been made, supplying all the principal placer dis-
tricts with water, and furnishing the means for obtaining the greater portion of the
gold yield of the State. Many of the ditches were marvels of engineering skill.
The problem was to get the largest amount of water at the greatest altitude
above the auriferous ground, and at the least immediate expense, as money was
worth from three to ten per cent, per month interest. As the pay-dirt might be
exhausted within a couple of years, and as the anticipated .profits would in a
short time be sufficient to pay for an entirely new ditch, durability was a point
of minor importance. There was no imperial treasury to supply the funds for
a durable aqueduct in every township, nor could the impatient miners wait a
decennium tor the completion of gigantic structures in stone and mortar. The
high value of their time and the scarcity of their money made it necessary
that the cheapest and most expeditious expedients for obtaining water should
be adopted. Where the surface of the ground furnished the proper grade, a
ditch was dug in the earth ; and where it did not, flumes were built of wood
and sustained in the air by frame- work that rose sometimes to a height of three
hundred feet in crossing deep ravines, and extending for miles at an elevation
of a hundred or two hundred feet.
All the devices known to mechanics for conveying water from hill-top to
hill-top were adopted. Aqueducts of wood and pipes of iron were suspended
upon cables of wire, or sustained on bridging of wood ; and inverted siphons
carried water up the sides of one hill by the heavier pressure from the higher
side of another.
The ditches were usually the property of companies, of which there were at
one time four hundred in the State, owning a total length of six thousand miles
of canals and flumes.
The largest of these, called the Eureka, in Nevada county, has two hundred
and five miles of ditches, constructed at a cost of $900,000 ; and their receipts
at one time from the sale of water were $6,000 per day. Unfortunately these
mining canals, though more numerous, more extensive, and bolder in design
than the aqueducts of Rome, were less durable, and some of them have been
abandoned and allowed to go to ruin, so that scarcely a trace of their existence
remains, save in the heaps of gravel from which the clay and loam were washed
in the search for gold.
As the placers in many districts were gradually exhausted, the demand for
water and the profits of the ditch companies decreased ; and the more expensive
flumes, when blown down by severe storms, carried away by floods, or destroyed
by the decay of the wood, were not repaired.
9.— MINERS' "RUSHES."
The year 1850 was marked by the first of a multitude of "rushes" or sud-
den migrations in search of imaginary rich diggings.
The miners, although generally men of rare intelligence as compared with
the laborers in other countries, had vague ideas of the geological distribution of
gold, and the marvellous amounts dug out by them, sometimes ascending to thou-
sands of dollars per day to the laborer, excited their fancy so much that they
could scarcely have formed a sound judgment if they had possessed the inform-
ation necessary for its basis. Many believed that there must be some volcanic
source from which the gold had been thrown up and scattered over the hills,
and they thought that if they could only find that place, they would have
nothing to do but to shovel up the precious metal and load their mules with it.
More than once, long trains of pack animals were sent out in the confident ex-
pectation that they would get loads of gold within a few days.
H. Ex. Doc. 29 2
18 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
No story was too extravagant to command credence. Men who ha5 neve
earned more than a dollar a day before they came to California were dissatisfied
when they were here clearing twenty dollars, and they were always ready to start
off on some expedition in search of distant diggings reputed to be rich. Although
the miners of to-day have better ideas of the auriferous deposits than they had
sixteen years ago, and no longer expect to dig up the pure gold by the shovel-
ful, they are now, as they have been since the discovery of the mines, always
prepared for migration to any new field of excitement.
10.— GOLD LAKE AND GOLD BLUFF.
In the spring of 1850 a story was circulated that gold was lying in heaps on
the bank of Gold lake, a small body of water eastward of where Downieville
now is. Thousands of men left good claims to join this rush, but after weeks
or months they returned much poorer than they started. The next year wit-
nessed a rush to Gold Bluff, on the ocean shore about latitude 41°.
The sea beating against a high auriferous hill had left a wide beach contain-
ing much gold, which was mixed with sand that was very rich in spots, but was
shifted about under the influence of a heavy surf. A gentleman of much intel-
ligence, secretary of a mining company which claimed a portion of the beach,
examined the place and seriously wrote to his associates that each one would
receive at least $43,000,000 if the sand proved to be only one-tenth as rich as
that which he had examined.
Several other similar statements were made in corrob oration. The mining
population were wonderfully excited by these reports, and preparations were
made for a large migration to the golden beach ; but more precise information
was soon published, and most of the adventurers who had started were disen-
chanted before the vessels in which they were to sail could get to sea.
H.— THE "TOM."
The construction of hundreds of ditches within three or four years after the
successful experiment at Coyote Hill gave a great impulse to placer mining,
and had much influence to change its character. Before the water had been
carried in artificial channels to the tops or high upon the sides of the hills, nearly
all the miners spent their summers in washing the dirt in the bars of the rivers
and their winters in working the beds of gullies, which were converted into
brooks during the rainy season. In the gullies the supply of pay-dirt was
usually small, and the claims were exhausted in the course of a few weeks.
On the bars the water was below the level of the pay-dirt, and had to be
dipped or pumped up by hand.
These circumstances were favorable to the use of the rocker ; but the ditch
brought the water to places where the dirt was far more abundant and could be
obtained with more facility, though it was poorer in quality, and, therefore, the
washing of a larger quantity would be necessary to yield an equal profit.
New modes of working and new implements must be introduced to accom-
plish the greater amount of work, and the torn and the sluice came rapidly into
use. The torn had been employed for years in the placers of Georgia, and some
Georgians had their sluices in Nevada county in the latter part of 1849, and in
February of the following year a party at Gold Run, in that county, finding
that the bed of the ravine did not give them enough fall, made a long board
trough on the hill-side leading down to their torn, and the pay-dirt from the claim
was thrown up to a board platform, and from that thrown up to the head of the
trough, and the water carried the dirt down to the torn.
I am indebted for information on this point to B. P. Avery, esq.
The purpose of this trough was mainly to save the labor of carrying the dirt
by hand from the claim to the torn ; but the trough having been once built, its
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 19
value in washing gold was soon apparent. It was, however, the ditch that
gave opportunities for the general introduction of the torn and sluice, and in
most districts they were unheard of until late in 1850 or 1851.
The torn is a trough about twelve feet long, eight inches deep, fifteen inches
wide at the head and thirty at the foot.
A riddle of sheet iron punched with holes half an inch in diameter forms the
bottom of the tonvat the lower end, so placed that all the water and their mud
shall fall down through the holes of the riddle and none pass over the sides or
end. The water falls from the riddle into a flat box with transverse elects or
riffles, 'and these are to catch the gold.
A stream of water runs constantly through the torn, into the head of which
the pay-dirt is thrown by several men, while one throws out the stones too large
to pass through the riddle, and, throws back to the head of the torn the lumps
of clay whicl* reach the foot without being dissolved.
12.— THE SLUICE.
The torn was a great improvement on the rocker, but it was soon superseded
by a still greater, the sluice, which is a board trough, from a hundred to a
thousand feet long, with transverse elects at the lower end to catch the gold.
With a descent of one foot in twenty the water rushes through it like a
torrent, bearing down large stones and tearing the lumps of clay to pieces.
The miners, of whom a dozen or a score may work at one sluice, have little
to do save to throw in the dirt and take out the gold.
Occasionally it may be necessary to throw out some stones, or to shovel the
dirt along to prevent the sluice from choking, but these attentions cost relatively
very little time. The sluice is the best device heretofore used for washing
gold, and is supposed to be unsurpassable. It has been used here more exten-
sively than elsewhere, although it has been introduced by men who have been
in pur own mines, into Australia, New Zealand, British Columbia, Transylvania,
and many other countries.
The sluice, though an original invention here, had been previously invented
in Brazil ; but it was never brought to much excellence there nor used exten-
sively, and no such implement was known in 1849 in the industry of gold
mining.
At first the sluices were made short, and afterwards lengthened, until some
were a mile long, the length being greater as the gold was finer; that is, if the
surface of the earth in the direction of the sluice was favorable. There were
many little variations in the form of the sluice, to suit different circumstances.
The ground sluice is a mere ditch on a hill side or slope, and the miners dig
up the bottom and dig down the banks, while the water carries away the clay
and leaves the gold ; out the dirt at the bottom of the ground sluice must after-
wards be washed in a board sluice.
The ground sluice has been used to grade roads and to carry away snow
from the streets of mining towns, as well as to wash gold.
In claims where many large stones were found in the pay-dirt, and had to be
carried by the water through the board sluice, or where the sluice was to be
used for a long period, they were paved with stones, because any wooden bottom
was rapidly worn out. Sometimes the bed of a stream into which many sluices
emptied was converted into a "tail sluice," which yielded a large revenue, with
no labor save that of occasionally "cleaning up" or washing out the metal from
the sand deposited in the crevices between the stones.
13.— PLACER LEADS TRACED TO QUARTZ
The placer gold had originally been confined in rocky veins which were
disintegrated by the action of chemical or mechanical forces,, and the lighter
20 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
material was swept away by the water, while the heavier remained near its
primeval position.
The gold found in the bars of large streams far from the mountain*, after
having been carried a long distance, is in small smooth particles, as though it
had been ground fine and polished by long attrition.
In small gullies in the mountains the gold is usually coarse and rough, as if
it had suffered little change after being freed from the quartz by which it was
once surrounded.
In hundreds of instances the abundance of gold in a gully has been traced
unmistakably to an auriferous quartz lode in the hill-side above it, and the
placer miners, following streaks of loose gold, have been brought to the rocky
source from which it came.
In this manner the Allisen mine and the Comstock lode, not to mention other
less celebrated mines or veins, were found. Such discoveries were made in
1850, and in the following year capitalists in New York and London, anxious
to get their share of the marvellous wealth of the Sierra Nevada, formed com-
panies to work the quartz mines at Grass valley and at Mariposa.
Millions of dollars were invested in machinery, and superintendents, witb the
wildest irieas, were sent to erect mills and to take charge of the precious metals..
All these ventures proved complete failures. In most instances the machinery
was utterly useless, and the superintendents utterly incompetent.
The castings for the mills lay about the wharves of San Francisco for many
years, objects of curiosity for experienced miners, and of ridicule for the general
public.
In one mill the metal was to be caught in a course sieve, and in another the
quartz was to be crushed by a rolling ball. The mismanagement was so gross
and the losses so severe that foreign capitalists became very shy of California
quartz mines, and the development of that branch of industry was much
retarded.
14.— A GOLD-DREDGING MACHINE.
It was not, however, in quartz mining alone that ridiculous blunders were
made. Large sums of money were expended in the eastern States by men
who had never seen a placer mine, and had no correct idea of the nature of the
gold deposits, in making machinery *to take gold more expeditiously from the
river beds and bars than could be done by hand. One enterprising New York
company sent a dredging machine to dig the metal from the bottom of the
Yuba river, never questioning whether that stream was deep enough in the
summer to float such a machine, or whether the tough clay and gravel in its
bed could be dug up by a dredger, and entirely ignorant of the fact that the
gold is mostly in the crevices of the bed-rock, where the spoon and knife of the
skilful and attentive miner would be necessary for cleaning out the richest
pockets.
15.— DECREASE OF WAGES.
With the introduction of the sluice, the ditch, and the hydraulic process, it
became customary to hire laborers. The pan and the rocker required every
man to be his own master.
In 1849 each miner worked for himself, or the exceptions were so few that
thev were almost unknown.
The method of working made it impossible for the employer to guard against
the dishonesty of the servant, who could always make more in his own claim
.than any one could afford to give him. Men become servants usually because
they have no capital, and cannot get into profitable employment without it ;
but there was no lack of profitable employment for the miner in 1849, nor did
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 21
he need any capital, even if he had it. But the sluice brought deep diggings, with
large masses of pay-dirt, into demand, and the claims were held at high prices,
so that their possession was in itself a capital.
There had been an abundance of rocker claims in 1849 ; but there were not
enough good sluice claims three .years later to supply one-third of the miners.
The erection of a long sluice, the cutting of drains, often necessary to carry off
the tailings, arid the purchase of water from the ditch company,.required capital,
and the manner of cleaning up rendered it possible for the owner of a sluice to
prevent his servants from stealing any considerable portion of his gold before
it came to his possession. Thus it was that the custom of hiring miners for
wages became common in the placer diggings.
In 1852 the wages were $6 or $7 per day; the next year about $5, since
which time they have gradually fallen, until now they are from $2 to $3 50
per day; the skilful quartz miner commanding the latter sum.
16.— GROWTH OF THE QUARTZ INTEREST.
The development of the quartz mining interest of the State has been slow
and steady, unlike the placer mining, which, rising suddenly to gigantic propor-
tions, soon reached its culminating point, and then began to decline rapidly.
The placers had been discovered by miners who were searching for them,
and who spent much time and labor in the search ; but in early years most
of the richest auriferous lodes were found by men who were not looking for
quartz.
Hunters, travellers, placer miners and road makers occasionally came, without
thinking of it, upon valuable veins, which they immediately claimed, and pro-
ceeded to work or sell.
The first quartz miners in California were Mexicans, who knew how gold-
bearing rocks were reduced in their native country.
They pounded up the quartz in mortars, or, if not rich enough to pay for re-
duction in that way, they made an arrastra or little circular stone pavement in
the centre of which stood a post. To an arm extending out from this was
hitched a mule which dragged round a heavy piece of granite, between which
and the pavement, the quartz was pulverized, and, when fine, the gold was
caught with quicksilver and separated from the base matter by washing.
This process required neither capital nor skilled labor, nor delay, nor a num-
ber of laborers. The owner of the arrastra could dig out his own rock one
day, and reduce it the next.
As a matter of profit he usually selected only the richest pieces to work in
the arrastra, throwing aside those portions that would not yield at the rate of
$75 or more per ton.
With experience in the observation of quartz, and a mode of working in
which failure was almost impossible, these Mexicans frequently did very well;
17.— FAILURE IN QUARTZ.
Their success excited the envy of the Americans, who would purchase e
claims at high prices, and tell the Mexicans to see the wonders that would e
done by American enterprise.
The common result was that a large and costly steam-mill was erected ; a
multitude of laborers were employed ; they did not know how to select the
rich from the poor quartz ; the mill was so large that it could not be kept going
at its full capacity without receiving all the poor as well as the rich rock acces-
sible in the vein ; the amalgamator did not understand his business ; the rich
rock in which the Mexicans had been at work was soon exhausted ; the credi-
tors.who had loaned money for the erection of the mill brought suit to foreclose
22 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
their mortgage ; the work stopped ; the title of the property was insecure ; and
the people in the neighborhood said quartz mining was a very uncertain busi-
ness. And so it is under that system of management ; and that system, leading
to failure, was followed in more than a hundred cases. Mills were built in
places where only a little pocket of rich quartz had been found, and if the pay-
quartz was abundant it was not properly selected ; or, if selected, the amalga-
mation was intrusted to a man who knew nothing of the business, and the gold
was lost.
Horace Greeley was near the truth when he said, " I am confident that fully
three out of every four quartz mining enterprises have proved failures, or have
at best achieved no positive success."*
And yet in nearly every case prudent and competent management would
have secured success, perhaps on only a small scale, because in many instances
the quantity of pay-rock was small. But the failure of three-fourths of the
quartz mills built in early years did not prevent the continuous increase of
mills, and of the yield of gold from quartz. When a miner found a vein yel-
low with gold, he could not turn his back on it because his neighbor's mill did
not pay. Gradually more caution was used ; competent miners and metallur-
gists became numerous, and the veins were carefully examined as to the quan-
tity of pay -rock before mills were built.
As the placers declined the miners were compelled to turn their attention to
uartz, and prospecting for quartz became a regular business.
18.— IMPROVEMENT IN QUARTZ MINING.
In the mode of pulverizing and reducing quartz comparatively few changes
have been made. In some mills the same machinery and processes have been
used without alteration or addition for ten years. There is, however, a general
belief that the business has not been properly studied by any one, and it is
certain that there is much difference of opinion in regard to the various im-
portant questions involved in the reduction of ores. The practice is not uni-
form either in regard to the fineness of pulverization, or the size and speed of
the stamps, or the mode of amalgamation. Wood, as a material for the shafts
of stamps, has given way to iron ; the square form has been replaced by the
cylindrical ; and the stamps, instead of falling with a simple downward motion,
now come down with a twist. The mortar into which the stamps fall is now
always of iron, and the stamps stand in a straight line instead of forming a
circle, as they did in some mills years ago.
Two of the main improvements in gold quartz mining have been in the con-
centration and the chlorination of sulphurets.
19.— THE HYDRAULIC PROCESS.
The sluice, though perfect as a device for washing the dirt, was not the last
invention in placer mining.
The shovel did not furnish earth to the sluice fast enough, and the wages of
a dozen workmen must be saved if possible. In 1852, Edward E. Mattison, a
native of Connecticut, invented the process of hydraulic mining, in which a
stream of water was directed under a heavy pressure against a bank or hill-side
containing placer gold, and the earth was torn down by the fluid and carried
into the sluice to be washed ; thus the expense of shovelling was entirely saved.
The man with the rocker might wash one cubic yard of earth in a day ; with
the torn he might average two yards ; with the sluice four yards ; and with the
hydraulic and sluice together fifty or even a hundred yards.
* An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco, in the summer of 1 859, by
H oace Greeley, page 289.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 23
The difference is immense. A stream of water rushing through a two-inch
pipe, under a pressure of two hundred feet perpendicular, has tremendous force,
and the everlasting hills- themselves crumble down before it as if they were but
piles of cloud blown away by a breath of wind or dissipated by a glance of
the sun.
And yet even this terrific power has not sufficed*. When the hills have been
dried by?months of constant heat and drought, the clay becomes so hard that the
hydraulic stream, with all its momentum, does not readily dissolve it, and much
of the water runs off nearly clear through the sluice, and thus is wasted for the
purposes of washing.
The sluice could wash more dirt than the hydraulic stream will furnish when
the clay is hard and dry.
To prevent this loss, the miner will often cut a tunnel into the heart of his
claim, and by powder blast the clay loose, so that it will give way more readily
tofTthe water. There have been instances in which two tons of powder have
been used at one blast in a hydraulic claim.
20.— HILL MINING.
As the introduction of the ditch led to the use of the sluice and hydraulic
power, so the introduction of the latter led to a change in the mining ground.
The miners were now able and they even preferred to attack high hills of
gravel, which afforded them an immense mass of auriferous earth, and furnished
profitable employment to large streams of water for months or even years.
Those counties which contained the most extensive districts Suitable for the
application of hydraulic power were the most prosperous, while the towns
dependent on river mining or on sliallow placers fell into decay, and were
partially and in some cases entirely deserted.
21.— DECLINE OF RIVER MINING.
From 1850 till 1856 river mining occupied a very important place in the
industry of the State. The beds of all the streams in the auriferous regions
were rich in gold, which could only be obtained by taking the water from its
natural course by means of dams and ditches or flumes. The beds being deep,
and the banks steep, rocky, and crooked, these enterprises to drain the rivers
were very expensive, and they were also very dangerous pecuniarily, since only
a brief portion of the year was suitable for the work, and an early rain might
come and sweep away dam and flume before an ounce of gold had been obtained.
The comb of the Sierra Nevada along nearly its whole length rises almost to
the limits of perpetual snow, and the white caps do not disappear, or the rivers
reach a low stage until late in the summer, so that three months may be consi-
dered as the limit of the period in which a river could be flumed, and the bed
emptied of its gold.
Every perennial stream of much note in the auriferous districts has been
flumed at some time in its history, but within the last seven years such enter-
prises have become rarities. One of the most costly and most remarkable river
flumes in the State was erected in 1857 to drain the Feather river at Oroville.
It was three quarters of a mile long and twenty feet wide ; the expenditures of
the company during the season were $176,985? and their profits $75,000.
They flumed the river again in 1858, and then lost $45,000.
Since that year no extensive fluming enterprise has been undertaken in any
part of the State, and the little work done in the beds of rivers is mostly left
to Chinamen, who are content to work for much less pay than white men expect
for their labor.
In some of the diggings the auriferous clay is so hard and tough that the hy-
draulic stream and sluice are unable to dissolve it, and mills have been built to
24 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
crush it fine, so that the water in the sluice can get an opportunity to dissolve
all the earthy particles, and set free the metal.
The " cement mills," as they are called, are mostly of late construction.
The discovery of gold in Australia was made in 1851, by a miner from Cali-
fornia, and it proved to be equal in magnitude to thai; in our own State ; and,
singular to say, it attracted little attention, and drew from us within two years
only about a thousand of our residents, while many thousands were ready to
rush to imaginary diggings in other directions.
22.— "RUSHES" TO AUSTRALIA.
Placer mining was at the height of its prosperity in 1852 and 1853. Wages
were high, employment abundant for everybody that wished to hire out, and
there was plenty of ground that would pay at least moderately for working
with the rocker.
But the rich spots were few, and the miners who had shared the prosperity
of 1849 were longing for the discovery of some new gold field that would again
reward them with an ounce a day.
In the latter part of 1853, and the beginning of 1854, a series of newspaper
letters and articles were published, asserting that there were very rich placers
on the headwaters of the Amazon, in Peru.
These articles probably came from the same source, and must have been
jraiten with the deliberate purpose of throwing trade into the hands of a few
ship-owners and merchants.
Whatever the design of the writer or writers may have been, the result was
that two thousand miners went from California and Australia to Peru, where
they found no placers, nor could they learn of any such place as that men-
tioned in the articles.
23.— THE KERN RIVER EXCITEMENT.
The next year was marked by a greater rush to Kern river, in the southern
part of the State. Some small placers had been found there, and they served
as the basis or the suggestion of a multitude of false letters, asserting that the ba-
sin of Kern river was as rich in gold as those of the American and Yuba rivers
had been in 1849. These statements were copied into the newspapers, which
had no means of verification, and the entire industry of the State was thrown
into confusion. Miners abandoned good claims, farm laborers and clerks left
their employers, the rate of wages and the cost of mining implements rose in
the market, and soon six or eight thousand men were on the road to Kern river,
and as many more were ready to start, when the newspapers began to show the
folly of such a rush to diggings that had as yet produced no considerable amount
of gold.
The tide of migration was arrested, and soon it turned back, the disappointed
adventurers returning with 'the satisfaction of knowing that every river between
the Mariposa and the Feather, even after seven years' working, was richer than
Kern river had ever been.
24.— ANCIENT RIVERS.
•
It was in October, 1855, that a very remarkable discovery was made near
Columbia, in Tuolumne county.
In various parts of the State, the miners in following up rich deposits of gold
had come upon what appeared to be the channel of ancient rivers, which had
been filled up and covered over with beds of clay and gravel in some places a
thousand feet deep.
The high banks, the bars, the bends, the rapids, the deep places, the tribu-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 25
tary gullies and brooks, the water-worn gravel, the remains of fresh-water mol-
lusks, the flat stones pointing down stream, the heaps of giavel formed by ed-
dies, the drift-wood, and the deposit of coarse gold in the centre and deep places
of the channel — unmistakable evidences of a stream that had existed for cen-
turies— were all distinctly recognizable.
In these ancient rivers the gold was distributed in the same manner as in
those of the present geological era, but in greater abundance and ^usually in
larger particles, as though it had not been subjected to so much wear.
The primeval streams were intersected in places by water courses of our own
day, and these latter were usually richer just below the points of intersection
than at any other places.
The largest and most noted of the ancient river beds yet discovered in Cali-
fornia, called the Blue lead, runs nearly through the middle of Sierra and Ne-
vada counties, has a width varying from a hundred to three hundred yards, and
has been traced nearly forty miles.
Its course is at right angles to that of the present streams in the same neigh-
borhood. The amount of gold taken from its bed has never been ascertained,
but it cannot be less than $25,000,000, and perhaps twice as much.
35.— THE TUOLUMNE TABLE MOUNTAIN.
The traveller in the mining districts frequently sees " table mountains ;" that
is, high rocky elevations, with flat surfaces and steep sides. They are evidently
remains of lava floods, from which the earth, by which they were once sur-
rounded, has been washed away, leaving1 the basalt towering above the adja-
cent country.
The most remarkable of these table mountains is in Tuolumne county, through
which runs the Stanislaus river, and with the same general course.
Its length, with its bends, is about thirty-five miles, its height from three hun-
dred to one thousand feet above the clay and gravel near it, and its width from
a quarter to half a mile. The smoothness of its surface, the gradual inclina-
tion to the westward, the basaltic nature of the rock, its proximity to a centre
of great volcanic activity, and various other circumstances which cannot be
stated here in detail, leave no room for doubt that this table mountain is a solid-
ified bed of lava.
Some miners, sinking a shaft at a place where the lava had been carried
away, leaving the sandstone or gravel under it bare, found gold, and some
other miners, working along the side of the mountain, found a rich streak of
pay-dirt, which ran down in a deep rocky channel obliquely under the moun-
tain. They attempted to follow it, but they soon met a body of water, which
they could neither avoid nor pump out. This put them on nettles. Further
examination showed that there were other little channels running under the
mountain and on both sides, and all going deeper as they went further in, and
nearly all tending westward, with a course oblique to that of the mountain, and
all containing more or less gold.
There must, then, be an ancient river bed under the mountain. This opinion,
advanced by a few men without education, who wished to induce wealthy men to
undertake the exploration of the mountain by tunnels, was met by incredulity
and ridicule. Nevertheless, the projectors of the scheme had got the idea fixed
in their minds, and they were determined to see what the mountain was made
of. The storekeepers, in accordance with the general custom of assisting in
developing the resources of their own neighborhood, willingly trusted them for
provisions, tools, and clothes, while they were cutting a tunnel to reach the bed
of the supposed ancient river.
They commenced their work at some distance from the basalt, and after cut-
ting through clay and gravel reached a slate rock, which seemed to have been the an-
26 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
cient bank, and then they came to a bed of gravel of such character that the
theory of the primeval river was fully established. But the tunnel was not
deep enough.
It was far above the bed rock, and the water stood, as before, between the
miner and the gold. Months of labor had been lost, and it was uncertain whe-
ther the next tunnel would strike the right level, nor could it be known whether
the bed WQuld be rich enough to pay. Nevertheless, hope and confidence, the
chief divinities of the miner, and he is happy in their smiles even when priva-
tion is his companion and when experience tells him that no gold fortune is in
store, continued to sustain him.
The Table mountain prospectors, however, had reason and experience, as well
as hope and confidence, to cheer them, and the second tunnel was undertaken
with the encouragement of many men who had sneered at the first. The right
elevation had been struck this time, the bottom of the river bed was reached
and was drained by the tunnel, and the gravel was found to be extremely rich.
Ten feet square of superficial area yielded $100,000. A pint of gravel not
unfrequently contained a pound of gold. The whole mountain was soon
claimed.
The State echoed with the discovery. A stream of lava had filled up the
bed of an ancient river for thirty miles, and in the course of- ages the earth and
slate that once formed the banks were washed away, leaving the basalt to mark
the position of the golden treasure. Other similar deposits were found else-
where, and other explorations, as bold in their conception but less successful or
less important in their results, were undertaken in nearly every county.
26.— THE FRASER FEVER.
The years 1856 and 1857 were marked by no peculiar excitement or sudden
change. The working of the gullies and river bars and beds was gradually be-
coming less profitable and productive, the quartz and ditch interests continued
to grow larger, wages kept their downward tendency, and the number of hired
laborers increased.
In 1858 the State received a shock that was felt in every fibre of her political
and industrial organization. Rich diggings were found in the spring on a bar
of Fraser river, and it was asserted and presumed that there were large tracts of
excellent placers in the upper basin of the stream. The presumption was not
without its foundation in experience and reason, but after all it was but a pre-
sumption.
The miners, however, were not disposed to listen to any doubts ; they were
ready to sacrifice everything in the hope of finding and being the first to enjoy
another virgin gold field like that of California.
In the course of four months, 18,000 men, nearly one-sixth of all the voters
in the State went to Fraser river, and many thousands of others were preparing
for an early start. The confident belief prevailed that " the good old times " of
'49 were to come again.
Servants threw up their positions , farmers and miners left their valuable prop-
erty, wages rose, houses and land fell in value, and many persons believed that
California would soon be left without a tenth part of her population.
All this excitement was made before any gold had been received in San Fran-
cisco, and before there was any direct and trustworthy evidence of the existence
of paying diggings beyond the limits of a few bars, which could not give occu-
pation to more than a hundred men.
Suddenly, and with no material addition to the evidence, the conviction burst
on the people that Fraser river would not pay, and five-sixths of the truant
miners had returned before the end of the year.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 27
* 27.— DISCOVERY OF THE COMSTOCK LODE.
A party of emigrants discovered placer diggings on Gold canon, a little
tributary of Carson river, east of the Sierra Nevada, in 1849, and a permanent
mining camp was established there in 1852.
It was observed that the gold contained a large proportion of silver, in some
claims nearly one-half in value, but this fact was not without precedent in the
placers of California, and was regarded simply as a misfortune for the miner, who
did not receive more than $10 or $12 an ounce for his dust, while that obtained
on the western slope of the Sierra usually sold for $17 or $18.
The Gold canon diggings had been worked for seven years, and gave employ-
ment to about fifty men, when, in the .spring of 1859, the miners, following up a
rich streak of placer gold, came upon a quartz lode in the place now known as
Gold Hill.
A couple of months later, some miners, in following up a placer lead in which
the gold was mixed with about an equal weight of silver, came on the lode from
which the metal had been washed down.t
They were working here in a rude way, with no idea of the value of their
claim, when James Walsh, an intelligent quartz miner from Grass valley, passed
* The credit of this discovery has been claimed by so many parties, and the testimony is so
conflicting, that I am induced to give at least two of the popular versions. Substantially
they agree upon the main points. (See section 4, Resources of Nevada.)
t S. H. Marlette, surveyor general of Nevada, in his annual report for 1865, gives the fol-
lowing history of the discovery of the Comstock lode :
"In 1852, H. B. and E. A. Grosch or Grosh, sons of A. B. Grosh, a Universalist clergyman
of considerable note, aud editor of a Universalist paper at Utica, New York, educated me-
tallurgists, came to the then Territory, and the same or the following year engaged in pla-
cer mining in Gold canon near the site of Silver City, and continued thereuntil 1857, when,
so far as I can learn, they first discovered silver ore, which was found in a quartz vein,
probably the one now owned by the Kossuth Gold and Silver Mining Company, on which
the Grosh brothers had a location.
" Shortly after the discovery, in the same year, one of the brothers accidentally wounded
himself with a pick, from the effects of which he soon died, and the other brother went to
California, where he died early in 1858, which probably prevented the valuable nature of their
discovery from becoming known. In the mean time placer mining was carried on to consid-
erable extent in various localities, principally in Gold canon.
''In 1857, «Ipe Kirby and others commenced placer mining in Six Mile canon, about hall
a mile below where the Ophir works now are, and worked at intervals with indifferent suc-
cess until 1859. On the 22d day of February, 1858, the first quartz claim was located in
Kossuth claim as upon one branch of the Comstock, which may not be impossible in case
we adopt the one lode system, for the lode is about one hundred feet in thickness, and its
strike would take it to the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, as explorations prove, as I have
been informed, the Virginia croppings to be the outcrop of the western portion of the Com
stock.
" The discovery of rich deposits of silver ore was not made until June, 1859, when Peter
O'Reilly and Patrick McLaughlin, while engaged in gold washing on what is now the
ground of the Ophir Mining Company, and near the south line of the Mexican Company's
claim, uncovered a rich vein of sulphuret of silver in an excavation made for the purpose
of collecting water to use in their rockers in washing for gold. This discovery being on ground
claimed at the time by Kirby and others, Comstock was employed to purchase their claim,
whereby Comstock's name has been given to this great lode, by which those entitled to the
credit of its discovery have been defrauded — a transaction, to compare small things with
great, as discreditable as that by which Arnericus Vespucius bestowed his name upon the
western continent, an honor due alone to the great Columbus.
" From this discovery resulted the marvellous growth of Nevada. Immediately the lode
was claimed for miles ; an unparalleled excitement followed, and miners and capitalists
came in great numbers to reap a share of the reported wealth. The few hardy prospectors
exploring the mountains for hidden wealth soon counted their neighbors by thousands ;
soon walked along miles of busy streets, called into existence by the throng of adventurers,
and soon the prospectors were ransacking almost every part of the (at present) State of Ne-
vada in search of silver lodes."
28 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
their place and examined their mine. His attention was attracted by the dark
gray stone which he suspected was silver ore, and as an assay of it he sent a
ton and a half of it to San Francisco, where it was sold for $3,000 per ton.
He and some friends then bought out four of the five partners, paying $22,000
for four-fifths of 1,800 feet, or at the rate of $14 per foot.
Some shafts sunk on the vein showed that the gray stone, a rich sulphuret of
silver, could be obtained in large quantities. The lode was soon claimed as far
as it could be traced, and the market value of the shares rose so rapidly that
before the end of the year $1,000 a foot had been offered for a portion of the
lode.
28.— THE WASHOE EXCITEMENT.
The excitement about the silver mines spread throughout California in the
spring of 1860, and thousands of miners crossed the mountains to work in the
newly-discovered mines or to seek for others.
In every town companies were formed to equip and send out prospectors, and
the work was continued on a large scale for three years. Thousands of square
miles, never before visited by white men, were explored and examined, and
many thousands of metalliferous lodes were found and claimed.
It was in 1860 that the silver districts of Esmeralda, Bodie, Potosi, Coso,
and Humboldt were discovered, besides many others of less note. The chief
silver mining town grew up at the Comstock lode, and was soon the home of a
large and excited population. Every man owned thousands of feet of argentif-
erous lodes, and considered himself either possessed of a fortune or certain
of soon acquiring one.
The confidence in the almost boundless wealth of the country was universal,
but many were bothered to convert their ore into ready cash. Men who con-
sidered themselves millionaires had sometimes not enough money to pay for a
dinner, and in their dress they looked like beggars.*
* The following extract from a letter written at Virginia, in April, 1 860, gives a vivid pic-
ture of the condition of society there at that time :
"Of a certainty, right here, is Bedlam broke loose. One cannot help thinking, as he
passes through the streets, that all the insane geologists extant have been corraled at this
place. Most vehement is the excitement. I have never seen men act thus elsewhere. Not
even in the earlier stages of the California gold movement were they so delirious about the
business of metalliferous discovery. Hundreds and thousands are now here, who, feeling
that they may never have another chance to make a speedy fortune, are resolved this shall
not pass unimproved. They act with all the concentrated energy of those having the issues
of life and death before them. They demean themselves not like rational beings any more.
Even the common modes of salutation are changed. Men, on meeting, do not inquire after
each other's health, but after their claims. They do not remark about the weather, bad as it
is, but about out-croppings, assays, sulphurets, &c. They do not extend their hands in
token of friendship on approaching, but pluck from their well filled pockets a bit of rock,
and, presenting it, mutually inquire what they think of its looks. During the day they
stand apart, talking in couples, pointing mysteriously hither and you : and during the
night mutter in their sleep of claims and dips and strikes, showing that their broken
thoughts are still occupied with the all-absorbing subject. I shall be able to convey to your
readers some idea of the intensity of this mining mania, when I assure them that this por-
tion of the American people do not even ask after newspapers, nor engage in the discussion
of politics. Little care they whom you choose President ; conventions and elections, wars
and rumors of wars, are nothing to them. They have their own world here. Here, bounded
by the Sierra and the mountains of Utah, spread over the foot-hills and the deserts, is a
theatre beyond which their thoughts are not permitted to roam ; to this their aspirations and
aims are all confined. Whatever of energy, ambition, and desire are elsewhere expended on
love, war, politics, and religion, are here all devoted to this single pursuit of rinding, buy-
ing, selling, and trading in mines of silver and gold. Everybody makes haste to be rich ;
and so great is the mental tension in this direction, that it may well be questioned whether,
if a sweeping disappointment should overtake them, many will not be reduced to a condition
of absolute lunacy. What guarantee this wildly-excited multitude have against the happen-
ing of this fearful contingency, I am not fully prepared to say, having, as yet, not been able
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 29
29.— THE BAEREL AND YARD PROCESSES.
There was much difficulty in extracting the metal even from the richest'ore.
There were no mills to crush the rock, no skilful metallurgists to reduce the ore,
and no confident opinion in regard to the best means of extraction. The simple
processes used for reducing auriferous quartz would not suffice. The gold
exists in the metallic form, and so soon as the rock is pulverized can be obtained
by washing or amalgamation. But silver is in chemical combination with
baser substances, and must be separated from them by chemical influences before
the metal will submit to unite with quicksilver, by which it must usually be
caught.
All the silver produced in civilized countries was obtained by two processes,
the Frieberg. German barrel, and the Mexican yard or patio. In the German
process three hundred pounds of the ore, finely pulverized, are mixed with
water to the thickness of cream, and after the addition of some salt, iron pyrites,
scraps of iron, and quicksilver are put into a strong barrel, and kept revolving
rapidly for fourteen hours, at the end of which time the silver and quicksilver
have united, and they can easily be separated from the mud by washing. The
barrels are rapidly worn out, the amount of work done is little, and the labor
required is much. In the Mexican process the pulverized ore is mixed with
water, salt, iron pyrites, and quicksilver, and left out in an open yard for three
weeks, the mass being stirred or trodden with mules occasionally. This mode
of reducing is very slow, and is unsuited to the cool climate of Nevada, in lati-
tude 38°, and at an elevation of 5,000 or 6,000 feet above the sea.
30.— THE PAN PROCESS.
There was a general belief that some mode of amalgamation better than either
of these could and would be devised, so while one set of men were engaged in
hunting and opening mines, another set were busy in studying a mode for re-
ducing the ores. A satisfactory result was not reached for several years, but it
came at last in the invention of the pan process, as distinguished from the barrel
and yard processes.
The pan is of cast-iron, about five feet in diameter and eighteen inches deep.
Five hundred or a thousand pounds of ore are put in with salt, iron pyrites,
quicksilver, and enough water to make a thin mud. A muller revolves on the
bottom of the pan, and serves to grind the matter, which is not fine enough, and
also brings all the particles of the ore into contact with the chemicals and the
quicksilver. Besides the motion of the muller, various devices are used to keep
up a regular current, so that all portions of the mixture are successively brought
to the bottom, and exposed to the action of the quicksilver. In some pans heat
is applied. The American process extracts silver from the common sulphuret
ore as thoroughly as any other process, with much more rapidity, and with less
expense. It is, therefore, in almost universal use in the American silver mines
of the Pacific slope, and has been introduced into Mexico, where it will prob-
ably in time supersede the yard process. While the metallurgists were work-
ing away at their pans, the miners generally were afraid to erect mills lest
buildings and machinery might be unsuited to the new modes of working.
The mills that were built charged $50 and $60 per ton for crushing and
to give the subject much examination since my return. To attempt eliciting information
from those now here, only tends to confuse and complicate what is already incomprehensi-
ble. If you talk with one man, he is only concerned lest the argentiferous metal be ren-
dered worthless by the superabundance here met with ; while another, with equal opportu-
nities, and perhaps better ability for forming a correct judgment, derides the idea of there
being any silver apart from the Comstock vein, telling you that the whole thing is an in-
verted pyramid, having that truly wonderful lead for a base."
30 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
amalgamating, though the same work was done at Grass Valley, only one hun-
dred miles distant, for less than $5 a ton.
The amalgamation was so conducted that only the free gold was saved. All
the silver and much of the gold were lost. Ore that contained $500 to the ton
was sent to the mill if it yielded $70 or $80, leaving about $10 profit, and a loss
of $400 of silver.
The value of the ore and the amount of silver lost were precisely understood,
but there was no remedy. It was necessary to take some silver from the mines
at any sacrifice to keep up the confidence of the shareholders. Although the
ore in sight was worth millions, the bullion sent across the mountains from
Nevada amounted to only $90,897 in 1860.
The next year, however, the export rose to $2,275,256 ; in 1862 to $6,247,074,
and in 1863 to $12,486,238. This increased rate might well astonish the world,
and dazzle people in the vicinity.
31.— GROWTH OF THE WASHOE EXCITEMENT.
The silver excitement which pervaded California in the spring of 1860 con-
tinued to increase steadily for three years.
Washoe, by which name the mining region near the Oomstock lode was gen-
erally known, was the main topic of conversation, and the main basis of specu-
lation. Everybody owned shares in some silver mine. High prices were paid
to strangers for mines at places of which the purchaser had never heard until a
day or two before the purchase. . Men seemed to have discarded all the dic-
tates of prudence. Their judgment was overwhelmed by the suddenly acquired
. wealth of a few and by the general anxiety of the many to buy any kind of sil-
ver shares. People acted as though there were so many rich silver mines that
men who had been searching for them would not be so mean as to offer a poor
one for sale. Three thousand silver mining companies were incorporated in
San Francisco, and 30,000 persons purchased stock in them. The nominal
capital was $1,000,000,000, but their actual market value never exceeded
$60,000,000, and not one in fifty owned a claim of the least value. And yet
the organization of each company cost $100 on an average, and that money had
to be paid by somebody. Although the mines were in western Utah, which
was organized afterwards into the Territory and then into the State of Nevada,
the shares were mostly owned in San Francisco, and that place was the centre
of speculation and excitement, of profit and loss. On every side were to be
seen men who had made independent fortunes in stocks within a few months.
The share in the leading mines on the Comstock lode were the preferred
security for loans by money lenders and banks.
The shares, or feet, as they were more commonly called, (for in most of the
companies a share represented a lineal foot lengthwise on the vein,) of the Com-
stock claims advanced with great rapidity, in some cases as much as $1,000 per
month.
A foot of the Gould and Curry mine, worth $500 on the 1st of March, 1862,
was sold for $1,000 in June; for $1,550 in August; for $2,500 in September;
for $3,200 in February, 1863; for $3,700 in May; for $4,400 in June, and for
$5,600 in July. Other claims advanced with a rapidity less rapid but scarcely
less startling. In the middle of 1863, Savage was worth $3,600 per foot ; Cen-
tral $2,850; Ophir $2,550; Hale and Norcross $1,850; California $1,5 00 ; Yellow
Jacket $1,150; Crown Point $750; Chollar $900, and Potosi $600.
32.— VIRGINIA CITY.
Virginia City, the centre of the mining industry, rose to be the second town
west of the Rocky mountains. It had a population of 15,000, and the assessed
value of its taxable property was $11,000,000. The amouut of business done
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 31
was twice as great as in any other town of equal size in the United States.
And well might the town be large and busy. It produced more silver within a
year than any other one mining district of equal size ever did. Neither Potosi
nor Guanajuato could equal it. The former town yielded $10,000,000 annually
for a time, but with that yield supported a population of 160,000. In
may be doubted whether any town of 15,000 persons ever before produced an
average of $12,000,000 annually, or an average of $800 to the person. Well
might excitement run high, and money be flush.
33. -THE SILVER PANIC.
But though the silver yield kept up, distrust set in, and prices of stocks
commenced to foil in the summer of 1863. The people began to count up how
many millions they had paid as assessments on claims that had been worked
for years and had never yielded a cent. Experts from other silver mining
countries said that no rich and permanent deposits of silver had been opened,
save on the Comstock lode, and that the management of the mines there was
grossly wasteful.
It was a notorious fact that many companies had been organized for the pur-
pose of swindling the ignorant by selling worthless stock to them.
Prices declined slowly until the middle of the next year, and then they were
attacked by a panic which smote hundreds of the Washoe speculators with
terror and bankruptcy. Gould & Curry fell from $5,600 to $900 per foot ; Sav-
age, from $3,600 to $750 ; Ophir, from $2,550 to $425 ; California, from $1,500
to $21; Hale & Norcross, from $1,850 to $310, and others in like proportion.
The wild-cat or baseless speculations were swept away. to destruction by the
thousand, and never heard of more.
The dray-men, the hod-carriers, the mechanics, the clerks, the seamstresses,
the servant girls, who had cheerfully paid assessments for years, in the confidence
that they would soon have a handsome income from their silver mines, were dis-
enchanted.
The name of Washoe, which had once been blessed, was now accursed by
the multitude, though still a source of profit to a few.
People wondered how they could have been so blind. It was found on exami-
nation that the most deliberate and most dishonest deception had been system-
atically practiced in many cases. Most of the mines had been managed not
with the object of taking silver from the ore, but for the purpose of making a
profit by the sale and purchase of stocks.
The officers, or some of them, combined to raise or depress the shares as suited
their schemes. It was an easy matter to instruct the miners to take out the
richest or the poorest of the ore, and the returns of the mill could be published
as a fair indication of the value of all the ore within sight.*
In the erection of buildings the financial management of the- companies was
grossly extravagant. Money was thrown about almost as if it had no value.
It was presumed that the rich and extensive deposits found near the surface,
instead of being exhausted, would become still richer as the works advanced
in depth. The ignorance of metallurgy and lack of experience in silver mining
led to many costly mistakes.
Wages much higher than those of California were paid.
* We find the following paragraph in the report of S. H. Marlette, the surveyor general
of Nevada, for 1865 :
" When a bulling operation was in progress the superintendent would write glowing let-
ters ; rich rock, selected from a large mass of poorer material, would be sent to mill ; debts
would be iucurred to be paid in the future, and large dividends would be declared.
"If a ' bearing' operation was in contemplation, the rich deposits would be avoided; the
rock sent to mill would prove to be very poor ; assessments would be levied to pay off the
debts of the company ; suits would be commenced against it, and every device that could
discourage stockholders would be adopted."
32 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
34.— LITIGATION ABOUT THE COMSTOCK MINES.
The overestimate of the value of the mines was one of the causes of a great
litigation, for which opportunities were given by the careless manner in which
claim3 were located, recorded, and transferred in early times. The lawyers
-,-_&c- fees high almost beyond example. Witnesses who found that their
testimony was necessary in important suits suddenly had business in the eastern
States, or in some other remote place, and could not be persuaded to remain till
the trial unless some large sums of money were paid to them.
Subornation of perjury became a profession in which many engaged. So
much money was spent in a law suit that it materially affected business.
When the trial of the suit between the Ophir and the Burning Moscow was
transferred from Virginia City to Aurora, property in certain parts of the latter
town rose fifty per cent., so confident were the residents there that the attend-
ants at the court would be numerous and flush of money. In several cases more
money was spent in litigation than the entire mine is now worth. The surveyor
general of the State, in his report for the year 1865, says :
" I have understood that $1,300,000 have been expended in litigation between
the Chollar and Potosi companies, and $1,000,000 more have been expended in the
Ophir-Moscow trials. * * * I believe one-fifth of the proceeds of the
Comstock would not more than pay the expenses of litigating the title thereto."
The yield of the Comstock lode, up to the date of that report, had been about
$45,000,000 ; so Mr. Marietta's estimate of the amount spent in litigation would
be $9,000,000, and four-fifths of this was expended within a period of three years.
The sum paid as dividends to stockholders in many permanent mines was
less than that expended in litigation.
35.— THE MANY-LODE THEORY.
One of the main sources of the lawsuits was the doubt whether the Comstock
lode had at its side a number of branches, or whether it was one of a series of
independent and parallel lodes within a distance of two hundred yards. At the
surface several seams of ore were perceptible, and the first claimants had taken
the seam which was largest and lowest on the hill, and they asserted that the
seams above were mere branches. This assertion, however, did not prevent
others from claiming the upper seams, and thus arose the suits between the
Ophir and the Burning Moscow, that between the Gould & Curry and the North
Potosi, and that between the Potosi and the Bajazet, which were all cases of much
importance in their day. The people were divided between the one-lode and
the many-lode parties, and elections turned more than once on that question.
Most of the stock of the one-lode companies was held in San Francisco, while a
larger proportion of the stockholders of the many-lode companies were residents of
Virginia City, so it was argued that it was the interest of Nevada that the old
companies should be defeated. But the latter had the evidence of geology, and
what was, perhaps, still more important, the money on their side, and the many-
lode theory was at last completely overthrown, but not until after a struggle
that cost years of time and millions of money. The Comstock vein has a dip
of 45° to the horizon, and while it was in the process of formation large bodies
of porphyry split off from the hanging wall, fell down into the vein stone and
were there suspended, leaving a seam of quartz above as well as one below.
These pieces of hanging wall are usually long, narrow, and deep, but not large
enough in any direction to make two lodes out of one.
36.— EXPENSES INCREASING WITH THE DEPTH.
Another source of disappointment to the mining companies was that as the
works advanced in depth expenses increased in an unexpected manner. The
immense excavations for the extraction of ore required vast quantities of timber ;
as the forests are distant and transportation dear, the mines now pay three-quar-
ters of a million dollars annually for timbering alone.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 33
The water increased, and powerful engines, consuming much wood, were
required to pump constantly at an expense of $100 per day to each of half a
dozen companies. Foul air made it impossible for the miners to work rapidly
in the deep drifts, and ventilation was expensive. These, and a multitude of
other considerations, contributed to the panic and kept the general stock market
down.
But such influences could not entirely govern the price of particular stocks.
Gould & Curry, which was sold for $900 per foot in July, 1864, advanced
to 32,000 in April, 1S65, and fell to $600 in October, 1866. Savage was $2,000
in April, 1865, and $1,100 m October, 1866. Of stocks, which were not no-
ticed in the stock boards in the summer of 1864,»Yellow Jacket rose in April,
1865, to $2,590 per foot, and was sold in October, 1866, for $700; Belcher,
worth $1,650 in April, 1865, was offered for $95 in October, 1866. Alpha,
worth $2,100 in April, 1865, was worth only $50 in October, 1866, and Crown
Point fell from $1,225 in April, 1865, to $900 in October, 1866. A fall of fifty
per cent, or a rise of two hundred per cent, in the market value of a large mine
within the space of six months has occurred in more than two score cases within
the last five years, and it is easily understood that in such events fortunes are
made and lost with great rapidity.
37.— SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF ESMEEALDA, HUMBOLDT, AND REESE
RIVERS.
The stocks in all the other districts of Neva.la were affected, and, it might
almost be said, governed by the influence of those of Virginia City. While
shares in the Comstock lode were high, so were those in mines elsewhere. At
Esmeralda large masses of rich ore were found in the Wide West and Real
Del Monte mines, and the price of their stocks rose to $400 per foot ; but there,
too, litigation, bad management, and the speedy exhaustion of the rich deposits
near the surface were followed by a general collapse.
Esmeralda district, which yielded $500,000 annually for a couple of years,
seemed to have been worked out, and all the explorations undertaken since
1864 have failed to show anything to compare with the ore opened in 1861 and
1862.
Several other districts in the vicinity, however, were found, and these promised
to more than surpass Esmeralda in its best days. Humboldt had a history
somewhat like E^-meralda.
A large body of rich ore in the Slieba mines brought the price of that stock
up to $400 per foot, but they contained antimony, and could not be reduced with-
out roasting, and the expenses of reduction, and litigation and the exhaustion
of the rich body of ore, soon left the company insolvent; and since then the
Humboldt district has been under a cloud, although many of the veins will un-
doubtedly prove profitable in time.
The Ueese River mines, discovered in June, 1862, include a number of dis-
tricts, in which a great variety of veins and ores are found. The development
has been slow, yet it is the opinion of intelligent m >n who have examined the
lodes that several of them will take a high place in the production of silver
after a few years.
The last of the silver districts of Nevada in the order of discovery is Pahran-
agat, in the southeastern corner of the State, which first attracted attention in
the beginning of 1866. No bullion has yet been extracted there, but some fine
ore has been found, and the quantity appears to be considerable.
33.— SUTRO TUNNEL PROJECT.
In 1865 it became evident that if the mining in the Comstock mines were to
be continued for many years, it would be profitable, and even necessary, to have
H. Ex. Doc. 29 3
34 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
a tunnel to drain tlie vein to a depth of 2,000 feet. Of the continuation of the
mining there could be no reason to doubt.
The lode has the main geological characteristics which mark the greatest
silver-bearing veins of Spanish America. It is a fissure vein that extends across
several different formations, and at (he richest place it separates two different
kinds of " country" rock. It is of great length and great width. . The general
thickness and dip remain about the same, so far as they have been examined. The
walls are distinctly marked. The inclination is about 45° to the horizon.
There are large seams of clay-like substances along ih« sides, as though the
sides had rubbed and ground part of the vein-stone to powder. Bodies of por-
phyry, many of them large iiud others small, are found in the vein-stone, looking
as though they had cracked off the upper or hanging wall and fallen down.
The vein-stone, so far as traced, is about the same in all places, though the
color varies from white and gray to brown. The ore is distributed irregularly,
being found in some places in large masses and in others in thin seams. The
general features of the lode are like those other great argentiferous veins, and
mining geologists say that the class are inexhaustibly rich in silver. It is pre-
t timed that they are rich in ore far beyond any depth which miners can reach.*
* 39.— BARON RICHTHOFEN'S REPORT.
Tbe following1 is a quotation from "The Comstock Lode, its character and the probable
mode of its continuance in depth. By Ferdinand Baron Richthofen, Dr. Phil., San Francis-
co, 1866:"
"If we proceed to compare the Comstock vein with those "best explored, it is evident that
it differs in nature from a certain class of narrow veins, winch, as those of Freiberg, Knnigs-
berg, and Chaiiarcillo, in Chili, Pasco, in Peru, Catorce, in Mexico, and Austin, in Nevada,
fill a number of small fissures, which are either parallel or intersect each other, and which
exhibit in depth nearly the same character and richness as near the surface. It presents, on
.the contrary, all the characters of a second class of silver veins, which are prominent on
account of their magnitude and unity, and exhibit, wherever they occur, one great mother
vein, or lvcta madre,1 surrounded, in most instances, by some smaller veins of little or no
importance. To this class belong the veins of Schemnitz and Felsobanya, in Hungary, the
Veta Madre, of Guanajuato, and the Veta Grandre, of Zacatecas, while the veins of Potosi,
in Peru, and the Biscayna of Real del Monte, in Mexico, have to be referred more to tins than
to the former class. Notwithstanding their small number, these great mother veins furnish
by far the greater portion of the silver produced throughout the world. They resemble each
other in many points. All of them fill fissures of extraordinary width and length, and appear
to be of very recent origin, and also to be intimately related to volcanic rocks, by which they
are accompanied. Although the laws which govern the distribution of ore differ more or less
for each vein, yet all of them have been found to be highly metalliferous to whatever depth
explored ; and it appears that nearly an equal quantity of silver is with most of them contained
in each level, the vein of Guanajuato being an exception to this rule. It maybe inferred that
this will continue to be the case to an indefinite depth. There is, however, a marked differ-
ence in the concentration of silver, ores of extreme richness being usually accumulated in lim-
ited bodies in the upper levels, while in depth similar bodies recur greater in extent, but con-
sisting of lower grades of ores. This is one of the principal reasons why, on all the veins
mentioned, mining in upper levels has been so highly remunerative compared with the
profits derived from deep working. Each ton of ore costs there but little to extract, and yields
a large amount of metal, while raising the same weight from greater depth is more expensive,
and at the same time a smaller amount of bullion is realized. The history of the Mexican
mines is the best illustration of these relations. In former centuries counts and marquises have
been made by the king of Spain whenever fortune enabled a single individual to accumulate
enormous wealth in a few years. Mining then was confined to rich ores within a few hun-
dred feet from the surface. In the present century, since greater depths have been reached,
the Spanish crown, if it hfd still the sceptre of Mexico, would scarcely have found an oppor-
tunity of bestowing equal honors on fortunate mining adventurers, notwithstanding the un-
abated enterprising spirit of the population and' the increased facilities of raising the treasures.
And yet the production of the Mexican mines. has anything but decreased. It appears, on
the contrary, that it lias never been so high as at the present time. Humboldt states that
vastly the majority of the annual production of Mexico has through all times been derived
from the mother veins alluded to above, and still at this day they furnish at least three-fourths
of it, though each of them has repeatedly been abandoned as unprofitable. They would be
inexhaustible sources of wealth if the increase of expenses attending the growing depth did
not put a limit to all profitable mining.
"The equality of produce of the Mexican mines is probably partly due to the prevalence
of true silver ores through all levels. The Hungarian offer less favorable conditions, as the
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 35
The water which gathers in mines at Virginia City, although the deepest there
is not half so deep as in many in Mexico, is very great, and a tunnel or adit-level
is necessary to secure drainage and vuutilation and procure a cheap mode of ex-
tracting the ore and of exploring the lode. Fortunately the lode is situated on
a mountain side, and there is an opportunity of draining the lode to a depth of
two thousand feet by cutting an adit three and three-fifths miles. The expense
will be several millions of dollars, but the saving will be far more. Considera-
tions like these led to the formation of the Sutro Tunnel Company, which
received a franchise from the legislature of the State and a grant of land from
ores, on account of the pieviously mentioned increase of lead and copper in depth, undergo
a real deterioration. Yet they have evidently had fit upper levels their concentrated bodies
of rich ore. Such have been extracted at Schemnitz within the time of historical record,
while their former existence at Felsobanya may be inferred from the shape and character of
the old Roman works near the oat-cropt>inga.
"Lotus now return to the Comstock vein, the ' veto, ntadrc'1 of Washoe, and examine
what conclusions as to its future we are justified in drawing from the present condition of the
explorations. In the first place, we have mentioned the fact that the ores through all the levels
explored retain their character of true silver ores which they had near the surface. The amount
of lead, copper, iron, and zinc has never been large in the Comstock ores, and these metals
preserve now, at the lowest level, nearly the same relative proportion as formerly. Their
increase, especially of lead, would be the most unfavorable indication for the future of the
Comstock lode, as, besides the growing difficulty of metallurgical treatment, the conclusion
would be justified that lead ores would more and more replace those of silver, and the limits
of profitable productiveness would soon be reached. But as it is, no deterioration is to be
led, even it'an impoverishment takes place. It thut- approaches in its ore-bearing char-
acter the gre.-it mutiu r-veins of Mexico, and is different from those of Hungary. But eveu
the reasons fur an impoverishment are by no means so evident as might appear at first sight.
There have been, it is true, bonanzas near the surface, which surpassed in richness all those
worked upon in later times. As such may be mentioned the bonanzas of tho Ophir, the Gould
& Curry, and the western body of ore in Gold Bill. Their richness and the facilities of
their extraction co-operated in making the latter exceedingly profitable. Yet the production"
of the Comstock vein did not, at the time when it was solely derived from these surface-bonan-
zas, reach the figure it attained after the exhaustion of their principal portion. One of the
reasons is that then the ore was concentrated within narrow limits, while as the greater depth
was attained the distribution of the ores was much more general, though their standard was
lower. New bodies of ore had been discovered, commencing at a depth of from one hundred
and fifty to three hundred feet below the surface, such as the continuous sheets of ore in tho
eastern part of the lode in the Gold Hill mines and the Yellow Jacket, and the similar-con-
stitited one in Chollar-Potosi. None of them contain, excepting a few narrow streaks or
bunches, ores of equal richness with those of which the surface-bonanzas were composed.
But their extent so far exceeds that of the latter as to make up, by the increased amount of
daily extraction, for the inferior yield. The profits of working are of course greatly dimin-
ished. These bodies of ore have continued to the deepest levels reached in the Comstock
mines, varying in width and extent, and also in their yield. The latter did not increase, but
in some instances, as in the. southern part of Gold Hill, decreased with the growing width of
the deposit, while in others no material change is perceptible.
"Few new bodies of ore made their appearance below the level of three hundred feet.
Foremost in importance among them are two bodies discovered at seven hundred feet below
the surface of the Hale & Ncrcross works, one of which is on ground supposed heretofore to
be unproductive.
" Considering these facts exhibited by the Comstock vein itself, and comparing with them
what is known about similar argentiferous veins, we believe ourselves • to be justified in
drawing the following1 conclusions:
" 1st. That the continuity of the ore-bearing character of the Comstock lode in depth must,
notwithstanding local interruptions, be assumed as a fact of equal certainty with the continuity
of the vein itself.
"&3. That it may positively be assumed that the ores in the Comstock lode will retain
their character of true silver ores to indefinite depth.
"3d. That it is highly probable that extensive bodies of ores equal in richness to the sur-
face-bonanzas will never occur in depth.
"4th. That an increase in size of the bodies of ore in depth is more probable than a de-
crease, and that they are more likely to increase than to remain of the same size as heretofore.
"5th. That a considerable portion of the ore will, as to its yield, not materially differ at any
depth from what it is at the present lower levels, while, besides, there will be an increasing
bulk of lower-grade ores. We are led to this supposition by the similarity in character of all
the deposits outside of the rich surface-bonanzas and the homogeneous nature which almost
every one of them exhibits throughout its entire extent.
36 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Congress, and met with the encouragement of the great companies mining on
the lode, all of which signed contracts with the company binding themselves to
pay a certain sum for every ton taken from their mines after the completion of
the tunnel. Although the work has not been commenced, the project has fair
prospects, and it occupies an important place in the history of mining in Nevada.
The miners at Virginia City will never be content to abandon that plan of
drainage.
40.— COLUMBIA BASIN AND CARIBOO MINES.
The first mines in what is now Idaho Territory were found in the bars of
Clearwater river in the spring of 1860, and those of the Salmon river were
opened in a few months later. The placers of Boise were struck in 1862, those
of Owyhee in 1863, and the quartz veins of Owyhee and Alturas began to at-
tract attention in 1S64. In eastern Oregon the placers of Powder and Burnt-
rivers were discovered in 1861, and those of John Day's river in the following
year.
None of the Idaho or Oregon placers have proved so rich, so extensive, or so
durable as those of California, although they have yielded considerable amounts
of gold. The deep diggings of Cariboo, 500 miles from Victoria, in the upper
part of Eraser valley, were discovered in 1859, and the placers in the shallow
bars and creeks at the Big Bend of the Columbia, in the territory of British
Columbia, in 1865. California had to send miners to all these places.
The number who went to Idaho was, probably, 20,000; and in 1866 at least
5,000 migrated to Montana.
It was also in this year that a rumor became current that rich placers had
been discovered at Barbacoas, in New Granada, and the result was the migra-
tion and bitter disappointment of about a thousand men, who found nothing to
reward their trouble.
"6th. That the ore will shift at different levels, from certain portions of the lode to others,
a? it has done up to the present time. More equality in its distribution may, however, be ex-
pected below the junction of the branches radiating toward the surface, when the vein will
probably fill a more uniform arid more regular channel. Some mines which have been here-
tofore almost unproductive, as the Central, California, Bullion, and others, have therefore
good chances of becoming1 metalliferous in depth. But throughout the extent of the vein, it
is most likely that the portion which lies next to the foot-wall will continue unproductive, as
it did from the surface down to the lowest wrorks, while the entire portion between it and the
hanging wall must be considered as the probable future source of ore. As remarked in the
foregoing pages, it is also probable that repeatedly, in following the lode downward, branches
will be found rising from its main body vertically into the hanging wall and consisting of
clay of quartz. Many of them will probably be ore-bearing. Such bodies of ore should be
sought for, at all the mines, in what is generally supposed to be the eastern country. Expe-
rience in upper levels would lead to the supposition that such eastern bodies might carry richer
ores than the average of the main portion of the vein.
"7th. That the intervention of a barren zone, as is reported by good authorities to occur
at the Veta Madre of Guanajuato at the depth of twelve hundred feet, is not at all likely to be
met with in the case of the Comstqck lode. The argument which we have to adduce for this
conclusion has some weight from a geological point of view. It is a well known fact that
the enclosing rocks have usually great influence on the quantity and quality of the ores of
certain metals in mineral veins, and that a rich lode passing into a different formation fre-
quently becomes barren or poor. At the Veta Madre of Guanajuato a sudden decrease in the
yield of the ore at the depth of twelve hundred feet attends the passage of the lode into a dif-
ferent formation, which from thence continues to the lowest depth attained. No such change
can be anticipated for the Comstock lode, since the structure of the country seems to indicate
the continuity of the enclosing rocks to an indefinite depth.
" In winding up these considerations, we come to the positive conclusion that the amount
of nearly fifty million dollars, which have been extracted from the Comstock lode, is but a
small proportion of the amount of silver waiting future extraction in the virgin portions of the
vein, from the lowest level explored down to indefinite deptli ; but that, from analogy with
other argentiferous veins, as well as from facts observed on the Comstock lode, the diffusion
of the silver through extensive deposits of middle and low grade ores is far more probable
than its accumulation in bodies of rich ore."
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 37
SECTION 2.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION, ETC., OF PACIFIC SLOPE.
REPORT OF. MR. WILLIAM ASHBURNER, MINING ENGINEER, MEMBER OF TPIE STATE
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CALIFORNIA, &c.
1. Gold mining interest of California. — 2. Characteristics of the gold-belt. — 3. Northern
mining districts. — 4. Mining in the sierras ; mills, expenses, &c.
1.— GOLD MINING INTEREST OF CALIFORNIA
SAN FRANCISCO, November — , 1866.
In accordance with the request you made me some time since, I beg leave to
submit the following report upon the present condition of the gold mining inter-
est of California, so far as it can be ascertained. The absence of all pfublished
documents of a reliable nature, with the exception of those recently issued by
the geological survey of the State, make it a matter of considerable difficulty to
arrive at results which shall have the merit of being perfectly trustworthy, and
the only means of obtaining them is by personal examination by competent in-
dividuals of the various gold fields throughout the State. Everybody will ac-
knowledge that accurate statistics of the results obtained throughout the exten-
sive mineral regions of the United States, particularly those where the precious
metals are found, and published under the official sanction of the government,
would be of the greatest value. If properly compiled they in themselves alone
would go far to remove the great ignorance which prevails in the public mind
with regard to many important facts bearing upon the question of mining, and
enable people to judge for themselves how far the great majority of those wild
assertions which are so frequently made by amateur visitors and newspaper
correspondents are likely to be true. It is from this class of writers — who,
from their education, are not qualified to weigh and appreciate the value of
statements made to them, generally by interested and enthusiastic persons —
that nearly all the information which the public now possesses of the gold and
silver mines of this country is derived.
It is universally conceded that the great objection to mining is its uncertainty,
and that, while in some cases the profits are large, the risks are more than pro-
portionably great, and the cautious capitalist hesitates before embarking upon a
mining enterprise, feeling that a shroud of mystery envelops the whole ques-
tion, and that he may be placing himself blindfolded in the hands of evil and
designing persons.
The mineral resources of many of the States have been under scientific inves-
tigation since 1830 ; but it was in 1844 that the first district for mining other
minerals than coal and iron was opened up upon the shores of Lake Superior.
Then followed a wild excitement in mines, which seems to have continued pe-
riodically since that time, upon the discovery of new and valuable mines. In
1863-'64 attention was particularly directed to the silver and gold mines of
Nevada and Colorado. No statements seemed too gross to be made, or too im-
probable to be believed. Tracts in the midst of the desert covered with sage
brush, and miles distant from any mineral-bearing vein, were located, companies
formed, prospectuses issued, and considerable sums of money actually expended
in search of mines which by no possibility could exist in such places.
A thorough survey of the various mining districts which are now attracting
so much attention both at home and abroad would confer incalculable benefit upon
the country at large, and every means should be employed to bring before the
public information of such a reliable nature that the capitalist may be guided in
his investments, and the field of the prospector for new mines be restricted to
38 KESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
those comparatively limited districts where there is any chance of their efforts
being successful. Money and time uselessly expended in running, prospecting,
tunnels, or in sinking shafts that can never be turned to any account, is so
much loss of capital and labor taken from the productive industry of the country
at large. It was estimated that in 1862-'63 there were some 30,000 persons
in this State and on its immediate borders engaged in prospecting for gold, sil-
ver, and copper; and it is a notorious fact that not even one per cent, of the
claims discovered by those persons have ever proved remunerative to those who
invested money in their development. In 1S61-'G2 the excitement ran high on
copper, induced by the discovery of the Union mine in Calaveras county, and in
a few months the Sierra Nevada, from the foot-hills to their summits, were cov-
ered with miners fruitlessly occupied in attempting to discover new deposits?
which could be worked with a profit. A few months of scientific labor turned
in this direction would have shown how utterly futile the efforts of most of them
would prove, and how exceedingly limited in wridth is the copper-bearing belt
of California.
The existence of gold in California was known long before the date com-
monly ascribed for its discovery. In several places along the Coast Ra; ge of
mountains between Santa Cruz and Los Angeles there were small, inconsider-
able "diggings" which were worked by the Mexicans, and some of them are
said to have yielded as much as $6,000 per annum, which, ai, that period, was
a considerable sum. The interest which is attached to these now is chiefly his-
torical, and they were generally abandoned as soon as the more extensive de-
posits which lie in the Sierra Nevada were made known.
It was on the 19th of January, 1848,* that the first gold east of the Coast
Range was discovered on the South Fork of the American river, at a place now
called Coloma. It was the result of accident, and although attempts were made
to preserve the fact a secret, the news soon spread far and wide, and by Jyly of
that year it is stated that the number of persons employed on the American river
and its branches were as many as four thousand, who were obtaining- from
$30,000 to $40,000 a day, and by November it is thought that from four to five
millions of dollars had been already extracted. It was not until a year subse-
quent to this discovery, or jn the spring of 1849, that commenced the most ex-
tensive immigration that the \vorld has ever seen. Adventurers poured into
California from all quarters of the globe: first from Mexico, Chili, and Peru ;
then from the Sandwich Islands, China, and New Holland; lastly from the
United States and Europe. During the six months between the first of July,
1849, and the first of January, 1850, it is estimated that 90,000 persons arrived
in California from the east by sea or across the plains, and that one-fifth of them
perished by disease during the six months following their arrival, such were the
hardships they had endured arid the privations to which they were subjected.
The western slope of the Sierra Nevada was soon covered with explorers,
who, with their " pans " upon their shoulders, penetrated every ravine or gulch,
"prospecting" the sands and washing the gravel wherever there was chance of
finding the precious metal. Mining towns sprang up with almost incredible
rapidity, and for several years they presented a scene of busy life. But the
shallow "diggings" soon became exhausted, and in 1851 the yield of gold was
higher than it has ever been since, amounting to at least $65,000,000. During
the last four years California has produced an average of about ^30,000,000
per annum of gold from the mines situated within her borders. At least ninety
per cent, of the total production reaches San Francisco by public conveyance,
and by some it is considered that even a larger proportion is transported in this
manner. In order to arrive at the present production, and compare it with what
has been produced in former years, we must take the amount of uncoined bul-
* History of California by Franklin Tuthill, p. 226.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
39
lion which is known to have arrived here from the various mining districts, and
add say ten per cent, for that brought by private hands. At the same time that
this means is far from affording all the accuracy desired, it will give a closer
approximation to the truth than any other.
Referring to the San Francisco Mercantile Gazette, which obtains and pub-
lishes regularly the amount of coin and bullion received in San Francisco from
all sources, we find that the receipts of uncoined treasure from the interior, in-
clusive of that from Nevada, have been as follows during the last four years :
Production of gold from California during tlie last four years.
1862.
1863.
1864.
1865.
From the northern mines.
From the southern mines.
$30. 948, 369
! 6,601,509
$33,936,771
5,610,094
$34,782,312
5, 347, 778
$36, 649, 337
5,108,413
Total bullion receipts
Deduct bullion from Nevada.
Add 1 0 per cent, for Arrivals in pri-
vate hands
:J7, 549, 878
6, 000, 000
39,546,865
12,433,915
40, 130, 090
15, 900, 000
41,757,750
15, 800, 000
31,549,878*
27,112,950
2,711,295
24, 230, 090
2, 423, 009
25, 957, 750
2, 595, 775
34, 704, 866
29, 824, 245
26, 653, 099
28,553,525
Probable production for 1866, based upon the receipts of the jirst nine months
of the present year.
Northern mines, exclusive, of Nevada bullion $19,719,900
Southern mines 3,385,0] 0
23,104,910
Add 10 percent, for arrivals in private hands 2,310,491
25,415,401
If we compare this production with that of the Australian gold fields during
the last three years, we find that these latter have produced as follows :
1863 1,627,066 ounces.
1864 : 1,545,450 ounces.
1865 1,556,088 ounces.
The Australian gold is of remarkable fineness, averaging about T902oV' an(^
worth, consequently, $19 04 an ounce. This would be, in our currency, as
follows :
1863 $30,984,336
1864 29,425,368
1865 29,627,916
The mineral statistics which are published annually by the colony of Victoria
give much valuable information concerning the present situation of the gold
mining interest in Australia, and from them the above information has been
gathered. The average earnings of the miners in this colony have been as
follows during the last three years :
Alluvial miners. • Quartz miners.
1863 $487 45 $596 24 per annum.
1864 296 69 632 44 per annum.
1S65 323 32 491 36 per annum.
40 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
We have for this coast no statistics which will enable us to arrive at the
average earnings of the miners in California with the same degree of accuracy,
but there does not seem any reason to suppose that they are greater here than
in Australia.
During the year 1864, of 1,54/5,450 ounces of gold exported from this colony,
about one-third, or 503,618 ounces, were supposed to have been derived from
the quartz mines. This proportion of two to one must be very nearly the
relation which the gold produced from the placer diggings of California bears
to that from the quartz mines, which probably does not exceed $8,000,000 or
$9,000,000 per annum.
2.— CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOLD BELT.
The auriferous belt of California extends from the Tejon pass, in latitude 35°,
to the northern extremity of the State, or for a distance of about five hundred
miles. The principal gold fields, however, and that portion of the State which
has produced most largely, lies between about latitude 37° and the North Fork
of the Feather river, or over a distance not exceeding two hundred and fifty
miles. Towards the south this gold-bearing range is narrow, rarely exceeding
twenty-five miles in width. As we proceed north, however, it widens rapidly,
and along the Feather and Yuba rivers it reaches from th*e lower foot-hills of
the Sierra Nevada to the central axis of the mountains, or over a width of fifty
miles from east to west. There are other diggings in the more northern part of
the State, bounded by the Trinity, Upper Sacramento, and Klamath rivers,
which at one time were valuable, and yielded largely, but now the principal in-
terest attaches to those deep placers lying between the forks of the Yuba, those
deposits which underlie the volcanic formation in many places on the auriferous
belt as far south as Tuolurnnc county — what are known as the cement diggings —
and the quartz mines which are to be found between Tulare county on the
south and Plumas county on the north. The " shallow diggings," which were
formerly so immensely rich, and which attracted the first attention of the miner,
are now, for the most part, hopelessly exhausted ; but, notwithstanding this,
by far the greater proportion of the total gold production of California is still
derived from the " washings," hydraulic and others ; and this will undoubtedly
continue to be the case until those immense auriferous deposits lying in the
northern part of the State, principally in Nevada county, are exhausted. No-
thing but an accurate survey will give any thing like an approximation as to the
length of time which will be required to work them out at the present rate. Now
we have only the wildest conjectures and statements, the result of hasty exam-
inations, as to their extent and the probable amount of gold contained in them.
At the present time, about eighty per cent, of the gold produced from the mines
of California is derived from those lying north of the Mokelumne river, and the
production from the southern mines, or those situated between Mariposa and
Calaveras counties, is decreasing every year. Probably only about one-third
of the gold productions of California comes from the quartz mines, leaving two-
thirds to be furnished by the placer and cement diggings, or those sources of
supply other than veins. Unfortunately, too little of a reliable nature is now
known with regard to these latter for me to venture upon an intelligent expo-
sition of them; but enough is known concerning the former to predict that
quartz mining will continue to be one of the most lasting, as well as profitable,
interests of this State, and there now seems no reason to anticipate that Cali-
fornia will cease to be one of the principal gold-producing countries of the world
for many years to come. I will therefore confine myself entirely to a descrip-
tion of a few of the more noted quartz mines of the State, showing, when it is
possible, the amount of profit realized from the working of the quartz, its average
yield, the expenses attending the milling and mining, and giving such other
facts as may be considered as illustrating the present condition of 4his industry
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 41
The principal quartz mining districts of California are in Tulare county, about
Clear creek ; in Mariposa county, on the Mariposa estate and its immediate
neighborhood, and also round about Centreville, north of the Merced river; in
Tuolumne county, within a few miles of Sonora, at Soulesbeyville, and near
Jamestown ; in Calaveras county, at Angels ; in Amador county, near Jackson
and Sutter creek ; in El Dorado county at Logtown and vicinity ; in Nevada
county at Grass valley and Nevada; in Sierra county within a few miles of
Downieville ; in Plumas county at Indian valley and on Jamieson creek. These
localities were nearly all centres of placer diggings before quartz mining became
so important. an industry. The width of this quartz-bearing range is, however,
much narrower than that occupied by the placer workings, and while rarely more
than twentv miles in width, is generally much less.
The number of veins in this belt is almost innumerable, but the proportion of
those which contain gold in sufficient quantity to pay is exceedingly small.
The most reliable publication which has recently appeared with regard to the
quartz veins of California was issued by the State geological survey in April,
1866. The statistics were compiled by Mr. A. Rdrnond, and give several im-
portant particulars with regard to the mills and mines in the region between the
JMerced and Stanislaus rivers. The district embraced by this report is about
thirty miles long by from fifteen to twenty in width. Seventy-seven mines and
sixty-five mills were examined and reported upon, and of these fifty-six mines
and twenty-three mills were being worked at the time of Mr. Remond's visit.
So far as the mere number of the veins is concerned this region probably con-
tains as many with features sufficiently promising to warrant exploration as any
other district of eo|ual size in California. The actual amount of capital invested
in the erection of the mills examined has been $430,300, and in addition to this
a considerable sum has been spent in the construction of roads, flumes, and
ditches, and by far the larger proportion of this whole sum has been expended
since 1862, particularly in the years 1864-'65, and therefore several of the
mills may be considered as experimental, and the veins upon which they are
situated as not having been proved sufficiently to be able to state whether the
yield as given to him by the proprietor will be lasting. It is certain that the
gross production of this region from the quartz mines now being worked is not
very large, nor does it as yet compare favorably with several other districts not
nearly so extensive. The greater number of these veins vary in width from about
one foot to two feet six inches, while in one case there is a vein noted which is
twenty-five feet in width and another fifteen feet. The average width of all the
veins examined would appear to be about three feet. The " country rock," or
the rock in which the quartz veins of California are incased, is for the most part
either slate, granite, or greenstone, and it is not yet determined which of these
three formations can be regarded as furnishing the most prolific mines, for we
have in each of them veins which have produced largely, and still are continu-
ing to do so, though several of them have attained a considerable depth.
In Mariposa county, and particularly upon the Mariposa estate, the most noted
veins are in the slate and have a direction and dip nearly coincident with the
general stratification of the enclosing rock. The principal mine in the district
is the Princeton, which lias produced between two and three millions of dollars.
It was first worked in 1852, and the quartz is said to have yielded as high as
seventy-five dollars per ton for a short time, but this large return was probably
owing to the various sulphurets contained in the quartz and associated with the
gold having been more or less decomposed near the surface by atmospheric
agencies, and the gold liberated by this means, so that the outcrops of the vein
were far above the average richness of the quartz. Since 1861, arid until within
the last year, the rock from this vein has yielded an average of $18 34 per ton,
while the expenses of mining have been about $6, and the cost of milling $3 25.
42 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
This would show a profit over and above the expenses of working of nearly 50
per cent.
In the latter part of 1864 the yield of the quartz from this mine fell, almost
without giving any warning, from $40 to $6 per ton, and for some time ceased
to pay expenses. During 1865 the yield was better, but it is still far from
affording as satisfactory results as in former years. The depth of the main
shaft is nearly 650 feet, and the length of the underground workings not far
from 1,400 feet. It is by no means certain that this mine is exhausted, and that
another sinking will not open up new bodies of valuable ore. There are too
many examples throughout California of mines falling off rapidly in their yield,
and meeting with barren zones of quartz, both in depth and 'on the longitudinal
extension of the vein, for any one to state positively that a lode which possesses
so many characteristics of permanence as the Princeton should be abandoned,
and that it will never again prove remunerative as in past years.
Near the northern end of the Mariposa estate are two mines known as the
"Pine Tree" and "Josephine," which have been worked for nearly sixteen
years. When this property passed into the hands of General Fremont these
mines were considered as being among the richest as well as most reliable in
California, and it is perhaps to be regretted that the anticipations formed at that
time have never been realized, for it is mainly owing to their failure that so
much discredit has been cast upon the quartz mining interest both at home and
abroad. These two mines are situated in close proximity to each other, and
although they have never .been connected by underground workings they prob-
ably are upon one and the same vein. The Pine Tree vein has a direction
nearly the same as that of the slates in which it is encased, or about northwest
and southeast, while the Josephine runs more nearly east and west, and the
axes of these two veins would form at their junction an angle of about forty
degrees. Work is just now abandoned upon this latter mine, but is being ac-
tively prosecuted on the former, and the quartz is said to be paying better
than was formerly the case, owing to a more careful selection and thorough
metallurgical treatment. The outcrops of these veins are at an elevation of
about fifteen hundred feet above the Merced river, and can be observed from a
long distance to the north. Neither of them can be followed or traced individu-
ally for any great distance upon the surface in such a manner as to preserve
their identity, and in this respect they in nowise differ from the great majority
of gold-bearing veins in California. In fact, the experience of mining in this
State has all tended to prove the fact that the longitudinal extension of these
veins is generally very limited, and that the metalliferous portion is always
considerably less in length than that of the quartz itself. This remark applies
equally to the niimerous copper-bearing veins which have been recently dis-
covered, some few of which are valuable, w^iile their " extensions" are almost
invariably worthless.
The outcrop of these mines is a very marked and noticeable feature in the
landscape. They form part of what is known as the great quartz vein of
California; which can be traced by its prominent outcrops about seventy miles
. north from Mariposa county, in nearly a straight line, continuing through Tuo-
lumne, Calaveras, and Amador. It cannot be proved positively that this is one
and the same vein, on account of the many breaks and interruptions which oc-
cur in its course, but certain it is that throughout this distance it preserves its
distinguishing characteristics, both geologically and lithologically in a most re-
markable manner. It furnishes some of the best gold mines in California, which
are conspicuous for the great regularity of their yield, and the depth which they
have attained. Along its course and in its immediate vicinity are some of the
most extensive placers, which, although now for the most part exhausted, have
in times gone by produced so largely that while worked they were regarded as
being among the richest deposits in California. It must not be presumed that
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 43
tliis great vein is gold-bearing throughout its whole course, or that even a nota-
ble proportion of the quartz which rises .into peaks and mountains between
Mariposa and Amador counties is auriferous. It is only here and there at wide
intervals that mines can be found which can be worked with a profit. Mr. Re-
mond enumerates twenty as being found in the region which he examined,
many of which are undoubtedly still experimental enterprises, and may yet be
abandoned.
The yield of the quartz from the mines situated on this great vein is gene-
rally low and somewhat under the average of the Calif >rnia quartz, but the gold-
bearing portion of the vein is always of greater width than elsewhere, and the
quartz can be mined at less expense than in those veins which are narrow and
encased in the harder varieties of metamorphic rock.
The gross production of the Pine Tree and Josephine mines has been, un-
doubtedly, very large, though it is utterly impossible to state, with any degree
of approximation, what it was previous to 1860. Since June, I860, the quartz
from these two mines lias been treated at the Benton mills, on the Merced river,
and from the time they commenced running until March of the following year the
gross yield was about $ 1 55,000. The quartz near the surface paid much better than
that which has been worked at the Benton mills. Not only does it appear to have
been absolutely somewhat richer, but, owing to the decomposition of the sulphurets
which existed in the Josephine, rock in large proportions, it lent itself to a more
ready amalgamation. Also, as it was worked in a ten-stamp mill, of compara-
tively email capacity to the Benton mills, which have sixty-four stamps, the
miiiipg superintendent was able to select his quartz with much more ease, and
send only the better quality to the mill.. The quartz from these mines in 1860
averaged about $9 per ton, and gradually grew poorer as the richer portions of
the vein were, worked out. The cost of mining, milling, and transportation
amounted to about $5 50 per ton. This amount of $9 per ton is what was
actually obtained in the mill, although there seems every reason to suppose that
much more gold than that was really contained in the quartz, and, in fact, more
has been lost and allowed to run to waste than has been secured. On several
occasions attempts have been made to ascertain what proportion was lost and
what saved, and it would appear that in the case of this quartz not more than
forty per cent, of the gold actually contained in it was saved in the process of
milling. The cause of this appears to be almost entirely owing to the very fine
state of subdivision in which it exists, for very few specimens show any gold
visible to the naked eye. Experiments are now being conducted on the Mari-
posa estate which seem to confirm this view, for on treating the quartz which
formerly only returned $10 or $15 per ton, by more careful methods of amal-
gamation, it has been made to yield between $40 and $50. It is not to be presumed
from this statement that all the vein consists of quartz of this richness; but
there is a large amount which will certainly yield, by improved processes of
treatment, much more than it has ever been possible to obtain from it by the ordi-
nary rough method.
3.— NORTHERN MINING DISTRICTS.
As we proceed northward from Mariposa county, the next most interesting
mine we meet with, situated upon the "Great Vein," is the App, near James-
town, a few miles from Soriora, the county seat of Tuolumne. This mine has
been worked almost uninterruptedly for nine years. The average yield of the
quartz has been at the rate of $ 15 52 per ton, and the expenses of mining and
milling have not exceeded $7 47 per ton. The yearly yield during this period
has varied from $13 26 to $19 47 per ton, and the lowest monthly return was
at the rate of $12 15; but even then a considerable profit was realized over and
above the expenses. The lower works of this mine now present as fine an
44 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
appearance as they have ever done, and when we regard the length of time
during which it has been successfully worked, the great regularity of the yield
of the quartz, and the various characters of permanency which the vein pre-
serves, we have strong reasons for arguing that it will prove as persistent in
depth as almost any other mine in California. In its external characters the
quartz from this mine resembles very much that taken from the Pine Tree mine.
The greater proportion, however, of the gold which it contains is in such a fine
state of subdivision that it rarely happens that any of it is visible to the naked
eye, and undoubtedly a great deal escapes amalgamation and is lost. By more
thorough treatment in the mill, there seems every reason to suppose that the
yield could be largely increased. Experiments have been lately instituted — and
they would appear to confirm this statement — most fully showing that by more
careful amalgamation the quartz, in some instances, can be made to yield from
50 per cent, to 140 per cent, more gold without a corresponding increase
in the expense of treatment. Attention is now being given to this important
matter throughout California, and experiments are being made in several mills
to ascertain to what extent the gold is lost in the process of treatment, and how
far it will be economical to erect new machinery for the purpose of saving it.
The gold which is contained in the auriferous quartz exists either in such minute
particles as to be quite invisible, and not distinguishable from the quartz itself,
else in pieces of larger size, which can be readily seen and separated by pul-
verization and washing, or by the simplest forms of amalgamation, or else com-
bined, probably mechanically, with the sulphurets of iron, zinc, and* lead. In
the first and last cases it is amalgamated with great difficulty, and it rarely hap-
pens in any of the mills of California that more than a small proportion of the
gold is saved. When, however, it is in the state of free gold, as in the second
instance, a notable proportion is secured by the most simple methods, and it is
not likely that additional machinery would increase the yield sufficiently to pay
for its cost. In the quartz from a vein upon the Mariposa estate, known as the
"Mariposa," there are but comparatively few sulphurets present, and from
repeated assays made from the tailings from the mill it would appear that
almost 90 per cent, of the gold contained in the quartz was secured, while at
the Benton mills, working upon Pine Tree quartz, only between 30 or 40
per cent, was saved. In this connection it may not be uninteresting to show
what has been done in this direction in other countries, and how far it is possi-
ble to increase the yield of very refractory gold-bearing ores by careful working
and skilful treatment. One of the oldest, and, when we consider the rebellious
character of the ores, one of the most successful gold mines in the world is
that of St. John Del Key, in Brazil. The company now in possession has
been in operation thirty-six years, and though, like nearly every other mining
compan}', it has had its full share of ups and downs, the general results
obtained have been most satisfactory to the shareholders, and it was only
through the most careful, economical management of both the mining and
milling departments that this end has been arrived at. There is no quartz
mine in California which has ores in any quantity of so complex a nature or
of so difficult a treatment as those of St. John Del Key. They consist prin-
cipally of specular iron mixed with sulphuret of iron, magnetic pyrites and
quartz. The auriferous mass at this mine is about forty-four feet in width, and,
like most of the gold-bearing veins of California, dips with the rocks in the
vicinity at an angle of about 45° to the southeast. *
The vertical depth upon which this deposit has been worked is now 1,068
feet. Before the present company came into possession it had been worked
for a hundred years, and was considered exhausted.
A recent number of the London Mining Journal gives some interesting details
* Whitney's Metallic Wealth of tlie United States, p 1J2.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 45
with regard to the present financial position of this company, and as these favor-
able results were only obtained by economy in the management and skilful
treatment of the ores, which yield far less than the average of California quartz,
I will give a condensed statement of their operations for the last thirty-six years.
The effective capital of the company is <£ 129,000, divided into 1,100 shares, and
there has been paid in dividends d£756,245, or ,£68 15*. per share. There is on
hand a reserve fund of c£41,506, and the value of the property of the mine is
estimated at c£209,743, showing a total profit during the thirty-six years' work-
ing of <£ 1,007, 494. The produce of the mine during this period has been
,£2,902,480, and the expenses c£l, 894,986, or 653 per cent, of the gross re-
ceipts. The average yield of the ore raised and treated has been at the rate of
4£ oitavas per ton of 2,240 pounds. This is equivalent to about $S 50, or
$7 59 reduced to the usual Califorinia ton of 2,000 pounds. The yield for the
last three years has been as follows : '
1863, 5,787 oitavas per ton, at $1 89 per oitava, $10 94; 1864, 4,827 oitavas
per ton, at $1 89 per oitava, $9 12 ; 1865, 5,479 oitavas per ton, at $1 89 per
ton, $10 36.
During this period of the total amount of gold contained in the ore there was
extracted the following percentage :
1863, 72.35 per cent. ; 1864, 75.52 per cent. ; 1865, 77,95 per cent.
The various processes heretofore employed in California for amalgamating
gold have been of the simplest possible description, and, although probably in a
majority of instances where the gold was clean, free and uncombined with the
sulphurets of iron, lead, copper, and zinc with which it is so frequently associ-
ated, these methods worked well, and the erection of expensive machinery,
which would necessitate slower working1, would not be warranted by the facts
of the case. Yet it has often happened, particularly in those mines situated
upon the course of the " Great Vein," that quartz which has been known to con-
tain gold in paying quantities has not yielded when treated in the mill more
than sufficient to pay expenses, and sometimes has been worked at a loss. This
would appear to be chiefly owing to the inefficiency of the apparatus employed
to collect and save the gold, which may have been in a very fine state of sub-
division, or coated with a thin film of oxide of iron arising from the decomposi-
tion of pyrites, which prevents the mercury from adhering to it without the use
of more vigorous mechanical or chemical means than are usually employed.
At and near Sutter creek, in Amador county, there are several very excel-
lent mines situated upon the course of the " Great Vein." The most noted of
these is that belonging to Messrs. Hay ward & Co., and known as the Eureka.
This mine has been worked for about eleven years, and has produced probably nearly
as much gold as any other in California. The quartz has never averaged very
high, and the principal production has been from ores of a low grade, not yield-
ing probably more than from $10 to $15 per ton. The mine is situated at the
junction of the slates and greenstone, the hanging or eastern wall of the vein
being of the latter material, hard and compact, while the foot-wall is of a dark
and soft argillaceous slate. The depth of the lowest workings is now 1,213 feet
on the incline of the vein, which makes this shaft the deepest in the United
States. The length of the underground workings is about 600 feet, and at the
north and south extremities the vein thins out rapidly. The richest portion
of this vein appeared to be at a depth of between 1,000 and 1,100 feet, where
the quartz is said to have yielded nearly $30 a t-n. The great depth attained
in this mine shows conclusively that we cannot draw any general conclusions
with regard to exhaustion of quartz veins at an inconsiderable depth. It is true
that in nearly every quartz mine of California the outcrop has been found to be
much richer than the main body of the vein at even a short distance from the
surface, but it must be borne in mind that many of the veins, and in fact a
majority of them, contained gold associated with various mineral sulphurets,
IP
46 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
which were decomposed and the gold infiltrated down for some distance below
the suiface of the ground, causing the upper portion to appear abnormally rich.
Thus the gold contained in the first few feet of the vein may be the result of
the degradation of many tons of quartz ajpd the decomposition of a large quan-
tity of sulphurets. It is only by taking the results afforded by the treatment
of quartz during a series of months that anything like a correct average of the
value of the ore can be obtained, and although this Eureka mine has probably
yielded as regularly as any other prominent mine in California, it has been sub-
ject to great irregularities, and frequently the quartz has barely paid expenses.
The popular idea that mineral -bearing veins grow richer as they are worked
upon in depth, is a fallacy, and has no truth either in theory or fact ; nor can
we say that true veins, as distinct from veins of segregation and mineral deposits,
grow poorer as we proceed downwards. I do not suppose there is a metalli-
ferous vein in the world that is equally rich for any considerable distance, either
lengthwise or up and down, and the valuable portion is almost always very
limitel in extent compared with the main body of the vein. Some of the silver
veins of Mexico, which have produced such enormous sums, have been traced
for miles, and on their course have furnished many valuable mines, but by far
the greater proportion of the vein has been barren and unproductive. The Oom-
stock vein of Nevada, which has already produced upwards of $60,000,000
worth of bullion, has been productive only over about one-seventh of its explored
length.
These remarks apply with great force to the gold quartz veins of this coast.
The ore exists iii bunches or else in shoots or chimneys which cut the axis of
the vein at every conceivable angle between the horizontal and the vertical, and
these are always less than the length of the vein itself and sometimes than its
width also.
It frequently happens, that these ore-shoots have distinct terminal lines, and
in these cases the experienced miner is enabled to select his ore and avoid ex-
tracting that which he knows is too poor to pay. On other occasions, however,
it would appear that the gold is distributed without any regularity and appa-
rently in the most capricious manner. When we consider the richness of the
veins, the length of time that some of the mines have been worked, and the
amount of gold annually produced, the most important quartz mining region of
California is without any doubt that of Grass valley, in Nevada county. Here
mines have been worked uninterruptedly since 1851. It is true there have been
periods when the interest jvas more than usually depressed and several of the
mines, which are now regarded as being among the best, were thought to be ex-
hausted, and abandoned for the time being, but in many instances when work
was resumed new bodies of gold-bearing quartz were opened up which proved
rich and valuable. The veins in this district, and particularly those which have
been the most productive, are noted for their narrowness as well as for the rich-
ness of the quartz. They are incased in a hard metamorphic rock, and the ex-
penses of mining are, as a general thing, higher here than anywhere else in
California, amounting, as they do in some instances, to from $20 to $26 per ton.
Within the last fourteen years the total production from the quartz mines of the
Grass Valley district has not been far from $23,000,000. The most prolific
vein has been that situated upon Massachusetts and Gold Hill, which alone has
produced more than $7,000,000 worth of gold during this time from a lode which
will only average a foot or fourteen inches in width.
The " Eureka" is another prominent and leading mine in this vicinity. One
great feature of interest connected with it is the gradual improvement of the
quartz as greater depth has been attained upon the vein, which varies in width
from three to four feet. This mine was first worked in 1854, and more or less
ever since that period. About one year ago the property changed hands, and
since that time the yield of the mine has been greater than at any previous
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 47
time. When this vein was. first worked and down to a depth of about thirty-
five feet from the surface, the yield of the quartz was from $6 to $12 per
ton, which but little more than paid expenses. Below this level the value of
the quartz rapidly increased from 814 to $21, and at the one hundred foot
level the quartz paid at the rate of $28 ; at the two hundred foot level the
average was about $37, and now, between the second, and third levels or three
hundred feet from the surface the .average yield has been during the last four
months at the rate of over $60 per ton. The quartz contains from two to
three per cent, of sulplmrcts of iron, which are said to assay generally about
$300 per ton,- and are regarded as being amang the richest in Grass valley.
These sul,.hun.-rrf are-worked by parties in the neighborhood, who charge $50
per ton and n:;uni whatever gold id extracted to the proprietors pf the mine.
During the f'nur months which preceded the first of October the mine produced
42,227 x- tons of quartz, which yielded $255,072 55. and the expenses of mining
and milling were $67,320 83, leaving as profit $187,751 72. The average
yield of the quartz during the period Avas at the rate of $60 33 per ton. Dur-
ing the whole year the amount of quartz worked was 11.375JJ tons, which pro-
duced $526,431 41, at an expense of $168,389 23, leaving as profit for the whole
year $368,042 IS The average yield per ton was $47 15, and the average cost
of mining and milling was $13 75, leaving a profit of $33 40 per ton.
4.— MINING IN THE SIERRAS; MILLS, EXPENSES, &c.
In thus dismissing the Grass Valley district with only a brief description of
two of its leading mines, I do not intend to detract at all from its past, present,
or future importance, for there is no region in California, or probably upon the
Pacific coast, where, by a careful study of the numerous veins in this neigh-
borhood, so much information could be obtained which would throw light upon
the vexed questions relating to gold mining and the metallurgical treatment o±
the quartz.
As we proceed north from Nevada county, the next most important quartz
mining district is in the mountainous region round about Downieville, the county
seat of Sierra. The placer mines in this vicinity have been exceedingly rich,
and Fin-passed only by those in Nevada county in extent and permanence.
Quartz mining, however, has received but comparatively little attention until
"within the last few years, probably owing to the rugged nature of the country
and the severity of the climate during the winter months.
The most noted mine in this county, as well as Uie one which has produced
most largely, is that known as the Sierra Buttes. This mine is about fourteen
miles from Downieville, at an elevation of probably not less than 7,000 feet
above the sea. The vein is enclosed in a hard metamorphic slate, and varies
in width from six to thirty feet. In the process of working, the whole thick-
ness of the vein is not removed, and the richer portions, which lie next the
fool-wall, are sent to the mill. The average width of this more productive
streak is about twelve feet. The. depth upon which this vein has been worked
is not far from 750 feet, and the quartz in the lower portion of the mine is said
to pay as well as that taken from the upper works. Quartz from- near the sur-
face of this vein was worked in arrastras as early as 1851, but the first mill was
erected in 1853. The present owners have been in possession of the property
since 1857, and the yield of the mine has been, during the last nine years, ap-
proximately as follows :
Gross yield. Expenses. Profits.
1857 $51,000 $15,000 $36,000
1858 55,000 15,000 40,000
1859 88 000 20,000 68,000
48 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
1880
Gross yield.
$120 000
Expenses.
$37 000
Profits.
$83 000
1861
198 000
4£ 000
150 000
1862
166,000
54,000
112,000
1863
156,000
57,000
99,000
1864
90 000
75 000
15 000
1865.. ..
196 000
64 000
13-\000
1,120,000 385,000 735,000
The yield of the quartz varies generally from $14 to $17 per ton, and the
cause of the falling off'in the gross product during 1863-'64 was the great scarcity
of water, which necessitated the erection of a flume at an expense of $40,000.
The principal expenses attending the working of auriferous quartz are the
cost of extracting the quartz from the mine and its subsequent treatment in the
mill. With regard to the first no general data can be given, for the amount
paid for mining varies from $1 50 to $26 per ton. It is dependent upon the
hardness of the quartz ; the hardness of the country rock in which the vein is
encased ; the relation which the auriferous portion of the vein bears to that
which is barren ; the depth of the workings, and finally the amount of water in
the mine, and whether it has been drained by adits or pumping. As a general
rule, however, it may be assumed that in the case of large veins, or those which
exceed five or six feet in width, that the cost of extraction will be from $1 50
to $6, arid that the total cost of mining and milling will not be more than $7
or $8 per ton under any circumstances.
With regard to the milling expense, however, we have accurate data to fol-
low, and these are not much affected by change of locality.
The mills are generally situated in close proximity to the mines, for the differ-
ence between the cost of running a steam and a water mill is almost always less
than the cost of hauling the quartz for any distance by teams. The mills are
of nearly ail sizes and capacity, and vary from those which have only two or
three stamps to those which have forty-eight. The weight of these stamps is
from 400 Ibs. to 1,000 Ibs., and they are run at a velocity varying from 50 blows
to 80 blows per minute and fall from 10 to 14 inches. The favorite weight
would appear to be about 650 Ibs., with a fall of 12 inches and a velocity of
from 60 to 70 blows per minute. It is generally assumed that a ten-stamp mill,
with stamp of 550 Ibs., falling^! 2 inches and striking 60 blows a minute, will crush
12 J tons of ordinary quartz in the twenty-four hours.
The mills which are moved by water power alone are situated either on the
banks of rivers and streams where the water is free, or else the water is con-
veyed to them by a flume from some neighboring ditch and sold at a price
which is generally the result of special agreement.
In the case of steam mills the fuel is always a principal item of expense.
Wood — either pine or oak — is universally employed, and costs from $2 to $4 50
and even $5 per cord. Oak, when the two can be obtained and are equally
convenient of access, generally costs one-third more than pine and is regarded
as being nearly twice as valuable for steam purposes. The mean amount of
fuel consumed in the steam quartz mills of California is not far from 0.164 cord
for each ton stamped. The prices paid for labor in the mining towns is still
very high, and in many cases operates as an effectual barrier to the working of
some quartz mines. First class miners receive from $3 to $3 50, and in some
cases as high as $3 75 per day, while ordinary laborers receive from $2 to $2 50.
In the milling of quartz the item of labor is generally from 60 per cent, to 75
per cent, of the total expense. In mining the proportion which this item bears
to the whole cost is much greater, so that it is easy to perceive to what an ex-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 49
tent a reduction of wages would operate in favor of the quartz mining interest
of this coast.
The mercury that is used in the process of amalgamating is derived entirely
from the California mines, itnd generally costs the miner about sixty-five cents
per pound ; very little, however, is lost in the mills when proper care is observed,
and this item of expense is insignificant, for it rarely exceeds six ounces for each
ton of quartz treated, and frequently falls below this amount.
The average cost of milling quartz in the various mills of California may be
stated as follows :
In water mills, when water is free $1 22 per ton of 2,000 pounds.
In water mills, when water is purchased 1 60 per ton of 2,000 pounds.
In steam mills 2 14 per ton of 2,000 pounds.
It is very difficult to state, even approximately, what is the present average
yield of the quartz from the California mines. It is probable, however, that it
has not varied much within the last five years, and in 1861, taking the returns
from those mines which were at that time believed to be profitable concerns, it
was at the rate of $18 50 per ton. The two extremes were a mine in Grass
valley, which was yielding at the rate of $60 per ton, and another at Angels,
in Calaveras county, where the quartz only paid $5, and was still being worked
at a small profit.
I remain, very respectfully, yours,
WM. ASHBURNER,
Mining Engineer.
J. Ross BROWNE, Esq., Statistical Commissioner.
SECTION 3.
CONDITION QF GOLD AND SILVER MINING ON THE PACIFIC COAST.
1. Decrease of yield. — 2. Export of treasure from California. — 3. Receipts from northern
and southern mines. — 4. Comparison of receipts and exports. — 5. Quartz yield increasing.
— 6. Uncertainty in quartz mining. — 7. Professor Ashburner's statistics. — 8. Esmond's
statistics. — 9. Pulverization of quartz. — 10. Amalgamation of gold. — 11. Sulphurets and
concentration. — 12. Chlorination. — 13. Gold in loose state. — 14. Placers. — 15. Cement
mining.— 16. Hydraulic mining. —17. River mining.— 18. The Haquard quartz mine. — 19.
Sierra Buttes mine. —20. The Allison mine.— 20^. The Eureka mine.— 21. Smartsville
Blue Gravel Company's mine. — 22. Profits of mining generally.— 23. Difficulties of
getting good claims. — 24. Comstock lode, the most productive in the world. — 25. Corn-
stock mining companies. — 26. Quajtz mills in Nevada. — 27. The pan. — 28. The Wheeler
pan. — 29. The Varney pan. — 30. Knox's pan. — 31. Hepburn pan. — 32. The Wheeler
& Randall pan. — 33. Estimated yield of various mines.— 34. Assessments levied. — 35.
The Gould & Curry mine.— 36. The Ophir mine.— 37. The Savage mine.— 38. The
Yellow Jacket mine. — 39. The Crown Point mine. — 40. The Hale & Norcross mine. —
41. The Imperial mine. — 42. The Empire mine. — 43. Productive mines of Reese river.
—44. Yield of various silver districts. — 45. Improvements in silver mining.
1.— DECREASE OF YIELD.
The first fact in the condition of gold mining in California is that the yield
is and for the last thirteen years has been decreasing. We know this by the
concurrent testimony of the miner, by the^decrease in the traffic of crude
bullion, and by the decline of the exports of gold. No record is kept of the
amounts taken from the mines, and our best evidence in regard to the produc-
H. Ex. Doc. 29 4
50 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
tion is furnished by the reports of the receipts and shipments by express and
steamer. From these we can get an approximation sufficiently near to serve
all general purposes. The gold yield of California reached its culminating
point in 1853, and the exportation of treasure, which rose in that year to
$57,000,000, gradually fell until 1861, when it was $40,000,000. Then the
silver of Nevada and the gold of Idaho began to come in, and the amount of
the shipments rose again.
2.— THE EXPORTATION OF TREASURE FROM CALIFORNIA.
The following table shows the amount of treasure manifested for exportation
from San Francisco :
Years. Amount.
1849 $4, 92 1 , 250
1850 ..... 27, 676, 346
1851 42, 582, 695
1 852 46, 588, 434
1853 57, 330, 034
1854 51, 328,653
1855 45, 182, 631
1856 48, 880, 543
1857 48, 076, 697
1858 47, 548, 025
1859 47, 649, 462
1860 42, 203, 345
1861 40, 639, 080
1862 42, 561, 761
1863 46, 071, 920
1864 55, 707, 201
1865 44, 984, 546
Total 740, 832, 623
It is well known, however, that this sum is far less than the total production
of the coast. In the first place about $45,000,000 must be added for the amount
of gold and silver now in use in the Pacific States and Territories for currency ;
that amount being the estimate made by experienced bankers.
A second allowance must be made for gold jewelry and silver plate made in
the country, and for specimens of nuggets and rich ores, the value of which
may be $5,000,000. Many of the miners in remote camps bury their gold
dust until they are ready to return to the Atlantic coast, and $5,000,000 may
be laid by in that manner. But the greatest variation between the production and
the manifested export was caused by the custom, common among passengers
bound eastward, of carrying their dust or coin on their persons, so that no one
knew how much they took. Thus there is no manifested export for 1848, and
less than $5,000,000 for 1849, and less than $28,000,000 for 1850, while the
actual production and exportation of those years was about $100,000,000. We
can safely put down the amount carried away in sixteen years unmanifested at
$200,000,000, and by this calculation we shall have a total production of about
$1,000,000,000 from the coast up to the end of 1865. Of this sum all has
come from the mines of California, save about $100,000,000 contributed by
Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, and British Columbia. The
accounts, however, of the contributions from these States and Territories have
not been accurately kept, with the exception of Nevada, so it is impossible to
give any precise statement of them.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
3.— RECEIPTS FKOM NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN MINES.
51
The express company of Wells, Fargo & Co. transport nearly all the treasure
produced on the coast, and they could, from their books, show the shipments
of coin and bullion from every large mining town west of the Rocky mountains ;
but they have considered it advisable to allow the publication of the receipts of
treasure at San Francisco only from the principal districts since 1860.
The following table shows the receipts of treasure, coined and uncoined, from
the northern and southern mines of California :
Years.
Northern mines,
California.
Southern mines,
California.
Total, Califor-
nia.
3861 .
$26, 346, 431
$9,363,214
$35,709 645
1862
28, 138, 021
8,154,702
36 292 723
1863
25,429,157
7,411,931
3£ 841 088
1864 * ...
22, 804, 677
6 858 153
29 662 830
1865
24 557 570
6 428 960
30 986 530
Of the treasure thus received at San Francisco, about $4,000,000 annually is
in coin, leaving the remainder to indicate the value of the dust and bars.
The "northern mines," as mentioned in the above table, include all those
districts which send their treasure to San Francisco by way of Sacramento, or,
in other words, all the interior of the State north of latitude 38° 30', while the
"southern mines" include those districts which send their treasure by way of
Stockton. To express it differently, the term "northern mines," as here used,
means the counties Siskiyou, Shasta, Trinity, Plumas, Butte, Lassen, Sierra,
Yuba, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Sacramento, and parts of Calaveras and
Amador, while the term "southern mines" means Tulare, Fresno, Inyo, Kern,
Stanislaus, Mono, Mariposa, Tuolumne, and parts of Calaveras and Amador.
The extension of the railroad from Sacramento to the vicinity of Placerville, in
1863 and 1864, drew to Sacramento some trade that previously went to Stock-
ton. The receipts from the southern mines show a marked and steady decrease.
During the first nine months of 1866 the receipts from the southern mines were
$3,418,436.
Receipts from Nevada and the northern coast.
The receipts from other places are the following :
Years.
Nevada.
Northern coast.
Foreign ports.
1861
1862
$2, 275, 256
6, 247, 047
$4,931,579
$1,702,683
1,904,084
18H3
12, 486, 238
4 970,023
2, 156, 612
1864 ... .
15 795 585
8 052 968
1 715,024
1865
15 184 877
7 495 766
1 709 390
The "northern coast" means those mines which send their treasure to San
Francisco by ocean steamers plying to ports of Northern California, Oregon,
and Vancouver island. The term "foreign ports" excludes Victoria, and in-
cludes Mazatlan, Guaymas, La Paz, Honolulu, China, and Japan. San Fran-
cisco stands on a long peninsula, and all the traffic with the gold and silver
mining regions is done across water. The yield of the northern mines is
brought by the Sacramento steamers; the yield of the southern mines by the
Stockton steamers; the yield of the northern coast by the northern coast
steamers, and the imports frorr foreign ports are brought by other vessels.
52
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
The sources of the receipts are classified according to the vessels in which
they are brought. These receipts are, however, not all in the precious metals
as they come from the mines and mills, but portions are in coin.
Thus the coin included in those receipts was $9,363,214 in 1861, $5,593,421
in 1862, $6,383,974 in 1863, $5,743,399 in 1864, and $4,961,922 in 1865.
No accounts have been kept of the coin sent to the interior; but all this coin
received must have gone from San Francisco, which has the only mint of the
coast, and is the point at which nearly all the passengers and treasure arrive.
4.— COMPARISON OF RECEIPTS AND EXPORTS.
The following figures show the exports, the receipts, and the difference be-
tween exports and receipts for the last five years :
Years.
Exports.
Receipts.
Difference.
1861 .
$40, 639, 080
$43 391,760
$2 752 680 gain.
3862
42, 561 , 761
49 375,462
6 813 701 "
3863
46,071,920
52, 953, 96J
6,38^,041 "
1864
55, 707, 201
55, 228, 907
478 794 loss.
1865
44, 984, 546
55 467 573
10 483 027 gain
The total amount of coin receipts for the five years was $32,045.928; and
the excess of receipts over exported during the same period was $25,952,655.
A large part of the coin received must have belonged to the regular circulation
of the country, going and coming with the current of trade. The receipts of
treasure at San Francisco during the first nine months of 1866 were $3,000
less than in the -corresponding period of 1865.
The year 1862 was unfavorable to mining in California because of a great
flood, and 1863 because of a great drought; and some special unexplained in-
fluence may have operated to reduce the production and shipment in 1865; but
the annual gold yield of California cannot now be safely estimated at more than
$27,000,000. Several millions of each year's produce of the precious metals
may be retained on the coast for purposes of currency, ornaments, and table-
ware.
5.— QUARTZ YIELD INCREASING.
The yield of the quartz mines is increasing slowly, as we know by the gen-
eral testimony of the miners and by the increase of quartz mills ; but there are
no statistics to show the rate of increase. Although some mines have paid
steadily at about the same rate for the last ten years, the business generally is
very uncertain. Thus it appears from a report made by Mr. Eemond, State
geological surveyor, that of sixty-three mills built in TuoJumne and Mariposa
counties, between the Merced and Stanislaus rivers, thirty-eight were not running
when he visited them between August and November, 1865, and in many in-
stances the veins had ceased to yield quartz rich enough to pay. And so it is
in every part of the State where quartz mills have been built — a considerable
portion of them have been abandoned as very unprofitable investments. And
yet every week new and valuable veins are discovered, and they cannot be left
unwoiked ; and though many quartz miners fail, yet others are deriving princely
revenues from their claims.
Grass valley, the chief centre of the quartz mining of California, is becoming
richer every year. It is safe to estimate that the capital invested in quartz
mines* and mills is yielding an average profit of twenty per cent, per annum, and
that the average yield is at least three dollars per day for the men regularly at
WEST OP THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 53
work on mines which have been fairly opened. There are in the State a multi-
tude of men engaged nominally in quartz mining who really spend much of their
time in prospecting and lounging about, unwilling to work hard for ordinary
wages, but preferring to ramble over the country in the hope of striking a for-
tune. As to the well-known mines, the yield on some of them is more than
twenty dollars per day to the hand the year round.
6.— UNCERTAINTY IN QUARTZ MINING.
There are certain elements of uncertainty in quartz mining not found in farm-
ing or manufacturing. The farmer, on looking at the soil, knows that it will
produce grain enough to support him ; he can ascertain precisely what it will
cost him to transport his grain to a market, and so can calculate how much
money he will receive from an ordinary crop. There is a possibility of a great
drought or a great blight, but he has, perhaps, a little capital as a reliance in
such a case, and he makes his estimates on the basis of an average season. If
he cannot afford to risk anything, he does all his work with his own hands, and
he cannot lose more than his time.
The manufacturer is uncertain about the price which he must pay for the raw
material, but he knows the world will have the goods, and will pay as much to
him as to anybody else, and if he can manufacture a little cheaper than others
he is certain of his profit. If he is incompetent to manage the business success-
fully, some one else can afford to buy him out at the cost of the building and
machinery and make it pay. When a manufacturing establishment is once
erected by a person of judgment and experience, it is presumed that the business
will go on steadily for generation after generation. The supply of the raw ma
terial and the demand for the manufactured article, at least if the goods are not
of the sort required by fickle fashion, will remain constant.
But with gold mining it is different. Auriferous quartz lodes have paying
quantities of metal only in spots or streaks. The law of the distribution of the
precious metals in veins is yet unknown. The quartz may be traced for miles,
but only here and there will it pay to work. No mineral lode anywhere is
worked, I believe, with much profit for more than two continuous miles, and it
is seldom that the pay-rock extends more than one thousand feet along a vein.
The great quartz lode of Mariposa, called sometimes the mother vein of Califor
nia, has been traced, it is supposed, for thirty miles or more ; at least croppings
of a large lead of the same quality of quartz, nearly in a straight line, ^re seen
at various points between Bear valley, in Mariposa county, and Angels, in Cal-
averas county ; and it is assumed that these croppings all belong to the same
lode. In some places this vein is very rich, but the rich spots are not long, and
are far apart, and in the intervals the rock is nearly or entirely barren. The
miner may find quartz containing ten dollars to the ton, and he knows if the
supply is abundant he may make a fortune from his claim ; but to explore the
lode requires a large capital, and there is no certainty of any return. The rock
is too poor to work without a mill, and there is not enough in sight to justify the
erection of a mill. If he takes the risk, and the pay-rock is eoon exhausted, his
mill, in that position, becomes worthless, and he loses the cost of all his frame-
work, roads, and ditches, which, with the transportation, is frequently greater
than the cost of the machinery proper. The manufacturer knows that his sup-
ply of cotton, wool, iron, leather, or wood, will not fail altogether, and if it be-
comes scanty he can raise his price so that his work will still be profitable ; and
the farmer knows that his soil will produce grass and grain as long as he lives ;
but the quartz miner does not know that the supply of his pay-rock will keep
steady, and if it runs short he cannot expect the price of the precious metals to
rise so that he can sell his produce for a higher pace per pound.
There is, again, a great diversity in the facilities for quartz mining at different
54 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
places. The farmer or the manufacturer usually goes into a level country with
open roads, and after ascertaining the distance to the market and the cost of trans-
portation, he can decide whether he can afford to go into business. Perhaps he
would find fifty places within a range of ten miles, all equally good for his farm
or his factory. But with the miner the case is different. The mines are usually
found in the mountains, where there are no roads, water is not conveniently ac-
cessible, and wood is scarce. The rock in one part of the lode is hard, in another
soft; in one there is much sulphuret of iron, in another little. It is relatively
cheaper to work a wide streak of pay rock, other things being equal, than a nar-
row one. The mill may be far or near; it may be above the level of the mine,
or below it; the water for washing the pulverized rock may be obtainable for
only part of the year, and the gold may be found in thick masses so that the
workmen can conveniently pilfer considerable quantities. Many of the mills
are in secluded places, where men of wealth do not like to live, and thus the
property is put in charge of hired men, who lack the zeal and care of a pro-
prietor. These are some of the points in which there are serious variations. It
may safely be said that a farmer owning a hundred acres of rich soil on a prairie
within twenty miles of any large town of Illinois is certain of being able to
make a very comfortable living ; but a miner with a vein of auriferous quartz
yielding ten dollars to the ton, within ten miles of a California town, is not cer-
tain of anything until he has examined the vein, its position, its size, the char-
acter of the vein-stone and accompanying minerals, and the proximity and quan-
tity of wood, besides a number of other particulars.
These are some of the diversities of circumstances which beset quartz mining
in different places, and render it impossible to give a statement of the expenses
of taking out rock, building a mill, and reducing the ore, applicable to the ma-
jority of the mines. It is useless to attempt to convey any precise idea about
matters -in which the variations are so great between the workings of different
mines, and between the workings of the same mine at different times. All that
• can be done is to collect the facts in regard to the operations of the mines and
mills of which we have reports, so as to show the range.
7.— PROFESSOR ASHBURNER'S STATISTICS.
In 1861 Professor TV. Ashburner, connected with the State geological survey,
prepared a tabular statement of the operations of the principal quartz mills then
running in California. Of these there were four in Mariposa county, eight in
Tuoluinne, three in Calaveras, seven in Amador, three in Eldorado, two in
Plumas, two in Sierra, and nine in Nevada — thirty-eight in all.
It appears from his table that in seven of the mills the stamps weighed 400 and less
than 500 pounds each; in eight mills the weight was 500 and under 600 pounds;
in eight the weight was between 600 and 700 pounds ; in eight it was 700 and
less than 1,000 pounds ; in two it was 1,000, and in one 1,500.
The height to which the stamp was raised when allowed to fall varied from
eight to fourteen inches. In ten mills the height was ten inches ; in six, twelve
inches ; in five, fourteen inches ; in four, thirteen inches ; in one, eleven inches ;
in one, eight inches' ; in one, nine inches.
In thirteen mills the speed of the blows was from sixty to sixty-five inclusive
per minute ; in ten mills it was from fifty to fifty-eight ; in three mills it was
from forty to forty-eight ; in three mills it was seventy ; in three mills it was
eighty ; and in one mill it was thirty-two per minute.
In six of the steam-mills the consumption of wood for ten tons of ore crushed
was from a cord to a cord and a half; in eight mills it was from a cord and a
half to two cords ; in two mills it was from two to three cords ; in three mills
it was less than a cord ; in one mill it was over three cords, and in another five
cords.
The loss of mercury is reported for twenty-nine mills, and in two the loss is
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 55
less than a pound in working one hundred tons of quartz ; in twenty-one the
loss is less than a pound in working ten tons ; and in six the loss is over one
pound in working ten tons. The lowest loss is seven pounds in working one
thousand tons, and the yield of the rock there is reported to be $25 per ton, and
the highest is one hundred and ninety-eight pounds for one thousand tons ; and
in that case the rock is reported to yield $17 14 per ton. The general rule is,
however, that the higher the yield of gold, the greater the loss of quicksilver per
ton, because more must be used.
The cost of extracting the quartz is reported for twenty-eight mines. In
eight, it is $2 and less than $3 ; in four mines it is $3 and less than $4 ; in two
mines it is $4 and less than $5 ; in five mines it is $5 and less than $6 ; in three
mines it is $6 ; in two mines it is less than $2 ; in three mines it is between $7
and $14; in one mine it is $15; in another $20 ; and in another $26.
The average yield per ton was $5 and less than $10 in four mines ; $10 and
less than $16 in eleven; $16 and less than $55 in five; between $25 and $40,
inclusive, in seven ; between $50 and $75 in four, and $80 in one.
In seven mills the cost of stamping per ton was 50 cents and less than $1 ;
in seven $1 and less than $1 50 : in five $1 50 and less than $2 ; in four $2
and less than $3 ; in three $3 and less than $4.
In thirteen mills the total cost of treatment (which includes crushing, amal-
gamation, and all the handling after the delivery of the quartz at the mill, and
loss of quicksilver) was $2 and less than $3 per ton; in seven mills it was $1
and less than $1 50 per ton ; in four mills it was over $1 50 and less than $2 ;
in two mills it was less than $1 ; in five mills it was between $3 and $4; and in
three mills it was respectively $4 59, $6 27, and $8 31. The cheapest tr^at-
ment was that of the Badger mine, in Amador county, where the cost was only
67 cents per ton.
a— ESMOND'S STATISTICS.
In the months of August, September, October, and November of the year
1865, Mr. A. Remond, in the service of the State geological survey of Califor-
nia, visited all the quartz mines and mills in operation, or that had been in op-
eration, in those portions of Tuolumne and Mariposa counties lying between the
Merced and Stanislaus rivers. The following is a list of the mines and mills
thus visited :
No. Mine. Mill.
1. French Mary No mill.
2. Hope Brichman's.
3. Victor Victor.
4. Mount Hope Mount Hope.
5. Catherine Catherine.
6. Cranberry Yosemite.
7. Rutherford No. 6.
8. Ferguson's Ferguson's.
9. Cedar : Cedar.
10. Empire , Empire.
11. Mary Harrison Old French Mill.
12. Malvina New French Mill.
13. Adelaide Crown Lead.
14. McAlpine McAlpine.
15. Louisiana Louisiana.
16. Schimer's Low Mill.
17. Funk's Funk's (2) Mills.
18. Casabon's Casabon's.
19. Goodwin's Eclipse
56 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
20. Derrick's Derrick's.
21. Humbug ... Humbug.
22. Blue Ledge , Black's.
23. Heslep's Heslep's.
24. App's App's.
25. Morse's No mill.
26. Orcutt's Orcutt's.
27. No mine * Ryerson's.
28. Eureka Eureka.
29. Summers's Summers's.
30. Grizzly Grizzly.
31. Excelsior Excelsior.
32. Dagner Dagner.
33. Mt. Vernon No mill.
34. Monitor Monitor.
35. Green's Green's.
36. Pirate Pirate.
37. Independence Independence.
38. Great Eastern .No mill.
39. Comstock No mill.
40. Soulsby Soulsby.
41. Independent No mill.
42. Gilson's, (old mine) Gilson's.
43. Jackson's No mill.
44. Calder's No mill.
45. No mine Wheeler's.
46. Consuelo Consuelo.
47. Waters's Waters's.
48. Watts's Watts's.
49. Union Union.
50. Alabama Alabama.
51. Gilson's, (new mine) Gilson's, (No. 42,
52. No mine » Washington.
53. Toledo Labitour.
54. Raw Hide Raw Hide.
55. Shanghai * Shanghai.
56. Columbia Columbia.
57. Patterson's Patterson's.
58. Valparaiso Valparaiso.
59. Turner's No mill.
60. Preston's Preston's.
61. Italian Occidental.
62. Old Whiskey Hill Wood's Crossing.
63. Nyman's Nyman's.
64. John Knox's t No mill.
65. No mine Widow Hill.
66. Clio Clio.
67. Shawmut Shawmut.
68. Josephine Stetson's.
69. Eagle Eagle.
70. Italian , No mill.
71. Nonpareil Duprat's.
72. Burns ' No mill.
73. No mine Cross's.
74. Second Garote Pacific, (No. 75.)
75. Morkam . . , Pacific.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
5?
76. Kanaka Pacific, (No. 75.)
77. Phoenix . ., Phoenix.
78. Mohrmann's No mill.
79. Kenney's Kenney's.
80. Golden Rule Golden Rule.
81. Golden Rule, (No. 80) Golden Rule, (No. 80.)
82. Golden Rule. (No. 80) Golden Rule, (No. SO.)
83. Brown's Flat Brown's Flat.
84. Zuckermann's Zuckermann's.
Number.
Average width of lode.
Average yield per ton.
s.
fa-
o
•s
o
O
1
**
1
Cost of treatment.
ft
C
.2
II
ja
I
"o
1
•-i
fi
1
1
o
0
Kind of amalgamating
machinery.
Cost of roads.
£ .
11
'O 3
o
8
o
O
1
Ft. in.
1 6
$12 00
-
2
3
1
1
6 00
10 60
$3 00
$i 66
$1 50
Not running
Not running
$4, 000
3,000
Water..
Water..
10
tc.
{C &A
$500
100
$500
1 000
4
3 500
Water
5
100
1 000
S
G
7
1 2
2 6
1 6
32 50
18 00
25 00
14 00
3 50
1 25
2 00
3 00
3 00
Not running
Running. ...
3,000
3,000
Water. .
Water..
3
5
C. & A.
C.
1,000
1,000
'600
1,200
8
g
20 00
6 000
Water
B
C
500
1 000
i)
11)
1
1 6
40 00
40 00
4 00
2 50
2 50
Running . . .
Ruined •
3,000
Water..
5
c.
*
90
'150
11
3
14 00
4 00
1 00
2 66
Steam
15
*
330
12
10
19 00
1 75
2 00
Running
Steam
*
150
13
14
IS
16
17
2
1
1 6
1
1
6 00
37 50
25 00
15 00
1 00
4 00
4 00
3 00
1 25
2 00
75
None.
75
2 00
2 00
2 00
Not running
Not running
Running . . .
Not running
42,000
10, 000
6,000
6,000
5 700
II w. & s.
Water..
Steam..
Steam..
Water
25
8
5
8
10
*
*
c.
6,500
100
50
4
100
18, 000
200
None.
None.
500
1ft
1 6
15 00
Not running
6,000
Water..
8
c
100
3 000
19
20
2
1 6
15 00
25 00
4 00
2 00
12 00
1 50
1 50
3 00
50
1 50
4 00
3 00
Not running
Not running
4,000
3,000
2 300
Water..
Water..
Water
8
6
4
c.
c.
1,000
1,500
50
1.000
500
500
22
23 00
5 00
2 00
3 00
Not running
1,500
Water..
4
c
None
500
S3
24
10
6
12 00
18 00
2 50
3 00
40
75
200
2 50
Running . . .
Running
12, 000
4,500
Water..
W. & S.
10
10
c.
X
300
500
1,200
"•->
1 6
27 50
2 00
50
6 00
50
26
"7
2 6
25 00
2 00
50
6 00
Running.. .
3,000
20 000
Water..
Water
5
*
50
100
86
4
14 00
4 00
None.
2 75
Running .
28, 000
Water . .
"0
*
1 500
29
30
3
7
15 00
17 50
2 50
4 00
50
50
2 50
6 00
Not running .
Not running
6,000
Water..
W. & S.
8
90
*
*
5
2 200
300
1 200
31
32
33
2 6
1
1
60 00
40 00
3 00
4 50
50
None.
1 00
1 75
Not running
Not running .
13, 500
22,000
Water...
Steam . . .
10
10
*
2,000
None.
500
None.
34
35
36
1 <3
1
1
30 00
80 00
25 00
3 00
10 00
9 50
None.
None.
50
2 00
3 50
3 50
Running ....
Running.. ..
7,000
4,000
10 000
Water...
Steam...
Water
5
5
10
C & A
1,000
None.
300
None.
37
36
4 6
2
40 00
20 00
4 37i
50
2 75
Running ....
15,000
Steam...
10
None.
39
1 6
2 50
40
4!
1 3
10
27 50
36 00
8 00
None.
3 75
Running ....
20, 000
Steam...
20
c.
None.
4-2
43
1 6
6
52 50
107 00
12 00
None.
4 50
Not running .
9,000
Steam...
10
c: & A.
None.
None.
44
1 2
45
"W t
7 500
10
*
3 6
No*, finished
Water
20
£J
47
48
50
9
2
2
25
1 4
6 00
180 00
8 00
10 00
40 00
2 00
60 00
I 00
1 50
13 00
25
25
25
None'.
1 25
1 75
7 00
1 75
1 00
6 00
Running ....
Not running .
Not running .
Running ....
3,000
800
2,000
1,500
Water...
Water...
Water...
Water...
6
3
8
4
C.
C.'
1,000
None.
50
150
1,000
600
2,500
500
200
None.
53
1 °00
Water
3
c
None
None
53
3 6
4
10 00
25 00
2 00
None.
2 00
Not running .
14, 800
Water...
Water
15
]0
c.
c.
1,000
4,000
55
56
2 6
3 6
40 00
9 00
5 00
2 UO
None.
60
2 00
250
Running.. ..
Not running .
4.000
15, 000
Water...
Water...
10
15
c.
c.
None.
1,000
100
4 000
58
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Number.
Average width of lode.
Q
2
I
2
1
L
P«
§
li
CM
O
1
O
P
o
1
1
"o
.2
11
!*
1
f
'i
o
1
O
ti
o
I
rg C5
fl-
S3
1
Number of stamps.
Kind of amalgamating
machinery.
Cost of roads.
•o
1
Is
*J
<S<*
57
58
Ft. in.
4
2
$8 00
80 00
$2 00
25
None
$2 50
Not running.
$6,500
3 000
Water...
Water
10
fi
C.
c
$400
$1, 200
59
2 6
None.
None
(]()
10
o 00
60
I 50
"W f
4 ooo
Water
10
C
300
500
01
62
63
64
6 6
15
4
1
20 00
15 00
17 00
65 00
4 00
50
3 00
None.
50
90
1 50
1 50
1 00
Not running.
Running
Running
6,000
2, 000
4,000
Water...
Water...
Water...
12
4
10
C. & A
C.
C. & A.
400
1,000
1,000
300
1,200
1,000
65
5
Q
^
66
67
68
5 6
1 6
8
15 00
25 00
8 00
3 00
2 75
2 00
75
None.
None.
2 00
1 50
1 50
Not running .
Not running .
Not running .
5,000
H,000
7,500
Water...
Steam...
Water
10
10
1,000
2,000
800
16, 000
None.
500
69
70
2
8
12 00
3 50
50
2 00
Running
11, GOO
Water...
10
C.
2,500
3,000
71
30 66
Water
5
" *
72
4
20 00
1 00
1 12
4 50
73
T?
4 500
10
'*
74
1 6
i mg
75
4
14 00
1 50
40
3 66
Not running .
3,666
Water.
*>
C. & A.
76
8 00
2 00
2 00
3 00
77
2 6
15 00
200
Water
A
78
2 6
7()
5
15 00
1 000
Water
A
80
8
40 00
1 00
2 00
Running
2' ooo
Water
5
c
50
400
SI
1 300
2
*
200
8°
12 000
W'lter
15
*
"
83
84
6
1 6
40 00
40 00
11 00
5 00
None.
1 50
4 00
Not running .
3, 500
4 UOO
Water.
Water
4
4
C. & A.
C
None.
1,500
* The amalgamating >apparatus in the mills marked with the asterisk is given below.
1 C. copper plate. } C. & A. copper plate and arrastra. || W. & S. water and steam. § A. arrastra.
In numbers 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 25, 30, and 40 the average yield is obtained by
dividing the sum of two figures given by Mr. Remond. For instance, the
average yield of mine No. 5 is given above as $32 50, whereas Mr. Remond
says the yield is from $25 to $40. In the same manner the cost of exiraction
in No. 37 is given at $4 37J, whereas Mr. Remond says it is from $2 75 to $6.
Mines Nos. 59 and 70 yield coarse gold, which is taken from the rock after
pounding it in a hand-mortar.
In mill No. 11 Hungarian pans are used, and in No. 12 Hungarian pans and
an arrastra; in No. 13, Patterson's pans and separators; in No. 14, copper
plates and amalgamating pans ; in No. 15, Salmon's amalgamator and Salmon's
separator; in No. 23, copper plates, an arrastra, a Beath's grinder, and a Sal-
mon's concentrator; Nos. 26 and 37, copper plates and blankets; in No. 27,
a centrifugal grinder, a Ryerson's pulverizer, a super-heated steam apparatus,
and a shaking table ; in No. 28, shaking pans and a Chili mill ; in No. 29,
copper plates, shaking pans, and an arrastra ; in No. 30, cast-iron barrels ; in
No. 31, copper plates and a shaking pan; in No. 32, copper plates, arrastras,
and a shaking table ; in No. 34, an Ambler's concentrator, a shaking table, and
arrastras; in No. 35, copper plates and a Beath's amalgamator; in No. 45,
Varney's pans and a concentrator; in Nos. 66 and 67, copper plates and Knox's
pans ; in No. 71, copper plates, a Farrand's amalgamator, and a settler; in No.
73 Varney's pans and a settler, and in No. 82, copper plates, shaking tables,
and an arrastra.
It appears that the average thickness of 21 lodes is from 1 to 12 inches,
inclusive ; in 2(), from 13 to 24 inches, inclusive ; of 9, from 25 to 36 inches,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 59
inclusive ; of 10, from 37 to 48 inches, inclusive ; of 9, from 5 to 10*feet inclu-
sive ; and of 2, over 10 feet.
In 9 mines the average yield is under $10 per ton ; in 22 it is between -$10
and $19, inclusive; in 14 it is between $20 and $29, inclusive; in 14 it is be-
tween $30 and $49, inclusive ; in 3 it is between $50 and $69, inclusive, arid in
4 it is over $70. Only one mine has a yield as low as $4 ; three have a yield
of $6 ; 4 of $8, and 1 of $9.
The cost of extraction per ton depends, to a considerable extent, upon the
thickness of the vein, or, rather, of the pay -rock in the vein. In mine No. 48
the vein is only two inches thick, and it costs $60 to get out a ton of ore, while
in No. 62 it costs only 50 cents to take out a ton of rock from a vein 15 feet wide.
In 1 mine the cost of extraction was under $1 ; in 8, between $1 and $1 90 in-
clusive; in 14, between $2 and $2 90, inclusive; in 9, between $3 and $3 90,
inclusive ; in 9, between $4 and $4 90, inclusive ; in 7, between $5 and $9 90,
inclusive, and in 7, $10 or more.
In 16 mines there is no cost of transportation of ore to mill, the extraction
covering that expense ; in 23 mines the cost is less than 90 cents ; in 7 mines
it is between $1 and $1 90, inclusive ; in 6 it is $2 or more.
In 1 mill the cost of treatment is 75 cents ; in 14 mills it is from $1 to $1 90,
inclusive ; in 19 it is from $2 to $2 90, inclusive ; in 9 it is from $3 to $3 90,
inclusive, and in 9 it is $4 or more. The richer the rock, as a general rule, the
more expensive the treatment. The quartz of mine No. 48, yielding $180 to
the ton, costs $7 for treatment.
Of the mills visited by Mr. Remond in 1865, 38 were not running, 25 were
running, 2 were ruined, and 2 were unfinished. Of those not running, some
were standing idle for want of water, others had exhausted the pay-rock within
sight and were preparing for further explorations, and the owners of a third
class had no expectation of resuming work, having found it unprofitable, but
hoped to sell or intended to move their machinery.
The cost of each of 11 mills was under $2,900 ; of 20 mills it was between
$3,000 and $3,900, inclusive; of 14 it was between $5,000 arid $9,000, in-
clusive, and of 14 it was $10,000 or more.
The number of stamps in 10 mills was 4 or less ; in 22 mills, between 5 and
9, inclusive; in 20 mills, between 10 and 14, inclusive; in 10 mills, 15 or more.
The power in 52 mills is water; in 11 mills, steam ; in 3, water and steam.
In 31 mills copper plates were used alone for amalgamating, (outside of the
battery;) in 3 the arrastra was used alone; in 7, copper plates and arrastra;
and in 26, other devices, with or without copper plates or arrastras.
At 25 mills the roads cost less than $1,000 for each ; at 12 mills, between
$1,000 and $1,900, inclusive; at 4 mills, between $2,000 and $2,500, inclusive;
at 1, $6,500 ; and at 15, nothing.
At each of 21 mills the ditches and flumes cost less than $1,000 ; at 13 mills
the cost was between $1,000 and $1,900, inclusive; at 3, between $2,000 and
$3,900, inclusive; at 3, $4,000 or more; and at 14, nothing.
The county assessor of Nevada county, California, reported the statistics of
the quartz mines and mills of Grass valley and Nevada for the year ending
October 1, 1866, as follows :
60
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
List of quartz mines at Nevada City and Grass valley.
Name of company.
No. of rneri em-
ployed
Engines.
00
p.
1 '
02
J&
o
2
(4-1
o
02
a
1
1,
0} £3
b£ Q
s
•5
GRASS VALLEY TOWNSHIP.
Eureka Mining Company
175
S
"0
11 400
$50
Union Hill
100
3
4'0
J,000
40
Cambridge (new) . . ..
75
S
10
40
5
12
7 000
30
lone . ...
70
9
10
3 000
20
Forest Springs ............ .. ...
(j
10
4 500
50
Empire
80
4
36
6 000
45
Hewston Hill
65
3
1,500
100
New Orleans Mill . .
5
1
8
1 700
Cust
Noramba°"ua .
100
1
50
Lone Jack. ....
£5
1
40
Golden Rock, (new)' .. .......... .......
10
20
Atlantic Cable (new)
4
20
Wisconsin .
40
1
1 000
50
Laton Mill
5
1
g
5 000
Cust
Lucky
50
2
15
5 600
25
Ophir Hill, (new). .
20
9
Black Ledge .-
1
30
Sebastopol
4
1
12
2 000
Cust
Hartery Mine. ...... ...... ...... .... ...... .... ......
50
i
8
4,000
20
Central (newj
4
i
Gold Hill Mill
Q
j
20
2 000
Cust
Gold Hill Mine
10
i
Frankfort
10
200
14
Perrin's Mill
15
5
400
8
Inkerman ..... ..... ... .. ... .. ......
10
100
25
Lamarciue
4
40
Shangliae.
20
200
60
Almaden
15
500
25
Independent (new)
4
Pike Tunnel (new)
10
Burdett
10
i
Badger
20
i
Osborn Hill
30
s
1r>
100
Spring Hill.
20
i
Larimer Mill
4
8
1,000
New York Hill .
40
9
500
60
Rocky Bar *
60
4
in
3,500
23
North Star
140
3
16
7, 000
30
Merrirnac .. .... . ....
25
9
10
2,000
20
Coe Mining Company .
2
Town Talk Mining Company
10
1
8
Redan . . .. . ....
35
1
Betsey .
1
60
Alta Hill
1
8
Slate Creek
20
Smith Mining Company .
40
Murphy Mining Company
5
15
1
1
Idaho
1
5
1
5
1
Byers's Ouartz Mill
2
4
Shamrock Company
5
600
25
Omaha , .. . . .. .
4
60
22
Hill and Farnani Metallurg. ......
4
Total..,
1.601
284
71, 420
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
List of quartz mines, fyc. — Continued.
61
Name of company.
No of men em-
ployed.
i
Sb
W
I
.2
OJ
M
o
2
CM
O
B
1
M
O
P.
&g
S3
o>
3
NEVADAR TOWNSHIP.
Palmer's 'Mill
4
1
4
Gust
I3anner - . ............... ...........
40
9
10
Neva<la Quartz Minin°" Company .. .......
30
19
$6
Providence
8
1
12
1,200
8
Oriental
4
1
8
800
Gust.
Sneath & Clay
55
3
12
6,000
New York ..... . ......
35
3
3,000
Murchie Mill
13
8
French Mill
4
1
6
600
Gust.
Forest Hill Mill
4
§
5
California (new) . . ...........................
20
1
30
Wigham Mill . •
9
90
Cornish Mill
4
6
100
30
Pennsylvania
0
4
Willow Valley
Gold Tunnel
6
4
Federal Loan . .....................................
9,
15
Stiles's Mill . .
6
8
2,500
25
Total «
230
°4
142
14 200
Grass valley is the most productive gold-quartz mining district in the world.
The annual yield of an area drawn by a radius of four miles is $3,500,000. The
number of laborers employed in the mines and mills is 2,000, showing an average
yearly production for each person of -$1,750, and the average yield of the rock
worked is $30 to $35. The lodes are narrow, none of them exceeding seven
feet in width, and most being less than afoot. They contain much pyrites,
and this fact contributes with the narrowness of the veins to make the average
expense of extraction and reduction high — about $ 15 per ton. Some of the works
have been sunk to a depth of 400 feet, but most of the pay-quartz is obtained
within 200 feet of the surface. •
9.— PULVERIZATION OF QUARTZ.
The main processes of quartz mining are extraction, crushing, and amalgama-
tion. The extraction of auriferous quartz from the vein is like that of ores
generally. Any person familiar with copper mining can in a few days learn to
be a good gold miner. The quantity of copper ore can usually be discovered
by a glance, but in auriferous quartz it is often necessary to pulverize a piece
of the quartz, and wash the powder in a spoon or little basin to see whether it
will pay to extract. The cost of tunnels and shafts for opening mines in such
rock as is usually found about the auriferous lodes is from ten to fifteen dollars
per lineal foot. *
Ninety-live per cent, of all the crushing in California is done with stamps.
The stamp is a block of iron, weighing from 300 to 1,500 pounds, fastened to a
wooden or iron shaft, usually iron. A battery consists of several stamps standing
side by side, and in most mills the number of stamps is five or a multiple of
62 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
five. The stamps are successively lifted by machinery, and then allowed to fall
on the .quartz. The height to which they are raised is from ten to fifteen
inches, and each stamp falls from forty to eighty times in a minute. It is cal-
culated that each stamp should crush a ton of quartz of ordinary quality in
twenty-four hours. The mills usually run night and day. Of course, the amount
of quartz crushed depends to a considerable extent on the hardness of the rock,
the weight of the stamp, the height of the fall and the rapidity of the blows.
The fineness to which the rock must be pulverized depends on circumstances.
The particles of gold may be very fine, so that the quartz must be reduced to
an impalpable powder before they can be liberated ; but if the particles of gold
and the grain of the rock are coarse, or if the pulp is to go through a grinding
pan, the quartz may be allowed to escape when many of the particles are as coarse
as sea-sand, or even coarser. The battery has on one side a screen of wire-cloth,
or perforated sheet-iron, with apertures of the size of the largest particles that
must be permitted to escape. A steady current of water runs through the battery,
so as to carry away the quartz dust as soon as it is fine enough. The sheet-iron
screens are punched with needles, and are known by the numbers. No. 7 screen
is punched with a cambric needle ; No. 3 with a darning needle.
In Grass valley most of the mills use Nos. 3 and 4 screens ; elsewhere Nos.
4 and 5 and 6 are preferred.
A multitude of crushers have been tried to break up the quartz before it is
given to the stamps or other pulverizing apparatus, but the number in use is
very "small. Those principally in use consist of two heavy iron jaws, which are
wide apart at the top, and close together at the bottom, and as they work back
and forth, the quartz is smashed between them. The quartz is usually in pieces
not larger than goose eggs when delivered to the battery, and it is broken this
size either by sledge-hammers, or by a large stamp, kept for the purpose of
breaking up the large stones.
The musket-ball pulverizer has been tried as a substitute for stamps, and the
report is favorable, but the trial has not been sufficient to command the confi-
dence of miners. It is an iron barrel which revolves twenty-four times per min-
ute on a longitudinal, horizontal axis. Inside of the barrel are a number of
chilled iron balls weighing an ounce each. The quartz is introduced in particles
not larger than a grain of wheat, and in two hours it is reduced to an impalpable
powder.
Another pulverizer, that has been tried without attaining favor, is an iron
star or wheel without a rim, which makes 1,000 or 1,500 revolutions per minute
in an iron casing. The quartz is thrown with great force by the arms against
the casing and is dashed into fragments by the concussion. The casing is so
made witji little offsets that the quartz strikes at right angles.
10.— AMALGAMATION OF GOLD.
Much of the gold is caught or amalgamated in the battery. The stamps fall
into an iron box or mortar, into which Efn ounce of quicksilver is thrown for
every ounce of gold supposed *o be in the quartz. If the rock is crushed fine
in the battery, two-thirds or three-fourths of all the gold saved may be caught
there, leaving one third or one-fourth that escapes through the screen.
After leaving the battery, the pulverized quartz in most mills runs down over
copper plate which has been washed over with diluted nitric acid, and then
rubbed with quicksilver till the whole surface is covered with amalgam. The
particles of gold running over this surface adhere and form amalgam; and when
the plate is covered with gold it operates far more effectually than when the
quicksilver is fresh. Gold unites more readily with gold amalgam than with
pure quicksilver, The copper plate, which is the bottom of a trough or sluice,
may be fifty'or a hundred feet long. Kustel in his book on Nevada and Call-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 63
fornia processes of silver and gold extraction (page 16) says, copper plates as a
means of amalgamation are " very imperfect and mostly abandoned." Imper-
fect they may be, but they are still used in most of the quartz mills of the State,
and in some of the best, or at least in some of those which produce the largest
amounts of bullion.
Between the copper plates in many mills are troughs, in the bottom of which
are laid coarse blankets, or gunny-bag, or even cow-hide with the hair on and the
grain against the stream. Gold amalgam and sulphurets are caught in the
rough surface of the blanket, gunny-sack, or hide, which must be taken up and
washed at intervals, which are usually not more than half an hour long.
The shaking table used in amalgamation is a long box with transverse divi-
sions containing quicksilver. It is set horizontally and is shaken longitudinally,
receiving from 100 to 200 short jerks in a minute. By these jerks the pulp is
thrown back upon the quicksilver.
At the Hayward mine the pulp runs out from the amalgamating battery over
a wide pine board, across the grain, and the appearance of the amalgam on this
board is supposed to give the best indication whether the proper quantity of quick-
silver is being used in the battery. If too much, most of the amalgam runs off,
and the little caught on the board is in brilliant round globules ; and if not
enough, the amalgam has a rusty look.
The arrastra is extensively used for amalgamating, and it has the merits of
cheapness, grinding well, adaptability to any place, kind of power, economy of
water, and facility of working ; but it is slow, and is therefore not in favor in
large mills.
Atwood's amalgamator, used in many mills at Grass valley, consists of level
troughs with quicksilver at the bottom ; and over the troughs are horizontal re-
volving cylinders with projecting spikes, which stir up the quicksilver and the
pulp as the latter passes over the trough.
.Pans are coming into use slowly in the gold quartz mills — at least in some of
the new ones lately erected in Grass valley. Kiistel says of pan amalgamation
that it is " at present the most perfect gold manipulation," and by it "gold is
extracted as close as ninety-five per cent, of the fire assay" — that is, if there are
no sulphurets. (Nevada and California processes, page 63.) The general
opinion is that from twenty to forty per cent, of the gold is lost in the ordinary
processes. The pans used are mostly like those that will be described as being
used in the silver mills of Nevada. There is, however, one pan not used for sil-
ver reduction that has found some favor with gold miners. This is Baux and
Guiod's pan, which has a tight-fitting cover. The pulp runs constantly with a
stream of water down into the pan through a tube at the side, and the light mat-
ter after being ground runs up and out through a tube in the centre. There is thus
a constant feed and discharge, while in nearly all the other pans a batch of ore
is put in and worked, and then taken out to make room for another batch.
The Rverson amalgamator is an air-tight chamber in which quartz that has
been crushed very fine by some dry process is subjected to the influence of su-
per-heated steam for half an hour as a preparation for the quicksilver, which is
then introduced and converted by the heat into a vapor, in which form it is sup-
posed to pervade the pulp and get access to all the gold. Cold water is injected
to condense the quicksilver, and the pulp is drawn up to be separated. .
11.— SULPHURETS AND CONCENTRATION.
But after the pulp has passed through all the amalgamating processes cus-
tomary in gold quartz mills, it is found that in many ores much of the gold is
lost because of the presence of sulphurets of iron and copper. The presence
of the sulphurets appears to chill the quicksilver and prevent it fro^pi taking hold
of the gold, and many particles of gold appear to be enveloped by them. The
64 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
gold can be separated from the pyrites, but heretofore the separation has been
effected mainly in establishments specially devoted to that purpose, and not in
the ordinary mills. It is customary to save the sulphurets and sell them to the
sulphuret works, or keep them until there may be a sale for them. But for
the purpose of saving them, they must be separated from the earthy and rocky
matter in the pulp, and this is called concentration. Tho sulphurets have a spe-
cific gravity of 4.5, while quartz has a specific gravity of 2.6. By this
difference in density, it is possible to separate the two.
There are several patent concentrators in use, all made of ir*on, and shaped
like shallow pans. The one more used than any other has a bottom that rises
from the edge to the centre, where there is an outlet through which the lighter
material runs away. This outlet is, of course, not so high as the rim. This
pan turns on a perpendicular axis, and is shaken back and forth by two hun-
dred short jerks per minute. A hole in the side is left open for the escape of
the sulphurets, which flow out in a steady stream ; and lower down is another
hole, which is opened when the heavier matter is to be taken out.
One of the best cheap concentrators is a long and wide rocker with a flat
bottom and a slight inclination^ A boy can work one of these concentrating
rockers for a large mill, and the cheapness of the machine and the slight power
i ^q aired for it are great advantages. The sulphurets are arrested by cleets in
the bottom of the rocker, and need to be taken out at intervals of half an hour.
Any sluice serves also, to some extent, for concentration.
12.— CHLORINATION.
The most approved method of reducing auriferous sulphurets is chlorination.
As a preparation for this process the sulphurets are roasted. They are placed
in an oven brought to a red heat, retained in that condition for about six hours,
or until the smell of sulphur has disappeared. After they have cooled the sul-
phurets are sprinkled with water, shovelled over, and put into wooden tubs or
boxes, so made that chlorine gas can be introduced at the bottom and made to
rise all through the mass. The tub or box is kept closely covered, and chloride
of gold, which is soluble in water, is formed. After the lapse of four or five
hours water is let in, and the chloride of gold is dissolved by it ; the solution is
drawn off into glass vessels, and some sheets of iron are put in ; the chlorine
unites with the iron, and the gold falls as a purplish-brown powder to the bot-
tom of the vessel.
13.— GOLD IN LOOSE STATE.
Gold mines are divided into the two main classes of quartz and placer, but at
Whiskey Hill, near the town of Lincoln, in Placer county, about thirty miles
from Sacramento, a large mass of loose slate rock is found, containing consider-
able pyrites and about six dollars of gold to the ton. The material is so soft
that eight tons can be crushed by a stamp in a day. It is supposed that below
the water-line a vein of hard auriferous copper ore will be found. The mass of
auriferous slate in the hill is large, and the mine is considered very valuable,
one-half of it having been sold for $175,000. Similar bodies of auriferous slate
mixed with clay are found at Lander's ranch, Placer county, and at Telegraph
City, im Calaveras county.
14.— PLACERS.
Placer mining is decreasing every year. Every month witnesses the exhaustion
of some rich placer district, or its exhaustion at least for the present. It
may be that in the future, when laborers can be employed for fifty cents per
day, claims which cannot be worked now will be in demand.
There are Iftrge bodies of gravel that contain just gold enough not to pay,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 65
at the present rates of water and labor, and it is evident that both must be
cheaper after the lapse of a few years.
But although land might pay the miner, it may pay the farmer still better,
and the State should give every preference to the' latter, who beautifies and en-
riches the soil, while the miner destroys it.
Notwithstanding the continuous decline of the placer mining interest for ten
years past, there are yet, and long will be, very rich placers. Some of the de-
posits of gold in clay and gravel are so protected that a score of years may
elapse before they can be reached. On the sides and near the base of the Sierra
Nevada are innumerable hills that are destined to come down before the hy-
draulic pipe of the miner. One of these hills commences near the town of You
Bet, in Nevada county, and extends sixteen miles up the mountain side, with a
height of two hundred feet, and a width of a mile ; au£ there is reason to believe
that the foundation throughout its length is a bed of rich auriferous cement.
15.— CEMENT MINING.
The cement deposit is a stratum of very tough clay enclosing gravel and
boulders ; and the clay is so stubborn that it will not dissolve in a sluice-box,
and it has been necessary to crush it in mills. The material is heterogeneous ;
the clay is soft under the stamp ; some of the gravel is hard, and other soft.
The gravel is not auriferous, but it must be crushed, so as to permit the crush-
ing of the clay. Several attempts have been made to separate the stones from
the remainder of the mass without crushing them, but without success. As the
stones contain no gold, all the power spent in crushing them is lost ; but at
present there is no other way, nor is it probable that any mode of separation
can be devised. One stamp will crush from four to six tons of cement per day,
and the cement stamps are only about half as heavy as quartz stamps. The
pulverization is not so fine as in quartz ; the sheet-iron screen through which the
cement pulp escapes is punched with holes that vary from a sixteenth to an
eighth of an inch in size. The particles of clay that escape are so small that
they are easily dissolved in the water. The gold is caught in the battery, and
that which escapes through the screen is caught in the sluice. It is a singular
fact that many of the hills of the present day stand upon the beds and precisely
indicate the course of the streams of a former geological epoch. The existence
of a layer of basalt or volcanic rock along the top of these hills indicates that
currents of lava followed the streams, and after hardening protected the gravel
under them from being washed away by the great aqueous agencies which wore
down the rock and earth in the neighborhood to a depth of more than two thou-
sand feet in some places. So common are auriferous channels under the hills
that the term "rim rock" has long been in common use among miners to indi-
cate that part of the bed rock which separates the lowest portions of the channel
from the outside of the hill on both sides. In some districts it is taken for
granted that if a tunnel is cut into a basalt- covered hill at the proper elevation
the channel of the ancient river will be found.
16.— HYDRAULIC MINING.
Most of the placer gold of California is obtained by hydraulic mining ; the
most profitable placer claims, as a class, are those worked by the hydraulic pro-
cess ; and the most prosperous mining counties are those which have the
largest areas suitable for piping. The yield in some of the claims is as $100
per day to the hand, and occasionally twice or thrice as much, but the average
is probably $10 or $15, of which about half goes to pay for wages, water, and
other expenses.
H. Ex. Doc. 29 5
66 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
17.— RIVER MINING.
Nearly all the river beds have been washed, but they are washed over and
over again. The rivers are to be regarded as large sluices into which all the
Nfine gold that escapes from the adjacent mining operations is carried and de-
posited ; and thus there are some river beds that pay for a short time to wash
every year. The yield, however, is not large, and miners take to the rivers
only as a last resort.
In Trinity and Klamath counties, California, there is a large area of ground
that is comparatively undeveloped ; and that is the best region in the State for
the miner who wants to work on his own account, and on a small scale. The
country is rugged, the climate wet and cold, the roads bad, and there is some
danger of Indians ; but on the other hand there is much gold to reward the
skilful miner who is willing to face the hardships and dangers of -the place.
18.— THE HAYWARD QUARTZ MINE.
The Hay ward claim is one of the notable mines of California. It is situated
on Sntter creek, Amador county. The vein is peculiar in its character.
The quartz is in places almost a powder, and is mixed with slate and clay.
The length of the ground worked is about one hundred and sixty yards, and
both north and south the vein seems almost to disappear. The average yield
of the rock is not high, although some very rich and beautiful specimens have
been found in it. The mine has been worked since 1851, and the rock has al-
ways given a good average yield, but it is during the last eight years that the
mine has risen to much importance. The total product is stated to be $6,000,000.
The yield per ton and the width of the vein have been gradually increasing,
and now at a depth of 1,200 feet the former is $25, and the latter twenty-five
feet. The works are by far the deepest in the State, and as the mouth of the
mine is estimated to be nine hundred feet above the sea, the lowest works must
be three hundred below the surface of the ocean. Professor Whitney speaks
thus of the mine, in the first volume of his geological report, written several
years ago : " The vein is enclosed in a dark-colored, rather soft argillaceous
slate. In the Eureka the mass of vein stone is from eight to twenty feet wide,
but in the Badger it widens out suddenly to forty feet.
" The length of ground worked in both mines is about four hundred and sev-
enty feet ; to the south of the Badger shaft, which is on the south end of the
mine, there is hardly any quartz to be seen, and the lode, which is eight feet
wide on the north side of the Eureka, pinches out very rapidly in that direc-
tion, so that the body of quartz worked is very short in proportion to its great
width, being almost a column, or chimney, rather than a vein. At the junction
of the two veins there is a large mass of slate and soft clay mixed with a little
quartz, which is often in a state of fine powder. *
" Few if any mines in the State have been more uniformly and permanently
successful, while the yield of gold to the ton of rock stamped is quite low."
19.-SIERRA BUTTES MINE.
The Sierra Buttes quartz mine is one of the most noted and most valuable
mines in the State. It is situated at an elevation of 6,000 feet, on the south-
western slope of the Downieville Butte, and twelve miles from the town of Dow-
nievilie. There are two lodes, but most of the auriferous rock is obtained from
the cliff ledge, which averages about twenty feet in width, and of this about
eleven feet in thickness on an average are worked. In some places the pay
streak is only two feet wide, in others seventeen. The average yield of the
quartz is about eighteen dollars per ton.
Thfe quartz is bluish white in color, and is very hard when first taken out,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 67
but it crumbles after having been exposed to the air for a time. The gold is
disseminated in small particles through the rock, and in most of the quartz the
metal is scarcely visible to the naked eye. There are few sulphurets, and there-
fore amalgamation is easy. About two -thirds of the gold is caught with quick-
silver in the batteries, after leaving which the pulverized quartz is carried by
water over about a hundred feet of copper plate covered with quicksilver, and
then over a blanket, below which are some arrastras which are owned by differ-
ent parties who pay for the tailings and the water.
The following is an authentic statement of the annual yield, expenses, and
dividends since the mine came into the possession of the present company :
Years. Yield. Expenses. Dividends.
1857 $51,000 $15,000 $36,000
1858 55, 000 15, 000 40, 000
1859... 88,000 20,000 68,000
1860 120, 000 37, 000 83, 000
1861 198,000 48,000 150,000
1862 166,000 54,000 112,000
1803 156,000 57,000 99,000
1864 90, 000 75, 000 1,5, 000
1865 ,. 196,000 64,000 132,000
No assessments have ever been levied. The produce of the mine has paid for
all the improvements. The yield in 1866 is better than ever; and the charac-
ter of the lode has remained almost the same wherever they have worked it,
without notable difference between the surface and the deepest workings.
20.— THE ALLISON MINE, &c.
The Allison mine at Grass valley is one of the richest and most productive
in the State. It had been worked with almost uniform profit for the ten years
The average thickness of the lode is about eighteen inches, and the rock yield
from $30 to $150 per ton. According to the best information obtainable by tl.
State geological survey 14,858 tons were reduced between March, 1857, ar
December, 1861, and the average yield was $50 per ton or $942,900 in a
Since the summer of 1862 the mine pays better than before. The lowest wo
ings are nearly 500 feet deep, and the lode at that depth is three feet wide, w
rock that averages $100 to the ton. The owners refuse to give any sta
ments of their receipts or expenditures, but the men employed in the mill s
the yield is $40,000 per month, or $400,000 for ten months' work in a yea
and of this sum two-thirds or more is clear profit. The claim has been work
for a length of about 1,400 feet.
The Norambague mine at Grass valley has yielded more than half a milli
dollars in the last five years. The average yield of the ore is about $75 p
ton. The deepest workings are 500 feet from the surface, and drifts have be
run J ,000 feet along the course of the lode.
The following is a statement of the operations of the Eureka mine at Gr<
valley for the year ending September 30, 1866 :
Receipts from bullion $531, 431
Total expenditures at mine 192, 648
Dividends 90, 000
Net profits 368, 042
Tons of quartz crushed 11, 375 I
Average yield per ton 47 li
Average cost per ton crushed 14 80
Average cost of 1,500 tons 18 00
Average cost of remainder per ton 13 75
68
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
The following is a statement of the operations of the same mine for four months
ending September 30, 1866:
Receipts from bullion $248, 072 55
Dividends 90, 000 00
Total expenditures at mine 69, 430 04
Net product of mine 187, 751 72
Tons of quartz crushed
Average yield per ton
4,227 00
60 33
The Rocky Bar claim on Massachusetts Hill, near Grass valley, has produced
about $1,500,000 in the last six years.
The Princeton vein, in Mariposa county, has yielded $2,000,000 within the
last twelve years, but lately it has produced very little, and for a time work on
it was abandoned.
21.— THE SMARTSVILLE BLUE GRAVEL COMPANY'S MINE.
The richest placer mine in the- State is that of the Blue Gravel Mining Com-
pany, at Smartsville, in Yuba county. The yield since March, 1864, has been
as follows :
1864. March $9,381
May 24,275
June 7,000
July 22,350
August 3,485
September 49, 440
October 24, 669
December 45, 093
1865. January 2, 723
February 24, 051
March 44,981
1865. May $24, 000
June 50, 118
August 24,679
September 46, 500
October 26,660
December 37,000
February 23,746
April , 43,423
June 23,880
August 42,494
1866.
Total 599,948
The gold is obtained only when the sluice is cleaned up ; and the cleaning up
occurs sometimes at intervals of two or three months, and there is no yield for
the intervening months. The claim will continue to pay for many years, and
probably it will be richer than ever, for the miners have not yet reached the bed
rock. The claim covers an area of about a hundred acres on a long hill or
ridge that stands over the bed of an ancient stream. The hill is made up of
numerous layers of gravel, sand and boulders, with a rim of rock at the bottom
on each side of the hill. To get access to the auriferous deposit it was neces-
sary to cut a tunnel 1,700 feet long through the rim rock. This work was com-
menced in February, 1855, by the company, which had a capital of $20,000.
This sum was soon expended in cutting a tunnel, which in places cost $100 per
lineal foot, and then money was borrowed and the debt ran up gradually to
$60,000, so that at the end of 1859 the company had spent $80,000 and nearly
five years of hard labor, with no certainty of any return. In 1857 they began
to wash some of the gravel in the higher portions of the claim, and the expense
was greater than the yield for more than two years; but in 1860 this washing
commenced to yield a profit, and in three years more the debt xvas reduced from
$60,000 to $20,000. In December, 1863, the tunnel reached the pay-dirt, and
then it was necessary to sink an incline down from the top of the hill so that
the dirt could be carried off by the water through the tunnel. It was a difficult
matter to open this incline to so great a depth and get it into such condition that
there was no danger of the earth falling in and choking up the channel or kill-
WEST OF THE KOCKY MOUNTAINS. 69
ing the miners ; but at last this was accomplished, and since then the company
have reaped a rich harvest of gold. They are using 500 inches (miners' mea-
surement) of water per day, under a head pressure of 150 feet, at a cost of $75
per day. They use 125,000 pounds of powder annually in blasting to loosen
the earth so that the water can wash it away readily. A steady current, eight
inches deep and three feet wide, of mud, estimated to contain four inches in depth
of solid matter, runs through their sluice, and they use three tons of quicksilver
at one time to catch their gold They have sluiced away an area of twenty
acres, 100 feet deep, and they have built in all four miles of fluming, much of
which is not now in use. They expended 880,000 on their first tunnel and
have commenced another lower down. It will cost $75,000 and will require
three years for completion.
The flume now in use is 3,000 feet long, and is paved alternately with wooden
blocks set on end and flat stones set on the edge. The sections of block paving
extend across the flume, and seventeen inches longitudinally, and the sections
of stone paving are two feet long. The flume has an inclination of six and one-
half inches in twelve feet.
This company is the only one which has mined steadily for ten years in the
Smartsville district, with a profit for the whole period. Many other companies
have spent immense sums of money and obtained no return. Others have
made a profit for a year or two, but the general result has been failure. The
Blue Gravel company succeeded only by the extraordinary and, it might almost
be said, the unbusiness indulgence of their creditors, who might at any time for
a period of seven years have come and taken the claim. As late as 1862 the
shares in the company were selling at the rate of $11,000 for the whole claim.
When the enterprise, the patience, the perseverance, the privations, the risks
of failure, the hard labor of nine unprofitable years, the faithful devotion of the
stockholders to one another, and the generous trust of the creditors are consid-
ered, it must be admitted that the Blue Gravel company have abundantly mer-
ited all their success. Many other claims of less value have cost their owners
proportionately as much in money, labor, and patience.
22.— PROFITS OF MINING GENERALLY.
The business of mining has not been in any branch a source of much profit
to the majority of those who have undertaken it in California. The proportion
of California miners who have made fortunes within the last fifteen years is
much less than that of the Illinois farmers. One of the chief sources of wealth
in the United States east of the Rocky mountains has been the increase in the
value of land, but in the mining districts hitherto there was little land to which
a fee-simple title could be obtained. The largest income in the State of 1865
is that of Jules Tricot, who made in that year $182,511 by quartz mining and
the sale of quarts mines, and the third largest is that of James P. Pierce, who
made $102,011 in placer mining. When, however, we come to examine the
incomes of the miners generally we find that they are small.
The following table shows the number of adult white men in some of the
mining counties, and the number of those who pay tax on an income of $1,800
or more, reckoned in legal tender :
Counties. No. white miners. No. incomes $1,800.
Del Norte 250 None.
Klamath 700 5
Trinity 700 10
Siskiyen 2,500 24
Shasta 1,000 17
Plumas 1,000 9
Butte 1,000 13
70
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Counties. No. white miners.
Sierra 2,500
Nevada 3,000
Placer 1,800
El Dorado 2,000
Amador 1,200
No. incomes $1,800.
45
148
66
33
18
An examination of the lists shows that most of these who have these incomes
are not miners, and that the proportion of those who have large incomes is
greater in the agricultural districts and in the towns than in the mines. As a
matter of curiosity, the list of incomes of Nevada county for 1865 is here ap-
pended, with the names of those who derive their incomes from quartz marked
with an asterisk, and those who derive their incomes from placers marked with
a dagger.
NEVADA COUNTY.
Anderson, John* $2,063
Alger, Moxtont 6,341
Alexander, Dt 1,000
Abbey, Richardt 2,5J5
Belden, David 4,868
Bales, C. M 2,580
Bigelow, E. W 2,400
Bigelow, E.W 3,689
Byrne, James 2,490
Brady, A. B* 4,708
Binkleman, D 2,064
Bennett, John 2,058
Boury, Gt '.- 3,756
Brown, J. H 7,274
Baylis, J. H* 2,234
Black, R. Ct 1,804
Bell, V. Gt 2,138
Colley, James 1,983
Crawford, W. H 4,124
Clark, Jonathan 4,291
Cashin, John 5,020
Cohn, Jacob 1,898
Coleman, Edwardt 7,790
Coleman, J. C* 7,768
Corbett, E. S 2,963
Caldwell, J. J 1,800
Cliff, William* 5,280
Connolly, Ellen* 33,119
Corbett, John* 4,736
Colbert, Michael* 4,735
Curmack, Ht 4,619
Crull, S. Mt 4,799
dull, J. St 5,362
Cadwalader, Nt 27,190
Deal, M. S 2,400
Davenport, T. T 5,120
Delano. A w 7,500
Dorsey, S. P 2,150
Dibble,A. B 3,654
Daniel, William* 6,024
Dornin, George D 3,410
Dikeman, S. Ht 2,032
Enright, Michaelt 2,738
Edwards, J. R* 2,654
Eddy, A. Ht 3,138
Everett, Henry* 13,829
Effinger, John Ht 3,400
Ennis, Frankt 2,875
Finninger, R 3,420
Farquhar, R. H 5,400
Fiicot, J* 182,511
Findler, Thomas* $13,051
Faulkner, James 3,090
Ford, Marin* 3,546
Fahey, John* 9,561
Fogarty, Park* 40, 058
Furtt, Simon 1,900
Furtt, Daniel 1,900
Felton, Dt 1,913
Gregory. A. B 1,900
Gepeard, George 5,639
Gad, B 1,898
Galaway, Philip* 3,544
Greenwell, J. Wt 2,525
Greenwell, S. Jt 3,275
Gaskill, J. Lt 7,546
Hawley, T. P 4,298
Hinds, J. W 3,131
Hamiston, M. S 5,960
Hunt, R. M 4,825
Hodue, Thomas 2,458
Hasken, William* 2, 393
Hunter, John Rt 1,328
Henry, Samuel Tt 2,335
Henderson, H 2,000
Henry, Williamt 2,294
Johnston, Peter 2,528
Johnston, John 2, 528
Judsion, Orint 3,428
Judson, Harw'dt 3, 558
Kidd, George W* 3,749
Keeney, George 2, 275
Leavitt, C. C 5,079
Loutgenhisee, W* 6, 025
Larimer, John* 3, 150
Lee, S. Wt.., 1,834
'Lloyd, Thomas* 3,200
Leech, Charles* 4,900
Lauey, Thomast 13, 784
Mackie, H 8,731
Marvillus, E. Pt 2,609
Marsh, M. L 2,6oO
McFarlan, T. B 5,260
Marsh, Charles 4, 475
Mason, James B 2,523
Maguire, Thomas 3, 526
McDonald, Gt 1,900
Mull, E. Wt...' 1,960
Morian, F* 7,908
Northy, Et 10,610
Nathan, B* 2,113
Nickell, G. W 2,888
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 71
O'Connor, M. P $3,548 Stone, J. P $1,936
Pierce, A* 6,900 Smith, C. C •_• ],963
Peiry, S. E 3,850 Swan, A. Bt..... 6,889
Phillips, Henry 5,713 Shardin, Chariest 1,893
Pralus, A* 89,681 Spooner, G. Ct 8,019
Pollnier, Henryt 3,150 Smith, Francis 3,275
Quine, Patrick! 14,313 Smith, Jacob 1,900
Richards, F 1,833 Sheets, L. Ft 2,840
Roads, W. H* 5,168 Tisdale, W. L* 4,884
Ripert, S* 80,096 Torson, O 3,104
Roberts, D. G* 31,400 Tower, A. D 3,806
Remington, M. L* 2,278 Tully, R. W 2,840
Rosmussan, P*.. 2,434 Turner, G. E 1,900
Rosendale, C. Et .--- 4,966 Trenberth, J* 3,428
Spence, E. F 2,650 Thomas, Johnt 2,055
Sargent, A. A 5,321 Villian, Bt 4,363
Swithenback, J 2,465 Whartenby, Jt 25,105
Scaddin, Henry* 2,951 Werte, E. G 2,494
Silvester, H* 4,000 Watt, Robert* 42,890
Shaffer, George 2,453 Watt, William* 42,794
Smith, C. W 2,400 Whiting, L. L* 2,750
Smith, John 2,588 Williams, Et 8,575
Smith, Robert 2,588 Weil, A 2,960
This list is marked by a gentleman well acquainted in the county, but a
few of those whose names are not marked may be miners. It appears that out
of 148 names, 42 of those are quartz miners and 40 of placer miners. It must
be remembered, however, that Nevada is the most prosperous and the most
productive mining county in California, and that the proportion of large incomes
among the miners is greater than elsewhere.
23.— DIFFICULTY OF GETTING GOOD CLAIMS.
A fact which should never be overlooked on the Atlantic slope by persons
who speak of mining is, that a good claim cannot be had by merely making an
effort to get one. It costs -as much effort generally as it costs to get a good
farm, or more. If the claim is open and its value is established, it can only be
bought at a high price. If it is not open, years may be spent in opening it, and
then it may prove to be barren at last. That has been the experience of thou-
sands. A list of the expensive tunnels and shafts undertaken in California and
Nevada would include numerous failures after years of time and scores of thou-
sands of dollars had been devoted to the labor. These things are not written,
because few want to publish their own failures or to read about those of others ;
and a number of those who own mines famous for their rich yields had to strug-
gle along for years, barely paying expenses and exposed to the jeers or the pity
of their acquaintances for their obstinacy in sticking to claims that could never,
it was said, be made to pay. It is unjust to the miner to assume that he is
taking the public property without compensation. In most cases he has more
than paid for it by his labor, and although it may not yield him a good income,
it is no more than a fair return for his enterprise and industry, and he should be
allowed to enjoy it as a proper encouragement to others to devote themselves
to the development of other mines. Many, indeed, think that even with unre-
strained liberty to take the precious metals from the public lands, and with entire
exemption from taxation, the pay of the miner is less than that of any other
equally industrious and intelligent body of laborers in the country.
24.— COMSTOCK LODE THE MOST PRODUCTIVE IN THE WORLD.
Although some rich argentiferous veins have been discovered in California,
Idaho, and Arizona, they have not been developed sufficiently to enable us to
say much of them ; and our remarks on the condition of silver mining on the
coast must be based chiefly upon the business as conducted in Nevada. During
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
the last three years there lias been no increase in the production, but the gen-
eral condition is very satisfactory. The Comstock lode is now the most pro-
ductive mineral vein in the world. A strip of land six hundred yards wide and
three miles long yields $12,000,000 annually. ' There is no parallel to that in
ancient or modern times. The other richest silver mining districts of the present
century, such as Guanajuato, Zaeatecas, Sombrerete, Durango, Chihauhau,
Alamos, Real del Monte, Potosi, Cero Paseo, and Chanarcillo, do not produce
more than about $20,000,000 each annually, and the Comstock lode is now con-
tributing more silver to the commerce of the world than any other four lodes.
The total number of men employed in the mines and mills to obtain this metal
is about 5,000, giving an average annual yield of $2,500 for each. The ore is
not so rich nor so abundant as it has been in some Mexican lodes, but a greater
yield has been obtained by employing more machinery. The general custom
of the Mexican mines has been to employ men to carry the ore U£ out of the
mine on their backs, and to transport it from the mine to the mill on mules, to
pulverize it by mule power, and to stir it during amalgamation by tramping
with the feet of men or mules. If water invaded the works it was hoisted by
hand or by horse whims. Thus a Mexican mine required a hundred men to do
the work that can be done in a Nevada mine by twenty, and it was difficult to
make room for a hundred men to work within such narrow limits. Either they
were continually in the way of one another or most of them discharged, and the
work advanced with corresponding slowness.
The leading mines at Virginia City are marvellous for the extent of their
works and the rapidity with which they extract and reduce the ore. The chief
gold mines of California, high as their product is, are small affairs when com-
pared with the vast works of the chief silver companies of Nevada.
25.— COMSTOCK MINING COMPANIES.
S. H. Marlette, surveyor general of the State, in his official report for the
year 1865, gives the following list of the mining companies on the Comstock
lode, with the accompanying statistics and remarks :
Companies.
Length in feet.
Greatest depth
reached.
Length of lode
explored.
Utah
1,000
260
300
Allen
925
200
300
Sierra Nevada -
2 157
410
400
Union .
302
80
(*)
Opbir N mine
1,200
428
400
Mexican
100
6^0
100
Ophiv S. mine . ................. . ..........
900
620
200
Central
150
428
150
California
300
428
300
Empire, N .
55
600
55
Eclipse . '
30
1595
30
20
1595
20
20
550
20
Pl^to
10
550
10
20
550
20
Piute .... . .. -.
20
550
20
Winters & Kutstel . .
30
585
30 '
Consolidated 21 feet .... ....
21
585
21
300
360
100
Kinney . . ................. ... .........
50
369
(*)
\\Tliitc & Murphy ............ . ....
210
369
120
*1 cross cut. {Evidently an error, and much
too large.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
73
List of the mining companies on the Comstock lode, Sfc.— Continued.
Companies.
1
.2
ID
§
£
rG
A
!1
"co *3
Si
02 }-i
o
Length of lode
explored.
Sides
500
500
200
Best & Belcher . ..
222
469
222
Grould & Curry
921
84>1
921
768
496
768
400
700
200
Chollar Potosi .
1 434
700
700
Buillon
940
*455
430
Dxchequer
400
*540
None
Alpha
278 £
620
278-j-
Apple & Bates . .... ...... ....... . ....
3U
600
3U
Imperial (Alta) . .. '
118
600
118
45
600
45
134
550
13i
Imperial (H andL.) . .. ............
65*
550
653-
Challenge
50
554
50
130
544
130
Burk & Hamilton .. ...........................
40
544
40
Yellow Jacket . ......
957
430
Keutuck
90
300
Shaft
540
301
540
Belcher ...... . . .. ..
940
520
940
Segregated Belcher . .........
160
500
160
1 200
640
1 200
2 000
300
Baltimore American .................. ......
2 000
300
Deduct 6 feet in dispute between Imperial and Apple & Bates Cos..
22, 264
6
Total
22 258
"The 'dead work' (i. e., shafts, wings, tunnels, and excavations not in pay
ore) of the Gould & Curry company equals about 12,750 lineal feet, (about
Sy^o miles,) with an average cross- sectional a^rea of thirty feet, or about 14,167
cubic yards.
" The companies enumerated above have excavated about 28 miles of tunnels
and drifts, and about 5J miles of shafts, wings, and inclines, exclusive of stopes
on ore chimneys, which will amount at least to as much more, giving a total of
at least 67J miles.
" The longest tunnel penetrating the Comstock lode is the Latrobe, 3,200
feet in length in a straight line, besides various branches, which was commenced
in February, 1861, aad is still being driven ahead. The above-mentioned com-
panies have forty-four hoisting and pumping engines, which will probably
average between thirty and forty horse-power, and give an aggregate of more
than 1,500 horse-power. The mines of the Comstock employ seventy-six mills
for reducing their ores, with an aggregate capacity for crushing 1,800 tons daily;
some of which are fourteen miles from the mines, the ore being transported on
wagons.
" There is consumed annually by these companies about 22,265 cords of wood,
at a cost of not far from sixteen dollars per cord, and a total cost of more than
one-third of a million of dollars; and they use about 15,540,120 feet, board
* Evidently an error, and much too large.
74
RESOURCES OF STATES AND "'TERRITORIES
measure, of timber and lumber, all of which must be transported long distances
on wagons, at a cost of about forty dollars per thousand, or a total cost of
nearly two-thirds of a million of dollars. Thus, for wood and timber, we have
a total annual cost of one million of ^dollars."
26.— QUARTZ MILLS IN NEVADA.
Surveyor General Marlette, in the report for 1865, gives the following figures
of the quartz mills in the State :
Counties.
02
Water.
1
Horse-power
of engines.
No. of stamps.
Churchill .. .
12
1
17
497
169
Huinboldt
1
1
Lander » .... .... ......
16
3
19
163
21
9
34
940
508
4
38
36
1,510
623
Washoe -
9
1
10
60
Capacity and machinery of ComstocJc mills.
The Mining and Scientific Press published the following quartz mills in Vir-
ginia City and the vicinity, with the name, the number of tons reduced per
month, the number of stamps, and the kind of machinery used in reduction.
Quartz mills in Virginia City and the vicinity, with the name, the number of
ton's reduced per month, the number of stamps, and the kind of machinery used
in reduction.
Location and name of
mill.
S .
•p*s
« 3
o 2
HB
gSJ
1!
£|
Remarks
Virginia City.
Summit .............
900
20
11 Wheeler pans, 4 settlers, 1 small Varney pan
Central
670
13
and settler, 1 agitator.
4 Hepburn pans and 4 settlers, working 500 tons.
1,000
22
wet ; 4 furnaces and 6 barrels, working 170 tons,
dry.
12 Wheeler pans and 4 settlers.
800
21
24 Knox and 2 Wheeler pans.
Hoosier State .....
400
8
24 Ivnox pans.
Seven Mile Canon.
600
12
6 Wheeler pans, prospecting battery, 2 Knox pans
Chas Land's
1,000
20
and 3 large settlers.
1 Blake's breaker, 19 Wheeler pans, 5 settlers, and2
Bassett's
700
16
grinders for grinding amalgam and work'g slum.
4 improved Wheeler and 2 Hepburn pans, 2 tubs,
and 3 settlers.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
Quartz mills in Virginia City, fyc. — Continued.
75
Location and name of
mill.
b
§§
£*
Number
of stamps.
Remarks.
Winfield, or Booth's
Gould & Curry ..
1,000
3 502
18
80
1 Blake's breaker, 8 Hepburn pans, 1 grinder, and
4 settlers.
39 Hepburn pans, 3 Varney pans, and 21 settlers.
700
15
2 Hepfiurn, 2 Wheeler, and 20 4- feet Knox pans.
G. Atwood' s, Fly Deland' s
Gold Hill and Gold
Canon.
600
700
15
15
26 Knox pans, 2 Wheeler pans, and 2 settlers.
8 Hepburn pans, 2 grinders, and 4 settlers.
Crown Point ...... ....
200
Q
13 Knox pans and tubs.
Rhode Island Cr. P't Co.
1, 350
400
25
14
8 Hepburn and 10 7-feet Knox pans.
14 tubs and 1 agitator.
Gold Hill
475
14
24 Knox pans, 6 6-feet tubs, and 4 settlers.
Sapphire .... .... ....
800
16
56 Knox pans.
Petaluma . ......
300
g
18 Knox pans.
Imperial
1 100
44
74 Knox pans.
900
Ifi
12 \Vheeler pans 6 settlers and 2 concentrators*
500
9
30 5-feet plain pans and 2 agitators.
Douglas .. ......
450
10
26 plain pans and 1 agitator.
Atlas
750
IP:
8 Hepburn pans and 4 settlers.
Piute Piute Co
1 200
20
12 Hepburn pans 6 8-feet settlers and 1 grinder
Pacific Alpha Co
1 SOO
Of)
15 W^heeler pans 5 large settler*' and 2 grinders
Succor .. ......
600
20
2 Hepburn pans, 24 Wheeler flat-bottom pans, 1
Confidence
650
10
settler, and 1 agitator.
8 Varuey pans 5 settlers and 3 agitators
G C Reduction
600
15
6 Hepburn and 4 5-feet flat-bottom pans.
Phoenix .... . .....
500
16
6 pins and 4 settlers.
Eastern Slope
550
12
6 Hepburn pans and 3 large settlers.
Swansea
600
12
22 6-f'eet tubs 3 settlers prospecting battery, and
Excelsior ...... .......
530
10
pan.
18 Knox pans and 1 settler. ,
Sacramento
550
10
12 7-feet iron pans and 1 agitator.
Weston's
700
15
9 Wheeler pans, 5 settlers, and 1 agitator.
On Carson river, from
Empire to Dayton.
Mexican ..............
1 260
44
12 Hepburn pans, 4 furnaces, and 10 barrels; by
2 300
40
wet process, 1.000 tons ; by dry process, 260 tons.
30 Hepburn pans, 15 settlers, 2 agitators, and 2
Brunswick ..
600
g
grinders.
8 Varney pans and 4 agitators.
Merrimac
2 350
20
15 Wheeler 4 Knox, and 1 Varney pan, pros-
Vivian . .......
750
16
pecting battery and pan, 6 large settlers, and 10
agitators.
8 Wheeler pans, 4 settlers, and 1 agitator.
Santiago ......
1 100
24
1 Blake's breaker, 14 Wheeler and 4 Hepburn pans,
Eureka
1 100
20
and 9 settlers.
10 Wheeler pans, 5 settlers, and 2 agitators.
San Francisco .
500
10
3 Hepburn pans and 7 tubs.
500
10
2 Wheeler and 2 Hepburn pans, 5 tubs, and 2
500
10
settlers.
10 Varney pans and 3 settlers.
Ophir Co.'s
1 200
24
12 Hepburn pans and 6 settlers.
Dayton No. 1
'500
20
6 Wheeler pans 2 8-feet settlers, and 2 agitators.
Dayton No. 2
800
I**
8 Varney pans 4 settlers and 4 agitators.
Birdsall & Carpenter. ..
2,400
500
30
10
20 Wheeler pans, 10 large size- Wheeler settlers, 5
agitators, 1 grinder, and 1 Blake's rock breaker.
24 Knox pans and 1 settler.
500
20
6 HeDburn nans. 2 settlers, and 3 agitators.
76 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Quartz mills in Virginia City, fyc. — Continued
Location and name of
mill.
K (^
O 0
Number
of stamps.
Remarks.
Imperial Co.'s, Black P't
American Flat.
Bay State
2,400
1,400
56
23
Blake's breaker, large size, 14 Hepburn pans, 27
7-feet tubs, and 7 7-feet settlers.
14 Wheeler pans and 7 settlers
Bigby & Co
400
10
5 Varncy pans and 4 settlers 1 extra pan and set-
Washoe Valley and
vicinity.
Temelec
800
15
tler for tailings, and 1 barrel.
12 "Wheeler pans and 2 laro'e settlers
Manhattan N. Y. Co
New York .... .
1,300
1 300
24
24
16 pans, 8 settlers, and \ grinder.
16 Varney pans 6 settlers and I grinder
Atchison Savage Co
Minnesota Savage Co. . .
Buckeye ...... . .
1,200
1,000
700
20
16
10
1 breaker, 16 Wheeler pans, and 8 settlers.
1 breaker, 12 Wheeler pans, 6 settlers, abd 1 agita'r.
1 breaker 8 \Vheeler pans and 4 settlers
Ophir Co 's
450
72
\Vorking only 36 stamps (Freiberg1 process ) 9
J. H. Ball's
1,725
60
furnaces, 24 amalgamating barrels ; work 43
men ; full capacity of mill, 750 tons.
2 Blake's breakers, 8 furnaces, 20 barrels 6 Var-
ney and 4 Wheeler and Randall pans.
It appears from this table that there are 331 Knox's pans, 226 Wheeler's
pans, 190 Hepburn's pans, 58 Varney pans, 94 plain pans, 24 Wakelee's
pans, 213 settlers, 37 agitators, 12 grinders, 59 barrels, 77 tubs, and two con-
centrators in use at these mills. Under the head of amalgamating machinery,
though not strictly in place, the breakers are mentioned. The list includes
62 mills, 1,226 stamps, 919 pans. The total amount of ore reduced per month
is given at 53,787 tons, but the capacity is considerably greater.
27.— THE PAN.
The pan, which is the chief instrument used in the amalgamation of the silver
ores of Nevada, is of cast iron, two feet deep, and from two to seven feet in
diameter — usually four and a half; to the bottom are fastened dies or movable
pieces of iron which form a false bottom, and can be replaced by others when
worn out. A shaft rises through the centre of the pan, and to it are fastened
shoes or pieces of iron which are to run round over the false bottom and grind
the pulp. Many of the pans have chambers at the bottom for steam, which is
to keep the pulp at a heat of about 200°.
28.— THE WHEELER PAN.
The above is a description of the general features of the plain pan, the
Wheeler pan, and the Varney pan. The Wheeler pan has curved grooves in
the bottom, running from the centre to the rim, to hold the quicksilver. To the
sides above the mullers are fastened boards so shaped as to throw the pulp to
the centre. But for these boards the pulp would move as fast as the muller,
sixty revolutions per minute, and might run over at the sides, and would not be
brought into proper contact with the quicksilver at the bottom; whereas by
throwing the pulp to the centre the current is broken, the heavy matter sinks
to the bottom to be ground and be mixed with the quicksilver
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 77
29.— THE VARNEY PAN.
The Varney pan has a flat bottom, and is made to grind as well as amalga-
mate. The speed is greater and the pulp thinner than in the Hepburn. Some
vertical pieces of sheet iron, which run from the side of the pan with a curve
towards the centre, and in a direction contrary to that in which the muller runs,
bring all the pulp sucessively under the muller. Near the centre there are
holes in the muller, into which the heavier matter sinks, and from there it is
carried out under the muller, being ground as it passes along. The muller does
not reach quite to the side of the pan, so a little space is left there for quicksilver.
30.— KNOX'S PAtf.
Knox's pan, which is used more than any other, is the simplest of the pans.
It is used to amalgamate only, not to grind. Four boards crossing one another
at right angles, are set vertically in the pan, over the mullers, so as to keep the
surface of the pulp still. If the boards were not there the pulp would run
round with the mullers and the ore would not be brought so well in contact
with the quicksilver. The mullers run slow, making ten or twenty revolutions
per minute.
31. -HEPBURN PAN.
The "Hepburn pan," as it is commonly known, or, as it is styled by the
patentees, the " Hepburn and Peterson pan," which ranks third in the extent
of use, has a bottom shaped like an inverted cone, with sides sloping up from
the centre at an angle of 45°. The muller sets on this slope, and the pulp,
which is mixed with only a little water so as to make a thick paste, runs up
under the muller, flows inward over the edge, runs down over its upper surface
to the centre, where it again turns to run up under the muller. Thus a constant
current is maintained, and every particle of the pulp is successively ground and
brought into contact with the quicksilver. The Hepburn pan is made with hard
iron mullers and false bottom so as to grind well, and if the ore goes in coarse
it comes out fine. The muller makes from forty to sixty revolutions per minute,
and a large pan will take half a ton of ore at a charge and amalgamate it
thoroughly in three hours.
32.-THE WHEELER AND RANDALL PAN.
It is evident that the iron in Hepburn's pan must be ground as well as the
ore, and that the grinding will be the greatest at the sides of the pan and least
at the centre. Thus it is that in the flat-bottom pan it -is frequently necessary
to get new mullers and new false bottoms or dies. To remedy this evil, and to
make a pan in which, however much the wear, the muller shall fit close to the
bottom, the Wheeler and Randall pan was invented. The bottom of this slopes
upwards from the rim ; but the slope, instead of being straight, as in the Hep-
burn, curves inward on the line called the tractory curve. The muller has the
'same curve, and no matter how much it wears it always fits close to the bottom.
The same inventors have another pan made on the same principle, but with the
point turned down instead of up. These pans have not come into extensive
use, but they are mentioned here to show what experiments have been tried in
the mechanical construction of pans-
33.— ESTIMATED YIELD OF VARIOUS MINES.
According to the estimate of Mr. Marlette, the following companies had taken
out before the 1st September, 1865, tha amounts set opposite their respective
names :
78
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Gould & Curry $14, 000, 000
Ophir 7, 000, 000
3,647,764
Savage
Imperial
Yellow Jacket,
Belcher
2, 500, 000
1,891,916
1, 462,005
Total for six companies 30, 502, 085
34.— ASSESSMENTS LEVIED.
The following table gives a few instances of the manner in which money has
been put into mines on the Comstock lode :
Mines.
Feet.
Assessment
per foot.
Total assess-
ment.
] 200
$400
$480, 000
Sierra Nevada .
3 000
116
348 000
Alpha . ...
278
1 210
336 380
800
2^5
188, 000
Crown Point .. .
600
290
174 000
Best & Belcher . .
2-24
580
119 920
Hale & Norcross . . .
400
875
350, 000
White & Murphy
210
303
63 630
Imperial
184
270
49 680
•North Potosi . .. . . ...
2,000
140
280, 000
Total
2,289,610
This list does not include one-half of the amount of assessments levied by well,
known companies, and several millions have been advanced in cash by capitalists
in San Francisco for prospecting and opening mines which never were heard of
except by a few who spent their money, and their friends'. A Mexican proverb
says, "It takes a mine to work a mine."
35.— THE GOULD & CURRY MINE.
The following figures of the operations of the Gould & Curry company are
taken from official reports :
Years.
43
!**
M
Dividends.
Tons extracted.
Percentage of
dividends.
Average yield
of ore per ton.
1862
$900 743
8 427
$104 50
1863
3 917 9'I7
$1 464 400
48 743
34
80 40
-[864
4 898 060
1 44Q (joo
67 443
29
73 48
1865
2 395 242
618 000
46 022
25
50 76
Half of 1866
908 119
156 000
17 890
17
36 90
Total
13 020 101
3 678 400
188 525
28
69 06
The mine was not opened until 1862, and before it began to pay its way the
Bum of $175,000, or $148 per foot, had been levied as assessments. The dividends
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 79
commenced in 1863, and for that year alone amounted to more than $1,000 a
foot ; and also for the next year, although very large sums were expended in
building a mill and in making other improvements. The average yield of the
ore, however, and the percentage of the dividends, decreased with each year.
The ore was nearly twice as rich in 1863 as in 1865, and the expenses in the
former year were greater than the gross receipts of the latter.
The total number of tons extracted in four years was 173,000, or a mass
of 165 feet cubic, and the bullion produced amounted to about 300 tons of 2,000
pounds of 12 troy ounces each. The expenses of the mine and mill in 1865
were the following :
Total expense at mine $609, 135 97
Under this head come the following items :
Labor at mine 298, 055 62
Contracts for tunnels, drifts, &c 37, 323 50
Lumber and timber 1 . 147, 382 92
Freight from California 11, 357 86
Total expenses at the reduction works $356, 865 81
Under this head come these items among others :
Labor 160, 260 22
Hauling ore to mill by contract 32, 489 83
Firewood 206, 749 32
Foundry work 33, 188 30
Hardware 12, 631 28
Sulphate of copper 12, 747 56
Quicksilver 9, 903 98
Salt 15,885 54
Water 10, 416 84
Oil, candles, &c 8,440 78
Freight from, California 20, 993 89
The following are further figures from the president's report for 1864:
Cost of extracting ores from mine, per ton 1 . $10 84
Cost of reducing third-class ore at Gould & Curry mill 14 46
Cost of reducing third-class ore at Custom mills 21 82
Cost of reducing second-class ore at Custom mills 50 00
Average yield of all ores reduced, per ton 50 76
Average yield of second-class ore 255 66
Average yield of third-class ore at Gould & Curry mill 44 26
Average yield of all ores reduced at Custom mills 45 12
The following is a statement of the operations and expenses of the Gould &
Curry mill, (which, however, did not reduce all the ore produced by the mine)
for the six months ending May 31, 1866 :
The pay of officers, general laborers, watchmen, teamsters, &c., was $14,354 88.
The cost of the driving power was, $10,565 87 for labor ; $85,996 for wood ;
$2,618 for sundries; $99,179 87 in all.
The cost of preparing ore for the batteries was, $8,913 23 for labor; $828 for
sundries ; $9,741 23 total.
The cost of the batteries was, $14,266 38 for labor; $4,546 for shoes, dies,
&c. ; $2,002 for sundries ; total, $20,814 38.
The cost of amalgamating was, $15,421 13 for labor ; $1,363 for retort wood ;
$12,037 for shoes and dies ; $5,794 for salt ; $12,256 for sulphate of copper;
$17,822 for quicksilver ; $2,232 for sundries ; total, $66,925 13.
The cost of repairs was, $16,424 48 for labor; $15,402 for sundries; total,
$31,826 48.
80
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
The total expense of the mill was $79,945 97 for labor; $162,896 for ma-
terial ; total, $242,841 97.
The amount of ore delivered at the mill was 20,744 tons ; the amount amal-
gamated was 17,890 tons. The difference of 2,854 tons "shows the loss of ores
carried off in slimes."
The value of the ore and of the bullion produced was the following :
Gold.
Silver.
Samples.
Total. '
Value of ore .
$185 765 12
$639 598 21
$825 363 33
Bullion produced
211 712 69
448 036 76
$507 72
660 257 17
[The excess of gold in the "bullion produced" over that in the "value of
ore," must be accounted for by supposing that the samples assayed did not fully
represent the average value of the ore.]
The average assay per ton was $46 13 ; the average yield was $36 90 ; the
amount lost was 20 per cent. The total cost of reduction per ton amalgamated
was $13 57.
The cost of reduction per ton was $0 80.23 for officers, watchmen, and la-
borers; $5 54.37 for driving power ; $0 55.04 for preparing ore for batteries ;
$1 16.33 for batteries ; $3 73.50 for amalgamation; $1 77.88 for repairs, and
$13 57 in all.
The expenses of the mine during the six months were the following :
The salaries of officers were $6,766, or 20 cents per ton.
The cost of extracting ore was $103,042 99, or $3 06 per ton.
The cost of prospecting and dead-work was $68,631 04, or $2 04 per ton»
The cost of accessory work, $56,308 38, or $1 67 per ton.
The cost of improvements was $19,876 52, or 59 cents per ton.
The total cost of salaries of officers, extraction of ore, prospecting and dead-
work, accesrory work, and improvements was $254,624 93, or $7 56 per ton.
The amount of ore produced was 33,705 tons.
The amount of bullion produced from the Gould & Curry ore by outside
mills was $227,085 81, and the total receipts of the company for six months,
$908,119 25.
The expenses were $254,624 93 for the mine ; $243,131 97 for the Gould
& Curry mill ; $7,777 61 for assays ; $128,404 83 for reducing ores at outside
mills ; $27,285 53 for general expenses, and $6,375 76 for the boarding-house.
Total, $667,600 63.
36.— THE OPHIR MINE.
The Ophir company has tried and compared the yard, the barrel, and the
pan processes of amalgamation, and the general result of their experience is
that the yard process costs $30 per ton, and loses 20 per cent, of the metal ;
the barrel process costs $28, and loses 15 or 20 per cent, of the metal; and the
pan process costs $15. per ton, and loses from 35 to 40 per cent, of the metal.
They have abandoned the yard process, as unsuited to the climate and having
no advantages ; the barrel is retained for ore yielding S90 per ton or upwards ;
and the pan is preferred for poor ore. Ore containing $150 per ton will yield,
at SO per cent., $120 to the barrel, leaving $92 after subtracting $28 in the cost
of working; whereas the same ore would give, at 65 per cent , a gross yield of
$97 50, and a net yield of $82 50 to the pan, showing an advantage of $950
per ton in favor of the barrel. By the same mode of calculation ore containing
$50 to the ton will yield $12 net to the barrel, and $17 50 net to the pan. Ore
containing $80 to the ton gives about an equal net yield to the barrel and the
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
81
pan. The following are the figures of some of the operations of the Ophlr com-
pany for the year ending November 30, 1864 :
I
Tons
worked.
Valne.
Yield.
C06t
per ton.
Barrel .
4 554
$601 653 99
$519 703 38
$3° 05
Yard
3 336
299 825 85
248 947 65
3° 37
Since -1864 the cost of barrel amalgamation has been reduced to $28 per ton.
In 1865 the barrel and pan were used, and the following figures show the
amount of bullion produced, and the sums and proportions of gold and silver
in it :
. Gold.
Silver.
Total.
Ratio of gold.
Barrel
$64 816 27
$178 747 61
$243 563 88
26 per cent
Pan
115,029 16
96,247 72
211,876 88
54 per cent.
The qualities of ore used in the two processes were different, but the propor-
tions of gold and silver were about the same ; and hence it appears that the
barrel lo§es the gold and the pan loses the silver. The value of the ore'sub-
mitted to the barrel process in 1865 was $332,273 61, and the total bullion ob-
tained, including some not represenfed in the above table, was $269,327 94,
showing a loss of $62,945 67, or 18 per cent. The bullion obtained from the
barrels was worth $1 05 per ounce, and, therefore, must have contained a con-
siderable proportion of base metal, since one-fourth in value was gold, and pure
silver alone is worth Si 33 per ounce. The pan bullion was worth $2 31 per
ounce, or more 'than twice as much as the barrel bullion.
37.— THE SAVAGE MINE
At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Savage Mining Company,
on the 10th of July, 1866, Alpheus Bull, president, submitted a report, in which
he said :
" By reference to the annual reports heretofore made I find the first ore taken
from the mine was in April, 1863. The total number of tons extracted up to
July, 1865, (26 months,) was 81,183, or 3,122 tons a month. The entire yield
of bullion from the above number of tons amounted to $3;600,709 26, being
an average of $44 35 per ton.
" During these twenty-six months there was disbursed $2,939,808 76, be-
sides paying over $800,000 in dividends. For reduction alone there was paid
$1,682,701 44, almost fifty per cent, of the gross yield of the mine.
" The total production of ores for the past year was 30,653 tons, of which
there were reduced 20,535 tons, yielding bullion of the value of $1,303,852 91,
or an average of $44 14 per ton, at a cost for reduction of $16 74 per ton.
Notwithstanding there was less ore extracted during the year just ended, and the
average value per ton a little less than the preceding years, yet the net earnings of
the company are in favor of last year's operations. The cost for extraction of
ores the past year is certainly high, but this is justly chargeable to the exten-
sive improvements in building machinery and explorations in the mine, the
practical benefits of which will be derived by the stockholders at some future
period."
H. Ex. Doc. 29 6
82
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
The superintendent's report for the year ending on the 1st of July, 1866,
gives the following figures relative to the ore extracted :
Extracted.
Tons.
«
Total yield.
Yield
per ton.
First class
435
$93 220 04
$224 08
Second class ..
26, 338
1,096,449 23
42 04
Third class
3 878
62 084 54
20 43
Total..,
30, 652
1,251,753 81
Average yield of all ore reduced, per ton, 842 38.
During the last four months preceding the date of the report the cost of re-
duction had varied from $11 69 to $12 95 per ton.
38.— THE YELLOW JACKET MINE.
The following statistics of the yield of the Yellow Jacket Silver Mining
Company for the year ending July 1, 1866, are taken from the annual reports
made by the officers of the company :
218 tons first-class ore worked, yielded, per ton «... $172 05
53,307 tons second-class worked, yielded, per ton 31 00
1,479 tons sold, yielded, per ton 3 26
Average of all ore worked per toa 32 51
Gross product of bullion from ores worked, t $1, 690, 394 82
Gross product of ore sold 4r 833 88
Total product .' 1, 695, 228 70
Assessments to the amount of $300,000 were collected, and no dividends were
declared during the year, but a debt of $379,771 was paid off and a surplus of
$142,915 remained on hand at the end of the year. Among the expenditures
are the following items :
Crushing ore at outside mills $507,438 23
Crushing ore at company's mills 352,178 81
Total cost of crushing 859,617 04
The term " crushing" here must include all the process of reduction, and the
cost is about half the total yield of the ore worked.
39.— THE CROWN POINT MINE.
It appears from the annual .report of the Crown Point Mining Company for
the year ending May 1, 1866, that the recepts from the mine in that period were
$689,191 37; the number of tons reduced, 1S,259J; and the average yield per
ton $37 33. Excluding about $8,000 of assay chips and bullion sold, there
was $243,967 86 in gold and $437,207 27 in silver. The average cost of ex-
tracting the ore was $8 97. The cost of reduction is not given precisely.
40.— THE HALE AND NORCROSS MINE.
The Hale and Norcross Silver Mining Company own 400 feet on the Corn-
stock lode. They commenced operations in 1862, and worked on for four years,
at great expense, before they found any considerable body of ore to- reward them.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 83
They levied and collected assessments to the amount of $875 per foot, making
a total for the company of $350,000 invested before any return began to come
in. In February, 1866, 1,261 tons were taken out, and the amount has since
steadily increased. September yielded 2,152 tons, and the eight months from
February to September, inclusive, 16,986 tons, which produced $736,394 32 in
bullion ; an average of $43 35 per ton.
41.— THE IMPERIAL MINE.
The total receipts of the Imperial Mining Company, from the beginning of its
operations to the 31st of May, 1866, were $259,133 80, including 850,000 of
assessments. The dividends paid amounted to $527,500. The following are
certain figures for the years ending May 31, 1865, and May 31, 1866 :
1865. 1866.
Tons extracted - 28, 236 34, 735
Total yield $854, 630 56 $1, 019, 275 9.1
Average yield per ton 22 14 29 90
Cost of extraction per ton 537 5 49
The bullion for 1866 was worth $2 02 per ounce on average, the fineness in
gold being .039 and in silver .942.
The cost of reducing 11,404 tons of ore at the Gold Hill mill was $8 66 per
ton, and at the Rock Point mill, (where 23,227 tons were reduced,) $10 15 per
ton.
42.— THE EMPIRE MINE.
The following are extracts from a report made by Benjamin Lilliman on the
Empire mine on the 2d of December, 1864:
" Up to this time (November 30) this company have crushed, since their
organization on March 7, 1863, about 25,000 tons (of 2,000 pounds) of ores in
their own and other mills, and have received from it, for the same period, in
bullion, one million forty-three thousand seven hundred and twenty dollars and
forty-eight cents ($1,043,720 43,) as appears by the bullion receipts which I
have examined. The actual value received by the company in working their
ores has been, therefore, $40 76 per ton of 2,000 pounds. The amount lost in
tailings it is impossible to fix, but we are justified, from the general experience
of the mills working on the Comstock ores, in assuming the loss to be at least
one-thild of the total value extracted." * * * " There has never
been an assessment on the mine, nor was there any capital stock paid in. The
nominal capital was one million of dollars. But the mine has paid for every-
thing, besides paying its fortunate owners $308,000 above all costs and charges."
" If from the balance of $731. 720 48
We deduct the cost of the mill in 1863 $60, 000
Mill in Virginia City .• 75, 000
New shaft and present improvements to 1864 70, 000
205, 000 00
•
There remains for the presumed cost of mining and milling. . . 526, 720 48"
The president of the company, in his report for the year ending November
30, 1865, says :
" The receipts of the year, from all sources, amount to the sum of $543,081 79,
and the total disbursements to $525,129 79, of which $120,000 have been paid
in dividends to stockholders." * * * * " At the mine, during the
year, the main shaft has been sunk 133 feet, and drifts run, ,-it various levels,
965 feet, consuming 554,500 fe«t of timber..'
84
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
During the year 20,500 tons were extracted from the Empire mine, and the
bull ion 'produced amounted to $485,542 49, including $185,452 30 in gold and
$298.929 96 in silver. The bullion was worth $2 02J per ounce ; weighed
^40,812.20 troy ounces before melting, and 239,707.95 ounces after melting.
43.— PRODUCTIVE MINES OF REESE RIVER.
The following statement of the amount of bullion produced by the mines of
Lander county, Nevada, during the quarter ending September 30, 1866, is taken
from a report by the county assessor :
Name of mine.
Tons.
Pounds.
Average
per ton.
Great Eastern .
412
659
$176 82
Fortnna
23
85 71
North River ................... ......... . ...............
29
536
217 56
Troy
2
1,000
83 82
1
402
132 57
Blind Ledge . . ... .. . . .. .... . ..
2
1,965
128 64
Semanthe
2
774
276 97
Othello * *
5
1 105
36 35
Idora ...... ................. ...... . ......
16
1,237
212 62
Eastern Oregon
86 46
Foster
26
1 212
48 47
La Plate
50
882
7J 60
Chase & Zent
4
1 000
362 04
Canada
6
1 500
132 90
Eldorado - .............. ..................
2
568
291 58
Magnolia
4
] 171
259 93
4
88
187 43
Morgan & Mnncey - ... ........... .......... ...
17
634
107 75
Diana
17
563
180 40
Detroit
14
1,800
116 18
39
90 77
Timoke
28
253
167 92
Dover .... ...... .. . ...... ...... ...... ...... .. . ......
2
450
161 64
Isabella . ............
19
503
40 08
Harding &, Dickman
1
1 233
87 19
Providential ...... ...... .... .. . ...... ...... .... ...... ......
79
1,000
39 04
227
65 07
Folsom
5
1 019
166 00
Savage Consol No. 1 . .
160
156 83
Savage Consol No 2 .- ... ... .......
230
74 00
44.— YIELD OF VARIOUS SILVER DISTRICTS.
The total annual yield of Lander county, Nevada, (or, as it is often called,
Reese River region,) is about $900,000, and the yield of the Owyhee district in
silver is about $1,500,000 ; so that this latter is next to Virginia City among
the silver producing districts of the United States, and it has the resources to
increase its production greatly within a few years. The yield of Esmeralda
was nearly $1,000,000 in 1863, but it is now not $100,000, and the Humboldt
district does not produce more than $50,000.
45.— IMPROVEMENTS IN SILVER MINING.
Although the silver mining at the Comstock lode is not in a satisfactory con-
^dition, it is at least progressive, and there is a certainty of steady improvement
for a long time. So far as the extraction of the ore is concerned, there is nothing
better anywhere. The pumping and hoisting are done by machinery of unsur-
passed excellence. A machine has been invented for lowering men with safety
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 85
into the mine, and another for framing the timbers to be used in supporting the
sides and roofs of drifts. It is in the reduction department that the chief defect
exists. For a long time most of the ore was sent to custom mills, and as they
were paid a certain sum per ton, it was their interest to reduce as much as possible
without special regard to the thoroughness. For years this was the only method
of obtaining any return from most mines ; and besides, it was in accordance with
the custom of the silver miners of Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia, where for centu-
* ries the mines and the reduction works have belonged to distinct classes. *
But in time it became evident that the most productive mines must have
reduction works of their own, and now 'they are provided with magnificent
mills,' in which tlie processes of pulverization and amalgamation are carefully
studied by many careful and competent' men ; and they will undoubtedly make
valuable contributions to the metallurgy of silver within a few years. Although
the expenditures in the large silver mines are immense, they are not extrava-
gant. The general financial affairs are very carefully studied and strictly
managed. The operations are so extensive, the amount of material consumed
is so great, and labor is so high, no small sums of money r-ufEce. The comple-
tion of the railroad from Sacramento to Virginia City will reduce the cost of
wood, and of various other important supplies, nearly or quite fifty per cent, and
will be followed by consequent reduction in the price of labor ; and the comple-
tion of the Sutro tunnel will reduce the cost of draining and ventilating the
mines and of extracting the ore. The railroad may be in running order within
a year; the tunnel will not be finished for several years at least.
SECTION 4.
RESOURCES -OF NEVADA, OREGON, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, UTAH, MON-
TANA, AND IDAHO.
1. Historical sketch of Nevada. — 2. Geography and products of Nevada. — 3. Mines and
mineral resources of Nevada. — 4. Mining property, &c. — 5. General view of the mines
of Nevada, Oregon, Washington Territory, Utah, Montana, and Idaho.
1. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF NEVADA.
Boundaries. — The State of Nevada, erected from the former Territory of
Nevada, extends easterly and westerly from tjie 37th to the 43d meridian west
from Washington, and from the 42d degree of north latitude to Arizona, hav-
ing Oregon and Idaho on the north, Utah on the east, Aiizona on the south, and
rmnm<
thougl
mines and the opulence of the tescutndores (amalgamators,) by whom these extensive
buildingswere raised. Few or none of them possessed a sufficiency of water to work their
machinery, for which purpose mules were employed, and .14,000 'of these animals were in
daily use (to work the arrastras and tread the ores in the patio} before the revolution. The
rescatadores purchased their ores at the mouths of the shafts, relying entirely on their own
powers of estimating by the eye the value of the montones (heaps) exposed for sale in such
a manner as not to make a disadvantageous bargain. In this science they attained great
perfection ; for more fortunes were made in Glianajuato by amalgamation works than by mi-
ners themselves; while the extent to which the system was carried afforded to the successful
adventurer the means of realizing instantly almost to any amount. During the great
bonausa (rich yield) of the Valeuciana mine, sales were effected to the amount of $80,01)0
in one day ; and it is to this facility iu obtaining supplies that the rapid progress of the works
in that mine, after its first discovery, may be ascribed. Had it been necessary to erect
private amalgamation works in order to turn his new born riches to account, many years must
have elapsed before the first Count Valericiana could have derived any advantage from his
labors ; for when fortune began to smile upon them, the man who was destined in a few
years to rank as one of the richest individuals in the world did no't possess a single dollar."
86 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
California on the southwest and west ; comprising within its limits an area of
80,239 square miles. This region was a portion of the territory acquired by
the United States from Mexico under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, belonging
previous to its transfer to the " department of Alta California." Prior to its
acquisition by our government it was inhabited only by the aboriginal races, there
being no settlements of civilized people, not even a mission, within its borders.
At the time of the discovery of silver in 1859, ten years after its first settlement
by the whites, it contained less than one thousand inhabitants, which number;
two vears later, had increased to nearly 17, 000, as appears by the census returns
taken in August, 1861 ; the estimated population of the State being at present
between thirty-five and forty thousand, at which number it has remained nearly
stationary for the past three years.
The aboriginal races. — These consist of three or four principal nations,
divided into many small communities or families, sparsely scattered over the
entire country. These nations are the Washoes, inhabiting a succession of
small valleys along the western border of the State, the Pah-Utahs occupying
the balance and greater portion of the western; while the third division, the
Shoshones — hold the eastern part of the State. Some have considered, and per-
haps properly, the Pannocks, a race dwelling in the northern and northeastern
portions" of the State, as a distinct nation. With the exception of the last named,
these Indians, though often at variance among themselves, are naturally peace-
ful and inoffensive, being distinguished less for their warlike propensities than
a good natured indifference as to what is going on around them. They have
never manifested any great degree of hostility towards the whites, nor seriously
objected to the latter entering and settling in their country, their opposition
generally extending no further than an occasional protest against the destruction
of their pine orchards, upon the fruits of which they are largely dependent for
their subsistence. The Washoes, though the least numerous of these tribes,
have always been remarked for their honesty and friendliness towards strangers.
These Indians, though somewhat nomadic in their habits, have their favorite
places of abode, these being generally along the rivers or about the sinks and
lakes where fish and wild fowl are to be obtained. These localities usually form
their winter homes, much of their time during the summer and autumn being
spent in the mountains, where alone is found the pinon, a species of scrubby pine,
the nut of which forms with them a staple article of food. These people culti-
vate no land, depending entirely on the natural products of the country for a
livelihood, and as these are not numerous or abundant they sometimes suffer
from want. They build no houses, scarcely even a wigwam ; a few sage brush
or willows put up to brt-ak the force of the wind, affording them, even in winter,
ample protection. Few of them own horses, fire-arms, or other property of
value, the whole race being distinguished for extreme poverty. Formerly they
dressed in the skins of wild animals, as many of them still do, the skins of the
hare being chiefly used for this purpose. Latterly they are becoming addicted
to a more civilized but scarcely improved style of dress, clothing themselves
with the cast-off garments of the whites. The women are by nature modest
and chaste, and, as among most savages, have to perform the greater part of the
labor necessary to their own .sustenance as well as that of the men. Taken as
a whole, these cannot be considered a bad race of Indians, exhibiting few of the
savage and murderous traits that distinguish the tribes further in the interior ;
and though shiftless and indolent they are not averse to work where favorable
opportunities offer. Many of them are now employed by the whites, being found
very useful in various kinds of unskilled labor. Two reservations have been set
apart in the State tor the use of these Indians ; but as yet no thorough and sys-
tematic measures have been adopted for retaining them at these places or for in-
structing them in the arts^of civilized life, nor is it likely that much will be
accomplished towards that end through the agency of these reservations. Since
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 87
their intercourse with the whites these people have become demoralized, and the
increase of physical maladies among those of them thus exposed has already
sensibly diminished their numbers.
First settlements by the whites. — The first settlements within the limits of
this State were made in 1848 by the Mormons, some of whom, in passing back
and forth between California and Salt Lake, observing the excellence of the
land, located in Carson and Washoe valleys. The following year they were
joined by a few adventurers, who, attracted by the gold discoveries in California,
had made the journey overland, but stopped on finding here the object for which
they had set out. From this time the population gradually increased, until, in
the summer of 1859, it had been swelled to the number already stated, notwith-
standing most of the Mormons had meantime left, having, by a mandate of the
church, been ordered to repair to Salt Lake. Up to this period the crossing of
the Sierra Nevada, in the absence of wagon roads or even tolerable trails, was
an arduous task ; yet quite a good many came over from California, bringing
provisions to exchange for the famished stock of the immigrants, and finding
here good pasturage, some remained and finally became permanent settlers.
Meanwhile a few were drawn from that State by the gold diggings or a mere
love of adventure, a few also being added by the overland immigration, thus
making up a population so considerable in a country difficult of access and
otherwise possessing so few attractions.
The gold discovery. — This event occurred, as above intimated, in the summer
of 1S49, being the result of examinations made by a party just arrived on their
way to California across the plains. The first gold found was at a point near
Carson river where the emigrant road crosses Gold canon, and where the town
of Dayton now stands. This canon is a deep ravine coming down from the
high range of mountains six miles to the west, and along the eastern slope of
which the Comstock, the great silver-bearing lode of Nevada, is located. The
head branches of this ravine cut the Comstock lode at a number of points, the
deepest of these cuts being at Gold Hill. A portion of this lode is distinguished
for its auriferous character. The particles of gold having been released from
the masses of quartz at this place by the process of disintegration, were subse-
quently washed down the canon and deposited in its bed and along its banks,
the finer portions being carried still further down and left upon the bar at its
mouth ; hence the origin of these placer mines. That this is the primary source
of these deposits is apparent, not more from the nature of the case than the
character of the dust, which is so far alloyed with silver as to be worth only
from $10 to $12 per ounce, corresponding in this particular with the gold ob-
tained by crushing the surface rock at Gold Hill. The pay realized in these
diggings for the first few years was very good, averaging nearly an ounce a day
to the hand; but it finally declined (until in the fall of 1859, when they were
mostly given up) to less than a third of that amount. The number of men en-
gaged here in gold washing varied from 20 to 100 ; a majority of them, towards
the last, being Chinamen, who continued working in a small way for a year or two
after the diggings had been abandoned by the whites. The total amount of
gold dust gathered from these placers is estimated at between three and four
hundred thousand dollars. Some rate it much higher, affecting to believe that
the Chinese took out larger sums than they reported. At no other place, except
Gold canon, have placer mines of any extent or value been found as yet in the
State of Nevada. In Six Mile canon, a ravine running parallel to arid a short
distance below Gold canon, some trifling deposits were found, the following up
of which led to th'e discovery of the Comstock ledge. Some surface mines, of
narrow extent but considerable richness, were also found in 1857 near Mono lake,
then supposed to be within the limits of Nevada Territory, but afterwards ascer-
tained to be in California. For several years these paid fair and in some in-
stances large wages, and a town of over a thousand inhabitants sprung up at
88 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
that point. The town, however, as well as the diggings, is now nearly deserted,
but little having been done there for the past five years. There are in the vicinity
several small quartz ledges, showing in the croppings touch free gold. In 1860,
some of these were worked by arrastras driven by water power, very good results
being obtained, and it is thought by many these ledges could be worked on an
extensive scale with profit, wood and water power both being convenient. At
a number of other points, as on the forks of the Carson and Walker rivers, in
Washoe valley, near Virginia City, and elsewhere, placer deposits have from
time to time been met with, but in no case have they been lasting or remarkable
for richness, none of them having been worked for more than a short period, and
all being now abandoned ; and though the most diligent research has been
made during the past six years in nearly all parts of the State, no mines of this
class, of any great extent or value, have yet been discovered. At the same time
there are, as is well known, in almost every quarter of the country, lodes of
auriferous quartz sufficiently rich to pay for reduction when worked for gold
alone.
Discovery of silver. — Unlike the finding of gold, the discovery of silver in Nevada
was a fortuitous eyent, having been brought abou t in this wise : The miners working
up Six-Mile canon, when near its head, and a little below where the Comstock
lode crosses it, encountered, mixed with the auriferous earth, a black metallic
substance, which gave them much trouble, being, on account of its weight, diffi-
cult of separation from the gold. This was in the year 185S, and, although
they were thus led to notice this substance, being iguorarit of its value, they
did not inquire into its particular character or attempt to trace it to its origin.
It was to them simply a cause of annoyance, and, as such, to be avoided or got
rid of as easily as possible. Having finally, during the subsequent winter and
spring, worked up this gulch until they were in the immediate vicinity of the
Comstock lode, it became expedient to dig a reservoir to hold the water used in
washing, this being obtained from the ravines above; and, although a line of
rich surface earth had before been traced up to this point and considerably
worked, it was not until this excavation was made that the deposit of silver ore
in place was discovered and laid open. Nor did the magnitude of the event
come to' be appreciated and made generally known until the month of June
following, when intelligence of it first reached California. What little merit
attaches to the discovery, though claimed by divers individuals, would seem to
belong chiefly to one James Fennimore, or Phinney, as he .was usually called
on this side the mountains, and who was the first to locate a mining claim oil
the Comstock ledge proper. This claim, made more than a year before, covered
the exact point where the silver was first found, it being on the north end of
the original Ophir ground, and near the south line of the Mexican Company's
claim. Here a mass of rich silver sulphurets, mixed with free gold, came quite
to the surface, this rich deposit, carrying an increased quantity of gold, having
subsequently been found to extend for a considerable depth below,being especially
rich in the ground of the Mexican, or, as it was then more commonly termed, Span-
ish Company. Phinney, who, like most of the pioneer miners of Washoe, as the
country was then called, was of a generous and improvident disposition, where-
fore, having gotten ahead a few dollars, and being ignorant withal of the great
value of his ground, sold it to his companion, Henry Comstock, for a trifling con-
sideration. J?he latter, though comprehending better than Phinney the value of
this property, had so little appreciation of its real worth, that he congratulated
himself on being able to dispose of it shortly after for a few thousand dollars,
having, however, the further satisfaction of imparting his name to this remark-
able lode. Nearly all the valuable claims on the Comstock ledge, as far south
as Gold Hill, had, within a few months after the discovery of silver, passed
from the possession of the original locators and owners into the hands of more
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 89
intelligent or wealthy men, leaving the former class, who might so easily have
become millionaires, generally quite poor.
Before proceeding to a more particular description of the Comstock ledge,
and of the mines and mining operations generally of Nevada, it may be expe-
dient, as contributing to a better understanding- of what must be said in that
connection, to give a brief outline of the physical geography of the State, its
natural resources and productions, climate, agricultural capacities, &c.
2.— GEOGRAPHY AND PRODUCTS OF NEVADA.
Its system of mountains, plains, and valleys. — ; Viewed as a whole the State
of Nevada, in common with the great American basin or desert of which it
forms a part, may be considered an elevated plateau, having a general altitude
of more than 4,000 feet above tide-water. Traversing this lofty plain are
numerous chains of mountains, separated by valleys having a width varying
from five to twenty milos, and usually about equal to that of the adjacent
mountains measured through their bases. The course of these valleys is, as a
general thing, parallel to the main axes of the mountains, which have, for the
most part, a northerly and southerly strike. These mountains vary in height
from 1,000 to 5,000 feet above the common level of the country, having, 'there-,
fore, an absolute elevation of from 5,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea. For a
distance of nearly 300 miles the Sierra Nevadas form a natural barrier along
its western and southwestern border, the boundary line between this State and
California running partially upon its summit and partially along or near the.
eastern base of this range, which, though not here attaining its greatest altitude,
has, nevertheless, within the limits of Nevada, a general height of more than
7,000 feet, a few of the loftier peaks reaching a height of 10,000. These
mountains do not on this, as upon the California side, slope to the plains
with a long and gentle declivity, but pitch violently down, having precipi-
tous sides throughout their whole course. They are covered nearly every-
where from base to summit with a growth of terebinthine forests, consisting
of a variety of pine, spruce, and fir ; well adapted to make superior lumber.
There are also a few other scrubby trees, of but little value, and at one or
two points groves of tamarack. No oak or other hard wood of any size
is found on this slope of the sierra, nor, indeed, in any other part of Nevada.
The alternation of mountains and. valleys mentioned is preserved with much
regularity throughout the State, being most marked in the central portions
thereof. Sometimes the former contract or are so broken up as to transform
the valleys into broad plains or basins, some of which are open and unob-
structed, while others are covered with isolated buttes or dusters of rugged
hills. Sometimes, also, these mountains seem to lose all order, being grouped
in confused masses, or have an axis at right angles or otherwise nearly
transverse to the trend of the principal ranges. As in the Sierra Nevada,
these interior chains contain many peaks upon which, in spots sheltered from
the sun, the snow lies all summer; and while some of them are comparatively
well watered, sending down perennial streams from their sides, others contain
but little or are wholly without water. This is especially the case with those
in the more western and southern portions of the State.
Among these ranges, sometimes at short intervals, gaps or low passes are
met with, affording easy crossing places, some of them being so low and smooth
as to offer no serious obstacle to the passage of loaded wagons, and through
which railroads could be constructed with the greatest facility. In their geo-
logical structure these mountains, though varying somewhat, have many fea-
tures in common, the mass of them being composed chiefly of sienites, slates,
and granite ; limestone and porphyry are also common rocks. In places, the
evidences of volcanic action are abundant, though not apparently of recent
date,»though lofty, and in many instances having their sides deeply channelled
90 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
by numerous ravines, or, as they aie more commonly called, canons. The
mountains of Nevada are not remarkable for boldness of outline or a generally
rugged aspect, the once jagged peaks having been rounded into dome-like shapes
by the process of disintegration. In some cases, however, these still shoot up
into splintered and spire-like summits, presenting a contour particularly sharp
and striking. Most of these ranges are sparsely covered with bunch grass, and
also with scattered patches of pinon and other scrubby trees, three-fourths of
their surface being destitute of any kind of timber. Along some of the streams
that flow down their sides are narrow strips of alluvial soil suitable for gardens,
and which, sometimes spreading out at the points where these streams debouch
upon the plains, afford a sufficiency of arable land for small farms. The moun-
tains form, of course, the chief repositories of the mineral wealth of the country,
though metalliferous deposits of apparent value have, in some instances, been
met with in the valleys or out upon the plains. As the mountain chains o ten
continue their course for a hundred miles or more without break or deviation
from their general course, so also do the intervening valleys extend longitudi-
nally for a like or even greater distance without interruption, and with an in-
clination so slight as to be imperceptible by the eye. These valleys, owing to
the breaking up or recession of the neighboring mountains, sometimes spread
out into plains of great extent, while in other cases they sweep around the ends
of the mountain ranges and open into other valleys, being on the same level or
having a plain but little different from their own. In some instances these ad-
jacent valleys are separated only by a low ridge or swell of land, so trifling as
to offer no serious impediment to the construction of wagon roads or railways,
either of which might, if following a generally northern and southern course,
run for hundreds of miles over an almost perfect level. But while these valleys
"are longitudinally so nearly level, they all have a gradual slope from the bases
of the lateral mountains towards their centres, giving to their transverse sections
a curved or basin -like shape. Through a few of them runs a stream of water
supplied from the mountain rills on either hand or about its sources. Most of
these mountain streams, being small, sink out of sight, being absorbed by the
dry and porous earth as soon as they reach the margin of the valley, leaving the
latter without any general stream flowing above ground through its midst. In
cases where there is a sufficient accumulation of water to cause a stream to
run above ground through the valley there is usually a strip of arable or meadow
land along its margin, the quantity generally being proportioned to the
magnitude of the stream ; Carson, Reese river, Umashaw, Paradise, and Pahra-
nagat valleys be;ng examples of this kind. This strip of good land is often
but a few rods wide, again spreading out to a mile or more in extent, while in
many places, as where the banks of the stream are high, it disappears altogether,
In some of the valleys, as Ruby, Big Smoky, Toquima, &c., there is much
good land, though there is no open stream flowing through them. In these
cases the. rivulets from the mountains, though they disappear on reaching the
valley, no doubt make their way underground to its centre, and percolating
through the earth cause these fruitful spots by a system of natural irrigation.
Other valleys, again, owing to an absence of these mountain streams, are desti-
tute of even the smallest amount of good land, or at least of such as can be
made available for agricultural purposes, much of the soil being rich but unpro-
ductive, because of its aridity and lack of means for irrigation. These valleys
are nearly all treeless, not even a shrub larger than the artemisia being met
with, except in a very few of them ; the exceptions being confined to those
having large streams of water running through them, such as the Carson,
Truckee and Humboldt, along which are a few scattered cottonwoods and wil-
low, the latter of very little use. Along many of the mountain streams a simi-
lar growth of timber is met with, as well as birch and other trees, all of a small
size. The more extended plains are marked by a greater degree of sterility
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 91
and dryness than other portions of the country, all of these being destitute of
wood and most of them but scantily supplied with grass and wholesome water,
much of the latter being so warm or highly mineralized as to be unfit for use.
These plains are, in fact, for the most part, nothing but absolute deserts. This
system of valleys, and plains so enclosed by mountains and sometimes connected
with each other, constitutes a series of basins, each having a drainage of its
own, but scarcely any of them an outlet to the sea. To this mode of drainage
Nevada, as well as many other parts of the Great Basin, is entitled for some of
its most peculiar topographical and geological features, this common receptacle
of the gathered waters becoming, according to circumstances, a lake, a meadow,
an alkali flat or a salt bed.
The sinks, sloughs and lakes. — As stated, but a small portion of the waters
of Nevada are supposed to reach the ocean. That very little does so through
surfice channels is apparent, some holding to the rather questionable theory
that much of it makes its way thither through subterranean passages. How-
ever that may be, certain it is the surface accumulations are fry no means great.
But it must be considered that the fall of rain and snow is limited, while, owing
to the aridity of the atmosphere and earth, evaporation and absorption take
place rapidly. The only considerable lakes in the State are those formed by the
waters of the Carson, Walker and Humboldt rivers, and bearing the names of
these streams, respectively, together with Pyramid lake, receiving the waters of
the Truckee river. To Lake Tahoe Nevada can hardly lay claim, two-thirds
of it being on the California side of the line. There are, besides the above, a
number of smaller lakes in different parts of the State, the most of which are
not only of limited area but extremely shallow, which latter is also the case with
the Humboldt and Carson. Pyramid, the largest of the number, being thirty-
three miles long and fourteen wide, has a great depth ; the Walker, nearly as
large, being also quite deep. Carson lake has a diameter of about twelve miles,
being nearly circular ; the Humboldt being somewhat smaller. The waters of
these Likes are impregnated with alkaline and other salts to a degree that ren-
ders them unpalatable, and in the case of the Humboldt, especially at low
stages, scarcely fit to drink. Flowing from several of these lakes are streams
carrying their surplus water and discharging it into other and still more shallow
lakes situate a short distance below ; the former of these are, in popular lan-
guage, called sloughs, the latter sinks, implying that here the water finally
disappears or sinks, which is not really the case, the sink of the Carson, forming
also that of the Humboldt, having a greater area than either of those lakes, and,
though extremely .shallow, never wholly drying up, as some of the smaller
lakes often do. Honey lake, ordinarily quite an extensive body of water, in
seasons of extreme drought, wholly disappears. The little lakes formed in the
spring by the Wemissa, Umashaw, and similar streams, all dry up later in the
season. v
Alkali flats and mud lakes. — As geographical objects these are in some
respects closely allied to each other, being identical locations existing under
different conditions ; the alkali flat is often the mud lake dried up, and
the mud lake the alkali flat covered with water. Where, as frequently
happens, the surface of a valley or plain is composed of clay or other
substance impervious to water, the latter, after heavy rains, will collect
upon these spots, and spreading out sometimes cover a large extent of
country. These bodies of water generally dry up in a few days or weeks at
furthest, though some of them that attain a greater depth remain for a longer
period, in some cases, until quite late in the summer. The beds of these lakes
being almost perfectly level, they are never more than a foot or two deep, gene-
rally but a few inches ; yet usually being clear and calm, and reflecting the
surrounding mountains with the greatest distinctness the stranger is led to
believe them a very formidable body of water, an illusion that is effectually
dissipated on seeing the wild fowl wading far out into them, or on riding through
92 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES .
them and finding they rarely ever reach above his horse's knees. These places,
whether covered with water or not, unless the road be thrown up and trod* hard
during the dry season, are difficult of passage in wet weather, particularly to
loaded teams. When the mud lake' dries up, an argillaceous sediment is depo-
sited on its bottom, often impregnated with alkaline matter or other salts, which,
being white, and frequently hardening until it glistens in the sun, give to these
spots a marked and desolate appearance ; so hard do these surfaces sometimes
become that a heavily loaded wagon fails to cut through them, and animals
passing over scarcely leave a footmark behind them. In other cases, these flats,
or a portion of them, remain soft the year round, the water coming within a few
inches of the surface. In these cases a constant efflorescence of saline matter
is going on, the sublimated particles being deposited upon the surface and on
the surrounding shrubbery, if there be any near by, which is not apt to be the
case, the soil being so much covered with water and so mixed with agents un-
friendly to vegetation that the wild sage and greasewood, the least dainty of all
plants, fail to get a foothold upon these flats. Not even a moss or lichen, or the
most lowly fungus, ever lives there. While these alkali flats and mud lakes
are found in nearly every section of Nevada, the most extensive are met with
in the northwestern part of the State, where in wet seasons they cover hundreds
of square miles.
Its rivers and streams. — Nevada, considering the extent of its territory, is
remarkable for its lack of streams of any magnitude. It has not a navigable
river — scarcely more than one or two streams that in most countries would be
called a river, within its borders. The Ilumboldt, the longest and largest river
in the State, is, at ordinary stages, fordable in many places, as are all the others,
nearly everywhere along them. The habit, common on this coast, of desig-
nating so large a class of diminutive streams as rivers, is apt to give them an
importance on the map which they do not deserve. Reese river, though having
a length, traced from its source to its sink, of nearly one hundred and fifty miles,
is not over ten or 'fifteen feet wide, with an average depth of about two feet ;
other streams, popularly termed rivers, being still smaller. As a general thing,
the rivers have a hurried current, with occasional rapids, though nothing like a
cataract or even "a tolerably-sized cascade is known to exist in the State.
Flowing through broad valleys the immediate banks of the streams are apt to
foe low — in the case of the smaller ones, only a few feet above the water. Ileese
river, a good type of this class, flows through a canal-like channel, with parallel
banks, composed of clay and sodded quite down to the water, which at ordinary
stages is from two to ten feet below the adjacent plain. Except far down, it
never dries up and scarcely ever overflows its banks. It disappears at one or
two points along its course, there being here no channel above ground. At
these places large meadows are formed, and having diffused itself throughout
their whole extent, the water- reappears below, sometimes at several points, and
being again gathered into one channel, flows on as before. It is worthy of
remark, however, that in its passage through this meadow the water, from being
perfectly limpid as above, has been turned to a milky color, though not per-
ceptibly altered in taste, the discoloring matter being probably a species of clay
containing no deleterious or offensive properties. Reese river, after running
with no other interruptions than these for nearly one hundred miles, begins to
diminish, standing only in pools along its course, which are separated, often for
a considerable space, by the more elevated portions of its bed or patches of
meadow land. The stream only at high water continues to run along this part
of its route, when it makes its way nearly to the Ilumboldt, finally disappearing-
in a tule fen that dries up in the fall and winter, the seasons of greatest drought,
or at least of lowest water in this country. The Wemissa, Umashaw, and
many other streams terminate in a similar manner ; these marshy spots, like
those where the larger rivers find a terminus, being commonly called sinks.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 93
The water in most of the rivers and creeks is wholesome and palatable through-
out their entire course, that of the mountain rills being always excellent. The
lower 'the stage of water and the further we go down the stream the more im-
pure it becomes ; the water of the lower Humboldt being, late in the season,
hardly fit to drink, owing to the accumulated impurities here diffused through
a smaller volume. In consequence of the waste from evaporation and absorption,
most of the larger streams lose as much water from these causes as they gain
from their tributaries, of which they have very few, imparting to the rivers of
this region the further peculiarity of being quite as large, and sometimes even
larger, near their sources than they are at their points of termination. The
Humboldt supplies a good example of this kind, it being considerably smaller
where it enters the lake than it is two hundred miles above, throughout all
which distance it can hardly be said to have a single tributary, not a stream of
any size discharging directly into it, even in the wet season. As before stated,
most of these streams, as well as the valleys through which they flow, are
destitute of timber, the latter, with few and inconsiderable exceptions, being
confined to the mountains. In the Reese River valley proper, nearly one
hundred miles long, there is not a stick of timber large enough for a fence rail,
many others, of equal extent, being quite as badly off in this respect. Without
trees, and containing but little verdure, these immense valleys and plains pre-
sent for the most part a very dreary and monotonous appearance, many of the
latter justly meriting the appellation of desert, so often applied to them. The
water in the creeks running from the mountains is always good, and, as in some
of the ranges these are numerous" and occasionally quite large, they become
objects of importance, not only as supplying the ordinary wants of the inhabit-
ants, but as furnishing the means for irrigation and a considerable amount of
propulsive power, their descent being uniformly great. The narrow strips of
alluvial land found along some of these mountain rills, as well as the bottoms at
their mouths, are generally covered with a growth of scrubby trees, consisting
of birch, willow, cottonwood, &c. All the lakes, as well as the larger and some
of the smaller streams, contain fi>h, some of ^vhich, the mountain trout, are
excellent. The fish taken in most of the lakes and along the lower portions of
the streams, however, are of an inferior kind, or the better species deteriorated!
through the impurities of the water.
Springs — thermal, mineral, and otherwise. — In the matter of springs, Nevada
is considerably better off than in regard to streams of running water, the former
in some parts -of the State being quite numerous, many of them, either as to size,
temperature, or the composition of their waters, justly accounted geological
curiosities. They occur at all attitudes and under nearly every peculiarity of
condition, large and small, deep and shallow, cold, hot and tepid ; in a state of
ebullition and quiescence, impregnated with every variety of mineral and metallic
substance, and perfectly pure. Sometimes they are found isolated, and at others
standing in groups. Some send off steam and emit a gurgling or hissing noise,
while others dt> neither. Some of these groups contain as many as forty or fifty
springs, varying from one foot to thirty in diameter, and in depth from two
feet to a hundred or more. In shape they incline to be circular.
The mineral and thermal springs are usually situated upon a mound or tumulus
formed from the calcareous or silicious particles brought up and deposited by
their own waters. These mounds often cover several acres, their summits being
raised to a height of forty or fifty feet above the adjacent plains. In some cases
the sides of the springs are formed of these limy or silicious concretions, raising
them in huge basins several feet above the level of the mounds themselves,
while in others they are composed simply of earth or turf. The water in most
of them is soft and agreeable to the taste when cold, and so transparent that the
minutest object can be seen on the bottom of the deepest spring; even the
small orifices through which the water enters being distinctly visible. Fre-
94 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
qnently a hot and a cold spring are situate so close together that a person placed
between them rnay dip one hand into each at the same time. From most of them
a small stream issues, the water in many merely keeping even with the top,
while in others it does not rise so high. Occasionally one is met with that has
already become extinct, a condition to which others seem rapidly, and perhaps
all are gradually approaching. These fountains, both the thermal and mineral,
are much used by the Indians as a cleansing or curative means, and there is
little doubt* but some of them possess rare medicinal virtues. Several of them
have already become places of much resort with invalids, the sulphurous and
chalybeate waters being found particularly efficacious in a variety of diseases.
To the Steamboat springs, in Washoe county, the largest number have thus far
repaired, more because of their greater accessibility than their superior sanitary
properties. A few of these hot springs are subject to a tidal action, belching
forth at timts large quantities of water, followed by a subsidence that may last for
months or years.
A chemical analysis of the waters of Steamboat springs shows them to con-
tain in various proportions the chlorides of sodium and magnesium, with soda in
different forms, lime, silica, and a small per cent, of organic matter. Similar
tests made of the waters from other springs disclose nearly the same constituent
salts, with the addition in some cases of sulphur and iron. Some of the cold
springs, especially those found in the larger valleys, are quite as remarkable for
their depth and dimensions as the thermals. It frequently happens that the
streams from the mountains, after sinking, reappear in the form of springs along
the sides or out in the middle of the valleys. ' Some of these are of but ordinary
size, while others are immense pools, from twenty to eighty feet in diameter,
and over one hundred feet deep, some of them sending off considerable streams of
pure cold water. Not all the cold springs, however, are free from disagreeable
or deleterious minerals ; many of those found on the plains being highly offen-
sive and injurious. From some of them even animals, though suffering with
thirst, refuse to drink.
The salt beds. — These constitute not only a notable feature in the chorogra-
phy, but also an important item in the economical resources of Nevada. There
are a number of these salt fields in different parts of the State ; they, like the
alkali flats and mud lakes, being confined to the valleys and plains in which
they cover the points of greatest depression, the most of them being adjacent to
or encompassed by a belt of alkali lands. The heavier deposits are, no doubt, of
lacustrine origin, occupying what were formerly the basins of inland seas or ex-
tended salt lakes. Their formation, it would seem probable, was brought about
by the subsidence of these lakes through evaporation or other more violent
causes, whereby the entire saline contents of their waters were collected and
precipitated at these points, the strata of clay interposed between the different
layers of salt being the result of floods occurring at various periods. Situate,
however, in valleys from which the waters, having no escape, spread out over
large surfaces and soon evaporate, leaving the salt and other solid substances
with which they are charged behind, the formation of these saliniferous beds
may, perhaps, be sufficiently accounted for by the agents and operations now in
action, without presupposing the existence of others about which less is known.
Of the considerable number found in the State, three of these beds at least
merit special notice, because of the abundance and purity of their product, and
the facility with which it can be gathered. That at Sand springs, Churchill
county, seventy miles east of Virginia City, extends over several hundred acres,
a portion of it being covered with water to the depth of a few inches. Under
this is a stratum of pure coarse salt nearly a foot thick, and which only requires
to be gathered in heaps or thrown on a platform in order to drain off the water,
which is soon accomplished, when it is ready for sacking. Under this top
layer is another composed of clay of equal, and, in places, of greater thickness
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 95'
beneath which again occurs another body of salt, but of what magnitude is
unknown, the ascertainment of this point being of no practical moment, inas-
much as the salt taken out above immediately reforms, the space soon filling up
with new depositions from the super-saturated water. This bed is owned by a
company who take out from it over half a million pounds of salt per month,
the mills and reduction works about Virginia City obtaining their supplies here,
and consuming the most of this large quantity, a little being ground up for table
use. The company dispose of this salt ready for sacking at $20 per ton on the
ground, the freight to Virginia being about $30. Having their own teams,
however, they are able to deliver it at the mills for $40 per ton, a sum consid-
erably below wBat the freight alone would be for transporting the article from
San Franciscor whence, for several years at first, it was wholly derived, the
freights at that time varying from $120 to $180 per ton. At these prices, ad-
ding first cost — say $12 per ton — many thousand tons were consumed by the
mills in Nevada prior to 1863, when they began packing it in from the salt
pools situate forty-five miles southeast of Walker lake, whereby the price was
somewhat reduced. These pools, like the water at Sand springs, being super-
saturated with salt, deposit it to a depth of several inches about their borders,
renewing it in a short time when taken away. After the discovery of the bed
at Sand springs, it being much nearer Virginia, salt ceased to be brought to
that place from these pools, though the mills about Aurora still continue to ob-
tain their supplies there. To the cheapened price of this community is the
present diminished cost of reducing silver ores in Nevada somewhat due, the
annual saving thus effected being in some of the larger establishments equiva-
lent to a hundred thousand dollars or more.
About fifty miles north of Sand springs, being also in Churchill county,
though near the line of Humboldt, is another and still more extensive salt bed
than that already described, its superficial area being nearly twenty square
miles, It does not differ, except in extent, from thcit at Sand springs ; the water
here also, instead of covering, coming only to within U few inches of the surface.
At this place there is first an inch of dry white salt on top, then six inches of
wet, overlying a stratum of tough mud, or blue clay, a foot and a half thick, and
filled with cubical crystals of salt, some of them several inches square and bear-
ing a strong resemblance to ice. Under this clay comes another layer of clean,
coarse salt, reaching downward to an unknown depth. This field is also owned
by a company who have erected a railway for running out, a platform for dry-
ing, and a house for storing their salt. Owing to its distance from the chief point
of consumption, Virginia City, but little of this salt has been sent to that place,
though the Humboldt .mills and those at Austin, in part, have drawn from here
their sifpply. Large as is this bed, it is surpassed by another situate in Nye, or
possibly in Esmeralda county, the location of the boundary between the coun-
ties being not yet well settled. This deposit is about one hundred and twenty
miles S. SW% from Austin, and seventy miles in the same direction from lone,
the shire town of Nye county. This bed covers more than fifty square miles,
over nearly all which the salt, clean, dry, and white, being the pure chloride of
sodium, lies to a depth varying from six inches to two feet. This is the surface
deposit, what there may be below never having been ascertained, nor does it
matter, the amount in sight being ample to supply the wants of the whole
world for centuries, could it but be readily furnished at the points where
required ; and though at present of so little avail, when railroads come to be
extended into these regions, there is no doubt but salt can be shipped to Califor-
nia, and perhaps to more distant localities with profit. Though sold on the
ground by the companies claiming these beds at one cent per pound, and some-
times for less, this salt should be afforded at a price scarcely more than the bare
cost of gathering it up — in most instances a mere nominal sum. Upon the great
salmiferous field of Nye county millions of tons could be shovelled up lying dry
96 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
and pure upon the surface to a depth varying from six inches to three feet, with
most likely still more heavy bodies below. This, like the more limited beds
elsewhere, is claimed by private individuals, either under some of the various
land laws of the United States, or enactments of the State of Nevada, or per-
haps by -virtue of certain regulations similar to those adopted by the mining
community, and which hitherto have constituted the tenure of their mining prop-
erties. As a means of guarding against combinations that might unduly en-
hance the price of a commodity so largely used and so indispensable in the re-
duction of silver ores, it might be expedient for the general government to take
measures to prevent these salt beds being so completely monopolized by private
parties, as is otherwise likely to be the case. Besides these more extensive beds,
there are numerous plains upon which the salt is deposited to the depth of an
inch or more by the process of efflorescence, tbe soil being damp and impreg-
nated with saline matters to a greater or less degree. At these spots the salt,
generally mixed with a small percentage of foreign matter, such as soda, lime,
or magnesia, is gathered by simply scraping it in heaps upon the surface, which
operation must be performed in the dry season, the smallest amount of rain
causing it to dissolve and wholly disappear. It reforms, however, with fair
weather, and when removed is speedily replaced by new depositions, being in
this respect like the heavier beds, practically inexhaustible. This admixture
of foreign matter does not seem to impair its value for the reduction of ores,
though rendering it unfit for culinary uses. From one of these plains, situate in
Big Smoky valley, forty-five miles south of Austin, the mills at that place and
elsewhere in the Reese river region obtain their principal' supplies of salt, it being
furnished on the ground at one cent a pound ; and as the average cost of hauling
to the mills is not over twenty dollars per ton, the latter get this article at a
comparatively moderate price. Upon these salt fields there are no signs of ani-
mal or vegetable life, though it is a singular circumstance, that coming up
through the saline incrustation, near the edge of the largest of them, is a fine
spring of pure cold water; similar springs being found either upon or in close
juxtaposition to others. The deposits of salt in this region are not confined to
these beds or plains; it sometimes occurs in elevated positions, the strata often,
in the aggregate many feet thick, being imbedded in hills and mounds of such
extent as to almost justify their being called mountains. One of these, situate
In the newly created but not yet organized county of Lincoln, in the extreme
southeastern corner of the State, covers an area of several thousand acres, the
layers being composed of cubical blocks of salt, often a foot square, nearly pure,
and as transparent as window glass. There are elsewhere in the State other
mounds of salt, the strata separated by layers of earth, similar to this, but none,
so far as known, of equal magnitude.
Lumber and fuel. — The only timber in the State capable of making really
good lumber is that growing on the eastern slope and along the base of the Sierra
Nevada mountains. A species of white pine is found in scattered groves on
some of the mountains in the interior and eastern part of the State, but the
trees are comparatively small, not more than two or three feet in diameter and
forty or fifty feet high, the wood being soft and brittle. As we have seen, there is
but little timber of any kind in the valleys, most of them containing none at all,
while many of the mountains are equally destitute. The prevailing tree, where
there is any east of the Sierra Nevada, is the pinon — a species of scrubby pine,
having a low, bushy trunk, from six to twelve inches through and from fifteen to
thirty feet high. Having a close fibre and being full of resin, it is heavy and
burns well even when green, being equal to most kinds of hard wood in the
amount of heat it gives out, and constituting a very valuable kind of fuel.
Mixed with these forests of pirlon there are sometimes a few juniper trees and
mountain mahogany — neither of any service for lumber, though the latter, when
dry, is an excellent fuel. Along most of the larger streams, as stated, there are
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 97
a, few cottonwoods and small willows; while, in some of the mountain canons,
these, together with birch, ash, and cherry, are found, all, however, of a dwarfish
growth, and, though serviceable for fencing, not of much use for making lumber.
With such a scarcity of good timber the better qualities of lumber command
high prices in most parts of Nevada. Thus, at Virginia City, though within
eighteen miles of the best timber lands, the price varies from $40 to $60, accord-
ing to kind and quality. The further we go east the higher the price rules;
the same quality of lumber that can be bought at the mills in the sierra for $20,
in Carson City for $30, and in Virginia City for $45, per thousand, costs $1 20 in Aus-
tin, where, at the same time, that made from the white-pine growing in the vicinity
can be bought for $60, and fire-wood for a little more than half the price it is
in Virginia. Much of the lumber employed in the erection of mills and the
construction of machinery about Austin, as well as a large proportion of that
used on other buildings in that place, has cost from $120 to $200 per thousand,
it being considerably cheaper now than it was several years ago. Worthless as
this piiion is for the purposes of lumber, many of the houses in the smaller towns
in the interior are built of it — a face being hewn upon two sides of the stick,
which is then set on end, the houses being constructed on the stockade plan. It
is also used, where easily obtained, for building corrals, and to some extent for
fencing; but, bring hard and knotty as well as of small size, it requires much
labor to prepare it for even the most common use. Wherever this tree is at all
abundant, fuel can be obtained, delivered at the mills, for from $4 to $5 per cord,
and sometimes a little less. In most parts of Churchill and Humboldt counties
the price is higher, owing to the greater scarcity of timber or the difficulty of
getting it down from the mountains. In Star City and Unionville, Humboldt
county, juniper — a very poor kind of fuel — costs from $10 to $12 per cord.
Where timber is scarce, sage-brush and other resinous shrubs — these being found
nearly everywhere in the country — are used for fuel; even some of the mills, as
the Shtba in Humboldt, and several others, having employed them wholly or
in part for generating steam, for which purpose they answer very well, save the
trouble of keeping the furnaces supplied, because of the rapidity with which they
are consumed. In Virginia City and vicinity wood now costs from $12 to $16
per cord, the price varying with the quality. These are about the rates that
have obtained, there since the settlement of the place, though at times much
higher have ruled when the season was inclement or the article scarce. Coal,
or rather lignite, has been discovered at several places in the State, yet none of
these deposits have as yet furnished more than a few hundred tons of fuel, nor
have they thus far been sufficiently developed to determine their capacity and
value in this respect. At Crystal Peak, on -the Truckee, near the California line,
a' considerable amount of work has been done in the exploration of coal-beds
supposed to exist at that point; and the prospect for finding there a large deposit
of at least a moderately good fuel is by experts considered encouraging. Beds
of peat that burn well have also been found at one or two places in Uie State.
A railroad — which can now be counted on as likely to be built within the next
two years, connecting the Virginia mining district with the heavy forests of the
Sierra Nevada — must tend to greatly diminish the cost of fuel and lumber, both
of which are required in enormous quantities in the business of raising and
reducing the ores, the erection of buildings, timbering the mines, &c.; the
sums annually expended on this account, though scarcely so large now as for-
merly, amounting to over $2,000,000, nearly one-half of which it is believed
might be saved through the aid of a railroad. When the Central Pacific rail-
road, now in rapid progress of construction across the sierra, shall have been
built down the Truckee river — as it is calculated it will be within a year and a
half from this time — it will pass a point not more than sixteen or eighteen miles
distant from Virginia City, which would be the length of a branch road required
for connecting this place with the main trunk, and through it with the heavily
H. Ex. Doc. 29 7
98 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
timbered mountains only six or eight miles west from the point of intersection
of the two roads. The suggestions made with reference to the propriety of
preventing a monopoly of the salt-fields by private individuals might perhaps be
extended also to the wood-lands, more especially in the interior mining districts,
where these lands are limited in extent, and where, although the requirements
for fuel will probably be great, large tracts have already been secured in the
nanner alluded to by private parties or companies.
MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF NEVADA.
•
Various minerals. — Not only the precious, but also many of the useful metals
as well as a large variety of mineral substances, are met with in the State of
Nevada, nearly all of them widely diffused and some of the latter in such abun-
dance as cannot fail to render them commodities of economic value when greater
facilities shall exist for transporting them to the points of manufacture or
consumption. Besides the saliniferous basins already described, ores of copper
and iron rich in these respective metals; beds of sulphur, from some of which
this mineral can be obtained quite pure, though generally mixed with calca-
reous or other foreign matter ; deposits of lignite and possibly true coal, though,
so far as explored, Nevada is not a strongly marked carboniferous region ;
cinnabar, gypsum, manganese, plumbago, kaoline and other clays useful for
making pottery and fire-brick ; mineral pigments of many kinds, together with
many of the more important salts and varieties of alkaline earths ; soda in all
its combinations, nitre, alum, magnesia, &c , being encountered in nearly all
parts of the State and frequently in great abundance. Platiiimn and tin have
been found in small quantities, the latter as yet only in stream-works and never
in place, galena, zinc, antimony, nickel, cobalt, arsenic, &c., frequently occur-
ring in combination with silver and other metals. Limestone, granite, marble, and
many other kinds of stone suitable for building purposes, with slate adapted for
roofing, are common and in some instances easily obtained, the work of quarry-
ing them being carried on above ground. The most useful material of this
class consists of a species of sandstone and a volcanic rock, the former of «.
light gray and the latter of a reddish drab color, both of which occur in masses
quite upon the surface, and when fresh from the quarry are so soft as to be
easily wrought, though afterwards becoming so hard as to resist not only the
influence of the atmosphere, but also a high degree of heat, some of this igneous
rock being employed for smelting and roasting works, and even the manufacture
of crucibles, with success. That iron could be manufactured to advantage in the
interior of the State where the freights are high and the consumption of this
article so considerable, is the opinion of those most conversant with the subject,
and there is a strong probability that works of this kind, upon a limited scale at
least, will be established there within a short time. One of the heaviest beds
of iron ore yet dicovered in the State is situated in the western part of Nye
county, and though not far distant from an extensive body of piiion from which
an excellent article of charcoal could readily be made, there is but little water
and no good land or important mines in the immediate neighborhood; wherefore,
although the ore is abundant, rich, and of supposed good quality, it is much to
be questioned whether iron, even of the more common kind, such as is used for
dies, shoes, castings, &c., could be made here with profit, and consequently
whether this ferruginous bed is at present of any practical importance. Upon
some of the alkaline flats, as well as about certain springs and other localites,
the carbonate of soda exists so pure and in such profusion that it, like common
salt and other similar substances, must yet become one of the staple exports of
the country. At present but a very limited use is made of this article, it being
employed only by the laundrymen and soap makers. There is now a small
establishment at Carson City engaged in manufacturing sulphuric acid, the raw
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 99
material bring procured from the sulphur bed near the Big Bend of the Ilum-
boldt river, about the centre of Humboldt county. That other salts and mineral
substances, such as nitre, borax, alum, &c., will yet be found in this State in
such quantities as will make them of practical value, seems probable, though
not enough is *yet known as to the extent of these deposits to warrant the ex-
pression of a positive opinion on this point. Nevada is rich in organic remains
both animal and vetetable, some of the latter being of extraordinary size and
beauty. Huge fragments o/ fossiliferous wood and even the entire trunks of
large trees have been discovered lying upon the surface of the ground often in
a state of high preservation. There are springs in different places? the waters
of which being highly charged with silicious or ferruginous properties, are
constantly carrying on this fossilizing process upon animal and vegetable mat-
ter immersed in or otherwise sufficiently exposed to their operation. No dia-
monds or other precious stones have, so far as is known, yet been discovered in
Nevada, though opals and agates, the latter remarkable lor variety and beauty,
have been found at many places. Neither petroleum nor other mineral oil has
thus far been met with in the country, nor do the indications, so far as observed,
favor the supposition that they will ever be discovered in quantities hereafter,
the bituminous, like the carboniferous signs throughout the State, being scanty
and unsatisfactory.
Characteristic features of tlie Cpmstock ledge. — Taken as a whole, this
ledge, discovered as already related, is not only by far the most valuable silver-
bearing lode yet found in the State of Nevada, but equals, perhaps, any deposit
of the precious metals ever encountered in the history of mining enterprise, its
productive capacity, as now being developed, surpassing, if the mass of its ores
do not in richness equal, those of the most famous mines of Mexico and Peru.
Being then so important in itself, and holding such prominence among the mines
of this State, a somewhat detailed description of its location, character, exploita-
tion, and future prospects may not be out of place. This lode is situate in
Story county, about twenty-five miles from the western border of the State.
It is found cropping out along the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a lofty em-
inence in the Washoe range of mountains, which form a lower spur of the main
sierra; with which it runs parallel, being separated therefrom by Washoe and
Steamboat valleys. Mount Davidson, like most of the range of which it forms
a part, is extremely dry and barren, containing but little water or grass, and at
present no timber at all, the few scrubby pines that once grew upon its sides
having long since dissappeared. Its bulk, like that of the Sierra Nevada and
most of the mountain ranges in this State, is composed of granite, though largely
made up of serpentine, quartz gneiss, sienite, talcose, calcareous and other pri-
mary rocks. Breccia, porphyry, trap, trachyte, argillaceous, and silicious, with
nearly every kind of igneous and sedimentary rock, are common in the moun-
tains of chis State, some rich argentiferous lodes having been found in many of these
formations. The summit of Mount Davidson is 7,827 feet above 'tide water,
1,600 feet above Virginia City and the Comsto.ck lode, and more than 3, 000 feet
above the plain of Carson river at its base. The direction and comparative size
of this lode, the length and relative position of the various claims upon it, and
its situation with reference to Virginia City and Gold Hill, the /principal towns
in the neighborhood, will be more readily understood by consulting the accom-
panying diagram, illustrating these and other points of interest connected there-
with. The strike of the principal or mother vein, the only one exhibited on
this plat, is, as will be seen, about fifteen decrees west of south, the northerly
and southerly extremities thereof bearing nearly due north and south. In width
or thickness it varies on top from twenty to two hundred feet, the most of it
ranging between thirty and seventy feet, with a uniform tendency to expansion
as penetrated downwards. The ledge, at some points along its course, as in the
grounds of the Savage and the Gould & Curry companies, and again at Gold
Hill, spreads out beyond its average width, it reaching at the latter place its
100 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
greatest thickness, something over one hundred and fifty feet. In a vertical
direction it undergoes a similar contraction and expansion, pinching at points
to a few yards, or even feet, arid again extending to its usual size. Though
in spots appearing in high rocky projections, it does not show itself above*
ground throughout its entire length, there being considerable stretches where
no outcrop is visible. That it preserves its continuity, however, below, seems
probable, it having been found wherever searched after to any great depth.
Nor has it proven prolific in ores throughout all its. parts, there being a number
of barren spaces along it, as in the ground extending from the Central to the
Gould & Curry claim, some 1,400 feet, and at other points further south, in
none of which have any considerable bodies of valuable ores been found, though
explored to depths varying from three to five hundred feet. It is the opinion
of geologists that within these hitherto unproductive spaces paying ores will yet
be reached, though not, perhaps, until much greater depths have been attained.
In this as in most large and fruitful silver-bearing lodes the valuable ores,
though generally diffused throughout the mass of the gange or vein-stone, are
still found to be more abundant in certain portions thereof called bonanzas or
chimneys, which latter, as they usually have a pitch lengthwise the lode, must,
according to their position, often run out of the ground of one company into that
of another adjoining, leaving the one comparatively poor and enriching the other.
Under this arrangement it might happen that one of these barren spots, by a
bonanza striking into it at a greater depth, should be rendered productive, it
being, moreover, liable tp become so without reference to this system of distribu-
tion of ores, not by any means a feature of all mines. In its upper portions
the Comstock lode clipped to the west at an angle of about sixty degrees, this
angle in places being much larger, and at some points. approximating ninety
degrees. At greater depths, varying from one to three hundred feet, the ledge
after gradually assuming a perpendicular position is now, at the depth of seven
hundred feet, found pitching to the east at an angle of about fifty degrees, the
inclination varying somewhat at different points along its line. In the develop-
ment of this lode, which is now conceded by all competent judges who have ex-
amined it to be a regular fissure vein of the largest size, the usual contractions,
faults, and displacements common in this class of veins have been encountered,
and though causing much hindrance and extra labor, and at times giving rise to
no little doubt and discouragement, they have in no case destroyed the continuity
of the vein or caused it to be wholly lost sight of. Dykes of trap and other in-
durated rock have interposed at many points to check the work of exploration,
while elsewhere imbedded within the mass of the lode have been foi\nd immense
fragments of wall rock or other foreign matter barren of ore, causing much
trouble and tending to depreciate for the time being the value of the mines.
But in nearly every instance such obstacles have been overcome, these rocky
barriers being penetrated, and these bodies of worthless material disappearing
before the persistent efforts of well-applied labor.
The Comstock ledge has now been clearly traced and identified for a space,
measured m a straight line, of a little more than one mile and a half, throughout
which it has been found continuous and sufficiently rich in the precious metals
to render the entire body of the ore-bearing portions of the vein remunerative,
with the exceptions already pointed out. This .space extends from the. larger
section of the Ophir company's claim, on the north, to that of the Belcher, and
possibly of the Uncle Sam, on the south, some of the rich silver sulphurates char-
acteristic of the mother lode having been found in the latter, though not at the
depth yet reached, in large quantities. As stated, the rich ores have been found
in some cases, as in the Ophir and Mexican grounds, and at Gold Hill, quite
upon the surface, while in others it has only been reached at depths varying
from fifty to five hundred feet. In the Gould & Curry claim very fair, though
not what was then considered pay-rock, was met with in the outcropping^ of the
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 101
ledge, the millable ores not being obtained until a deptli of nearly one hundred
feet was reached.
• In the ground of the Savage company, adjoining on the south, they were
not reached until a much greater depth had been attained, while in that of the
Hale and Norcross company, lying next, nothing worth putting through the
batteries was met with until their shaft had, at great expense been sunk to
a vertical depth of more than 500 feet. In the Alpha, Yellow Jacket, and
Crown Point claims, no heavy masses of millable, ores were met with until
they had been penetrated downward from one to three hundred feet, while, as
before intimated, inN the space between the claim of the Gould & Curry and
that of the central company, as also throughout a stretch of some hundred feet
adjoining the ground of the Chollar-Potosi company on the south, and perhaps,
also, in a like space similarly situated with reference to the Belcher ground, no
metalliferous deposits of magnitude or value have thus far been developed.
Much labor and money have been expended in efforts to t^ace the prolongation
of the Comstock ledge, both to the north and south, of what are considered, in
a productive sense at least, its present termini ; but only with the results here-
tofore indicated, nothing of permanent value having been struck along the
supposed line of its course, rfr adjacent thereto, beyond these points. Quartzose
ledges exist in abundance, both to the north and south within the belt the Com-
stock is presumed to occupy, if it have an existence outside its present known
limits ; but none of these, nor yet any of the numerous lateral ledges in close
proximity to the developed section of the mother vein, and by some considered
a portion of it, have yielded more than a very insignificant percentage of the
precious metals, nor are the present prespects of these properties such as to
command for them other than mere nominal prices in the mining share market,
many, that a few years ago sold readily at high prices, being no longer salable
at all. Most of the ledges running parallel with the productive portion of> the
Comstock, and within one or two hundred feet of the latter, have been the cause
of much expensive litigation, the owners of the main lode claiming them as be-
longing to it under the theory that they would all unite at some point, probably
at no great depth beneath the surface ; a view that the courts have been inclined
to sustain arid that experience tends to sanction.
The greatest vertical depth to which the Comstock ledge has been developed
is a little more than seven hundred feet, there being several shafts along it from
four hundred to seven hundred feet deep, with many others varying in depth
from two hundred to five hundred feet, while some tunnels now under way, and
soon most likely to be completed, will strike it at a still greater depth. The
Sutro tunnel already projected, with a good prospect of being finished in the
course of four or five years, will strike it at an estimated depth of eighteen
hundred feet below the croppings of the Gould & Curry company, the highest
point upon it. This work, according to the plan proposed, js to be twelve feet
wide and ten feet high, so as to admit of a double train-way. It will be nine-
teen thousand feet long, cost between four and five millions of dollars, and when
finished will enable this lode to be worked with probable profit to a depth of
three thousand feet or more. The proprietor of this tunnel, which it is believed
will soon become an urgent necessity, proposes to tax the different companies
upon the Comstock ledge at the rate of two dollars for every ton of ore raised
after the work is completed, and they are actually enjoying the benefits of
having their mines drained thereby. The work, though formidable, is greatly
inferior, both in cost and magnitude, to several others of a similar kind already
completed, or under way, for securing deep drainage to various mines in Europe.
In the year 1850 surveys were made for a tunnel in the Harz mines, Bruns-
wick, to be nearly fourteen miles in length, and wnich it was estimated it would
require twenty-two years to finish. Work was commenced upon this tunnel in
July, 1851, and completed in June, 1864, the time required for its construction
being less than thirteen years. The product of these mines is only about half a
102 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
million dollars in gold and silver, per annum, and the additional drainage
secured by this work was but three hundred feet, items quite insignificant com-
pared with the annual yield of the Comstock lode, and the depth of drainage to»
accrue from the construction of the Sutro tunnel. A tunnel some fifteen miles
in length, designed to drain the principal mines at Freiberg, Saxony, has been
in progress of excavation for several years, forty more being expected to insure
its completion; nor does this work deepen the present drainage upon those
mines to anything like the extent attained by the Sutro tunnel. Already a
number of extensive tunnels have been commenced, designed to intersect the
Cometock lode at depths varying from five hundred to one thousand feet
beneath the surface. Some of these, after being partially completed, have been
abandoned; upon others work has been suspended at different stages in their
progress ; while upon a few operations are still being vigorously prosecuted, with
the prospect of an early consummation Some of the shafts now being sunk it
is proposed to carry ^ to a depth of twelve or fourteen hundred feet, powerful
pumping and hoisting works being provided for the purpose.
ChdTacter, quantity, value, and distribution of ores in the Comstock ledge. —
The great body of valuable ores contained in the Comstock ledge consists of the
black and gray sulphurets of silver, several. other varieties having been met with
in small quantities, more especially near the surface. Native silver is found
diffused throughout all parts of the vein; and while no large masses have been
obtained, many handsome specimens have been gathered from the various
claims, the aggregate value of all the virgin metal taken out being quite large.
Combined with this ore is a small amount of the baser metals, such as the sul-
phurets of antimony, lead, iron, copper, &c. These are present, however, owly
in limited quantities, this ore being remarkable for its freedom from these and
similar substances; hence one of the elements of its comparatively cheap re-
duction. Associated with the silver is a notable percentage of gold, the bullion
extracted during the earlier working of the mines containing a larger portion of
it than at a later period when, through improved machinery and process; s and
a more careful manipulation of the ores, the silver was more closely saved. At
Gold Hill the bullion extracted at first was worth from six to eight dollars per
ounce; now it is reduced to between two and three dllars, that from most other
points along the Comstock lode being worth still less owing to the heavy ailoy
of silver it contains. The deeper the mines at Gold Hill are worked the more the
metal tends to silver. By simply crushing and amalgamating, from seventy to
ninety, on an average more than eighty, per cent, of all the precious metals con-
tained in the great mass of the Comstock ores can be extracted, thereby dispensing
with the troublesome and expensive process of roasting or smelting, to which
only a small quantity of the extremely rich or more obdurate ores are subjected.
The mass of rocky matter enclosed between the walls of this ledge is not found
to be ore-Hearing throughout all its parts. In spots it is quite barren, the ores
being collected in streaks or bunches, leaving the balance so entirely destitute
of metal, or only so slightly impregnated therewith, as to render it not worth
raising. In other places the metalliferous ores are generally diffused throughout
the vein-stone, being here usually of a lower grade than where occurring in a
more concentrated form. This lode, having been found remarkably rich at two
or three spots quite upon the surface, and these happening to be the 'points
where practical operations were first initiated, led at the outset to very exag-
gerated notions of its probable wealth, and a consequent overrating of its pros-
pective value ; a circumstance to which much of the wild speculation, as well
as many of the misapprehensions and mistakes, that subsequently characterized
the management of these mines, as well as the financial operations connected
therewith, may be justly attributed. Under the excitement of the moment, and
through the general ignorance prevailing in regard to the nature of silver mines,
it was inferred that these bonanzas would not only be of frequent occurrence
and extend indefinitely downwards, but that the entire body of the lode would
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 103
become larger and more productive the further it was penetrated in that direc-
tion ; a supposition which, it is needless to say, subsequent experience has
failed to confirm, most of these rich accumulations of ore having been exhausted
at no great depth, and the ledge generally, though increasing somewhat in
thickness as descended upon, having undergone no corresponding increment in
the volume of the ores, or in the average yield of the precious metal s. From
many of the mines along the line of the Cornstock there is at present a much
greater amount of ore being raised than formerly, because of greater facilities
for hoisting, and because a much lower grade of ore is now being worked than
aforetime. In the earlier stages of mining at this place large bodies of metallif-
erous -rock were left untouched in the upper levels, being then thought too poor
to justify removal. Many of these, as well as thousands of tons of rejected
rock thrown upon the dump piles, have since been sent to the mills, and, with
the present cheapened means of reduction, found to pay a profit ; and thus it is,
that while the average yield of the precious metals to the ton of ore has been
steadily diminishing, the aggregate annual product of bullion from these mines
underwent a rapid increase until three years ago, since which time it has been
maintained at about the same point, the amount being about fifteen million dol-
lars per annum. For the first two or three years after they were opened, the
argentiferous ores taken from this ledge yielded from one to three hundred dol-
lars per ton ; the average of all worked being over one hundred and fifty dollars,
while • some small lots carefully selected went much higher, ranging from five
hundred to two and even three thousand dollars to the ton. But the quantity
of this class was limited, and it is probable that nearly as much equally rich
ore could now be procured by carefully culling the entire mass taken out.
These rich parcels were generally sent abroad for reduction, or sold in San
Francisco to the dealers in metalliferous ores, who carried them to Europe —
mostly to Swansea — for treatment.
To illustrate more clearly the depreciation that has gradually taken place in
the value of these ores, or, rather, the manner in which, through the agency of
cheapened and more efficient modes of treatment, the working of those of lower
grade with profit have been constantly increased, we may take the case of the
Gould & Curry company, which fairly represents the experience of most others
in this particular. This company, during the four years extending from 1862
to 1865, inclusive, extracted from their claims the following numbers of tons of
third cla-s ore, being the bulk taken out, with the average results stated, viz :
1862, 8,427 tons; average yield per ton, $104 50; 1863, 43,907 tons; average,
$80 44 per ton; 1864, 55,602 tons; average, 73 48 per ton; 1865, 46,745
tons ; yield, $45 41 per ton. For the year 1866 the amount of ore raised will
probably not differ much from that of last year, while the yield per ton will be
somewhat less. During these four years this company took out, in addition to
the foregoing, fifty-two tons first class ore that averaged 81,800 to tire ton, and
14,103 tons second-class that averaged $234 to the ton, while one or two mines
are doing better. The average yield of the leading mines on the Comstock
ledge will not at present go much jf any above $40 per ton ; while that from
the more auriferous claims at Gold Hill will scarcely yield $30. With the
poverty of the ores the profits of the mine, of course, diminish, it costing but
little more to work moderately rich than it does poor ores. The total number
of tons of ore raised from all the mines on the Comstock ledge will reach and
perhaps exceed one million and a half. The amount of ore extracted from the
various mines depends upon their magnitude, the facilities for raising them, and
the energy with which they are pushed. Most of the larger claims are now
taking out at the rate of from twenty to fifty thousand tons per annum, and ons
or two at a still larger rate. The total amount of ore extracted from all the
claims situate on- the Comstock ledge may be roughly estimated at something
over one and a half million tons.
104 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Cost of mining, hauling, and reduction of ores. — These several items of ex-
pense vary considerably with circumstances. In estimating the cost of raising
or mining the ores it is customary to include that of constructing, hoisting, and <
pumping works, timbering the mines, £c., as well as of the actual labor of ex-
traction. The cost of mining the ores on the Oomstock ledge averages at pres-
ent about $14 per ton, the price varying from $10 to ^20. For transporting the
ores from the mine to the mill the cost is at the rate about $1 per ton for every
mile the ore is carried, unless the distance be long, when it is less. Hauling
the shortest distance usual 'y costs $1 per ton. Where contracted for in large
lots, teamsters haul from Virginia City to Carson river, seven miles, for $4 per
ton. Ores treated by simple crushing and amalgamation, as most of those
taken from the Comstock ledge are, can be reduced at a cost varying from $10
to $16 per ton, the average price being about $14. The auriferous ores at Gold
Hill, which require but few expensive chemicals, do not cost over $8 or $10 per
ton. Where water-power is used instead of steam the expense is about S3 per
ton less, these all being reductions of from thirty to seventy five per cent, on
the prices that prevailed a few years ago, Where dry-crushing with roasting
or smelting is adopted the expense is two or three times as great as by the above
method. Not more than one-twentieth, if at present so large a proportion, of the
ores from the Comstock mines are treated by dry-crushing, though upon a larger
share of those taken from the ledges in the interior this plan could be adopted
with advantage, the most of them requiring roasting or smelting. To the above
rates, except in the item of hauling ores to the mills, 'which is about the same,
there must be added, where these several operations are carried on in the outside
districts, from fifty to one hundred per cent., the price of labor as well as most
kinds of material being that much dearer there than about Virginia City. Ex-
tracting the ores from some of the extremely narrow ledges in these localities often
costs four times as much per ton as from the claims on the Comstock lode, so
much dead work being required to secure a small amount of ore from the former.
Annual and total product of bullion extracted from the Comstock ledge. —
Assuming the gross amount of ore taken from the Comstock lode to have been
one and a half million of tons, a rather low estimate, and supposing it to have
yielded at the rate of forty-four dollars per ton, the present average being less
than $40, we have a total bullion product of $66,000,000, reckoning to the end
of the present year. That this estimate of the gross product is not far out of
the way, the following table exhibiting the annual yieJd of all the mines in
Nevada tends to establish. These figures are for the most part derived from
authentic sources, and although they embrace the yield of all the mines in the
State, we have only to make a deduction of about five or six per cent, for the
outside districts, the balance being justly credited to the Comstock lead :
1859
$50, 000
I860
100, 000
1861
2, 275, 000
1862
^ 6,500,000
1863
12,500,000
1864
. . 16, 000, 000
1865
16,800,000
1866
16,500,000
70, 725, 000
*The above estimate as stated is derived from authentic sources, but it differs some-
what from the estimate made by the surveyor general of Nevada given in section 3, clause
33, with which it may be compared, as well as with the total yield reported by the principal
companies on the Comstock lode as given in clauses 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 4:<i in
section 3.
WEST OF THE ROC^Y MOUNTAINS 105
An allowance of five million of dollars would undoubtedly cover the product
of all the outside mines, making that of the Comstock vein to be, as above,
nearly $66,000,000. The rate at which this lode has been yielding heretofore
can, in all likelihood, be kept up for an indefinite period to come, there being
no example in the history of silver mining of a vein of this magnitude and
character being exhausted or giving out, though many have been worked steadily
for centuries and in some instances to depths three or four times as great as
that yet reached on any part of the Comstock lode. The yearly turn out
of these mines could easily be enlarged, as it no doubt will be hereafter,
when new levels shall be opened or new claims brought to a productive
condition, and additional works shall be supplied for raising and reducing
the ores. That their annual product will be augmented to twenty millions
or more, in the course of a few years, seems quite likely. It could even,
with the present me«,ns for extracting the ores, be increased several millions
yearly were the leading companies disposed to employ a larger number of cus-
tom mills and to adopt the rushing and exhaustive system in vogue a' few years
ago ; but which, while it secured large aggregate returns, was found to be
attended with great waste and to tend to a rapid depletion of the mines. As a
return to this plan cannot therefore reasonably be looked for, the anticipated
increase of bullion may be expected to grow out of the causes above mentioned,
in conjunction with a more economical and perhaps efficient reduction of ores,
whereby those of a lower grade than are now worked can be treated with profit.
The annual yield of none of the older claims has been as large for the past two
years as it was for two or three years previous to that time, the deficiency being
supplied by several new claims that have since become productive, such as the
Hale & Norcross, Crown Point, and others. Thus the Gould & Curry com-
pany, whose mine did not begin to turn out bullion in any quantity until 1862,
produced that year $858,819, in 1863 $3,887,755, in 1864 $4,921,516, and in
1865 $2,401,060, the product the present year being about the same as last.
The entire amount of the precious metals taken from this mine, calculating to
ihe end of the year 1866, amounts to about fourteen aud a half millions of
dollars. From the Savage mine there has been extracted during the same time
about $4,500,000, the total yield for the year ending July 10, 1866, havirfg
been $1,256,663. The Hale & Norcross, which only lately began to yield
largely, is now producing at the rate of about $1,500,000 per annum. The
product of the Imperial mine at Gold Hill was, for the year ending May 31,
1865, $854,630. For the last year it has not yielded so largely, the same
remark being applicable to most of the formerly highly productive mines near
it, as well as to many others near Virginia City, such as the Ophir, Mexican,
Central-Chollar, Potosi, &c., from none of which has there been anything like
the amount of bullion extracted the last two years that there was for the two
years preceding, while upon one or two of them labor has nearly ceased. The
cause of this falling off is not so much in the poverty of the mines themselves,
some of which have been amongst the most prolific on the Comstock lead, and
are still known to be rich, as irf a lack of energy on the part of the owners in
failing to provide the means for draining them of water and a renewal of pros-
pecting operations. On some of these mines work has been suspended until
more powerful machinery for hoisting and pumping can be supplied, while in a
few other cases it has been for want of adequate means to go on, or because the
small amounts of good ore at one time obtainable in the mine having given out,
the owners have become discouraged or concluded to discontinue operations
until the adjacent mines have been drained and explored.
Accruing profits, dividends, losses, disbursements, fyc. — Of the net profits that
have accrued to the owners of the mines upon the Comstock ledge, taking them
as a whole, it is impossible to make any accurate computation. In many of the
morp valuable claims but little capital was at first invested, the owners being
106 RESOURCES OF THE 'STATES AND TERRITORIES
the original locators, or purchasing them from the latter for small and often mere
nominal prices. This was more particularly the case with the numerous small
but extremely rich claims at Gold Hill, as well as the Ophir ind Mexican near
Virginia City. At first there were no taxes of any kind upon the product of
these mines ; the body of ore was large, exceedingly rich, easily extracted —
thousands of tons being found in the croppings above ground — and the most of
it capable of being reduced at a comparatively small cost ; wherefore the profits
to the owners, or at least to such of them as had come by the^e properties
cheaply, were, during the first three or four years, not only steady, certain, and
large, but in many cases enormous ; and had better judgment been exhibited at
that period in working the mines, and more caution in properly securing their
titles, or had greater economy in the expenditure of their proceeds been ob-
served by the owners, much of the disaster, loss, and, in some instances, final
ruin that overtook both might have been avoided. For the development of these
mines and the working of the ores few assessments were ever required, the
most of them being not only self-sustaining but dividend-paying from the start.
Prior to the erection of steam-mills the argentiferous ores were sold and sent out
of the country for reduction, the auriferous rock at Gold Hill being worked by
arrastras, a slow method, but one that answers well where the rock is rich, and
simple crushing and amalgamating serves the purpose. Another advantage at
this early day was, the mines were mostly owned by single individuals, or two
or three at most, acting as partners, and not by large incorporated companies ;
and thus a source of much wastefulness and mismanagement, not to say pecula-
tion and fntud, was guarded against. So large was the 4 income from some of
these claims at Gold Hill during the period we are considering that they readily
commanded from five to fifteen thousand dollars per foot, the net monthly profits
derived from them varying from five hundred to three thousand dollars per linear
foot. In some cases persons owning but ten feet enjoyed from this source an
annual revenue of more than twenty and even approximating thirty thousand
dollars. Nor were these princely revenues confined to the claims in Gold Hill,
proper, (a mound of quartz some three or four hundred feet in length ;) the pro-
prietors of the Mexican and Ophir for a time fared nearly as well. This tem-
porary productiveness of the mines, leading, as has already been observed, to
the subsequent high prices and extravagant notions of their prospective value,
which in turn caused the undue excitement and over-speculation that culminated,
on several distinct occasions not far separated, in general disappointment ancf
loss. How frequently and extensive these losses have been may in some measure
be gathered from the following tables exhibiting the fluctuations in the prices of
such mining stocks as have been generally dealt in by the board of brokers, an'd
which, although they do not embrace all the, productive mines in the State, suf-
ficiently indicate the fate that at one time or another has overtaken a large ma-
jority of them.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
107
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RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
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WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS.
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WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS,
111
Table showing t.Tte fluctuations in mining shares from June 29, 1866, to Scp-
tcmler 30, 1866 -
Name of company.
June
29.
July
10.
July
20.
July
30.
Aug.
10.
Aug.
20.
Aug.
30.
Sept.
10.
Sept.
20.
Sept,
30.
Gould & Curry per ft.
$700
$725
$720
$705
$715
$740
$700
$710
$600
$610
Ophir .do.
210
235
280
245
•272
320
210
210
200
207
S'lva^e do
900
865
925
950
1 200
1 150
1 085
1 160
1 100
1 115
('"'ollar-Potosi do. .
183
185
190
171
180
173
] •„'!)
136
115
111!
1 1 ill e &, Norciws do..
Slu'ba do
1,275
1,260
1,300
1,425
1, 6GO
1,650
],600
1,750
1,680
1,800
I);riey do
•
5i
*i
\Y ;do -West do
Bullion ' do ..
57
58
47*
47
25
27
20
23
20
15
El Dorado - do
24'
50
47
38
39
27i
1H
14-1-
-1 '
4
Sierra Nevada do .
2
4i
5
41
2i
6i
N
2|
Yellow Jacket do . .
7CO
580
590
945
722
630
730
770
685
682
Baltic . do
Sacramento . . do
Lady Bryan do
Imperial do . .
ICO
104
94
94
94
90
95
%
84
82
Crown Point . do
9UO
700
850
875
925
950
935
880
825
875
Belcher do . .
162
170
155
130
149
108
125
120
115
94
Alpha do .
206
100
95
50
115
120
103
80
Confidence do..
55
50
51
43
59
4i)
55
De Soto do
3-i
These tables cover but a comparatively shot period and do not show the more
extreme and violent fluctuations that took place during the earlier periods
in the history of mining speculations. Thus in the earfier part of the summer of
1859 the Ophir ground could be bought for one hundred dollars, and the Gould
& Curry for three dollars per foot. In less than eight months the former had
risen to $1,000, and the latter to $600 per foot, and though the Guold & Curry
stock, owing to assessments, and the fact that no ore was being taken out, fell
during the summer of 1861 to $200 per foot, we find that less in than- two years
from that time it was selling currently at the rate of $5,000 per foot, and again
but one year thereafter for less than $1,000, and though it subsequently rallied
somewhat, selling in April, 1865, for a little over $2,000 per foot, it can at the
present time be bought for about one fourth that sum; nor is this an extreme
case, most of the other claims on the Comstock ledge having undergone similar
vicissitudes, while some at Gold Hill have fluctuated still more widely. At one
time the Empire ground could not be bought at $10,000 per foot; now it can be
had for a little more than $1,000. The Sheba, Daney, Wide West, Burning
Moscow, Real del Monte, and others that might be named, though now selling
for almost nominal prices, and some of them not salable at all, were once sell-
ing currently at $500 per foot, unon most of them expensive mills and hoisting
works having since been erected. Hundreds of claims that during these period-
ical seasons of excitement were finding buyers readily at sums varying all the
way from one to a hundred dollars per.foot are now no longer heard of, being in fact
of no value whatever. In the shares of the productive mines on the Comstock
ledge it is beileved no further depreciation will be likely to take place, but rather
that most of them will advance in price, the payment of dividends suspended
upon many of them during the past year being gradually resumed, and though
not so large as formerly, with a prospect of being continued hereafter. The
Hale & Norcross company are now making monthly dividens of $75 per foot ;
the Yellow Jacket, of $50 ; the Guold & Curry, of $25 ; and many other com-
panies greater or less amounts, while a few, owing to extra expenses the past year,
112 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
are not making any, but expect to do so in a few weeks or months. Previous
to June 1, 1865, the Empire company had taken from their mine a sum total of
$1,500,000, of which $287,500 were paid in dividends. Including the product
of the present year, the Gould & Curry company have taken from their mine
a grand total of $14,000,000, of which $6,500,000 have been paid out-in gen-
eral disbursements and improvements ; a little over $3,000,000 for work done by
custom mills ; the balance, something over $4,000,000, having been paid to the
stockholders in dividends, while the assessments levied have been comparatively
small. The extent to which assessments have been levied upon the principal
mines in various parts of the State recently, dividends, d£c., can readily be seen
by reference to the following tables : •
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
•;ooj jad
sjaatussasse
8888558
OOgOOgO
:SSSSSS
;g!«s8*-.
88
113
8
888888
si «J 2
ti Pi o S
SS
c? o
8 :888
•«• • n o cx>
Tt< ! to 10 1-
88 :8888883888
OO •C
• .^. .- . . .-s
888888
Q<0 1C 0 JO <M
goooo ;goooo
C<0 O O lO rH • »O O O ^ C<
ssa'ss jsasss
litit
3838888883888
roooj^MfOr-ioo c*.!N •-( cj
> *"> > -j >
•jooj iad puap
-iAip
: : : : : :8 :::::: :8 : : :88 : :g ::::::::: :8 :
888888888
888888
8888888 88888 8888
iad pig;
88 88888
: :8 :88
:8 :88 :8 : : :8 :8 : :8 :8
• mc» -m > • 10 -oo • -o •<
• Cl i— ( • .11 . ••C7»l
iA ajBJodiooni
oSocrjoocootoo
niii
lillil
' |-C I-H !O r-l CJ
•jooj jad sQj^qs
•anna ai paj jo
cr-TTjT Vcfr^co"<rf «
1
!is • • id
S^P^SS^K^^^iQC
H. Ex. Doc. 29-
114
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
•?ooj jad
s^uanissass'B JTJJOJ,
ooo -0*0000 o o c$ i> • o c< oo
888 J?^
8 88888888 88 : 8 :• 88
8888 88
*j
^ ', i
£
S££S"8S?5^ 38 ! t°H 8£
3.3 ^ ^ S 8
1
1
— "o !
>> > a a o>
ce o s g ®o
O
Q < ,«-, S S Q 1-5 ft <; sci-5 . & . ,ce!z;
8 K«9 £ fi »
1
Recent assessn
3
1
88 88888888 88 8 88 888
lOO TfOVCOOOQOO iCIO i— 1 O OC^lO
•ee- W^ O r-t r-( C^ C? O«C^"
C3O i— i-^QOCp^lQCCi-^ CiQO O tCOtt QCUOIO
4? fepls^io^ ^w ^ IS sl^S
:8S :::::::: ::: :8 ::::::
8888 88
-LMP^uou^
:"";:;: i • i i \ \ \ \ \\.\\\
•;ooj aad pa^sy
88888888 88 8 8 8 :88 88
:8
:88 : : : :8 :8 8 : : :8 : : : : :8
:8
•;ooj jad pig
; -- i i i •: ; : : ; i i i ; ; ;
—
O O O*C* OOOOOiOO OOOOOOOOOOO
o 10 c o o o
1§
^^^M HS 4 ^.c^^^co rfol
n ^ c* c* nm
•;ooj jad sajtJTjg
ft
:
•auioi ni ;aaj jo 'o^
%
£
::::::::::: < ::::::::::: s
: : : 5 : : • : : o : : : : d ::::•; fi
i i :! i i ! i i ; '• < 1 |
IJ :| ! i i : i : ! 1 i i icil i i i i ! : 8
• . >, . « • • "Si:
:> =1 .:5'ci i itti w ! i !§1 !| i i i !
ig»
HUMBOLDT DISTRI
:| ;| =>ld ;H ; l^ild l ''«
'•Z •§ :£^§Sg£ d '-S^^ :^HH : \£
^03 :^M§^^ g^gg'Sfl^l^ : :£
®»rt55»S'a--t:^o •! -S ® » J 3 «3 • - ®
ll^illlllll Pillllllll
fiift,a5a:a2aDccPr';r-:>' •< B p?fe O K rt CE f {3 Pr
^III |i
o o «C ®xi
O*-SJ»r* MOJ
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
lib
83
888
:SSS8S8 888
rHW^S* g § O>
88
88
:8
?)w •
S00 i
88
O (M
S.8S
88
MO
888
: : :8 : : : :8 : : : : : 8
:8
:88
i-rcfcrTc-fr-r t-'ofrf'eft
: : : :o
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
r-< *— ' » <O
ci rH -co
88
88 :
888S8
:88 : :S : :
888
1
8888
8 : :8
§888
88
888
s
: :8
is
>> bo fcb
:8
88
°
•jooj: .isd puap
-tAjp
:8 :::::!
88
: :8 :
: :8
8 :888S
Pi
88
:§
:u
•!jooj aad pig
8 : :8888
8
lOooooooooooccoooogooooooooo'
S9JBqS JO '
O O O
"i-Tr-TcD'fc'
•;ooj
•anra ui iaaj jo
•e«-Ci
OO^OOOOOOOOOO
Cf-T n-"cfrH"cfCM" 0"
OmOOOtiOOOOOOOOOOO
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
117
§§
s
8
i—i
888 P.
11
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5°° 2
cj
2?t
;-
s
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... I—
88
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8
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88
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:88
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•8 :
: is : is : i
8
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^?18
0
:?ja
•10
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<M
\n •
: :S : :"°
8
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3
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jlOQO
n
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111
; •§
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;g|
1
fi
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1!
HIM!
: :8
: :8 : :£ : : :8
! ia i i- i i is
:8 : :S : : :8
'8oc58opoS8 8888008 =
> 1O O O O <
;88:
-Tn
:888;
§O O O <
$ e o
118
^5
I1
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
88 888
•;ooj jtad puep
-lAtp
•;ooj iad pig
§88
888
•saa^qs jo -OK p?;o£ \ rH»p,-
;8 s:
OJ I
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I
: : : : :
i : : : :
i : : : :
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. . . . .
1 • : : :
: H
; : ; ; ! 0
,,'::• 55
: : : : : g
: : : : :
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o-S'g^^
: : : ;o
& : : ;J
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^K
silil
ji
Hill
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 119
From the foregoing tables it will be perceived that several mines upon which
heavy assessments have been paid are now worth nothing at all, the Baltic,
North Potosi, and the White & Murphy, in the Washoe district, the Antelope
and Wide West in Esmeralda, and the Sheba in Humboldt, being cases in point.
It will also be seen that in other cases of this kind though the assessments
per foot are much less, the total amount collected and expended upon these now
worthless mines is large, owing to the great number of feet they contain, the
Baltimore American, Amador, Buckeye, Burnside, &c., being examples of this
class. The Alpha is quoted as worth only $70 per foot, while the assessments
amount to $1,240 per foot, from which, if this quotation is to be accepted as
indicating its true value, it would appear that the stockholders of this mine have
sunk over $325,000, besides the original cost of their grounds ; a view that the
actual facts in this particular case will hardly justify, the company owning a
valuable hoisting works and the prospects of their mine being far from desperate.
The above tables contain the names of only a small portion of the companies
that have been organized, generally incorporated at considerable expense, for
the purpose of mining, or rather perhaps it should be said dealing and specu-
latings in mine in this State ; nor do they indicate more than one in a hundred of
the ledges that at some time between the summers of 1860 and 1864 were
supposed to possess some considerable value, and upon which more or less work
was during that period performed. These ledges were not confined to the so-
called Washoe district, meaning the central western portion of the State, but
were scattered all over it except the extreme northern, eastern, and southern
parts, which had not then been much explored. The amount of money expended
upon or about these ledges in various ways, the most of it in attempts at open-
ing them with shafts or tunnels, varied from the smallest sum to $100,000, being
in the aggregate very large, not less perhaps, labor included, than three or four
millions of dollars, nearly all of which, though not illegitimately applied — the
prospecting of these mines being a necessary measure— was practically lost,
very few of them having exhibited a sufficient quantity of pay ores to impart
to them any value. It must be remembered, however, that but few of them
have been opened to any great depth, leaving a chance for the finding of more
metalliferous ores, should they ever be more thoroughly explored, as many of
them undoubtedly will be. In speaking of this class of lodes on which more
or less labor has4>een expended, no allusion is made to the still larger class,
numbered by thousands, which were located under the laws of the various dis-
tricts, and after being held for a short time were abandoned, being forfeited for
want of the requisite improvements, and upon which, fortunately, no work was
done at all. But even this class did not fail in seasons of excitement to possess
at least a nominal value in the mining-share market, some of them being disposed
of to the ignorant or credulous for considerable sums of money. Fortunately
this mode of procedure is now pretty much over with, never, it is hoped, to be .
again reinstated. It will be seen by these tables that while the losses from the
depreciation of mines upon which assessments have been paid have been heavier
in the Washoe district, they have been quite as frequent, considering the entire
number, and even more complete, in the outside districts, where, so far as the
stock reports indicate, all values would seem to have been extinguished for this
species of property. Of the seventy millions of dollars extracted from the mines
in Nevada, it is questionable whether even one-third has been paid to the share-
holders in the shape of dividends — not enough in many cases to cover the
assessments they have been called upon to pay; while it is well known the mines,
taken as a whole, with all improvements, would not sell for anything like what
they cost. Yet at present many of these properties are depressed in price far
below their intrinsic value, as the experience of the future will undoubtedly
show.
120 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Extent and cost of underground work. — Including tunnels, shafts, aclitsr
drifts, and Actual stopings excavated in the business of exploitation, prospecting,
and ventilating the Comstock vein, it is estimated that the various companies
owning mines along it have executed an amount of subterranean work equal to
nearly forty miles in linear extent. The expense attending -this kind of work
depends so wholly upon their size, length or depth, the material to be removed
or penetrated, and other circumstances surrounding each particular case, that it
would be difficult to fix upon a figure indicating their average cost. The price for
excavating shafts and tunnels ranges from five to fifty dollars per running foot,
many of the larger tunnels having cost throughout more than twerfty dollars
per foot. These prices, as are all the other money estimates in this report being
based on specie values. The sinking of the larger and deeper shafts, in-
cluding timbering, has generally cost from twenty to forty dollars per foot,
The large shaft intended for both working and prospecting purposes now being
put down jointly by the Empire and Imperial companies at Gold Hill,
estimated throughout, will cost at the rate of fifty-eight or sixty dollars per foot.
This is, however, of extra large dimensions, being seven feet four inches by thirty
feet eight inches, and to be carried down 1,200 feet. It will call for twelve
months' time and an expenditure of about $80,000 to complete it. Short tunnels
and shafts of moderate depth, where the ground is tolerably favorable, can be
excavated for six or seven dollars per foot, and sometimes for less. In this
kind of work on and about the Comstock ledge there has been expended,
between two and three millions of dollars, exclusive of the expense attendant
on the removal of the ores and the timbering up of the mines.
4.— MINING PROPERTY, ETC.
Number and capacity of mills, hoisting works, 8fc. — There are at this time
170 mills for the crushing and reduction of ores in the State of Nevada. This
number embraces only such establishments as are now completed and ready for
running or nearly so, there being several, some of them of large capacity, in
course of construction, but not sufficiently advanced to warrant speaking of
them as being already in existence. These mills carry 2,564 stamps, weighing
from 400 to 800 pounds each, the average being about 600 pounds, and have an
aggregate capacity equal to 6,322 horses. Their average cost has been about
$60,000, or an aggregate of 810,000,000, one of them, the Gould & Curry,
carrying 80 stamps and supplied with two large engines, has dost, with grounds,
alterations, and surroundings, over $1,000,000 ; several others have cost from
$150,000 to $250,000, the Ophir, in Washoe valley, having cost much more.
Of this number 35 are driven by water and the balance by steam, a few of each
class using both water and steam. Of these mills 36 are in Story county, 34
in kyon, 10 in Washoe, 8 in Ormsby, and 1 in Douglas, a total of 89, all of
which are running on Comstock ore ; Esmeralda county contains 21 mills, Nye 8,
Lander 22, Humboldt 5, and Chtirchill 4. Some of these structures are very
substantial, being built of brick and granite or other stone ; some, on the contrary,
being cheap and fragile ; the machinery, however, is in most cases good. At the
time many of them were erected labor, freights, and material were much higher
than at present, wherefore they cost a great deal more than equally good estab-
lishments would now do Attached to most of these mills are shops, ore and
timber sheds, and, in some cases, boarding-houses, &c., the cost of which is gen-
erally included with that of the mill. Twenty per cent, or more of these mills are
not at present running, most of those lying idle being in the outside districts.
Those employed upon the Comstock ores are mostly kept running, except a few
that may be stopping for repairs. Of all the mills in Esmeralda county not
more than one-half are at work, nor have they been for the past two years. In
Lander county there aie also many unemployed, particularly about Austin. The
causes of these stoppages are various ; in a few cases the mills are imperfect
and not fit to do good work. In others they have been tied up with litigation,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 121
or perhaps been unable to run steadily for want of water. The principal trouble,
however, in both Lander and Esmeralda has been an insufficiency of pay-«res
to keep them running, the ledges about Austin being so extremely small that
although in some cases rich, they can supply only a very inconsiderable quan-
tity of ore, while in Esmeralda, where the ledges are large, the good ores found
upon the surface appear to have run out. A number of deep prospecting shafts
have lately been undertaken there, and it is generally believed by those best
acquainted with the mines that bodies of remunerative ores will yet be found
at greater depths.
Most of these mills run day and night, stopping only on Sundays ; at which
time machinery is examined and such temporary repairs as may be needed are
made. They employ from five to fifty hands each, the usual number being from
ten to fifteen, though the Gould &; Curry mill requires over a hundred. In a
majority of cases the mill-owners also own mines and crush their own rock,
while some do custom-work, reducing ores for others at so much per ton, or
buy and crush it on their own account. A few crush the ores dry, though nearly
all adopt the wet method. Jt is generally 'calculated that each stamp will crush
a ton of ore every twenty-four hours. Some do less and others do more, accord-
ing to the weight of the stamp and the character of the ore. Besides these
mills there are in the State six smelting works, the most of them on a small
scale, and twenty- five or thirty arastras — some driven by water, but the greater
number by horse or mule power. There are also in the State about fifty steam
pumping and hoisting works, many of them structures of a costly and massive
kind. There are also in the State a number of large foundries and machine-
shops, and over fifty saw-mills, mostly propelled by water, with one small flour-
mill now running, and another being erected.
Roads, ditches, SfC.—A. number of toll-roads, several of them extending over
the sierra and others quite into the interior of the State, have been built under
the charters from the present State or former Territorial legislature. The length
of these roads, some of which have been very expensive and formidable works,
is not less in the aggregate than three hundred miles, the entire cost of their
construction having been over $500,000. One of these, .the Kingsbury road,
crossing the sierra near Genoa, has cost, with alterations and improvements,
$150,000 ; the amount of tolls it has taken in being more than double that sum.
As a general thing, however, these roads have not proved lucrative, the amount
of tolls -received barely sufficing to keep them in repair and pay a moderate in-
terest on the investment, some failing to even do this. The water ditches of
this State, built either for milling or irrigating purposes, and generally for both,
are numerous, but not, with the exception of two or three, of great magnitude.
The Humboldt ditch, nearly one-half built, taking water from that river and
conveying it to the vicinity of the principal mines, is seven feet wide on top,
five on the bottom, and two deep. It will be over sixty miles long, and will
cost when completed nearly $100,000. Preparations are now being made for
constructing a large aqueduct, to be built of wood, for taking the entire body of
water running in the west branch o£ Carson river from its canon and conveying
it to Empire City, a distance of nearly thirty miles! The work as projected
will cost over 8200,000. Other ditches and flumes, not of such magnitude, but
still quite extensive, are to be found at Empire City, Dayton, in Washoe and
Truckee valleys, and elsewhere throughout the State, the number of small ones
along the eastern slope of the sierra and among the mountains of the interior,
built mainly for irrigating purposes, being quite large ; and gradually, as popu-
lation and improvements increase, the running waters of the State will be di-
verted from their natural into artificial channels, to be used for irrigation and
propulsive power. There are about thirty saw-mills in the State, all but one
driven by water. With the exception of 'three or four of limited capacity in the
Reese river country, they are all situated in the foot-hills along the eastern base
122 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
of the sierra, where water-power is abundant, and where alone any really good
timber is to be found. The price of lumber at these mills is about $20 per
thousand, the cost increasing rapidly with the distance it has to be hauled.
Number of companies formed for mining purposes ; districts erected, ledges
located, fyc. — The number of mining companies incorporated for the purpose of
prospecting for locating, working, or dealing in mines in the State of Nevada,
amounts to over one thousand. Many of these never proceeded to actual opera- »
tions beyond the act of organizing, and most of them cannot be said to have a
present existence. Besides these incorporated companies three times as many
minor associations, though often consisting of the same parties, were organized
under the laws of the several mining districts for similar purposes ; most of
these, like their more pretentious neighbors, having since been disbanded and
ceased as companies to have any existence.. Of the number of districts erected
or ledges located by these numerous parties during the three or four years that
the ruining excitement raged, no accurate statement can be made, new districts
being formed and after a short time disbanded, to be again followed by others
covering in part or perhaps the whole of the same territory ; and ledges being
located by the thousand, to be in like manner given up, being forfeited from fail-
ure to do the requisite amount of work or otherwise comply with the laws of
the district. In size these districts varied greatly, as they still do, being from
ten to a hundred miles square, and having as a general rule natural objects,
such as mountains, valleys, ravines, &c., for boundaries. The number of min-
ing districts in the State regularly organized and having a recognized legal ex-
istence, with records and officials, may be set down at about one hundred ; the
number of ledges worked sufficiently to hold them nnder the local laws of the
district where they are situated, may be roughly estimated at between four and
five thousand. Upon some of these a large amount of work has been done,
though upon nine-tenths of them but very little. Of- the adult population of
the State about two-thirds are engaged in the various branches of mining.
Wages of miners vary from S3 50 to $5 per day, or from $60 to $100 per month.
The prices of labor, like almost everything else, are from fifty to seventy-five
per cent, higher in this State than in California.
Taxes and legislation. — The only measures adopted by the general govern-
ment looking to a realization of revenue from the mines on this coast are the
laws passed by Congress in the years 1864 .and 1865. The first of these,
which took effect August 29, 1864, provided for the levying of a tax of one-half
of one per cent, on all bullion assayed, and prohibiting, under severe penalties,
the sale, transfer, exchange, transportation, exportation, or working of any
bullion not having first been assayed. The other law requires every miner
whose receipts amount to over one thousand dollars per year, and every person,
firm or company employing others in the business of mining, to take out a
license for which they shall pay the sum of ten dollars. Neither of these
measures can be considered impolitic,, unjust or oppressive, nor are they the
subject of complaint by the great mass of those most affected by them. In
addition to these acts the legislature of ih& State of Nevada enacted a law two
years since, by which it is provided that from the gross returns or assayed value
per ton of all ores, quartz or minerals in that State, from which either gold or
silver is extracted, there shall first be deducted the sum of twenty dollars per
ton, and upon seventy-five per cent, of the remainder a tax of one per cent,
ad valorem shall be levied for State and county purposes, provision also being
made for collecting a like tax upon any of this class of ores transported from
the State. The revenue derived from this source for the year 1865 amounted,
in Story county, where the principal mines" are situated, to $40,145, to which
may be added two or three thousand for outside districts. The State also taxes
the mills, hoisting works, and all other above-ground fixtures and properties,
real and personal, but not the mines proper. The mineral laud law passed at
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 123
the last session of Congress, providing for the sale of mines upon the public
domains, though exciting gome apprehension among miners at first, and perhaps
somewhat imperfect in its details, is now generally approved, and will, no doubt,
result in benefit to both the government and those most affected by its opera-
tions. By enabling the present claimants to secure titles to their mines, it will
increase the confidence of capitalists in this species of property, and thus greatly
enhance its value and tend to promote its more rapid development. The only
title heretofore enjoyed or obtainable by these claimants has been one of pos-
session, held under sufferance from the general government and by virtue of the
local laws, rules, and regulations of the several mining districts, and which
latter, though generally wholesome and just in their provisions, were always
brief and insufficient, considering the momentous interests constantly growing
up under them, and not unfrequently contradictory and obscure, or otherwise
imperfect and objectionable. The laws of the various districts, though similar
in their general features, often differ in some of their provisions. They are,
however, so nearly alike in all essential particulars that the few examples
hereunto appended will serve sufficiently to illustrate their common character.
5.— GENERAL VIEW OF THE MINES OF NEVADA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY
UTAH, MONTANA, AND IDAHO.
General view of the mines of Nevada. — In considering the mines and the
metalliferous territory of Nevada it has been customary to divide the State into
several sections designated as follows, viz : the Washoe, the Esmeralda, the Hum-
boldt, and the Reese River districts, each of which covers a large area of country
and contains a number of those smaller subdivisions known as mining districts.
The Washoe legion. — This embraces all the central and western portion of
the State, and includes the counties of Douglas, Ormsby, Washoe, Story, and
Lyon, which, united, contain only a*s much territory as Roop, scarcely half as
much as either Esmeralda or Churchill, and not one-quarter that embraced within
the limits of either Humboldt, Nye, or Lander county. Notwithstanding its
comparatively diminutive size, Story county contains more than one-third of
the taxable property as well as of the inhabitants of the State. The only mines
of any considerable and well-established value in the Washoe region, those upon
the Comstock lode, being also in this county, and from which is extracted more
than ninety per cent, of all the bullion produced in the State.
Upon the discovery of the Comstock ledge a large population was drawn over
the mountains, the number of inhabitants within the boundaries of the present
State of Nevada being somewhat larger in 1863 than at this time. Prospecting —
that is, exploring the country for metalliferous veins — was at once commenced
and pushed with vigor; a good proportion of the Washoe, Esmeralda, and
Humboldt regions having been subjected to a pretty thorough inspection during
the first three years following the discovery of silver. Within this time thou-
sands of ledges were located throughout all parts of this extensive Territory.
Many of these were of large size, well defined, and frequently prospected well,
sometimes largely, in both gold and silver upon the surface. Others were of
less magnitude, lacked the features of true veins, and were quite or nearly bar-
ren of the precious metals. In some cases free gold abounded in the croppings,
but the preponderating metal, so far as any existed, was silver, the most of these
being located as argentiferous veins. Upon a few of the larger and more prom-
ising a large amount of work was performed, while upon a majority but little
or nothing was done ; the sums expended upon them, however, could not in the
aggregate have been less than eight or ten millions of dollars, some estimating
it much higher. All this large sum of money was spent in the mere preliminary
business of prospecting and exploring a class of mines which, with but few ex-
ceptions, have thus far proved unproductive, and may be set down as possessing
124 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
no present market value, many, even of those unon which large sums had been
expended, being now abandoned. The total amount of bullion extracted from
all the mines in the Washoe, Esrneralda, and Humboldt regions, apart from
those on the Comstock lode, will not this year amount to half a million dollars,
a sum considerably less than what was realized from them during several preceding
years. It is not to be" inferred, however, that all thctc mines will ultimately
prove worthless. A considerable number only require more careful management
and a sufficiency of means to secure for them deeper and a more thorough explora-
tion to render their working almost certainly remunerative and perhaps largely
profitable. Excluding eighty per cent, of all the ledges located as belonging to a
class so manifestly worthless that no work should ever have been performed
upon them, one- half of the remainder may be set down as possessing such signs
of value as would warrant a moderate expenditure to prove more fully their
character, while the balance may justly be considered as being lodes that with
judicious management and the application of a moderate sum can speedily be
developed into productive and paying mines, many of them being already in
an advanced stage of exploration, a few having steam hoisting works attached
to them, and a still smaller number mills also for reducing their ores. The
great mistakes made in these earlier efforts at silver mining, as displayed both
in the regions under consideration and elsewhere, consisted in locating and
attempting to open so many worthless ledges, and in the superficial character
of the work performed generally. Through this means vast sums were uselessly
thrown away, and by so much scattering the work applied, nothing was done
effectually. Had this labor been concentrated upon a few of the more promising
lodes, many of these would no doubt now have been yielding large quantities
of millable ores, whereby the annual »yield of bullion would have been much
increased, and the useless expenditure of millions of dollars have been saved,
besides our actual knowledge of the metalliferous resources of the country been
greatly extended. These were mistakes honestly made through ignorance, and
are not to be confounded with those growing out of the spirit of cupidity and
speculation that at one time prevailed, and of which sufficient has been said
elsewhere. They are, moreover, mistakes that, having abundantly evinced their
mischievous effects, are now being generally avoided. One cause that led to
the expectation that this superficial style of working should suffice, was the fact
that the accumulations of rich ores that led to the discovery of the Comstock
vein were found quite upon the surface; hence it was thought that in all cases
bodies of pay ores should in like manner be met with, if not in the cropping?,
certainly at no great depth below them, a supposition contradicted by the expe-
rience of silver miners nearly all the world over, these rich masses upon the
surface being of rare occurrence. A partial excuse can also be found for this
indiscriminate practice of locating ledges in the additional fact that many of
them were as large and often much larger, and to all appearance equally as
valuable as the Comstock ; the difference, generally speaking, only being made
apparent where, after reported trials of the ores taken from different and often
from great depths, they were found to be valueless. In many of these ledges
the walls were as regular, the mass of vein-stone as great, and, judging by the
eye, as likely to be metalliferous as that of the Comstock ; hence, many com-
panies operating in the contiguous as well as in the more remote districts,
encouraged by the resemblance of their ledges to the great mother vein, perse-
vered in their efforts until large sums were expended, yet without reaching the
hoped-for deposits of rich ores. In many of these cases operations, after being
suspended for several year?, have again been resumed with the purpose that
they shall be carried on to a point determinate of the probable value of the
lode in process of exploration. At present several of these deep prospecting
shafts are being sunk in the Washoe section of country, and, as it is reported,
with the most hopeful prospects. There are, moreover, in this region many
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 125
ledges on which work has been steadily kept going since their commencement
four years ago, the method of opening being by means of tunnels which have
not yet reached the vein ; some of these are to be several thousand feet in
length, and will yet require a year or two for their completion ; the owners
remaining, meantime, in ignorance of the precise character of their ledge. In
Alpine county, which, though in the State of California, is situate entirely on the
eastern side of the sierra, and generally considered as belonging to the Washoe
region, there are, beyond any question, many argentiferous lodes of great magni-
tude and undoubted value. Upon several of these heavy works of exploration
have been in progress for three or four years, and which, as they approach com-
pletion, begin to reveal many valuable features in these ledges. Owing to the
protracted nature of these works but little bullion has yet been produced in this
county, though it is likely a handsome sum will be turned out the coming year,
as a number of mills and smelting works are being erected in that section.
Of the one hundred and seventy mills in the State, eighty-nine, carrying
1,440 of the 2,564 stamps, are in the Washoe district. These mills have a
capacity equal to 3,841 horse-power, and cost, in the aggregate, over five and a
half million of dollars, all the other mills in the State having but 2,481 horse-
power, and costing but $5,500,000. Here, too, are most of the water-mills,
thirty in number, that are running in Nevada. Of these eighty-nine mills,
thirty-six, carrying 625 stamps, 1,500 horse-power, and costing $3,000,000, are
in Story county. Two of them are driven by water ; the balance by steam.
There are also in this county ten arrastras driven by water, and one smelting
establishment. In Lyon county there are thirty-four mills, having 489 stamps,
1,286 horse- power, and costing $1,705,000. Eleven of these mills are propelled
by water. There are five arrastras in this county, and one metallurgical works.
Washoe county contains ten mills, 200 stamps, 610 horse-power, costing
$520,000 ; seven of them are driven by water, and several by water and steam
combined. Ormsby county contains eight mills, 123 stamps, 435 horse-power,
costing $375,000. Nine of these mills are driven by water, and three partly by
water and partly by steam. Douglas county has but one mill, five stamps, ten
horse-power ; cost $5,000 ; driven by water.
The Esmeralda region is generally considered as coextensive with Esmeralda
county, and as also covering a contiguous strip of mineral territory on the Cali-
fornia side of the line. It is, for the most part, an elevated, dry, and barren
country, containing but, little agricultural or grass land, and no timber except
the scattered patches of pinon, heretofore described, much of it being destitute
of even this. It embraces within its limits over twenty mining districts, some
of which contain mines of much importance. Esmeralda district, the earliest
settled portion of this region, contains two-thirds of all the population, they
being residents of Aurora, the principal town in the county. Upon the mines
in this district also has most of the heavy work been done, and here are located
three-fourths of all the mills that have been erected in thai section of country.
Several of these, being very extensive and complete in their appointments, cost
large sums of money ; but, as yet, none of them have accomplished much in the
way of turning out bullion, partly because some have been grossly mismanaged,
or their operations suspended by protracted and costly litigation, but chiefly
because the ledges first opened, and which were generally considered the best
in the district, prospecting largely upon the top in silver, and often also in free
gold, grew barren, or pinched out as descended upon, or suffered such interrup-
tion and displacement as to render it impossible longer to identify or follow
them. Hence, for the past two or three years most of the mills about Aurora
have been idle, and chiefly because they could not get a sufficiency of pay ore
from the mines in the vicinity to keep them running. It is the opinion of geol-
ogists that most of these disturbances are confined to the first few hundred feet
beneath the surface, and that below that point these ledges, which promised so
126 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
well, and some of which really were so rich above, will again be found regular,
compact, and, most likely, highly metalliferous. At all events, confiding in this
theory, several companies have resolved to test this question by sinking deep
prospecting shafts on a number of the largest and most promising lodes at this
place, powerful hoisting and pumping works having been provided for this
purpose, and some of ihe shafts having been sunk several hundred feet lower
than any level before attained. This work is to be prosecuted till some definite
results are arrived at, and it is now believed by those most conversant with the
subject that in the course of the next year quite a number of the mills about
Aurora will be able to run on ore obtained from these deep workings, and that
the whole of them will be able to do so, running full time, in the course of a
couple of years more at the farthest. With the general disappointment
in the character of the mines at large, the .suspension of work upon
those esteemed as of the better class, and the stoppage of the mills erected
at so much cost, business of all kinds has greatly declined, population
has fallen off nearly one-half, and real estate has so declined that it will
' not sell for one-quarter the prices readily commanded, three or four years
ago, the depreciation of mill and mining properties being more marked than any
other. Mills that cost a quarter million of dollars would not now sell for a
third of that sum, while mines that were selling currently, under the stimulus of
popular excitement and the artful machinations of speculators, at three and four
hundred dollars per foot would not now sell for one dollar, the most of them
being considered of so little value that their prices are no longer quoted on the
lists of mining stocks dealt in by the brokers. Some mines in this region,
however, of more recent location, and situate mostly in the outside districts,
exhibit, as before stated, many satisfactory evidences of permanency and wealth,
the most rioted of these being in Silver Peak and Red Mountain districts, on the
eastern margin of Esmeralda county. The Silver Peak mine in the former con-
tains a large body of argentiferous ores lying very near the surface. A ten-stamp
mill running upon this extracted, during the few mouths it was in operation, a
large amount of bullion, the entire mass of the ore yielding by the most simple
process over one hundred dollars per ton. This mine having been sold to an
eastern company, nothing has been done upon it for the past six or eight months,
the ten-stamp mill having been removed to Red mountain, a few miles west, where
it is to be run in conjunction with a small three-stamp mill put up there two
years ago, and which has also been running with success ; the ore at that place
abounding in free gold to such an extent that it merely requires crushing and
running over blankets. It is the intention of the Silver Peak company to put
up a large first-class mill the coining year upon their mine. In the, Columbus
district, lying between Silver Peak and Esmeralda, there are a number of un-
mistakably rich ledges, but they have not yet been much developed, and it
would be too soon to pronounce an opinion upon their probable permanency
No mills have yet been built at this place, though one is talked of as likely to
be taken in next summer. The number that could be kept running would, in
any event, be limited, the district being but scantily supplied with wood and
water. In the Volcano district, near Columbus, a great variety of rnetals and
minerals have been found, there being here, besides veins seemingly rich in
gold and silver, immense reefs of magnetic iron ore, numerous cupriferous lodes,
large and highly impregnated with copper ; also saline pools surrounded *with
heavy deposits of salt, and, according to Dr. Blatchley, generally esteemed
good authority, veins of true coal of the bituminous variety, two of these,
varying from three to four feet in width, having lately been found by him while
on a tour of extended research throughout the southeastern part of the State.
In the Montgomery, Hot Springs, and Bodie districts, lying mostly in California,
there are also many ledges of favorable aspect, some of them of well-ascertained
value, there being in the last-named district two large mills, one of which is
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 127
running successfully, and the other nearly ready for operations. In Lake •
district, also in this county, and situate on the west side of Walker lake, a large
number of gold-bearing ledges were discovered in the summer of 1865, and
though prospecting extremely rich in this metal on the surfaces, they have not
yet been opened to a sufficient depth to fully establish their value as permanent
mines. Two small mills are in course of erection in this district, and there is
no doubt but they can obtain enough ore to give them profitable employment
for some time at least.
In view of the many promising mines scattered over all parts of the Esmeralda
region — the long and varied experience enjoyed by the inhabitants in every de-
partment of. mining enabling them to avoid the mistakes of the past and to con-
duct the business hereafter with greater efficiency and economy — it is but reason-
able to predict that this interest will soon undergo a revival, and the country
meet, in part at least, the expectations entertained of it at an early day.
The mills built in Esmeralda county, twenty-one in number, carry in the ag-
gregate 241 stamps, have a propulsive capacity equal to 672 horse-power, and
cost $1,150,000. Only two of them are driven by water. There are also ten
arrastras and two small smelting works in this region. These mills are distributed
over the country as follows : One of ten stamps and one of three at Red moun-
tain, three of small capacity in Hot Spring, Blind Spring, and other districts
south of Aurora, two in Bodie district, and the balance on Walker river and in
the Esmeralda district proper.
The Humboldt region. — This section occupies the northwestern corner of the
State, covering the counties of Humboldt and Roop, and, for the sake of con-
venience rather than from its geographical position, also that of Churchill, lying
south of the former. The appearance of the country, as well as the general char-
acter of the mines, is very similar to those of Esmeralda; nor does the history
of operations here differ materially from that of the latter. The same difficulties
were encountered and the same mistakes made here as there. Owing to the
careless manner in which many of the claims were located, the obscurity and
imperfection of the laws, and the still more imperfect manner in which they were
enforced, a majority of all the titles, more particularly those to what were con-
sidered the better class of mines, became involved in litigation, thereby retard-
ing their development and destroying confidence in them generally. Millions of
feet of unprospected ledges were sold, sometimes fairly, but oftener through mis-
representation and chicanery, and the proceeds, amounting in the aggregate to
vast sums, were spent usually in every manner of extravagance and folly, and
rarely in any persistent and well-directed efforts at opening the mines. Towns
were built,. hotels and saloons of luxurious style were erected, real estate in
these embryo cities went up to enormous prices, everybody seeking to get rich
from speculating in city lots or "feet," as these mining properties were desig-
nated, but little being done meantime towards advancing the business that
should have first been looked after, the opening up and proving of the mines.
Mills were also procured and put up at heavy expense before it had been ascer-
tained that enough ores could be had to keep them running, this latter mistake
not having been committed to the same extent in Humboldt as in the Esmeralda
and some parts of the Reese River regions, where more than two- thirds of the
mills have remained constantly idle from the causes set forth. It is also true
that an equal proportion of the entire number of mills put up in Humboldt have
been doing nothing much of the time ; the principal advantage here being that
only a small number of mills, and these mostly of an inexpensive kind, were
erected.
In th« Black Rock country, lying in the western part of Humboldt county,
many ledges claimed by the finders to be good were discovered during the past
year. These veins are large, and some fair tests have been obtained from them
by mill process, yet they are not enough opened to afford any decisive clue as
128 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
to their ultimate value. A small mill lias been forwarded to the district, and a
more thorough trial of the ores will no doubt soon be had. These mines lie in
the midst of a hideous desert, and unless excessively rich can possess no present
^value, the country for more than fifty miles in every direction being almost
wholly devoid of wood, water, and grass.
In the Pueblo mountains, sixty miles northeast of Black Rock, a district was
organized, and many ledges located five years ago. A small water mill erected
there, and afterwards burnt by the Indians, has not since been rebuilt, nor have
the mines showing fine surface indications been at all opened ; wherefore,
little or nothing is kpown as to their real character. The ores are an argentif-
erous galena, abounding in both silver aud lead, and may possibly require re-
duction by smelting. If so, this mode could be adopted with a fair prospect of
success, as wood and water are tolerably plentiful in the neighborhood of the
mines, there being also much good hay and farming land in the extensive valley
adjacent. •
In Humboldt county proper mining operations, as well as population, have
diminished considerably during the past two years, nor will the shipments of
bullion this year equal those of either of the three years immediately preced-
ing. The work now being done, however, is more thorough, being confined to
a smaller number of ledges than before, and will no doubt prove more satisfac-
tory in its results.
In Churchill county there are three districts that have attracted some notice,
because of the supposed valuable ledges they contained. These are severally
named the Silver Hill, the Mountain Well, and the Clan Alpine, and to them
most of the work performed in the county lias been confined. There are in thi^
county four quartz mills, carrying 55 stamps, and having a driving power equal
to that of 165 horses. The total cost of these mills was $395,000. Three of
them are in Mountain Well, and one not quite finished in Clan Alpine district.
They have produced but a few thousand dollars' worth of bullion all told, none
of them having been able to run for more than a few days ^t a time, from an
insufficient supply of pay-ore, but few of the ledges here having been opened
to even the superficial depths common to most other districts. In the higher
strata of some of them small aggregations of very rich ores have been found,
and the chances favor the supposition that when properly developed they will
afford enough ore to keep the present and perhaps additional mills running.
Very few additional mills, however, can ever be operated in the western half of
the county, owing to the limited supply of wood and water.
The Reese River region, embracing within its boundaries the extensive coun-
ties of Lander and Nye, covers more than one-half of the entire State of Ne-
vada. The geology of this region differs somewhat from that in the western
part of the State, limestone of the silurian epoch abounding here, and other
sedimentary rocks being more common. Carboniferous signs are also more fre-
quent. The ledges throughout this region are mostly encased in granite or
granitic rock, such as gneiss, sienite, &c., in limestone, and the several varieties
of slate, a few only being found in rocks of .volcanic origin. Most of the large
and well-defined veins lie in silurian limestone, a formation highly favorable to
the existence of deep-fissured and permanant mines. The lodes about Austin,
Lander county, occur whofly in granite, both walls as well as the country rock
being of this character. They are for the most part very narrow, varying from
six to eighteen inches in width on top, and expanding to two or three feet at the
depth of 300 feet', the greatest vertical depth to which any have yet been opened.
Besides being narrow, these ledges are apt to suffer much from faults, and occa-
sionally contract to a mere seam of quartz, or disappear altogether. Where
these faults have occurred the experienced miner is generally able to place them
again sometimes without much labor. Most of these veins run in a northerly
and southerly direction, and stand at an angle varying from 45 to 60 degrees,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 129
very few of them having a more vertical position. Owing to the firmness of
their walls very little timbering is required, though their extreme narrowness
compels the performance of much dead-work in the course of their development.
There are 36 steam hoisting works employed on the mines in the neighborhood
of Austin. They are ,mostly of small capacity, from 20 to 25 horse power, but
owing to the small amount of ore as well as water required to be raised they
will meet all the demands for hoisting until the mines reach a depth of four or
five hundred feet. The ores in this vicinity are the sulphurets and the red anti-
mouial sulphurets of silver, though in the top rock, and in some -instances for a
consiierable distance beneath the surface, these have been changed by decompo-
sition into chlorides, bromides, and iodides of silver. These ores, being impreg-
nated with antimony and arsenic, all require roasting. Though small in quantity,
not more than 35 or 40 tons being raised daily from all the mines in the Reese
River district proper, these ores are extremely rich, yielding by mill process from
one to two hundred dollars per ton, the average yield being nearly one hundred
and fifty dollars, while selected lots often go as high as four or five hundred
dollars., There are in the several districts immediately around Austin seventeen
steam mills, carrying nearly two hundred stamps, and capable of crushing and
amalgamating one hundred and fifty tons of ore daily. Owing, however, to an
inadequate supply of ore not one-quarter of these mills have been kept running
during the past year, nor is even so large a proportion now in operation. With
a more thorough exploration of the veins, however, upon which they are depend-
ent for their supplies of ore, it is thought an additional number will soon be
running, and that all will be able to do so in the course of a. year or a year and
a half at the furthest. The cost of reducing ores about Austin is now $45 per
ton; the expense of raising them is about $15 per ton.
In several of the outside districts mines of not only undoubted, but very great
value, some of them to all appearance not inferior to the Comstock ledge, have
been discovered within the past two years. The most remarkable of these is
the ledge known as the High Bridge, in the Philadelphia district, seventy-five
miles south-southeast of Austin, the entire mass of vein-stone in which, varying
from five to fifteen feet in thickness, pays under the stamps over one hundred
and fifty dollars per ton. A small five stamp mill erected at the place and run-
ning on this ore turns out over a thousand dollars worth of bullion per day, the
ore taken indiscriminately and worked in a very imperfect manner yielding over
two hundred dollars per ton. This is beyond dispute an immensely valuable
deposit of silver, and it is the intention of the companies claiming it to erect
one or more large mills for reducing the ore the coming summer. In the North-
umberland, Hot Creek, Danville, Reveille, and Pahranagat districts, all situated
to the east and southeast of the Philadelphia district, many ledges of great promise
have been discovered within the past year, some of them to all appearance quite
as good as the High Bridge, showing beyond peradventure that a great silver
producing region exists in this part of the State. Several small mills have been
taken into this section, and many more of large capacity will soon follow, and
it will be cause for surprise if the annual bullion product of the Reese River re-
gion, now about $1,000,000, is not more than doubled within the next two years •
These districts, as also the Murphy ledge, fifty miles south of Austin, a decidedly
valuable mine, are all in Nye county, which contains a number of districts abound-
ing in argentiferous lodes of great magnitude and prospective value.
The Reese River region contains thirty-two mines, of which twenty-two are
in Lander and ten in Nye counties. These carry three hundred and ten stamps,
have a capacity of four hundred and twenty-five horse power, and cost $1,500,000,
the expense of erecting mills here being much greater (owing to cost of freight
and lumber) than in the western part of the State.
Oregon. — The yield of the mines in this State the present year will not ex-
ceed $2,000,000, nearly the whole being the product of placer diggings, and
H. Ex. Doc. 29 9
130 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
mostly taken from the mines on John Day river and its tributaries. Several
auriferous veins have been worked with arrastras for a number of years past at
Althouse and State creek, in southern Oregon, paying, for the means invested,
very largely ; and there is no doubt but these mines, with ample facilities for
reducing the ores, would turn out considerable amounts of bullion annually.
. Some attempts were made during the present year to work the quartz lodes, of
which there are quite a good many in the Santian district, situated in the Cas-
cade mountains, but the results obtained have not thus far been encouraging.
Washington Territory. — As in the State of Oregon so in this Territory, the
only class of mines that have yet proved productive are the placer diggings, of
which there is here a considerable extent; the best paying mines heretofore dis-
covered being those about Fort Colville and in the Pend d'Oreille country, the
Kootenai mines and those near the Big Bend of the Columbia, generally spoken
of as being in Washington Territory, being in fact in British Columbia. The
product for the present year from this quarter may be set down at about
$1,000,000, though this must be understood as embracing the yield of the last-
mentioned districts, that of Washington alone not reaching one quarter this
amount.
Utah. — This Territory is known to abound in many of the useful and, it is
believed, also in the- precious metals. Coal of fair quality and in considerable
quantities has been found in various parts of the Territory, and both lead and
iron have been produced for many years past by the Mormons living in the
southern counties. That so little is known of its wealth in the precious metals
is owing to the fact that the leaders of this people discouraged the searching
after them, it being contrary to the policy of the church to have its subjects
• engage in mining pursuits, wherefore but little was known of the mineral re-
sources of Utah until the soldiers stationed at Salt Lake brought them to light.
No placer mines of any extent have yet been found in this Territory, but a
number of large lodes heavily charged with argentiferous galena have been
opened at Rush valley, a short distance southwest of Salt Lake City, and, being
tested by the smelting process, proved rich in both lead and silver. A number
of furnaces were erected here two years ago, since which they have been kept
part of the time in operation, and with suitable appliances it is thought a con-
siderable amount of silver bullion might be produced from these mines. With
the influx of gentile population Utah is destined to be thoroughly explored, and
whatever mineral riches it may contain to be brought to light ; and we may
reasonably look for some important discoveries to follow in that section before
long. At Egan canon several rich silver-bearing lodes were located over two
years ago. Three mills have since been put up at this point, two of which have
produced quite a large amount of bullion.
The principal silver-bearmg lode at this point, known as the Gilligan Ledge,
has been tested to the depth of three hundred feet, and is considered to contain
one of the richest veins in the State of Nevada. It has a width of eight feef,
and has produced by ordinary process of mill- working at the rate of $345 per
ton for fifty tons.. The average of ores rates at something over $100 per ton.
' This valuable mine 'belonged, until recently, to a San Francisco company,
consisting of seven private individuals, who worked it on their own account,
under the superintendency of Mr. John O'Dougherty, who, by a careful sys-
tem of operations, not only developed the mine, but built a five-stamp mill with-
out expense to the company. It is one of the few mines in the county which
has paid its own expenses from the first crushing of the ores.
During the past summer the mill has been idle, owing to the departure of ths
superintendent, who went east for the purpose of procuring capital sufficient to
erect a mill of the first class, with capacity to work all the ores that can be ob-
tained from the ledge.
The Steptoe Company, of New York, have also large interests here, and own
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 131
a number of ledges, which, however, have not yet been developed sufficiently
to furnish an absolute test of their value.
A consolidation has been formed between the Social or Gilligan company and
the Steptoe, which will probably result in mutual benefits. The Steptoe com-
pany have capital, and have already made provision for the erection of a large
mill ; the Social company have a developed ledge already tested, and unques-
tionably productive.
The consolidation owns, in addition, some fine copper mines on the line of the
proposed trans- continental railway.. No work of any importance has yet been
done upon them.
Egan canon is situated one hundred and sixty miles from Salt Lake City,
and already forms the nucleus of quite a thriving little mining town. The over-
land stage and telegraph lines pass through this canon on the route to Salt
Lake. Preparations are being made for the vigorous working of all the valuable
mines in this district, and it is believed they will yield profitable results during
the coming summer.
Montana — The productive mines in this Territory have thus far mostly con-
sisted of placer diggings, the principal of which, being situated east of the sum-
mit of the Rocky mountains, arts, without the province of these reports. The
( amount of gold dust taken out the present year has been large, but in the
absence of any authentic data no accurate computation can be made thereof.
According to the public press of that region it will reach the sum of 815,000,000,
though this is probably a rather high estimate. During the past summer a
large number of quartz lodes have been taken up and op'ened, some ten or fifteen
mills, varying in capacity from five to twenty stamps, having meantime been
brought in and some of them gotten in operation. The quartz is easily worked,
and yields largely, the product being chiefly gold. All the goods and machinery
destined for the eastern part of Montana are freighted up the Missouri or across
the plains. Most of the gold dust and bullion produced in this Territory is sent
east, very little of it reaching California. Those best acquainted with the
country have a high opinion of its mineral resources, and believe it will in a few
years rival Idaho and Nevada, if it do not surpass them, in its product of the
precious metals.
Idaho. — The product of the placer mines in this territory has been gradually
diminishing for the past two years, though this foiling off, if it have not already
been, will soon be more than made up by the yield of the quartz mines, which
are beginning to be worked quite extensively. The product from both sources
the present year will probably not fall short of $10,000,000, some estimating it
much higher. It should be observed that there are no means of arriving at
accurate estimates t>f the precious metals taken out in this Territory, many of
the millmen not caring to make known the results of their operations, and large
quantities of dust being brought out of the country in private hands. Of the
total sum produced, from one-fourth to one-fifth is taken from the placers, of
which some virgin diggings of considerable extent and value have been found
the past summer; and as ditches have been constructed for bringing water into
the mines on quite an extensive scale, and hydraulic washing is being intro-
duced wherever practicable, the probability is that the present quota from this
source will be kept up for some time to come. There are now twenty -four
quartz mills completed and running in this Territory, with eight others in course
of erection. They carry a total of nearly four hundred stamps, cost in the
aggregate $1,000.000, and. have a unite.d capacity equal to five hundred horses.
Besides these mills, about one-fourth of which are driven by water, there are a
large number of arrastras running in the Territory, the most of which are also
propelled by water. Of the quartz mills eight are supplied with one hundred
and" thirty-four stamps, are situate in Atturas county, ten in the Owyhee dis-
'trict, and the balance in the counties adjacent; the whole being in the southern
132 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
section of the Territory. The Poorman ledge, so-called, situate in the Owyhee
district, is, perhaps, for its size the richest deposit of silver ores ever discovered,
immense* masses of pure sulphurets, and even pieces of virgin silver weighing
many pounds, having been extracted from it. Unfortunately, it is now closed
up by litigation, and has not for several months produced any bullion. There
are also several other rich silver-bearing claims in this vicinity, though the mines
of Idaho consist mainly of auriferous quartz, of which there are great quantities
that will yield by the most cheap and expeditious modes of working from $20
to $30 to the ton. Considering the abundance of these ores, the facility with
^rhich they can be treated, and the ample supplies of wood and water in the vicin-
ity of the principal mines, it may be fairly concluded that the bullion product of
Idaho will in a few years be more than doubled, and that the yield of her mines
will hereafter be steady and rapid.
A REPORT OF DR. BLATCHLY, MINING ENGINEER, TO J. ROSS BROWNE,
SPECIAL COMMISSIONER FOR THE COLLECTION OF MINING STATIS-
TICS.
SOUTHEASTERN NEVADA.
This portion of the State of Nevada, owing to the hostility of the Indians,
was almost totally unexplored until last spring. About that time, observing that
the Indians in the vicinty of the mining towns were able to feed and clothe
themselves much better than those who lived out in the mountains, they changed
their tactics, and instead of opposing exploration, offered every facility in their
power to promote it, and nearly all of the mineral discoveries in this region have
been made by means of their assistance.
The volcanic rocks which so greatly predominate in the northern and western
portion of the State are not found to any considerable extent In the southeastern.
Hence, there is a^much larger amount of metalliferous country accessible in the
same compass than in other portions of the State.
These volcanic rocks are the despair of the experienced prospector, for he
knows full well that they enclose neither metal nor mineral of any value in this
country, and where they abound water is generally wanting. Their geological
age is comparatively recent, and undoubtedly more than one-half of the metallif-
erous veins in the State of Nevada are covered by rocks of volcanic origin.
In this part of the State limestone predominates, but granite, slate, and sand-
stone occur at intervals. All of these rocks enclose valuable metalliferous veins
in equal abundance.
This limestone affords better exemplifications of the geology of the sedimen-
ta^y rocks than any other sections west of the Rocky mountains yet discovered.
With the slight and hasty examinations already made, the Silurian, triassic, and
Jurassic have been positively determined, and considerable evidence has been
found of the existence of the Devonian and carboniferous epochs. In the terri-
tory of the United States no finer field exists for the researches of a geologist.
Trap dikes of porphyry and greenstone are abundant, and enormous veins
of quartzite of three or four hundred feet in thickness can be traced for forty or
fifty miles.
Compared with the veins found in California, Oregon, Idaho, and the other
portions of Nevada, the metalliferous veins in this portion of the State are large,
and usually can be traced on the surface for a long distance.
As this country has been but recently explored, all of the ores so far obtained
have been taken from near the surface; consequently, only surface ores have
been obtained. These consist of chloride and carbonate of silver, associated
with small amounts of native silver, and nearly all contain gold. Besides the
precious metals, ores of copper, lead, iron, antimony, and arsenic are abundant,
and when railroads traverse the country will be of great value.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 133
So far as observed all of the geological formations contain valuable metallifer-
ous veins, from the azoic up to the triassic.
As this portion of the State is about two hundred miles east and west by
three hundred north and south, and contains k great number of districts, each
of which has a very considerable extent, and contains a great number of metalli-
ferous veins, it will be impossible in a brief space to do more than briefly notice
some of the most important districts.
Silver bend, or Philadelphia. — This district, which was discovered by an
Indian, is about seventy- five miles southeast from Austin. It was one of the
first discoveries in this part of the State, and its mines have been more developed
than those in the other districts.
One of the principal veins is the High Bridge, which crops to the surface for
the .distance of about a mile, and has been opened at a number of different
point&, and at one to the depth of about fifty feet. It appears to be composed
of a number of different strata, all of which contain rich ore ; their aggregate
thickness varies from five to twenty feet.
The country rock is slate, and it has .every indication of being a true fissure
vein, and consequently will be found deep and permanent. It contains a large
amount of good milling ore at the surface.
A small ten-stamp mill has been erected for reducing the ore, and the average
yield is about one hundred dollars per ton, the mill saving about sixty per cent,
of the silver contained in the ore. Its daily production is a trifle over one
thousand dollars, provided it was fully opened ; with suitable mills for the
reduction of its ores the production of bullion could be increased tenfold.
The Silver Champion has produced richer ore than any other vein in the
district. It is smaller than the High Bridge, and has not been opened but to a
small extent. Besides this, there are a number of other veins in this district
of great promise, as the Green and Oder, Silver Top, Minerva, and many others.
The metalliferous veins are found in slate and limestone, the greater number
being in the slate, while the veins in the granite, so far as they have been
examined, are entirely barren.
Northumberland district. — This district is about twenty miles north from
Silver Bend, and on the same slope and same range of mountains. Here the
metalliferous veins are found in slate and granite.
Rich ores are found near the surface, and when opened, there is no doubt
that it will prove to be a valuable district.
Wood and water are moderately abundant, sufficient for the wants of the dis-
trict for years to come.
It is singular tliat the granite at Silver Bend should enclose only barren veins,
and at this district, which is only twenty miles distant, and in the same range
of mountains, with granite apparently of the same lithological character, should
contain some of the richest veins in this district. This shows the fallacy of
the notion that some particular rock is, in all cases, more favorable for enclosing
metalliferous veins than another of azoic or sedimentary rocks — experience
showing that, in Nevada, all of the rocks, except the volcanic, contain valuable
mines.
Hot creek. — This district was named from a group of hot springs, the waters
of which uniting form a creek of some magnitude, retaining its heat for a long
distance below. This furnishes an abundant supply of water for the use of the
district. Along the banks of the stream the warmth of the water induces a
growth of vegetation of tropical luxuriance, and many plants grow here that
are not found in other parts of the State.
The country rock is chiefly limestone, with small amounts of slate and granite
traversed by numerous trap dikes.
The metalliferous veins are large, rich, and numerous, and many of them show
large amounts of valuable ore at the surface.
134 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
As this is one of the most recent discoveries, but tittle work lias been done
in developing and proving the mines. But the results of, the workings of a
number of tons of ore from different mines have been very satisfactory.
A small mill is nearly completed and will soon be in running order, and from
the richness and abundance of the ores, and the experience of the managers,
there is no doubt that the enterprise will be successful.
Wood is very abundant near the mines, being mostly nut pine, which is excel-
lent for fuel, but very indifferent for lumber.
Reveille district. — This district is about forty miles southeast from Hot creek,
and about the same distance northwest from Pahranagat. This is a more recent
discovery than Hot creek, which it greatly resembles, having the same country
rock, with veins of equal or larger size, containing the same ores, and the district
is probably of equal value.
Pahranagat district. — This is the only mining district in the State that was
discovered by Mormons or people from Salt Lake. It was found about a year
before any other district in this part of the State. It is situated in the south-
east corner of the State, about two hundred miles from the head of navigation
on the Colorado river, according to what is believed to be the best authorities,
although many others make the distance much less.
The mineral belt is long and narrow, and contains a great number of veins in
a small compass. They are usually of fair size and well impregnated with ore,
and when developed will no doubt prove valuable.
The country rock is the same as in Hot creek and Reveille, and the general
characteristics are the same. The laws of this district are very liberal to the
original discoverers, but almost entirely exclude later prospectors. They re-
quire no work on the mine except to pile a heap of stones, and that holds the
mines perpetually. Hence no work has been done, and none probably ever will
be done, by a majority of the present holders. A New York company have
recently commenced operations, and no doubt will thoroughly prove their mine.
Sil-ver Peak — This district is about one hundred and twenty miles south from
the city of Austin. The country rock consists of granite, slate, and limestone,
the greater number of veins being in the slate. They are usually large, and
contain both gold and silver, besides copper and lead.
A mill has 'been erected and run for a considerable time, but the workings
were not very satisfactory, owing to the large amount that was lost in the tailings.
The Vanderbilt and Pocatilla are the two most noted veins in this district.
They are of large size, and with a mill capable of saving the gold and silver
would yield a fair profit. ,
A large number of other districts have been formed in this' part of the State,
as the Danville, Palmetto, Red Mountain, Pawdit, Columbus, and Volcano.
From all of these specimens of rich ore have been obtained, but their true value
can be determined only after they have been fully developed.
In Columbus district a few of the veins have been partially opened, and ore
worked from them with most satisfactory results. In another year a mill will
probably be erected, and with proper management ought to be successful.
Volcano district has veins which contain gold and silver, but is remarkable for
cropping of larger copper veins than any other yet found in California or Ne-
vada. These veins* have not been opened, but the outcrop is of enormous mag-
nitude, and the ore, besides copper, contains a small amount of silver. When
this country has proper railroad facilities this copper ore will be of great value.
Although this mining region has been too recently discovered to admit of
definitely proving its value by working on a large scale, still sufficient has been,
learned to prove that it contains vast deposits of ore rich in gold and silver.
Salt is found abundantly in nearly allot' the valleys, in marshes, or as an incrust-
ation on the soil at the bottom of the basins. From these sources? is derived all
the salt that is used in the reduction of the silver ore throughout the State, the
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 135
annual consumption for this purpose in the State being very great. But at
Pahranagat salt is found in a mine in vast quantities. It is in large transparent
crystals, and also beautifully colored, green, blue, &c., as in the Cordana mine
in Spain. This variety is much purer and stronger than that found in the val-
leys. This latter variety was deposited by evaporation, and contains much
soda and other impurities.
Coal has been found at Volcano and Pahranagat and near Salt Lake, and
from the geological structure of this part of the State it is highly probable that,
when full explorations have been made, coal will be found in abundance, and
of good quality. That found near Salt Lake has been worked to a considerable
extent, aud has been pronounced to be of excellent quality. At Pahranagat
and Volcano no work has been done to prove the quality or extent^ except what
has been done by nature. This is a very fine field for exploration in a country
like this, where, in the course of a few years, fuel will be a very important con-
sideration.
As this region has been until recently infested by bands of hostile Indians,
rendering it dangerous for small parties of prospectors to remain long in the
country, considerable irregularities have been observed in the formation of new
districts and in the framing of laws.
At SnVer Bend a district was formed, and called the Philadelphia district,
with laws and regulations as is usual in such cases. From a variety of causes
the founders of the district were obliged to leave, when another set of prospect-
ors came in, formed another district, and claimed the mines by virtue of their
laws. The result has been vexatious and expensive litigation.
At Tahranagat the laws exclude new comers, and do not require the owners
to do any work on the mines.
A general law by Congress regulating the formation of new districts, and
making them a matter of record, so that after a district is once organized^ its ex-
istence can be easily proved, would prevent troubles of this nature from arising
in the future ; also a clause setting forth precisely the conditions under which
a claim becomes forfeited. In many of the mining districts, if no work is done
on a claim for the space of one year the claim is considered to be abandoned.
This clause in mining laws is pretty general, but in many courts it has been
decided that miners by their laws have a right to prescribe the mode of posses-
sion, but not the mode of disposition. As the mines in each district differ, arid
in one it is advisable to claim ground on each side of the vein, and in others
it is not, these points can be better regulated by the miners themselves than
by any general law, but in the formation of districts, and provisions for the
forfeiture of a claim, some general law is requisite.
' A. BLATCHLY,
Mining Engineer.
AUSTIN, NEVADA, November 26, 1866.
— r
[From Governor McCornrick's message, October 8, 1666.]
ARIZONA.
Finances.— The total territorial indebtedness, as audited to this time, amounts
to twenty-one thousand and fifty-one dollars and forty-one cents, and there is a
balance of two hundred and forty-nine dollars and fifty cents in the treasury to
the credit of the general fund. Of this indebtedness, fifteen thousand five hun-
dred and ninety dollars are payable in gold, being the amount of bonds (and
interest on the same to January 4, 1867) issued under the act of the first
assembly, approved November 9, 1864, and entitled "An act to provide for the
contingent expenses of the territorial government." In view of the fact that
until the present year but two of the counties were fully organized, and that
136 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
n«ow, although all contribute to the revenue, the total receipts, owing to the
limited amount of taxable property in the Territory, are small, this is no more
than a reasonable debt. Compared with that of neighboring Territories, con-
taining a larger population and far better sources of revenue, it is insignificant,
and will be complained of only by those singular individuals who expect the
wheels of government to move without cost.
Still I would advise that no expenditure of the territorial funds, however
earnestly it may be asked, or necessary it may seem, be authorized by your
honorable bodies without the most careful consideration ; and if you can impress
upon the counties the importance of economy in their affairs, it will be well to
do so. In the matter of promptly and thoroughly collecting the revenue they
should be urged to increased vigilance, not only for their own benefit but for
that of the Territory at large.
Some seven thousand dollars of the gold bonds before referred to will become
due in a little more than a year from this date, and although another legislature
may meet before, that time, it is not too early to make provision to insure their
payment, and thus to sustain the territorial credit.
There is a balance of about live hundred dollars in the treasury from the special
fund created by the sale of territorial mining claims, which I would suggest be
assigned to the general fund; also, that all further receipts from such sales be
so disposed of.
The Treasury Department having made the Territory an internal revenue
district, and appointed an assessor and collector, we may soon expect to be called
upon to contribute directly to the national revenue. I had hoped, in view of our
comparatively small population, and the drawbacks with which we have to con-
tend, that we should escape other than territorial taxation for the present. But
- it becomes us, as loyal citizens of the great republic, cheerfully to do our part,
however humble it may be, towards cancelling the sacred debt incurred in pre-
serving the national integrity.
The mines. — If there is less excitement over our mining interests, there is
more confidence in their excellence, and a strengthened belief that their develop-
ment will surprise the world. Ten quartz mills will have been erected in this
county alone before the close of tiie present year. Those already in operation
afford a gratifying evidence of the value of the gold ores, and as the lodes are
sunk upon they show permanence and size. The appearance of sulphurets and
refractory elements at a certain depth may involve the necessity of more elabo-
rate machinery, but no obstacles will, I think, be sufficient to baffle the enter-
prise of our miners, who, depending more upon their own energies and capital
than upon help fromfabroad, are determined to know no such word as fail.
The rare advantages of wood, water, and climate are more than sufficient to
offset the costs of living and the heavy expense of transporting machinery here,
and I believe, as I have often asserted, that there are few localities upon the
Pacific coast where quartz mining may be so economically, agreeably, and
profitably pursued.
Those of the silver mines below the Gila, and on the Colorado, that arc
judiciously worked, with scarcely an exception, show great wealth, and fully
maintain the traditional reports of the metallic opulence of the country.
The considerable capital now devoted to the development of the copper lodes
on the Colorado and Williams Fork is but an earnest of that which this im-
portant work will soon command. The uniform richness of the ore, the quantity
of the same, and the facilities for its extraction and shipment combine to make
the mines among the most desirable of the kind upon the continent.
Mining laws.- — The act of Congress to legalize the occupation of mineral
lands, and to extend the rights of pre-emption thereto, adopted at the late ses-
sion, preserves all that is best in the system created by miners themselves, and
saves all vested rights under that system, while offering a permanent title to all
WEST OF THE ROOKY MOUNTAINS, 137
who desire it, at a merely nominal cost. It is a more equitable and practicable
measure than the people of the mineral districts had supposed Congress would
adopt ; and credit for its liberal and acceptable provisions is largely due to the
influence of the representatives from the Pacific coast, including onr own intelli-
gent delegate. While it is not without defects, as a basis of legislation it is
highly promising, and must lead to stability and method, and so inspire in-
creased confidence and zeal in quartz mining.
As, in the absence of necessary legislation by Congress, the act gives au-
thority to the legislature of any State or Territory to provide rules for the loca-
tion and working of mines to their complete development, it will be your duty
to prepare such rules, either by amending the present mining law of the Terri-
tory so as to conform to the law of Congress, or by its repeal, and the substitu-
tion of an entirely new statute. Whatever your preference in this particular, I
would suggest that care be taken to make the required rules as intelligible and
comprehensive as possible, and that the recording and preservation of titles,
both for the security of the miner and the capitalist, and to obviate future litiga-
tion, be intrusted only to the most responsible officers. It is also important that,
excepting in districts where active hostility on the part of the Indians absolutely
prevents, the actual occupation and improvement of claims be made a requisite
to their possession, unless pre-empted under the congressional law. The lack
of such a requirement hitherto has seriously retarded the development of our
mineral resources and the general prosperity of the Territory, and proven dis-
couraging to new comers, especially in the counties on the Colorado river, where
hundreds of lodes, taken up in years past by parties now absent from the Ter-
ritory, are unworked, and yet, under the existing law, no one has a right to lay
claim to them, be he ever so able or anxious to open them.
Agriculture. — The valleys of the Territory, more extensively cultivated this
year than ever before, have produced an abundant harvest. The yield of corn,
vegetables and small grain is such as to prove that henceforth we need not look
abroad for food ; and I make no doubt that if assured that their crops will be
bought and promptly paid for, and they are properly protected from Indian in-
cursions, our ranchmen will, during the ensuing year, by the favor of Heaven,
raise all the breadstuffs that may be required to subsist the military force in the
Territory. Here in central Arizona, even in the mountain districts, where com-
paratively little was expected in the way of agricultural success, the pursuit of
the husbandman is likely to be one of the most profitable. The heavy rains of
the present season indicate that irrigation will seldom be necessary, and the fer-
tility of the soil is remarkable. f It seems as though everything planted attained
the most luxuriant and complete growth in the shortest possible time. The
grains, vegetables, and melons taken promiscuously from any of the ranches,
and raised without fertilization of any kind, or other than the simplest care,
would command a premium if placed in competition with the products of the
richest and most expensive farms and gardens of the Atlantic States.
Land district. — By the seventh section of the act of Congress approved July
22, 1854' the pre-emption privilege was extended to lauds, whether settled upon
before or after survey, within the region of country comprehended by the present
Territories of New Mexico and Arizona. Hitherto pre-emption declarations, in
virtue of this act and that of July 2, 1864, have been filed with the surveyor
general, but Congress having made Arizona a land district, they will, so soon as
the district is organized, be received here.
The congressional mining law provides that wherever, prior to the passage *
of the act, upon the lands heretofore designated as mineral lands, which have
been excluded from survey and sale, there have been homesteads made by citi-
zens of the United States, or persons who have declared their intention to be-
come citizens, which homesteads have been made, improved, and used for agri-
cultural purposes, and upon which there have been no valuable mines of gold,
138 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
silver, cinnabar, or copper discovered, and which are properly agricultural
lands, the said settlers or owners of such homesteads shall have a right of pre-
emption thereto, in quantity not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres ; or said
parties may avail themselves of the provisions of the homestead act of Congress,
approved May 20, 1862. It further provides that upon the survey of the so-
called mineral lands, the Secretary of the Interior may designate and set apart
such portions of such lands as are clearly agricultural lands, which lands shall
thereafter be subjeet to pre-emption and sale as other public lands of the United
States, and subject to all the laws and regulations applicable to the same.
This favorable action, and the establishment of a land office, whereby all delay
in perfecting titles will be obviated, must encourage our people in the cultivation
of lands in immediate proximity to the mines — a matter of the first importance
to the prosperity of our mining interests.
SECTION 5.
1. Copper resources of the Pacific coast. — 2. Various copper districts. — 3. Geological forma-
tions in which copper is found, &c. — 4. Reduction of ores, quantity, &c.
1.— THE COPPER RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC COAST.
Introductory remarks. — The comparatively recent date when the importance
of these resources first attracted any attention ; the extent of territory over which
they have been traced ; the absence of any correctly compiled statistics con-
nected with them in either the State or federal offices j the indisposition .of influ-
ential parties to give any information, under the plea that it would expose the
secrets of their business, and the efforts of others to make mines in which they
are interested appear of greater or less value than wrell-known facts would war-
rant ; the vague and unreliable nature of most of the articles which from time to
time appear in 'the local papers on the subject, as well as many minor impedi-
ments, render it exceedingly difficult to convey a clear idea of the proportions and
actual value of these resources in a hastily compiled report. Even were the
fullest details of information available, many interesting facts must unavoidably
be crowded out of such a report. Sufficient maybe presented here, however, to
demonstrate the extent and value of the copper mines of the Pacific coast, and
to prove that under a more judicious system of development they may be made
much more profitable to their owners as well as'to the federal government, and
that an important means towards the accomplishment of this end will be attained
by the collection and proper arrangement of statistical and general information
on the subject.
The discovery of copper on tlie Pacific coast. — The existence of copper on the
Pacific coast was well known for many years before California became a State
in the great American republic. The ores of this metal are known to have been
found in Mexico, at various points, in great abundance for centuries past. In
the territory within the limits of this State they were found as far back as 1840,
near the Solidad pass, about ninety miles north of Los Angeles.
The first officially recorded discovery of copper in California, since it has be-
come a State, was made by Dr. J. B. Trask, who acted as State geologist from
'1851 till 1854. During that time, in the course of his travels, he found copper
in nearly every county in. the State — the first discovery being made near a
place then called Round Tent, in Nevada county.
As but little attention was paid to the report of these discoveries, and the notes
and specimens of the ores collected by Doctor Trask were soon after lost or
destroyed, they exercised but little influence.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 139
In the summer of 1855 public attention was again called to tlie fact of tlio
existence of copper in this State, by the disco very of a body of beautiful ore
at Hope valley, Amador county, by an old prospector known as Uncle Billy
Rodgers. The ore from this place, being rich in garnets, attracted great atten-
tion. About the same time a party of prospectors in Eldorado county found
a large body of green and blue carbonates on a side of a hill a few miles from
Placerville, and, attracted by the brilliant colors of these minerals, collected sev-
eral sacks full of them and sent them to Pan Francisco, where, by assay, they
were found to contain 40 per cent, of copper, and worth about $140 per ton.
These discoveries were mentioned in nearly all the papers published in the
State at the time, but were soon forgotten in tlie more exciting search for gold
which occupied almost everybody's attention, and the now great copper resources
of the Pacific coast remained without an effort being made for their development
till November, 1860, when Mr. Hiraai Hughes, returning from a trip to Washoe,
whither he had gone to search for silver, while prospecting for that metal among the
foot-hills that margin the valley of San Joaquin, without being aware of the fact
discovered the gossan or cap of a copper lode, on what is now known as Quail
Hill No. 1 — an insignificant mound among the Gopher hills, in the southwest-
ern portion of Calaveras county, about 35 miles southeast from Stockton, and six
miles from Central ferry, on the Stanislaus river. This gossan, which presented
much .the appearance of a body of iron-rust held together by a frame-work of
quartz, was found to be very rich in gold, and it was for this metal that Hughes
worked his claim. Soon after, while making further explorations for " iron-
rust," he discovered the croppings of what is now known as the Napoleon mine,
about three miles southwest of his first discovery. As there was less gold, and
considerable of what was then, to him, an unknown mineral, in this place, he
sent a lot of the ore to San Francisco, where it was pronounced 30 per cent,
copper ore, and worth about $120 per ton. As soon as this fact became known
there was a great excitement, and everybody began prospecting for "iron-rust,"
and as the indications of copper were to be found almost at every point among
the Gopher hills, hundreds of claims were speedily marked out and recorded —
the favorite direction being along the course of the lode on which the Napoleon
was located, as this was easily traced for miles; the most important "exten-
sions" on the original lode being the Josephine on the west, the Lotus, Mag-
nolia, and Collier on the east. But as none of these mines except the Napoleon
ever produced mucji marketable ore, work on all of them very soon ceased.
Hughes and his partners, after partially developing the Napoleon mine, which
contained 2,700 feet on the lode, in 1862 sold eleven-eighteenths of it to a com-
pany for $22,000. This company, in October, 1862, was incorporated under the
title of the Napoleon Copper Mining Company, which, after taking out of the
mine and shipping about 4,000 tons of good ore, sold the mine, in 1864, to Mar-
tin & Greenman, dealers in ores, of San Francisco, who at present own and
work it.
Notwithstanding the great amount of prospecting that followed Hughes's dis-
coveries, it was not till some time in June, 1861, that the lode on which the
mines at Copperopolis are located was discovered, though it is only about six
miles from the Napoleon, and the locators of the Union, Keystone, and other
mines were all old residents and miners in the vicinity. W; R. Reed, Dr.
Blatchly, and Mr. McCarty located 11,250 feet of the Copperopolis lode in
July, 1861. This location embraced the ground now owned by the Union,
Keystone, Empire, Calaveras, and Consolidated companies. Many interesting •
and instructive facts might be here introduced to exhibit the ignorance of the
parties who first discovered these important mines as to the value of their prop-
erty. The following will be sufficient to illustrate this curious fact :
J. W. Bean, esq., who built the first hotel at Copperopolis, had been mining
for years among the Gopher hills and in the vicinity of Salt Spring valley;
140 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
and though such was the abundance and beauty of the specimens of copper ores
all around him that he collected nearly a cart-load of them as curiosities to
decorate his rude cabin, he afterwards threw them away as useless. In 1855
he had collected so many of these specimens that his partner would not have
any more of them brought into the cabin.
Mr. Hughes, whose blindly-directed enterprise led to the discovery of the
value of the copper resources of the Pacific coast, had also been mining for
years among the Gopher hills ; and although his observant attention had been
attracted to the peculiarities of the rocks that form these hills, he had no idea
of the stores of wealth that lay scattered so lavishly all around him till he^had
made a trip to Washoe during the excitement which followed the discovery of
silver there. When in that Territory, being forcibly struck with the great re-
semblance between the rocks near the Cornstock lode and those that he was so
well acquainted with about the Gopher hills and Salt Spring valley, and not
being successful over there, he returned to the old familiar field of his labors
and commenced prospecting for silver, and did not know for many months after
his return that he had acquired a fortune by discovering a copper mine. So
with Mr. McCarty. one of the present owners of the great Union mine. He
had lived in Salt Spring valley nearly ten years, mining and ranching by turns.
As early as 1852 he had sunk a deep prospect-hole on the ground now belong-
ing to the Keystone company, and threw away the rich copper ores as -worth-
less, while seeking for gold, which he never found. So with Mr. Hardy, an-
other of the original locators of the Union. This gentleman, a keen, intelli-
gent man of business, who was for a long time the superintendent of that mine,
and afterwards became a senator for Calaveras county, resided for years within
two miles of where Copperopolis now stands without having any idea of the
immense wealth that lay stored up for him in the hard, sterile banks of the little
creek that meandered past his homestead.
The limits of this report will not admit of any further digression on this very
interesting history.
As soon as the magnitude and importance of the discovery made by Mr.
Reed and his party became known, the rush of prospectors to the locality be-
came tremendous, and in a few days claims were staked off extending for nearly
twenty miles in all directions along the lode, or rather lodes, (for there are more
than one of them,) across and parallel to them. Large sums of money were in
many instances expended in the purchase and development of claims which
were located miles away from all indications of lode whatever.
One of the effects of this great excitement was the creation of the now
thriving town of Copperopolis, the first house in which was built by Mr. Reed
in September, 1861. In less than two years -after it contained a population of
nearly 2,000, which supported three schools, two churches, a weekly newspa-
per, four hotels, with stores and workshops of all kinds sufficient for 'an active,
thrifty community. It now has three lines of stages running to and from it
daily, and has a costly railroad in course of active construction to connect it
with the navigable waters of the San Joaquin river, which, when completed,
will more than double its wealth and population.
To give the names of all the claims that were located in an around Salt
Spring valley during the first great excitement would serve no useful purpose,
as most of them, after the expenditure of more or less labor, have either been
abandoned altogether or are held till labor and transportation shall become
cheaper or copper ores become more valuable. The most important mines
in the valley at present — the only ones that are being developed — are the
Calaveras, Empire, Union, Keystone, Consolidated, and Kentucky, which range
from south to north in the order in which they are here written, and the In-
imitable, which is located on the east side of and parallel with the Union. The
developments in this and other mines located parallel with the original claims
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 141
leave little room to doubt that there are at least two — some persons say four —
distinct lodes, or very large consecutive bodies of ore, identical in composition,
independent of the main lode. The question of whether there is one or more
lodes promises to be as fruitful a point for the lawyers to settle as a similar *
question was among the owners on the Comstock lode, in Nevada.
The thousands of persons from all parts of the State who were attracted to
the Salt Spring Val}ey mines by the reports of their value, thus becoming ac-
quainted with the general appearance of copper ores, on returning to their seve-
ral districts soon discovered these ores almost everywhere, so that before the
close of the year 1861 a well-defined belt of copper ore, containing several dis-
tinct lodes, was traced and partially developed from a point about thirty miles
north of Los Angeles, at La Solidad, through Mariposa, Merced, Fresno, Tuo-
lumne, Stanislaus, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, Yuba, Trinity, Sierra, Plumas,
and Shasta counties, to a point about twenty miles west of the town of Yreka,
in Siskiyou county, where it enters the State of Oregon in a northern spur of
the Siskiyou mountains, the most western branch of the Sierra Nevadas. As
will be more fully explained in another portion of this report, there is a most
remarkable uniformity in the direction and dip of the lodes in this great copper
belt, as well as in the geological formations in which they are found, in the
character of their ores, and in several other features, all which point to a simul-
taneousness of origin over very large tracts, many portions of which have been
much disturbed and shifted by subsequent subterranean action.
Other extensive deposits of copper ores have been discovered in the coast
range, particularly around the base of a spur of Mount Diablo, at the low divide
in Del Norte county ; in Hope valley, Amador county ; at Whiskey Hill, in
Placer county, and at several other points which it is not necessary to particu-
larize at this time.
The results of all these discoveries were the location of thousands of claims,
some of them of considerable importance, in nearly every county of the State, .
and the incorporation of a countless number of copper mining companies, whose
certificates of stock were bought and sold at the public boards and by private
merchants by thousands ; and for about a year the development of the copper
resources of the Pacific coast was prosecuted with great zeal. But a few months'
experience taught those most deeply interested in the business that, with un-
skilled and expensive labor, uncertain and costly transportation, and a great dis-
tance from a market for the final disposal of the ore, it is unprofitable to work
the richest and most extensive copper mines in the world.
The excitement attending the discovery of so much copper in California, as
may well be supposed, soon spread through the adjoining States and Territories,
and it was not long before many important lodes were discovered in Oregon, Ne-
vada, Colorado, Sonora, and Lower California. As it will be quite impossible
to even mention all these discoveries in detail, only a few of the most important
will be referred to at this time. .
In 1860 a miner named Hawes, who had long been working in that vicinity,
having his attention attracted to the quantity of metallic copper found in the
sluices of the miners who were engaged at Placer mining for gold, commenced
a search, and soon discovered a valuable lode of copper ore in 'a small gulch
about six miles from' Waldo, Josephine county. On (his lode was subsequently
located the Queen of Bronze mine, the most important copper mine in Oregon.
Soon after the discovery made by Hawes, other parties found an extensive cop-
per district on the Illinois river, near the junction of that river and Fall cre-:jk,
about eighteen miles north-northwest from Waldo. Another district was about
the same time discovered at Ilockland, in Josephine county, in which more than
twenty mines of importance were subsequently located.
Copper has also been found in Wasco county ; on the John Day river, and
at several other points in the State of Oregon. The districts in Josephine
142 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
county being near the dividing line between that State and California, and the
lode having been examined from Waldo to near Crescent City, Del Norte
county, in the latter State, where an extensive district known as the Alta has
since been developed, leaves no room to doubt that they are all located on the
game great belt of copper ores referred to above.
The largest masses of metallic copper found on this coast have been obtained
from these Oregon mines. One piece reported to have weighed half a ton was
taken from the "Diamond" mine ; another piece weighing four hundred pounds
was taken from the " Cruikshank " mine, and a great many pieces weighing from
one hundred to three hundred pounds each have been found in this vicinity.
In 1862 several valuable deposits of copper ore were discovered on Williams's
fork of the Colorado river, in Arizona Territory, near where Aubrey City has
been since located. Butjt was not till November, 18G3, when Mr. Robert Ry-
land, of San Francisco, commenced work on the "Planet" mine, at this place,
that the true value of these Arizona copper mines was ascertained. There are
undoubted proofs of the existence of exceedingly valuable copper mines in this
Territory, at various points convenient to the navigable waters of the Colorado
and its tributaries. Mr. Pompelly, a scientific geologist and mineralogist, who
subsequently was appointed mineralogist to the Japanese government, macle an
extended examination of the mineral resources of Arizona, and ki the published
report of his observations he refers particularly to the extraordinary richness
and extent of the copper resources of the Territory. Other parties, who have
travelled extensively through it since Mr. Pompelly, fully corroborate all that
gentleman reported on this subject. Important mines have been discovered, and
districts organized at many points in the Territory, among which are the Irataba
district, about twenty-five miles southwest from Fort Mohave j the Freeman
district, about sixty miles south of Williams's fork ; the Chimewawa district, on
the west bank of the Colorado, nearly opposite La Paz ; the Salaza district,
about thirty-five miles northeast of La Paz, and the Castle Dome district, about
thirty miles north of the Gila. The formations in which the copper is found
in this Territory are altogether different from those in which it is found in Oregon
and California. The ores themselves are also quite distinct, and far more valu-
able than those found in these States. The details of these peculiarities will
be given hereafter.
About the time the Colorado mines were discovered, a singular but quite ex-
tensive lode of copper ore, containing considerable metallic copper and silver,
was discovered near Loretto, in the province of Comondu, Lower California.
Several tons of exceedingly rich ore, which averaged sixty per cent., were brought
to San Francisco in 1862, from theN" Favorita " mine, also in Lower California.
In 1864 a number of valuable deposits of copper ores were discovered in va-
rious places in the State of Nevada. Among the most important of these dis-
coveries are the "Peavine" district, near the Hennep pass, but a short distance
from the line of the Central Pacific railroad. The completion of this road to
the neighborhood of this district has given it much importance of late, the
railroad company offering to deliver the ore in Sacramento at nine dollars per
ton. Other copper mines have been located on Walker's river, in EsmeralcU
county, and on the south fork of the Carson river, in Ormsby county, and at
other points in this State, the ores from which will be profitable to ship as soon
as the completion of the Pacific railroad shall afford the means for sending them
to. a market.
The above hurriedly compiled notes, though giving the merest outlines of the
extent of the copper resources of the Pacific coast, are sufficient to convey an
idea of the magnitude and importance of these resources, which, under a judi-
cious system of encouragement by the federal government, may be made to pro-
duce many millions of dollars annually.
The locality of the most important mining districts — It will be impossible
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 143
under this heading to mention any except those in which well-known mines are
located, and of these only to give the merest outline description. To avoid
expansion, as the materials are very abundant, only those from which ores 'are
known to have been exported will be referred to. These are the following :
The Copperopolis, Table Mountain, Napoleon, Laucha Plana, Campo Peco,
and Copper Hill, in Calaveras county.
The Newton, Cosumnes, and Hope Valley, in Amador county.
The La Victoire and Birdseye, in Mariposa county.
The Buchanan, in Fresno county,
The Osos, in San Luis Obispo county.
The Solidad, in Los Angeles county.
The Genesee Valley, in Plumas county
The Alta, in Del Norte county.
The Mount Diablo, in Contra Costa county.
The Rockland, in Oregon.
The Peavine, in Nevada.
The Favorita and Sauce, in Lower California.
The Williams Fork, in Arizona.
Copperopolis mines. — The Copperopolis mines are located in Salt Spring
valley, in the southwestern portion of Calaveras county, about thirty-five miles
nearly east from Stockton, at the head of navigation on the San Joaquin river.
This valley is large, beautiful, and well sheltered, and very fertile, producing
all descriptions of fruits, grain, and vegetables in the greatest perfection. Its
peculiar excellence in these respects has caused it to be more or less under cul-
tivation since the settlement of California by the Americans. It is bounded on
the east by the Bear mountains, a lofty branch of the foot-hills lying between
the Stanislaus and Calaveras rivers, which nearly divide Calaveras county into
two parts. On the west it is bounded by a range of low broken hills which
skirt the eastern side of the valley of San Joaquin. It extends nearly to the
Calaveras river on the north. The most famous copper mines on the coast are
located on the west of this valley, near the head of what is called Black creek,
a small tributary to the Stanislaus.
The lode on which the Union, Keystone, Empire, Calaveras, and Consolidated
mines are located passes through this valley in the direction of north 30° west.
It has been more or less developed for about fifteen miles, and found to curve
slightly towards the north, at its western extremfty.
There are other lodes in this valley on which are located many mines known
to be of great value, though they have not been as extensively developed as
those on the main lode. It is claimed that there are four of these lodes, which
range from a few feet to six miles in distance from the main one, but all follow
the same direction. This cupriferous belt has been traced with comparatively
slight interruptions from this valley to the American river, its general course
being about north 15° west.
The most important mine in the valley is the Union. This contains 1,950
feet on the main lode, which was originally divided into thirteen shares of 150
feet each. But at present it is nearly all owned by Meader, Lalor & Co., mer-
chants of San Francisco, Mr. McCarty, one of the original locators, being the
only one retaining any portion of their claim.
The owners of this mine never formed themselves into an incorporated com-
pany, as nearly all other mining companies generally do. Probably no necessity
arose to compel them, as no assessments were ever levied on their shares, the
mine paying well from the very commencement of their operations. It gave
them a dividend of $11,000 per share in December, 1862, and during the year
1863 the dividends amounted to 820,000 per share, clear of all expenses. It
is not possible to tell how much the mine has paid since, in consequence of
144 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Header & Co having purchased it soon after the last dividend in 1863 was
declared, and they have their own reasons for* not making its revenue public.
It is alleged that in the winter of 1863 that firm paid Mr. Reed, the locator of
the mine, $65,000 in cash for 975 feet. In 1864 Mr. Hardy, another of the
original locators, it is stated sold his interest in the mine to the same firm for
$650,000.
There is but little doubt that this mine contains the largest body of yellow
sulphurets of copper ever discovered. Some scientific gentlemen have expressed
doubts as to whether this body of ore is a true vein, or merely a local surface
deposit, as it does not present some of the characteristics of veins of similar ore
found in other counties. The fact that it has been explored to the depth of
upwards of 500 feet without any symptoms of its giving out, and that it has
been examined for many miles consecutively, presenting the same general
appearance throughout, is, to say the least, a stronger proof in support of the
opinion that it is a continuous, regular vein, than any theory can be that it is not.
The work on this mine is carried on by means of three shafts, which have
been sunk from 300 to 500 feet on the lode, from which several levels or drifts
have been run along its course. For the purpose of hoisting the ore there is a
fourteen horse-power steam-engine at the mouth of each of the two outer shafts.
At the main shaft, from which the mine is drained, there is an eighty horse-
power engine, which is used for both pumping and hoisting. Another shaft is
in progress, and nearly completed, which is being sunk for the purpose of
striking the lode at a depth of between 400 and 500 feet, at a point where it is
known to dip considerably to the east. All the other shafts having been 'com-
menced on the lode, passed through it on reaching a limited depth, going further
from it as the depth increased, involving an increased expense in running
tunnels to strike it at each succeeding level.
The dimensions of this body of ore have been ascertained with tolerable ac-
curacy, for a length of nearly 600 feet, and to a depth of upwards of 400 feet,
by shafts and levels which have been made in it. Near the surface, for, say
150 feet in depth, the lode varied in proportions very much, ranging from one
foot to twelve feet in width. At the depth of 200 feet in the main shaft it. was
nearly 21 feet wide; at 250 feet deep, it was nearly 30 feet wide; and continued
of nearly tlie same width to 300 feet in depth, when it became less uniform,
and began to decrease in proportions, till at the depth of about 400 feet at the
north, near the Keystone line, it had decreased to about 6 feet in width, while
for 200 feet north from the main shaft it is nearly 28 feet wide. As the Key-
stone company have recently struck the lode on their ground, within 100 feet
of the dividing line between the two mines, at a depth of 360 feet, where it is
10 feet wide, it is presumable that its contraction in the Union, at nearly the
same level, is not permanent.
It would be difficult to obtain correct information as to the product of this
mine, from its opening up to the present time, as its proprietors seem averse to
furnishing particulars/ It is known, however, that the exports of ore from this
State amounted to 5,553 tons in 1863, and to 10,234 tons in 1864, at least one-
half of which was obtained from the "Union." The company's books show
that from the 10th March to the 31st December, 1865, 25,542/tons of ore were
actually shipped from the mine. As the firm owning it state that the average
of all its ores shipped is 15 per cent., and estimate it to be worth $75 per ton,
it follows that its products for 1865 exceeded $1,500,000 in value. The ship-
ments for 1866, as will be seen by reference to the table of exports, will exceed
those of 1S65— the quantity shipped being only limited by the number of
vessels available for carrying it away. The above figures will convey a slight
idea of the importance of developing such a fruitful source of national wealth
as is presented in the copper mines of the Pacific coast.
The Union company employ about 250 men about the mine, in the various
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 145
departments of its operations. None of the companies at Copperopolis employ
any Chinese coolies.
The Keystone is next in importance to the Union, which it adjoins on the
north. It contains 3,300 feet on the lode. It is owned by an incorporated
joint-stock company, the shares in which are one hundred and fifty in number.
It was on this claim that the first work of development on the lode was done,
in what is still called the discovery shaft, on the north end of the claim, and
Which is still used by the company in their operations.
The shareholders in this mine have not been as fortunate as those of the
Union. The Keyston ehas never yielded them a dividend since its discovery ;
on the contrary, it has cost them $100,000 in assessments over and above the
receipts from its whole product of ore, which up to October 1, 1866, amounted
to 5,719 tons, worth, at $75 per ton, 8428,925. The enormous expenses in-
curred in the development of this mine ha^ve probably been caused by mis-
management, and costly, useless experiments for concentrating the low grade
ores, of which the mine produces very large quantises.
The best informed among the stockholders in this mine estimate that it hag
produced sufficient ore to defray all the expenses of working. The $100,000
collected as assessments have been expended in experiments and machinery.
The company have very fine and powerful hdisting, pumping, and concentrating
machinery. The latter is only used during the winter and spring, when there
is an abundance of water available. The ores in the Keystone are identical
with those in the Union, but they are not found in as large a body, or as com-
pact. The lode in this mine has at no time exceeded ten feet in width, and it
is usually so much divided by the containing slate that the cost of its separa-
tion by hand-labor causes it to be not very profitable to the company. At the
depth of 260 feet in the main shaft the lode was only six feet wide, and con-
tained a body of iron pyrites nearly a foot thick through the centre of it for
nearly 150 feet in length, and it was further divided by seams of slate into
irregular masses from one inch to six inches thick.
The greatest depth reached on this mine is about 400 feet. Quite recently,
in the sixth level, at a depth of about 360 feet in the Houghton shaft — that is,
the shaft nearest to the dividing line between this mine and the Union — a body
of ore nearly ten feet thick was- struck while drifting within 150 feet of this
dividing line. In this body of ore there is only about four feet sufficiently rich
to pay for shipping ; the remainder is so divided by the containing slate, or con-
tains so large a proportion of iron pyrites, as to fall below the average of 12 per
cent , the present lowest grade of paying ore.
There are six shafts in this mine, only two of which, the discovery shaft and
that nearest the Union, are in use — the cost of sinking and timbering the others
being nearly a total loss to the compnny. In fact, the first two years' work done
on the mine was wasted through the inexperience of those who were intrusted
with its management.
The annual product of the Keystone, according to the books of the company,
has been as follows:
1862 . . 596 tons of 2, 376 pounds.
1863 7 . . . . 758 tons of 2, 376 pounds.
1864 1, 506 tons of 2, 376 pounds.
1865 1, 743 tons of 2, 376 pounds.
1666, (til! October 1,) 1, 386 tons of 2, 376 pounds.
Total production 5, 719 tons.
The company employ about one hundred men in the various departments of
their works.
The Empire mine is located next to the Union, on the south. It contains
H. Ex. Doc. 29 10
146 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
1,800 feet on the same lode. It is owned by an incorporated company, the
majority of the stockholders in which are capitalists who reside at New York.
This company have expended a very large amount of money in developing their
mine. The greater portion of this expenditure, as has been the case with the
Keystone company, has been wasted through incompetent management. Great
improvements in this respect have been made recently, and the prospects of the
company are promising. The explorations now in process show considerable
good ore, and there are indications of an increase in the dimensions of the lode.
The ore in this is similar to that in all the other mines on the lode ; but in
the croppings on this claim there was considerably more quartz than there was
upon any other claim on the lode. In this quartz, which was of a milky white-
ness, there was metallic copper, crystallized in leaf and fern-like forms, which
were exceedingly brilliant and beautiful when first taken out of their stony
matrix.
The Calaveras is located next south of the Empire, on the same lode, of
which it contains 3,000 feet. The croppings on this claim were exceedingly
rich, but the lode has not proven to be so below the surface. Several shafts
have been sunk and many drifts and cuttings made without finding any body
of ore of importance. The company are not working this mine at present.
The Consolidated is located on -the same lode, north of the Keystone. It
contains 3,000 feet.
The Webster is the name of another important mine in this valley. It is
located about one and a half mile east of Copperopolis, on a massive body of
ore nearly twenty-eight feet wide. This ore is of a different character to that
in the main lode, and is much less valuable ; for, though quite solid and compact,
it does not average more than eight per cent., in consequence of the larger per-
centage of iron it contains.
The Inimitable is another important mine in this valley, located on a dif-
ferent lode altogether. This mine is situated parallel with the Union, and but
a few feet apart from it, on the east side. So close are these two mines together
that the owners of the Inimitable had some intentions of suing the Union com-
pany for damages for taking out some of their ore on some of the lower levels,
which they claimed was on the Inimitable's ground. The Napoleon mine, which
is located four miles south from Copperopolis, is on the eastern end of alode which
runs through this valley, parallel with the main lode, but about six miles apart
from it, which has been located upon for nearly fifteen miles. The Scorpion,
Swansea, Massachusetts, Pacific, and other valuable mines, are located on this
parallel lode. These lodes are easily traced to near the banks of the river,
where they all disappear, and are not again visible till near the town of Monte-
zuma, in Tuolumne county, six miles from the other side of the river. Gopher
Hill, where the first discovery of copper was made, is supposed to be the ex-
treme west of the main lode.
The above is not by any means a complete list of the mines in Salt Spring
\alley. There are scores of others, but these are the most important.
At present about one thousand men are employed in various capacities among
the mines in this district, the larger proportion of whom are foreigners, chiefly
English and Irish. No Chinese are employed about the mines except as cooks,
washermen, and servants.
The Table Mountain mine is located about five miles southeast from Coppero-
polis, and about one mile from the Stanislaus river. It is the last claim on the
main lod* on this side of that river. It contains 2,150 feet on the lode, which
is here about six feet wide, and much divided by the containing slate. This
mine is owned by a joint-stock comply of twenty-one shareholders. It has
been considerably developed, and about one thousand tons of ore have been
shipped from it.
The Campo Seco, Lancha Pluna, and Copper Hill mines are located on a
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 147
continuation of the main Copperopolis lode, where it makes its appearance
between the Calaveras and Mokelumne rivers. All these mines were discovered
in 1861, shortly after the discovery of the Union and Keystone mines. They
have been extensively developed, and the lode has been well tested by shafts
and drifts. It presents the same peculiarities as were noticed at Copperopolis.
Jt is quite large on the Campo Seco claim, being twenty feet wide at one hun-
dred feet deep. It is scarcely as large in the Lanclia Plana, and in the Copper
Hill it is only about six feet. The character a^id composition of the ores are
identical with those at Copperopolis, and they are contained in the same de-
scription of rock, and present many other features of similarity. Large quanti-
ties of ore. have been shipped from these mines; but the present low price of
ores, which is lower than it has previously been for the past fifteen years, leaves
so small a profit after paying expenses that the companies are storing most of
their ores in anticipation of an improvement in the market. . About one hundred
and fifty men aie employed among these mines, about forty of whom are Chi-
nese, who perform much of the labor .aboye. ground, such as separating and
bagging the ores, &c.
Quite extensive concentrating works are being put up on the Campo Seco
mine. The company "intend to concentrate most of their ores into about fifty
per cent, matte or regulus.
The Napoleon mine is located about four miles south of Copperopolis, in
what are called the Gopher hills, a range of low, broken hills, very irregular in
form and direction, on the east of the San Joaquin valley. They are the first
hills met with after leaving Stockton and travelling east. As has already been
mentioned, this was the first copper mine opened in California. As such, Mr.
Hughes, who discovered both the Napoleon and the Quail Hill mines, claimed
the latter as a silver or gold mine.
The Napoleon contains 2,700 feet on two well-defined lodes of ore, similar in
composition to those at Copperopolis. It was located in November, 1860, and in
October, 1862, was owned by an incorporated company ; each foot in the mine
representing a share of stock. In 1863 these one-foot £ hares were selling at
$100 each.
In consequence of the country through which the Napoleon lode traverses
having been much disturbed by subterranean forces, it is extensively dislocated.
The " faults," as the miners call these dislocations, are so numerous that all the
other mines on this lode had to cease operations because they could not trace
it far enough consecutively to obtain any extensive body of ore. This misfor-
tune has happened to the Napoleon. At the depth of about 400 feet the lode,
after narrowing from twenty to less than six feet, finally was lost altogether by
a shift in the containing rock. The company have been engaged for more than
a year in attempting to rediscover it. They have sunk a new shaft nearly 400
feet deep, some distance to the south of the old one. The prospects are that
they will meet with a large body of good ore in this new shaft.
The Napoleon is located on the eastern extremity of a lode which has been
traced to San Domingo gulch, twenty-five miles distant, where the Noble mine,
owned by Pioche & Beyergue, French merchants of San Francisco, is located
on it. The Napoleon commenced shipping ores in May, 1863.
The following statement, compiled from the books of the company, furnishes
full particulars of the product of the mine :
148
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES.
Shipment of ores from tlie Napoleon copper mines.
Date.
First class.
Second class.
Concentrated
ore.
1863.
May . ..
Pounds.
36 826
/
Founds.
45 302
Pounds.
137 930
108 420
July
185 498
61 OJ4
August . . . ... .__-..
73, 037
98, 172
September .... . .
250 234
230 873
October
232 100
507 8iO
187,480
284 9v>0
December. . . . ......
69 060
i 234 110
Total
1,172,165
1,507,621
1864.
January ___ ................. ..I. ......
42 240
170, 930
February . . . ....
44 330
367 020
March.
91 9GO
386 680
April . ........... ..................
30, 470
334 940
May
28 970
205 740
June
17 160
232 100
July
49, 720
252 070
August . .... .... .
6 820
159 750
September ,.
134,410
420, 835
October .
238, 370
190,540
November .. . ......
192 216
164 025
Total
351,570
2,674,226
775, 400
1865.
March, . ..... ......... _
8 100
April
20 250
115 950
May
78 150
158, 600
, 3
June
48 450
132,000
July
323 120
August . ............ .....
159, 460
September
6 420
170, 305
Total . ....
20, 250
257 070
943, 485
Grand totals .. .
1,543,985
4,501,917
1 , 718, 885
Seven million seven hundred and sixty-four thousand seven hundred and
eighty-seven pounds altogether, or nearly four thousand tons.
In September, 1865, the company sold the mine to Martin & Co., dealers in
ores, of San Francisco. Since it has been in the hands of this firm, for reasons
explained above, the yield of ore has nearly ceased. The total shipments from
the mine since the purchase have not exceeded 150 tons, of which about one-
half has been second class, and the other concentrated ore.
With reference to the classification of the ores in the above table, as the same
method for that purpose is followed in all mines producing the same description
of ores, it may be as well to explain that method in this part of the report.
The heavy costs for labor, bags, transportation, commissions, &c., causing all
ores below 10 per cent, to be valueless on this coast, none are shipped below
that grade ; but as there is a considerable advantage gained by separating the
ores which vary more than 5 per cent, in richness, the plan generally followed
is to class all above 15 per cent, as first, and from 10 per cent, to 15 per cent,
as second. There is some difference in the grade of the ores from the various
mines. The Union ores are the lowest. The owners of that mine, being ex-
tensive shipping agents, have facilities for shipping ores of less value than will
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 149
pay to ship from any other mine. The average of all the ores shipped from
the Union does not exceed 15 per cent. From the Napoleon they were above
16 per cent., causing a difference in value of nearly $5 per ton. The Keystone
ores are about 1 per cent, higher than the Union. •
The concentrated ores above referred to were prepared by the following very
economical process : A pit of about two feet deep was cut in the soft soil, about
twenty feet square, in which was laid as evenly as possible about four cords of
dry pine wood; over this was piled, in the form of a truncated cone, one hundred
tons of ore. There was nothing more done, except to ignite the wood, which
soon set the sulphur in the ore on fire, and it continued to burn for six or seven
weeks, when the greater portion of the sulphur having been evaporated, the fire
went out and the ore was concentrated about 6 per cent , or 10 per cent. ; poor
second class was converted into 16 per cent., or first class.
The machinery used on this mine consists of a small six-horse power steam-
engine, for hoisting and pumping. There are usually about thirty hands em-
ployed on this mine, about one-third of whom are Chinese.
Quail Hill, No. 1, where Hughes made the first discovery of copper, is about
three miles east from the Napoleon mine, arid about seven miles west from Cop-
peropolis. Quite a town, called Telegraph City, has sprang up between these
two discoveries of Hughes's.
2.— VARIOUS COPPER DISTRICTS.
Forest Hill district. — The most important mines in Amador county are the
Cosumnes, in the Forest Hill district, near Jackson, the county seat, and the
Newton, on the same lode, about three miles to the west, near lone valley, a
beautiful and fertile valley, separated from the great valley of the Sacramento
by low, irregular hills, as Salt Spring valley is divided from the valley of the
San Joaquin. The Cosumnes was located in January, 1862. A company to
work it was incorporated in February, 1863. It contains 5,000 feet on the
main lode and the same quantity on the Oriental lode, which runs parallel and
clQse to it. This Oriental lode, which is quite extensive, was discovered by the
llev. J. B. Fish, in January, 1863. It appears that the reverend gentleman
was returning from a trip to Copperopolis, when he observed the cfoppings of
the lode as he was riding past, the location being near the road. Getting off
his horse, he satisfied himself that what he saw was copper ore, and located the
claim for himself and friends. The parson's mine has produced nearly one hun-
dred tons of good ore.
The Newton was located early in 1863, by Dr. J. Newton, of Jackson, in the
names of himself and six members of uptown family, who at present control it.
Dr. Newton was the first person in this county who worked a copper mine in it.
Quite a town, called Copper " Centre, has sprung up between these two dis-
tricts. Two years ago it was one of the most active copper mining c.amps in
the State — hundreds of claims having been located on the two copper belts,
which can be traced fur miles on both sides of the original claims. One of these
belts is about six miles northeast of the other, and follows the same course as
the parallel lodes at Copperopolis — north about 50° east. These lodes also dip
from 10° to 20° to the east, as do those at Copperopolis; are in the same geo-
logical formation, and the ores are so much alike in appearance and composi-
tion that the best judges cannot tell one from the other. There is no doubt
but that the Amador county mines are located on the same lodes as the mines
at Copperopolis. There are many valuable copper mines in this vicinity, but
though the great distance from a market, and the want of capital and experi-
ence of those who own them, work on all except the Cosumne%and Newton
has ceased. Probably these would also have remained undeveloped had not
Header & Co., copper merchants of San Francisco, become interested in them.
150 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
A great deal of work lias been done on the Newton, which has been suffi-
ciently tested by shafts and drifts to prove that it is of great value, and this
value would be fourfold greater if there were proper means for bringing the ore
to tide-water. The lode on this mine is not so large as it is at Copperopolis, but
the ore is less divided by the containing elate than it is in the Keystone. At
one hundred feet deep the lode here was only three and half feet wide. It in-
creased considerably as the depth of the shafts increased. Most of the ore from
this mine will average 15 per cent. In 18G4it shipped about one hundred tons
per month, averaging 16 per cent.
On the Cosumnes ground the lode is about ten feet wide at one hundred and
twenty-five feet deep, and averages about 16 per cent. This company shipped
about two hundred and fifty tons per month during 1864, averaging ]2 per cent.
Hope valley. — The Rodger's mine, in Hope valley in this county, is located
a few miles west of Carson canon, on the borders of the State of Nevada, only
a few miles from some of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevadas. It was dis-
covered in 1855, but has never .been worked to any extent, though the ore is
very valuable and of great beauty. It is not a regular lode, but a sort of
chimney, which makes its appearance, about two feet wide and nearly perpen-
dicular, in the face of a lotty bluff of solid, hard, white granite, at the eastern
end of the valley. The only sign of this body of ore is confined to its exposure
in the face of the bluff, and for about thirty feet on the top of it. A great deal
of prospecting has been done in the vicinity, in the hope of finding a continua-
tion of it, but in vain. The ore is accompanied on the south side by a body of
hard, grayish, crystaline limestone, the only sign of that mineral for many
miles around — the whole country being composed of bare, rugged cliffs and
peaks of felspathic granite. On the north side of the ore there is a seam, of
about a foot wide, of dark brown quartz, of a peculiar cellular structure. There
is a great abundance of brilliant lime garnets in this ore, which", together with
the peculiar combination of sulphurets, oxides, and carbonates of which it is
formed, render it exceedingly interesting for cabinet specimens ; though it is
very doubtful whether it will ever pay to extract it for commercial purposes.
Mariposa county mines. — The existence of important lodes or deposits of
copper ores of considerable commercial value in Mariposa county was known
for several years before any attempt was made to turn them to profitable ac-
count. The croppings of a series of large bodies of the ore are seen protruding
through the surface all through the county, from where it unites to Merced
county on the one side to where it joins Fresno county on the other. It was
not until the summer of 1S63 that any attention was paid to copper mining in
this county. The distance from a market and want of roads, as well as the
broken and disturbed condition of the^eological formation in which the ore is
contained, prevented men of experience and capital investing time or money in
their development.
There are two extensive districts in which copper mining is carried on in this
county. One is on the south side of it, on the Chowchilla river, near the divid-
ing line between this county and Merced, This is called the Hamilton district.
It embraces mines in both these counties. The other is the Hunters' Valley
district. This- is located west of the Bear Valley mountains and south of the
Merced river. The La Victoire, the most important copper mine in Mariposa
county, is in this district.
A good many companies are working in the Hamilton district; but thus far
the developments have not been of much importance, as no shaft of any con-
siderable depth has been sunk, and no permanent lode has been discovered.
There is but little doubt that the mines in this county are located on portions of
the great cuj^iferous belt referred to in the introductory remarks to this report
as passing through the State; but the shifting and dislocation to which it has
been subjected since its formation have so broken it up that it is exceedingly
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 151
doubtful whether any permanent mine will be discovered in the southern district
of this county. Some activity has been imparted to this district during the
past year by the erection of several smelting furnaces on a small scale, which,
operating on the silicates, oxides, and carbonates of the metal, which are found
in great abundance for miles around, make large quantities of regulus and black
copper from 60 per cent, tg 96 per cent, of fineness. The owners of these fur-
naces pay a fair price of all the ores of a suitable character the miners can
bring. This will account for the activity in the district and for the shallowness
of the explorations, as the ores cease to be of the class required at a few feet
below the surface.
One of these furnaces has been erected on James's ranch, and another, about
six miles distant, on the border of Fresno county, at Buchanan Hollow. From
this latter place about one hundred arid fifty tons of copper, in bars ranging
from 80 per cent, to 96 per cent, of metal, have been exported from San Fran-
cisco to New York by Coffee & llisdon, the proprietors of the works.
The furnaces at James's ranch are constructed on the French plan, intro
duced on this coast, on the Queen of Bronze mine, in Oregon, by M. De Hierry,
a French metallurgist of considerable ability. They are capable of operating
on about eight tons of ore in twenty -four hours. The class of ores operated on
have averaged about 12 per cent., the greater portion of which has been ob-
tained from the Green Mountain and Lone Tree mines, near the works.
The company obtain plenty of pine wood charcoal at $70 to $80 per ton.
All the smelting is done, with this description of fuel. About a ton of this
charcoal is required to produce a ton of marketable regulus. There are about
a dozen men employed at each of these works.
The furnaces used at Buchanan Hollow are what are known as Haskell's
water-lined, a brief description of'which will be found under the head of " Pro-
cesses," &c. They are of about the same capacity as those mentioned above,
and consume about the same quantity of the same description of fuel. There
are several of this latter description of furnaces in use in this State ; one on
the Cosumues mine, in Amador county ; another on the La Victoire mine, in
Mariposa county, and several others are in an advanced state of construction in
various localities.
About six miles south of these smelting works at Buchanan Hollow there are
several of the best mines in this county ; among them is the Bachman. In the
shaft on this mine, at a depth of sixty feet, the lode is ten feet wide, composed
of yellow sulphurets, identical in appearance and composition with those found
at Copperopolis and Campo Seco, and accompanied with all the characteristics
of the lodes in those districts, and affording many facts to prove a connection
in the origin of all of them.
Near the smelting works on James's ranch there is a series of lodes, traceable
for about ten miles, and ranging N. 24° W., corresponding very closely with
those already noticed in Salt Spring valley. In a shaft sunk on the Dozer
lode, one of this series, at a depth of eighty feet it was found to be six feet
wide, composed of nearly solid yellow sulphiiret. But, as was explained above,
the disturbance of the containing rock does not hold out a reasonable hope of
the permanence of any body of ore in the district.
Mr. Haskell, the proprietor of the Buchanan lode, has recently sold it and
the smelting works above described to a firm at Stockton for $22,000. This
will afford a basis on which to estimate the value of the best mines in the dis-
trict.
The <4La Victoire" mine, in Hunter's valley, is a most valuable propc^'y,
being second in importance to scarcely any copper mine in the State. It- is
located in a section of this county which has not been affected by those dis-
turbing causes which have broken up the lodes in all the other sections. It
also possesses the very great advantage of having an immense body of very
152 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
good ore above the level of the surrounding country, wliich enables the com-
pany to extract it without the use of expensive hoisting and pumping machinery.
The lode runs through a hill several hundred feet in length and nearly three
hundred feet high, cropping out on the very summit of it, and traceable, un-
broken, through its entire length, at an average width of nearly five feet. The
proprietors, who are mostly Frenchmen, have sunk shufts on the lode at both
ends of the base of this hill to the depth of nearly two hundred feet, without
discovering any material difference in its appearance, the only important change
being that, while the lode dips to the east at an angle of 45° at twenty-five feet
below the surface, at the base of the hill, at one hundred feet lower, it dips at an
angle of 68° ; but, as it increases nearly a foot in thickness at the point where
the dip changes, it is evident that the change has not been the effect of disloca-
tion. A great deal of very rich ore has been taken out ef this mine, much of
it containing sufficient gold to pay for working it for that metal only.
It may be, proper in this connection to state that the copper bars made in this
county by the furnaces described above contain a very large per cent, of gold.
Some of it, assayed by Kellogg & Hueston, of San Francisco, was found to
contain as high as $450 to the ton. Much of this copper contains $50 in gold
to the ton; none of it less than $20.
There is a small smelting furnace on this mine, but it is not in use. For the
past year but little work of any kind has been done on the mine in consequence
of disagreements among the owners, one portion of whom are playing the game
of " freeze out " upon the others.
There are several other good copper mines in this district, but those who own
them do not appear to have either the means or disposition to develop them, and
capitalists from abroad are afraid to invest very extensively in such mines in
this county till they have been better examined.
San Luis Obispo county mines. — The Osos mines in San Luis Obispo county
were discovered in the spring of 1864. They are situate about eight miles
west of the Old Mission of San Luis Obispo, on the Osos ranch, near the south
end of a wide belt of cupriferous ores that is traceable for more than twenty
miles to the north, among the range of mountains which lay between the town
of San Luis Obispo and the Old Mission of Santa Marguerita. This belt of ore,
on which there are a great number of mines, presents very much the same pe
culiarities as are mentioned in the description of the Hamilton district, in Mari-
posa county. The disturbance of the lode by subterranean causes has broken
it up to such an extent as to render it unprofitable to mine. The Osos district,
as is the case with Hunter's valley, in Mariposa, appears to have been less
affected by these disturbing causes. A shaft one hundred and ten feet deep has
been sunk on the Osos lode, wliich was from four feet to twelve feet wide. One
hundred tons of ore, averaging eighteen per cent., have been shipped from this
mine direct to Boston and Swansea, and there are several hundred tons more
ready for shipment. Ex-congressman Phelps is extensively interested in these
mines.
Los Angeles county mines. — The Solidad district, in Los Angeles county, is
located about thirty miles due north from Los Angeles. The knowledge of the
existence of copper in this locality was published by M. Duflot de Mofras
nearly twenty years ago, as it was somewhere in the neighborhood that
placer mining for gold was carried on as far back as 1840. Mr. Bidwell, mem-
ber of Congress for California, saw these early gold miners at work, and prob-
ably saw the croppings of the copper lode, which are quite extensive and con-
spicuous for a long distance. In 1854 a Frenchman named Maris discovered
the mines in what is now known as the Solidad district, but the discovery at-
tracted no attention till the excitement about copper, which followed tbe dis-
covery of the mines at Salt Springs valley, in 1861 and 1862, when great ac-
tivity in prospecting raged in this locality, and a great amount of work was
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 153
done during the following two years. At present, and for more than a year
past, none of the claims have been worked. Among the few important mines
'in this district are the La Solidad, Copper Hill, and Occidental. On the first
named, at the depth of one hundred feet, the lode was found to be about seven
feet wide. This is the deepest shaft in the district.
The geological formations and ores in this district are precisely the same as
those already described in San Luis Obispo and Mariposa counties, and the
same disturbing causes have broken up the lodes, which range in the same direc-
tion within a few degrees.
Plumas county mines. — The copper mines in Genessee valley, Plumas
county, are the highest on this coast, the valley in which they are located being
a small basin of a few miles in circumference, embosomed high up among some
of the loftiest peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, which are clustered together in the
northeast of this county. This portion of Upper Plumas contains some of the
most magnificent scenery to be found on the coast. Immense granite ridges are
seen rising bare and bleak two and sometimes three thousand feet above the
densely wooded ridges at their base, while below, canons thousands of feet deep
form courses for the waters, which look like silver threads as they go meander-
ing through the black gorges that lead them to unite with the waters of the
Feather river, thtmsands of feet still further below. Nature appears to have
performed some of her mightiest labors in this locality. Subterranean fires
have piled up the molten rocks thousands of feet high, for the highest peaks are
composed of lava, while the floods of water have worn the frightful canons
which furnish the bed for the present insignificant streams. Amid the very
centre of so much ruggedness, caused by nature's greatest forces, Genessee val-
ley forms a beautiful contrast, with its grassy fields and the curling smoke of its
smelting furnaces and other evidences of the power of man. The belt of copper
ores already referred to passes through this valley in a course ranging north twenty-
five degrees west. As may well be imagined, in such a country, the lode has been
extensively dislocated ; but by examining the unshifted bodies of the containing
slates, which may be traced for many miles, as well as the form and composition
of the lodes, it is proved that this is part of that great belt. The chief copper
mines, the Cosmopolitan, are located about five miles from the village of Tay-
lorville, and three-fourths of a mile from a ranch which was originally located
in the valley by a Mr. Gifford. They were discovered in the beginning of 1862.
The inaccessibility of the place and the broken character of the country pre-
clude the possibility of this ever becoming a very important copper mining' lo-
cality. Nevertheless, parties interested in these mines have erected smelting
works which have cost upwards of $30,000, and made several tons of good
regulus by a process invented by a farmer named J. C. Chapman, who never
had any knowledge or experience in copper smelting till the discovery of these
mines. As long as the parties interested in this enterprise could obtain plenty
of oxides, carbonates, and silicates of the metal, which were quite abundant and
very rich at the commencement of their operations, they obtained regulus suffi-
cient to pay expenses ; but as soon as they reached the sulphurets in the lode
the works had to stop, as they were not adapted to operate on this class of ores.
At the present time they are not in operation. These works were put up by
Bolinger, Blood & Co.
At a depth of sixty feet the lode on the Cosmopolitan mine was found to be
about fourteen feet wide, containing about ten per cent, of metal. It lies be-
tween the granite and limestone on this claim. The metamorphic slates and
serpentine, which accompany the copper all through this i^tate, are here a few
hundred feet to thfe south.
Del Norte county mines. — The Alta district, in Del Norte county, is situated
on what is known as the " low divide," an extensive plateau on the summit of a
lofty range of mountains which divide the valley of the Illinois river from the
154 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Pacific ocean. These mountains run through, the northern portion of California
and the south of Oregon, for more than one hundred miles, and cross the western
branch of the Sierra Nevadas at nearly right angles.
Altaville, the centre of this district, is about fifteen miles northeast from
Crescent City, Del Norte county. There are a great number of mines in the
district ; many of them have been extensively worked, and probably one thou-
sand tons of good ore has been shipped from them since their discovery, in 1'860.
Among those which have shipped ore are the Alta, Union, Pacific, Lady Belle,
Chrysopolis, Comstock, Diamond, Express, Pearl, Copper Hill, Excelsior, and
a number of others. The Alta was the first mine worked in the district, and is
the only one worked at present.
The mines in this district are not connected with the great copper belt so fre-
quently alluded to in this report. This runs several miles to the east, where
the Siskiyou mountains connect the counties of Yreka, in California, with Jose-
phine, in Oregon. The ores in the Alta district are quite distinct in deposition,
appearance, and character from those found in the mines on the great belt.
The deposits are separate and distinct ; of probably the same age and origin, as
they are similar in other respects t^ those found around the base of Mount
Diablo, and in the coast range further south. The first forty-two tons of ore
shipped by the Alta company averaged forty-five per cent., and sold in San Fran-
cisco for $7,000 cash, the cost of their extraction and delivery not exceeding
$2,000. They were red oxides, chiefly, of which there was a large body nearly
three feet wide and fifty feet long, near the surface, but this was soon exhausted,
as there is no well defined lode on the ground. In fact it is doubtful whether
there is a consecutive body of ore of fifty feet in length in the whole district.
The croppings of what are supposed to be lodes — nearly a dozen of them — are
seen ranging nearly north and south for many miles, but the body of ore beneath
these croppings is so irregular in position, owing to the distortion of the serpen-
tine in which they are contained, that it is almost impossible to tell in what
direction the average of them do lie.
The Alta Company have sunk a shaft on their mine to the depth of nearly
four hundred feet without finding a regularly defined lode. They meet with
bunches of ore, chiefly yellow sulphurets of a very low grade, varying in size
from a mere film to ten feet thick, but not sufficiently connected to make the
mine profitable to work under the existing state of the copper market. This
mine is exceedingly well situated for obtaining its ore cheap, if a large body of
it should be found, as drifts could be run into the hill at a great depth at com-
paratively little cost.
The Rockland district is located about fifteen miles east of the Alta district,
above described, and about thirty miles from Crescent City, Del Norte county,
California. The mines in this district are located on the great copper belt,
which may easily be traced in the vicinity for nearly -twenty miles, in the direc-
tion of N. 28° W., the general trend of this belt, by which it may be followed
from where first noticed, north of Los Angeles, to about twenty-five miles west
of this district, which is a few miles within the limits of the State of Oregon.
There are several other districts within this State in which important copper
mines have been located on this belt ; but time will not admit of any reference
being made to them. The Queen of Bronze, near Waldo, Josephine county,
the most valuable copper mine in Oregon, is located on this belt, about sixteen
miles west from this point. Extensive smelting works have been erected on
this latter mine, and thousands of tons of ore have been exported from these
mines, which, as has been already stated, have been discovered since 1860.
There are some peculiarly interesting features connected with the copper
mines of this district, which have a tendency to throw considerable light upon
the subject of the action of volcanic forces on metallic ores, because in this
vicinity an enormous volcanic dyke, nearly one hundred feet wide, approaches
WEST OF THE ROCEY MOUNTAINS. 155
the copper belt at an obtuse angle, witliin a hundred feet, and it is within this
point of proximity that the large masses of metallic copper mentioned above
were discovered. Another point in the same connection may be here mentioned.
The age of the rocks containing the copper, throughout the whole extent of the
great belt, has been tolerably well ascertained to be between the triassic and
tertiary eras, and as this volcanic force, which has caused the conversion of the
ores into metals from one end of it to the other, must ha^e been exerted sub-
sequently, the opportunity here afforded to examine the largest and most clearly
denned dyke on the coast is very important.
Mount Diablo district. — The principal copper mines in the Mount Diablo
district are .located about the northern base, and up the side of a spur of Mount
Diablo, called Mount Zion, and along the north side of Mitchell's canon, near
the town of Clayton, Contra Costa county. The first discovery of these mines
was made in 1860, and considerable work was done on several of them for about
two years, in efforts to discover the lode, but without success, as there is no
lode in the mountain. The copper found here is not connected with the great
cupriferous belt, but exists in detached bunches and masses, as is the case in
tlie Alta district, in Del Norte county, described above. The croppings of the
patches of ore here run north and south, as they do at Del Norte. Some
metallic' copper has been found on' the north side of Mitchell's canon, but in
every case, after reaching a few feet below the surface, the ore, when found in
bodies sufficiently large to take out, has been found of a very low grade ; ten
tons of selected ore shipped by the Keokuk company did not yield more
than eight per cent. It is doubtful whether the mines in this district will
ever pay to work.
Pcavine district. — The Peavine district was discovered in 1864. It is located
a few miles east of the Henness pass, in Washoe county, Nevada, one portion
of it being within three miles of the line of the Central Pacific railroad. The
district embraces an era of ten miles square, in which there are a great number
of claims of considerable importance. The ores in all these mines are entirely
distinct from those found in California, as well as the containing rocks. They
are usually much contaminated with quartz, but they contain a large per cent,
of gold and silver. The completion of the Central Pacific railroad to within a
few miles of'nie district has given considerable impetus to prospecting, and a
great number of companies are preparing to take out ore, the railroad com-
pany having informed those interested that it would carry ores to Sacramento,
from any point in the Henness pass, for $9 per ton. The ores of most of these
mines being silicates, carbonates, and oxides, are very easily concentrated, a
fact which the owners of the Bay State mine appear to be aware of, as they are
putting up a small furnace, on Haskell's plan, to operate on all the ores they
can purchase,, as well as what they can obtain from their own mine. No ores
of any consequence have been shipped from this district, in consequence of the
distance to a market ; but in 1864 a, Doctor Landszwertmade a number of large
bars of fine copper from them, which were exhibited at the State fair, at Carson
City, in that year. These bars contained $150 per ton in gold, and about $250
per ton in silver, according to the doctor's assay.
Lower California mines — Of the copper mines in Lower California but lit-
tle of an authentic character is known. The Sance mine, as described by Mr.
W. Thompson, an old Cornish miner, who was superintendent of it for three or
four years, is located near Loretto, a place in the province of Comondu, about
thirty miles from the coast, where there is a good harbor. The lode is de-
scribed as being from eight to ten feet wide, enclosed between walls of slate and
granite. It has been extensively explored by shafts and levels, and about five
hundred tons of ore have been shipped to Europe, where it sold for about five
hundred dollars per ton. This ore, specimens of which have been brought to
San Francisco, is of a very peculiar character, being a sort of talcose gangue,
156 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
containing flattened scales of metal of various sizes, from several feet in length
and breadth, to small specks like fine gold dust. Many of the larger masses of
this copper are covered with an incrustation of metallic silver, the only simi-
lar combination of these two metals found on this coast, though the combination
of metallic copper and silver is quite common at the Lake Superior copper mines.
This mine has not been worked for nearly two years.
Arizona mines.—jjpke mines in Arizona, from which ores have been sent to
San Francisco, are located on both banks of Williams's Fork of the Colorado
river, where, there is but little doubt, will very soon be one of the most im-
portant copper mining districts on this coast. The existence of the deposits of
ore now in course of development at this point was well known for several
years before the discovery of the mines in California. A quantity of the ore
from some of the mines about Mineral Hill was sent to Boston, as early as 1858,
and examined by Doctor Jackson, the distinguished mineralogist of that city,
who pronounced them of extraordinary richness. But a variety of causes,
among which the want of means for transporting the ore was the chief, pre-
vented any advantage being gained by the discovery till 1862 when the owners
of the Planet mine shipped about one hundred tons of their ore to San Fran-
cisco, where it sold for a price that left a profit of upwards of $1 00 per ton over
and above all expenses for its extraction and transportation, the land carriage
from the mine to the river, about twenty miles, having been done by pack-mules.
A good road has been cut to connect the mines with the river since that time.
There are nearly fifty good mines in this district on both banks of the river.
The Planet is the most important on the south, and the Mineral Hill on the
north. The greatest activity has prevailed among these mines during the past
year, and about 1,500 tons of ore have been shipped from them all collectively ;
the principal shippers being the Planet, Great Central, Mineral Hill, Philadel-
phia, Mountaineer, Mammoth, Copper Hill, and Occidental. Ten times the quan-
tity shipped might have been sent had there been means for taking it away. Gen-
tlemen just returned from fehese mines state that there are upwards of 1,000
tons of ore that will average 40 per cent., now lying on the river bank ready
for shipment. The steamers and two or three schooners employed in the trade
are wholly inadequate for the purpose.
Some of the mines in this district have been extensively exp%redjby means
of shafts, tunnels and drifts, and in nearly every case the body of ore has in-
creased in importance in proportion to the extent to which it has been devel-
oped. The Mineral Hill company have run "a tunnel on their mine for the
length of 350 feet, out of which, while cutting, they took nearly 1,000 tons of
ore of an average of 30 per cent., the whole work from the surface being in
a body of ore. The ore in none of the mines in the district is found in a regu-
lar lode, as in the mines in California, but the whole country appears to be
formed of the ores of iron and copper, the hills for miles around being col-
ored red by the iron, or green and blue in patches where waters containing car-
bonate of lime in solution have percolated through the copper.
In running the tunnels and drifts through this extraordinary material, the
miners run considerable risk of injury by being crushed by heavy masses of
ore, which, having been held in place by large quantities of powdery oxide of
iron, drop out when they are undermined in cutting the drifts. When such
blocks fall out, in some cases hundreds of tons of this dry powder, which is
nothing more nor less than iron rust, will come rushing down and block all fur-
ther work till the opening can be timbered up.
The great body of ores found in the district being black and red oxides, sil-
icates and carbonates, all of a character that admit of conversion into regulus
by the application of heat alone, and by a single process, several of the compa-
nies have erected extensive smelting works. Martin & Greenman, who are
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 157
largely interested in the Mineral Hill mines, are putting up works that will cost
nearly $100,000 when completed.
Some of the ore taken from this extraordinary hill are so exceedingly rich in
gold, that a 10-stamp battery is being erected to crush the ore and work it for
the gold, by the ordinary processes adopted for saving gold from quartz ; the tail-
ings will be afterwards smelted for the copper they contain, nearly 40 per cent.
. The gangue rock of nearly all these Arizona ores is composed of spathic
iron, heavy spar and quartz ; the ores found in California "being free from gangue
rock, though they are generally mixed with the containing slate or serpentine.
Knowles & Lightner, another firm, extensively engaged in these Arizona
mines, are also putting up smelting works on their ground. The Great Central
company have a set of such works in active operation, and turning out large
quantities of good regulus of about 80 per cent.
Most of the labor done about these mines is performed by natives, Mexicans
and Chinamen. Not more than one-fourth ef the workmen are Americans or
Europeans.
Aubery City is located on the north side of .the fork, and would soon become
quite an important place of business if sufficient tonnage could be obtained to
carry away the ore that could be furnished by the mines in its neighborhood.
3.— THE GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS IN WHICH COPPER IS FOUND.
Peculiarities of formations. — There are peculiarities about the geological for-
mations in which the copper ores are found on this coast, which derive an inter-
est from the great extent of country over which they can be traced. "For in
stance : Not a single important body of such ore has been found on this coast,
either among the coast range, the foot-hills, or among the Sierra Nevadas, ex-
cept in the immediate vicinity, if not actually in serpentine or other magnesian
rocks or matamorphised slates. This is the case in all the districts above de-
scribed, the only exception being at Hope valley, Amador county. For the
hundreds of miles over which the great belt of copper ores can be traced, it is
never found except in one or the other of these rocks, and invariably without
any gangue rock, except this containing slate or serpentine. This great belt of
copper ore is never formed except in the immediate vicinity of the auriferous
slates and quartz. As has already been mentioned, all the copper found on this
coast contains a large per cent, of gold, and many of the most important aurif-
erous quartz lodes contain a considerable per cent, of copper ore. In some sec-
tions of the State the gold itself is so much alloyed with copper that it is not
more than half as valuable as that obtained from other sections. The numerous
fossils that have been discovered in both the auriferous slates and in the vicinity
of the great copper belt, prove that both formations belong to the same geologi-
cal era. It may therefore be reasonable to suppose that the same causes which
produced the one, at the same time produced the other. The nature of these
causes has not been sufficiently studied to be of any practical use ; though the
subject involves many important practical and scientific points, such as the
compilation of facts and the observations of practical men in the department
you have just inaugurated may throw .much light upon.
The costs of working tlie copper mines. — The cost of working the copper
mines on this coast is, under the present system, a great impediment to the
development of this source of national wealth. Expenses of. copper mining are
much influenced by three conditions : the convenience of the mine to the market
for its product, the kind of labor employed, and the position of the mine in
reference to facilities for working it.
The mines at Copperopolis, which are most favorably located with reference
to the convenience for sending their ores to market, pay, on an average, about
$8 per ton to carry their ore from the mine to the ship which carries it to the
158 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
furnaces, about $15 per ton as freight charges by these ships, and about $4 per
ton for bags in which to carry it; or $27 per ton for carrying the ore to the
nearest market, a sum riearly equal to the average value of all the copper ores
obtained from the mines in England and the continent of Europe. Such mines
as are located further inland, or in localities removed from main travelled thorough-
fares, have to meet additional costs for transportation.
This expensive transportation compels a closer examination of the ore than
would otherwise be necessary, and this work has all to be done by hand, in
order to select only such of it as may be sufficiently rich to warrant the expense,
requiring considerable skill on the part of the laborers employed. This opera-
tion costs, at a very low estimate, $1 per ton for such ore as may be selected,
and causes a waste, in some classes of ore, amounting to ten per cent, by mixing
the crumbled rich ore among the slate and refuse, which is thrown on the dump
pile, for want of already means for its separation.
The costs for bags alone, unavoidable under the present system, has been the
cause of the stoppage of the work on several good mines. These bags are aii
enormous tax on the copper resources of this coast. There are no means, under
this system, of avoiding this expense, as shipowners will not carry the ore to
New York or Boston unless it is in bags. Occasionally, a cargo of one grade
ore has been shipped to Swansea in bulk ; but as it is very rarely that an entire
cargo belongs to one party, or is of one grade, it is very rarely that this method
of shipment is adopted. These bags are scarcely ever returned, and conse-
quently are nearly a total loss. Meader & Co., who are largely connected with
the shipping busiuess, secure the return of a small portion of their bags, but as
they have undergone the wear and tear of a six months' voyage round the Horn
in a damp hold of a ship, and been subjected to the rough handling in scores of
movings, they are of comparatively small value when returned.
The class of laborers employed, and the wages paid for their services, are
another material condition greatly influencing the costs of copper mining on this
coast. The average wages of copper miners, American or European, in Cali-
fornia, except at Copperopolis, is about $3 per day. The Keystone and Union,
the two largest companies at that place, pay $2 60 per day to all their laborers,
whether they work above or below ground. Other companies in the valley pay
$3 per day for drifters, and $2 50 per day for all other laborers. Many of the com-
panies in other portions of the State employ Chinamen almost exclusively for
all work done above ground, who work for $1 per diem. As these Chinamen,
under proper supervision, do as much work, and as well as any other class of
laborers, it follows that those companies that employ them effect an important
saving of expense. The owners of the Copperopolis mines have not introduced
this class of labor in that locality lest it might create disturbances among the
miners, of whom there are about eight hundred in the valley. These men, as is
usual with their class, have an intense hatred to the Chinese, a feeling which is
not by any means allayed by the knowledge that their presence and employment
would insure a reduction in the rate of wages. It is quite probable the intro-
duction of Chinamen to work on these mines would create considerable disturb-
ance. But it is scarcely to be expected that proprietors of mines costing mil-
lions of dollars, the returns on which depend on the economy with which they
are worked, will be deterred from availing themselves of the services of the
cheapest labor in the market, through fear of the acts of any class of citizens.
It being so much to the interest of the State that every facility should be
afforded to those engaged in developing its mineral resources, any interference
on the part of individuals or combinations to prevent the introduction of cheap
labor for that purpose would be severely punished.
The mines in Oregon and in the northern portion of California pay from $2
to 83 per day for laborers.
At the mines in Arizona most of the work is done by Mexicans, who are
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 159
satisfied with about $30 per month and a certain quantity of provisions There
are a good many Chinese employed at these mines, who are paid $30 per month
and board themselves. The Americans and Europeans employed are paid from
$50 to 60 per month in addition to their board.
The position of the mine, the facilities it possesses for working, is another im-
portant condition connected with the costs. Mines located in the lower level of
broad valleys, such as those at Copperopolis, where they have to hoist every-
thing taken out of the mine and to lower everything put into it by machinery,
and to pump the seepage water of an extensive district from a sump-'hole five hun-
dred feet in depth, labor under the greatest possible disadvantage. The costs of
engines, their wear and tear, and the expense of their superintendence and re-
pair, imposes a cost of more than $5 per ton on all the ores extracted from these
mines. It is a fair estimate to calculate that every ton of ore taken from the
Union and Keystone mines costs $16 per ton as it reaches J£p surface. This
calculation includes the division of all the expenses attending the conduct of
the business of the mine by the quantity of ore actually shipped. These figures,
explaining the costs of working the copper mines when compared with those
showing the value of their products, show why so many good mines have stopped
work during the past year.
The present price of fifteen per cent, ore at Swansea and New York is less
than $50 per ton. To obtain this it costs the mines at Copperopolis —
For extraction from the mine , $16
Freight to San Francisco .' 8
Freight to Swansea or New York 15
Bags 4
Sorting 1
Total.. 44
This does not include any allowance for loss by broken bags or carelessness
in handling after shipment, or expenses for commissions, &c. It must also be
remembered that not one-half of the ore extracted from these mines will average
fifteen per cent. It is known that Meader, Lalor & Co. have shipped thousands
of tons of ore which did not exceed twelve per cant. These Copperopolis mines,
exporting nearly three-fourths of the ore, furnisn unmistakable data on which to
base a calculation of the very slight margin of profits that arise from copper
mining on this coast as at present conducted.
There are some mines, such as La Victoire, in Mariposa county, and those in
some of the northern counties and in Oregon, in which the costs of extraction
of the ore does not exceed $4 per ton, as they are worked by tunnels and re-
quire no hoisting or pumping. But the cost of transportation is much greater
from all these mines than it is from Copperopolis, and the quantity of fifteen-per-
cent, ore costs more for selecting. The quantity of carbonates, silicates, and
oxides obtainable in any locality in California and Oregon is so unimportant
as not to come within range of calculations concerning the costs of regular
mining.
It cannot be possible that this present condition of affairs connected with the
copper resources of the Pacific vcoast is without remedy, as the annexed table
will show. The mines on this coast within five years of their discovery, in spite
of every disadvantage of inexperience in the work of. their development and
want of knowledge of the nature of their ores, have exported nearly eighty thou-
sand tons of ore, valued at the very lowest estimate at upwards of $5,000,000 A
national source of wealth so productive in its infancy will not be left to die of
inanition for want of the fostering care of the general government. As will be
explained anon, to smelt the ores on this coast, with the present price of fuel
160 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
and the metal when made, would be but a partial and temporary remedy, the
£nal success of which is involved in doubt. The recommendation of the chair-
man of the national revenue commission on this very point explains the only
effectual plan that will secure the extended development of the copper resources
of this • coast. The following is a copy of the commissioner's recommendation
referred to : " The commission therefore recommend that all excise duties on
domestic copper be repealed ; and that the duties on imported copper ores and
copper be advanced to a moderate extent, or sufficient to relieve the copper
m.ning interests of the United States from the depressing effects of the internal
taxes upon their supplies, and to give to it as good a -standing in our own mar-
kets, with reference to foreign competition, as they had before the present taxes
were imposed."
4.-REDUCTION OF ORES.
Processes in use for smelting and concentrating the ores. — Numerous plans have
been proposed and tested for the purpose of smelting and concentrating the cop-
per ores found on this coast, none of which, for causes to be stated, have been
entirely successful, though several of them have been partially so. A detailed
description of all these various processes, and of the furnaces and apparatus
used, while it might be both interesting and instructive, would be out of place
in this report. Most of these plans which have been tested, on the large scale,
have possessed some novel principle, which might be of advantage if employed
in combination with old established processes, by those who possess the neces-
sary skill, experience, and judgment to admit innovations upon systems under
which they may have been educated. This seeming digression is intended to
explain the principal cause of the failure of some of the most costly works that
have been erected for the purposes to which this portion of the report refers. In
not a few cases, those having charge of these works appeared to labor under
the impression that it was so absolutely necessary to follow the old patterns in-
troduced from their native land, that some German, French, and Cornish opera-
tives seemed to attribute their failure to the fact that the laborers employed,
and the materials used, did not understand the German, French, or Cornish
language.
Early in 1862, works of an experimental character were erected at Antioch,
on the banks of the San Joaquin river, near the base of Mount Diablo, for the
purpose of testing the adaptability of the coal obtained in that vicinity, for
smelling purposes; many persons, supposed to be authorities on the subject,
expressing the opinion that such coal was unsuited for the purpose.
These works were erected under the direction of Mr. Thomas Price, an ex-
perienced Welsh copper miner, who has for several years been acting as agent for
the Swansea smelters* for the purchase of copper ores on this coast — a gentle-
man of considerable scientific attainments and a first-class practical chemist and
metallurgist. It may be proper to state further, that this gentleman, whose
opinions on this subject of fuel should have much weight, is also professor of
chemistry at the most famous college on this coast, and superintendent at the
assaying and refining works of Kellogg, Hueston & Co., the most extensive
private establishment in that business in the United States.
These works put up by this gentleman at Antioch consisted of a reverberatory
furnace and roasting kiln, built on the plan of those in use at Swansea, but on
somewhat smaller scale, and with a slight change in the form of the grate, to
adapt it to the fuel. The furnace has a base of thirteen feet six inches long, by
nine feet four inches wide, with a chimney-stack, for the purpose of creating
sufficient draft and carrying off the fumes, sixty rfive feet high. All these works
were built of the best available materials.
As stated above, this furnace was built as an experiment, chiefly to test the
WEST OF THE KOCKY MOUNTAINS. 161
adaptability of the Mount Diablo coal for smelting purposes — to ascertain the
quality and quantity of heat it generates.
It would occupy too much space to enter into any extended details of the
nature of this coal ; but it may be necessary, to make the subject plain to those
who have never paid any attention to the study of such matters, to state that
in a reverberatory furnace the fire in its passage up the chimney strikes the
roof, and is forced down upon the ore by means of a " bridge," built between
it and the burning fuel. In all flames, no matter how generated, there is one
portion more intensely hot than the others. This is called the " reducing flame"
because of its action in reducing ores, under certain conditions, into metals. All
coals, do not produce a flamo of the same nature or length, and the operation of
the reverberatory furnace depends, in a great measure, upon its being so con-
structed that the " bridge " is placed so that the reducing portion of the flame
is caused to strike the ore at the proper point.
After this explanation it will not require any technical or scientific knowl-
edge of the principles of combustion to understand that a furnace to use fuel,
which burns with a short flame and little smoke, requires great modifications in
its construction when it is to be used to burn fuel which produces a long flame
and much smoke. The experiments at Antioch settled this point clearly, if not
satisfactorily, to those interested, and proves, for general information, that fur-
naces built on the plan of those used at Swansea, in which the short-flamed
Welsh coal is used, are not adapted for the use of the long-flamed coals of the
Pacific coast. But the question whether this long-flamed coal could not be
used for smelting purposes, in a suitably constructed furnace, remains still un-
settled Mr. Price states this Mount Diablo coal could be economically used
for that purpose in a properly constructed furnace, but thinks no attempt should
be made to proceed any further than in the conversion of the ores into regulus.
The price of all descriptions of coal being so much higher on this coast than a
better article can be obtained in other countries, the refining of the metal can be
more profitably done in those countries.
It is much to be regretted that the company, which expended nearly $50,000
in making these experiments at Antioch, did not carry them out to a full con-
clusion, by permitting Mr. Price to make such changes in the form of the fur-
nace as his skill and experience inay have suggested. But in California, where
money commands from 18 to 24 per cent, interest, such experiments are not
considered profitable.
The first bar of metal from the Antioch smelting works was received at San
Francisco on the 14th of September, 1863, and created almost as much interest
as the first bar of bullion from Washoe. During the time these works were in
operation they produced about 200 tons of matt, or regulus, of an average of
about 50 per cent., the balance being iron, sulphur, silica, &c. This was obtained
from about 2,000 tons of ores from various parts of the State, but chiefly from Cop-
peropolis, of an average of about 10 per cent., which the company advertised to
purchase at the following prices :
7J per cent $15 per ton of 2,376 pounds.
9 per cent 17 per ton of 2,376 pounds.
10 ' per cent :. 19 per ton of 2,376 pounds.
11 per cent 21 per ton of 2,376 pounds.
12 per cent 25 per ton of 2,376 pounds.
None were accepted below 7j per cent.
The coal used in the operations cost about $7 per ton delivered on the grounds
of the company. One ton of thia coal, it was estimated, would reduce two tons
of ore, after the furnace had become thoroughly heated ; but in consequence
of the difficulty in obtaining good materials for lining it the furnace was not
kept steadily heated. The best imported fire-bricks, in consequence of the ac-
H. Ex. Doc. 29 11
162 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
tion of the sulphur in the ore, would not endure more than about fifteen days.
Work had consequently to be stopped within that period, and everything cooled
off, in order to re-line the furnace. This entailed a great loss in the cost of fuel
and labor, as well as of metal, and as the works were only calculated to opeiv
ate on about eight tons of ore in twenty-four hours, these stoppages absorbed
all the profits.
A Mr. Henry Davis, another practical Welsh copper smelter, who had been in
charge of an extensive smelting establishment in Chili previous* to his arrival on
this coast, has made a number of experiments at the works at Antioch since
they were closed by the original owners. This gentleman also expresses the
opinion that the Mount Diablo coal, used in a properly constructed furnace,
oculd be profitably employed in the reduction to regulus of such ores as will not
pay to ship in bulk.
The smelting works erected at the Union mine, at Copperopolis, are on a more
extended scale than those at Antioch. They cost nearly $75,000, and consist of
two cupola blast furnaces, and other buildings, which were erected under the
superintendence of M. Desermeaux, a French engineer, on the plans introduced
on this coast by M. D'Heirry, a very skilful French metallurgist, who has
erected similar works on the Queen of Bronze mine, in Oregon. The whole estab- •
lishment consists of four large kilns for roasting the ores to deprive them of a portion
of their sulphur, two large blast furnaces on the most approved German plan, with
a powerful blast set in motion by a 20-horse power steam engine. The kilns are
each capable of roasting 500 tons of oie at a batch, which required from 7 to 12
weeks to burn, according to the weather and the care taken in laying them.
After burning in these kilns the ore was placed in the blast furnaces, which are
capable of operating on eight tons of such materials, each, in twenty-four hours.
The only flux used in any of the operations was a portion of the slag from pre-
vious meltings, or silica in the form of quartz. The ore came from the furnaces,
after the first operation in them, in the form of two qualities of regulus, the one
containing about 80 per cent, of copper, the other about 40 per cent. This
regulus was afterwards broken up and re-melted three or four times, in order to
deprive it of all the sulphur, and to oxidize the iron as much as possible. No
attempts were made to refine this matt into tough copper. The costs for fuel in
these operations were exceedingly heavy, as charcoal, costing from 37 to 50
cents per bushel, had to be used This, together with the necessity for hand-
ling the materials so many times by expensive and unskilful laborers, rendered
the operations so unprofitable that the works were discontinued after a few
months' trial — not before some 5,000 tons of ores, averaging about 8 per cent.,
had been converted into regulus, which sold from $200 to $250 per ton, show-
ing that these waste ores may be rendered valuable if they can be operated
upon by some cheap process.
The smelting works at the Cosmopolitan mine, at Genesee valley, Plumas
county, cost about $30,000. These are constructed on the plan described by
Piggott, in his work on copper, somewhat modified by Mr. J. C. Chapman, one
of the proprietors of the mine, under whose directions the works were built.
The blast here is generated by two double-action piston bellows, four feet in
diameter, set in motion by a large water-wheel. No ores have been operated
on at this place except oxides, carbonates and silicates, and as long as plenty of
such ores were attainable, this company was able to obtain respectable
quantities of good matt and inferior copper ; but when the supply ceased, they
had to close up their establishment, as it was not adapted to operate on sul-
phurets.
At these works the molten materials were not drawn off into rough bars and
reinelted, as at Copperopolis, but they were run into a sort of cauldron built in
front of the furnace, in which they were kept sufficiently liquid to allow the
copper to fall to the bottom by its superior specific gravity ; and as the slag,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 163
being the lightest, floated on the surface and cooled 'quickest, it was scraped
off and thrown away; the copper, on cooling, readily separating from the reg-
ulus which was allowed to cool above it. The latter was remelted and the
former was ready for market. The fuel used at these works was pine wood
charcoal, costing about thirty-seven cents per bushel.
Other smelting works, of a novel and very economical and useful character, have
been erected on the La Victoire mine, at Hunter's valley, Mariposa county ; at
the Buchanan mine, in Merced county; at the Campo Seco mine, in Calaveras
county, and at several other mines in various portions of the coast, on a plan
introduced by Mr. Nathaniel Haskell, a California mechanic, and called by him
the " water-lined cupola furnace." These furnaces are capable of reducing
twenty tons of oxides, carbonates, or silicates to good regulus in twenty -four
hours.
The peculiar feature of this useful invention is a " water lining/' which may
be described by stating that the cupola consists of two parts, one within the
other, like the divisions of an onion. These parts are formed of stout iron boiler
plates, strongly riveted at the joints. Between the two there is a space of
about six inches ; this is. kept constantly filled with cool1 water, by means of a
tank above. This cool water saves an immense quantity of heat that would
otherwise be lost by radiation, and, as a matter of course, affects a correspond-
ing saving in fuel. No fire bricks are used in these furnaces, which, besides
being a great saving in the consumption of this costly article, affects an addi-
tional saving by requiring no time, labor, or heat to be lost in replacing these
bricks every few days, as they become destroyed by the heat. A very power-
ful and even blast is kept up in these furnaces by a large cylinder bellows, set
in motion by a small steam-engine. One of these furnaces, used at the Bu-
chanan mine, has produced upwards of 100 tons of good marketable copper during
the past year, which has sold at San Francisco for from $300 to $320 per ton of
2,000 pounds. That at the La Victoire mine, has only recently been put into
operation, but is producing 80 per cent, of regulus at the rate of 24 tons per week.
It may be quite proper to state that these furnaces are not adapted to operate
on ores containing a very large proportion of sulphur, unless they have been
thoroughly calcined, and are combined wilh a large proportion of other ores or
suitable flux. The sulphur has a very damaging effect on the iron of the cupola
when both are heated to the necessary temperature to melt the ore.
These furnaces will be of great benefit to the owners of mines containing large
bodies of oxides, silicates, and carbonates, which* are of too poor a quality to
ship to market in bulk. They are very cheap and portable, the cupola, blast,
engine, and boiler only costing about $3,000, and all combined only weighing
about five tons.
In 1862 a lady, a Mrs. Hall, invented a novel description of furnace for
smelting copper ores, by means of jets of superheated steam being passed into
the cupola during the time the fuel and ore were in an incandescent state. To
the cupola of this furnace was attached an apparatus for condensing the fumes,
previous to their passage into the chimney. This invention was very much
lauded at the time by Colonel Charles Harazthy, in a letter published over his
own name in the papers at San Francisco.
The concentrating works erected by the proprietors of the Keystone mine at
Copperopolis are on the principle adopted by some of the large copper mining
establishments in Cornwall, England. The ores in these works are operated
upon by water. The object sought to be obtained is the separation of the
gangue rock by means of the difference in the specific gravity and hardness in
it and the ores. There are conditions in which this process is quite simple,
cheap, and effective. It is so where the ore is contained in a silicious gangue,
or in hard spar, in a locality where there is an abundant supply of free water,
constantly running, and where there are plenty of cheap laborers to be had
164 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
who understand the details of the operations. But a§ none of these conditions
exist at Oopparopolis, the experiment, which cost about $50,000, if not an
absolute loss, has been only so far successful as only to be of use, at a very
heavy expense, during a few months in the winter, when the rains fill the com-
pany's reservoirs. And then, in consequence of the ore being free from gangue
rock, and the containing slate, from which it is sought to separate it, being of
nearly the same specific gravity and hardness, it is not possible to save more
than three-fourths of it, at a cost of more than it is worth.
These works have been erected in the best manner and of the best materials,
under the directions of Mr. Pawning and his brother, two thorough, practical
machinists. In the operation of these works the ore is brought between two
heavy iron rollers, where it is crushed as fine as possible, and afterwards led,
by means of an endless belt, on to five "jiggers," or shaking tables, which are
each contained in a large tank of water. The motion of these tables causes all
the lighter particles to float off in the stream of water passing through the tanks
These fine particles are collected in "settlers," dried and saved. The coarser
grains which do not float off are 'retained in sieves arranged beneath the tables,
and are returned to the rollers to be reduced to the proper fineness. The ma-
chinery of this cumbrous contrivance is set in motion by a sixty-five horse-
power steam engine.
Many other companies concentrate their ores, to a slight extent, by the process
described in the description of the Napoleon mine, given in another portion of
this report, with such modifications as the judgment of the parties carrying on
the work may suggest, or the necessities of the case may compel.
The above will probably not be considered a flattering account of the various
processes that have been introduced for concentrating and smelting the copper
ores found on this coast. But the many failures therein recorded are not of a
character to discourage so energetic a people as those of the Pacific coast.
The want of success is in so many instances so clearly traceable to the want of
skill and experience on the part of the operators that it is evident a plan for pro-
fitably working the lowest of these ores will be devised when experience shall
have taught those engaged in the business the defects and advantages of the
various processes now in use.
The few observations contained in this division of the report should be suffi-
cient to convince any reasonable person that the manufacture of refined copper
on this coast, with profit, is an impossibility under the present state of affairs.
In reviewing the above remarks on these processes, it will be observed that
the furnace erected at Antioch was erected as much to test the coal as to smelt
the ore. It was made of only sufficient capacity to operate upon eight tons of
ore in twenty-four hours. This was a serious error and a material source of
loss.
The furnace should have been made of a capacity sufficient to have operated
upon at least ten tons. Twelve or fourteen tons would have been better, as it
requires nearly the same quantity of fuel and the same amount of labor to
operate upon eight tons of ore as it would to operate on ten or twelve tons.
The furnaces at the copper mines in Chili, which are built on the same general
plan, and operate upon ores very similar to those found on this coast; and use a fuel
very much like that used here, are constructed of a capacity to work from twelve
to fourteen tons of ore in the twenty-four hours.
The Chilian copper smelters have no better indigenous coal than is to be
found on this coast. They are compelled to import the greater portion of the
coal used in their works from England. As good an article, and at as low a
price, may be obtained here from Sydney, if it is absolutely necessary to im-
port any coal at all.
In California, in consequence of the absence of readily available quantities
of oxides, carbonates, and silicate ores, and the preponderance of ores contain-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 165
ing a large percentage of .sulphur, smelting will always be more expensive than
it is where a different class of ores are used, because it is necessary to put such
sulphur ores through the preliminary process of roasting, which is costly, slow,
and sometimes causes much loss. The object of this process is to expel the
sulphur, arsenic, antimony, phosphorus, or other deleterious element that the
ore may contain, and to oxidize the iron as much as possible. But if this pro-
.cess be carried too far, or the ore contains a very large proportion of the
sulphuret of iron, or when the heat becomes excessive, a fusion takes place,
which makes the separation of the metal from the sulphur much more difficult.
This action in the roasting process caused the loss of many thousands of dollars
to the proprietors of the Union mine, by requiring the regulus produced at their
smelting works to be roasted three or four times to expel the fused sulphur
from it.
With Sydney coal, which may be landed at San Francisco at $9 per ton,
the reduction of low grade ores to 50 per cent, regulus could be made a very
profitable investment for capital. The necessary works, if erected on sufficient
scale to afford a market for, say, 8 per cent, ores, would give an immense im-
petus to the development of the copper resources of the Pacific coast ; because,
without some such market, all the ores of that standard will be valueless for
many years to come, and they form about seven-eighths of all the ores on this
coast.
To prove that such works would yield a large profit on the capital invested,
the following calculation is here given :
Costs attending the conversion of ten tons of 10 per cent, ore into 45 per
cent, regulus :
Ten tons of ore, at $16 per ton $160 00
Roasting in heaps, at $1 per ton 10 00
Six tons of Sydney coal, at $9 per ton 54 00
Labor of four men 15 00
Incidental expenses 10 00
Total costs. . 249 00
Per contra :
Ten tons of the above ore produced two* and three-quarter tons of
regulus of 45 per cent. This is worth $4 per unit, or. $495 00
Deduct freight and expenses attending export 100 00
Leaving balance 395 00
From this deduct cost of ore and reduction 249 00
There is a clear profit of 146 00
This profit would be fully 20 per cent, larger if one thousand tons of ore
were operated upon.
The Bristol copper mine, in Connecticut, when under the management of Mr.
H. H. Sheldon, the present superintendent of the Keystone mine, at Copper-
opolis, paid a very large revenue to its proprietor from ores that did not exceed
3 per cent, in value, on an average. Such a person, after a reasonable amount
of experience on this coast, will certainly be able to devise a plan by which
ores of three times that value may be worked to a profit.
Among the principal causes of the failure of the smelting works tried on this
coast have been —
1st. The uniform character of the ores operated on.
2d. The want of experienced and steady, skilled laborers.
3d. The misconstruction of the furnaces.
166 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
At Swansea the smelters have the advantage of purchasing ores of all or
any classes, as all are brought there from many different districts. With
this assortment of ores at their command, they can arrange the charges of their
furnaces to suit their fuel. On this coast there are no established means for
obtaining such a wide selection of ores as will admit of their being combined so
as to be worked with advantage. Most of the smelting works which have been
tried on this coast operate on the ores from generally the one mine on which
they were erected, and these are generally of one class.
The furnaces built on this coast have generally been copies of such as are
used in England, Germany, or France, where fuel of a totally different char-
acter is used. The impatience of the parties interested in such works to obtain
from them immediate profitable results has prevented the necessary experiments
being made to adapt these imported furnaces to our local fuel.
No smelting works have been carried on long enough on this coast to disci-
pline a sufficient number of workmen to conduct the details of the operations
with the care necessary to insure success. The few good workmen who have
come here from England, France, or Germany, all aspire to be superintend-
ents, or to own a mine themselves, without possessing the ability to impart their
knowledge to the more intelligent laborers placed under their direction.
All -these obstacles to success would be in a great measure removed if exten-
sive works were to be erected at some convenient central point, where those
having- ores to dispose of could always find a fair market. Such works, prop-
erly conducted, would yield a liberal return on the money invested in their
erection, and would be of incalculable benefit to the copper interests of the
Pacific coast.
The export of copper ores from the Pacific coast. — It is difficult to obtain a
correct return of all the copper ores exported from this coast, as the custom-house
authorities have not kept anything more than an approximating account of such
as have been shipped through that department ; the manifests of the vessels in
which it has been shipped in many cases not specifying the quantity of ore taken,
only giving its value ; in some cases entering it as so many^packages of unspeci-
fied merchandise of a stated value. This makes it difficult to estimate the quan-
tity, because at the commencement of this exportation the ore was shipped in
barrels, casks, and boxes, some of which contained nearly half a ton each, and
as the value of the ore differs so much, the value given, if correct, would furnish
no basis for calculating the quantity.
It is through this cause that the published reports of the exports of ore given
in the leading commercial papers of San Francisco at stated intervals differ so
much with one another. The reports of the exports for the nine months of the
present year, published in these papers, are as follows :
The Alta, 15,174J tons; the Bulletin, 15,3502 tons; the Commercial Gazette,
20,S4SJ tons.
There is considerable discrepancy in these reports, the Gazette being probably
nearest correct.
The following list, compiled from every available source, gives the names of
mines which are known to have sent ore to San Francisco, and the quantity
purchased from each. There are several firms in that city which purchase or
make advances on copper ores. Among those most extensively engaged in this
business are Meader, Lalor & Co., Martin & Greenman, Mr. Price, Conroy &
O'Conner. None of these parties appear disposed to give information relating
to their business, under the impression, perhaps, that such information might in
some way or other injure them, and it was not through them directly that this
list was made out :
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
167
List*of mines that have shipped ore.
Name of mine.
Where located.
Quantity
shipped.
Copperopolis C alaveras county ............... « .
Tons.
56, 542
5,719
1,500
100
1,300
250
4,000
3, 000
1,500
250
25
200
12
10
100
100
15
50
26
20
25
2,000
20
100
75
100
700
500
do ..do. . . .
Copper Hill
Near Campo Seco Calaveras county
Copperopolis Calaveras county
Lancha Plana. Calaveras county...... .............
Gopher hills Calaveras county ........
Newton - - ......
Mariposa. county . . .......................
Buchanan
Regulus.
Mariposa county ...... ......
Mt I)iablo Contra Costa county
do . do . ...
Alta
Del Norto county . . ....................
Osos
San Luis Obispo county " . ........
Los Ansreles county
.do do
Copper Creek Company
Trinity Company
Trinity county .... ......................
Mariposa county
Del Fino
Lower California, (belongs to Capt. Winder, U. S. A.)
Philadelphia
Mountaineer
Arizona (belongs to Capt \Vinder, TJ. S A.) ......
Grand Central
Planet
Mineral Hill
do do .. do
do do do
do do do
A total of 78,239 tons, not including any shipment from the Queen of Bronze
or any of the mines in Oregon or Lower California, or any of the many small
lots that were shipped as experiments by the mines worked in all parts of Cal-
ifornia during the excitement about copper that prevailed during the years 1860,
1861, 1862, and 1863. It is quite within limits to estimate the ores received
from all unnamed sources since 1860 at 1,761 tons. This, added to the quanti-
ties given in the list above, makes a total of 80,000 tons received at San Fran-
cisco and exported since the discovery of the mines at Copperopolis.
The following table giving the exports of copper ores from San Francisco
from January, i860, to October, 1866, compiled from the rec<rfs at tnc custom-
house and the shipping lists, shows a difference of upwards on?2,000 tons when
compared with the list above. This discrepancy can only be explained on the
grounds above stated. The books of the principal mines given in this list show
that the quantities set opposite their respective names have been actually shipped
from them. The ore shipped from the leading mines is calculated according
to English weight, 2,376 pounds to the ton. Some of the smaller companies
may have estimated their ore by the United States weight, or only 2,000 pounds
to the ton ; but this would not account for so large a discrepancy.
168
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Exports of copper ores from San Francisco from January, 1862, to October, 1866.
Year.
To New York.
To Boston.
To Swansea. •
Total for year.
1862
Tons.
86
Tows.
3, 574M
Tons.
Tons.
3, 660^$
1863
1,337
4, 208^
71%
5, 553$$
]864 .
4, 905M
5, 064
264^0
10, 234,3,
1865
4, 146$,
9,050
2. 591 M
17,787£§
1866
7, 676,1 §
3, 415&
10, 384£$-
21,476]$
Totals
• 20, 151 A
25, 312£$
13 248M
58 712 ^
The above table includes concentrated ores and regulus, when shipped in bags
or barrels, but not metallic copper in pigs or bars, of which there was shipped
about 25 tons in 1865 and 3,787 ba»s, of unknown weight, in 1866. In this
quantity is included 120 tons from the smelting works at Buchanan Hollow,
Mariposa county, shipped by Coffee & Risdon, of San Francisco. As this metal
averages 80 per cent., one ton of it is equal to five tons of 16 per cent. ore. The
export of this metal is consequently equal to 1,725 tons of such ore, making a total,
when added to quantity in the .first table, of 79,964 tons — in round numbers,
say 80,000 tons ; in addition to which there are upwards of 2,000 tons of ores at
Stockton and San Francisco ready for shipment, awaiting vessels to carry it
away, and nearly 20,000 tons are ready for shipment at the various mines, where
it is retained in consequence of the very low price of such ores in this market at
present ; the whole showing that upwards of 100,000 tons of copper ore have
been taken out of the mines of California since their discovery in 1860. Esti-
mating this ore at an average value of $50 per ton, which is very much below
its actual value, the products of these copper mines since their discovery have
added $5,000,000 to the material wealth of the country, and opened a wide field for
the employment of the enterprise, capital, and labor of thousands of its citizens.
A comparison of the product of the copper mines of the Pacific coast with
those in other countries may be instructive in this place. Sir Henry De La
Beche, the head of the department of mines in England, stated in a lecture given
at the great exhibition in London, in 1861, that the average of all the ores of
copper produced in Cornwall and Devonshire did not exceed 8 per cent, when
dressed, and that the supply was constantly becoming less, and more costly to
obtain as the working in the mines became deeper. These two counties are the
chief sources of copper in all Europe. Here, on this coast, there are absolutely
inexhaustible sources of ores ranging from 10 per cent, to 12 per cent., which
may be obtained within a couple of hundred feet of the surface of the ground.
In the parliamentary returns published by order of the British government,
it appears that iAhe year 1861 the gross yield of copper ores in Great Britain,
including England, Ireland, and Wales, amounted to 231,487 tons of the value
of $6,800,000, or a little over $29 per ton. On this coast, under the present sys-
tem, ore of that value would not pay to take it out of the ground. As has already
been explained it costs between $40 and $50 per ton to place the ores obtained
on this coast in a market. The rates for freight to New York and Liverpool are
more than double as high as they were two years ago, in consequence of the
great demand for first class vessels to carry grain to those places.
Concluding remarks. — None of the metallic copper made on this coast is suit-
able for castings or for rolling into sheets, owing to defects in the processes for
refining it. It is too brittle lor rolling, in consequence of containing traces of
sulphur. It is too hard for casting, turning, and polishing, and too liable to
tarnish and turn nearly black in color, in consequence of containing more or less
iron in alloy.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS., 169
The present depression in the copper mining interests on the Pacific coast
has been much increased by the excessive cost of freight to New York and
Swansea, which, falling at a time when the ores are of less value than they have
been for the past fifteen or twenty years, causes it to be unprofitable to ship
those that heretofore have formed the great bulk of the exports. The price of
freight at this time is nearly double what it was in 1861 and 1862. To illus-
trate this fact, it may be stated that the ship Haze, in 1861, was chartered to
carry a cargo to New York for $5,000 in gold. Within the past few weeks the
same vessel has been chartered for the same destination for $16,660 in gold, or
$25,000 in currency. In 1861 freight to Liverpool was offering at $11 per ton ;
at present it is not procurable at less than $17 per ton.
It will be readily understood that an article, the exports of which, though
amounting to two millions of dollars annually, the profits of which are limited
to such a slight margin, as already explained is the case with copper ores on
this coast, must cease to be a source of revenue to the government, or of employ-
ment and profit to the people, when the cost of its production and export ex-
ceeds the value of the product. This is a question deserving the most serious
consideration.
The products of the copper mines on the Pacific coast might be greatly in-
creased if the legislation of Congress were so framed as to make them profitable
to procure. This would increase the taxable property of the country, while the
products of the mines, now far below their capacity, would add materially to its
absolute wealth ; for if we do produce our own copper, it must be purchased
from other nations, for money or produce, as it is indispensable in the arts and
manufactures.
Under our formxof government, with such an extent of territory as we possess,
and such an intelligent and enterprising people as inhabit our mineral regions,
it should be a paramount object so to regulate the scale of taxes and duties on
the products of any branch of national industry as to encourage the labor en-
gaged in its development. A sound policy would dictate that so great an in-
terest as copper mining is destined to become in the United States should be
encouraged by every possible means in its infancy, and until the skill and ex-
perience of those interested in its development shall enable them to compete
with a reasonable hope of success with the copper miners and smelters of other
countries in which the business has been conducted for centuries. This they
cannot do at present, nor ever will be able to do, unless they are assisted for a
few years by favorable legislation. The duties and taxes, direct and indirect,
on copper, under the present system, amount to $4 63 on each 100 Ibs. of
American-made metal, while that imported from other countries only pays
$2 50 on each 100 Ibs. It is this invidious distinction tkat is crippling the
energies of those interested in developing the copper resources of the Pacific
coast. A reversal of this state of affairs, the levying of a duty of about $2 50
on each 100 Ibs. of foreign copper, over and above what is levied jon our home-
produced copper — a duty that would inflict no injury on any American interest —
would immediately revive the now languishing copper interests of the whole
country.
Measured by the facts and figures contained in this report, it requires no stretch
of the imagination to comprehend the great national importance of the copper re-
sources of the Pacific coast ; already, within five years of their discovery,
exporting sufficient ores of unusual richness to produce 10,000 tons of metal an-
nually—a quantity nearly equal to one-half of the supply of the whole world
twenty-five years ago, and five times as large as the produce of the whole United
States only ten years ago ! It requires -but experience and the advantages it
gives, and a slight protection on the part of the general government, to make the
Pacific coast occupy the same prominence as a copper-producing country that it
now occupies as the producer of gold and silver.
170 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
SECTION 6.
QUICKSILVER MINES OF CALIFORNIA.,
1. New Almaden mines. — 3. Products and exports.
1.— NEW ALMADEN MINES.
The ore of quicksilver. — Cinnabar is the principal and only valuable ore of
the mercury of commerce, which is prepared from it by sublimation.
It is a sulphide (sulphuret) of mercury, composed, when pure, of quicksilver
86.2, sulphur 13.8, in which case it is a natural vermilion, and identical with
the vermilion of commerce ; but it is sometimes rendered impure by an admix-
ture of clay, bitumen, oxide of iron, &c. Cinnabar is of a cochineal red color,
often inclining to brownish red and lead gray, with an adamantine lustre, ap-
proaching to metallic in dark varieties, and to dull in friable ones. It varies
from subtransparent to opaque, has a scarlet streak, and breaks with a sub-
conchoidal uneven fraction. H = 2 to 2.5, specific gravity = 8.99. In a matrass
it entirely sublimes, and with soda yields mercury with the evolution of sul-
phurous fumes. When crystallized it belongs to the rhombohedral system.
Cinnabar occurs in beds in slate rocks. The chief European beds are at
Almaden, near Cordova, in Spain, and at Idria, in Upper Carinthia, where it
usually occurs in a massive form, and is worked on a thick vein belonging to
the Alpine carboniferous strata. It also occurs in China, Japan, Pluanca Vilica,
in South Peru, and at New Almaden, in California, in a mountain east of San
Jose, between the bay of Francisco and Monterey, where it is very abundant
and easy of access. — lire's Dictionary.
Classes of cinnabar ores. — Gruesa is the best quality or first class, in
pfieces eight to twelve inches or more in diameter ; mostly pure ore of cinnabar, with
little or no admixture of refuse rock.
Grauza is the second quality, in pieces of three to eight inches, generally
containing a considerable proportion of rock. It is either taken from the mine
in such pieces or is broken off from larger pieces of rock in the yard.
Tierras — earth or dirt — is the lowest quality, and is not taken into account
in the ores produced at the mine ; neither are the miners paid for it. It is made
into bricks and sun-dried previous to being reduced in the furnaces. Each
adobe or brick weighs about twelve and a half pounds.
The "carga" or load of ore is considered to be three hundred pounds.
Extracts of a report by Professor B. Si/liman, jr., from ihe American Journal
of Science and Arts for September, 1864.
The New Almaden quicksilver mines are situated on a range of hills subor-
dinate to the main Coast range, the highest point of which at the place is twelve
to fifteen hundred feet above the valley of San Jose. Southwest of the range
which contains the quicksilver mines, the Coast range attains a considerable
elevation, Mount Bache, its highest point, being over thirty-eight hundred feet
in height.
New Almaden is approached by the railroad running from San Francisco to
San Jose, a distance of forty-five miles. In the course of it there is a rise of one
hundred feet, San Jose being of this elevation above the ocean. From San
Jose to New Almaden the distance is thirteen miles, with a gradual rise of one
hundred and fifty or perhaps two hundred feet.
The rocks forming the subordinate range, in which the quicksilver occurs,
are chiefly magnesian schists, sometimes calcareous and rarely argillaceous. As
a group they may be distinguished as steatitic, often passing into well-charac-
terized serpentine. Their geological age is not very definitely ascertained, but
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 171
they are believed by the officers of the State geological survey to be not older
than cretaceous. But few fragments of fossils, and these very obscure, have
yet been found in these metamorphic rocks. At a point just above the dumps,
behind the reduction works at the hacienda (or village,) there is an exposure,
in which may be clearly seen in projecting lines the waving edges of contorted beds
of steatite and serpentine, interspersed with ochrey or ferruginous layers, more
easily decomposed ; and the partial removal of the latter has left the steatitic
beds very prominent.
The mine is open at various points upon this subordinate range over a dis-
tance of four or lire miles, in a northeast direction. The principal and the
earliest workings of the mine were in a right line, but little more than a mile
distant from the hacienda. The workings are approached, however, by a well-
graded wagon road, skirting the edges of the hills, which is two and three
eighths miles in length.
It appears, partly from tradition, and partly from the memory of persons now
living, that the existence of cinnabar upon the hill was known for a long time
prior to the discovery that- it possessed any economic value. In fact, upon the
very loftiest summit of this subordinate range, cinnabar came to the surface, and
could be obtained by a slight excavation or even by breaking the rocks lying
upon the surface. In looking about for physical evidences such as would aid
the eyes of an experienced observer in detecting here the probable presence of
valuable metallic deposits, one observes on the summit of the hill, at various
points along the line of its axis for two or three miles, and also beyond, toward
the place called Bull Run, occasional loose boulders of drusy quartz, with more
or less well- characterized geodes and combs ; accompanying which is an
ochraceous or ferruginous deposit, such as frequently forms the outcrop of
metallic veins. There is, however, no such thing as a well-characterized vein,
the quartz and its associated metals occurring rather in isolated masses or
bunches segregated out of the general mass of the metamorphic rocks, and con-
nected with each other, if at all, somewhat obscurely by thread veins of the same
mineral.
The main entrance to the mine at present is by a level about eight hundred
feet long, and large enough to accommodate a full-sized railroad and cars. This
level enters the hill about three hundred feet from its summit, and is driven into a
large chamber, formed by the removal of a great mass of cinnabar, leaving
ample space for the hoisting and ventilating apparatus employed in working
the mine.
At this point a vertical shaft descends to an additional depth of nearly three
hundred feet, over which is placed a steam " whim" with friction gearing and wire
rope, worked by a steam-engine, and by means of which all the ore from the
various workings of the mine is conveniently discharged from the cars, which
convey it out of the level.to the dressing floors.
In order to reach the lower workings of the mine, the observer may employ
the bucket as a means of descent, or he may, in a more satisfactory manner,
descend by a series of ladders and step, not in the shaft, but placed in various
large and irregular openings, dipping for the most part in the direction of the
magnetic north, and at an angle of thirty to thirty-five degrees. These cavities
have been produced by the miner in extracting the metal, and are often of vast
proportions ; one of them measures one hundred and fifty feet in length,
seventy feet in breadth, and forty feet in height ; others are of smaller dim©n~
sions ; and they communicate with each other sometimes by narrow passages,
and at others by arched galleries cut through the unproductive serpentine.
Some portions of the mine are heavily timbered to sustain the roof from
crushing, while in other places arches or columns are left in the rock for the
same purpose.
The principal minerals associated with the cinnabar are quartz and calcareous
172 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
spar, which usually occur together in sheets or strings, and in a majority of cases
penetrate or subdivide the masses of cinnabar. Sometimes narrow threads of
these minerals, accompanied by a minute coloration of cinnabar, serve as the
only guide to the miner in re-discovering the metal when it has been lost in a
former working.
Veins or plates of white massive magnesian rock and sheets of yellow ochre
also accompany the metal. Iron pyrites is rarely found, and no mispickel was
detected in any portion of the mine ; running mercury is also rarely, almost
never, seen.
The cinnabar occurs chiefly in two forms, a massive and a sub-crystalline.
The first is fine granular, or pulverulent, soft, and easily reduced to the condi-
tion of vermillion; the other is hard, more distinctly crystalline, compact and
difficult to break; but in 'neither of these forms does it show any tendency to
develop well-formed crystals. It is occasionally seen veining the substance of
greenish white or brown compact steatite or serpentine.
The ores are extracted by contract, the miners receiving a price dependent
upon the greater or less- facility with which the ore can be broken. By far the
larger portion of the v/ork-people in the mines are Mexicans, who are found
to be more adventurous than Cornishmen, and willing oftentimes to undertake
jobs which the latter have abandoned. The price paid for the harder ores in
the poorer portions of the mine is from three to five dollars per carga of three
hundred pounds. This weight is obtained after the ore is brought to the sur-
face and freed by hand breaking from the superfluous or unproductive rock ; by
this arrangement, the company are secured from paying for anything but pro-
ductive mineral. All the small stuff and dirt formed by the working of the
" labors," are also sent to the surface to form the adobes used in charging the
furnaces.
It has often happened in the history of this mine, during the past fifteen
years, that the mine for a time has appeared to be completely exhausted of ore.
Such a condition of things has, however, always proved to be but temporary,
and may always be avoided by well-directed and energetic exploration. Upon
projecting, by a careful survey, irregular and apparently disconnected chambers
of the mine in its former workings in a section, there is easily seen to be a
general conformity in the line of direction and mode of occurrence of the pro-
ductive ore-masses. These are found to dip in a direction toward the north, in
a plain parallel, for the most part, to the pitch of the hill, but at a somewhat
higher angle. An intelligent comprehension of this general mode of structure
has always served hitherto in guiding the mining superintendent in the discovery
of new deposits of ore.
Since the settlement of the famous lawsuit, which has so long held this com-
pany in a condition of doubt, the new parties, into whose hands the property
has now passed, have commenced a series of energetic and well-directed ex-
plorations at various points upon the hill, with a view... to the discovery of ad-
ditional deposits of ore. At one of these new openings, distant at least five
hundred feet from the limit of the old workings, and not more than two hundred
feet from the summit of the hill, a deposit of the richest description of the softer
kind of cinnabar has been discovered, which, so far as hitherto explored, has a
linear extent of at least seventy or eighty feet, and in point of richness has
never been -surpassed by any similar discovery in the past history of the mine.
A charge of one hundred and one thousand pounds, of which seventy thousand
were composed of this rich ore, thirty-one thousand pounds of "granza" or
ordinary ore, and forty-eight thousand pounds of adobes, worth four per cent.,
making a total charge of one hundred and five thousand eight hundred pounds,
yielded, on the day of our visit, four hundred and sixty flasks of mercury at
seventy-six and a half pounds to the flask. This yield is almost without
parallel in the history of the mine. The only preparation which the ores un-
'WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 173
dergo, preparatory to reduction, consists of hand breaking or "cobbing" for
the removal of the unproductive rock.
The small ores and dirt hoisted from the mine are made into " adobes " or
sun-dried bricks, sufficient clay for the purpose being associated with the ore.
The object of these "adobes" is to build up the mouths of the furnaces to sus-
tain the load of richer ores. No flux is employed, there being sufficient lime
associated with the ores to aid the decomposition of the sulphurets.
... The furnaces are built entirely of brick, in dimensions capable of holding
from sixty thousand to one hundred and ten thousand pounds, according to the
character of the ores employed. The chambers are fired from a lateral furnace,
fed with wood, and separated from the ore by a wall pierced with numerous
openings by the omission of bricks for that purpose.
Connected with the furnace is a series of lofty and capacious chambers, afeo
of masonry, through which the whole product of combustion is compelled to
pass alternately above and below from chamber to chamber, until all the available
mercury is condensed. The draught from these furnaces is carried by inclined
stacks up to the top of a lofty hill several hundred feet distant ; and here the
sulphurous acid and other effete products of the furnace are discharged. Formerly
no precautions were taken to prevent the escape of mercury through the foun-
dations of the furnace to the earth beneath ; now the furnaces stand upon double
arches of brickwork, and plates of iron are built into the foundations, so as to
cut- off entirely all descending particles of the metal and turn them inward.
To be convinced of the importance of this precaution, it is sufficient to watch
the operation of the furnace for a few moments, when an intermittent stream
may be seen to flow into a reservoir provided for it, and which by the former
process was completely lost in the earth.
On taking up the foundations of some of the old furnaces, within the last two
years, the metal was found to have penetrated, or rather permeated, completely
through the foundation and clay of the substructure down to the bed-rock be-
neath, a depth of not less than twenty-five or thirty feet. Over two thousand
flasks of mercury were thus recovered in a single year from the foundations of
the two furnaces. This loss is entirely avoided by the improved construction
which has been adopted.
The whole process of reduction is extremely simple, the time occupied from
one charge to another being usually about seven days. The metal begins to
run in from four to six hours after, the fires are lighted, and in about sixty hours
the process is completed. The metal is conducted through various condensing
chambers, by means of pipes of iron, to a " crane-neck," which discharges into
capacious kettles. It undergoes no further preparation for market, being quite
clean from all dross.
Property of the company. — The landed estate of the Quicksilver Mining Com-
pany consists, therefore, of seven thousand eight hundred acres, or a fraction
over twelve square miles, of which more than one-third is mineral ground, tra-
versed by veins of cinnabar which have been traced for miles and tested in more
than a dozen places, and of which the celebrated New Almaden mine, which
has produced, prior to its possession by this company, more than fifty thousand
tons of ore, yielding about twenty-four million pounds of quicksilver, is but a
single development.
The permanent improvements upon the property of the company consist of—-
Dwelling-houses, workshops, and stores at the hacienda 61
Dwelling-houses, workshops, and stores at New Almaden mine 276
Dwelling-houses, workshops, and stores at Enriqueta mine 55
Dwelling-houses on the farms - - - 13
Total.. 405
174
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
The buildings cost over $160,000.
There are six furnaces at the Hacienda, costing about $100,000.
The railway from the mouth of the New Almaden mine to the furnaces, one
and one-quarter mile in length, was completed in December last, and cost about
$12.000.
The population located upon the lands of the company, and nearly all in it3
employ, are as follows :
| At the Hacienda 286
jAt New Almaden village 1, 396
jAt Enriqueta village 176
{On the farms 85
Total . 1,943
The inventory of personal property at the several mines, exclusive of ores on
hand, amounts to the sum of $113,876.
2.— PRODUCTS AND EXPORTS.
Produce of quicksilver at New Almaden, from July 1, 1850, to August 31, 1863.
1/3
«
Dates.
1
a
S
3
1
1
£
a
6
S
£
0>
s
|
CO
C3
3
ft
0
£
PM
^
H
Pounds.
Flasks.
Flasks.
Flasks.
July, 1850, to June, 1851..
12
4,970,717
35.89
23, 875
23, 875
July, 1851, to June, 1852.
12
4, 643, 290
32 17
19,921
19 921
July, 1852, to June, 1853..
12
4, 839, 520
27.94
18,035
19,035
July, 1853, to June, 1854..
12
7, 448, 000
26.49
26, 325
26, 325
Julv, 1854, to June, 1855
12
9, 109, 300
26 23
31 860
31 860
July, 1855 to June 1856
12
10 355 200
20 34
28 183
28 183
July, 1856, to June, 1857..
12
10, 299, 900
18.93
26, 002
26, 002
July, 1857, to June, 1858..
12
10, 997, 170
20. 05
29, 347
29, 347
July, 1858 toOct 1858
4
3 873 085
20 05
10 588
10 588
Nov. 1858 to Jan 1861
Mine
closed
tion
Feb. , 1861", to Jan. , 1862 . .
12
13, 323, 200
18.21
32, 402
2,363
34, 765
Feb., 1862, to Jan., 1863..
12
15,281,400
19. 27
39, 262
1, 129
40, 391
Feb., 1863, to Aug., 1863..
7
7, 172, 660
18.11
17, 316
2,248
19, 564
Total
10 yrs #nd
102 313 442
302 916
5 740
308 756
llmos.
General average from furnaces 22.20 per cent. Produce of quicksilver 23, 519, 834 pounds.
NOTE. — By the terms of the compromise with Messrs. Barren & Co,, in August, 1863,
the New Almaden mine was to be held and worked by them for the benefit of this, the Quick-
silver Company, during the months of September and October, and the company was to as-
sume the entire control on the 1 st of November.
During these two months the product was as follows : September, 2,371 flasks ; October,
3,149 ; total product, 5,520, or 422,280 pounds.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
175
Tabular statement showing llie 'product of all the furnaces from November,
1863, to December, 1864, inclusive.
Months.
Total quantity of ore reduced.
Graeso. Granza. Tierras
5*38
H<<_ 02
"O 0.2 .
Total quicksilver.
I
Flasks. Pounds.
Nov., 3863..
Dec., 1863..
Jan., 1864..
Feb., 1864..
Mar., '1864..
April, 1864..
May, 1864..
June, 1864..
July, 1864..
Aug., 1864..
Sept., 1864,.
Oct., 1864..
Nov., 1864..
Dec,, 1864..
Totals...
13
18
19
16
20
17
21
25
28
28
28
31
34
34
16, 200
38, 600
27, 000
4,500
46, 100
259, 500
174, 700
38, 800
160, 800
161,600
115,700
133,800
'45, 400
93, 000
628, 100
958, 400
432, 800
, 042, 800
,318,500
, 012, 900
,155,300
, 567, 200
, 838, 500
, 806, 600
,841,300
, 828, 600
2,115,500
2,018,700
347, 200
371,800
302, 800
166,400
172, 600
189, 400
272, 500
312, 700
288,100
273, 600
273, 200
286, 400
326, 200
424, 000
999, 500
1,369,000
1,462,600
1,213,700
1,607,200
1,389,800
1,604,500
1,918,500
2, 287, 400
2,231,800
2, 230, 700
2,314,300
2,488,100
2, 535, 700
1,604
2,436
2,381
1,979
3,443
3, 252
3,022
3, 377
4,801
4,674
3,947
4,004
3,511
3,775
120, 300
182,700
178, 575
148,425
358, 975
243, 900
226, 650
253, 275
360, 075
350, 550
296, 025
300, 300
263, 385
283, 125
332 1,314,200
20, 326, 000
4, 005, 900
25, 646, 100
46,216
3,566,200
Total product from furnaces 46,216 flasks.
Total product from washings ^ 720 flasks.
Total , 46, 936 flasks.
Average per cent, of all ore reduced, tierras deducted, 16.49.
Tabular statement showing the gross product monthly for 1865.
Flasks. Pounds.
January „ 3, 768 288, 252
February 3, 512 268, 668
March *3, 427 262, 165J
April 4, 050 309, 825
May 4, 501 344, 326J
June 3, 961 303, 016£
July 3, 671 280, 831
August 4, 470 341, 955
September 4, 598 351, 747
October 3, 010 230, 265
November 3, 839 293, 683
December 4, 271 326, 731
47, 078 3, 604, 465J
Product from washings 116
47, 194
[From official report of Mr. Bond, the vice-president, for 1665.]
J " The quantity of ore mined and reduced was 31,948,400 pounds, or about
16,000 tons, and the general average of all the ore reduced, allowing 3 per cent,
for tierras, was 12.43 per cent.
" It will be noticed that while the production of quicksilver during 1865 has
been in excess of any previous year, yet it has not increased in proportion to
176
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES.
the increased quantity of ore mined. The average percentage of 1864, as
shown by the last year's report, was 16.40 per cent., and for the ten years pre-
ceding was 22.20 per cent."
Tabular statement showing the gross product monthly for 1866.
January . .
February .
March ...
April
May
June
July
August . . .
September
October . .
Flasks.
3,950
3,703
3,043
1, 000
2,900
2,100
3, 173
3,180
3, 190
3,190
Total 30, 029
Comparative statement of quicksilver exported from California to various coun-
tries from 1859 to 1864.
To—
1859.
1860.
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
New York .. ..
Flasks.
250
'Flasks.
400
Flasks.
600
Flasks.
2,265
Flasks.
95
Flasks.
1,695
Great Britain
2, 500
1,500
1,062
1,609
Mexico .... .................
103
3, 886
12,061
14,778
11,590
7,483
Ohi&B
1,068
2, 725
13, 788
8,725
8,889
18, 908
Peru
571
750
2,804
3,439
3,376
4,300
Chili
930
1,040
2,059
1,746
500
2,674
Central America
110
40
40
30
Japan
50
25
262
Australia
325
100
1,850
800
300
103
133
130
57
424
120
45
Victoria, V.I
19
327
116
5
42
21
Total
3,399
9,448
35, 995
33,747
26, 014
36,918
And the exports previously have been —
Flasks.
Inl858 24,142
In 1857 27,262
In 1856 23,740
Flasks.
In 1855 , 27,165
In 1854 20,963
In 1853 18,800
Exports to January 1, 1866.
At the commencement of the year 1865, the company had under consignment
and on hand 20,396 flasks of quicksilver, in addition to the quantity, 7,396
flasks, consigned through Messrs. Alsop & Co., which was distributed as fol-
lows :
Consigned to China 7
Consigned to Mexico .}. 4
Consigned to Peru 1, 000
Consigned to Chili 600
Consigned to New York 1, 200
Consigned to London » 1, 600
000
250
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 177
Consigned to Oregon 30
Consigned to Australia 100
On hand in Nevada 1, 854
On hand in California 2, 762
Total flasks ,20, 396
The product for 1865 has been distributed as follows :
Consigned to China 14, 250
Consigned to London 10, 400
Consigned to Peru - 5, 500
Consigned to Chili 2, 000
Consigned to New York 6, 800
Consigned to Mexico. *. 2, 650
Consigned to Australia 200
Consigned to Oregon 280
On hand in Nevada 4, 64 1
On hand in California 473
Total flasks.. . 47,194
Total number of flasks to be accounted for . 67, 590
The number of flasks sold from these consignments during the year, and
accounts therefore closed and settled, were 19.756, as follows :
Sold in China 4, 000
Sold in New York 4, 500
Sold in Mexico 450
Sold in Australia 100
Sold in London. 1, 600
Sold in Peru 1, 000
Sold in Nevada 6, 495
Sold in Colifornia 1, 350
Sold in Oregon 261
Total flasks . . .19, 756
Flasks remaining on hand January 1, 1866, and to be accounted for.. 47, 834
This quicksilver was distributed as follows :
Consigned to China 17, 250
Consigned to Mexico 6, 450
Consigned to New York 3, 500
Consigned to London , 10, 400
Consigned to Chili 2, 600
Consigned to Peru 5. 500
Consigned to Australia 200
Consigned to Oregon 49
On hand in California 1> 885
Total flasks 47, 834
H. Ex. Doc. 29 12
178 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
The quantity consigned through Messrs. Alsop & Co., on hand January 1,
18G5, 7,396 flasks, has been sold, making the total sales for account of the com-
pany, during the year 1865, 27,152 flasks.
The foregoing statement includes only the shipments and sales of quicksilver
which have been closed and finally settled. In addition to the above, the com-
pany have received advices of the sales in China and London of about 10,000
flasks.
Products of other quicksilver mines in California during the year 1S66.
Guadalupe, average flasks per month 150
New Idria, average flasks per month. 500
Knox & Redington, average flasks per month 300
SECTION 7. s
BORAX, SULPHUR, TIN, AND COAL.
1. Principal borax countries. — 2. Manufactured borax. — 3. Discovery of borax in Califor-
nia.— 4. Product of borax in California. — 5. Process of working. — 6. Deposits of sul-
phur.—7. Tin.— 8. Coal.— 9. Iron.
1.— PRINCIPAL PLACES WHERE BORAX IS FOUND.
Prior to the discovery of borax in California, the principal localities in which
.the borates were found were at Halberstadt, in Transylvania, at Viquentizoa
and Escapa, in Peru, in the mineral springs of Chambly, St. Ours, &c., Canada
West, and in certain salt lakes of India, Thibet, and other parts of Asia, whence
the greater part of the borax of commerce was formerly obtained.
* " The salt separated from these waters by evaporation, either natural or
assisted by artificial contrivances, is sent to Europe as crude borax or tincal,
sometimes in large regular crystals, but more frequently as a white or yellowish
white mass, which is very impure, containing lime, magnesia, and alumina, and
likewise covered over with a greasy substance, (said to be added to diminish the
risk of breakage during transport.) According to analysis by Kichardson and
Bronell, crude Indian borax contains :
Boric acid, (anhydrous) 22.88 40.24 24.41
Soda ' . . : 12 .59 11.11 1 1 .71
Chloride of sodium 0 .92 0.11 0 .21
Sulphate of sodium 0.13 0.49 2.84
Sulphate of calcium 1 .36 .68 1 .36
Insoluble matter 17.62 1.37 20.02
Water 44.50 46.00 39.45
300.00 100.00 100.00
2.— MANUFACTURE OF BORAX.
" The purification or refining of this crude Asiatic borax has been carried on
from very early times in various seaport towns in Europe, especially at Venice,
and more lately at Amsterdam."
* * * * § * *
* Dictionary of Chemistry, by Henry Watts, vol. 1, p. 646.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 179
" The greater part of the borax used in the arts is now* prepared in France
by treating the native boric acid of Tuscany with carbonate of sodium, according
to a method first practiced by Payen and Cartier."
3.— DISCOVERY OF BORAX IN CALIFORNIA.
The following extracts from a report by Dr. John A. Veatch, dated June 28,
1857, give a succinct and very interesting history of the discovery of borax in
California :
" Since the demonstration of the existence of boracic acid and the borates in
California in quantities sufficient for commercial purposes, a history of the dis-
covery and a description of some of the more important localities of these useful
products become matters of some interest.
" I believe I was the first to detect the borates in mineral waters in this State,
and perhaps, as yet, the only observer of their localities. My attention was
first drawn to this subject by noticing crystals of bi-borate of soda in the arti-
ficially concentrated water of a mineral spring which I chanced at the time to
be examining for other matters. This water was from one of the several springs
since known as the Tuscan springs, and which have gained some fame, and
very justly, I believe, as medicinal waters. The spot has been described by Dr.
Trask under the name of the Lick Springs, and is so designated on Britton and
Key's late map ; lying on the north part of Tehama county, eight miles east of
Red bluff. The crystals alluded to were observed on the 8th day of January,
1856. Several pounds were subsequently extracted by evaporating the water
to a certain degree of concentration and allowing the borax to crystallize. The
pioneer specimens of this product were deposited in the museum of the Cali-
fornia Academy of Natural Sciences, as an evidence of the existence of a new
and important link in the chain of our mineralogical productions, showing that
along with the rich productions of the noble and useful metals, we have also the
mineral substance so essential to their easy application to the purposes of man,
" The water, holding in solution so valuable a product, was thought worthy of
a critical analysis ; and consequently at an early period the aid of a chemist of
this city was invoked. The reported result, which I placed at the disposition
of Dr. Trask, was thought worthy of a place in his geological report of that
year, and appears in it. My mind being now alive to the subject, I learned, upon
inquiry, of other localities whjch I supposed might yield the borates. One of
these, near the mouth of Pitt river, forty miles north of the Tuscan springs, I
had the pleasure of visiting in company with Dr. Wm. 0. Ayres, in April, 1856.
Specimens there 'obtained yielded the borate salts ; and, from a subsequent exr
amination of the intermediate country, several similar localities were found.
The quantity was too small to be of any practical importance, but the prevalence
of the salt gave encouragement to further search. A reconnoissance of the
"coast range" of mountains, from the neighborhood of Shasta over a length of
some thirty miles towards the south, brought to light borates in the numerous
small springs abounding in that region, but only in minute quantities. These
springs were found almost exclusively in the sandstone, or in the magnesian
limestone overlaying it ; and the borates seemed to abound in localities bearing" «
indications of volcanic disturbance. Thus a kind of guide was obtained in the
prosecution of further explorations. I began to entertain hopes of finding
streams with stronger impregnations, or accumulations, of the borates in salt
lagoons said to exist in Colusi county, where the sandstone formation was largely
developed, the adjacent foot-hills presenting volcanic features. Hunters told
tales of mineral springs of sulphurous and bitter waters ; of lakes of soda, and
alkaline plains, white with efflorescent matters, in that region. Not being in a
* Prior to the discovery of borax in California.
180 . RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
situation immediately to visit those inviting localities, I had, for the time, to
content myself with pointing out to the hunters and others occasionally passing
through that country such appearances as I wished particularly to be noted.
Their reports, together with specimens sometimes furnished, were all corrobora-
tive of the correctness of my theory. Colonel Joel Lewis, of Sacramento City,
who occasionally visited the coast range on hunting excursions, and to whom
I explained the object of my search, and who, although not a scientific man,
is an intelligent observer, had the kindness to look, in his peregrinations, for
certain indications. He subsequently informed me by letter that he had met
with an Irishman, living in Bear valley, who had found a 'lake of borax,' as
it was pronounced by an Englishman who lived with the Irishman, and who
had been at one time employed in a borax manufactory in England, and there-
fore assumed to speak knowingly on the subject. He also informed me in the
same letter that a Major Vanbibber, of Antejope valley, had discovered large
quantities of nitre in the same neighborhood. These glowing reports led me to
hasten the excursion I had so long contemplated. In a personal interview with
the colonel he told me of an enormous mass, of a white, pulverulent substance, he
had himself observed near the margin of Clear lake, of the nature of which he
was ignorant. Mr. Charles Fairfax, who was with the colonel at the time, stated
to me that a small rivulet running at the base of the white hillock was an in-
tensely impregnated mineral water, totally undrinkable, as he had accidentally
discovered by attempting to slake his thirst with it. From the meagre informa-
tion gathered from these gentlemen, I was led to hope the ' hill of white powder,'
as they termed it, might prove to be borate of lime. I determined to satisfy
myself by a personal examination at once, and I finally induced Colonel Lewis
to act as my guide by furnishing him with a horse and paying expenses. It was
some time in the early part of September of last year that he and I left Sacra-
mento for the localities that had so much excited my hopes. At the town of
Colusi, which we reached by steamer, horses were obtained, and we proceeded
in a westerly direction across the Sacramento valley to the foot-hills of the
coast mountains, a distance of about twenty miles. That portion of the plains
skirting the hills gave unmistakable evidence of a heavy charge of mineral salts,
and the exceedingly contorted and interrupted state of the hill strata enabled
me at once to predict the presence of the beloved borates, which chemical trial
on some efflorescent matter taken from a ravine proved to be the case in a slight
degree. At this point we entered ' Fresh-water canon,' which cuts the hills and
forms a pass way into Antelope and Bear valleys. Here I received information
from a settler of a hot sulphur spring a few miles south of Bear valley, on one
of the trails leading to Clear lake. This spring we succeeded in finding on the
following day. It was with no small pleasure that I observed the outcropping
magnesian limestone in the hills surrounding the valley of the springs. The
strong smell of sulphureted hydrogen, and the appearance of a whitish efflores-
cence on the rocks, manifested, even at a distance, almost the certainty of find-
ing the mineral I sought. The indications were riot deceptive. The efflorescence
proved to be boracic acid, in part, while the hot, sulphurous water held borate
of soda in solution, together with chlorides and sulphates. There are three hot
•springs at this place, and several cold ones, all alike strongly impregnated with
common salt and borax. The quantity of water yielded in the aggregate is
about one hundred gallons per minute — the hot and cold springs yielding about
equal quantities. The temperature of the hot water is 200° Fahrenheit, and
that of the cold 60° Fahrenheit. The same phenomenon occurs here that is ob-
served at the Tuscan springs, viz., free boracic acid in the efflorescence on the
margin of the springs, while the water itself shows a decided alkaline reaction.
A careful examination proves that the efflorescent matters come directly from
the waters of the spring — taken up by capillary attraction of the soil and evapo-
rated by the air. The singular fact may be accounted for by the decomposition
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 181
of tlic borates by the sulphuric acid generated by atmospheric action on the sul-
phur in which the soil abounds ; or the same decomposition may be produced
by the hydrosulphuric acid passing up in gaseous form from the laboratory
nature has established beneath. The same action, doubtless, takes place in the
water, but the boracic acid set free is at once taken up by the excess of alkaline
matter, while, in the efflorescence, no fresh supply of alkali offering, the acid
remains in its free state when once displaced by more powerful acids.
" These springs seem to be identical in the character of their waters with the
Tuscan springs, and therefore doubtless possess the same extraordinary
medicinal virtues. As a source of borax these springs could be made avail-
able, but as the owners of this locality possess others of superior richness, it
is not likely to be ever called to yield its mineral treasure. The situation is
a pleasant and romantic one. The distance from the town of Colusi is thirty-
five miles, over mostly a smooth and pleasant road. From Clear lake it is
eighteen miles, and over rather a rough country. The Indian name of the
place is Co-no-to-tok, a generic word having reference to the white appearance
of the ground. Mr. Archibald Peachy located a three-hundred-and-twenty-
aere school land warrant on this place in behalf of the borax company. After
satisfying myself with the examination of this interesting spot, noting nothing
of interest save a ' soda spring,' the water being impregnated to a remarkable
degree with carbonic acid gas, about eight miles from the lake. A chemical test
also detected boracic acid in smajl quantity. The following day we reached
the 'Hill of White Powder,' the goal of our hopes, on the margin of Clear *
lake. This « White Powder Hill,' the goal of our hopes, proved an illustration
of how little the recollections of mere casual observers are to be depended
upon. The hill, in place of "consisting of materials in a state of disintegration,
so as to admit of being ' shoveled up,' as my friend supposed, proved to be a
concrete volcanic mass, bleached white by sulphurous fumes, and looking, at a
little distance, like a huge mass of slaked lime, which the inattentive ob-
server might readily suppose to be a 'hill of white powder.' The hope of a
treasure in the form of borate of lime vanished forever.
" The road had been rather toilsome, the weather exceedingly hot, and my
guide not very well ; and as he had gone the full length of the contemplated
journey, and felt somewhat disgusted at the result so far, and had nothing
more to draw his attention in this direction, he proposed to return at once by
the way of the- Irishman's 'borax lake' and Vanbibber's nitre 'placer. This
was agreed upon ; so, collecting a few specimens of efflorescent matters from
the ground, and filling a bottle with the water in the ravine, I closed the ex-
amination of the ' Hill of White Powder.' The ravkie I afterwards called the
" boracic acid ravine," and the white hill is now called ' Sulphur Bank.' Of
these I shall have occasion to speak hereafter.
" Before leaving the neighborhood I determined, however, to know something
more of its surroundings. 1 learned, upon inquiry of Mr. Hawkins, who lives
near the spot, that a place not far off, known by the name of « Alkali lake/
presented a rather peculiar appearance. Hawkins consented to act as my
guide. After travelling a short distance, and clambering to the narrow edge
of an almost precipitous mountain ridge, we looked down the opposite slope,
equally steep, on a small muddy lake that sent up, even to our elevated posi-
tion, no pleasant perfumes. Thus, on one of the hottest days September ever
produced, without a breath of air to dilute the exquisite scent exhaled from
two hundred acres of fragrant mud, of an untold depth, I slid down the
mountain side into ' Alkali lake,' waded knee-deep into its eoapy margin,
and filled a bottle with the most diabolical watery compound this side the
Dead Sea. Gathering a few specimens of the matter encrusting the shore, I
hastened to escape from a spot very far from being attractive at the time, but
which 1 have since learned to have no prejudice against. Of this place 1 shall
182 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Lave occasion to say more. On my return to Hawkins's, who had the kind-
ness to entertain me with the genuine hospitality of a frontiersman, I looked to
iny last specimens and found encouraging results in the partial chemical ex
animation I was able to give them. I now again placed myself under the
guidance of my friend Lewis, and we started for the Irishman's house in Beai
valley. We found the owner of the ' borax lake,' but the borax had evap-
orated with the water and left nothing but common salt, tinged of a beautiful
bluish red color, which I suppose had given the notion that it was something
out of the usual way. It was the only specimen of salt I remember to have
seen in the coast range that contained no boracic acid in any form ; it was
guiltless of even a trace. The next step was to examine the nitre region.
Major Vanbibber, the reputed discoverer, being a grandson of Daniel Boone,
ought to possess, one would suppose, an hereditary knowledge of one of the
essential constituents of gunpowder ; and as Colonel Lewis had shown me a
specimen of very pure nitre, which he said the Major had given him, I rather
expected to find a lew more left. This, however, was rather worse than the
' borax lake ' disappointment ; the major had actually forgotten where the
lake was, and whether there were any more specimens than those he gave
Lewis. The major, I believe, must really have forgotten, for upon subsequent
examination the specimen proved to be refined saltpetre that undoubtedly came
from some shop or drug store.
" There was certainly a mistake about its origin ; but I felt amply repaid for
a hard day's ride in spending a night under the hospitable roof of a direct de-
scendant- of the renowned 'Backwoodsman of Kentucky.' I observed near
the major's house a small pond. Some salt crystals I picked up had the pecu-
liar bevelled angles indicating the presence of borax. The quantity was in-
considerable. Thus ended my first expedition to Clear lake. We here set our
faces direct for Colusi, as there seemed nothing more to be seen ; and as I had
engaged the horses we rode at rather a high per diem, I felt anxious to termi-
nate the trip. From Colusi my guide returned to Sacramento and I to Red
Bluff ; from there I came again to San Francisco, for the purpose of testing my
specimens more critically than I was able to do in the country.
" Convinced of the lichuess of my ' Alkali lake' specimens, it remained to be
seen whether the quantity was sufficient to justify the hope of making it avail-
able for practical purposes. A further and more strict examination was neces-
sary. I felt, too, the propriety of a thorough exploration betwixt the Bluff
and Clear lake, and more thence to the bay of Sail Francisco, thus rendering
continuous the reconnoissance from Pitt river to the last-named point, a dis-
tance, in a direct line, of two hundred miles. After a hard struggle for the
funds requisite, I returned to Red Bluff ; and from thence, in company with my
son, commenced a pretty thorough examination of the coast range and the ad-
joining edge of the Sacramento valley.
" Nothing of much importance presented itself until reaching a saline district,
about eighty miles south of Red Bluff. It is one of the branches of Stony
creek. Valuable salt springs exist here. The water contains the borates in
minute quantities ; and one spring was remarkable for the enormous proportion
of iodine salts held in solution. In our slow, onward progress borax now and
again manifested itself; but as it had grown familiar, I no longer went into
ecstacies over a mere trace. I still treated, however, the slightest indications
with due deference, and noted their localities.
" In due time I again reached the ' white hill.' The disgust of the first disap-
pointment had worn off', and I felt disposed to re-examine the locality more
critically. I now discovered, for the first time, that the 'white hill' was
mostly a mass of sulphur, fused by volcanic heat. The external dust, com-
posed of sulphur, mixed with sand and earthy impurities, and formed a concrete
covering of a whitish appearance, hiding the nature of the mass beneath. On
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 183
breaking the crust, numerous fissures and small cavities, lined with sulphur
crystals of great beauty, were brought to light. Through the fissures, which
seemed to communicate with the depth below, hot aqueous vapors and sulphur-
ous fumes constantly escape. The fused mass, covering many acres and ex-
hibiting a bluff iront some forty feet high, is exceedingly compact and pon-
derous in structure; of various shades, from yellow to almost black. It seems
to be very pure sulphur. The quantity is enormous, and at no distant day may
be made available,
"From the ' sulphur bank ' I again turned my attention to the ravine. The
water, as I had before ascertained, was strongly impregnated with boracic acid,
in a- free state. The stream is small, yielding only about three gallons per
minute, and is soon lost in the sandy soil, in its progress toward the margin of
the lake. From the porous nature of the ground surrounding the spring, and
saturated with the same kind of acid water, it is probable a large quantity escapes
without making its appearance on the surface. The soil for some yards on either
side of the ravine is, to the depth of an inch or two impregnated with boracic
acid in summer. Sulphuretted hydrogen escapes in continued bubbles through
the water, a feature common to all the borax localities I have yet found ; in
some places, however, the carburetted takes the place of the sulphuretted hydro-
gen. The head of this ravine is about three hundred yards from the margin of
lear lake, winding around the base of the 'sulphur bank,' receiving some
small springs in its course, which seem to have their origin beneath the sulphur.
The flat land bordering the lake, some eight acres in extent, through which the
ravine runs, shows a strong impregnation of boracic acid in its soil. The point
where the ravine enters the lake is marked by a large quantity of water of a
boiling temperature, issuing through the sand, a little within the margin of the
lake. This percolation of hot water covers an area of one hundred and fifty by
seventy-five feet. This fact I observed on my second visit, but not until the
third or fourth visit did I ascertain that the water contained a considerable quan-
tity of borax, along with an access of boracic acid. From a gallon I obtained
four hundred and eighty-eight grains of solid matter, consisting of borax, boracic
acid, and a small portion of silicons and other earthy impurities. On digging
to a slight depth just outside the lake, the hot water burst up and ran off freely.
From one of these places a stream issued of sixty gallons per minute. I have
estimated the entire quantity at three hundred gallons per minute, and feel very
confident of being largely within bounds. The stream seems to come from the
direction of the sulphur bank, and it would probably be easy to intercept it be-
fore it enters the lake, by digging a little above high-water mark. It may be
well to note here, that the difference between high and low water marks in Clear
lake is never more than three feet.
" The enormous amount of borax these springs are capable of yielding would
equal half the quantity of that article consumed both in England and America.
The large quantity of water in which it is dissolved would, of course, involve
the necessity of extensive works for evaporation. Graduation, as a cheap and
effective method of evaporation, would be exceedingly applicable here, from the
continued prevalence of winds throughout the entire year. These winds blow-
ing almost unceasingly from the west, form a peculiar feature of the country
about Clear lake.
"There is nothing to hinder the manufacture of many million pounds of borax
per annum, at a cost but little beyond that of producing salt by graduation.
Fuel for final evaporation could be had in any quantities from the extensive oak
forest in the immediate vicinity. With these observations I dismiss this locality,
adding, however, that Mr. Joseph G. Baldwin located this with a four hundred
and eighty acre school land warrant, for the benefit of a borax company.
" Having wandered from my story of my second visit to the ' sulphur bank,'
and blended with it observations made in several subsequent examinations, I
184 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
now turn to my second' visit to ' Alkali lake, or Lake Kaysa, as the Indian?
call it. I need only say, however, I became fully satisfied of the great value
of the locality, the extent of which has only been recently developed. I ob-
served that the lake itself contained but little water, but that wells dug any-
where near its margin immediately filled with the same kind of water ; the con-
clusion, therefore, was, Vhat an almost inexhaustible supply was obtainable. I
learned, too, that what seemed to be mud at the margin and shelving off and
covering the entire bottom to the depth of some feet, was a peculiar jelly-like
substance of a soapy feel and smell. This matter I found to be so rich in borax,
that I supposed it might be advantageously used for the extraction of the mine-
ral. Thus satisfied of the value of the lake, I little thought that within a few
yards of me lay an additional value in the form of millions of pounds of pure
borax crystals, hidden by the jelly-like substance I was then contemplating.
This important fact was not observed until some six months afterwards.
" This locality is by far the most important of any I have yet discovered. It
is situated, as may be seen by reference to the accompanying map, in the angle
formed by the two prongs into which Clear lake is divided at its eastern extremity.
The. elevated hill land that fills the angle separates into two sharp ridges, each
following its division of the lake and leaving a valley between, of a triangular
shape, near the apex of which lies Alkali lake. Clear lake is, therefore, on two
sides of it, distant to the north about a mile, and to the south about half the
distance. The open part of the triangular plain looks to the east, and expands
into an extensive valley, from which it is cut off, partially, by a low volcanic
ridge running across from one hill to the other, and thus enclosing the triangle
" This ridge is composed of huge masses of rock resembling pumice-stone,
which float like cork in water. A thin stratum of ashy-looking soil, scattered
over with obsidian fragments, covers the ridge and affords root to a stunted
growth of manzanita shrubs.
" The whole neighborhood bears marks of comparatively recent volcanic ac-
tion. Indeed, the action has not ceased entirely yet ; hot sulphurous fumes
issue from several places on the edge of the ridge just named, on the side next
Alkali lake.
" The ' lake,' as it is called, is rather a marsh than a lake. In winter it
covers some two hundred acres, with about three feet depth of water. ' In the
dry portion of the year it shrinks to some fifty or sixty acres, with a depth of
only a few inches. The ' soapy matter ' covers the entire "extent with a depth
of nearly four feet, the upper part, for a foot in depth, being in a state of semi-
fluidity, the lower having the consistency of stiff mortar. Beneath this is a
rather tenacious blue clay. This water was nearly as highly charged with
solid matter as that of the lake in its highest summer concentration ; the pro-
portion of borax to other substances being greater. The soapy or gelatinous
matter, however, presents the greatest feature of attraction, being filled with the
prismatic crystals of pure borax. They vary, from a microscopic size up to the
weight of several ounces. These crystals are semi-transparent, of a whitish or
yellowish color. The form is an oblique rhomboidal prism, with replaced edges
and truncated angles. In some cases the edges are bevelled, and in others the un-
modified hexahedral prism exists. Beneath the gelatinous matter, and on the
surface of the blue clay, and from sixteen to eighteen inches in it, crystals
of a similar form, but much larger, are found. They weigh from an ounce,
and seem to have been formed under different circumstances from the
other crystals. My first impression was that they had been formed in the
upper stratum, and, sinking by their own gravity, had found their present posi-
tion. An examination proves, however, that they were formed where they lie,
as particles of the blue clay are found enclosed in their centres, which could not
have been the case had the upper crystals been their nuclea, for no blue matter
is ever found in them.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 185
" The first inquiry of practical interest relates to the quantity of borax already
formed. On this subject I cannot speak with perfect confidence. The quan-
tity is very considerable, but I do not lock on the experiments heretofore made
to test this matter as conclusive. The area covered by the crystalline deposit
is not coextensive with that of the lake, but has been found over a space oi
about twenty acres in the examination made so far. A very valuable collateral
product, iodine, with the compounds of which the water seems to be exceed-
ingly rich, could be made a source of revenue with but little additional expense.
"With regard to the quantity of iodine I cannot speak positively, not having
isolated the product ; but from the brilliant reaction with the qualitative tests,
there can be no doubt of its being great. Should this article be manufactured
largely the sulphuric acid required might be made on the spot from the pro-
ducts of the ' sulphur bank,' one and a half mile distant. With this I leave
' Alkali lake.' I would state that I located this place in my own name for
the company.
"' There is yet another important boras locality in the same vicinity, resem-
bling much the foregoing in its more prominent features. It consists of a pond
of water of about twenty acres. The bottom is covered with the same soap-
like substance, but seems to contain no crystals. The water contains less solid
matter in solution, but the percentage of borax is greater in proportion to the
other substances than in the Alkali lake. The borax separates readily by
crystallization, and forms about thirty -three per cent, of the whole matter. Like
the foregoing, this pond has no outlet and no visible source of supply ; yet it is
said never to be dry, although the water is never more than three feet deep.
It would perhaps be a profitable source of borax if the millions of pounds the
before-described localities are capable of yielding be not enough to supply the
demand. It is in the midst of a magnificent grove of pines and oaks. This
place was taken by Mr. Archibald Peachy, by the location of a three-hundred-
and-twenty-acre school land warrant. The borates are also known to exist in other
localities between Clear lake and Napa City. In Siegler valley there is a hot
spring, in the waters of which 1 detected borate of strontia and other borate
salts. Near Napa there is a borate spring, and one in Suisan valley, near the
marble quarry. None of these places are important. The foregoing are the
only borax localities known in the northern part of this State ; and I feel con-
fident there are no others in that quarter that can ever compete with the inex-
haustible stores of the Alkali lake and the hot springs. I had expected to find
something worthy of attention at or in the neighborhood of the geysers, but
there was no trace of borates in the hot waters of those springs, nor anywhere
totally in the surrounding district. The geological features of the country were so
different from those of that where I had theretofore found the borates, that I was
able to predict as soon as I saw it that nothing of the kind existed. In a hasty
reconnoissance of the great Tulare valley I found traces, but nothing more, of
these substances. I have reasons for doubting the existence of any largo
quantities in that region. That portion of the valley bordering on the Coast
range might be worth examining further. It is there, if] anywhere, valuable
deposits may be looked for.
" There probably are as many as three districts in the lower part of the State
presenting the borates. One or more valuable localities may probably be found
among them."
4.— PRODUCT OF BORAX IN CALIFORNIA.
Up to this date but one borax company has been formed in California. There
was some talk of organizing another company eight or nine months since, the
parties interested having discovered on the shores of Owen's lake, in the southern
part of the State, a substance resembling the borate of lime of South America
186 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
but an analysis of some specimens and of the waters of the lake showing no
trace of borax, the project was abandoned. The California Borax Company is
the only company on this coast of which I have any knowledge. This company
produces at present about two tons of crude crystals daily. Their process is
simple, the entire machinery consisting of six small coffer-dams, six feet square
each, open at top and bottom. By means of floats these coffer-dams are sunk
in the mud ; the water is then bailed out, and the finer crystals extracted by
washing, as in placer gold-washing.
5.— PROCESS OF WORKING.
The mud taken from different parts of the lake after the crystals have been
extracted in this primitive way give, by analysis, from 11.9 to 18.7 per cent of
prismatic borax, and from virgin mud, partially dried, from which the borax has not
been extracted, a result of 31^ crystallized borax is obtained. Several tons
of the mud, which had been worked over by the coffer-dams, were treated prac-
tically by lixiviation, and gave the following results :
Fine prismatic borax, 15 per cent. ; carbonate of soda, 28J per cent. ; common
ealt, 8J percent.; equal to 51f per cent, -Thus yielding in the three salts more
than one-half the weight of the whole. The mud partially dried lixiviates easily,
and the salts are separated without difficulty.
When the company's works are completed the present mode of production
will be discontinued.
The fine crystals are found in the upper layer or stratum of soft mud to the
depth of about six feet. They dissolve easily, and are subsequently reformed in
large crystals by the process of boiling and crystallization. Below the first stra-
tum is a stiff, blue mud containing the largest crystals, which are picked out by
band, the mud being too stiff to be treated by washing. The quantity ob-
tained by the present process could be increased by increasing the number of
coffer-dams. This has not been done for the reason that the company have been
engaged during the summer in the erection of expensive works for the treatment
of the mud by lixiviation, having found by analysis and by actual experiment
that for every pound taken out by the coffer-dam washing process fourteen or
fifteen pounds go back into the lake, where it is held in solution or in minute
crystals by the liquid mud. It is expected that they will be in successful opera-
tion by next spring, when, it is confidently anticipated, the 'capabilities for pro-
duction will be practically unlimited.
Borax lake covers two hundred and nineteen acres in the latter part of the
summer.* At other seasons it covers quite four hundred acres, of which about
three hundred acres may be considered as borax ground. The average depth
of the water is about two and a half feet. It is the mud, -however, which con-
tains the borax in large quantities. The first eight and a half feet average 15
per cent, borax, 28 per cent, carbonate of soda, and 8^ per cent, common salt.
Below the depth of eight and a half feet the smallness of the coffer-dams has pre-
vented their working, hence it is not known how much further down this high
average will continue. At the depth of sixty feet the mud brought up by an
artesian borer give by analysis but 3.51 per cent, of borax*. The intermediate
points between eight and a half and sixty feet have not yet been tested. The
artesian borer was sent up for the purpose of testing the ground at all depths,
but, being worked by inexperienced hands, was broken on the first trial after
having reached the depth of sixty feet.
An estimate of average workings shows that twenty cubic feet of mud will
yield one ton, so that taking the number of square feet to the acre, the numbei
of fert already tested, and the percentage of borax contained in the mud, an
approximate idea may be formed of the value of this deposit.
* Report of United States surveyor general of California.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 187
The company estimate that if the crystallization which is going on all the
time were to cease suddenly, they would still have a deposit of at least two
thousand tons of borax and eight thousand tons of carbonate of soda to the
acre.
Besides the innumerable boracic springs -which find an outlet in the bed of the
lake, there are other springs on the same property which deposit boracic acid
over a large surface of ground. These are not worked for the reason that the
lake furnishes the borax itself in such great abundance.
Under the impression that the total consumption of borax in Great Britain
was less than 2,500 tons per annum, the company proposed, limiting the capa-
city of their works to about eight tons a day. Recent information, however,
satisfies them that the actual consumption in Great Britain is upwards of 11,000
tons. They profess to be able to place borax in London cheaper than it can be
manufactured there, which, at the lowest estimate, is five cents per pound. The
carbonate of soda will pay the cost of production.
The cost of labor at borax lake is $31 per month. The laborers employed
are Chinese, and they find themselves. Fuel is abundant all over the hillsides.
Transportation to the bay of San Francisco is $15 per ton.
In 1865 this company exported 1,707 cases of borax, valued at $38,765; and
during the first nine months of 1866 they have exported 1,998 cases, valued at
$42,235, and there is a steadily increasing demand for it in the markets of the
Atlantic States, as its great purity is becoming known. The imports of this
article on this coast have nearly ceased since this California product has been
introduced. The superintendent of the mint, all the assayers and manufac-
turers who use this article in their operations, combine in stating that it is far
better than any imported.
There are several lakes among the Sierra Nevadas in the States of California
and Nevada, the waters of which contain large quantities of boracic acid in so-
lution. But the only place on the coast, if not in the world, where it is found
in a crystalline form in such abundance, is in the coast range.
6.— DEPOSITS OF SULPHUR.
There are sulphur deposits in many parts of the State, but only one thus
far has been worked successfully — that belonging to the Borax Company, near
Clear lake, which has been in operation about four months. The capacity of
the present refinery is from six to ten tons per day, depending on the variable
quality of the material worked.
Along the entire base of the sulphur hills flow innumerable boracic acid
springs. Near the shores of the lake are boiling springs of borax.
7.— TIN.
[From the Geological Survey of California, vol. I, page 180, by Prof. J. D. Whitney.]
The Temescal range was, in 1860 and 1861, the scene of a great excitement
on the subject of tin, whicft metal was supposed to occur here in large quantity,
hundreds of claims being taken up, covering all the hills and ridges for miles
around. *Tin ore was undoubtedly found at one locality in these hills and in
considerable quantity, as specimens of it have been seen in various collections
from San Francisco to New York. The ore, which appears to be a mixture of
cassiterite, (tin stone, or oxide of tin,) with more or less earthy or mineral
matter, resembling a mixture of hydrous oxides of iron and manganese, is quite
unlike in appearance to any previously seen, and its true character would hardly
have been recognized by the most practiced mineralogist. Some specimens,
assayed in New York and Boston, gave as much as 60 per cent, of the metal.
The locality from v/hich this ore was obtained was the so-called Cajalco
188 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
mine, about three miles north of the Temescal ranch-house. Here a shaft had
been sunk, in the winter of J860-?61, to the depth of thirty-six feet; but it was
partly filled with water and inaccessible at the time of our visit. A great num-
ber of the claims taken up in this vicinity were visited. They seemed nearly
all to be located on seams or streaks of dark hornblende running irregularly
through the granitic and highly metamorphic rocks. Although there was no
appearance of tin about any of these, or any signs of regularity in the "leads,"
a great many specimens were collected and carefully assayed for tin, without
there being a trace of that metal found in any one of them. The excitement
has undoubtedly long since died away, and it is not probable that the mass of
the ore in the Cajalco mine was very extensive, or more would have been heard
of it before this time.* At all events, it is a singular and interesting occurrence
of this metal, and we know of no other locality on the Pacific coast north of
Mexico where tin ore has been found in place. A single fragment of this sub-
stance was given us, apparently under circumstances justifying credence in the
discovery, as having been found loose in the soil in the northern part of the State,
near Weaversville ; but the vein from which it was derived has probably never
been discovered, as such a fact could have hardly failed to become widely
known.
A belt of limestone crosses through Temescal valley, as was recognized from
the occurrence of numerous fragments of this rock on the surface. The bed
itself we were unable to discover. It is of a light brown color, semi-crystalline
in texture, and contains minute organic bodies, of which the exact nature could
not be made out.
8.— COAL.
SIR: In accordance with your request, I herewith submit a report on the
coal mines of the west coast of North America, the character of the coal, the
present condition of the mining interests, and a table of statistics of the amount
consumed in San Francisco during the last six years. The latter item is prac-
tically a statement of the actual yield of our domestic mines, inasmuch as San
Francisco is almost the only market, the outside consumption barely amounting
to ten per cent, of the amount used in this city.
I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. M. GABB.
J. Ross BROWNE, Esq.
Mr. GabVs Report.
The great coal-bearing formations of the world, those from which the coals
of Pennsylvania and the Mississippi valley are obtained, are not represented
on the Pacific slope of the North American continent. It is not to be under-
stood, however, that the carboniferous formation is the only one in which valu-
able deposits of coal have been found. Every one of the great groups of rocks
has been found to yield coal in workable quantities in some part of the world.
The brown coal of Germany, of nearly the same geological age as that of the
Oregon mines, has been worked for many years with profit. So also the cre-
taceous coal of California has its analogue in New Zealand. In the older
formations, the Jurassic, triassic, and permian rocks, intermediate in age between
the coals of California and those of the great coal-fields of the Atlantic slope,
all yield their stores of carbonized plants to the mirier, whether under the name
of coal or lignite.
The coal deposits of the Pacific may b^ divided into two distinct groups,
* The cause of the suspension of operations on these mines, as alleged by persons living
in Los Angeles county and familiar with the circumstances attending the discovery, is that
the claims are in litigation. J. R. B.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 189
geologically. The older, including all of the workable coals of California, as
well as that of Washington Territory and Vancouver island, belongs to the
cretaceous formation, the analogue of the white chalk of England. This
formation consists here of two members, the older of which contains the north-
ern coal deposits ; and, although it exists in California, making a large portion
of the coast range, it is, so far as known, in this State entirely barren of coal.
The upper group, on the other hand, is not found outside of the limits of Cali-
fornia, is confined almost exclusively to the coast range, and is the coal-bearing
formation of this State.
The other group is the miocene or middle tertiary formation. This group of
rocks- is one of the most widely spread on this side of the continent, and is
known, so far, to exist from the Russian possessions on the north to Cape San,
Lucas on the south. In a thousand places along this vast extent it contains
small seams of coal, well marked enough to deceive the ignorant prospector,
but never of sufficient extent to be practically valuable, except in a single
locality in the State of Oregon.
Before proceeding further, it would, perhaps, be well to glance in detail at
the several localities on this coast that have yielded coal in profitable quantities.
The number of these localities is small, though, doubtless, an increased demand,
combined with a diminished cost of labor, will increase their number.
Bellingham bay, in almost the extreme northwestern corner of Washington
Territory, is the site of one of the largest and best mines on this side of the
continent. The deposit consists of about fourteen feet in thickness of coal and
slate, of which I was informed that about nine feet were available for mining.
The coal itself, as compared with other coals of the coast, is of fair quality, the
greatest drawback being the occasional presence of sulphur, rendering it un-
pleasant for domestic purposes. The position of the mine, with reference to the
harbor, is excellent. The mouth of the mine is barely over a fourth of a mile
from the vessels in the harbor in which the coal is shipped. The coal is, there-
fore, only handled in the mine and while being picked in the coal-house, thereby
avoiding much of the breakage to which soft coals are subjected by repeated
handlings. The vein dips at a high angle, and all of the coals and the water
have to be extracted by expensive machinery.
At Nanaimo, on Vancouver island, about seventy miles above Victoria, there
is a deposit of the same geological age as that at Bellingham bay, and which
has been worked extensively. This mine was originally owned and worked by
the Hudson Bay Company. About 1863 it was sold to a company called the
Vancouver Island Coal Company. The appliances about the mine are of the
most substantial and convenient kind, and the working of the mine was, at the
time of my visit, a model of good engineering. The coal is claimed to be su-
perior to any other produced on the coast, and commands a higher price in the
San Francisco market than any other west coast coal.
Many other deposits of coal exist along the shores of the Straits of Fuca and
Puget sound. Most of these are, however, either so inaccessible or so small
that, with the present costs of labor and transportation, they can hardly prove
profitable. An exception to this remark may exist in the Straits of Fuca mine,
near Clallam bay, Washington Territory, opened within the last year or two.
It is claimed that this is a really good mine. It will certainly need to have an
extensive deposit of good coal to be of the slightest value on that inhospitable
coast.
Coming southward, the next region of any importance is Coos bay. As
stated above, the coal of this locality is of tertiary age. The deposit does not
seem to be very extensive, and it is so located that but a small portion of it
can be worked. Most of the coal lies under heavy rolling hills at a great depth
from the surface. One mine — the Newport or Flanagan mine — has been worked
in a small way for eight or nine years with very satisfactory results. Upwards
190 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
of thirty thousand tons of coal have been shipped to San Francisco, and sold
there at a price above the current average price of west coast coals. The de-
posit consists of three veins, separated by only a few inches of soft claystone,
and making an aggregate thickness of eight to nine feet of good compact coal,
with almost no slate or bone coal.
The deposit is nearly horizontal, dipping towards the mouth of the mine
with only sufficient angle to permit unassisted drainage, and the running out of
the cars by gravity. No hoisting or pumping gear has ever been or ever will
be used in this mine. The coal is carried seven-eighths of a mile in cars to a
wharf, where it is shot into lighters and carried a mile thence to the vessel in
which it is shipped to San Francisco. Were the railroad extended so as to
avoid lighterage, and the expense and loss consequent on the repeated handlings
of the coal, and were the coal, shipped in steam vessels devoted exclusively to
this trade, instead of being carried by the one or two hundred tons at a time in
lumber vessels, this mine might be made the most profitable, as well as the most
popular, on the coast.
Many localities of coal are known in interior Oregon — as, for instance, on the
McKenzie fork, of the Willamette river ; the vicinity of Eugene City ; several
places in the valley of the main Columbia, &c., &c. ; but interior coal mines can
never be of practical value in California or Oregon at a distance from railroads
and navigation, unless for local manufacturing purposes, especially in the vicin-
ity of the heavy forests which clothe so much of the surface of Oregon.
In California the coal formation is found over a large area. I have identified
it in the coast ranges from the vicinity of Round valley, Mendocino county, to
New Idria, Monterey county. In the former locality the coal forms a bed about
ten feet thick, very impure, but with one or two seams, of about a foot thick, of
excellent quality. The locality is so inaccessible, however, that it can never be
"of any value. At New Idria, about four miles from the Idria mine, the same
beds occur again, and have been " prospected" to some extent for coal. Here
they exist as beds of clay slates, barely impregnated with a little carbonaceous
matter. Impure as these strata are, they are nevertheless, without doubt, the
exact equivalent of the coal beds of Monte Diablo.
The Monte Diablo mines are located in a range of hills lying north and north-
east of the mountain, along a nearly east and west outcrop. The coal has been
found for five or six miles in a nearly continuous line, although not more than
three miles of this extent has as yet proved of sufficient value to render mining
profitable. The veins have been somewhat disturbed by faults, and I have
reason to believe, from some examinations I made in 1862, that beyond certain
limits they thin out rapidly. This is markedly the case to the west of the Pea-
cock mine.
The deposit in this region consists of two veins, the lower of four feet thick,
known as the "Peacock " or " Cumberland " vein ; the other, of three feet thick,
called the " Clark " vein. These two veins, named after the first mines in which
they were first well explored, are separated by about three hundred feet in thick-
ness of sandstones.
A number of mines have been opened at various points along the outcrops of
the two veins, the principal of which are the Cumberland and Black Diamond,
the Clark, Cruikshanks, Adams, Independent, Manhattan, and Peacock. In
some of these veins work has been suspended, as, for instance, in the Peacock
mine, where the vein was found so much disturbed as to be of little value. In
others, work has been prosecuted with considerable vigor, and, as the shipments
to San Francisco show, with some success. The greatest drawback to the profit-
able working of these mines has been the cost of land carriage from the mines
to a shipping point on the San Joachim river. Formerly the coal was hauled
from the mines to a shipping point on the river, a distance varying from six to
nine miles. Recently, however, two railroads have been completed, one ter-
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 191
initiating at New York, the other near Antioch, thereby very materially dimin-
ishing thn most important expenses to which the proprietors of the mines were
subjected.
High hopes were at one time built on the coal discoveries in Corral Hollow,
some thirty miles south of Monte Diablo, on the east face of the Coast range.
Several mines were opened and much money expended. In fact a small quan-
tity of coal was carried thence to San Francisco, but inasmuch as it has been
ascertained by careful and reliable estimates that every ton of coal thus deliv-
ered in San Francisco had cost the proprietors of the mines over one hundred
dollars, ($1C-0,) the presumption is that the mines are of but little commercial
value. There is here at least one bed of coal of considerable size, but of very
poor quality and variable thickness. Furthermore, it is so broken and twisted
by the disturbing farces to which the rocks of th,e vicinity have been subjected,
that, even were the coal good in quality, the vein could not be relied on.
On the southern slope of the San Gabriel mountains, about thirty-five miles
northeast of Los Angeles, is a locality from which some coal has been obtained.
I saw a ton or more in a blacksmith shop in that city a year ago. It is appa-
rently a little below the average of west-coast coals in quality, is soft, and some-
what impure. So far as I am aware the locality has never been visited by a
geologist, and we have no definite information about it, though the general fea-
tures of the region appear to point to the same geological age for this as for the
Monte Diablo beds.
The distance of this mine from water transportation must render it valueless,
at least to the present generation.
About seven miles northeast from Oroville is a small bed of very impure coal.
The material contains so much earthy matter that it is almost a question of
doubt whether it would not be more proper to describe it as carbonaceous shale
rather than as coal. Of course it is valueless for fuel, though I was informed
in 1864 that it was used successfully in the Oroville gas-works for the manufac-
ture of illuminating gas.
On Eel river, about three or four miles southwest of Round valley, Mendocino
county, is a bed of coal about ten feet thick, striking Hirectly across the bed
of the river and forming a little cascade. The deposit is of the same geological
age as that of Monte Diablo, and although most of it is very impure, it contains
one or two seams, of about a foot thick each, of excellent quality.
It is, however, so far inland and so completely surrounded by high and rough
mountains that it is extremely doubtful if it will ever become practically available.
In addition to the above localities, which have already yielded or can be made
to yield coal in quantity, there are hundreds of places scattered all over Cali-
fornia, especially in the Coast range, where small quantities of coal have been
found, and where, at the same time, there is no possible chance of finding it in
such quantity as to be of value. The miocene rocks contain everywhere small
seams of coal of an inch or more in thickness, which, like" the ignis fatuus, have
led on the unfortunate miner by holding constantly before his eyes the dazzling
promise of a fortune as soon as the "veins come together," or when he shall have
gotten "below the water line" — prospects always in 'she future, often implicitly
believed in, and never realized. The little inch- veins, often very numerous and
quite close together, never unite, but have been known to run parallel for many
yards — in fact, as far as the patience and money of the " prospector" would ex-
tend.
The coals of the west coast are, like all coals of the later geological formations,
soft, more or less friable, and contain considerable water. Compared with true
carboniferous coal, such as Pennsylvanian or English, they give less heat, and
the loss is far greater by breakage in handling.
The following table of analyses of various coals on this coast is extracted from
the report of Professor Whitney, State geologist of California. The professor
192
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TEKRITOKIES
remarks that these analyses were made in 1861 and 1862, and are from speci-
mens taken at no very great depth :
Mount Diablo, California. -
Bellingham bay,
Washington Ter.
Nanaimo, Vancou-
ver's island.
a
o
to
s
O
1
3
i
8
&
o
cJ
5ii
•P
J
«
Cumberland.
&
o
B .
fjj
o
0
Water
13.47
40.36
40. 65
5.52
14.69
33.89
46.84
4.58
13.84
40.27
44. 92
0.97
14.13
37.38
44.55
3.94
20.53
35. 62
36.35
7.50
8.39
33.26
45.69
12.66
2.98
32.16
46.31
18.55
20.09
32. 59
41.98
5.34
Bituminous substances - . .
Fixed carbon
Ash
It will be observed that there is a great similarity between all of the coals
produced on this coast. There is probably, however, one weak point in the
table. The, Nanaimo coal is here shown to have a very large quantity of ash as
compared with the California and Oregon coals. It is not improbable that the
analysis may have been based on a poorer specimen than the average, though
Professor Whitney assures me that it looked like a fair sample.
The subjoined table exhibits the amount of coal received in San Francisco
since the year 1860. It does not, however, give the full yield of all the mines,
inasmuch as small quantities of our domestic coals are shipped to inland towns
and used in the vicinity of the mines. It will be seen, however, that, small as
the figures are, the demand is steadily increasing, and the facilities are good for
supplying this demand for many years to come :
Imports of coal into San Francisco since 1860.
1860.
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
1865.
1st 9 montKs
1865.
1st 9 months
1866.
Foreign coals —
Tons.
7,650
6,655
6,640
1,900
Tons.
23. 370
6. 475
23, 565
12,, 495
Tons.
12, 590
8,870
16, 0:35
5,110
Tons.
16, 890
5.745
14! 660
1,790
'Ton's.
21, 160
12, 785
18, 330
2, 323
Tons.
17,610
16, 190
9, 655
1,410
810
Tons.
9,144
•8, 551
5, 959
Casks.
1
Tons. ; Casks.
34,484 j
7,1.80 !..
5.131 i
1,480 i
Vancouver
English
Chili
Unspecified
•
Eastern-
Am hracite
Cumberland
Domestic —
Belling-haui bay. . .
Coos bay
Monte Diablo
23, 045
65, 905
42, 625
39,085
54, 600
45, 675 23, 654
48,375 !
34, 985
5,970
40, 955
26, 060
2,975
36, 685
4,970
41, 655
38, 660
5,670
41, 680
7, 275
48, 955
22,585
4, 230
20, 638
20
2,858"
6,293
6, 834 3, 604
29. 035
44, 330
26, 815
20, 658
2, 858
13, 127 3, 604
5,490
3, 145
10, 055
4. 630
6,620
10,050
2,815
23, 400
7.750
1,185
43, 200
11, 845
1 200
37, 450
13, 700
1,500
58, 560
8,000
1,300
39, 848
9 590
2,500
54,087
Grand total...
8,635
21,305 36,265
52, 135
50, 495
74, 760
49. 148
1 66,177
72, 635
116, 245
120, 545
135, 550
154, 050
147, 250
93, 460
2,558
127,679 j 3,604
9.--IKON.
In consequence of the present high price of fuel and labor, the development
of the iron resources of the Pacific coast has not received as much attention aa
their magnitude and importance demand. There are numberless extensive de*
posits of all descriptions of iron ores in all the States and Territories on the
coast. Thus far there has been but one furnace erected for the reduction of
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 193
this ore to metal. This establishment is located near St. Helens, within a short
distance of the Columbia river, in Oregon, where there is an exceedingly fine
body of ore, conveniently located with reference to fuel and water transporta-
tion. Arrangements are in progress for the erection of similar works in other
places. One is in course of construction in Sierra county, California, about
fifteen miles above Downieville, where there is a very large body of ore, which
assays from 60 to 75 per cent. There is some talk of erecting a smelting works
in the vicinity of San Francisco for the purpose of reducing the grains of
specular iron ore found in great abundance among the eand on the shores of
the bay.
The consumption of pig-iron in California is rapidly increasing, as the demands
for machinery multiply,
In 1859 the foundries at San Francisco consumed 5, 000 tons.
1860 do do ....... 6, 500 do.
1861 do do 6,500 do.
1862 do do 5, 000 do.
1863 do...' do 10,000 do.
1864 do do 14,000 do.
1865 do do 20,000 do.
1866 do do 20,000 do.
There is probably as much more used in the interior of that State, Nevada,
and Oregon.
LIST OF THE ORES OF METALS FOUND ON THE PACIFIC COAST.
Copper, silver, antimony, manganese, iron, lead, arsenic, magnesium, tin, ziac,
bismuth, molybdenum, chromium, tellurium, mercury, nickel, cobalt.
NON-METALLIC MINERALS.
Marble, alabaster, sulphate of lime, carbonate of lime, kaolin, pipe-clay,
fullers' earth, sulphur, borax, fire-clay, soapstones, asbestos, lithographers'
stone, petroleum, asphaltum, salt, alum, emery, coal, blacklead.
BUILDING MATERIALS.
Granites, sandstones, limestones and marbles, slates, brick clays, &c.
GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES.
Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, amethysts, garnets, beryl, topaz, agates, jaspers,
cornelians, opals, sapphires, egmarin, &c.
SECTION 8.
MINING KBGION, POPULATION, ALTITUDE, ETC.
1. Mining region and mining population. — 2. Main divisions.— 3. Altitudes.— 4. Climatft, —
5. Capacity to maintain a large population. — 6. Number of miners. — 7. Timber.
1.— THE MINING BEGION AND THE MINING POPULATION.
All that portion of our continent west of the Kocky mountains is, we may
say in general terms, rich in minerals, and especially in gold, silver, and cop-
per. The western slope of Mexico has produced more silver during the last
three hundred years than all the rest of the world. Arizona has rich placers
and valuable veins of silver and copper; Nevada has silver; California,' gold,
silver, and copper; Oregon, gold; Idaho, .gold and silver; Montana and British
Columbia, gold. The lower part of the basin of the Columbia and the upper
H. Ex. Doc. 29 13
194 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
part of the basin of the Colorado are comparatively poor. The richest mines in
the interior basin are of silver- the richest iu the basins that open to the sea
are of gold.
2.— MAIN DIVISIONS.
The American territory on the Pacific slope has an area of 900,000 square
miles, and is divided by well marked topographical features into four main
divisions :
1. The coast, which includes a strip about 150 miles Vide, west of the Sierra
Nevada and Cascade mountains.
2. The basin of the Colorado, which includes all of Arizona and the eastern
and southern parts of Utah.
3. The basin of the upper Columbia, which includes nearly all of Idaho and
portions of Oregon, Washington Territory, Utah, and Montana.
4. The interior basin, which includes most of Nevada and Utah and parts of
Oregon and Idaho.
These divisions, or basins, are separated from one another by high mountain
ranges, but the only divide which has been carefully traced and laid down on
the maps is that east of the coast basin. The ridges which separate the interior
basin from, the Columbia on the north, and from the Colorado on the south,
have not been precisely laid down. The interior basin is divided up into a
number of independent minor basins, all of which are high, arid, and, in their
natural condition, desolate; although there are a few valleys which by the hand
of man have been irrigated and cultivated. Along the coast considerable quan-
tities of rain fall; the surface of the earth is, in the low lands, covered by a
deep mould, and there is a luxurious vegetation, especially in Oregon and
Washington, where the forests, on the mountains are so dense that there is little
hope for the discovery of -minerals among them. But in the basins of the in-
terior, the upper Columbia and the Colorado, there is little mould or vegetation ;
the mountains are steep, the rocks are bare, and mineral veins are readily found
and traced.
The poverty of the country in agricultural resources is the cause of one of
its great advantages for mining.
3.-ALTITUDES.
The American mining regions of the Pacific slope, like most of those else-
where, are mountainous. The gold mines of California are at various eleva-
tions— from 500 to 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. The Sierra Nevada
rises in many places to a height of 9,000 feet, or even more; and from the
comb of the ridge to the level land of the valley, the distance in a direct line
is from forty to fifty miles; and the descent of the streams, with all their bends,
is more than a hundred feet to the mile. With the rapidity of current conse-
quent on such a descent, they have worn very deep channels, leaving steep and
high intermediate hills. It is on the side of the mountains thus cut into great
canons that most of the mining of California is done. The average elevation
of the placers of the Sacramento basin may be estimated at 2,000 feet. The
lowest mining towns never have snow or ice for more than a day or two at a
time, while in the highest the snow lies every year four or five months; and
racing on snow-shoes is one of the common winter amusements. The mines in
the valley of Klamath river are at an elevation of about 2,500 feet. The silver
mines of Kearsarge, in California, are 10,000 feet above the sea. The silver
mines of Alpine county are 6,000 feet high. The mines on the Comstock lode
are from 5,500 to 6,500 feet high. The Eeese River mines have an elevation
of about 7,000 feet. The Idaho mines vary in height from 3,000 to 6,000 feet,
The mines of Arizona are at various elevations — from 300 to 3,000 feet. Those
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 195
on the banks of the Colorado river are probably as near the level of the sea as
any in the world. The quicksilver mine of New Almaden is 1,000 feet above
the sea.
The following are the elevations in feet above the sea of some of the principal
mining tewns :
Placerville 1, 800
Auburn 1, 200
. Dutch flat 2, 943
Nevada, California . . ^ 2, 573
Brandy City 3, 592
Eureka, Sierry county t , . 5, 223
Sierra Buttes mine 7, 000
Nelson's Point 3, 858
Quincy ". 3, 500
Shasta City 1, 159
Murphy's 2, 201
Silver Mountain 6, 516
Markleville 6, 306
Mogul f. 8, 650
Silver City 4, 911
Virginia City, Nevada 6, 205
Como, Nevada 6, 600
Colorado, at Mohave crossing 356
Great Salt Lake city v . 4, 351
Herschel lays down the rule that the temperature sinks one degree of Fah-
renheit for each 350 feet of elevation.*
' 4:— CLIMATE.
In the coal mining districls of Monte Diablo, and at the quicksilver mine of New
Alinaden, the climate is very mild and equable. The sea breeze is felt nearly
every summer day, and a temperature of 90° is rare. The heat of the sun's
rays is broken by the cool winds and fogs from the ocean, and the evenings are
invariably cool, so that though light cotton garments may be pleasant for wear
at noon, woollen are in demand before sunset, and every night, even in July
and August, good blankets are prized.
In winter ice is seldom formed, and not once in a year does it last through a
day, and if snow falls it is only on high peaks. Skating, snow-balling, and
sleigh-riding are amusements which cannot be enjoyed here. Fogs are not
uncommon in the summer, but they always disappear after the sun has been
up a few hours, and two-thirds of the days of the year are cloudless. There is
no rain from May to November, and during the rainy season the amount of
water that falls is twenty-two inches, or about half of the quantity that falls
at New York or Philadelphia in a year. Thunder and lightning are very
rare, and such violent electric storms as are frequent every summer in the Mis-
sissippi valley are unknown on the coast of California. It may safely be said
that no climate in the world is more favorable to the health and activity of man,
or more conducive to the comfort of the laborer.
As we leave the coast the moderating influences of the sea breezes are lost,
and the winters are^.colder and the summers warmer. At the lowest mining
camps east of Sacramento, although the winters are very mild* yet ice and
saow in small bodies are often seen for two or three eonsecutive days, and the
summers are intensely hot ; and, indeed, in all the mining districts of California
the summers are warm, even at high elevations, especially in the deep canons,
^Physical Geography, by Sir J. F. W ~Herschel, page 226.
196 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
where the breezes are not felt, and where the heat of the sun is caught by steep
rocks and reflected down upon the mining camps below.
In the valleys and lower part of the mountains the heat is excessive from
May to October, the thermometer standing as high as 85° or 90° nearly every
day for month after month. There is no rain usually in that part of the year ;
the sky is almost cloudless ; the bare earth appears to be perfectly dry during
the summer and fall ; heats are therefore higher than in many other countries
blessed with abundant vegetation and frequent showers throughout the year in
the same latitude. But the nights are always cool, especially after midnight ;
and as we rise in latitude on the mountain sides, we find neither frosts nor snows,
and the summers are shorter and cool days more frequent. At Yreka, with an
altitude of two thousand "five hundred feet, frosts come even in July; and
in the latitude of San Francisco, frosts occur every month at an altitude of
about five thousand feet, and snow lies on the ground for seven or eight months
of the year. In the higher mining camps of Sierra county the snow lies from
five to ten feet deep, every winter, for months, and the miners shovel the snow
from the roofs of their cabins to save them from being crushed by the weight ;
and cut tunnels under the snow from cabin to cabin, and provide snow shoes so
they can travel over the surface of the snow if necessary. During a large
part of the year the country is arctic in its appearance, and the climate is arctic
in its temperature.
In the lower mining districts of the southern part of Sacramento basin the
heat is almost torrid. At Millerton, in the San Joaquin foot-hills, the mean
temperature for three summer months has been as high as 106°, and occasionally
there are winds so hot that they blister the skin. The amount of rain in Cali-
fornia increases as we rise in altitude and latitude. That is a general rule.
Thus/ at San Diego, in latitude 32°, the annual rain-fall is 11 inches; at San
Francisco, in latitude 37° 48', it is 22 inches ; and at Humboldt Bay, in lati-
tude 4° 46', it is 34 inches. Those places are all at the level of the sea and on
the sea-coast ; five additional inches of rain may be added for each thousand
feet of altitude. So it may be said that in the latitude of San Francisco places
at the height of 2,000 feet on the sierra have 32 inches of annual rain-fall ;
places 4,000 feet high have 42 inches ; those 6,000 have 52 inches ; and those
3,000 feet G2 inches. These are general deductions from numerous observa-
tions taken at different points ; but they must not be regarded as precise and
invariable. The higher the altitude the greater the difference in the rain-fall of
different years, and the stronger the influence of topographical features in de-
termining the amount of fall within a limited area.
Much more water usually falls on that side of a mountain from which the
storm comes than on the other. At an altitude of 3,000 feet, and higher, large
quantities of snow fall ; but in the estimate of the amount of rain on the moun-
tains given above, a foot of snow is equivalent to a little more than an inch of
water. But north af California, or east of the Sierra Nevada, we come into
other climates. At Fort Yuma, 100 miles east of San Diego, only one-third as
much rain falls as at the latter place, and most of the rains come, not in the
winter, but in the summer. The rainy season of Arizona and the Colorado val-
ley is the dry season of the coast of California. All through Arizona the
climate is dry and the summers hot, but the winters are exceedingly cold in
some of the higher mining districts.
Nevada and Utah are high, dry, arid, and desolate. The evaporation equals
the rain-fall, and therefore no water can be spared for the ocean, but all is
swallowed up in sinks or lakes, in basins surrounded by mountains on every side.
If the fall exceeded the evaporation, the waters would rise until the basin would
overflow, and at the outlet a channel would be worn through the mountains
until much of the inner lakes were drained, and at the bottom of that lake large
bodies of sand, gravel, and loam would be deposited, suitable for the support of
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
197
vegetation, when at last it should rise above tlie water in consequence of the in-
creasing depth of the channel at the gap iii the mountains. The valley of the
upper Colorado looks as if it had once been converted into a great lake by the
elevation of the Cascade mountains, but the river cut a channel at the Dalles
before a sufficient quantity of soil had been deposited over the basin, and so the
greater part of it is desolate. There is nuich resemblance between the climates
.of Idaho and Nevada. The summers are very warm, the winters are cold, and
the fall of rain scanty, but the rain-fall is greater in Idaho than in Nevada.
The following figures show the temperature for each month aHd for the year
at various towns in or near mining districts :
*
Latitudes.
January.
February.
""5
03
a
!
^
1
OJ
g
p
ha
t>>
hj
August.
September.
October.
November.
December.
Benicia
0 /
38 03
47
52
53
57
59
67
67
66
64
69,
54
47
Fort "\IilVr
37
47
53
56
62
68
83
30
83
76
67
55
48
Fort Residing'
40 28
41
49
51
59
65
77
ft->
79
71
fr>
53
41
Fort Yuma ...... ......
3-2. 43
56
5H
66
73
76
87
89,
90
80
76
64
55
Fort Jones
4J 36
31
37
43
49
54
61
71
68
69
57
41
39,
Sacramento
38 34
45
43
51
59
67
71
7>:>
73
66
64
59
45
Grass valley
07
37
3H
44
40
52
63
58
53
43
36
46
Meadow valley .....
39 56
B4
39,
41
61
66
71
68 ,
57
59
44
39
Fort Wall
43 04
^\
94
95
42
63
59
48
99
Dalles
Salt Lake City
45. 36
40 46
33
97
40
35
46
39
53
50
59
65
67
71
73
HI
70
61
53
41
41
33
31
46 27
31
38
40
52
59
63
70
72
6't
48
41
40
Fort Defiance ...
35 44
96
30
38
46
51
64
f,9
67
56
46
35
99
The following table shows the rain- fall at a few points and in inches :
Spring.
Summer.
Autumn.
Winter.
Total.
Sacramento . . .. .. ....
7.01
0.00
2 61
12. 11
21.73
Fort Ytima
0 27
1 30
0 86
0 72
3.15
Fort Miller
9 57
0 02
2 80
9 79.
22 18
Fort Miller
11.30
0.39
4.89
12. 44
29. 02
Fort Jones . ............
5 38
0.89
5 30
5 20
16. 77
Fort Defiance
2 91
6 45
4 84
2 97
37. 17
Dalles
2 63
0 42
3 78
6 98
13.81
The cost of living is high in all the States and Territories west of the Rocky
mountains. Flour and beef are usually sold in San Francisco for about the
same price demanded in New York ; but transportation to the mines is very
expensive, and the commissions and profits of traders are large. To Austin
the freight in summer by wagon is seven to ten cents per pound from Sacra-
mento ; to Virginia city, three and one-quarter cents ; from Marysville to Quincy,
two and one-quarter cents ; to Grass valley, one-half of a cent ; to Downieville,
one cent and a third. The freight from San Francisco to La Paz, on the Colo-
rado, is about one and a half cent per pound ; and to the Idaho mines, about
seven cents per pound. In the winter freights rise, and there is then no limit
to them, save the needs and the purse of the shipper. The mining counties of
California now grow nearly all the fruits and vegetables, and some of the grain,
consumed by the miners ; but all the clothing, fine tools, fine furniture, and
many articles of food are brought from the valleys or seaport.
In consequence of the bad condition of the roads in the winter and the un-.
198 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
settled character of the population the supply is frequently unequal to the de-
mand, and then prices go to high figures, especially in the remoter district. The
cost of the necessaries of life generally for laboring men is three times as great
in the mining counties of California as in the interior counties of New York,
and from four to six times in Nevada, Idaho, and Arizona.
5.— CAPACITY TO MAINTAIN A LARGE POPULATION.
California can maintain a large population. In many respects the State re-
sembles Spain. It has a similar climate, soil and size, and should support as
many inhabitants. The population of Spain is at present fourteen millions, and
under the Moorish dominion many valleys which are npw bare and desolate
were well tilled and densely populated. Spain has 188,000 square miles, and
California 160,000, and our State has sources of wealth which the Spanish
peninsula kas not. The Sacramento basin bears a strong resemblance to Lom-
bardy, which has the, densest population and most thorough tillage of Eiirope.
In an area of 6,000 square miles three millions of people are collected ; and
they are noted for physical beauty and intellectual activity ; hence it does not
appear that their crowded condition has done them harm. A large part of the
wealth of the Lombards is derived directly and indirectly from irrigation, which
they have earned further than any other nation. The Alps there rise to an
average height of 6,000 feet, from their northern boundary along a line one hun-
dred and twenty miles, and the snow which falls in these mountains furnishes
the water for many of the most valuable canals. The Sacramento basin has an
area of 25,0.00 square miles, lying along the foot of a mountain range 400 miles
long and 10,000 feet high on an average. The low lands of the basin has a soil
as fertile and a climate as genial as that of Lombardy. The amount of moist-
ure from rain is not so great in the valley, but that obtainable from the moun-
tains is greater. The Lombards have natural lakes that serve as admirable res-
ervoirs ; but the Californians can make lakes by throwing dams across the
canons. The vine, the silk- worm, and rice, which contribute much to the wealth
of the valley of the Po, will thrive at least as well in the valley of the Sacra-
mento. When, in addition to these agricultural resources, we consider the
mineral wealth of the Sierra Nevada, and the commercial advantages of the
terminus of the Pacific railroad, the central position between China and New
York, and between Oregon and Mexico, we are justified in the conclusion that
California can well support a population of ten or fifteen millions.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
199
6.— -NUMBER OF MINERS.
The following table shows the number of miners of different classes in certain
counties of California, as estimated by well-informed persons in those counties,
the limited time for the preparation of this report not permitting more than an
estimate on this point :
Total number of
white miners.
Total number of
Chinese miners.
Number of gold
quartz miners.
Hydraulic miners.
1
is
*i
6
Silver miners.
Copper miners.
Del Norte
250
300
100
350
100
Klamath
700
300
100
50
850
100
Trinity
700
1,500
100
500
1 600
2,500
500
300
200
2,500
Shasta
1 000
300
SCO
100
1 000
100
100
Plumas .
1,000
400
300
300
700
100
Butte ....
3,000
1,500
200
300
2 000
Sierra
2 500
1 500
500
800
2 700
Nevada
300"
1 500
2 000
1 000
1 100
300
100
Yuba
1,000
1,000
300
300
1,300
100
Placer
1,800
1,500
300
600
2, 350
50
El Dorado
2 000
3 000
300
500
4 150
50
Alpine . .
400
400
Amador
1 200
1 500
400
200
1 600
500
Calaveras .
2,500
2,000
500
500
2 500
1 000
Tn oln rn TIG —
2 000
1 500
500
300
2 400
300
Mariposa «
1 000
I 500
500
100
1 600
300
Merced
50
100
150
200
100
300
150
300
50
400
Mono . .... ......_
200
100
N 100
Kern
400
200
200
Ingo. ..
200
200
Total
25 750
20 800
7 150
5 850
29 550
1 300
2 700
•
7«— TIMBER*
The mining counties of California are generally supplied with abundant tim-
ber for present uses. The forests, from 3,500 to 5,500 feet above the level of
the sea, on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, are very dense, and are
composed of magnificent conifers, many of which have a diameter of five feet
or more, and a height of 200 or 250 feet. The sugar pine and the Douglas
spruce, both valuable for lumber, are large and abundant. These dense forests
are, however, higher up than most of the mining districts, which are found
among hills covered with scattered oak and nut pine. In the vicinity of the
chief mining towns the trees have been destroyed in a ruthless manner, and
many hills that were once well timbered are now bare. There was no private
owner for the land, and the timber was wasted in many cases ; trees were cut
down for fire wood, and onty the branches were taken because by that means
the wood-chopper could cut more wood than if he split up the tough trunk.
This course was profitable to the woodman, but bad for the State ; and nume-
rous complaints were made until 1864, when the legislature made it a criminal
offence to destroy the timber in this manner, although permitting any one to
cut the timber on the public land for firewood or. other useful purposes in an
economical manneu.
200 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
In the northwestern corner of California and the southwestern corner of Ore-
gon the forests are so dense in several of the mineral districts that they inter-
fere greatly with mining, and will prevent the exhaustion of the auriferous de-
posits for many years. In eastern Oregon and in Idaho there is enough timber
to supply the miners for many years. In Nevada and in western Arizona there
is a great scarcity, and wood can be obtained in few places without high ex-
pense. Good firewood costs from two to four dollars per cord in most of the
mining towns of California, and from ten dollars upwards in Nevada.
SECTION 9.
Annotated catalogue of tlie principal mineral species hitherto recognized in Cal-
ifornia, and the adjoining States and Territories : by William P. Blalte.
March, 1866.
Actinolite. — Occurs with garnets in steatite at Petaluma.
Alabaster. — In Los Angeles county. Specimen in cabinet of the author, re-
ceived from Mr. Tyson, of Arizona.
Andalusite. — Mariposa county. In the drift of the Chowchillas river, near
the old road to Fort Miller, there is a great abundance of fine crystals of anda-
lusite which show the dark lines or crosses in a remarkably perfect and interest-
ing manner. They are found also in the stratum of conglomerate which caps
the hills along the stream, and are doubtless in place in the slates a little higher
"up the river.
Smaller and less. perfect " macles " occur in the slates at Hornitos, on the
road to Bear valley. Some of the specimens from the Chowchillas river re-
semble those from Lancaster, Massachusetts.
Antimony, (sulphur -et of.) — (See Stibnite.)
Antimony ochre. — San Amcdio mountain, with antimony-glance.
Agates and carnelian. — Beautiful pebbles of agate and carnelian are abund-
ant along the beach at and near Crescent City. They are much water-worn,
and are generally of light colors. Larger pebbles and more highly colored are
abundant in the pebbly drift along the Colorado river. Small but very smoothly
worn specimens of agate and jasper may be picked up on the shores of Lake
Tahoe.
Arsenic. — Monterey county, at the Alisal mines, twenty-five miles from the
Mission of San Carlos.
Arsenical antimony. — Ophir mine, Nevada Territory. In reniform, finely
crystalline, somewhat radiated masses, of a color between tin-white and iron-
black, on a fresh fracture, but grayish black from tarnishing ; associated with
arsenolite, calcite, and quartz. — (F. A. Gentfi, Am. Jour. Sci., (2) xxxiii, 190.)
Arsenolite. — Occurs in large masses, with native gold, at the Armagosa mine,
Great Basin. It is also reported from the Ophir mine with arsenical antimo-
ny.— (Genth.)
Asbestos. — Calaveras county, Salt Spring valley, at the Kentucky claim.
Los Angeles county (?) in large masses. (From Major Stroebel.)
Azurite, (blue carbonate of copper.) — In fine crystalline groups and masses,
with malachite, at Hughes's mine, Calaveras county. (1861.)
Biotite. — From the vicinity of Grass valley. (Cabinet of C. W. Smith.)
Bitumen. — Occurs abundantly in numerous places in the coast mountains,
south of San Francisco, but especially south of San Luis Obispo, and in the
vicinity of Los Angeles. It is frequently seen floating in the Santa Barbara
channel. It is abundant in Tulare county, on the west side of the Tulare val-
WEST OP THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 201
ley, near Buena Vista and Kern lakes, and at this and other localities is associ-
ated with petroleum, (which see.)
Blende occurs sparingly in many of the gold-bearing quartz veins of the
State, especially when lead is present, as, for example, at the Princeton mine,
Mariposa estate; the Adelaide mine, Hay ward & Chamberlain's mine, and in
several of the Grass valley mines in Nevada county ; at Meadow lake, in con-
siderable masses, with galena, iron pyrites, and copper pyrites. It is associated
with yellow copper in the Napoleon mine and the Lancha Plana ; in Sacra-
mento county, at Michigan bar, associated with galena, oxide of iron, and cop-
per ore. (Cabinet of Dr. Erey.) Placer county, fifteen miles from Lincoln,
towards Nevada* with galena and gold; at the Bloom claim, near Angels camp,
Calaveras county ; also in a quartz vein in Coulterville.
Borax. — Lake county, in large crystals in the clay of the Borax lake.
Boracic acid. — Clear lake, Lake county.
Carbonate of magnesia. — (See Magnesite.}
Carbonate of soda. — San Bernardino county, at Soda lake, sink of the Mo-
have river ; in Tulare county, along the borders of the smaller lakes, when dry-
ing up ; at the borders of the Santa Anna river, near San Bernardino.
Cassiterite. — San Bernardino county, at the " Temescal tin region," about
sixty miles faom Los Angeles. Occurs in many veins associated with schorl (?)
traversing granite. In most of the ores the tin oxide is found only by crushing
and washing. At the "Gun lode" a peculiar drab-colored oxide is found in
considerable quantities. It appears to be liberated by the decomposition of an
arsenical ore, arsenic being abundant in the samples. The oxide, as collected
in that region for examination, is in various degrees of purity, and 'exhibits dif-
ferent colors. Some of the samples obtained by washing are black, others
brown, and some red and drab-colored.
Idaho Territory, on Jordan creek, in placers, in beautiful rounded masses,
from one-eighth to half an inch in diameter, very pure and clean — the variety
known as wood tin. — (Cabinet of the author, specimens received from Charles
T. Blake, esq., of Idaho City.)
Mexico, State of Durango: wood tin of great purity and beauty occurs
abundantly in this State. It closely resembles the stream tin of Idaho.
Cerusite, (carbonate of lead.) — In large crystals resembling those from Siberia,
in the Russ district (1} Great Basin, near the Mojave river ; Arizona, in heavy
iucrusting masses upon the galena of the Castle Dome district.
Chalcedony. — Large masses of white chalcedony, delicately veined, and in
mammillary sheets, occur in Monterey county, near the Panache's ; on Walker
river, Washoe; and of a fine pink color near Aurora, Esmeralda. In pear-
shaped nodules in the eruptive rocks between Williamson's Pass and Johnson's
river, Los Angeles county.
Chalcopyrite, (yellow copper ore.} — This is the chief ore of the copper mines
of California1, as it is likewise of the mines of Cornwall, England. It is there-
fore found at a great number of localities, along the copper-bearing belt which
stretches in a nearly unbroken zone from Mariposa county northwesterly to Del
Norte county, parallel with and on the western side of the chief gold-producing
belt of the State.
In Calaveras county, the chief localities (for the massive ore) are : The Union,
Keystone, Empire, Napoleon, Campo Seco, and Lancha Plana mines. In good
crystals, implanted on and among clear quartz crystals, at the Noble copper
claim on Domingo creek. (Collection of Dr. Jones, Murphy's.) In Mariposa
county, the La Victoire mines in Hunter's valley, and Haskell's claims, below
Mariposa town, and claims along the Chowchillas river. Amador county, at
the Newton mine; Eldorado county, at the Cosumnes mine, Hope Valley
mine, at the Bunker Hill mine, El Dorado Excelsior, and other claims at and
near Pilot Hill. Plumas county, at the Genessee and Cosmopolitan mines. It
202 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
occurs, also, in small quantities in Contra Costa county, in the rocks of Mount
Diablo and in those of the Coast mountains south and north of San Francisco;
in Los Angeles county, at Richmond district, and at Big Meadow district, both
on the interior slope of the mountains at the margin of the Great Basin. — ( Vide
Geol. Rec., Cal., p. 290 )
Lower California : a few leagues south of San Diego, at the Winder claims.
Arizona: at the Apache Chief mine, after getting below the "surface" ores.
At the San Pedro mines, near Fort Buchanan. Near Caborca, in northwestern
Sonora.
Chloride of silver. — At the mines about Austin, Lander county, Nevada, this
species is abundant in the surface ores, being derived from the decomposition of
the mixed sulphurets of silver below the water level. It was also found in the
decomposed ores of the upper portions of the Comstock lode, and is common to
all the silver 'veins of the Great Basin. Some remarkably fine specimens were
obtained at the mine in Slate Range district, California. - Occurs also in
the Willow Springs district, and in the veins of El Dorado canon, Arizona.
Chrysocolla, , (silicate of copper.} — Not 'common in California, where the
sulphurets in decomposing give carbonates and oxides ; but in Arizona, along
the Colorado river, very common at and" near the surface where the veins con-
taining copper glance are decomposed. Fine specimens were taken from the
Great Central claim, about twenty miles from La Paz and at the Blue lode.
Chromic iron. — Monterey county, in masses, with green crusts and coatings
of emerald nickel. Santa Clara county, near the North Almaden mine.
Chrysolite. — In serpentine, near San Francisco, and at New Almaden, Santa
Clara county.
Cinnabar, (sulphuret of mercury ) — This is the characteristic mineral of the
Coast mountains, from Clear lake on the north to San Luis Obispo on the
south. It appears to be connected chiefly with the secondary rocks, though at
San Luis Obispo Prof. B. Silliman collected a group of fossils which appear to
be miocene tertiary. (See a notice by Mr. Gabb, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci.)
The principal .locality is the well known mine of New Almaden, in Santa Clara
county, and the adjacent mines of the Enriqueta and the Guadalupe. The ore
occurs massive, in large bunches and " strings," and is associated with calc
spar, bitumen, and pyrites. The total production of quicksilver, chiefly from
the New Almaden, up to January, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, was three
hundred and seventy-one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three flasks, valued
at about fifteen million of dollars in gold. At the North Almaden, on the east
side of the San Jose" valley, and nearly opposite the New Almaden, considerable
quantities of cinnabar have been taken out of prospecting pits at this place, at
several different points. A heavy ferruginous outcrop shows the general course
of the metalliferous belt. The rock is hard and flinty, and is frequently beauti-
fully streaked with brilliant red cinnabar, the whole sufficiently compact to give
fine specimens for polishing by the lapidary. It occurs abundantly, and in
very handsome cabinet specimens, at the New Idria mines, in Monterey county,
at which work has recently been resumed. There are many localities in Napa
county, and in the vicinity of Clear lake and the Geysers. In small crystals
in hornstone, at Buckhorn ranch, north of Berreyesa valley.
In Mariposa county, near Coulterville, in finely colored crystals in quartz in
a gold vein. Nevada county, about four miles from Grass valley, washed out of
sluice boxes, and entirely different from the New Almaden ore in appearance.
Arizona, about eighteen mJes from the Colorado river : at Olive City, at the
Alma claim, and the Eugenie, located by Mr. Ehrenberg, associated with silver.
Reported to exist in Idaho, on the Qwyhee river.
Corundum. — Los Angeles county, in the drift of the San Francisquito Pass,
in small crystals. (Baron Richthofeu.)
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 203
Copper, native— This species is common in small quantities in the surface
ores of the principal copper mines of the State, but is not found below the
permanent water level. No veins of this metal like those of Lake Superior ar^
known upon the Pacific coast, but the abundance of large drifted masses of solid
copper in one or more streams upon the northwest coast, (Russ. Poss.,) leave
little doubt that such veins do exist in that high latitude. Calaveras county,
at the Union mine, some very fine masses of dendritic or moss copper have been
taken out. — (Cabinet of J. B. Header.) The Keystone mine, adjoining the
Union, also produced some good specimens in 186 1. Found also at the Na-
poleon and the Lancha Plana mines ; and in Sacramento county, at the
Cosumnes mine. In Santa Barbara county, occurs disseminated in grains in
the midst of serpentine rock. Arizona, on the Gila river, about ninety miles
from Fort Yuma, at the Arizona Copper Company's mine ; associated with red
oxide of copper and green carbonate, and spread in crystalline masses through
a gangue of calc spar. — Cabinet of the author.) For the ores of copper, see
C/ialcopyrite, Red copper, Vitreous copper, Sfc.
Copper glance. — Los Angeles county, at the Maris mine, Soledad district, in
grains and irregular masses in a sienitic granite. It contains suver. The de-
composition of this ore at and near the surface gives metallic copper, and metallic
silver, incrusting the surfaces of the granite where fissured. This locality was
known and worked as early as 1853. In Arizona this is the most common ore
of copper, especially in Weaver district, near La Paz, or Olive City. It is
usually argentiferous, and is there associated with gold in quartz veins. Found
also in the Chahuabi valley, the Tajo, and the San Pedro mines, and near
Caborca, in northwestern Sonora.
Derbyshire spar. — Castle Dome district. (See Fluor spar)
Diamond. — Butte county, Cherokee Flat, ten miles from OroviHe. In well
formed, highly modified crystals, from one-eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch
in diameter, and generally of a pale straw yellow color. Crystallization tetra-
hedral, like figure 267, page 24, Dana's System of Mineralogy.
Idaho. — Reported to exist on the Owyhee river.
Diallogite, (carbonate of manganese) — Occurs abundantly in the silver -
bearing veins about Austin, Nevada. By decomposition it becomes black, and
discolors the upper parts of the vein, but at and below the water-line, with the
unchanged ores of silver, it has a delicate flesh-red or pink color.
Dolomite. — Amador county, in narrow, snow-white reins, traversing a talcose
chloritic rock, and bearing coarse free- gold. — (Cabinet of the author, specimen
presented by Mr. James.) Calaveras county, Angels Camp, in the Winter,
Hill's and other mines, massive, with the quartz veins, and bears gold. Some-
times in fine crystals, lining cavities. San Bernardino county, at the Armagosa
mine, bearing coarse gold.
Embohte. — Is believed to occur in the surface ores of Lander county, Nevada,
near Austin, and of Washington district, further south, but has not been cer-
tainly identified.
Emerald nickel. — Monterey county, with chrome ore.
Feldspar. — San Diego county, in crystals. (See Orthoclase.)
Fluor spar. — In crystals and large cleavable masses of various tints. — white,
pink, and purple and green, like the specimens from Derbyshire, England, in
the veins of galena and blende, Castle Dome district, Colorado river, Arizona.
Sparingly, in small white cubes, with the copper ore, at Mount Diablo.
Galena, (sulphuret of lead.) — This common ore of lead has not yet been
found in finely crystallized cabinet specimens on the Pacific coast. The locali-
ties of the massive or granular ore are numerous, it being found in small quanti-
ties in many of the gold-bearing veins of the State, especially at the following :
Mariposa county, at Marble Springs mine ; Priceton mine ; Adelaide. Cala-
veras county, at the Barnes and Silver Elephant claims, at Murphy's ; at the
204 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Star of the West, Blue Mountain district, and the Good Hunter claims, with
gold. In Sacramento county, at Michigan bar, with blende and pyrites/ Nevada
county, at Meadow lake, with blende. Tuolumne county, at the Soulsby mine,
with blende and iron pyrites and gold. In Nevada county, in several of the
veins at Grass valley, with free gold. In Tehama county, on Cow creek ; and
abundantly in veins on the island of Santa Catalina. In Arizona it is abun-
dant in the veins of the Castle Dome district, twenty-five miles from Fort Yuma,
and in the Eureka district on the same river, about twenty-five miles further
north ; also in the Piccacho district, and in the Weaver district, near La Paz ;
at the Santa Rita mine, with gray copper ore ; in the Tajo. vein, with copper
glance, blende, tetrahedrite, and gold ; in the Santa Cruz mountains, south of
Fort Buchanan ; at the Mowry and Patagonia mines ; at San Xavier, on the
Santa Cruz, (Pumpelly.) In Nevada it is abundant on Walker's river, north of
Esmeralda, and at Steamboat Springs, Galena district. It is also found in por-
tions of the Comstock lode, Washoe, associated with the silver sulphurets ; but
where it is associated in that vein with much blende and copper pyrites, it is not
rich in silver — forming the ore commonly known there as " base rnetal."
Garnet. — Iifl Dorado county, at Fairmount mine, three miles from Pilot Hill,
in large blocks and masses two feet thick or more. Associated with specular
iron, calc spar, iron pyrites, and copper pyrites, with actinolite in steatite, near
Petaluma, Sonoma county ; in large semi-crystalline masses, weighing ten to
twenty pounds, and of a light color, from the Coso mining district. (Specimens of
this were brought to San Francisco under the supposition that it was tin ore.)
A beautiful green garnet, grossular, is found with the copper ore of the Rogers
claim, Hope valley, El Dorado county, and similarly in copper ore at the
Mountain Meadows, Los Angeles county. In Russian America, Stickeen river,
•in finely formed trapezohedral and dodecahedral crystals imbedded in mica slate,
and much resembling specimens from Monroe, Connecticut.
Gold, (crystalline.) — Placer county, at Irish creek, three miles from Colo-
ma, in arborescent and crystalline masses covered with octahedrons. (Eighteen
hundred and fifty-four, cabinet of author.) At Forrest Hill, in the same county,
in the placer claims of the Messrs. Deidesheimer, in flattened and distorted
octahedra. One crystal is a partially formed octahedron, with a rectangular
base one inch long by seven-eighths of an inch wide. At Mameluke Hill, near
Georgetown, in ragged crystalline masses, in a quartz vein. In El Dorado
county, at Spanish Dry Diggings, in large masses of irregular dendritic crystal-
lizations. One mass recently obtained weighed about sixteen pounds, and was
purchased by Mr. Dickinson, of New York, for preservation. Calaveras county,
a large partly formed crystal with octahedral edges ; if perfect would be two
inches in diameter. Tuolumne county, flattened, distorted octahedrons from
the Whiskey Hill mine. Mariposa county, octahedrons from the placers near
Coulterville, but very rare. At the Priceton mine, rarely, in nests and bunches
of octahedrons, with brilliant faces.
Small delicate microscopic prisms of gold have been found in the vicinity of
Sonora. They appear to be terminated with crystalline planes at both ends,
and probably are elongated octahedrons. (From the collection of Doctor Snell.)
Crystals of sporjgiforrn gold, from one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in di-
ameter, and as light almost as cork, were washed out by Doctor Hill from a
claim near Angels. This- is a condition of native gold which, it is believed,
has not been hitherto noticed.
In Plumas county, Sherman lode, Light canon, on coatings of green and blue
carbonates of copper, proceeding from the decomposition of variegated copper
pyrites or vitreous copper in part. This gold was apparently deposited after
the deposition of the carbonate of copper. The specimens are beautiful'. (Cabi-
net of Mr. Waters, Sacramento.) Mariposa county, in a narrow vein of calcite
or dolomite, two inches wide, cutting slates ; precise locality not known. The
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN* 205
gold was in coarse masses and strings in the middle of the vein. Amador
county, near Dry town, in a vein of pearl spar, which is very pure and white,
and without admixture with quartz or pyrites. The gold is in coarse masses in
the midst of the pearl spar. (Specimens collected by Mr. James, and presented
to the author.)
Gold in small quantities occurs at many places in the Coast mountains, and
associated with cinnabar. Some specimens of coarse' gold have been found in
the cinnabar veins of Colusa county. In Excelsior district gold occurs with
molybdenite. In San Bernardino counjby, at the Armagosa mine, in feldspar
and in calc spar, in a granitic rock, associated also with arsenolite.
Many large masses of gold have been taken from the placers of California at
various times, of which no authentic record or description has been kept. In
1864, a large mass, one hundred and eighty-seven ounces, (fifteen and seven--
twelfths pounds,) was taken from the middle fork of the American river, about
two miles from Michigan bluffs, Placer county.
The Carson Hill quartz claim, in Calaveras county, is celebrated for the size
and weight of the masses of gold taken from it, some of which weighed six and
seven pounds. (For further observations upon gold, its geology and distribution,
see an article at the end.)
Gold and tellurium. — (See Tellurium.)
Gray copper ore. — With gold in the Pine Tree mine, Mariposa grant, and
similarly at the lona Company's claim, and others upon the same belt near
Coulterville. (See Tetrahedrite)
Graphite. — About twenty miles above the Big Tree Grove, in crystalline
scales ; also at the mine of the Eureka Plumbago Company, (locality not known.)
Gypsum. — Los Angeles county, in the Great Basin, near the entrance to the
Soledad or "New Pass." San Diego county, along the banks of Carizzo creek,
and on the slope of the desert. Tuiare county, at the vein of stibnite, in crys-
tals. Nevada county, near the Truckee Pass, in beautiful stellar radiations,
from o^e half of an inch to three inches in diameter. (Cabinet of C. W. Smith,
Grass valley.)
Hematite, (specular iron ore.) — This is a very abundant ore in California,
and Arizona, on the Colorado river, near Williams's Fork. Some of the dry
arroyos or canons in that region are crowded with blocks of the pure ore, from
one to two feet in diameter. It is broken from beds and seams in an impure
metamorphic limestone. The structure is granular, passing into micaceous, and
freshly broken surfaces are extremely brilliant. Specimens of similar ore were
brought in by Jules Marcou, in eighteen hundred and fifty-three, from the val-
ley of Williams's Fork, further north. This ore occurs also in Humboldt valley,
and abundantly on the coast of Mexico, south of Acapulco,
Hessite. — Eldorado county. (See Tefiuret of silver ?f
Hornblende. — At San Pablo. At Soledad, in sienite. At Yallecito, near
Murphy's.
Hyalite. — Associated with semi-opal, in the Mount Diablo range, about thUty
miles south of Mount Diablo. (In cabinet of J. B. Meader, Stockton.)
Jdocrase. — Siegel lode, Eldorado county. (?)
Iodide of mercury.' — Santa Barbara county. (?)
Hmenite. — Eldorado county, near Georgetown, from the golcl washings; a
very fine crystal, about an inch in diameter, with brilliant planes.
Iron ores. — (See Magnetite and Hematite.)
Iridosmine. — With platinum and gold in the beach sands of the northern coun-
ties. An analysis by C. Kurlbaum, jr., in Pr. Genth's laboratory, of a sample
of the residue from gold washing and amalgamation, obtained by the author in
eighteen hundred and fifty-four, gave 48.77 per cent, of iridosmine. Found also
as a residue in melting large lots of placer dust.
Iron pyrites. — Found in most of the gold-bearing quartz veins, either crystal-
206 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
line or massive; usually from one to five per cent, of trie whole weight of the
ore. The value for gold varies greatly. At Grass valley the concentrated sul-
phurets are worth from one hundred dollars to three hundred dollars per ton.
Cabinet specimens of this mineral may be had in very large crystals, cubes, at
the Fairmount claim, three miles from Pilot Hill, Eldorado county. It is there
associated with garnets, .brown spar, and specular iron. Found in brilliant
druses lining fissures in the rocks of the E Pluribus Unum tunnel, three miles
from Murphy's, Calaveras county. In brilliant but small cubical crystals in
the gold ore of the Mameluke claim, near Georgetown, Eldorado county. Mari-
posa county, in large and perfect crystals in the slates near the Deville mine,
south of Princeton Hill. Placer county, in large crystals, near the Grizzly Bear
House, between Auburn and Forrest Hill.
Jasper. — Very fine masses of brown and yellow jasper are abundant near
Murphy's, Calaveras county, in the quartz veins, and in the debris from them.
Kcrargyrite. — (See Chloride of silver.)
Lignite. — San Francisco county, Contra Costa county, Monterey county; in
Amador county, in thick beds at the base of the Sierra Nevada; used in lone
City for steam boilers ; Santa Barbara county, Humboldt county, along the Eel
river ; Klamath county, at Gold Bluff, four hundred feet below the surface.
(Lieutenant Tuttle, U. S. army.) Del Norte county, at Point St. George. (Pro-
fessor Sherman Day.) In Nevada, "Washoe county, along the Truekee river;
in Lyon county, at the "Whitman mines."
Limonite. — Mariposa county, at Burns's creek, near the old road to Fort
Miller, in a heavy outcrop of quartz ; solid blocks of limonite, from two to four
feet thick, are found there. (See Geol. Rec. Cal., p. 290.) Oregon, sixteen
miles from Portland, in an extensive bed ; specimens were sent by Governor
Gibbs to the Mechanics' Fair exhibition in 1864.
Made. — Mariposa county. (See Andalucite.)
Magnecite, (carbonate of magnesia.) — Tulare county, near Visalia, between
Four creeks and Moor's creek, in the foot-hills, in solid beds of pure white,
massive carbonate of magnesia, hard, fine grained, and like unglazed porcelain
in texture. The beds are from one to six feet thick, and are interstratified with
talcose slates and serpentine. Similar beds are described to me as existing in
the Diablo range. Alameda county, about thirty miles south of the mountain.
Mariposa county and Tuolumne county: a heavy bed of magnesian rock,
chiefly magnesite, charged with crystals of iron pyrites, accompanies the chief
gold-bearing quartz vein of thoso counties. This rock is charged also with
nickel and chrome talc in green films, like the magnesite of Canada.
Magnetite. — In large beds, massive, and of superior quality, in Sierra county ;
also in octahedral crystals, forming beautiful cabinet specimens. In Plumas
county, near the line, fin£ groups of octahedrons associated with garnet (?) and
epidote. (?) Mariposa county, just east of the Mariposa estate, on the trail to
Yosemite. Placer county, at Utt's ranch, six miles from Auburn. At the
Caiiada de las Uvas, Los Angeles county, in a vein about three feet thick, in
limestone ; in the sienitic granite of the mountains between the Great Basin
and Los Angeles; seen in drift fragments in the valley of Soledad, or "Wil-
liamson's Pass." Eldorado county, at Volcanoville, on the middle fork of the
American river, near the great quartz vein. This locality was noted by the
writer in eighteen hundred and fifty-three. Thia ore is, perhaps, titaniferous,
but specimens are not at hand for examination. Trinity county, near Weaver-
ville, in small veins. (Trask, 3d report, 1865, p. 56.) Nevada county, three
miles from Grass valley. Eldorado county, fine octahedral crystals, in slate,
near the Boston copper mine ; in small brilliant crystals, with quartz, pyrites!
and calc spar; at the Eldorado Excelsior copper claim.
Malachite, (green carbonate of copper.) — In remarkably fine specimens,
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS, 207
associated with crystalline blue carbonate, at Hnghes's mine, Calaveras county,
(1861.)
Manganese, oxide. — (See Pyrolusite.)
Manganese, carbonate of. — (See Dialogite.)
Mercury. — Native quicksilver is found in Napa (?) county, near the Geysers,
at the Pioneer claim, in a silicious rock.
(For sulphuret of mercury, see Cinnabar.)
Mercury, iodide of. — Santa Barbara county, (Mr. G. E. Moore.)
Mispickel.— Grass valley, Nevada county, at Betsey mine, with gold. This
mineral is a common associate of gold in the quartz of the State. Crystals of
mispickel are sometimes penetrated with gold.
Molybdate of had. — State of Nevada, Comstock lode, in the upper part of
the California mine, in the "rusty lode," in small yellow crystals; in good
crystals in the (?) mine, "Weaver district, Arizona.
Molybdenite. — Occurs in fine specimens at several localities in the gold re-
gion .; Nevada county, at the Excelsior mine, Excelsior district, abundantly
with gold.
Mountain cork. — Tuolumne county,
Nickel. — (See Emerald nickel.)
Orthoclase. — San Diego county, in granite veins along the road between
Santa Isabel and San Pasquale, associated with tourmalines and garnet. Fresno
county, at Fort Miller, in coarse-grained granite, under the edge of the lava
plateau.
Opal — semi-opal. — A white milky variety of opal is found in Calaveras
county, at Mokelumne Hill, or on the hill near that place known as Stockton
Hill,. on the west side of Chile gulch. A shaft has been sunk there three hun-
dred and forty-five feet, and the opals are found in a thin stratum of red gravel.
They vary in size from a kernel of corn to the size of walnuts. Many of them
contain dendritic infiltrations of manganese oxide, looking like moss. About a
bushel of these stones are raised in one day, and are said to have a market
value. A white milky variety, similar to the above, and without " fire," is
found with magnesite in Mount Diablo range, thirty miles south of the moun-
tain ; also in the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada, at the Four Creeks.
Pearl spar. — (See Dolomite.)
Petroleum. — Abundantly distributed throughout the coast counties, from San
Diego in the south to Crescent City in the north. The purest and most limpid
natural oils have thus far been obtained from the localities north of San Fran-
cisco, in Humboldt and Colusa counties. These oils are green by reflected
light, and resemble the best samples from Pennsylvania. No abundantly flow-
ing wells have yet been found. In Humboldt county there are many springs,
giving both oil and gas, and numerous wells are in progress. So also in Colusa
county, at Bear valley, about twenty-five miles west of Colusa, several springs,
giving a fine quality of lubricating oil and much gas ; also at Antelope dis-
trict, nineteen miles west of Colusa. In Contra Costa county, ten miles from
Oakland, there are petroleum springs, and a very superior oil has been obtained
from the region of Mount Diablo. In Tulare county there is an extensive
region where oil and gas springs abound. The localities are numerous in the
counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Los Angeles.
Platina. — With iridium and iridosmine, on the coast at Cape Blanco, south-
ern Oregon. Analysis of a sample of the mixed metals from Port Orford, in
eighteen hundred and fifty -four, gave forty-three and fifty-four one-lmndredths
per cent, of platina.
Proustiie, (light red silver ore.) — In the veins about Austin, Lander county,
Nevada. At the Daney mine, and occasionally in the ore of the Comstock
lode.
Pyrargyrite, (dark red silver ore.) — (See Ruby silver.)
208 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Pyrolusite. — Red Island, Bay of San Francisco, in vein or bed 3' to 4' wide,
in the metamorphic jaspery shales — the "prasoid" rocks. This is a remarkably
pure ore of manganese, and has been extensively mined for shipment.
Pyrophyllite occurs in the gold region ; locality not known.
Pyroxene. — In fine crystals, dark green, near Mud springs, Eldorado
county.
Pyromorpliite, (phosphate of had.) — In Nevada, in the outcrops of the
Comstock lode, especially the back ledges of the Ophir ground, giving green
coats and crusts on the surface of the quartz.
Pyrrhotine, (magnetic pyrites ) — Mariposa county, at the Ion a Copper
Company's tunnel, north side of the Merced river, on the trail from Bear valley
to Coulterville.
Quartz. — This abundant mineral is obtained in fine crystals in the quartz
veins in various parts of the State, and in the mines of Wafhoe. Some large
and well-formed crystals, from three to four inches or more in diameter, have
been found at Red Hill, in Placer county, (cabinet of C. W. Smith, Grass
valley,) and in the placer claims in the vicinity of Placerville, where, also, a
fine large crystal of smoky quartz was found. Mariposa county, on Whitlock's
and Shirlock's creeks, in the quartz veins, in fine groups of crystals ; also at
the Mariposa mine, and in the eastern parts of the Princeton vein. Calaveras
county, at the Noble claim, on Domingo creek. Nevada county, in the Grass
Valley mines, often supporting gold between the crystals, and at the " French
lode," (Eureka?) crystals of a light greenish tinge, like that of datfyolite.
Red oxide of copper occurs sparingly in thin crusts and sheets with the
surface ores of the principal copper mines in Calaveras county, especially the
Union and Keystone. In Mariposa county, at La Victoire mine, with green
and blue carbonates of copper. Del Norte county, at the Evoca, Alta, and
other mines, in very good cabinet specimens, the cavities being lined with crys-
tals. In Piumas county, and in the upper parts of most of the copper veins of
the State. Arizona, at the Arizona Copper-Mining Company's claim, near the
Gila river, in large masses, with native copper and thin crusts of green car-
bonate. At the claim known as No. 15, Yavapais district, with native copper.
Ruby silver, (pyrargyrite.) — This beautiful ore of silver was first discov-
ered in the Daney mine, Washoe, by the writer, in eighteen hundred and sixty-
jane, and has since been found sparingly in the Ophir and the Gould & Curry.
In the latter mine some very fine specimens were obtained by Mr. Strong, and
are deposited in the cabinet of the company, at the office in Virginia City. This
ore is abundant in the veins about Austin, Ileese river, and is often so thoroughly
spread through the quartz of the gaugue as to give it a decided reddish color.
It is generally associated with sulphuret of silver. No good crystals have yet
been found.
Salt — roc7v salt. — Abundant »in the dry season as an incrustation throughout
California. Found in large quantities in Nevada, in the beds of desiccated lakes
at numerous places. About twelve miles north of Armagosa mine, in large
masses. In the Wasatch mountains, southeast of Lake Timpanogos, on the
headwaters of a small creek tributary to Utah lake, in thick strata of red clay.
(Fremont's Geog. Mem., 67.) This is said to be the same locality mentioned
by Father Escalante in his journal, and noted by Humboldt on his map as
" Montagnes de Sd Gemmed Salt crystallizes from the spray of the waters of
the Great Salt lake, and is found abundantly on its shores, and on twigs and
shrubs. The Great Salt lake is a saturated solution of common salt. The
shores in the dry season are incrusted with salt, and shallow arms of the lake
present beds of salt for miles. Plants and shrubs are incrusted to a thickness
of an inch or more with crystallized salt deposited by the spray. Five gallons
of the wat^r tnken in the month of September, and evaporated by Colonel Fre-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 209
moDt over a fire, gave fourteen pints of salt, which analysis showed to have th<3
following proportions (Fremont's Memoir, 9 :)
Chloride of sodium , 97.80
Chloride of calcium 0.61
Chloride of magnesium 0.24
Sulphate of soda 0.23
Sulphate of lime 1.12
Schorl, (see Tourmaline.) — Selenite. — In beautiful stellar crystallizations
on the crossing of the Little Truckee, Henness Pass road. The blades compos-
ing these aggregates are from half an inch to two inches in length, and from
one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in width. They are perfectly clear, and
most of them hemitroped so as to form arrow-headed crystals. (Cabinet of C.
W. Smith.)
Selenid of mercury — In large masses from the vicinity of Clear lake.
Silver, native. — This metal, in its native state, is rare in the State of Cali-
fornia. At Silver Mountain district (formerly Eldorado county) it occurs in
the decomposed surface ores. Los Angeles county, in the decomposed parts of
the Maris vein, Soledad, covering surfaces of syenite. Sonora, at the celebrated
Planchas de la Plata, just south of the Arizona line, and near the meridian
of Tubac. According to the best Mexican and Jesuit authorities, large
masses of native silver were discovered there in 1769. One mass is reported
to have weighed three thousand six hundred pounds. No vein has been
found; the deposit is a placer. (Pumpelly.) Nevada — Story county, in
the Comstock lode, in filaments, and matted, hairy masses — "wire silver,"
usually closely associated with silver glance and stephanite. At the Burn-
ing Moscow claim (Ophir) some large masses of ore were taken out in
1864 completely charged with the metal. Occurs also at the Daney mine,
with native gold and sulphuret of silver. Lander county, in the veins about
Austin, associated with the surface ores, such as the chloride and bromide of
silver, and green and blue carbonates of copper. Idaho Territory, in large
masses at the " Poor Man's lode," or " Candle-box mine," where it was said
the lumps of silver were as large as candle boxes. That a great quantity
of large masses of the metal was taken out there is no doubt. It is common in
the silver lodes of the Owyhee, and is usually very filamentous and finely
divided and embedded in granular quartz.
Silver, (telluret of.) — A single specimen was obtained by the author in
1854, near Georgetown, in Eldorado county. It had been washed out from
the gold drift, and the parent vein has never been found. — (Rep. Geol. Rec,
Cal., 302.)
Smoky quartz. — A large crystal about six inches in diameter, from Placer
county, and in the cabinet of Dr. White, Placerville.
Sphene. — In small hair-Drown crystals in the granite of the Sierra Nevada.
Stephanite, (brittle sulpJmret of silver.) — Very fine crystals of stephanit©
were obtained from the Ophir and Mexican mines, Nevada, soon after they were
opened. These crystals were from half an inch to two inches in length, but
were generally imperfectly formed. They greatly resemble the crystallizations
of vitreous copper from the Bristol mine in Connecticut. A large collection of
these was made by R. L. Ogden in 1859 and 1860, and were noticed by the
writer in the Mining Magazine. They are now more rare, but have been found
in nearly all the principal claims upon the Comstock lode. Some very good
specimens were taken from the Gould & Curry, preserved in the cabinet
by C. L. Strong, in 1864. They are frequently implanted among quartz crys-
tals in nests or geodes, and are covered with a hairy growth of wire silver.
Crystals of silver ore from Silver Mountain district are probably this specie*.
St^bmte. — Tulare county, in a large vein near the Pass of San Amedio
•H. Ex. Doa 29 14
210 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
(vide Rep. Geol. Rec Cal., pp. 292-3.) It occurs in large, solid masses,
boulders of which are numerous in the beds of the arroyos leading from the vein.
In Nevada, at or near the Gem mine, Dunglen ; at the Sheba mine, in beauti-
ful needle-like crystals, and at the De Soto and other mines in that vicinity ;
in Russ district, Great Basin.
Stroymeyerite. — Arizona. Heintzelman mine.
Sulphur.— Colusa county ; Napa county, at the Geysers. In Nevada, in
extinct solfataras, Humboldt valley.
Sulphuret of silver • — Nevada, Comstock lode ; occurs with stephanite in the
Ophir, Mexican, Gould & Curry, and other mines upon that line of claims.
It is also present in the ore of the vein at Gold Hill, and appears to be the chief
source of the silver in those ores. It has not been observed in crystals. In
the large chamber of the Ophir mine, in eighteen hundred and sixty-one, it was
very abundant, in irregular masses ramifying through the fragmentary white
quartz so as to hold it together in hand specimens. Large masses of vein-stuff
could be broken down, in which the sulphuret of silver constituted at least half
of the whole weight. Native gold was commonly associated with it in that
part of the mine. ' It is now more frequently found associated with copper
pyrites and galena. This species is also found in small crystals in the ore of
the Daney mine, associated with native silver, gold, and ruby silver. It is
eommon in the ores of Reese river, associated with ^'uby silver and manganese
spar. It is probably the chief ore of silver in the Cortez district.
Sulphuret of iron — (See Iron pyrites?}
Telluret of silver. — El Dorado county. (See Silver.)
Tetrakedrite, (gray copper.) — Mariposa county, with the gold in the Pine
Tree vein; also with the gold in the same or similar vein at the Crown lode,
Emily Peak, and at Coulterville in several claims. Calaveras county, at Carson
Hill, in the large vein, and associated with gold. This ore, in decomposing,
leaves a blue stain of carbonate in the quartz, and where it is found the rock is
generally rich in gold. In Nevada it occurs abundantly in the Sheba mine,
Humboldt county, massive and rich in silver. It is associated with the follow-
ing species, which were noted from time to time by Mr. Moss, the superintend-
ent, and in part by the author : Ruby silver, argentiferous galena, antimonial
galena, iron pyrites, blende, cerusite, calcite, quartz with acicular antimony,
sulphuret of antimony in delicate needles and massive native silver, bournonite.
Found also in Lander county, with the silver ores of the veins near Austin ; at
the Comet lode, Veatch canon, south of Austin. Los Angeles county — at the
•Zapata claim, San Gabriel mountains. Arizona — at the Heintzelman mine,
containing from one to one and a half per cent, of silver. (Pumpelly.) Also,
at the Santa Rita mine, associated with galena.
Tellurium and gold, (tetradyrmte ?) — At the Melones and Stanislaus mines,
one mile south of Carson Hill, Calaveras county, very beautiful specimens of
native gold, associated with tellurium, were taken out of a vein from six to
eighteen inches thick, and at a depth of two hundred feet from the surface.
This tellurct has a tin-white color, and is not foliated like the tetradymite
from the Field vein in Georgia. Its exact specific character is not yet de-
termined.
Tin ore, (oxyd of tin.) — (See Cassiterite.)
Topaz. — In clear, colorless crystals, finely terminated, from one-eighth of an
inch to half an inch in diameter, found in the tin washings of Durango, Mexico.
(Cabinet of the author, 1864.) Noticed by C. F. Chandler, American Journal
of Science, 1865.
Tourmaline. — San Diego county, north side of the valley of San Felipe, in
feldsoathic veins, (for description and figures see Rep. Geol. Rec. Cal., Blake, p.
304;) Tuolumne county.
Tremolite. — White and fibrous in limestone, Columbia, Tuolumne county.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 211
Tung-state of manganese. — With tungstate of lime, in the Mammoth mining
district, Nevada. (C. T. Jackson, Proc. Cal. Acad., iii, 199.)
Variegated copper ore, ("Horseflesh ore.") — Sigel lode, in Plumas county.
Vitreous copper. — (See Copper Glance,)
Zinc. — (See Blende.)
Principal public and private mineralogical and geological collections in Cali-
fornia, known to the author.
I.— PUBLIC COLLECTIONS.
STATE GEOLOGICAL COLLECTION — Sacramento and San Francisco ; not
arranged, and in part destroyed by fire in eighteen hundred and sixty-five, at
the Pacific warehouse.
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY'S — At Sacramento ; partly in cases, hut not
classified or arranged.
SAN JOAQUIN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY — At Stockton ; collected chiefly hy
Dr. Holden ; not large, nor well arranged.
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES — At San Francisco; not
arranged ; in boxes, and stored, awaiting a suitable room or building for their
display. This collection was made in great part by and through the exertions
of Dr. J. G. Trask, and has many valuable specimens taken from our mines
soon after their discovery.
COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA — At Oakland. A collection of minerals and fos-
sils of California ; partly arranged.
SANTA CLARA COLLEGE. (No particulars known.)
ODD FELLOWS' LIBRARY ASSOCIATION — At San Francisco. A valuable
miscellaneous collection of minerals, ores, fossils, and curiosities, chiefly the
donation of the members of the Order ; arranged in cases, at the Hall. The
Order is indebted, chiefly, for this valuable addition to their rooms, to the zeal
and enthusiasm of their president, S. H. Parker, esq.
OCCIDENTAL HOTEL — Lewis Leland, San Francisco. A collection contain-
ing many very choice and valuable specimens of ores and precious metals of the
Pacific coast.
II.— PRIVATE COLLECTIONS.
W. P. BLAKE — At San Francisco and Oakland. A collection of minerals,
ores, geological specimens, and fossils, from California, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho,
Mexico, the eastern States, Japan, and China, with some European minerals.
About sixty boxes of this collection were destroyed in the Pacific warehouse,
by fire, in eighteen hundred and sixty-five. A portion, stored at the college and
elsewhere, was uninjured. It is now partly in boxes, and partly in cases, in
San Francisco, and at the College of California, Oakland. There are probably
five thousand to six thousand specimens, a great part of them selected by the
owner at the localities. It contains a valuable and extensive suit of crystalline
gold.
Dr. J. M. FREY — Sacramento. A large and valuable miscellaneous collec-
tion of Pacific coast minerals, including a fine suit of gold in crystals. Arranged
in part, in cases, in Sacramento.
Dr. JOHN HEWSTON, Jr. — San Francisco. Miscellaneous collection.
Dr. JONES — Murphy's, Calaveras county. A miscellaneous collection,
chiefly local.
A. P. MOLITOR — San Francisco. Miscellaneous collection.
K. L. OGDEN — San Francisco. A miscellaneous collection of copper and
gold ores. A large collection made by this gentleman up to eighteen hundred
ind sixty-one, was purchased by W. P. Blake, in eighteen hundred and sixty-one.
212 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
AUGCSTE EEMOND — San Francisco. (No particulars known.)
Dr. SNELL — Sonora, Tuolumne county. A rich and valuable collection of
fossils and aboriginal relics from the auriferous gravel under Table mountain,
and of minerals and ores from that region. This is the richest collection of
relics of the mastodon and the mammoth in California.
T. J. SPEAR — San Francisco ; formerly at Georgetown, in eighteen hundred
and sixty- two and three. A small miscellaneous collection, which included an
ammonite, from the gold slates of the American river ; valuable to science as
one of the evidences of the secondary age of the gold-bearing rocks of California.
Dr. STOUT — San Francisco. A miscellaneous collection of Eastern and
European specimens, arranged in cases.
C. W. SMITH — -Grass valley, Nevada county. An interesting collection,
arranged in cases, afid containing some choice specimens from the mines of
Grass valley.
Dr. WHITE — Placerville, El Dorado county. A miscellaneous collection,
containing many interesting specimens from that region, and some foreign mine-
rals, by exchange.
W. R. WATERS — Sacramento. Miscellaneous collection of minerals and
ores, arranged in case.
Notes on tlie geographical distribution and 'geology of the precious metals and
valuable minerals on tlie Pacific slope oj' the United States.
If we attempt to delineate by colors upon a map the geographical distribution
of the gold, silver, copper, and quicksilver localities of the Pacific slope, we ob-
tain a series of nearly parallel belts or zones, following the general course or
trend of the mountain chains and of the coast. So, also, if we enter the Golden
Gate and travel eastward across the country to the Rocky mountains, we pass
successively through zones or belts of country characterized mineralogically by
different metals and minerals.
In the Coast mountains, for example, quicksilver is the chief, and the highly
characteristic economical mineral. The localities of its ore are strung along the
mountains through the counties north and south of the Golden Gate. We have
also petroleum, sulphur, and calcareous springs, nearly coincident in their dis-
tribution. Passing from this grouping of minerals eastward over the coal beds
of Mount Diablo, and crossing the great interior valley of California, (probably
underlaid by lignite,) we rise upon the slope of the Sierra Nevada, and reach
the copper-producing rocks. These form a well marked zone, which has been
traced almost uninterruptedly from Mariposa to Oregon, following the lower
hills of the Sierra Nevada.
East of the copper belt, (and in the central counties, over a chain of hills
known as "Bear mountains,") we find the great gold-bearing zone, characterized
by lines of quartz ledges, following the mountains in their general northwesterly
and southeasterly course. This gold belt is composite in its character — the
veins traversing either slates, limestones, sandstones, or granite.
Crossing the snow-covered crest of the Sierra, where in some parts iron ores
have been found, we leave the region of gold and enter that of silver, mingled
with gold, extending up and down the interior eastern slope of the Sierra through-
out California, into Arizona and Mexico on the south, and Idaho on the north.
At the Reese River mountains, further east, towards Salt Lake, the gold is
replaced by silver, associated with copper, antimony, and arsenic ; and this
grouping is in its turn replaced by the gold-bearing sulphurets of the Rocky
mountains. This is the general distribution of the precious metals. There are,
doubtless, local exceptions.
It is evident that this distribution of the metals and minerals in zones has
been determined by the nature of the rocky strata, and by their condition of
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 213
metamorphism. It is worthy of note that the minerals of the coast ranges are
chiefly the more volatile and soluble, such as cinnabar, sulphur, petroleum, and
borax, distributed in rocks ranging from the tertiary to the cretaceous, inclu-
sive.
The longitudinal extension of the gold-bearing zone is yet undetermined.
The metal has been traced through the whole length of California, through Ore-
gon and Washington, into British Columbia, and beyond, along the Russian
possessions, towards the Arctic sea. Southward, it is prolonged into Sonora
and Mexico, and there is every reason to believe that its extension is. coincident
with the great mountain chain of North America in its course around the globe,
into and through Asia.
After years of laborious search for fossils by which the age of the gold-
bearing rocks might be determined, I had the pleasure, early in 1863, to
obtain a specimen containing Ammonites from a locality on the American
river, preserved in the cabinet of Mr. Spear. This fossil was of extreme
importance, being indicative of the secondary age of the gold bearing slates,
and was therefore photographed, and copies of it sent to the Smithsonian
Institution at Washington, for description. It was subsequently noticed in the
proceedings of the California Academy of Natural Sciences, September, 1864,
The same year, when at Bear valley, Mariposa county, upon the chief gold-
bearing rocks of California, I identified a group of secondary fossils from the
slates contiguous to the Pine Tree vein, and noticed them at a meeting of the
California Academy, October 3, 1864, announcing the Jurassic or cretaceous age
of these slates. The best characterized fossil was a Plagwstoma,(oY Lima,} to
which I provisionally attached the name Erringtoni* The attention of the
geological survey having been directed to this locality by my announcement and
exhibition of the fossils in San Francisco and at the academy, Mr. Gabb, the
palaeontologist of the survey, visited the locality and obtained specimens. These
fossils were of such interest and importance to science, and to the geological
description of the State, that an extra plate was engraved for them and pub-
lished in the appendix to the volume on the geology, recently issued.!
Fossils of the secondary age from Genesee valley, in the northern part of the
State, were common in collections in 1864, and are described by the State Geo-
logical Survey, volume one, " Palaeontology." It appears also, from the same
source, that Mr. King, a gentleman connected with the survey, had obtained
bclemites from the Mariposa rocks in 1864, but no figures or description are
given.
We may thus regard the secondary age of a part, at least, of the gold-bearing
rocks of the Sierra Nevada as established, a result of no small importance prac-
tically, for it destroys the dogma, which has been very generally accepted, that
the Silurian or Palaeozoic rocks are the repositories of the gold of the globe.
We may now look for gold in regions where before it was generally presumed
to be absent, because the formations were not Silurian or Palaeozoic.
The Silurian age of the gold rocks of California has not always been assumed.
It has been repeatedly questioned. In the preface to the writer's " Report of a
Geological Reconnoissance in California," it is stated that a considerable part of
the gold-bearing slates of California are probably carboniferous. The absence of
all evidence of Silurian fossils west of the Rocky mountains is also distinctly
noted, (p. 276.) The opinion of the comparatively modern age of the gold
* In honor of Miss Errington, a lady residing on the estate, who drew my attention to some
impressions on the slates which she had picked up on the English trail, which proved to be
fossils.
tl regret to observe that in this publication, as well as in Mr. Gabb's notice of the fossils,
no mention is made of my previous announcement, and that my part in the discovery
and publication of the secondary age of the Mariposa gold rocks is studiously and wholly
ignored.
214 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
rocks has been steadily gaining strength and support for years past, and has
been the subject of discussion in the daily journals.
The prevalence of gold in the Coast mountains, in or in close proximity to
rocks of tertiary age, leads us to question whether it may not occur in the rocks
of this late period also. The fact, recently ascertained, that gold is very gener-
rally associated with cinnabar, makes it more than probable that the metal has
been deposited in formations as recent even as the Miocene, (or middle tertiary,)
for, according to the best evidence we now have, this is the age of a part, at
least, of the quicksilver-bearing rocks.
Such a result need not surprise us, although so far in opposition to generally
existing views of the geological association of gold. The geological age of the
rocks has .manifestly nothing to do with the deposition of gold ; it is only neces-
sary that the rocks should have a favorable mineral composition and a suitable
degree of metamorphism. On this general view, we may be prepared to find
gold in rocks of any geological period, from the tertiary to the Laurentian or
Huronian rocks, inclusive.
The lithology of the chief gold-bearing zone or belt of rocks of California is
interesting. The chief or " mother vein" extends through several counties, with
occasional breaks or interruptions ; and throughout its course preserves its dis-
tinguishing characters. It follows also the same geological horizon or zone,
keeping between well-marked geological and geographical boundaries, so that a
description of the strata adjoining it at one place will serve to give a general
view of them throughout. A cross-section in considerable detail was made on
the Mariposa estate in eighteen hundred and sixty-four. This estate includes
the southern end of the " Great Vein," there known as the " Pine Tree." It
also includes several veins lying west of the line of the Pine Tree, of which the
most important is the " Princeton," noted for its richness and large production
of gold. This group of veins follows a long valley between two high ridges —
Bear Mountain on the west, and Mount Bullion on the east. Those ridges are
formed of hard rocks ; the rocks of the valley are argillaceous and sandy slates
and sandstones. The stratification of these slates is remarkably regular and dis-
tinct ; their thin outcrops standing sharply out at intervals in long lines in the
ravines and on the hillsides, mark their trend, and show that they are nearly
vertical, or have a slight inclination northeast or easterly. The general direc-
tion of the outcrops and of the valley is northwest and southeast ; but there are
several local variations.
These slates are generally light colored or drab at the surface ; but in depth
they are black, like roofing slate, and break up into rhomboids. This is partic-
ularly well shown at the Princeton vein. There are numerous intercalations of
sandy layers passing into sandstones — sometimes into coarse grits, and even
pebbly beds, and beds of slaty conglomerate. The softer and most finely lami-
nated portion of the group is generally found near the medial line of the valley,
and is the point at which the Princeton vein occurs. It is near this part of the
series, at the northern end of the estate, that the Jurassic fossils occur.
The following is an approximate geological section of the estate, at right
angles to the course of the rocks, and nearly over the Princeton vein. It is a
composite section, being made up of three distinct portions where the observa-
tions, had extended, but all near together, so as to present a fair view of the se-
quence of the formations. The whole embraces a distance of about four miles,
•according to the scale of the small published map of the estate. The southwest-
ern end is taken along Bear creek, the middle portion across the Princ- ton vein,
and the remainder on a line near Upper Agua Fria, northeasterly to Bullion
ridge. The following is the sequence of formations from west to east :
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 215
SECTION ACROSS THE MARIPOSAS.
1. Coarser heavy conglomerates, metamorphosed — Bear mountains,
2. Compact crystalline slates ; crystalline cleavage.
3. Conglomerate ; slaty.
4. Argillaceous slates, regularly stratified ; thick series.
5. Sandstone and sandy beds, (thin.)
6. Princeton gold vein ; quartz three feet thick.
7. Argillaceous slates and quartz veins ; the horizon of the Jurassic fossils.
8. Magnesian rock and quartz veins.
9. Pine Tree, or " Mother Vein," or its extension.
10. Argillaceous slates.
11. Conglomerate; slaty.
12. Compact slates.
13. Greenstone, limited in extent ; probably a metamorphosed sandstone.
14. Sandstones and sandy slates.
15. Serpentine and magnesian rocks — the northern extension of Buckeye ridge.
16. Compact slates, crystalline and much metamorphosed.
17. Conglomerates and sandstones, heavy and massive; the so-called " green-
stone " of Mount Bullion range.
This is the general outline of the formations. Both of the bounding ranges of
the valley are formed by the heavy metamorphic conglomerates, so much altered
and changed as to be scarcely recognizable. They are generally supposed to
be formed of greenstone, and in some places they do not give any evidence of
their sedimentary origin ; in others, the outlines of the pebbles and boulders are
distinct. These boulders are remarkably large and heavy. From the general
similarity of the rocks of these two ranges — Bear mountain on the west, and
Bullion range on the east — together with the succession and character of the.
formations between, I am led to regard the whole series as a fold or plication,
and the valley as either synclinal or anticlinal — probably the former.*
Bear mountain range is prolonged far to the north into Calaveras county, and
there forms the separation between the valley of Copperopolis, traversed by the
Reed or Union copper lode, and the gold quartz region of Angel's camp and
Carson Hill. The whole belt of formations from Amador county, southeastward,
through Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Mariposa counties, is an interesting field for
a geologist to work up, to show not only the geographical extent of the rocks
and the veins, but the structure or folding of the whole. The two lines of hard
conglomerate forming the high ridges are distinct for nearly the whole distance.
The serpentine rocks which accompany the gold formation are probably the
result of local metamorphic action, for they often occur in lenticular or elipsoidal
patches in the other rocks. So also the greenstone, in places, appears to be an
altered portion of rocks, which at other points are distinctly sedimentary, and
exhibit slaty stratification.
* The above section of the gold formation of the estate, and the substance of the observa-
tions upon it, were given in a report to F. L. Olmsted, esq., in eighteen hundred and sixty-
four. Inedited.
216 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
SECTION 10.
LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS IN RELATION TO THE
OCCUPANCY OF MINERAL LANDS AND THE WORKING OF MINES.
1. The crown right. — 2. Permanent titles to the mineral lands of the United States.
1.— THE CROWN RIGHT.
[Compiled from references in the New Alinaden ca^se.]
By the civil law all veins and mineral deposits of gold and silver ore, or of
precious stones, belonged, if in public ground, to the sovereign, and were part
of his patrimony ; but if on private property, they belonged to the owner of the
land, subject to the condition that if worked by the owner he was bound to
render a tenth part of the produce to the prince, as a right attaching to his
crown ; and that, if worked by any other person by consent of the owner, the
former was liable to the payment of two-tenths, one to the prince, and one to
the owner of the property. Subsequently it became an established custom in
most kingdoms, and was declared by the particular laws and statutes of each,
that all veins of the precious metals, and the produce of such veins, should vest
in the Crown, and be held to be part of the patrimony of the King or sovereign
prince. That this is the case with respect to the empire of Germany, the elec-
torates, France, Portugal, Arragon, and Catalonia appears from the laws of
each of those countries, and from the authority of various authors.
And the reason is, that the metals are applicable to the use of the public,
who ought not to be prejudiced by any impediments being thrown in the way
of the discovering and working of their ores ; besides which their products
rank', not among those of an ordinary description, but among the most precious
the earth affords ; and, therefore, instead of being appropriated to individuals,
are proper to be set apart for the sovereign himself, whose coffers being thus
enriched, he will be enabled to lighten the burdens of the people ; all which is
set forth at length by the authors above referred to.
This question, as is observed by the great Cardinal de Luca, has not received
any general or uniform determination, but is decided by the laws and customs
of each particular kingdom or principality ; for upon the breaking up of the
Roman empire the princes and states which declared themselves independent
appropriated to themselves those tracts of ground in which nature had dis-
pensed her more valuable products with more than ordinary liberality, which
reserved portions or rights were called rights of the Crown. Among the chief
of the valuable products are the metallic ores of the first class — as those of
gold, silver, and other metals proper for forming money, which it is essential for
sovereigns to be provided with in order to support their warlike armaments by
sea or land, to provide for the public necessities, and to maintain the good
government of their dominions. And such is the course mentioned in the first
book of Maccabees to have been pursued by the Romans with regard to the
mines of Spain, and such also is the plan adopted by our sovereigns with
regard to those of the Indies, some of which they have reserved to themselves, and
the remainder they have left to their subjects, charged with the payment of
a fifth, tenth, or twentieth part of the produce.
According to the law of England the only mines which are termed royal,
and which are the exclusive property of the Crown, are mines of silver and
gold ; and this property is so peculiarly a branch of the royal prerogative
that it has been said that though the King grant lands in which mines are, and
all mines in them, yet royal mines will not pass by a general description,
This prerogative is said to have originated in the King's right of coinage, in
order to supply him with materials. It may be observed, however, that the
WEST OP THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 217
right of coinage in the earlier periods of European society was not always ex-
clusively exercised by the Crown ; that the same reason might apply to other
metals — as copper and tin — and that in those rude times the prerogative was
perhaps as likely to have its origin in the circumstance of those rare and
beautiful metals having always been among the most cherished objects of am-
bition, and which were, therefore, appropriated to the use of the Crown, like
the diamonds of India, in order to sustain the splendor and dignity of its rank.
Whatever reason may be assigned for this right of the Crown, and of what-
ever value the right may be, it has been long decided not only that all the mines
of gold and silver within the realm, though in the lands of subjects, belong ex-
clusively to the Crown by prerogative, but that this right is also accompanied
with full liberty to dig and carry away the ores, and with all other such inci-
dents thereto as are necessary to be usual for getting them.
This right of entry is disputed by Lord Hardwicke, in a case where there
was a grant from the Crown of lands with a reservation of all royal mines, but
not of a right of entry. The lord chancellor said he was of opinion that there
was by the terms of the grant no such power in the Crown, and that by the royal
prerogative of mines the Crown had given no such power, for it would be very
prejudicial if the Crown could enter into a subject's lands, or grant a license to
work the mines ; but that when they were once opened it could restrain the
owner of the soil from working them, and could either work them itself or grant
a license for others to work them.
In the days of Queen Elizabeth the rights of miners were discussed in a legal
controversy, in which some of the ablest men in England participated. Two
men, named Howseter and Thurland, went, without permission, upon the lands
of the Earl of Northumberland, and commenced digging for copper ore. The
earl warned them off. They made complaint to the Queen's attorney general,
stating that the ores contained some silver or gold, and he prosecuted the earl
for resisting the efforts of these miners in extracting the precious metals from
the earth, for the reason that all the gold and silver in the earth within the
realm belonged to the Queen and not to the owner of the land. All the justices
of England heard the argument and took part in the discussion.
The question principally debated was, whether by the prerogative of the
Crown all ores containing silver or gold belonged to the Crown as a part of
regalia.
The judges decided that all gold or silver ores belonged to the Crown,
whether in private or public lands ; that any ores containing neither gold nor
silver belonged to the proprietor of the soil ; that the King could grant away
mines of gold or silver, but not without express words in his patent demon-
strating his intention to sever the mines from his royal patrimony.
Some of the reasons upon which the arguments were based were expressed in
felicitous though quaint languag-'e, and are worthy of being reproduced :
1. " And the reason is that metals are applicable to the use of the public,
&c. ; besides which, their products rank, not among
those of an ordinary description, but among the most precious the earth af-
fords, and, therefore, instead of bfcing appropriated to individuals, are proper to
be set apart for the sovereign himself, whose coffers, being thus enriched, &c.
Among the chief of the valuable products are the metallic
ores of the first class, as those of gold, silver, and other metals proper for form-
ing money, which it is essential for the sovereign to be provided with in order
to support their warlike armaments by sea and land, to provide for the public
necessities, and to maintain the good government of their dominions," &c., &c.
— {And. Plowdin, 315.)
2. "As to the first of these three points Onslow alleged three reasons why
the King shall have the mines and ores of gold or silver within the realm in
whatever land they are found. The first was in respect to the excellency of the
218 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
thing ; and the common law, which is founded upon rea-
son, appropriates everything to the person whom it best suits, as common and
trivial things to the common people, things of more worth to persons in a higher
and superior class, and things most excellent to those persons who excel all
others ; and because gold and silver are the most excellent things which the
soil contains, the law has appropriated them (as in reason it ought) to the per-
son who is most excellent, and that is the King."
3. " For the same reason, he says, it has given him "whales and sturgeons "
which are in the sea in England — that is, "in the arms of the sea or water within
the land, so that the excellency of the King's person draws to it things of an
excellent nature. The second reason was in respect of the necessity of the
thing ; for the King is the head of the public weal, and the subjects are his
members, and the office of the King, to which the law has appointed him, is to
preserve his subjects ; and their preservation consists in two things, viz : in an
army to defend them against hostilities, and in good laws. And an army cannot
be had and maintained without treasure, for which reason some authors, in their
books, call treasure the sinews of war. And, there-
fore, as God has created mines within this realm as a natural provision of treas-
ure for the defence of the realm, it is reasonable that he who has the govern-
ment and care of the people* whom he cannot defend without treasure, should
have the treasure wherewith to defend them. The third reason was in respect
©f its convenience to the subjects in the way of mutual commerce and traffic ;
but one has need of the things which another has, and they cannot sell or buy
together without coin. It belongs to the King only to fix the value of coin, and
to ascertain the price of the quantity, and to put the print upon it ; for if he
(a subject) makes coin, it was high treason by the common law."
Act of Congress for tlie occupation and sale of the mineral lands of tlie United
States.
In the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury for the year 1865, the
substitution of an absolute title in fee for the indefinite possessory rights or
claims under which the mines were held by private parties was earnestly rec-
ommended.
The following extracts from the Secretary's report embody the main consid-
erations by which Congress was governed in the passage of the act approved
August, 1866:
" The attention of Congress is again called to the importance of early and
definite action upon the subject of our mineral lands, in which subject are iiv
volved questions not only of revenue, but social questions of a most interesting
character.
" Copartnership relations between the government and miners will hardly be
proposed, and a system of leasehold, (if it were within the constitutional
authority of Congress to adopt it, and if it were consistent with the character
and genius of our people,) after the lessons* which have been taught of its
practical results in the lead and copper districts, cannot of course be recon>
mended.
"After giving the subject as much examination as the constant pressure of
official duties would permit, the Secretary has come to the conclusion that the
best policy to be pursued with regard to these lands is the one which shall
substitute an absolute title in fee for the indefinite possessory rights or claims
now asserted by miners.
" The right to obtain a « fee simple in the soil ' would invite to the mineral
districts men of character and enterprise ; by creating homes, (which will not
be found where title to property cannot be secured,) it would give permanency
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 219
to the settlements, and, by the stimulus which ownership always produces, ft
would result in a thorough and regular development of the mines.
" A bill for the subdivision and sale of the gold and silver lands of the United
States was under consideration by the last Congress, to which attention is
respectfully called. If the enactment of this bill should not be deemed expe-
dient, and no satisfactory substitute can be reported for the sale of these lands
to the highest bidder, on account of the possessory claims of miners, it will
then be important that the policy of extending the principle of pre-emption to .
the mineral districts be considered. It is not material, perhaps, how the end
shall be attained, but there can be no question that it is of the highest import-
ance, in a financial and social point of view, that ownership of these lands, in
limited quantities to each purchaser, should be within the reach of the people
of the United States who may desire to explore and develop them.
" In this connection it may be advisable for Congress to consider whether the
prosperity of the treasure-producing districts would not be increased, and the
convenience of miners greatly promoted, by the establishment .of an assay
office in every mining district from which an annual production of gold and
silver amounting to tejpnaaillions of dollars is actually obtained."
F?'n "'
IryAfONNE
>NNES, chairman of the Committee on Mines and Mining of the Senate,
ic the following report, May 28, 1866 :
The Committee on Mines and Mining, to whom was ^referred Senate bill No,
257, "An act to regulate the occupation of mineral lands, and to .extend the
right of pre-emption thereto" have had the same under consideration, and
beg leave to report a substitute, and to recommend its passage.
By this bill it is only proposed to dispose of the vein mines, and to provide
for the segregation of the agricultural lands lying within the mineral regions.
The proposition contained in it is to transfer the title of the United States to
the possessors at a reasonable rate, and as a part of that rate to secure the pay-
ment of a percentage of the net proceeds of the vein mines into, the treasury,
until the present burdensome public debt shall be paid ; this percentage to be in
lieu of all tax imposed upon bullion at the mints and assay offices under ex-
isting laws.
It is not proposed to interfere with, or impose any tax upon, the miners en-
gaged in working placer mines, as those mines are readily exhausted, and not
generally remunerative to those engaged in working t!iwi
Your committee, in arriving at the conclusions they have;'and recommending
the passage of an act to" pro vide for investing the miners of the country with the
fee-simple to their vein mines, have not been unmindful of what the country
owes to the enterprising men who have gone into the forests and recesses of the
western States and Territories, and who have developed to the commerce of
the world the heretofore hidden treasures therein ; they who, by patient and
often ill-requited toil, without aid from the government in any manner whatever,
have shown the ample foundation of the national credit in the mineral resources
of the public domain. That policy by which the greatest amount of the precious
metals shall be produced, and the greatest individual and aggregate wealth
amassed by our own people, must be the wisest and b<\~t.
There has been constant fear felt by those who &re engaged in promoting
these results that some disturbance and interference with vested rights of
property would occur. Measures for the sale of the mines and for the taxation
of those engaged in working them have, from time to time, been proposed,
creating the deepest apprehensions and most seriously affecting mining property.
It is a first duty that all such doubts and fears shall be set at rest by the pro*
220 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
mulgation of a policy which shall give full and complete protection to all exist-
ing possessory rights upon liberal conditions, and with full and complete legal
guarantees, and to provide the most generous conditions looking toward further
explorations and developments.
There are widely differing opinions as to the course proper to be pursued be-
tween the population of the mining regions and the people of the east, whose
representatives in Congress too often, without exact knowledge on the subject,
propose heavy burdens upon the mining industry. The mass of people living in
the mines feel that the mines should be left free and open to and within the
reach of the hardy explorer and adventurer without tax or impost whatever ; nay,
feeling the many disappointments and failures to which they are subject in their
efforts to acquire wealth from this source, they believe that the government of-
the United States, which they love, should rather offer rewards from the public
treasury for the discovery of mines, than that such discovery should be but the
signal for measures of taxation.
They also fear all systems of sale, lest any which should be adopted might
result in a monopoly of the mines and their concentration into few hands.
They are jealous of all systems for the disposition of the mineral lands which
shall allow the lands to be bought by the fortunate possessors of large capital,
in extensive bodies, to the exclusion of the men whose only capital consists in
their labor. They, nevertheless, will readily acquiesce in any plan which shall
confirm existing rights at reasonable rates, and which shall be safe against the
evils to which your committee have referred.
The amount proposed is five dollars per acre for the vein mines and all the
land adjoining necessary for working them, and the payment of three per cent,
of the net product of all such mines into the treasury of the United States,
which shall be in lieu of the present impost.
It will be remembered that the present tax was adopted in preference to the
five per cent, tax on the gross proceeds of the mines proposed by the House of
Representatives in 1864. Any tax on the gross product of mines must be
purely a tax upon effort, and must result, as the- recent tax on crude petroleum
did, in the ruin of those engaged in the business, arid a serious limit on pro-
duction.
Another feature of the bill recommended is, that it adopts the rules and regu-
lations of miners in the mining districts where the same are not in conflict with
the laws of the United States. This renders secure all existing rights of prop-
erty, and will prove at once a just and popular feature of the new policy. Those
" rules an$ regulations" are well understood, and form the basis of the present
admirable system in the mining regions : arising out of necessity, they became
the means adopted by the people themselves for establishing just protection to
all.
In the absence of legislation and statute law, the local courts, beginning with
California, recognize those " rules and regulations," the central idea of which
was priority of possession, and hare given to the country rules of decision so
equitable as to be commanding in its natural justice, and to have secured uni-
versal approbation. The California reports will compare favorably, in this re-
spect, with the history of jurisprudence in- any part of the world. Thus the
miners' " rules and regulations" are not only well understood, but have been
construed and adjudicated for now nearly a quarter of a century.
It will be readily seen how essential it is that this great system, established
by the people in their primary capacities, and evidencing by the highest possible
testimony the peculiar genius of the American people for founding empire and
order, shall be preserved and affirmed. Popular sovereignty is here displayed
in one of its grandest aspects, and simply invites us not^to destroy, but to put
upon it the stamp of national power and unquestioned authorityTJ
This should be dont; generously, 'for the nation's sake, "Chose brave men
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 221
who have established a high civilization on the far-off Pacific, whose hearts, in
the nation's trials, beat so true, and who are now fast closing in upon the civili-
zation of your owfi west, should he made to feel, not that you are masters, but
brethren and friends.
By their loyalty they gave you peace where your power was scarcely felt ;
by their industry they gave the solid base of silver and gold to the national
issues and the . national credit, and it is left to history to balance and to tell
how, without that peace their patriotism so well preserved, and that silver and
gold which their industry gave the nation, the national cause could have been
equally benefited. From their earnings, too, came those contributions which
will forever form so beautiful a chaplet around their own brows. They set the
highest example of a Christian people, patriotic a.nd peaceful, sturdy and loyal
tnjfcepfloTn. industrious and charitable. It is for such a people that we legislate.
[ The necessity for the segregation of the agricultural part of the public domain
from that which is purely mineral is of the first character. It will be remem-
bered that mining alone cannot supply a single human want, and no community
would' eventually be so poor as a mining community purely. But the miner is
nearly always the pioneer of society where mines exist — shortly, however, to be
followed by the agriculturist and the artisan. Mutual production and ex-
change result, and society is established. Nothing renders society so stable
as giving to the people the title to the land upon which they live. They learn
to love, it, and are the first to find out its greatest value, and consequently to
employ it for the highest uses. Homes of a permanent character are thus"e"s\.
tablished, and the school-house and church follow to light the path and to
cheer the way through life. To these ends the earliest ownership should be
given to him who, by patient and virtuous toil, proposes to become a corner-
stone to community. Every wise consideration demands that the segregation
of the agricultural lands from those purely mining should be made, and this bill
makes such provision.
Your committee are aware that they tread new ground, but they bring many
years of experience to the task, and the light has been used to reach the end
which wi^jDromote the greatest happiness of the citizen and the glory of the
republicJJL/
> Ate*««*C'^<£'
[The following is &,copy of the act of Congress approved August — , 1866, to
legalize the occupation of the mineral lands, and for other purposes :
SECTION 1. That the mineral lands of the public domain, both surveyed and
unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and occu-
pation by all citizens of the United States, and those who have declared their
intention to become citizens, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed
by law, and subject also to local 'custom or rules of miners in the several mining
districts, so far as the same may not be in conflict with the laws of the United
States.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That whenever any person or association
of persons claim a vein or lode of quartz, or other rock in place, bearing gold,
silver, cinnabar, or copper, having previously occupied and improved the same
according to the local custom or rules of miners in the district where the same
is situated, and having expended in actual labor and improvements thereon an
amount not less than one thousand dollars, and in regard to whose possession
there is no controversy or opposing claim, it shall and may be lawful for said
claimant or association of claimants to file in the local land ofiice a diagram of
the same, so extended laterally or otherwise as to conform to the local laws,
eustoms, and rules of miners, and to enter such tract and receive a patent
therefor, granting such mine, together with the right to follow such vein or
* See Congressional Globe for debates on this bill
222 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
lode, with its dips, angles, and variations, to any depth, although it may enter
the land adjoining, which land adjoining shall be sold subject to this condition.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That upon the filing of the diagram as
provided in the second section of this act, and posting the same in a conspicu-
ous place on the claim, together with a notice of intention to apply for a patent,
the register of the land office shall publish a notice of the same in a newspa-
per published nearest to the location of said claim, and shall also post such
notice in his office lor the period of ninety days ; and after the expiration of
Baid period, if no adverse claim shall have been filed, it shall be the duty of the
surveyor general, upon application of the party, to survey the premises and
make a plat thereof, indorsed with his approval, designating the number and
description of the location, the value of the labor and improvements, and the
character of the vein exposed ; and upon the payment to the proper officer of
five dollars per acre, together with the cost of such survey, plat, and notice,
and giving satisfactory evidence that said diagram and notice have been posted
on the claim during said period of iJfcnety days, the register of the land office
shall transmit to the General Land Office said plat, survey, and description ;
and a patent shall issue for the same thereupon. But said plat, survey, or de-
scription shall in no case cover more than one vein or lode, and no patent shall
issue for more than one vein or lode, which shall be expressed in the patent
issued.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That when such location and entry of a
mine shall be upon unsurveyed lands, it shall and may be lawful, after the ex-
tension thereto of the public surveys, to adjust the surveys to the limits of the
premises according to the location and possession/and plat aforesaid, and the
surveyor general may, in extending the surveys, vary the same from a rec-
tangular form to suit the circumstances of the country and the local rules, laws,
and customs of miners : Provided, That no location hereafter made shall ex-
ceed two hundred feet in length along the vein for each locator, with an addi-
tional claim for discovery to the discoverer of the lode, with the right to follow
such vein to any depth, with all its dips, variations, and angles, together with
a reasonable quantity of surface for the convenient working of the same as fixed
by local rules : And provided further, That no person may make more than
one location on the same lode, and not more than three thousand feet shall be
taken in any one claim by any association of persons.
SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That as a further condition of sale, in the
absence of necessary legislation by Congress, the local legislature of any State
or Territory may provide rules for working mines involving easements, drain-
age, and other necessary means to their complete development ; and those con-
ditions shall be fully expressed in the patent.
SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That whenever any adverse claimants to
any mine located and claimed as aforesaid shall appear before the approval of
the survey, as provided in the third section of this act, all proceedings shall be
stayed until a final settlement and adjudication in the courts of -competent juris-
diction of the rights of possession to such claim, when a patent may issue as in
other cases.
SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States
be, and is hereby, authorized to establish additional land districts, and to ap-
point the necessary officers under existing laws, wherever he may deem the
same necessary for the public convenience in executing the provisions of this act.
SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the right of way for the construe
tion of highways over public lands, not reserved for public uses, is hereby
granted.
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That whenever, by priority of possession,
rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other pur-
poses, have vested and accrued, and the same are. recognized and acknowledged
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 223
by "the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and own-
ers of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same ; and
the right of way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes
aforesaid is hereby acknowledged and confirmed. Provided, however : That
whenever, after the passage of this act, any person or persons shall, in the con-
struction of any ditch or canal, injure or damage the possession of any settler
on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable
to the party injured for such injury or damage.
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That wherever, prior to«the passage of
this act, upon the lands heretofore designated as mineral lands, which have been
excluded from survey and sale, there have been homesteads made by citizens of
the 'United States, or persons who have declared their intention to become citi-
zens,-which homesteads have been made, improved, and used for agricultural
purposes, and upon which there have been no valuable mines of gold, silver,
cinnabar, or copper discovered, and which are properly agricultural lands, the
said settlers or owners of such homesteads shall have a right of pre-emption
thereto, and shall be entitled to purchase the same at the price of one dollar and
twenty-five cents per acre, and in quantity not, to exceed one hundred and sixty
acres ; or said parties may avail themselves of the provisions of the act of Con-
gress approved May 20, 1862, entitled "An act to secure homesteads to actual
settlers on the public domain," and acts amendatory thereof.
SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That upon the survey of the lands afore-
said, the Secretary of the Interior may designate and set apart such .portions of
the said lands as are clearly agricultural lands, which lands shall thereafter be
subject to pre-emption and sale as other public lands of the United States, and
subject to all the laws and regulations applicable to the samej
2.— PERMANENT TITLES TO MINERAL LANDS IN THE UNITED STATES.
In glancing back over the history of California for the last eighteen years,
we cannot overlook the fact that the State has, for the want of a permanent
mining population, lost what would be worth more than a hundred millions of
money. The work has been done mostly by men who had no homes, and who
did not intend to remain in California. Their enterprises generally were under-
taken for the purpose of making the most profit in a brief time. There was
no proper care for ,1 distant future ; and without such care no society is sound,
no State truly prosperous. If a claim could, by hastily washing, be made to
pay $10 per day to the hand for three months, or $6 for three years by a care-
ful washing, the hasty washing was preferred. If a fertile valley that would
have yielded a revenue of $5 per acre for century after century to a farmer
could l?e made to yield $5 per day to a miner for one summer, its loam was
washed away, and a useless and ugly bed of gravel was left in its place. The
flukes, the ditches, the dwellings, the roads, and the towns were constructed
with almost exclusive regard to immediate wants. The good turnpike roads
were private property* on which heavy tolls were levied, so that not unfre-
quently a gentleman in a one-horse buggy would have to pay $5 or $10 toll in
a day's travel. The claims were made small, so that everybody should have a
chance to get one ; but the pay-dirt was soon exhausted, and then there mu«t be
a move. In such a state of affairs miners generally could not send for iheir
families or make elegant homes. Living alone and lacking the influences and
amusements of home-life, they became wasteful and wild. Possessing no title
to the land, they did nothing to give it value, and were i;eady to abandon it at
any moment. The farmers, merchants, and other fixed residents of the mining
counties are agitated and frightened nearly every year by the danger of a
migration of the miners to some distant place. One year it is Peru ; another it
is British Columbia, Idaho, Reese river, Pahranagat, or Arizona ; and it may
next be Brazil, Liberia, or Central Africa, for all we know.
224 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
The losses to individuals and to the State have been so great from these
migrations that for years past there has been an increasing desire for some
.change in the tenure of mining ..lands, so that the mining population shall be
attached to the soil, and thus have an opportunity and a motive for establish-
ing permanent homes and a personal interest in improving and enriching the
country. The act of Congress passed at the last session for the granting of
fee-simple titles to lode mines, and to the agricultural lands in the mineral dis-
tricts, is the beginning of a new and better era in the history of the Pacific
coast. So so<an as the necessary surveys can be completed, many applications
will be made for patents, and in a few years great and beneficial changes will
result. Such is the general opinion among the more intelligent miners and
public men of the coast. As an indication of the manner in which the news of
the passage of the act was received, the following passages are quoted from
leading editorials in influential newspapers :
The San Francisco Bulletin, in its issue of July 31st, said :
(^No measure of equal consequence to the material, and, we may add, to the
moral interests of the Pacific States, was ever before passed by Congress.
* The passage of the bill, whatever defects it may develop when
more critically examined and enforced, marks a change in the public land policy
equal in importance to the adoption of the pre-emption and homestead system ;
• indeed its practical effect will be to extend the now unquestionable benefits of
that system to the vast field of the opineral regions which have hitherto been
largely excluded from those benefits^! * * * It was one of the,greatest
evils of the negative policy of Congress regarding the mineral lands that, while
it prevented our own people from acquiring titles to them, it opened their trea-
sures freely to the transient adventurers from abroad, who only came to take
them away without leaving any equivalent. As a measure calculated to give
homogeneity and fixedness to our population, security to titles, and encourage-
ment to investments of capital and labor, the new mining law is full of promise.
We believe it will have the effect also to stimulate exploration and production
in the mining districts. |jts good features are apparent ; its bad ones will appear
in time and can be easily remedied^
The Alta Californian of the same date, said :
" The passage of the bill will be regarded in future timea as an epoch in the
history of the State. It offers a patent to every lode miner who desires it ; it
opens all the agricultural land in the mineral districts to pre-emption and home-
stead claims, and it will give secure titles, build up comfortable homes, and fix
a large permanent population in the rich mining country of the Pacific slope."
The Mining and Scientific Press, in its issue of the 14th of July, 1866, spoke
thus, editorially : ,
" The papers generally throughout the State (California) and Nevada appear
to approve the bill; and so far as we can judge there is«, general feeling favor-
able to its passage, as a necessity for quieting the public mind upon this vexa-
tious question."
The Stockton Independent of January 8, 1866, spoke thus of some of the
evils which this bill was designed to cure :
M There are now over one hundred thousand adult men asd women in the mines
of California and Nevada without homes or the possibility of acquiring them
Shall we let this preposterous rule go on from generation to generation, until
from hundreds of thousands this nomadic population amounts up to millions and
tens of millions ? From the twenty-seventh to the forty-seventh meridian of
longitude, and from latitude thiriy-four to the extremest northern line of the
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 225
•
United States, all is mineral land — all has been prospected" and proven to be
such.
Is it the part of wise statesmanship to adopt as a permanent law the rule that
the millions who are in the next quarter of a century to occupy this vast area
— over one-third of our territory — shall be without homes ? Such a thing is
horrible to contemplate. Compared with it the anarchy and social demorali-
zation which have reigned in Mexico, Peru, and other Spanish American coun-
tries for the last half century are as nothing. The policy is wholly opposed to
the instincts and habits of the Anglo-Saxon race — opposed to the idea of law
and government. It invites the nation to anarchy and offers a premium to
crime and pauperism.
It is high time that the rule were changed. All the mineral lands ought to
be surveyed in small lots and sold, or at least given away in fee to the occupants.
These people should have homes and the means of acquiring permanent
property and status as citizens."
The Sacramento Union of the 23d of June said :
" There are many miners who feel as deep an interest in the matter as others
who devote themselves exclusively to farming, for prosperous miners, who do not
wish to abandon the hills and valleys where they have harvested fortune, have
a passion for pretty homes and a blooming ranch. Upon the whole, this bill
has been framed with a more intelligent regard for the interests of the people of
the Pacific coast than any other previous measure that we can now recall, and
it is probable that its provisions can be executed without inflicting injury upon
the rights which accrued under the policy hitherto pursued by the government .
It is a great stride towards the final adjustment of a dangerous question, and a
vast improvement upon the measures broached at Washington at various periods
during the past three years."
Governor McCormick, of Arizona, in his annual message delivered to the
legislature on the 8th of October, 1866, said :
" The act of Congress to legalize the occupation of mineral lands, and to ex-
tend the rights of pre-emption thereto, adopted at the late session, preserves all
that is best in the system created by miners themselves, and saves all vested
rights under that system, while offering a permanent title to all who desire it,
at a mere nominal cost. It is a more equitable and practicable measure than
the people of the mineral districts had supposed Congress would adopt, and
credit for its liberal and acceptable provisions is largely due to the influence of
the representatives of the Pacific coast, including our own intelligent delegate.
While it is not without defects, as a basis of legislation it is highly promising,
and must lead to stability and method, and so inspire increased confidence and
zeal in quartz mining."
The Virginia Enterprise, the leading journal of the State of Nevada, in its
issue of July 13, advocating the passage of the bill, said :
" The bill proposes nothing but what already exists,except giving a perfect title
to the owners of any mine who may desire it. But the effect of this single title
clause, if the bill becomes a law, will be of wonderful benefit to our §tate. Do-
mestic, and especially foreign capitalists, who have been restrained from invest-
ing in our mines on account of the uncertain tenure by which they were held,
and the general insecurity of title, will not hesitate to invest when they are
guaranteed unmolested and permanent possession by the government. It will
give an impetus to prospecting, for discoveries will be salable ; to develop-
ments and heavy operations generally, for titles will be quiet and secure. It
will create an unprecedented demand for labor, and inaugurate enduring pros-
perity throughout the State. The poor and the rich, the workingman and the
capitalist, will be equally benefited by it."
H. Ex. Doc. 29 15
226 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
»
It may be useless to regret past mistakes, and there is some difference of
opinion among miners whether any serious mistake has been made, but it is evi-
dent that if the mining population could have been made permanent residents
of the various counties as early as 1849, California would now be thrice as rich,
in a pecuniary point of view, as she is at present. Her gold produce alone has
been $900,000,000; and the produce of her agriculture and other branches of
industry has been nearly as much, and yet the total assessed value of the tax-
able property of the State is only $180,000,000, of which nearly half is land
alone; so it seems California, with all her wonderful wealth, intelligence, and in-
dustry, has made only five per cent, profit on her business in a period of twenty
years of such an abundance of gold and comparative cheapness of the necessaries
of life as were never witnessed elsewhere in the world.
SECTION 11.
1. Mining laws. — 2. Need of congressional legislation. — 3. Customary limitation of size. — 4.
Proposed width of claims. — 5. Work required to hold claims. — 6. Proposed change as to
work required. — 7. Law needed for centuries of mining. — 8. Congress alone can estab-
lish uniformity. — 9. Miners' regulations in Nevada county. — 10. Miners' regulations in
Sierra county. — 11. Miners' regulations in Tuolumne county. — 11 J. 'Miners' regulations
in Sacramento county. — 12. Miners' regulations in Columbia district. — 13. Miners' regu-
lations in North San Juan district. — 14. Miners' regulations in Pilot Hill district. — 15.
Miners' regulations in New Kanaka camp. — 16. Miners' regulations in Copperopolis dis-
trict,—17. Statute of -Nevada.— 18. Blank district, Nevada— 19. Virginia district, Ne-
vada.— 20. Regulations of Reese River district. — 21. Quartz statute of Oregon. — 22.
Quartz statute of Idaho.— 23. Quartz statute of Arizona. — 24. The mining laws of
Mexico.
1.— MINING LAWS.
Mining for gold and silver is a business new in Anglo-Saxon life, and not
provided for in our laws. Suddenly the American government has found itself
in the possession of the richest deposits of the precious metals in the world,
with the certainty that the mining industry based upon them will be one of the
greatest and most permanent* interests of the country. It is necessary now to
foster this industry, to protect it, to frame a code of laws that will leave every
possible liberty to the miner who wishes to work fairly in extracting the metal
from the earth, and will throw every possible obstruction in the way of the
drones and swindlers who wish to defraud the honest laborer by compelling him
to pay for the right of working mines that should be open to him without
charge.
And, first, let us look at the regulations adopted by the miners and the
statutes adopted by certain States and Territories in regard to mining for gold
and silver.
It is impossible to obtain, within the brief time allowed for this preliminary
report, a complete collection of the mining regulations, and they are so nume-
rous that they would fill a volume of a thousand pages. There are not less
than five nundred mining districts in California, two hundred in Nevada, and
one hundred each in Arizona, Idaho, and Oregon, each with its set of written
regulations. The main objects of the regulations are to fix the boundaries of
the district, the size of the claims, the manner in which claims shall be marked
and recorded, the amount of work which must be done to secure the title, and
the circumstances under which the claim is considered abandoned and open to
occupation by new claimants. The districts usually do not contain more than
a hundred square miles, frequently not more than ten, and there are in places a
WEST OP THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 227
dozen within a radius of ten miles. In lode raining, the claims are usually two
hundred feet long on the lode ; in placers the size depends on the character of
the diggings and the amount of labor necessary to open them. In hill diggings,
where the pay dirt is reached by long tunnels, the claim is usually a hundred
feet wide, and reaches to the middle of the hill. Neglect to work a placer claim
for ten days in the season when it can be worked is ordinarily considered as an
abandonment. The regulations in the different districts are so various, however,
that it is impossible to reduce them to a few classes comprehending all their
provisions. The States of Nevada and Oregon and the Territories of Idaho
and Arizona have each adopted statutes in regard to the size and tenure of
mining claims, and these statutes, so far as they conflict with the district regu-
lations, probably supersede them, although the act of the last session of Con-
gress to legalize the occupation of the mineral lands provides for the issue of
patents to only the^ holders of those lode claims which are occupied and im-
proved according to the local custom or rules of miners in the district where the
same is located.*
Question might arise whether the statute of the State or Territory is to be
recognized as of any force in determining the right of claimants to patents. The
congressional act mentions only " the local custom or rules of miners in the dis-
trict;" and those words certainly do not describe a statute; and yet the statute
should be preferred, because it is uniform, clear, preserved in unquestionable
records, accessible to all, and of precise jurisdiction ; whereas the local customs
and rules are various, and in many districts indefinite, unrecorded, almost inac-
cessible, and conflicting in their jurisdiction.
The evils of the system of local customs and rules are well stated in a report
made to the senate of Nevada on the 23d February last by the committee on
mines and mining. The subject under consideration was the adoption of a
general statute to supersede these local customs and rules. The committee
say:
" In the establishment of a code of mining laws in this connection there are
certain self-evident principles which should be adopted —
" First. The interest in question being coextensive with the area of the State,
and intimately blended with every part of it, the laws which seek to regulate it
should be general in their character, uniform in their application, and universal
in their dissemination.
" Second. It being a vital and permanent interest, the laws which govern it
should have the vitality and stability of legislative enactment,
" Third. It being an interest pertaining to our own people, but valueless to them
without foreign aid, the aim of the laws should be twofold, to give protection
to our citizens and encouragement to capital."
Does the present system answer all or any of these requirements ?
1. As to uniformity : there is now nothing approaching it. There never was
confusion worse confounded. More than two hundred petty districts within the
limits of a single State, each one with its self-approved code; these codes, dif-
fering not alone each from each other, but presenting numberless instances of
* SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That whenever any person or association of per-
sons claim a vein or lode of quartz, or other rock in place, bearing- gold, silver, cinnabar, or
copper, having previously occupied and improved the same according to the local custom
or rules of miners in the district where the same is situated, and having expended in actual
labor and improvements thereon an amount not less than one thousand dollars, and in re-
gard to whose possession there is no controversy or opposing claim, it shall or may be lawful
for such claimant or association of claimants to file in the local land office a diagram of the
same, so extended laterally or otherwise as to conform to the local laws, customs, and rules
of miners, and to enter such tract and to receive a patent therefor, granting such mine, to-
gether with the right to follow such vein or lode with its dips, angles, and variations to any
depth, although it may enter the land adjoining, which land adjoining shall be sold subject
to this condition.
228 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
contradiction in themselves. The law of one point is not the law of another
five miles distant ; and a little further on will be a code which is the law of
neither of the former, and so on ad infinitum, with the further disturbing fact
superadded that the written laws themselves may be overrun by some peculiar
" custom " which can be found nowhere recorded, and the proof of which will vary
with the volume of interested affidavits which may be brough.t on either side to
establish it.
Again, in one district the work required to be done to hold a claim is nominal ;
in another, exorbitant ; in another, abolished ; in another, adjourned from year to
year. A stranger, seeking to ascertain the law, is surprised to learn that there
is no satisfactory public record to which he can refer ; no public officer to whom
he may apply who is under any bond or obligation to furnish him information
or guarantee its authenticity. Often in the newer districts he finds there is not the
semblance of a code, but a simple resolution adopting the code of some other dis-
trict, which may be a hundred miles distant. What guarantee has he for invest-
ment of either capital or labor under such a system ]
Again, under the present loose organization of districts, with their vagueness
of boundary, it is often impossible to determine by which code of laws a location
is governed. Cases of this kind have already arisen in several districts, and are
liable to do so again in any part of the State; and, tinder the present system,
there is no means of guarding against it, except by an actual survey of the
boundaries of every district — an incalculable expense.
2. As to permanency of regulations, even such as they are, there is now no
guarantee even of that. A miners' meeting adopts a code; it apparently is the
law. Some time after, on a few days' notice, a corporal's guard assembles, and,
on simple motion, radically changes the whole system by which claims may be
held in a district. Before a man may traverse the State, the laws of a district,
which by examination and study he may have mastered, may be swept away,
and no longer stand as the laws which govern the interest he may have acquired;
and the change has been one which by no reasonable diligence could he be ex-
pected to have knowledge of. But if the laws be uniform, "and registered upon
the statute book of the State, he will have security in his tenure, and reasonable
notice of any change therein.
3. As to protection to the miner and encouragement to the capitalist, the
present system, or lack of system, affords neither. The cause of uncertainty of
titles to land in our sister State did not, through fifteen years of her history,
more paralyze her progress than the uncertainty of mining titles in the outside
districts now retards our development. Five years ago a horde of greedy
prospectors from every part of the Pacific coast swept over our State, leaving their
notices of location on every "dip, spur, and angle," "thick as leaves inVallam
brosa;" and, after a year or two of feverish unrest, swarmed away again to the
newer fields of Idaho and Montana, leaving nothing to mark their passage but
their faded " notices " mouldering on the hillside, their pitiful burlesque of
development in the way of assessment-work, and the threatening terrors of the
common-law doctrine as to "vested rights." This is what the true citizens of
Nevada, those who, never losing faith in her future, have adhered to her for-
tunes in sunshine and gloom, now reap from the ruinous system of ttnlegalized
district laws. They see thousands of claims in which capital would be eager to
engage, could satisfactory title be given, now lying neglected because there is
no system of abandonment as yet, or sufficient legislative or judicial sanction to
gain the confidence of business men. Such will not be satisfied with a " general
belief," or an " evident tendency of decisions ; " they insist on definite enact-
ment or positive adjudication. In vain do our people relocate abandoned mines
in accordance with the only laws which govern the matter. When such titles
are presented to the capitalist his first inquiry is : " What is the authority for so
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 229
doing 1 Has your legislature authorized it ? Has your judiciary sanctioned it 1
If not, where is the security for investment ?"
As an instance of the manner in which the mining regulations are changed
and the mining records neglected, the experience of North San Juan, one of
the most prosperous and permanent mining towns, may be given here.
The Sweetland mining district was organized and a series of regulations
adopted for it in 1850, when claims were restricted to thirty feet square. In
1 852 the size was enlarged to eighty by one hundred and eighty feet, and the
regulations were changed several times in other respects. In 1853 the Sweet-
land district was subdivided into three smaller districts, of which North San
Juan is one. This latter adopted a set of regulations at the time of its organi-
zation, arid adopted the set now in force a year later. A mining recorder was
elected in 1854, but he has been absent from the district for five years, and no
one has been chosen to fill the place. The regulations are treated , by many
persons as if they were no longer in force — at least, as regards certain points ;
and in many cases it would be difficult to ascertain whether there is any good
title to claims under the regulations.
2.— NEED OF CONGRESSIONAL MINING LAW.
I would suggest that the act of last session should be so amended that, in
the granting of patents, State and territorial statutes in regard to the size,
possession, working, and abandonment of claims should be regarded as of
higher authority than the "local custom or rules;" and I venture to recommend
further that a congressional act should be passed prescribing the manner of *
taking up, recording, working, and abandoning mining claims so long as the *
title remains in the United States, so that uniformity shall prevail throughout
the whole country. Such an act, based on the laws and regulations of which
copies are given on subsequent pages, would, I am confident, give general satis-
faction to the miners, as securing their equal rights. As it is now, there is
great diversity.
The following list shows some of the differences in the size of the claims :
Arizona, under statute, 600 feet square.
Oregon, under statute, 300 feet on the lode by 150 feet wide.
Idaho, under statute, 200 feet on the lode by 100 feet wide.
Nevada, under statute, 200 feet en the lode by 200 feet wide.
Nevada county, California, miners' regulations, 100 feet.
Tuolumne county, California, miners' regulations, 150 feet on the lode and
150 feet on each side.
Sierra county, California, miners' regulations, 250 feet on the lode and 250
feet on each side.
Copperopolis district, California, miners' regulations, 150 feet on the lode and
250 feet on each side of the lode by 300 feet wide.
In most districts of Nevada and in many of California a miner may claim for
each person in his company 200 feet on the lode, but he acquires no exclusive
right of possession to the adjoining land, except in so far as he may have to
occupy it in his mining operations. In Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, and some dis-
tricts of California and Nevada, the mine may take a considerable tract on the
sides of. the lode. If we compare the size of the claims simply in relation to
the length on the lode, we see that, taking the space allowed to the miner in
Nevada county, California, as the unit of measurement, the miner in .the State
of Nevada gets twice as much, in Oregon thrice as much, and in Arizona six
times as much. There is no good reason why the claims should not be .of the
same size in all these places. The act of Congress provides in section 4 " That
no location hereafter made shall exceed two hundred feet in length along the
vein for each locator, with an additional claim for discovery to the discoverer
230 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
of the lode, with the right to follow such vein to any depth, with all its dips,
variations, and angles, together with a reasonable quantity of surface for the
convenient working of the same as fixed by local rules : And provided further,
That no person may make more than one location on the same lode, and not
more than three thousand feet shall be taken in any one claim by anv associa-
tion of persons." These provisions reduce the length of the claims to be located
hereafter in Arizona and Oregon to two hundred feet for each person ; but they
do not authorize any enlargements of the claim in the districts where the limit
is less than the two hundred feet. And yet justice and sound policy require
that a miner should be permitted to take up as large a claim in Nevada county
or in Tuolumne county, California, as in Oregon or Arizona.
3.— THE CUSTOMARY LIMITATION OF SIZE.
The limitation is, however, more apparent than real. If John Smith sup-
poses a lode to be rich, he selects a portion three thousand feet long, puts a
stake at each end, with a notice, and files with the recorder of the district or
county, a notice that he and fourteen associates have taken up that claim. If
he imagines that there is some rich ground outside of the three thousand feet,
he takes another claim of three thousand feet, in the names of fifteen friends
not mentioned in the first notice. He may have no authority from those persons
to take claims for them, but.no one objects in such a case. If John Smith now
desires to own more than his two hundred feet, he goes to the men whose names
he has put down, and requests them to give him a bill of sale for one hundred
feet, or one hundred and fifty feet each, and as they owe their claims to him,
they cannot refuse. Then, instead of being the owner of only two hundred
feet, he can become, with little trouble or expense, the owner of three or four
thousand feet. He can hold as many feet by purchase as he pleases. There is
no limitation in any county to the amount of mining claim that can be held by
one person by purchase ; but in Mexico no company can locate more than four
times as much as the claim of a single individual, and there is less opportunity
for the abuse of which mention has been made. It would be advisable, in my
opinion, to amend the act of last session so that no claim for any company shall
exceed sixteen hundred or two thousand feet in length. Th3 Mexican law fixes
the limitation at two hundred varas, or about twenty-two hundred feet. I
would recommend further that, in the proposed change in the length of claims,
each individual should be entitled to hold by location not more than five hundred
feet. The valuable claims are usually found by solitary miners, or by small
parties of not more than three. When such, or a miner or party, finds a place
in a rich lode, there is no good reason why he or they should be compelled by
the law to give most of it away to friends, as is done under the present law and
custom. Three locators get only six hundred feet out of three thousand, or one-
fifth. They may request their friends to convey to them one-half of the remain-
ing four-fifths, but oftentimes they fear that such request would give offence, and
if the claim turns out to be valuable, most of the benefit goes to persons who
have done nothing to discover the mine. It would be better to offer a larger
reward to the miner, and not compel him to give so much to his friends. Two
hundred feet is not enough on ordinary lodes for a mining enterprise; the pay-
streak of rock may run down obliquely lengthwise in the vein, and the miner
wants to know that he can follow it for a considerable distance in his claim. If
two miners should find a rich place in a quartz lode, and could trace it for eight
hundred feet along the lode, and were satisfied that the mine would prove profit-
able from the start, and were doubtful whether any part of the lode beyond the
eight hundred feet would pay, it is evident that they would rather own the eight
hundred feet by location than be compelled to give half of it to other persons.
The knowledge that location could acquire more than two hundred feet by loca-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 231
tion would encourage prospecting. If, on the other hand, the lode contained
only a moderate quantity of valuable ore, and could not be made to pay until
after an investment of more capital than the two had at their command, then
they could make up the original company of ei^ht persons, with one hundred
feet to each ; or they could take up the claim in their two names, and each could
sell or give away portions of his share to friends who would furnish money. By
increasing the amount that each individual can hold by location, the miner has
everything to gain and nothing to lose. If the mine will pay from the start, the
profit goes to the man who deserves it ; if the mine requires outside capital for
its development, the miner can obtain it as readily as at present. The Spanish
iaw which was framed in 1783, after an experience of two hundred and fifty
years, and is now in force throughout Spanish America, allows each locator to
hold two hundred varas, or five hundred and fifty feet. The quartz regulations
of California were most of them framed about 1852 and 1853, with no experi-
ence, and under the influence of persons familiar only with the small claims cus-
tomary in the placers. It is true that many of the regulations have been re-
enacted at later dates, but the old influences have not been broken up. There
is now a disposition to find fault with the California regulations, and to prefer
the provisions of the Mexican law, as to the size of claims.
4.— PROPOSED WIDTH OF CLAIMS.
«-
A claim should cover not only the lode but a certain area on both sides. The
act of Congress allows a reasonable quantity of surface for the convenient work-
ing of the same, as fixed by •' local rules." Here again the "local rules" alone
are recognized. What is a " reasonable" quantity of surface ? In Arizona it is
three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the lode ; in Oregon it is twenty-
five feet on each side of the lode ; in Idaho it is a tract one hundred feet wide ;
in Tuolumne county, California, it is one hundred and fifty feet on each side of
the lode ; in Sierra county, California, it is two hundred and fifty feet wide on
each side ; in the Copperopolis district it is three hundred feet wide ; in the State
of Nevada, Nevada county, California, and in many other counties of California,
it is all the land that is actually occupied by the works of the company or miner,
and no more. Under the customs in those districts in which the miner obtained
no fixed quantity of surface, he never laid claim to any portion outside of his
lode, except as he occupied it for his tunnel, shaft, mill, dwelling, ditch, dump,
reservoir for tailings, or something of the sort ; if he had all his works at one end
of his claim, he had no title to any of the surface of the other end ; any other
miner might then take up another lode within ten feet of his and work it. The
law of Mexico, the statutes of Arizona, Oregon and Idaho, and the regulations
of Tuolumne and Sierra counties, authorize the miner to occupy a specific amount
of surface, and all the minerals within that area belong to him, whether he
has discovered all the lodes within it or not. It often happens that large veins
have branches or spurs, which at the surface appear as if they were parallel
veins, and when the main vein is opened and found to be ridh, outsiders, if not
forbidden by the laws or regulations, make a custom of claiming the spurs and
branches, in the hope that they may prove to be independent lodes, or in the
, expectation of making money out of them before the connection can be proved,
or for the purpose of compelling the owner of the main lode to buy them out,
and thus save the expense of litigation. Such claims upon spurs, and the liti-
gation resulting from them, have been among the most important facts in the his-
tory of Virginia City, and they have been common in many of the quartz districts
of California. They are among the greatest evils that beset lode mining in cer-
tain counties. It was mainly to prevent this kind of fraud, for it is scarcely
possible to give any oiJjer name to it as generally practiced, that the law of
Mexico authorized the imner to hold a tract five hundred and fifty feet wide at
232 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
right angles to the course of the lode, and thus he could cover any ground which
he found interlopers might want to claim. The purpose was not so much to give
him room for working, as to secure his title and protect him from litigation and
troublesome neighbors. Under every set of regulations, customs, or local rules,
arid under every code of mining law, the owner of the main vein under the first
location owns all the spurs ; but he may not be able to prove for years that it is
a spur. This was the case in several important suits in Virginia City, where the
spur was not traced to its union with the main vein until the miners had gone
down five hundred feet, and they did not reach that depth till after years of
working. There may be, and no doubt are, cases in which two valuable and
independent lodes are found within two hundred feet of each other ; and in such
instances it would perhaps be injurious to the mining interest to let the first
claimant have both lodes, but such cases would be very rare. As a matter of
fact there is no complaint among miners of any evil caused by giving a claim to
•a fixed area of surface, whereas there is great complaint about the license of
taking claims on spurs within a few feet of the main lode. The latter evil is
common ; the former is almost unknown ; the general sentiment among the miners
favors the recognition of a surface claim at least two hundred feet wide across
the lode.
5.— WORK REQUIRED TO HOLD CLAIMS.
One of the greatest evils that besets lode mining at present is that a vast
number of claims are held without being worked, and without any expectation
on the part of the claimants of working them. Most claims are taken up merely
as a matter of speculation, and not for. the purpose of mining ; and many of the
claimants are persons who have never done any regular work at quartz mining.
When a rich vein is found, a multitude of persons rush to the place, and each
one gets a claim, if possible, in every vein in the district. He puts down the
names of enough associates ,to make up a claim a thousand or two thousand feet
long, and thus all the lodes of the district are soon appropriated. Two or three
of the associates may be present with him or perhaps not one,of them has ever
been near the place. He has taken his claims and he now waits for others to
develop the district and prove that they are valuable. If by the opening of the
adjacent mines, his claims are proved to be rich, he sells out at a handsome
profit ; if not, he has lost little. Then if a miner goes into one of the quartz
mining districts and wishes to prospect a vein thoroughly, he will find that most
of these lodes which he would prefer to work are held as claims, though no
substantial work has been done in them. He cannot afford to buy, because he
might have to buy dozens before finding one that would yield anything before
being examined ; and he cannot afford to prospect before buying, because any
discovery that he might make would enhance the price, and be to the profit of
the claimant. The system that recognizes the validity of unworked claims is a
great check to mining industry and to the development of mineral wealth. The
individuals who profit by it are usually of a class who thrive at the expense of
the industrious and enterprising. The miner desiring to get a claim with the
intention of working it has everything to lose and nothing to gain by the sys-
tem. It is true that the local regulations require the claim-holder to do a cer-
tain amount of work every year to secure his title, but this requirement is in
most districts a mere form,* and it is evaded by shamf work, or the require-
*The San Francisco Mining and Scientific Press, a recognized authority among miners,
says in its issue of the 14th of July, 1866 :
" With regard to the performance of labor to perfect a title, every miner knows that the
ru]e, as at present established, is a mere farce."
tGovernor McCormick of Arizona, in his message delivered to the territorial legislature on
the 8th of October, 1866, says :
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 233
ment is' a nullity because no provision is made for ascertaining whether the
work has been done, and the title is held to be good until, when some adverse
claim is made, the first -claim is pronounced invalid by a court, after a trial
in which the result does not necessarily go with justice. The presumption is
always with the first claimant in such cases. A considerable portion of the
community being interested in similar sham claims, it is difficult to get a jury
to give a verdict against them, even if the testimony were against them ; but the
law is so framed that usually if one witness swears that a certain amount of
work has been done to hold a claim, the adverse party cannot disprove it. Now
let us see what amount of work is necessary to hold a lode claim in various dis-
tricts.
In the course of the year 1866, eighty miles of quartz claims were taken up
in Nevada county, *and most of these claims are held to-day by a good titje
under the mining regulations, though not five miles of the eighty to-day are
worked, and the OAvners of the remaining seventy -five have no intention of work-
ing their claims soon.
The Nevada Transcript, (Nevada county, California,) in a number published
in October, 1866, said :
"It is safe to estimate the mining locations of the past two years in this
county, including water privileges, gravel and quartz claims, at about 373 miles.
The locations of the present year amount to over 177 miles. Of these fully
one-half are quartz claims. This estimate will suffice to show the great import-
ance to which quartz mining has grown within a very short period. Very few
of the many ledges located have yet become yielding mines, and a large number
are now un worked, the owners, having done work enough to bold them, are
.waiting for more enterprising men to develop the neighboring claims."
Under the statute of Nevada a claim may be held for one year by the excava-
tion of fifty cubic feet of rock for each two hundred feet, or by the payment of
two cents per foot.
Under the statute of Oregon a claim may be held for a year by work to the
amount of fifty dollars for each three hundred feet, or for the share of each
original locator.
In Idaho, under the territorial statute, work to the amount of one hundred
dollars for the claim of each original locator gives a perpetual title.
According to the territorial statute of Arizona the claimant or claimants must
sink a shaft thirty feet deep, or cut a tunnel fifty feet long, within the first ten
days, to establish a claim, which may then be held for two years without further
work by filing an annual affidavit of intention to work the claim ; and after
two years the claim, no matter how many feet it contains, may be held by thirty
days' work annually.
Under the local regulations of the Virginia district, three days' labor would
secure the. title to two hundred feet for one month, or work to the amount of
forty dollars for six months.
The local regulations for Reese River district do not provide for any forfeiture
n i i ft J
lor lack ot work.
The local regulations of Nevada county, California, require twenty days' work
or labor to the amount of one hundred dollars to secure a claim for one year.
" It is also important that, excepting in districts where active hostility on the part of the
Indians absolutely prevents, the actual occupation and improvement of claims shall be made
requisite to their possession, unless pre-empted under the congressional law. The lack of
such a requirement hitherto has seriously retarded the development of our mineral resources
and the general prosperity of the Territory, and proved discouraging to new comers, especi-
ally in the counties on the Colorado river, where hundreds of lodes, taken up in years past by
parties now absent from the Territory, are nnworked ; and yet, under the existing law, no one
has a right to lay claim to them, be he ever so able or anxious to open them."
234 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
In the Copperopolis district seven days' work holds a company's claim for
a year.
Under the local regulations of Tuolumne county, California, one day's work
will hold a claim for a month, or labor to the value of one hundred dollars will
hold it for six months.
6.— PROPOSED CHANGE AS TO WORK REQUIRED.
There is no uniformity here, nor is the same amount of labor required by any
two codes. Diversity implies injustice to individuals and injury to the State,
If it were wise to give a perpetual title in Idaho, after labor to the value of one
hundred dollars had been, done, it cannot be wise to require labor worth fifty
dollars annually in Oregon, or one hundred dollars in Nevada county, California,
All the statutes and regulations require some work, except the State of Nevada,
whicji enables the claimant by paying two cents per lineal foot annually, to hold
his claim forever. The two cents are to go into the State treasury, and the coin
mutation, if maintained, will have a very prejudicial effect on the mining interest
It will enable men to hold claims without working them, and that is precisely the
result which the laws should prevent. One of the evils with which lode mining
has now to contend is that the miners who are willing and anxious to work lodes
lying idle on public land cannot get possession of them. The law should be
strict against those who hold claims without working them. Every presumption
should be against titles that are not founded on continued occupation and work.
The statutes should be so framed that the miner who desires to work, and who
does work in good faith, shall have every advantage over the drone who takes
claims and tries to hold them iintil their great value is proved by others, so
that he can sell them out, after having incurred little expense or risk.
In Mexico it is expected that the miner will keep at least four men employed
continually at his mine, and if Ije omits to have so many as four for a period of
four months, except in time of war, famine, or pestilence, he forfeits his title.
The constant labor of one, two, or three men, or the employment of a dozen
during the year, is not enough. The Mexican law, however, is too strict on
this point for the present wants of the American mining districts. Wages are
so high that many companies, which really intend to open the mines, and are at
work in good faith with one or two men, would abandon their claims rather
than undertake to pay four men continuously. Nevertheless, severe as Mexi-
can law is on individuals, it is admirably fitted to develop the mining interest,
The Spanish maxim is that the man who does the most work in the mine
has the most right to it.
7.— LAW NEEDED FOR CENTURIES OF MINING.
It is evident to all who have made themselves familiar with the. history of
mining in other countries, and who have examined the mineral resources of the
Pacific States, that our gold and silver mining industry will last for centuries,
and will grow to be far more important and to employ many more laborers than
at present. It is evident, too, after the consideration of the various statutes and
local regulations that some further legislation is necessary to protect and foster
the development of this great industry. If further legislation 'be necessary,
wisdom suggests that action should not be postponed for a time. The mining
industry is too important to the interests of individuals and to the wealth and
growth of the State to be neglected. It is now, while the business is still in its
infancy, that the proper principles should be laid down, so as to secure the miner
in the safe enjoyment of the treasures which he brings to light. The land on
which the mining industry is based belongs to the Union, and Congress has
the exclusive jurisdiction over the tenure of claims until the time when they
"^become private property.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 235
The act of the last session is an excellent foundation on which to build up
gradually a code suited to our wants, and the local mining regulations suggest
many important provisions. The interests involved, both public and private,
are so great that much caution is necessary ; and yet the necessity of some uni-
form and comprehensive system is undeniable. It is better to legislate too little
than too much, and the first statutes should be confined to a few general and
fundamental principles, to which additions can be made as experience is gained
and the wants of the miners are better understood. The main purpose of legis-
lation, in mining, should be to protect the working miner, and encourage him in
the development of the mineral resources of the country. His interest in this
matter is intimately associated with the prosperity of the nation.
8.— CONGRESS ALONE CAN ESTABLISH UNIFORMITY.
i
Congress alone can establish uniform rules, applicable equally to all the
mining districts. Experience has shown that if the matter be left to the several
States and Territories in which the mineral deposits are found, each will have
its own system. Local, personal, arid immediate interests have far more influ-
ence in local legislatures than in Congress ; which last, from the manner in
which it is constituted, must pay more regard to general, permanent, and public
interests. It is therefore in every respect to be desired that Congress should
exercise its power and fix by a comprehensive act the terms upon which claims
to mines on the public land may be held. A wise and generous basis for such
legislation was laid by the -act of last session. The equity of the miner's title
was acknowledged ; the courts were directed to protect him in his possession ;
and the validity of the local rules was for the time recognized. The subject was
too extensive to dispose of it all at once. It is better to do the work slowly
than to do it ill. Step by step we shall advance to have a superior law, worthy
of the superior energy, intelligence, and industry of our miners, and the superior
richness and extent of our mineral deposits.
The following are the miners' regulations in some of the principal mining
districts :
9.— MINERS' REGULATIONS.— QUARTZ REGULATIONS OF NEVADA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA.
ARTICLE 1. The jurisdiction of the following laws shall extend over all quartz
mines and quartz mining property within the county of Nevada.
ART. 2. Each prospector of a quartz claim shall hereafter be entitled to one
hundred feet on a quartz ledge or vein, and the discoverer shall be allowed one
hundred feet additional. Each claim shall include all the. dips, angles, and va
riatious of the vein.
ART. 3. On the discovery of a vein of quartz, three days shall be allowed to
mark and stake off the same in such manner, by name of the owner and number
of the claim, or otherwise, as shall properly and fully identify such claims.
Parties having claims may cause a map or plan to be made and a copy filed with
the recorder, if deemed requisite to more particularly fix the locality.
ART. 4. Work to the extent of one hundred dollars in value, or twenty days'
faithful labor, shall be performed by each company holding claims, within thirty
days of the date of recording the same, as provided for in article sixth of these
laws ; and the duly authorized representative of a company making oath that
such money has been expended, or that such labor has been performed, shall be
entitled to a certificate from a county recorder or deputy, guaranteeing undis-
puted possession of said claim for the term of one vear ; and a like sum of
money or amount of labor expended or performed wifnin twenty days of each
succeeding year, duly acknowledged as herein named, shall entitle the claimant
236 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
or company, from year to year, to further certificates of undisputed proprietorship
and possession ; and a company having a mill contracted for in good faith, to
the amount of five thousand dollars, for the working of its claim or claims, the
proper representatives of the company making oath of the same, shall be entitled
to receive from said county recorder a title-deed to said claim or claims, guaran-
teeing to the claimant or company, their successors and assigns, undisputed pos-
session and proprietorship forever under these laws ; provided that nothing
in this article shall at any time be inconsistent with the laws of the United States.
ART. 5. Whenever the requisite amount of money or labor has not been, ex-
pended within- thirty days from the adoption of these laws, the claim or claims
thus neglected shall be considered abandoned and subject to be relocated by
any other party or parties.
ART. 6. Any person a citizen of the United States, or any person having taken
the necessary steps to become a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled^o
hold one quartz claim as provided for in article first, and as many more as may
be purchased in good faith for a valuable consideration, for which certificates of
proprietorship shall be issued by the county recorder.
ART. 7. The regularly elected county recorder of Nevada county shall serve
as recorder of this county in quartz claims, authenticating his acts by the county
seal. He shall appoint as his deputy such person for Grass valley as may be
elected by the district of Grass valley, and he shall pass his records to his
successor.
ART. 8. The fees of the recorder and deputy shall be the same as the statute
fees for recording per folio.
ART. 9. No title to a claim hereafter taken up or purchased shall be valid
unless recorded in the books of the aforesaid county recorder or deputy within
ten days of its location or purchase.
Adopted December 20, 1852, and still in force.
10.— QUARTZ REGULATIONS OF SIERRA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
ARTICLE 1. A claim on any quartz ledge in this county may have a length
of two hundred feet along the same, and. a width of -two hundred and fifty feet
at right angles with the ledge, on each side of the same, to include all quartz
found within the above-mentioned limits.
ART. 2. Any person discovering a gold-bearing ledge, not previously located,
shall be entitled to two claims, being one claim for discovery.
ART. 3. No person but a discoverer shall be entitled to hold more than one
claim by location, in a company.
ART. 4. No one but an American citizen, or a foreigner who has and exhibits
his foreign miner's tax receipt, shall be allowed to hold a claim by location on
any quartz ledge in. this county.
ART. 5. It shall be necessary for claimants to post a notice on some conspicu-
ous place on the claims located, setting forth the number of feet claimed, and
from what point, upon which the real names of the locators shall appear in full.
Said notice shall hold good for ten days, at the expiration of which time a copy
of said notice shall be placed upon the records of this county. The notice and
record as above shall hold said claims, without further improvements, from and
after the first day of November until the first day of May following, if recorded
after said first day of November. But upon all claims located between the first
day of May and the first day of November following, labor to the amount of
eight dollars per claim shall be expended toward the prospecting or developing
the same in each thirty days after such location.
ART. 6 To hold quartz claims for the first twelve months after location, it
shall be required of eacft claimant to expend at least one hundred dollars upon
each claim of two hundred feet in such improvements as may be required in the
development of the same.
WEST OF THE KOCKY MOUNTAINS. 237
ART. 7. Quartz claims, which have been duly located in accordance with the
foregoing rules and regulations, persons are entitled to hold without limit as to
number, by afterwards conforming to the requirements set forth in these by-
laws.
ART. 8. All quartz claims in this county heretofore located, upon which no
permanent improvements have been made, will be declared forfeited within
thirty days after the publication of these by-laws, unless the notice of location
is renewed and recorded, if not already upon the records of the county, and
labor expended upon the same in accordance with the foregoing regulations for
holding quartz claims.
11.— QUARTZ REGULATIONS OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
The following are the quartz regulations of Tuolumne county :
ARTICLE 1. The jurisdiction of the following laws shall extend over and
govern all quartz mining property within Tuolumne county :
ART. 2. Each proprietor or locator of a quartz claim shall be 'entitled to
one hundred and fifty (150) feet in length of the vein, including all its dips and
angles ; also one hundred and fifty (150) feet on each side of said vein, together
with the right of way on eiiher side of said vein, to run tunnels and drifts any
distance that may be necessary in order to work said vein ; provided that the
right to one hundred and fifty (150) feet herein granted on each side of the vein
shall not be deemed to conflict with or detract from the right of any subsequent
locator who may discover a vein outside of said one hundred and fifty (150)
feet, to follow Ins vein through said ground.
ART. 3. The original dicoverer of a vein shall be entitled to hold three hun-
dred (300) feet in length on said vein, by virtue of discovery.
ART. 4. No man shall, by virtue of pre-emption, be entitled to hold more
than one cl dm on the same vein, except as provided in article third.
ART. 5. All quartz claims hereafter taken up or located shall be plainly
marked by notices posted, containing the claimants' names and the number of
feet claimed.
ART. 6. The parties locating a quartz claim shall put at least one full day's
work on said vein in every thirty days, in order to hold the same. A day's work
shall be eight hours' labor ; provided, however, that the sum of one hundred
dollars ($100) expended on said claim shall hold the same for six months from
the date of its expenditure. *
ART. 7. Any individual, company, or companies erecting machinery for
working quartz shall, by virtue of said machinery, hold the vein or veins be-
longing to said individual, company, or companies.
ART. 8. These laws shall be in full force and effect from and after the first
day of September, A. D. 1858.
11|.— QUARTZ REGULATIONS OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.
ARTICLE 1. The jurisdiction of the following laws shall extend over all quartz
mines and quartz mining property within the county of Sacramento.
ART. 2. Each proprietor 'oif a quartz claim shall hereafter be entitled to two
hundred feet of a quartz ledge or vein, and the discoverer shall be allowed two
hundred feet additional. Each claim shall include all the dips, angles, and
variations of the vein.
ART. 3. On the discovery of a vein of quartz, three days shall be allowed to
mark and stake off the same, in such manner, by name of the owner, ami num-
ber of the claim, or otherwise, as shall properly and fully identify such claims.
Parties having claims may have a map or plan made* and a copy filed with
the recorder, if deemed requisite to more particularly fix the locality.
238 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
ART. 4. Work to the extent of sixty dollars in value or twenty days' faithful
labor shall be performed by each company holding claims, within thirty days
from the date of recording the same, as provided in article six of these'laws, and
the duly authorized representative of a company making oath that such money
has been expended, or that such labor has been performed, shall be entitled to
a certificate from recorder guaranteeing undisputed possession of such claims
for the term of one year ; and a like sum of money or amount of labor ex-
pended or performed within twenty days of each succeeding year, duly acknowl-
edged as herein named, shall entitle the claimants or company, from year to year,
to certificates of undisputed proprietorship and possession ; and a company hav-
ing a.mill contracted for in good faith to the amount of five thousand dollars for
the working of its claim or claims, the proper representative of the company
making oath of the same, shall be entitled to receive from said county recorder
a title-deed of said claim or claims, guaranteeing to the claimants or company,
their successors or assigns, undisputed possession and proprietorship forever
* under these laws ; provided that nothing in this article shall be at any time
inconsistent with the, laws of the United States.
ART. 5. Whenever the requisite amount of money or labor, as provided for in
article four, has not been expended within sixty days from the adoption of these
laws, the claim or claims thus neglected shall be considered abandoned, and
subject to be located by any other party or parties.
ART. 6. Any person, a citizen of the United States, or any person having
taken the necessary steps to become a citizen of the United States, shall be
entitled to hold one quartz claim, as provided for in article second, and as many
.more as may be purchased in good faith for a valuable consideration, for which
a certificate of proprietorship shall be issued by the recorder.
ART. 7. The discoverer of a new ledge or vein of quartz shall be entitled to
two hundred feet for his discovery, and one claim additional, even though he is
already in the possession of another claim taken up by himself, and the same
benefit may be claimed for each and every discovery, although many discoveries
may be made by .one person.
(The above regulations were adopted by a meeting of the quartz miners of
Sacramento county, held at Ashland, January 22, 1857, and are still in force.
There are, however, very few quartz claims of any value in the county.)
12.— PLACER REGULATIONS OF COLUMBIA DISTRICT, CALIFORNIA.
The following regulations for the placer mining district of Columbia, Tuolumne
county, California, are considered to be as good as any in the State :
ARTICLE 1. The Columbia mining district shall hereafter be considered to
contain all the territory embraced within the following bounds : Beginning at
the site of M'Kenny's old store, on Springfield flat, and running in a direct line
to a spring on a gulch known as Spring gulch — said gulch running in a south
ern direction from Santiago Hill. Thence, in a direct line from said "spring, to
the angle of the road leading from Saw-mill flat to Kelly's ranch, near Wood's
creek. Thence, running along the ridge on the west of Wood's creek, to the
southern bounds of Yankee Hill district. Thence, following the ridge, to the
high flume between Columbia and Yankee Hill. Thence, following the New
Water Company's ditch, to Summit pass. Thence, in a direct line to the head of
Experimental gulch — including said gulch. Thence, following the upland, to a
point opposite Pine Log crossing. Thence, following the upland, to the head of
Fox gulch, and including said gulch. Thence, following the upland around, the
head of Dead Man's gulch, to the site of the Lawnsdale saw-mill. Thence in
a direct line to the place of beginning.
ART. 2. A full claim for mining purposes, on the flats or hills in this district,
shall consist of an area equal to that of one hundred feet square. A full claim
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 239
on ravines shall consist of one hundred feet running on the ravine, and of a
width at the discretion of the claimant, provided it does not exceed one hundred
feet.
ART. 3. No person or persons shall he allowed to hold more than one full
claim, within the bounds of this district, by location ; nor shall it consist of more
than two parcels of ground, the sum of the area of which shall not exceed one
full claim ; provided nothing in this article shall be so construed as to prevent
miners from associating in companies to carry on mining operations, such com-
panies holding no more than one claim to each member.
ART. 4. A claim may be held for five days after water can be procured at
the usual rates, by distinctly marking its bounds by ditches, or by the erection
of good and sufficient stakes at each corner, with a notice at each end of the
claim, followed by the names of the claimants, and by recording the same ac-
cording to the provisions of article 10.
ART. 5. When a party has already commenced operations upon a claim, and
is obliged to discontinue for want of water, or by sickness or unavoidable acci-
dent, the presence upon the ground of the torn and sluices, or such machines as
are employed in working the claim, shall be considered as sufficient evidence
that the ground is not abandoned, and shall serve instead of other notice; the
bounds of the claim still being defined, except so far as the marks may have
been obliterated by the work which has been done, or by other causes.
ART. 6. Claims shall be forfeited when parties holding them have neglected
to fulfil the requirements of the preceding articles, or have neglected working
them for five days after water can be procured at the usual rates, unless pre-
vented by sickness or unavoidable accident, or unless the miners have provided
by law to the contrary.
ART. 7. Earth thrown up for the purpose of washing shall not be held dis-
tinct from the claim from which it was ta.ken, but shall constitute part and par-
cel of such claim.
ART. 8. Water flowing naturally through gold-bearing ravines, shall not be
diverted from its natural course without the consent of parties working on such
ravines ; and when so diverted, it shall be held subject to a requisition of the
party interested.
ART. 9. No Asiatics shall be allowed to mine in this district.
ART. 10. Any or all claims, now located, or that may be located and worked,
can be laid over at any time, for any length of time not to exceed six months,
by the person or persons holding the same appearing before the recorder of the
district, with two or more disinterested miners, who shall certify over their own
signatures that the said claim or claims cannot be worked to advantage, and by
having the same recorded according to the laws of the district, and by paying a
fee of one dollar; provided each claimant shall sign the record in person or by a
legal representative, stating at the same time that said claim is held by location
or by purchase.
ART. 11. There shall be a recorder elected, whb shall hold the office for one
year from the date of his election, or until his successor be elected, whose duty
it shall be to keep a record of all miners' meetings held in the district; to record
all claim's, when requested by the claimants, in a book to be kept for that pur-
pose, according to article 10 ; and to call miners' meetings, by posting notices
throughout the district-, when fifteen or more miners of the district shall present
him with a petition stating the object of the meeting, and paying for printing
notices ; provided that, in the absence of the recorder, the above-named number
of miners shall not be disqualified to call a meeting, at the place specified in ar-
ticle 16. He shall at all proper times keep his record book open for inspec-
tion.
ART. 12. No company or companies of miners, who may occupy the natural
channel through any gulch or ravine for a tail-race or flume, shall have the ex-
240 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
elusive right of such channel, to the exclusion of any company of miners who
may wish to run their tailings into the same.
ART. 13. Any party Or parties locating claims in gulches or ravines where
such flumes or tail-races exist, shall first confer with the party or parties owning
said tail-races or flumes, for the use of the same on such conditions as they may
agree upon ; and in case of a disagreement, each party shall choose two disinter-
ested miners, and the four shall choose a fifth, who may determine the matter or
matters in dispute.
ART. 14. Any company or companies of miners shall have the right to run
their water and tailings across the claim or claims below them, if it can be done
without injury to the lower claims.
ART. 15. The limits of this district shall not be changed without the con-
sent of a regularly called mass meeting of the miners of the district.
ART. 16. No miners' meetings held outside of Columbia, for the purpose of
making laws to govern any portion of the district, or to amend these laws in any
manner, shall be considered as legal.
ART . 17. All mining laws of this district, made previous to the foregoing,
are hereby repealed.
13.— PLACER REGULATIONS OF NORTH SAN JUAN DISTRICT.
ARTICLE 1. The boundaries of the district of San Juan shall be as follows :
On the east the public road leading to Hess's crossing; on the south the road
leading from the village of San Juan to Kentz's tavern, and the ravine extending
thence to Hatfield's crossing on the Middle Yuba ; and on the west and north
the Middle Yuba.
ART. 2. The dimensions of a mining claim in this district shall n,ot* exceed
one hundred and eighty feet in length by eighty feet in breadth.
ART. 3. No person shall be entitled to more than one claim by location, but
the right to hold by legal purchase shall be unlimited.
ART. 4. To indicate possession of any claim or claims it shall be the duty of
the owner or owners thereof, if not habitually at work thereon, to post on some
conspicuous part of such claim or claims a notice stating the boundaries and di-
mensions thereof, and his or their intention thereon ; and also to designate the
prominent lines or corners thereof by suitable stakes or blazes. But in a claim
or set of claims whereon work is being regularly performed, the presence of the
owners thereof, or their representatives, shall be deemed a sufficient excuse for
the absence of the notice hereinbefore specified.
•ART. 5. It shall be the duty of the owners of all that class of claims specified
in the first clause of article 1 (i. e., those wherein work is not being regularly
performed) to renew their notices once in every thirty days, except in the ab-
sence of water from the diggings, when it shall not be necessary.
ART. 6. If a person or persons in prospecting any claim or set of claims shall
have expended thereon the sum of five hundred dollars in money or labor, (labor
to be estimated at the rate of wages current at the time,) his or their right to
such claim or claims shall be secure for the period of two years from the time
such expenses were incurred ; but after the expenditure of the said two years
said. rights shall be subject to the restrictions specified in articles 4 and 5 of these
laws.
ART. 7. It shall be the duty of a recorder to be elected annually by the mi-
ners of the district ; to make a record on application of the owners of the boun-
daries and dimensions of each and every claim or set of claims in the district,
for which he shall be entitled to a fee of fifty cents for each record. On the
sale or transfer of any claim in this district it shall be the duty of the purchaser
to have such sale or transfer recorded.
ART. 8. It shall be the duty of all owners of claims that have been located or
OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 241
purchased previous to the date of this meeting to have such claim recorded on
or before the first day of December, A. D. 1854, and all claims located or pur-
chased after the date of this meeting shall be recorded within oue week from the
time of said location or purchase.
The above regulations were adopted on the 5th November, 1854. North San
Juan is the largest hydraulic mining district in California.
14.— PLACER REGULATIONS OF PILOT HILL.
The following are the regulations of the placer district of Pilot Hill, Calaveras
county, California :
SECTION 1. Each tunnelling and shafting claim shall consist of one hundred
feet in width to the man, and running through the hill on a parallel line with the
commencement of the tunnel.
SEC. 2. That each company holding tunnel or shafting claims, in order to
hold the same, shall be required to perform work to the amount of twenty-five
dollars each week for a period not to exceed twelve months.
SEC. 3. That each gulch claim shall consist of one hundred and fifty feet
in length by fifty in width to each man. „
SEC 4. That each surface claim shall consist of two hundred feet in length
by one hundred feet in width to the man.
SEC. 5. That each gulch aud surface claim shall be worked within three
days after the date of location, if water can be obtained.
SEC. 6. That each tunnelling, shafting, gulch, and surface claim shall be
marked off by stakes, or other marks, so that the boundaries of each claim can
be distinctly traced.
(Pilot Hill and Kanaka Camp are not important districts, but their regulations
are peculiar in some respects, and are therefore given here.)
15 — REGULATIONS OF NEW KANAKA CAMP.
The following are the regulations of New Kanaka Camp, inTuolumne county :
ARTICLE 1. [This article describes the boundaries of the district ]
ART. 2. Creek claims shall be two hundred feet in length, and from bank to
bank.
ART. 3. Gulch or ravine claims shall be two hundred feet in length and fifty
in width.
ART. 4. All claims on bars or flats shall be two feet in length and fifty feet
in width.
ART. 5. It shall be required that all claims be worked one full day in three,
when permanent water can be had, except in cases of sickness or legal cause.
ART. 6. All miners are entitled to one claim by pre-emption and one by
purchase ; provided such claims purchased shall be, on investigation, found to
have been obtained in a legal or bonajide manner.
ART. 7. Chinamen shall not be allowed to own claims in this district, either
by purchase or pre-emption.
ART. 8. All persons who find it necessary to cut a tail-race to their claims
shall have the privilege of cutting through any ground below them, owned by
other parties, provided it will not result to the injury of such parties.
ART. 9. It shall be required of all persons owning claims in this district to
designate the boundaries of said claims by digging a trench around the same.
ART. 10. All disputes arising in regard to mining shall be left to arbitration,
each party to choose one man, and, in case of disagreement, they to choose an
umpire.
ART. 11. Arbitrators in all cases, for services, shall be paid for all time «»-
sumed at the rate of three dollars per day.
H, Ex. Doc. 29—16
242 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
ART. 12. All claims may be laid over, by having the same recorded, from the
time ditch-water fails until it can be obtained again.
ART. 13. A recorder shall be chosen, whose duty shall be to keep a book of
records, with the number of each claim recorded, from one to an unlimited
number. It shall also be the duty of said recorder to go on to each and every
claim recorded and post at either end of each claim a piece of tin, with the'
number stamped thereon, corresponding with the number on the book of record,
16.— REGULATIONS OF THE COPPEROPOLIS (COPPER) DISTRICT.
ARTICLE 1. This district shall be known as the Copper Canon district.
ART. 2. The boundaries of this district shall be as follows, viz : Bounded on
the north by the Angels' trail, east by Empire district, south by the O'Byrne
Ferry district, and west by Black Oak, Four Spring Run, and Four Spring
district.
ART. 3. A. miner shall be entitled to one claim by location on a lead of one
hundred and fifty feet in length and three hundred feet in width. Any miner
discovering a new lead or vein shall be entitled to an extra claim of the above
extent.
ART. 4. Claims shall be duly staked at each end, with at least one notice
posted in a conspicuous place on the claim, with all the claimants' names
therein, and such a notice shall be posted up as aforesaid once a year at least,
and during the month of August, in the presence of witnesses.
ART. 5. Companies of miners having adjoining claims, and working together
only one of such claims, shall hold good the balance of claims.
ART. 6. All claims, whether obtained by location or purchase, shall be
represented in person or by proxy whenever they can be worked in conformity
with the laws hereby prescribed.
ART. 7. There shall be one day's work done on each claim, or company's
claim, once a month, commencing on the 1st of May and terminating on the 1st
of December.
ART. 8. No claim shall be forfeited by sickness or legal inability of the
claimant.
ART. 9. There shall be a recorder elected, whose duty it shall be to keep a cor-
rect copy of all claims in the district. It shall be the recorder's duty to visit the
claims in person, and give an accurate description, landmarks, and also names
of company occurring therein. His fee shall be fifty cents per claim.
ART. 10. When any dispute shall arise respecting claims in the district, each
party shall select a disinterested miner to act as arbitrator to settle the matter
in dispute, and if said arbitrators shall be unable to agree they shall choose
another miner or referee, whose decision shall be final. All arbitrators t and
referees shall be chosen from the miners of this district.
Adopted August 3, 1860.
17.-STATUTE OF NEVADA CONCERNING MINING CLAIMS.
The following are the main sections of a statute of the State of Nevada
approved February 27, 1866 :
SECTION 1. Any six or more persons who are males of the age of twenty-one
years and upwards, holding mining claims in any mining district, or who hold
mineral lands not within the boundaries of any established mining district, may
form a new mining district embracing said claims, at a meeting of such persons
to be called by posting for five days in at least five conspicuous places within
the limits of such proposed new district notices in writing stating the place and
time for holding such meeting, describing as near as may be the limits of such
proposed new district, and signed by not less than five of such persons. At
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 243
said meeting all males of the age of twenty-one years and upward holding
mining claims, or anyinterest therein, within said limits, may vote, and by a
majority vote determine whether said new mining district shall be established,
and its boundaries, which shall be within the limits named in said notices ; and
thereafter the persons so qualified and holding mining claims in such newly
•established district shall proceed to select a name therefor and elect a district
recorder, who shall be qualified as aforesaid. He shall perform all the duties
required of him by law, and shall, within thirty days after qualifying, file and
record in his office a record of the proceedings of said meeting. No district
formed under the provisions of this act shall be divided by any county line.
Mining districts now existing may be continued.
SEC. 22. On and after the second Saturday of July, 1866, all locations ot
mining claims shall be made in the following manner : On a monument not less
than three feet high, firmly established in a conspicuous place on the claim,
there shall be placed a plainly-written notice embracing a description of the
ground claimed, the date of location, the name of the claim, the name of the
company, and the names of the locators, with the number of feet claimed by
each, and a copy of said notice, accompanied by a written request for a survey
of said claim by the district recorder, shall, within thirty days after the making
of such location, be filed in the office of the district recorder of the district in
which said claim is located ; and in case there be no legally authorized district
recorder in and for the district, or the claim be outside of the limits of an organ-
ized mining district, then, and in that case, said notice may be filed in the office
of the county recorder of the county in which said claim is located ; and a written
request for a survey by the county surveyor shall be served upon the county
surveyor within a reasonable time thereafter; the county surveyor, or his
deputy, shall perform all the duties required of a district recorder by the pro-
visions of this act. Pie shall keep a record of all his transactions in such cases,
-and for such services he may charge and receive the same fees allowed by law
for his services in like cases. Within thirty days after the making of such loca-
tion there shall be done on said claim, as assessment work, to hold the same up
to and including the day preceding the first Saturday of the then following
August, excavation involving the removal of fifty cubic feet of earth or loose
material, or five cubic feet of solid rock, for each two hundred feet in the claim ;
and, as soon as may be thereafter, said district recorder shall survey the same
and record the notice of survey as provided in section 14 of this act; and said
district recorder shall file and record a certificate in regard to the assessment
work, which shall be substantially in the following form :
DISTRICT, COUNTY, NEVADA, DAY OF MONTH
OF YEAR.
This is to certify that on the claim governed by the company,
surveyed on date, there has been done by or on behalf of said company
sufficient work to hold said claim up to the first Saturday of August next.
, District Recorder.
SEC. 23. Any person may locate mining claims in favor of others, but no per-
son shall be entitled to hold by location more than two hundred feet of any one
ledge, except by virtue of discovery of the same, for which he shall be entitled
to hold two hundred feet additional. In the case of locations made as exten-
sions, the location of two hundred feet by virtue of discovery is allowed. No
claim shall, in the aggregate, exceed in extent two thousand feet on any one
ledge.
SEC. 24. Any location made on a ledge by authority of this act shall be
deemed to include all the dips, spurs, angles, and variations of said ledge. The
locators of any ledge shall be entitled to hold one hundred feet on each side of
244 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES.
the same, not interfering with the mining rights previously acquired by others,
and all dips, spurs, angles, variations, veins, cross-ledges, strings, and feeders
within such area of two hundred feet, by the extent of the claim on the sup-
posed "line of the ledge as located, shall be considered as claimed and held by
gaid locators as a part of said ledge, and no ledge in any claim subsequently
located shall be followed and worked within the said area without the permission
of the holders of said area. All measurement of boundaries shall be horizontal
air-lines. Nothing in this act shall be so construed as in any manner to change
the amount of ground that may be held in any mining claim located and held in
accordance with district mining laws, but on and after the first Saturday of
August, 1866, all such claims shall in all other respects be subject to the pro-
visions of this act. Locations may be made on blind ledges in the same manner
as on cropping ledges, and any person, company, or corporation finding a blind
ledge in any excavation made by him or them shall, for ten days after finding the
same, have the exclusive privilege of locating the same.
SEC. 25. No person shall become a locator in more than one claim on the same
ledge, and any second location made on the same ledge by or in the name of a
party already located on such ledge shall be void.
SEC. 26. The holders of any claim shall have the right to use so much of the
land in the vicinity thereof as may be requisite for dumps, for the erection of
the necessary buildings, machinery, and other works connected with said claim,
and for the convenient development and working of the same. And in the de-
velopment and working of the said claim they may sink shafts and inclines, and
run drifts, tunnels, and cuts on any lands in said vicinity, but the prior owner
of such lands shall be entitled to reasonable compensation for all damages sus-
tained by reason of such dumps, the erection of such works, or the conducting
of such operations. If the prior owners of any such lands have duly claimed
the same as mining ground, they shall be entitled to all the ores taken out in the
course of such operations, and shall not be interfered with in the conducting of
their own mining operations on their own claims. The amount of such compen-
sation shall be determined by a majority of three commissioners, one of whom
shall be appointed by such prior owners, one by the party engaged in such de-
velopment or working, and one by the two thus selected. The amount so fixed
shall, within fifteen days after the fixing of the same, be paid to said prior own-
ers, or deposited in the county treasury, subject to the order of said prior owners.
Said commissioners shall, before entering upon their duties, take and subscribe
to an oath, before some person duly qualified to administer the same, to make a
true appraisement thereof according to the best of their knowledge and belief.
SEC. 30. For the purposes of this act the term " foot/' when used without
qualification in relation to mining ground, is hereby declared to mean twelve
lineal inches, horizontal air-line measurement, on the line of the ledge as located;
the term "assessment work" is hereby declared to mean the work done partly,
in order to hold a claim, and involving the excavation of fifty cubic feet of
earth or loose matter, or five cubic feet of solid rock, for each two hundred feet
in the claim ; the term " assessment dues " is hereby declared to mean two
cents for each foot in a claim, to be paid for the purpose of holding the same one
assessment year; and the term "assessment year" is hereby declared to mean
the period extending from and including the first Saturday of August of one
year to and including the day immediately preceding the first Saturday of
August of the following year. ' The doing of assessment work or the payment
of assessment dues shall be regarded as evidence of intention to hold the claim
on which or with reference to which the same was done or paid, for the period
for which the same was done or paid. The payment of assessment dues shall
be in lieu of the assessment work heretofore usually required as an evidence of
intention to hold a mining claim for a specified period; and such payment shall
not be required in any case where the holders of a mining claim are in good
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 245
faith, and to the extent specified in section thirty-two of this acf, engaged in
developing or working the same.
SEC. 31. On the first Saturday of August, 1866, at which time the first as-
sessment year shall begin, this act shall supersede all district mining laws, and
thereafter said laws shall be considered as repealed: Provided, Any and all
rights heretofore acquired under and by virtue of such district mining laws shall
be" determined in accordance with said mining laws existing at the time when,
said rights were acquired. During the'period extending from and including the
first day of May, 1866, to and including the day immediately preceding the first
Saturday of the following August, no claim shall become subject to relocation
by reason of the non-performance of assessment work. Locations may be made
under this act at any time on and after the second Saturday of July, 1866, at
which time the district recorders elected under this act shall, if qualified, enter
upon the discharge of their duties, and on and after said second Saturday of
July no location shall be made under district mining laws.
SEC. 32. The doing of assessment work, or the payment of assessment dues,
shall not be required in order to hold a claim during any assessment year, if
during the year next preceding such assessment year there has been done on said
claim, by or on behalf of the claimants thereof, an amount of work costing at
a fair valuation not less than fifty cents for each foot in said claim ; but in all
other cases assessment work shall be done or assessment dues shall be paid as
provided in this act. Assessment dues shall be paid for every assessment year by
the parties holding the claim to the district recorder elected under this act, be-
fore the first Saturday of August commencing the assessment year for which they
are paid, except as otherwise provided in this section.
SEC. 33. Except as otherwise provided in section 32, every mining claim lo-
cated and held under district mining laws, on which before the first day of May,
1866, there has been work done involving the excavation of fifty cubic feet of
earth or loose matter, or five cubic feet of solid rock, for each two hundred feet
in such claim, shall bo subject to assessment dues. On every mining claim lo-
cated and held under district mining laws, on which such work has not been
done before the first day of May, 1866, assessment work shall be done on or
before the day immediately preceding the first Saturday of August, 1S66. The
doing of such assessment work or the paying of such assessment dues shall en-
able the owner of said claim to hold the same for the next ensuing assessment
year, commencing on the first Saturday of August, 1866.
SEC. 34. The assessment work done within the thirty days after the location
of a claim under this act, as provided in section 22, shall hold the same only up
to the beginning of the assessment year following the date of said location, and
for such next ensuing assessment year and for every year thereafter, except as
provided in section 32 of this act, such claim shall be subject to assessment dues.
SEC. 45. The extraction of gold or other metals from alluvial or diluvial de-
posits, generally called placer mining, shall be subject to such regulations as the
miners in the several mining districts shall adopt.
18.— REGULATIONS OF THE VIRGINIA DISTRICT, NEVADA.
The following are the regulations of the district of Virginia City, Nevada,
adopted September 14, 1859 :
ARTICLE 1. All quartz claims hereafter located shall be two hundred feet en
the lead, including all its dips and angles.
ART. 2 All discoverers of new quartz veins shall be entitled to an additional
claim for discovery.
ART. 3. All claims shall be designated by stakes and notices at each corner.
ART. 4. All quartz claims shall be worked to the amount of ten dollars or
three days' work per mouth to each. claim, and the owner can work to the
246 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
amount of forty dollars as soon after the location of the claim as he may elect ;
which amount being worked shall exempt him from working on said claim for
eix months thereafter.
ART 5 All quartz claims shall be known by a name and in sections.
ART. 6 All claims shall b& properly recorded within ten days from the time
of location.
ART 7. All claims recorded in the Gold Hill record and lying in the Vir-
ginia district shall be recorded free of charge in the record of Virginia district,
upon the presentation of a certificate from the recorder of the Gold Hill district
certifying that said claims have been duly recorded in said district ; and said
claims shall be recorded within thirty days after the passage of this article.
ART 9 Surface and hill claims shall be one hundred feet square, and be
designated by stakes and notices at each corner.
ART. 10. All ravine and gulch claims shall be one hundred feet in length, and
in width extend from bank to bank, and be designated by a stake and notice at
each end.
ART. 11. All claims shall be worked within ten days after water can be had
sufficient to work said claims.
ART 12 All ravine, gulch and surface claims shall be recorded within ten
days after location-
ART 13. All claims not worked according to the laws of this district shall be
forfeited and subject to relocation.
ART 14 There shall be a recorder elected, to hold his office for the term of
twelve months, who shall be entitled to the sum of fifty cents for each claim lo-
cated and recorded.
ART. 15. The recorder shall keep a book with all the laws of this district
written therein, which shall at all times be subject to the inspection of the miners
of said district ; and he is furthermore required to post in two conspicuous places
a copy of the laws of said district.
' 19.— REGULATIONS OF REESE RIVER DISTRICT, NEVADA.
The following are the regulations of the Reese River district, Nevada :
SECTION. 1. The district shall be known as the Reese River mining district,
and shall be bounded as follows, to wit : On the north by a distance of ten miles
from the overland telegraph line, on the east by Dry creek, on the south by a
distance of ten miles from the overland telegraph line, and on the west by Ed-
ward's creek, where not conflicting with any new districts formed to date.
SEC. 2. There shall be a mining recorder elected on the first day of June
next for this district, who shall hold office for one year from the 17th of July
next, unless sooner removed by a new election, which can only be done by a
written call, signed by at least fifty claim-holders, giving notice of a new elec-
tion to be held, alter said notice shall have been posted and published for at least
twenty days in some newspaper published in or nearest this district ; and the
recorder shall be a resident of this district.
SEC. 3 It shall be the duty of the recorder to keep in a suitable book or
books a full and truthful record of the proceedings of all public meetings ; to
place on record all claims brought to him for that purpose, when such claim
shall not interfere with or affect the rights and interests of prior locators, record-
ing the same in the order of their date, for which service he shall receive one
dollar ($1) for each claim recorded. It shall also be the duty of the recorder to
keep his books open at all times to the inspection of the public ; he shall also
have the power to appoint a deputy to act in his stead, for wliDse official acts
he shall be held responsible. It shall also be the duty of the recorder to deliver
to his successor in office all books, records, papers, &c., belonging to or pertain-
ing to his office.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 247
SEC. 4. All examinations of the record must be made in the full presence of
the recorder or his deputy
SEC. 5. Notice of a claim of location of mining ground by any individual, or
by a company, on file in the recorder's office, fchall be deemed equivalent to a
record of the same.
SEC. 6. Each claimant shall be entitled to hold by location two hundred feet
on any lead in the district, with all the dips, spurs, and angles, offshoots, out-
crops, depths, widths, variations, and all the mineral and other valuables
therein contained, the discoverer of and locater of a new lead being entitled
to one. claim extra for discovery.
SEC. 7. The locater of any lead, lode, or ledge in the district shall be entitled
to hold on each side of the lead, lode, or ledge located by him or them one
hundred feet ; but this shall not be construed to mean any distinct or parallel
ledge within the two hundred feet other than the one originally located.
SEC. 8. All locations shall be made by a written notice posted upon the
ground, and boundaries described, and all claimants' names posted on the notice.
SEC. 9. Work done on any tunnel, cut, shaft, or drift, in good faith, shall
be considered as being done upon the claim owned by such person or company.
SEC. 10. Every claim (whether by individual or company) located shall be
recorded within ten days after the date of location.
SEC. 11. All miners locating a mining claim in this district shall place and
maintain thereon a good and substantial monument or stake, with a notice thereon
of the name of the claim, the names of the locators, date of location, record, and
extent of claim. It is hereby -requested that owners in claims already located
do comply with the requirements of this section.
SEC. 12. The recorder shall go upon the ground with any and all parties
desiring to locate claims, and shall be entitled to receive for such service one
dollar for each and every name in a location of two hundred feet each.
SEC. 13. It is hereby made the duty of the mining recorder, upon the written
application of twenty-five miners, to call a meeting of the miners of the district
by giving a notice of twenty days through some newspaper published in the
Reese River district, which notice shall state the object of the meeting and the
place and time of holding the same.
SEC. 14. The laws of this district passed July 17, 1862, are hereby re-
pealed.
SEC. 15. These laws shall take effect on and after the fourth day of June,
1864.
20.— QUARTZ STATUTE OF THE STATE OF OREGON.
SECTION 1. That any person, or company of persons, establishing a claim
on any quartz lead containing gold, silver, copper, tin, or lead, or a claim on a
vein of cinnabar, for the purpose of mining the same, shall be allowed to have,
hold, and possess the land or vein, with all its dips, spurs, and angles, for the
distance of three hundred feet in length and seventy-five feet in width on each
side of such lead or vein.
SEC. 2. To establish a valid claim the discoverer or person wishing to
establish a claim shall post a notice on the lead or vein, with name or names
attached, which shall protect the claim or claims for thirty days; and before
the expiration of said thirty days he or they shall cause the claim or claims to
be recorded as hereinafter provided, and describing, as near as may be, the
claim or claims, and their location; but continuous working of said claim or
claims shall obviate the necessity of . such record. If any claim shall not be
worked for twelve consecutive months it shall be forfeited and considered liable
to location by any person or persons, unless the owner or owners be absent on
account of sickness, or in the service of their country in time of war.
SEC. 3. Any person may hold one claim by location, as hereinafter pro-
248 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
vided, upon each lead or vein, and as many by purchase as the local laws of
the miners in the district where such claims are located may allow ; and the
discoverer of any new lead or vein, not previously located upon, shall be
allowed one additional claim for the discovery thereof. Nothing in this section
shall be so construed as to allow any person not the discoverer to locate more
than one claim upon any one lead or vein.
SEC. 4. Every person, or company of persons, after establishing such claim
or claims, shall, within one year after recording or taking such claim or claims,
work or cause to be worked to the amount of fifty dollars for each and every
claim, and for each successive year shall do the same amount of work, under
penalty of forfeiture of said claim or claims : Provided, That any incorporate
company owning claims on any lead or vein may be allowed to work' upon any
one claim the whole amount required as above for all the claims they may own
on such lead or vein.
SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the county clerk of any county, upon the
receipt of a notice of a miners' meeting organizing a miners' district in- said
county, with a description of the boundaries thereof, to record the same in a
book to be kept in his office as other county records, to be called a " book of
record of mining claims ;" and, upon the petition of parties interested, he may
appoint a deputy for such district, who shall reside in said district or its
vicinity, and shall record all mining claims and water rights in the order in
which they are presented for record ; and shall transmit a copy of such record
at the end of each month to the county clerk, who shall record the same in the
above-mentioned book of record, for which he shall receive one dollar for each
and every claim. It shall further be the duty of said county clerk to furnish a
copy of this law to his said deputy, who shall keep the same in his office, open
at all reasonable times for the inspection of all persons interested therein.
SEC. 6. Miners shall be empowered to make local laws in relation to the pos-
session of water rights, the possession and working of placer claims, and the
survey and sale of town lots in mining camps, subject to the laws of the United
States.
SEC. 7. That ditches used for mining purposes, and mining flumes permanently
affixed to the soil, be and they are hereby declared real estate for all intents
and purposes whatever.
SEC. 8. That all laws relative to the sale and transfer of real estate, and the
application of the liens of mechanics and laborers therein, be and they are hereby
made applicable to said ditches and flumes : Provided, That all interests in
mining claims known as placer or surface diggings may be granted, sold, and
conveyed by bill of sale and delivery of possession, as in cases of the sale of per-
sonal property : Provided further, That the bills of sale or conveyances exe-
cuted on the sale of any placer or surface mining claim shall be recorded within
thirty days after the date of such sale, in the office of the county clerk of the
county in which such sale is made, in a book to be kept by the county clerk for
that purpose, to be called the record of conveyances of mining claims.
SEC. 9. Mortgages of interests in placer or surface mining claims shall be
executed, acknowledged, recorded, and foreclosed as mortgages of chattels.
SEC. 10. The county clerk shall be entitled to a fee of one dollar each for
every conveyance or mortgage recorded under the provisions of this act,
21.-QUARTZ STATUTE OF IDAHO.
The following is the statute of Idaho in regard to quartz claims :
SECTION 1. That any person or persons who may hereafter discover any
quartz lead or lode shall be entitled to one claim thereon by right of discovery,
and one claim each by location.
SEC. 2. That a quartz claim shall consist of two hundred feet in length along
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 249
the lead or lode by one hundred feet in breadth, covering and including all dips,
gpurs, and angles within the bounds of said claim, as also the right of drainage,
tunnelling, and such other privileges as may be necessary to the working of
said claim.
SEC 3. The locator of any quartz claim on any lead or lode shall, at the time
of locating such claim, place a substantial stake, not less than three inches in
diameter, at each end of said claim, on which shall be a written notice specifying
the name of the locator, the number .of feet claimed, together with the year,
month, and day when the same was taken.
SEC. 4. All claims shall be recorded in the county recorder's office, within
ten days from the time of posting notice thereon : Provided, That when the
claim located is more than thirty miles distant from the county seat the time
shall extend to fifteen days.
SEC. 5. Quartz claims recorded in accordance with the provisions of section 4
of this act shall entitle the person so recording to hold the same to the use of
himself, his heirs and assigns : Provided, That within six months from and after
the date of recording he shall perform, or cause to be performed, thereon work
amounting in value to the sum of one hundred dollars.
SEC. 6. Any person or persons holding quartz claims in pursuance of this act
shall renew the notice required in section 3 at least once in twelve months, un-
less such claimant is occupying and working the same.
SEC. 7. The conveyances of quartz claims heretofore made by bills of sale or
other instruments of writing, with or without seals, shall be construed in accord-
ance with the local mining rules, regulations, and customs of miners in the sev-
eral mining districts, and said bills of sale or instruments of writing concerning
quartz claims without seals shall be prima facie evidence of sale, as if such con-
veyance had been made by deed under seal.
SEC. 8. Conveyances of quartz claims shall hereafter require the same formal-
ities and shall be subject to the same rules of construction as the transfer and
conveyance of real estate.
SEC. 9. The location and pre-emption of quartz claims heretofore made shall
be established and proved when there is a contest before the courts, by the local
mles, customs, and regulations of the miners in each mining district where such
claim is located, when not in conflict with the laws of the United States or the
laws of this Territory.
SEC. 10. This act to take effect and to be in force from and after its approval
by the governor.
Approved February 4, 1864.
23.— STATUTE OF AEIZONA.
The following is the statute of Arizona on the registry and government of
mines and mineral deposits, with the exception of the sections providing the
manner in which the rights of miners shall be enforced by the courts :
SECTION 1. All mining rights on the public lands of the United States, as
well as rights acquired by discovery on the lands of private individuals, are
possessory in their character only, and such possessory rights shall be limited,
regulated, and governed as hereinafter provided.
SEC. 15. Every mining claim or pertenencia is declared to consist of a super-
ficial area of two hundred yards square, to be measured so as to include the
principal mineral vein or mineral deposits, always having reference to and fol-
lowing the dip of the vein so far as it can or may be worked, with all the earth
and minerals therein. But any mining district organized in accordance with the
provisions of this chapter may prescribe the dimensions of said mining claim or
pertenencia for such district : Provided, That in no case the dimensions so pre-
scribed shall exceed the number of yards allowed by this section j and further
250 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
provided, That no such mining district shall diminish the extent of the territo-
rial claim to one pertenencia, as defined in this section.
SEC. 16. Any person discovering or opening a vein or other mineral deposit
in this Territory, not actually worked or legally owned by other parties or
registered in accordance with this chapter, shall by properly denouncing and
registering the same be entitled to claim and hold a possessory right to a tract
of land to the extent of two mining claims or perteneucias, including the said
vein or mineral deposit, and conforming .as nearly as possible to the general
direction thereof, each to be measured two hundred yards long by two hundred
yards wide, the direction of the lines to be determined by the person claiming.
SEC. 17. If two or more persons are associated, and have formed a company
for the exploration and working of mines, and one or several shall make dis-
coveries of mineral deposits in consequence thereof, said company so engaged
in exploration shall be entitled to denounce and register one discovery claim only
upon each lode. t -
SEC. 18. It shall be lawful for the claimants of a mine or mineral lands to
locate and take possession of public lands for a mill site and other necessary
works connected therewith, which shall not exceed one quarter section, contain-
ing a stream or other water suitable for the purpose. They shall have a right
to place a dam or other obstructions on such stream, and to divert its water for
the above uses and purposes. They shall, within the time and in the manner
prescribed in this chapter for the registration and denouncement of mines, pro-
ceed to denounce and register the same with the clerk of the probate court, and
they shall be known as auxiliary lands. And if within three years from the
day their notice of claim is so recorded they shall expend in fitting the same
for a mill, or in placing a mill or reduction works thereon, the sum of one hun-
dred dollars, they may cause the record of such work to be made and proceed-
ings for confirming their title to be instituted as provided in section 29 of this
chapter, with like effect, and receive a certificate of title as therein provided,
conforming as nearly as they can to the requirements of that section. Instead
of the work required by section 32 of this chapter they shall use the machinery
or other works erected upon said land for mining purposes at least thirty days
in each year. Such claims shall be subject to all the provisions of this chapter
which are applicable to mining rights, and may be abandoned and relocated.
All rights to auxiliary lands acquired under the laws of any mining district
before this act takes effect shall be valid, and the owners of the same, upon
complying with the provisions of this section, may take the like proceedings to
confirm their titles, with a like effect.
SEC. 19. It shall be the duty of all claimants of mining claims, mineral lands,
and auxiliary tracts, to at once define the extent and boundary of them as
nearly as possible, by good substantial monuments or other conspicuous marks,
in the presence of the recorder of the mining district, or of some witness who
shall prove to the satisfaction of the recorder that the same has been done, and
to post up a public notice of their claim at the opening of the principal vein,
and to have them properly registered and recorded within three mouths from the
time of first claiming them at the office of the mining district recorder accord-
ing to the provisions of this chapter. Such record shall give a faithful descrip-
tion of the veins, mineral deposits, and tracts of lands, the character and bearing
of the veins or deposits, and their connection with natural monuments or con-
spicuous objects in the vicinity.
SEC. 20. No person shall change his original monuments or boundaries of
mineral or other lands, but if a subsequent investigation makes this convenient
or necessary, and it can be done without prejudice to other parties, then such
change shall take place by the sanction of the judge of the probate court, pro-
vided they are properly recorded, and the new boundaries and monuments fixed
at once when the original ones are removed.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 251
SEC. 21. All minerals, woods, waters, earths, and vegetation found within the
boundaries of any tract of land registered and claimed for mining shall be ex-
clusively used by him or them who are legally entitled to the possession of the
land wherein ©r whereon they are situated, so long as they are used for mining
purposes only : Provided, That no one shall have the right to prevent transient
persons from using the waters along the public highwaya, where they were.
provided by nature in natural tanks, springs, streams, or otherwise, nor from
making such equitable disposition of the waters as the legislature shall pre-
ecribe.
SEC. 22. No person shall have the right to impede or inconvenience travel-
ling by fencing up the public roads, filling them up with rubbish, or undermining
them so as to endanger their safety, neither shall any one change their estab-
lished direction without sanction of the proper authorities.
SEC. 23. Whenever two or more persons or parties explore and prospect one
and the same vein, and at or about the same time but at different places, and
without knowledge of each other, then he or they who shall prove first occu-
pancy shall have the right of first location, taking the principal point of exca-
vation as the centre of their claim or claims on each side along the general
direction of such vein or deposit. The other parties shall proceed by the same
laws after the others have fixed their boundaries. Should there be left vacant
ground between the different parties, then it shall be at the option of the. first
discoverers so to change their boundaries as shall best suit them, and have them
recorded accordingly. Any other parties shall locate in the order of the time of
their arrival on the vein or mineral deposit.
SEC. 24. Whenever two or more parties shall select the same mine or mineral
Deposit for exploration, and the parties first on the ground, knowing the other
parties to be at work, shall fail to give warning, either verbally or in writing, of
their priority claim on such vein or deposit, then that portion of the mine situated
between the main excavations of the two parties shall be equally divided be-
tween them, irrespective of the number of members each company may have :
Provided, That the intervening portions shall not exceed the quantity of land
allowed by the provisions of this chapter.
SEC. 25. The laws and proceedings of all mining districts established in this
Territory for the denouncement, registration, and regulation of mines, mining
claims, mineral lands, and auxiliary lands, prior to the day this act takes effect,
are hereby legalized and declared to be as valid and binding in all courts of law
as if enacted by this legislative assembly, to the extent and under the conditions
and restrictions herein contained.
I. All rights, claims^ and titles to any veins, mineral lands, or mineral deposits,
and auxiliary lands, acquired before this act takes effect, under, by virtue of, and
in. conformity to the laws of said mining districts, are hereby declared to be valid
and legal, and shall be respected and enforced in all courts of this Territory,
when sustained by the evidence herein provided ; but no amount of work done
thereon shall be construed to give a perpetual title thereto, but shall give such
title only and such rights and privileges as is provided in section 29 of this
chapter ; and no person who was at the time of the location of his claim an
inhabitant of this Territory shall forfeit his claim because he was not a resident
also of the mining district in which his said claim was located. And no such right,
claim, or title shall be considered as abandoned provided the claimant shall within
eix months from the day this act takes effect file with the clerk of the probate
court of the county in which his claim is situated a brief description of the same
giving the name of the district in which the lode is situated, and of the lode or
lodes, and the extent of his claim thereon, with a declaration that he intends to
retain and work the same according to law, unless fcuch claim has been forfeited
and subject to relocation under the laws of such mining district before this act
takes effect.
252 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
II. All records and all papers required by the laws of said mining districts
to be deposited with the recorders of said districts for record shall be received
as evidence of their contents in all courts of this Territory, and shall not be re-
jected for any defects in their form, when their contents may be understood, but
shall be valid to the extent provided by said mining laws, except as hereinbefore
restricted : Provided, That such records and papers are deposited with or re-
corded by the clerk of the probate court of the county in which said mining dis-
trict is located, and within three months from the time this acts takes effect ; and
if said records or papers are lost or mutilated, or if such recorder of a mining
district shall neglect or refuse to deposit the same as aforesaid, an affidavit of
their contents made by any person interested therein, or certified or sworn copies
thereof, may be so recorded, and shall have the like effect.
III. All conveyances of mines, mining rights, mineral and auxiliary lands
made prior to the time this act takes effect shall be valid and binding to pass
the title of the grantor thereof, although defective in form and execution, if their
contents can be understood, and as such shall be received and regarded in all
courts of this Territory ; Provided, That such conveyances shall be deposited
with or recorded by the clerk of the probate court of the county where said
mines are situated, within three months from the time this act takes effect, and
if lost or mutilated, copies or affidavits of their contents, executed as aforesaid,
may be recorded as provided above.
SEC. 26. Every recorder, register, clerk, or other recording officer, of every
such mining district, or who has at any time acted as such recording officer,
within three months after this act takes effect, shall deposit with the clerk of the
probate court of the county in which said district or greater part thereof is situ-
ated, all records which he has so kept, and all papers deposited in his hands for*
record, and papers so made or deposited with his predecessors in said office,
which are in his hands as aforesaid, or he shall so deposit certified copies of the
same. And such records and other papers shall be securely kept by such clerk,
open in office hours to public inspection, and copies of the same duly certified
by him shall be received in all courts of justice, and have the same effect as the
originals. And any such recorder, register, or other recording officer of each
mining district who shall neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions of this
section shall be liable in damages to the party injured thereby, and shall be
liable to be punished by the judge of probate of the county in which said nrning
district, or the greater part thereof, is situated, for contempt, by fine not exceed-
ing five thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than one year, and shall bo
incapable of holding any such office and mining claim.
SEC. 27. Mining districts now existing may be continued, or new mining dis-
tricts may be established in the manner and for the purposes hereinafter provided.
I. The recorder of every mining district now existing shall at the same time
that he deposits the records of said districts with the clerk of the probate court,
as the last preceding section requires, take an oath before the judge of said
court that he will faithfully perform the duties of his office until another recorder
ehall be elected and qualified in his place, which oath shall be recorded by the
clerk of the probate court. He shall record in a book to be kept by him for that
purpose all notices of claims or rights to veins, mineral deposits, mineral lands,
and auxiliary lands which may be left with him t-o be recorded, and shall note
on all papers which may be received by him to be recorded, the time when they
were so received by him, and they shall be considered as recorded from that
time. lie shall, when requested by any such claimant, go with him to his claim
and see that the same is measured by metes and bounds, and mark< d by sub-
stantial monuments on the surface of the earth, and shall make a record of the
same, arid of the time when it was done, and certify it to be correct, or shall
make a record and certificate of the same on the evidence of a credible witness,
who was present when the same was done, arid is cognizant of the facts, and
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 253
whose name shall be entered on the record. He shall, when requested by any
such claimant, go with him to his claim and examine any shaft that may be
Bunk by him, or tunnels that may be opened to the same, and make measure-
ments of the same, and a record and certificate as aforesaid ; and he shall in like
manner examine, measure, or estimate, and make and record a certificate of any
work which is required by law to be done by a claimant. And the said record-
ing officer shall, quarterly, file with the clerk of the probate court of the county
in which said district is located a copy by him certified of all records made by
him for the three months last preceding, which shall be duly recorded by said
clerk, and a copy of said record duly certified by him shall be evidence of its
contents in all courts of this Territory. And such recording officer shall be
liable to all the penalties provided in the preceding section if he shall neglect or
refuse to perform any of the acts and duties required of him by this section, but
shall not be required to perform any such service until his fees for the same, to
be fixed by the mining districts, are paid him, if he requests it. And if any
paper deposited with him for record is required to be recorded by the clerk of
the probate court, ho shall at the time said paper is so deposited with him take
and receive the fee fixed by law for recording such paper by said clerk, and pay
the said clerk said fee when he deposits said paper with him to be recorded as
aforesaid. All such mining districts may make laws not inconsistent with the
laws of the Territory, may elect officers for the government of such districts, and
fix their compensation, but all such acts and proceedings shall be recorded, and
all records and papers thereof filed with the clerk of the probate court as aforesaid.
II. Any number of persons, not less than twelve, owning mining claims in any
mining district, or in any contiguous mining districts, or who have discovered
and may wish to denounce a mine or mineral lands, not within the limits of any
established mining district, may proceed to make a new mining district at a
meeting of persons holding claims in such district so to be established, and of
claimants in any districts to be divided or to be included therein. They shall
cause a notice in writing, and specifying the limits of said contemplated district,
signed by them, to be posted in three conspicuous places in said district, and if
any part of an established district is to be included therein by leaving a copy
of said notice with the recorder of said district at least ten days before the day
of said meeting. At said meeting all persons holding claims as aforesaid may
vote, and may determine by a majority vote of those present whether said new
district shall be established, and its limits, but within the boundaries named in
the notice for said meeting, and thereupon the persons holding claims in such
newly established district shall proceed to select a name, and make laws therefor,
and elect a recorder, who shall be qualified as aforesaid, who shall perform all
the duties and be subject to all the liabilities provided in this chapter for such
officers, and shall file with the clerk of the probate court as aforesaid a record
of the proceedings of this and all subsequent meetings at the time and in the
manner herein provided.
SEC. 28. It shall be the duty of all claimants of mineral tracts to sink at
least one shaft of thirty feet in depth, or to run a tunnel of fifty feet in length,
in the body of the vein or in the adjoining rock, so as to test the vein from the
surface, for the purpose of ascertaining the character and capacity of such mine-
ral deposit, within the space of one year from the day of first taking possession
thereof, and they shall notify the recorder of the mining district that said shal't
or other work is completed, and that they intend working the vein or mineral
deposit. And the recorder shall examine said work in person, and make and
record a certificate of the result of such examination, which shall contain a
statement of the condition and quality of the vein or mineral deposit, the amount
of labor perfDrmed, and a general view of the results obtained. Said report
shall be accompanied by three specimens taken from different parts of the work,
which said specimens, with a copy of the record so made by him, shall be filed
254 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
by him within the time required by this act in the office of the clerk of the
probate court. And eaid clerk shall make a record of the same. Such speci-
mens shall be numbered and described by him, and be preserved for the use of
the mineralogical professorship of the University of Arizona.
SEC. 29. The judge of the probate court, at any time within thirty days after
the record made by the clerk of said court, as provided in the preceding section,
upon complaint in writing made to him by such claimants, describing fully their
claims, stating the labor performed by them, and the certificate thereof, and
that the registration of the same has been made as required by law, and request-
ing that their title thereto may be confirmed, shall cause a summons, under the
seal of his court, to be issued, requiring all persons interested to appear at a day
named therein, and which shall not be less than sixty days from the day the
same was issued, and show cause why the title of such complainants and claim-
ants should not be confirmed, a copy of which complaint and summons, duly
attested by the clerk of the probate court, shall be published twice in the terri-
torial newspaper, and be kept posted in the office of said clerk from the day of
issuing the same to the return day thereof ; and if no person shall appear on such
return day to contest the right of the claimants to such claims, the judge of pro-
bate shall examine all the records filed in the office of his clerk relating to such
claims, and if he finds that the said claimants have in all respects complied
with the provisions of this chapter, he shall make a decree in substance that the
complainants having complied with the laws of this Territory relating to the
denouncement and registration of mines, have acquired a perfect title to their
claims (describing the same) until the 1st day of January, A. D. 1868, and
forever after unless abandoned by them. And the said clerk shall give the said
claimant a copy of such decree, under the seal of the court, which shall be con-
clusive evidence of title in any proceedings relating to such claims, until they
are abandoned. And unless the persons adversely interested and contesting
the title of the complainants shall appear on the day named in said complaint,
and proceed as hereinafter provided, they shall be forever barred from contest-
ing the title of said complainants to such claims. And if the contestants shall
so appear they shall on that day or some day to be fixed by said judge proceed
to file an answer, setting forth their claim and case, and the proceedings shall
then be conducted in conformity to the provisions of this chapter and the code
of civil practice. And whenever a final decree is made thereon, determining
the title to said claim or mine, by said judge, or by any other court on appeal,
the said judge shall cause a record to be made in the office of his clerk of such
decree, and a certified copy thereof may be made as aforesaid, with the like
(ffect. And any claimants of mineral lands who before this act takes effect
have in any way or under any law acquired a title to such mineral lands, after
filing with the clerk of the court their evidence of title and description of claim
as required by this chapter, may cause an examination of the shaft sunk by
them or other work done by them to be made as aforesaid, and take the like
proceedings for the confirmation of their titles, with the same effect : Provided,
This section shall not apply except when the complainants are in possession of
such mine or mining rights, claiming title thereto.
SEC. 30. By reason of the Indian wars and unsettled condition of the country,
the time within which a shaft is required to be sunk, or other labor performed
on a claim, shall not commence until two years from the day this act takes
effect, and all the provisions of this chapter relating thereto are suspended for
that time ; but any claimant my sink a shaft or do such other labor, and at
any time after the record of their claims with the probate court, and thereupon
institute proceedings to confirm their titles, and be entitled to all the rights and
privileges provided for in this chapter.
SEC. 31. No single person or company shall be compelled to sink shafts or
make other improvements on more than one of the tracts of land claimed by
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 255
him or them for the same vein or mineral deposit ; and any number of claimants
on the same vein or mineral deposit, who may unite for said purpose, shall be
allowed to concentrate labor, capital, and energy to any one single point which
to him or them shall be best suited to ascertain to the best advantage the general
character, quality, and capacity of that particular vein or mineral deposit, and
may take the like proceedings to confirm their titles.
SEC. 32 After the work required by section 28 of this chapter has been per-
formed, and the record thereof made as therein provided, two years shall be
allowed, the claimants of mineral lands to develop the same, and procure ma-
chinery and provide for working the same ; and during that time the same shall
not be considered abandoned, although no work be done thereon : Provided,
That in such an event, they shall annually, and before the first day of June
in each year, file with the clerk of the probate court an affidavit signed by
them that they have not abandoned such claims, but intend, in good faith, to
work them ; and said term of two years shall not commence until the first day
of January, A. D. 1868. And after the expiration of said teTm of two years,
it shall be obligatory upon claimants to such mineral lands to hold actual pos-
session of them and work the vein, which obligation shall be considered as com-
plied with by doing at least thirty days' work thereon in each year ; but if
such claimants are prevented from working such vein by the hostility of Indians
or other good cause, rendering said working difficult or dangerous, they may,
by authority of the judge of probate first obtained, be relieved from perform-
ing labor thereon from time to time, but for notcnore than one year at any one
time, during the continuance of such cause.
SEC. 33. Any person who may discover a mineral vein or deposit as afore-
said, which is not included within a mining district, or which may be in a mi-
ning district in which there is no legally authorized recorder, may acquire title
thereto, and to auxiliary lands, by giving notice as aforesaid, and recording the
same with the clerk of the probate court of the county in which the same is
situated, and may take the same proceedings, with the like effect, with the
clerk of the probate court that are required to be taken with the recorder of a
mining district.
SEC. 34. Discoverers of mines on lands in the legal ownership or possession
of others, and not public lands, before doing the work of sinking the shaft re-
quired by section 28 of this chapter, shall pay to such parties such compensa-
tion for the use of the same as may be awarded by the judge of probate upon
complaint of either party, or shall give bond to such parties for payment of
the same, and sureties to be approved by said judge; and whenever it becomes
necessary or advantageous to construct tunnels for the purpose of drainage,
ventilation, or the better hauling of ores or other subterraneous products or mi-
ning materials, it shall be lawful for any party or parties to construct such tun-
nel or drift through all private and public property : Provided, That all damages
arising from such subterranean works to the other parties, to be determined as
provided above, shall be paid by the parties for whose benefit such tunnelling
is done, to be paid before such work is commenced, or security given to the
satisfaction of the jtfdge of probate for the payment of the same ; but no damages
shall be paid on public lands when claims for such lands shall be set up after
such tunnel shall have been projected or actually in process of construction :
Provided, That the lapse of time between projection and actual work shall not
exceed ninety days, and that the tunnelling- parties give timely notice of their
project to any new claimant of the so affected ground.
SEC. 35. Whenever such tunnel as mentioned in the preceding section shall
intersect or traverse mineral deposits, or run along lodes claimed and held by
other parties, then it shall be at the option of the owners of such other mineral
deposits either to pay one-half of the expense of excavation for the distance
that such tunnel runs through their mineral deposits, and secure the whole of
256 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
the ores excavated, or to divide the ores with the tunnelling parties, the latter
paying all expenses of excavation ; or it shall be optional with either party to
abandon fill claim to the ores excavated.
SEC. 36. If, in the construction of such subterranean works, new veins or
deposits are encountered in ground not claimed or owned by other parties, they
shall become the property of the party for whom such tunnel is constructed, and
shall be denounced and registered as is required of new mines, and shall be
governed by the same laws as are prescribed in this chapter.
SEC. 37. Any claimant or claimants not complying with any of the foregoing
conditions and obligations shall forfeit all right to any such recorded or unre-
corded claims to mineral and auxiliary tracts ; and it shall not be lawful for him
or them to register such claims anew within a period of three years after such
forfeiture. All such tracts shall be free for working and registry to any but
those excepted in this section.
SEC. 38. All veins and mineral deposits situated on public lands, which have
not been worked and occupied from the time of the acquisition of the Territory
by the United States up to the time of the passage of this chapter, except as
herein provided, shall be considered as abandoned and subject to registry and
denouncement.
SEC. 39. All veins and mineral deposits that have been or may be abandoned
hereafter shall, in all cases and respects, be governed by the laws regulating the
opening and working of new veins and deposits, as prescribed in this chapter.
SEC. 40. Whenever any min,e vein, or mineral deposit shall have been aban-
doned or forfeited in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, and regis-
tered anew by other parties, it shall be obligatory upon such parties to give the
former owners warning thereof, so as to remove from the tract within the space
of three months anything he or they may think valuable or useful. Such
warning shall be given in the nearest newspaper published -in the Territory, and
by posting it at three of the most conspicuous places in the county where the
mine is situated. Three months after the expiration of such warning, any and
all buildings, furnaces, arrastras, metals, and every other species of property
which may still remain on the ground of such mine, vein, or mineral deposit,
shall become the undisputed property of the new claimant, without compensa-
tion of any kind to any person whatever.
SEC. 41. Any person taking possession of or entering upon a mining claim or
auxiliary lands, registered according to the provisions of this chapter, and be-
fore it is abandoned, shall be ousted therefrom in a summary manner by the
order of the probate judge, and the malfeasor shall be adjudged to pay all dam-
ages and costs consequent thereon.
SEC. 51. It shall be the duty of persons who may discover and claim mining
rights or mineral lands, at the same time that they may define the boundary of
their claim or claims to any lode or mine as required by the provisions of this
chapter, to lay off and define the boundary of one pertenencia as required by
the provisions of this chapter, adjoining their claim or claims, which shall be
the property of the Territory of Arizona. And at the same time that they pre-
sent their notice of claim or claims to be recorded by the recorder of the mining
district, they shall also present to such recorder the claim of said Territory.
And if said discoverers and claimants shall neglect or refuse to present to such
recorder the claim of said Territory as aforesaid, they shall forever forfeit all
claim to the mine or ledge so discovered by them. Any recording officer re-
cording the claim or claims of such discoverers and claimants, when the claim
of said Territory is not filed therewith as aforesaid, shall be subject to all the
penalties provided in section 26 of this chapter. Such, claim shall be re-
corded as provided in this chapter for like claims, but no work shall be required
,to be done thereon, nor shall it be considered to be abandoned so long as it is
the property of the Territory; and if sold, the time within which the purchaser
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 257
shall be required to work said claim shall commence from the day of sale, ex-
cept when the time is suspended as before provided. Every clerk of the probate
court, as soon as he records the said claim, shall send a copy of his record to
the treasurer of the Territory, and no fees shall be charged by any recording
officer in any matter relating to said claim. And the territorial treasurer may
at any time after six months from the day he receives such record as aforesaid,
and at such time and place as in his opinion will be most for the interest of the
Territory, cause such claim to be sold at auction to the highest bidder, but every
such sale shall be at least twice advertised in the territorial newspaper, and be
held at his office, or the office of the clerk of the probate court, or recorder of the
mining district of the county where the claim is situated. And the treasurer is
authorized to make a deed of the same to the purchaser in the name of the Ter-
ritory ; and the amount received by him shall be added by him to any fund now
or hereafter provided for the protection of the people of the Territory of Arizona
against hostile Indians, and be expended as provided by law. And after all
expenses as are incurred by the territorial authorities for the purpose of de-
stroying or bringing into subjection all hostile Indian tribes in this Territory
are liquidated, then all remaining or accruing funds, out of all or any sales of
territorial mining claims, shall be applied as a sinking fund for school purposes.
SEC. 52. The extraction of gold from alluvial and diluvial deposits, generally
termed placer mining, shall not be considered mining proper, and shall not en-
title persons occupied in it to the provisions of this chapter, nor shall any pre-
vious section of this chapter be so construed as to refer to the extraction of gold
from the above mentioned deposits.
SEC. 53. This chapter shall be in force and take effect from and after the 1st
day of January, A. I). 1865.
23.— THE MINING LAWS OF MEXICO.
The following are extracts from the royal ordinance of the King of Spain,
published in 1783, and ever smce in force in Mexico. The translation is by
Rockwell.* Only those portions of the ordinance are copied relating to the
location, size, and tenure of claims. The sections not quoted are devoted
mainly to a statement of the manner in which the miners are to enforce their
legal rights :
CHAPTER IV.
SECTION 1. As it is most just and proper to reward with particularity and
distinction those persons who devote themselves to the discovery of new mineral
places and metallic veins found therein in proportion to the importance and
utility of such discovery, I order and command that the discoverers of one or
more mineral mountains, wherein no mine or shaft has been open before, acquire
in the principal vein as much as three portions, together or separate, where it
best pleases them, according to the measures hereafter signified ; and that, on
having discovered more veins, they shall acquire a portion in each vein, fixing
on and marking the said portions within the term of ten days.
SEC. 2. The discoverer of a new vein in a mountain known and worked iu
other parts may hold in it two portions, together or separated by other mines,
on condition that he specifies them within ten days, as mentioned in the pre-
ceding section.
SEC. 3. He who proposes for a new mine in a vein already known and
worked in part is not to be considered a discoverer.
* A compilation of Spanish and Mexican law in relation to mines and titles to real estate
in force in California, Texas, and New Mexico, and in the countries acquired under the
Louisiana and Florida treaties when annexed to the United States. By J. A. Rockwell.
New York, 1851.
H. Ex. Doc. 29 17
258 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
SEC. 4. The person referred to in the preceding sections must present a
written statement to the deputation of miners in that district, or in case there
should not be one in that district, to the nearest thereunto, specifying in it his
name, those of his associates, (if he has any,) the place of his birth, his place
of habitation, profession, and employment, together with the most particular
and distinguishing features of the tract, mountain, or vein of which he claims
the discovery; all which circumstances, as well as the hour in which the dis-
coverer shall present himself, must be noted down in a register kept by the
deputation and clerk, (if they have one ;) and after this the said written state-
ment shall, for his due security, be restored to the discoverer,1 and notices of its
object and contents shall be affixed to the doors of the church, the government
houses, and other public buildings of the town for the sake of general notoriety.
And I ordain that Within, the term of ninety days the discoverer shall cause
to be made in the vein or veins so registered a pit of a yard and a half in
diameter or breadth and ten yards (varas) in depth, and that immediately on
the existence of the vein being ascertained one of the deputies in person shall
visit it, accompanied by the clerk, (if there is one,) or if there be no clerk, by
two assisting witnesses and by the mining professor of that territory, in order
to inspect the course and direction of the vein, its size, its inclination on the
horizon, called its falling or declivity, its hardness or softness, the greater or
less firmness of its bed, and the principal marks and species of the mineral ;
taking exact account of all this in order to add the same to the entry in the
register, together with the act of possession, which must immediately be given
to the discoverer in my royal name, measuring him his portion, and making him
enclose it by poles at the limits as hereafter declared ; after which, an authentic
copy of the proceedings shall be delivered to him for the security of his title.
SEC. 5. If during the above-named ninety days any one should appear assert-
ing a right to the said discovery, a brief judicial hearing shall be granted, and
judgment given in favor of him who best proves his claim ; however, if this
should happen after the stated time, he (the new claimant) shall not be heard.
SEC. 6. The restorers of ancient mines which iiave been abandoned and left
to decay shall enjoy the same privileges as discoverers, of choosing and pos-
sessing three portions in the principal vein and one in each of the others, and
both revivers and discoverers shall,, as an especial reward, be on all occasions
preferred to other persons under parity of circumstances.
SEC. 7. If there arises any question as to who has been the first discoverer
of a vein, he shall be considered as such who first found metal therein, even
though others may have made an opening previously ; and in case of further
doubt, he who first gets it registered shall be considered as the discoverer.
SEC. 8. Whoever shall denounce in the terms hereafter expressed any mine
that has been deserted and abandoned shall have his denouncement received, if
he therein sets forth the circumstances already declared in section four of this
chapter, the actual existence of the mine in question, the name of its last pos-
sessor, if he is acquainted with the same, and those of the neighboring miners,
all of whom shall be lawfully summoned, and if within ten days they do not
appear, the denouncement shall be publicly declared on the three following Sun-
days ; this meeting with no opposition, it shall be signified to the denouncer
that within sixty days he must have cleared and reinstated some work of con-
siderable depth, or at least of ten yards perpendicular and within the bed of the
vein, in order that the mining professor may inspect its course and inclination
and all its peculiar circumstances as is declared in the above-named section four.
The said professor should, if it is possible, examine the pits and works of the
mine and see if they are decayed, destroyed, or inundated ; whether they contain
a draft pit or adit or are capable of such ; whether they have an outer court, a
whim, machines, rooms for habitation, and stables ; and an account and register
of all these circumstances must be entered in the corresponding book of de-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 259
n~>uncements, which should be kept separately. And the said examination being
made, the portions being measured and bounded by stakes in the ground, as
shall hereafter be explained, possession of them shall be given to the denouncer,
without regard to any opposition, which cannot be attended to unless made
within the term before described; however, if during that time any opposition
is brought forward, the parties shall have a brief judicial hearing and the cause
be determined accordingly.
. SEC. 9. If the former mine owner should appear in order to oppose the
denouncement when the three public proclamations are over and when the de-
nouncer has commenced the sixty days allowed for reinstating the pit of ten
yards, he shall not be heard as to the ppssession, but only as to his right in the
property; .and if he succeeds in establishing this, he must make good the
expenses incurred by the denouncer, unless the latter is proved to have acted
fraudulently, in which case he must lose such expenses.
SEC. 10. If the denouncer does not make or complete the shaft as prescribed,
nor take possession within the sixty days, he loses his right, and any other person
has the power of denouncing the mine. If, however, from the ground being
entirely broken up or otherwise difficult and impracticable, or for any other real
and serious obstacle he has been unable to complete the same within the said
sixty days, he must have recourse to the respective territorial deputation, when,
his difficultif s being examined and proved, the period may be prolonged for as
long a time as the deputation may think necessary for the purpose, and no more;
no opposition to his claim being admitted after the ordinary term of sixty days.
SEC. 17. I prohibit any one (not being the discoverer) from denouncing two
contiguous mines upon one and the same vein ; but I permit any person to ac-
quire and possess one by denouncement, and another or more by purchase, gift,
inheritance, or other just title. And I further declare that if any one desires to
attempt the re-establishment of several inundated or decayed mines, or other
considerable enterprise of this kind, and for this purpose claims the grant of
several portions, although they be contiguous and upon the same vein, such
claim must be laid before the royal tribunal general of Mexico, in order that,
the circumstances and importance of the undertaking being ascertained, they
may acquaint the viceroy therewith, who, on finding therein nothing prejudicial
to the body of the miners, the public, or my royal treasury, shall grant him this
and other privileges, exemptions, and aids, on condition that my royal approba-
tion is previously obtained to all such favors, which cannot be granted by the
ordinary authority of the viceroy.
SEC. 18. Beds of ore and other depositories of gold and silver, on being dis-
covered, shall be registered and denounced in the same manner as mines or
veins, the same being understood of all species of metal.
CHAPTER VII.
SECTION 1. To all the subjects in my dominions, both in Spain and the In-
dies, of whatever rank and condition they may be, I grant the mines of every
species of metal under the conditions already stated, or that shall be expressed
hereafter, but I prohibit foreigners from acquiring or working mines as, their
own property, in these my dominions, unless they 'be naturalized or tolerated
therein by my express royal license. (See decree of President Comonfort.)
SEC. 2. I also prohibit regulars of religious orders, of both sexes, from de-
nouncing, or in any manner acquiring for themselves, their convents, or com-
munities, any mines whatever ; it being understood that the working of the
mines shall not devolve upon the secular ecclesiastics, as being contrary to
the laws, to the orders of the Mexican consul, and to the sanctity and exercise
of their profession ; and, therefore, in consequence of this prohibition, all such
secular ecclesiastics shall be expressly obliged to sell or place in the hands of
260 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
lay subjects the mines or establishments for smelting ore, and reducing estab-
lishments which have devolved on them by inheritance or other cause, the same
being completed within the term of six months, or within such time as may be
considered necessary to insure a useful result, which is to be fixed by the vice-
roy, with a previous intimation to the royal tribunal general of the mines ;
provided, that if it is ascertained that by artifice or fraud the effects of this
article are attempted to be eluded, to the prejudice of fhe working of such mines
and establishments, in which the state is so much interested, they shall be de-
nounced and disposed of in the same manner as mines in general.
SEC. 3. Neither, shall mines be held by governors, inten dents, mayors, chief
judges, nor any other public officers whatever, of the mine towns and districts,
nor their clerks ; but I permit such persons to hold mi ties in any territory out
of their own jurisdiction.
SEC. 4. Neither shall administrators, stewards, overseers, keepers of tallies,
workers or watchers of mines, nor, in general, any person in the service of mine
owners, whether of superior or subordinate class, be permitted to register, denounce,
or in any other manner acquire mines within the space of a thousand yards round
those of their masters, but I allow them to denounce any mine for their said
masters, even though not authorized by them to do so, provided the aforesaid
masters make good the denouncement in the terms prescribed by section eight
of chapter six of these ordinances.
CHAPTER VIII.
SECTION 1. Experience having shown that the equality of the mine meas-
ures established on the surface cannot be maintained under ground, where in
fact the mines are chiefly valuable, it being certain that the greater or less in-
' clination of the vein upon the plane of the horizon must render the respective
properties in the mines greater or smaller, so that the true and effective impar-
tiality which it has been desired to show towards all subjects, of equal merit,
has not been preserved ; but, on the contrary, it has often happened that when
a miner, after much expense and labor, begins at last to reach an abundant and
rich ore, he is obliged to turn back, as having entered on the property of an-
other, which latter may have denounced the neighboring mine, and thus sta-
tioned himself with more art than industry. This being one of the greatest and
most frequent causes of litigation and dissension among the miners, and consid-
ering that the limits established in the mines of these kingdoms, and by which
those of New Spain have been hitherto regulated, are very confined in propor-
tion to the abundance, multitude, and richness of the metallic veins which it has
pleased the Creator of his great bounty to bestow on these regions, I order and
command that in the mines where new veins, or veins unconnected with each
other, shall be discovered, the following measures shall in future be observed.
SEC. 2. On the course and direction of the vein, whether gold, silver, or
other metal, I grant to every miner, without any distinction in favor of the
discoverer, whose reward has been specified, two hundred yards, (Spanish yards
or varas,) called measuring yards, taken on a level, as hitherto understood.
SEC. 3. To make it what they call a square, that is, making a right angle
with the preceding measure, supposing the descent or inclination. of the vein to
be sufficiently shown by the opening or shaft of ten yards, the portion shall be
measured by the following rule.
SEC. 4. Where the vein is perpendicular to the horizon, (a case which sel-
dom occurs,) a hundred level yards shall be measured on either side of the vein,
or divided on both sides, as the miner may prefer.
SEC. 5. But where the vein is in an inclined direction, which is the most
usual case, its greater or less degree of inclination shall be attended to in the
following manner.
SEC, 6. If to one yard perpendicular the inclination be from three fingers to
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 261
two palms, the same hundred yards shall be allowed for the square, (as in the
case of the vein being perpendicular.)
SEC. 7. If to the said perpendicular yard there be an inclination of —
Two palms and three fingers, the square shall be of 112J yards.
Two palms and six fingers, the square shall be of 125 yards.
Two palms and nine fingers, the square shall be of 137| yards.
Three palms, the squaie shall be of 150 yards.
Three palms and three fingers, the square shall be of 162| yards.
Three palms and six fingers, the square shall be of 175 yards.
Three palms and nine fingers, the square shall be of 187J yards.
Four palms, the square shall be of 200 yards.
So that if to one perpendicular yard there correspond an inclination of four
palms, which are equal to a yard, the miner shall be allowe^1 two hundred yards
on the square on the declivity of the vein, and so on with the rest.
SEC. 8. And supposing that in the prescribed manner any miner should reach
the perpendicular depth of two hundred yards, without exceeding the limits of
his portion, by which he may commonly have much exhausted the vein, and
that those veins which have greater inclination than yard for yard, that is to
say, of forty-five degrees, are either barren or of little extent, it is my sovereign
will that although the declivity may be greater than the above-mentioned mea-
sures, no one shall exceed the square of two hundred level yards ; so that the
same shall be always the breadth of the said veins extended over the length of
the other two hundreds, as declared above.
SEC. 9. However, if any mine owner, suspecting a vein to run in a contrary
direction to his own, (which rarely happens,) should choose to have some part
of his square in a direction opposite to that of his principal vein, it may be
granted to him, provided there shall be no injury or prejudice to a third person
thereby.
SEC. 10. With regard to the banks, beds, or any other accidental depositories
of gold or silver, I ordain that the portions and measures shall be regulated by
the respective territorial deputations of miners, attention being paid to the extent
and richness of the place and to the number of applicants for the same, with
distinction and preference only to the discoverers ; but the said deputations must
render an exact account thereof to the royal tribunal general of Mexico, who
will resolve on the measures which they in their judgment may consider the
most efficacious, in order to avoid all unfair dealing in tjjese matters.
SEC. ll.'Tlie portions being regulated in the manner described above, the
denouncer shall have his share measured at the time of taking possession of the
mine, and he shall erect around his boundaries stakes or landmarks, such as
shall be secure and easy to be distinguished, and enter into an obligation to
keep and observe them forever without being able to change them ; though he
may allege that his vein varied in course or direction, (which is an unlikely cir-
cumstance ;) but he must content himself with the lot which Providence has
decreed him, and enjoy it without disturbing his neighbors ; if, however, he
should have no neighbors, or if he can, without injury to his neighbors, make
an improvement, by altering the stakes and boundaries, it may be permitted him
in such case, with previous intervention, cognizance, and authority of the depu-
tation of the district, who shall cite and hear the parties, and determine whether
the causes for such encroachment are legitimate.
CHAPTER IX.
SEC. 6. If any mine owner, in consequence of the great richness of the me-
tallic substance in his vein, is desirous of substituting for the pillars, beams, or
sufficient and necessary supports, made of the metallic substance itself, others -
262 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
constructed of mason work of stone and mortar, lie may be permitted to do so,
under the inspection of one of the deputies of the district, assisted by his clerk,
and with the approbation of the mining professor.
SEC. 7. I strictly prohibit any one from taking away or in any degree weak-
ening and diminishing the pillars, beams, and necessary supports of the mines,
under pain of ten years' imprisonment, to be inflicted according to the form pre-
scribed by chapter three of these ordinances, by the* respective judge in each
case, upon any workman, searcher, or investigator who shall have committed
such offence, and the same upon the miner or mine watcher who has permitted
it ; and the master of the mine shall lose the same, together with half of his
property, and be forever excluded from all mining employments.
SEC. 8. I ordain and command that the mines shall be kept clean and unob-
structed, and that the works necessary or useful for the circulation of air, the
carriage and extraction of the metal or other purposes, although tljey may con-
tain no more metallic matter than such as may remain in the pillars and parti-
tions, shall not be encumbered with rubbish and clods of earth, but that all these
must be carried out and thrown by each person on the earth-mound of his own
property, but on no account upon that of another person without his express
leave and consent.
SEC. 9. In the mines there must be proper and safe steps or ladders, such and
as many as are considered necessary by the mining surveyor, for the purpose
of ascending and descending to the farthermost works, so that the lives of persons
employed in the mines may never be endangered by their being weak, insecure,
rotten, or much worn.
SEC. 10. In order to avoid the violation of the provisions of any of the sections
.contained in this chapter, it is my sovereign will that the deputies of the miners,
accompanied by the mining professor of the district, and by the clerk, if there
be one, or, in default of him, by two witnesses in aid, who shall once in every six
months, or once in every year, in places where the former is impracticable, visit
all the mines in their jurisdiction which are in a course of actual working; and
if they find any failure in the points referred to in the above-mentioned sections,
or in any others whatever, which regard the security, preservation, and better
working of the mines, shall provide immediately a remedy for such defect, and
take mtans to assure themselves that such remedy is carried into effect. And
if the remedy be not applied, or if the same failure shall occur again, the proper
penalties must be exacted, multiplying and aggravating them even to the extent
of dispossessing the person so offending of the mine, which shall th£n belong to
the first person who may denounce it, provided the deputies proceed in the form
prescribed by chapter third of these ordinances.
SEC. 11. I most rigorously prohibit all persons from piercing through adits,
or cross levels, or other subterraneous passages, from works which are higher
and full of water, or from leaving between them and others such slight supports
as may allow the water to burst through ; on the contrary, persons owning such,
works must have them drained by engines before they shall attempt to commu-
nicate with new ones, unless the mining professor should judge that such piercing
through will not be attended with danger to the workmen engaged in it.
SEC. 12. Also I prohibit all persons from introducing workmen into any
works containing noxious vapors, until they have been properly ventilated, ac-
cording to the rules of art.
SEC. 13. Whereas the mines require incessant and continual working, in
order to procure the metals, certain operations being indispensable, which cannot
without much time be accomplished, and which, if interrupted, generally require
• as great expenses in their re-establishment as they did in their original under-
taking ; wherefore, to remedy such inconvenience, arid also to prevent masters
^of mines, who either cannot or will not work them, from keeping them in a use-
•ess state for a length of time, by pretending to work them, and thus depriving
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 263
them of the real and effective labor which others might bestow on them, I ordain
and command, that whosoever, during four successive months, shall fail to work
any mine with (at least) four paid workmen, occupied in some exterior" or inte
rior work of real utility, shall, by so doing, lose all his right in said mine, which
shall belong to any person denouncing it, upon his satisfactory proving, according
to the provisions of chapter six, such act of desertion on the part of the owner.
SEC. 14. Experience having shown that the provisions of the preceding
section have been eluded by the artful and fraudulent practice of some owners
of mines, who cause their mine to be worked during some days in each [period
ofj four months, keeping them in this manner many years in their possession, I
ordain that whosoever shall fail to work his mine in the manner prescribed by
the said section during eight months in the year, counting from the day of his
coming into possession, even though the said eight months should be interspersed
with some days or weeks of labor, shall by such labor forfeit the mine: and it
shall be adjudged to the first person who denounces the same, and satisfactorily
proves this second species of desertion ; unless for this, or the one mentioned in
the preceding section, there be just cause assigned, such as pestilence, famine,
or war, in that same mining place, or within twenty leagues thereof.
SEC. 15. Considering that many mine owners who have formerly worked
their mines with ardor and diligence, expending large sums in shafts, adits, and
other undertakings, may often be obliged to suspend their operations while
soliciting supplies, or for want of workmen, or necessary provisions, and other
just and sufficient causes, which, combined with their former merit, render them
worthy of equitable consideration, I declare that any such mine owner keeping
his mine in disuse in the manner and for the time above mentioned shall not
forfeit, it at once in the manner described above, but his mine shall nevertheless
be liable to denouncement before the respective new tribunals of miners, in order
that, both parties having been heard, and alleged merits and causes considered
and proved, justice may be done between the parties.
SEC. 16. Since many mine owners abandon their mines either for the want of
the capital necessary for carrying on operations therein, or because they do not
choose to consume that which they may have already acquired from them, or
because they have not spirit to venture on the difficulties of those undertakings,
from which they may have conceived great hopes, or for other causes, and since
persons are not wanting who might be desirous of taking such mines if they
were informed of their intended abandonment, and as it is much easier to main-
tain a mine when in a course of working than to reinstate it after it has suffered
the injuries of time, it is my will that no person shall abandon the working of
his mine or mines without making the deputation of the district acquainted
therewith, in order that the deputation may publish the same by fixing a notifi-
cation on the doors of churches and other customary places for the information
of all persons.
SEC. 17. In order to avoid the false or equivocal reports which are often
spread concerning deserted mines, the consequence of which reports is to aug-
ment the distrust in which this profession is ordinarily held, deterring many
persons from engaging therein who do not otherwise want inclination to follow
it, I ordain :
SEC. 18. That no one shall abandon the working of his mine without giving
notice to the respective deputation in order that an inspection may immediately
be had thereof by the deputies, accompanied by the clerk and surveyors, who
must examine and measure the mine, particularizing all its circumstances, and
draw up a map describing its plan and outlines, which, together with all the
necessary information, must be preserved in the archives, with liberty of access
to all persons who may wish to see it, or to take a copy thereof.
264 EESOUECES OF STATES AND TERRITOEIES
CHAPTER XI.
SECTION 1. Inasmuch as mines are often worked by miners joined in com-
panies, from the time of the denouncement of such mine, or according to con-
tracts entered into subsequently in various ways, to the great advantage and
improvement of the operations in mines, since it is much easier to engage
therein when many persons concur, each subscribing a part of his capital ; and
as where the wealth of one alone is not sufficient for great undertakings, that
of a united company may be ample; in such cases I desire and command that
such companies, whether public or private, may be encouraged, promoted, and
protected by all convenient measures, my viceroy granting to those who may
form themselves into such companies every favor, aid, and exemption which can
be granted them, according to the judgment and discretion of the royal tribunal
of miners, and without detriment to the public or my royal treasury.
SKC. 2. Although by these ordinances I prohibit any individual mine-owners,
working within the ordinary limits, from denouncing two adjoining mines on
the same vein; yet, notwithstanding, to those who work in companies, although
they be not the discoverers, and without prejudice to the right which they
might derive from becoming discoverers, I grant the right of denouncing four
new portions, or four deserted mines, even though they should be contiguous
and on the same vein.
SECTION 12.
Books on California. — 2. Table of distances.
1.— BOOKS ON CALIFOENIAN MINES.
California has been the subject 'of hundreds of books written since the dis-
covery of gold; but most of them were notes of personal adventure, with a few
rambling and vague remarks about the mineral resources and mining industry
of the Pacific coast.
Nevertheless, although only a small proportion of the works published about
the land of gold, the California!! contributions to mining literature are not unim-
portant; and when the State geological survey shall have completed its labors
and published all its reports, it may safely be said that few countries have done
so much in so brief a space of time to illustrate the metallurgy, mineralogy,
and geology of the precious metals.
The following are titles of some of the books that treat, of the mineral re-
sources and mining industry of the coast :
Geology and Industrial Resources of California. By Philip T. Tyson. To
which is added the official reports of General Persifer *F. Smith and B. Riley,
including the reports of Lieutenants Talbot, Ord, Derby, and Williamson, of
their explorations in California and Oregon, and also of their examination of
routes for railroad communication eastward from those countries. Baltimore :
1851. Svo., pp. 160.
Professor John B. Trask's Report on the Geology of the Sierra Nevada or
California Range. Document No. 59, Senate of California. 1853. 8vo.,
'pp. 30.
Report on the Geology of the Coast Mountains and part of the Sierra Nevada,
embracing the Industrial Resources in Agriculture and Mining. By John B.
Tragk. Document No. 9, Senate of California. 1854. Svo., pp. 90.
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 265
Report of a Geological Reconnaissance in California, made in connection with
the expedition to survey routes in California to connect with the surveys of
routes for a railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, under the
command of Lieutenant Williamson, corps topographical engineers, in 1853.
By William P, Blake, geologist and mineralogist of the expedition. New York.
H. Bailliere, 185S. 4to, pp. 600.
Geology of North America, with two reports on the Prairies of Arkansas and
Texas, the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico, and the Sierra Nevada of Cali-
fornia, originally made for the United States government by Jules Marcon.
Zurich, 1^58. 4to, pp. 144.
General Report upon the Geological Collections of the Pacific Railroad Survey,
by William P. Blake, geologist of the office of the United States Pacific rail-
road explorations and surveys. 4to , pp. 50. (In vol. iii of Explorations and
Surveys for a Railroad Route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.)
Report upon the Geology of the Route from San Francisco Bay to the Colum-
bia River, by J. S. Newberry, M. D., geologist and botanist of the expedition.
4to., pp. 84. (In vol. vi of Explorations, &c., as above.)
Geological Report on the Route from San Francisco to Santa Fe, by way of
the Coast and the Gila, by Thomas Antisell, M. D., geologist of the expedition.
4to., pp. 204. (In vol. vii of Explorations, &c., as above.)
Mining on the Pacific States of North America, by John S. Hittell. San
Francisco, 1861. 18mo., pp. 224.
The Resources of California, comprising agriculture, mining, geology, climate,
commerce, &c., and the past and future development of the State, by John S.
Hittell ; second edition, with an appendix on Oregon and Washington Territory.
San Francisco, 1866. 12mo., pp. 494.
The Comstock Lode, its character, and the probable mode of its continuance
in depth, by Ferdinand Baron Richthofen, (Dr. Phil.) San Francisco, 1866.
8vo, pp. 83.
Nevada and California Processes of Silver and Gold Extraction, for general use,
and especially for the mining public of California and Nevada, with full expla-
nations and directions for all metallurgical operations connected with silver and
gold, from a preliminary examination of the ore to the final casting of the ingot ;
also a description of the general metallurgy of silver ores. By Guido Kustel,
mining engineer and metallurgist, former manager of the Ophir works, &c. Illus-
trated by accurate engravings. San Francisco, 1863. 8vo, pp. 330.
266
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
2.-TABLE OF DISTANCES.
FROM SAN FRANCISCO.
BY OCEAN; NAUTICAL MILES.
Up the coast.
Tomales, Cal 45
Northern towns.
Sacramento
Miles.
117
171
236
197
264
365
401
4-63
710
760
850
138
182
165
253
420
784
1, 035
1, 975
2,279
3,417
117
153
178
198
197
211
247
308
31
51
94
130
234
344
444
576
504
732
1,013
1,306
2,881
HENTO.
2
4 6
H 7*
5 m
2 141
4 18*
6i 25
5 30
1 31
3 34
1 35
3 38
1 39
2 41
5* 46*
2* 49
2 51
4 55
3 58
6 62
1 63
Miles.
End of Wood Island 5 68
Rio Vista 5 73
Cache creek 1 84
Downieville
F<-£?s Back 4 78
Oroville
Mouth of Steambo't slough 6 84
Head of Steamboat slough 6 90
Head of Randall's island.. 6 96
Red Bluff
Mendocino City Cal 1°8
Humboldt bay, Cal . . 223
Treka
Trinidad, Cal 239
Jacksonville, Oregon
Embarcadero 8 109
Crescent City Cal 280
Sutterville 9 118
Port Orford, Oregon 338
Portland Oregon
Sacramento 3 121
TJmpqua river, Oregon 402
Columbia river, Oregon 550
Astoria Oregon 559
Olympia W T
SAN FRANCISCO TO SAN DIEGO.
Via coast road.
San Francisco to —
San Mat^o . 21
Folsom .
Portland Oregon 642
Oveiland route.
Placerville
Varcouver W T 632
Cape Flattery W T . 683
Port Angeles, W. T 738
Port Townsend, W. T 773
Seattle, W. T 807
Carson City N* T
Redwood City 10 31
Steilacoom "VV T 836
Humboldt mines, N. T
Great Salt Lake City
South Pass
San Jose 19 50
Olympia, W. T... . 855
Gilroy 32 82
San Juan island, W. T 765
Bellingham bay, W. T 798
Victoria, V. 1 753
San Juan 12 94
St. Joseph, Mo
St Louis Mo
Monterey 36 130
San Antonio 75 205
New Westminster, B. C . . . . 823
Down the coast.
Half Moon bay, Cal 46
New York City
San Luis Obispo 43 248
Southern towns.
Stockton
Santa Inez 68 316
Santa Barbara 42 358
San Buenaventura 30 388
Los Angeles 100 488
Santa Cruz Gal 80
San Gabriel ranch 10 498
Monterey, Cal 92
Mokelurnne Hill
Anaheim 15 513
San Luis Obispo Cal 200
Big Trees
Aliso ranch 22 535
Point Conception Cal 250
Santa Barbara, Cal 283
Mariposa . . ....
San Mateo ranch . 11 553
San Pedro, Cal 373
Los Flores 11 564
San Diego Gal 456
Visalia
San Luis Rey 10 574
La Paz, Mexico 1, 305
Coast road.
Redwood City
Los Encinitas 18 592
Mazatlan, Mexico . 1 480
Soled&d ranch 15 607
Guaymas, Mexico 1,710
San Diego. .. 15 622
San Bias, Mexico 1 470
SACRAMENTO TO RED BLUFF.
Via Sacramento river.
Sacramento to —
Manzanilla, Mexico.. . 1 570
Acapulco Mexico 1 840
Panama, C A . 3 280
Callao, Peru 3 900
San Luis Obispo
Valparaiso Chili 5 210
Cape Horn 6' 380
Via Panama.
New Orleans 4 680
San Diego
Butlerfield route.
Fremont 14 26
Charleston 10 36
Knight's landing 10 46
New York ..... 5 140
Eagle Bend 8 54
Southampton 7 800
Old Eagle Bend 5 59
Via Cape Horn.
Rio Janeiro 8 323
Three Rivers 5 64
Poker Bend 5 69
St. Louis, via Arizona
SAN FRANCISCO TO SACRA1
By steamer.
San Francisco to —
Opposite Alcatraz island.
South end Angel island..
North end Angel island..
Red Rock
Howell's . 5 74
Big Eddy 5 79
New York 13' 140
Dry Slough ' 8 87
Liverpool 13* 100
Eddy's 8 95
Across the ocean.
Honolulu, H. 1 2 100
Twenty-Mile island 10 105
Font's ferry .... 7 112
Butte creek 6 118
Colusa . 7 125
Jeddo, via HI 5 550
Sherman's 7 132
Shanghai, via H. I 6*450
Snyder's . 4 136
Hongkong, via HI 6 980
Nine-Mile house 5 141
Sydney, via H. I 6 720
Melbourne, via H. I 7, 200
Brothers
Princeton 5 151
Calcutta, via HI 10 400
Pinola
Butte City 7 158
INLAND ; STATUTE MILES.
Vicinity of San Francisco bay.
SanQuentin 12
Mouth of Straits
Cut Off - 7 165
Benieia
Pike's 5- 170
Navy Point
Plaza City 9 179
Point Edith
Jennings 9 188
Seal Isluid
Monroeville 3 191
Point Gillespie
Big Chico 8 199
Petaluma 48
Point Roe
BidwelFs 6 205
Geyser Springs. . 105
Snag Point
Soule Landing 7 212
Vallejo 28
New York Slough
Point Hanson
Snadon's 8 220
Napa City . 50
Gazelle shoot 6 220
White Sulphur Springs .... 67
Benicia . 30
Moon's 6 232
Tree island
Mayhew's 8 246
Suisun 50
Tehaaia - - 8 240
Martinez . 33
Sacket Hog Bend
Doll's ranch 11 25!)
Diablo coal mines . . 44
San Joaauin Slouerh. . .
Red Bluff... .- 11 278
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
267
SACRAMENTO TO VIRGINIA CITY.
Via Dutch Flat.
Sacramento to —
Auburn
Iliinoistown
Dutch Flat
Wilson's ranch
Summit valley
Donner Cabins
O'Neal's bridge
Steamboat Springs
Virginia City
Miles.
40
18 58
12 70
14 84
16 100
9 109
2L 130
15 145
12 157
Via Henness Pass.
Sacramento to —
Colfax ...................... 55
Madden 's ................... 61
Dutch Flat .................. 69
Zeus ........................ 781
Polly's... ................... 89|
Jones's ...................... 100
Donner lake ................ 110
Prosser creek ............... 120J
Chamberlin's ................ 128!
Brown's .................... 135i
Hunter's .................... 145*
Virginia City ................ 157i
Virginia City to the Hum-
boldt mines ............... 150
Virginia City to Aurora ...... 116
SACRAMENTO TO SALT LAKE CITY.
Via Austin, (Reese river,) Nevada.
Sacramento to —
Folsom .................. 22
Latrobe .................. 15 37
Shingle Springs .......... 8 45
Placerville ............... 8 53
Sportsman's Hall ......... 11 64
Riverside station ......... 10 74
Webster's ................ 9 83
Strawberry ralley ....... 11 94
Summit .................. 3 97
Yank's ................... 8 105
iakeTahoe .............. 9 114
Genoa ................... 10 124
Carson City .............. 14 138
Virginia City ............. 16 154
First well ................ 13 167
Second well .............. 7 174
Third well ............... 12 186
Eighteen-Mile post ........ 8 194
Ragtown ................. 12 206
Slough bridge ............ 16 222
Sand Springs ............. 16 238
WestGate ............... 22 260
Cold Springs ............. 14 274
Edward's creek ........... 12 286
Mount Airy .............. 15 301
Jacobsville ............... 13 314
Austin ................... 6 320
Simpson's park ........... 16 336
Dry creek ................ 21 357
Robert's creek ............ 29 386
Diamond Springs ......... 25 411
Ruby valley ............. 24 435
Butte station ............. 39 454
Shell creek ............... 30 484
Antelope Springs ......... 19 503
Deep creek .............. 24 527
Willow Springs .......... 42 569
Fish Springs ............. 21 590
Simpson's S p rings ........ 39 629
Rush valley .............. 23 652
-Fort Crittenden .......... 17 669
Great Salt Lake City ..... 41 710
SACRAMENTO TO PORTLAND.
Sacramento to —
Nicolaus ................. 25
Marysville ............... 20 45
2. — Table of distances — Continu
Miles.
Oroville ................. 26 71
Chico ................... 26 97
T.'hama ................ 26 123
RedBluff ............... 13 136
Horsetown .............. 2!) 165
Shasta .................. 8 173
French gulch ............ 15 188
Trinity Centre .......... 27 215
New York house ........ 14 229
Callahan's ............... 13 242
FortJones .............. 22 264
Yreka .................. 18 282
Henly ....... .* ......... 20 302
Mountain house ......... 17 319
Jacksonville ............ 23 342
Grave creek ............. 41 383
Cany onville ............. 26 409
Roseberg ............... 26 435
Oakland ................ 17 452
Hawley's ............... 30 482
Eugene City ............ 25 507
Corvallis ................ 39 546
Albany ................. 10 556
Salem .................. 24 580
Oregon City ............. 37 617
Portland ....... .. 13 630
ed.
STOCKTON TO VISALIA ANI>
OWEN'S VALLEY.
Stockton to—
Heath & Emory's 28
Dickinson's ferry 21 49
Snelling 13 62
Hornitos 16 78
Chowchilla 25 103
Fresno 16 119
Millerton 15 134
King's river 25 159
Visalia 28 187
Tule river 25 212
Deercreek 8 220
White river 15 235
Linn's valley 9 244
Kern river 20 264
Walker's Pass 25 289
Littlelake 30 319
Owen's lake 35 354
San Carlos 41 395
LOS ANGELES TO LA PAZ,
ARIZONA.
Los Angeles to —
San Gabriel 12
ElMonte 2 14
San Jose 12 26
Cocomungo 12 38
San Bernardino 25 63
Old S. B. mission 8 7L
Frink's 7 78
Dr. Edgar's 8 86
Chapin's ranch 6 92
Antonio creek 4 96
Grant's creek 3 99
Indian run 5 104
White river 2 106
AguaCaliente 10 116
Sand Hole 11 127
Old rancheria 6 133
Toro's 9 142
Martinez 5 147
Palma Seco 12 159
Dos Palmos 7 166
Brown's Pass 10 176
Tabasacco ^- 8 184
Chucolwalla...^. 18 202
Slough 35 237
LaPaz .. 16 253
La Paz to Fort Mohave 140
La Paz to Walker's diggings 146
La Paz to Pimo villages 200
La Paz to Tucson 280
La Paz to El Dorado canon. 190
PORTLAND TO LEWISTON.
Portland to— Mile?.
Lower Cascades 50
Portage 5 55
Dalles 38 93
Celilo 13 106
Five-Mile rapids 5 111
John Day 11 122
Indian rapids 3 125
Squally Hook 3 128
Rock creek 7 135
Chapman's woodyard 6 141
Big Bend 6 147
Willow creek 9 156
Castle Rock 8 164
Long island (foot) 5 169
Long island (head) 7 176
Grand Ronde lauding 10 186
Umatilla rapids 8 194
Windmill rock 7 201
Wallula 15 216
Snake river (mouth) 11 227
Rapids 6 233
Fish Bend 10 243
Jim Part's island 10 253
Pine Tree rapids 7 260
Pelouse crossing .30 290
Fort Taylor 5 295
Penana creek 25 320
Almotacreek 14 334
Alpowa creek 26 360
Smith's ferry 3 363
Lewiston 7 370
DALLES TO LEWISTON.
Dalles to —
Deschutes 15
Mud Springs 12 27
John Day's river 12 39
Juniper spring 12 51
Willow creek 18 69
Well's spring 16 85
Buttercreek 18 103
Umatilla river 9 112
Umatilla crossing 18 130
Wild Horse creek 18 148
Walla-Walla 20 168
Drycreek 7 175
Reedcreek 15 190
Tucanon v 17 207
Patapha 11 218
Alpowa 14 232
Smith's ranch 8 240
Craig's ferry 9 249
Lewiston... 1 250
Lewiston to Pierce City 90
Lewiston to Elk City 145
Lewiston to Florence .' 110
Lewiston to Idaho City 190
DALLES TO IDAHO CITY.
Via John Day mines.
Dalles to—
Fifteen-Mile creek 12
Todd'sbridge 10 22
Salt spring 8 30
Bake Oven hollow 14 44
Thorn hollow 6 50
Antelope valley 12 62
Potatohills 10 72
Pyramid rocks 4 76
Cherry creek 10 86
Bridge creek 1
Foot of mountain 11 104
Rock creek 12 116
John Day 17 133
South Fork.., 7 140
CanyonCity 35 175
Dixiecreek 11 186
Burnt river 35 221
Malheur river 18 240
Emigrantroad 20 260
268
RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
2. — Table of distances — Continued.
Old Fort Boise
Miles.
16 276
St. Joseph river crossing.
Coeur d' Alene river
Coeur d'Aleue crossing...
Coaur d'Alene mission. ...
Three-Mile prairie
Miles.
5 169
11 180
11 191
8 199
4 203
5 208
20 228
8 236
5 241
9 250
13 263
10 273
10 283
13 296
8 304
6 310
9 319
9 328
4 332
6 338
13 351
12 363
5 368
25 393
7 400
11 411
13 424
Boise City.
25 301
Idaho City
.. 29 330
WALLA-WALLA TO FORT BENSON.
Via Mullan's military road.
Walla- Walla to-
Dry Creek Q
Ten-Mile prairie
Johnson's Cut-off
Summit Steven's pass
St. Regis Borgia river
Touchet
11 20
Prairie ..
15 35
Bitter Root crossing
Prairie
Tucanon
. 12 47
Snake river
. . . 3 50
Brown's prairie
15 65
First cross-ing
. . 4 69
West foot of mountain . . .
Point of Rocks
4 73
Third crossing
. 2 75
Fourth crossing
...2 77
Kulkullo creek
Mocalissia
7 84
Hell Gate Ronde
Oratayouse
...13 97
Observatory creek
Tcho-tcho-oo-seep
15 112
Big Blackfoot river
Ciel-ciel-pow-vet-sin
. .. 9 121
Hell Gate river, 1st cross'g
HellGateriver,llth cross'g
Creek
Camas Prairie creek
17 138
Loochooltz
12 150
luchatzkan spring
. . . 8 158
Flint creek.
Poun Lake bridge . . .
. 6 164
Gold creek . .
Miles.
Rock creek 7 431
Deer Lodge creek 8 439
Livingston's creek 9 448
Little Blackfoot river 8 456
Mullan's Pass 13 469
Great Prickly Pear 4 473
Silver creek 6 479
Little Prickly. Pear 16 495
Medicine Rock 3 498
L. P. P. Upper Camp 7 505
LEWISTON TO KOOTENAI MINES.
Lewiston to —
Palouse crossing 40
Pine creek 10 50
Lottow 7 57
Forks of trail 2 59
Willow prairie 5 64
Rockcreek 10 74
Spokane River ferry 15 89
Soltesa's 6 95
Pen d'Oreille slough 23 118
Pen d'Oreille crossing 24 142
Big bend of lake: 15 157
Kootenai crossing 50 207
Elkcreek 123 330
APPENDIX 1.
Address on the history of California, from the discovery of the country to the
year 1849, delivered before the Society of California Pioneers, at their cele-
bration of the tenth anniversary of the admission of the State of California
into the Union. By Edmund Randolph, esq. San Francisco, Sept. 10, 1860.
PIONEERS : From the importunities of the active present which surrounds us,
we turn for a brief space to the past. To-day we give ourselves up to memory.
And, first, our thoughts are due to those who are not here assembled with
us; whom we meet not on street nor highway, and welcome not again at the
door of our dwellings ; upon whom shines no mere the sun which now gladdens
the hills, the plains, the waters of California — to the pioneers who are dead.
To them, as the laurel to the soldier who falls in the battle for that with his blood
he has paid the price of victory, you will award the honor of this triumph,
marked by the marvellous creations which have sprung from your common en-
terprises. To them you will consecrate a success which has surpassed the bold-
est of the imaginations which led you forth, both them and you, to a life of ad-
ventures. Your companions died that California might exist. Fear not that
you will honor them overmuch. But how died they, and where do they repose —
the dead of the pioneers of California?
Old men amongst you will recall the rugged trapper. His frame was strong;
his soul courageous ; his knowledge was of the Indian's trail and haunts of
game; his wealth and defence, a rifle and a horse; his bed, the earth; his home,
the mountains. He was slain by the treacherous savage. His scalp adorned
the wigwam of a chief. The wolf and the vulture in the desert feasted on the
body of this pioneer. A companion, wounded, unarmed, and famishing, wan-
ders out through some rocky canon and lives to recount this tale — lives, more
fortunate in his declining years, to measure, perhaps, his lands by the league,
and to number his cattle by the thousand. And the sea, too, has claimed trib-
ute ; the remorseless waves, amid the terrors of shipwreck, too often in these
latter days have closed over the manly form of the noble pioneer. The mon-
sters of the deep have parted amongst them the flesh of our friends, and their
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 269
dissevered members are floating, suspended now in the vast abysses of the ocean,
or roll upon distant strands, playthings tossed by the currents in their wander-
ings. And here, in San Francisco, exacting commerce has disturbed the last
resting place of the pioneers. Ten years and a half ago, pinched by the severi-
ties of a most inclement winter, under the leaky tent which gave no shelter,
they sickened and died (and then women and children were pioneers, too) by
scores, and by hundreds they sickened and died. With friendly hands, which
under such disastrous circumstances could minister no relief, you yet did bury
them piously in a secluded spot upon the hill-side or in the valley, and, planting
a rude cross or board to mark the grave, did hope, perhaps, in a more prosper-
ous day, to replace it with a token in enauring stone. But the hill and the valley
alike disappear hourly from our sight. The city marches with tremendous
strides. Extending streets and lengthening rows encroach upon the simple
burial-ground not wisely chosen. The dead give place to the living. And now
the builder, with his mortar and his bricks, and the din of his trowel, erects a
mansion or store-house for the new citizen upon the same spot where the pioneer
was laid and his sorrowing friend dreamed of erecting a tombstone. Meanwhile,
by virtue of a municipal order, hirelings have dug up and carted away all that
remained of the pioneers, and have deposited them in some common receptacle,
where now they are lying an undistinguishable heap of human bones.
Pursuing still this sad review, you well remember how, with the eager tide
along and up the course of rivers, and over many a stony ascent, you were
swept into the heart of the difficult regions of the gold mines ; how you there
encountered an equal stream pouring in from the east ; and, in a summer, all
the bars, and flats, and gulches, throughout the length and breadth of that vast
tract of hills, were flooded with human life. Into that rich harvest Death put
his sickle. Toil to those who had n%ver toiled ; toil, the hardest toil, often at
once beneath a torrid, blazing sun, and in an icy stream ; congestion, typhus,
fevers in whatever form most fatal ; and the rot of scurvy ; drunkenness and
violence, despair, suicide, and madness ; the desolate cabin ; houseless starva-
tion amid snows : all these bring back again upon you in a frightful picture
many a death-scene of those days. There fell the pioneers who perished from
the van of those who first heaved back the bolts that barred the vaulted hills,
and poured the millions of the treasures of California upon the world !
Wan and emaciated from the door of the tent or cabin where you saw him
expire; bloody and mangled from the gambling saloon where you saw him
murdered, or the roadside where you found him lying ; the corpse you bore to
the woods and buried him beneath the trees. But you cannot tell to-day which
pine sings the requiem of the pioneer.
And some have fallen in battle beneath our country's flag.
And longings still unsatisfied led soine to renew their adventurous career
upon foreign soils. Combating for strangers whose quarrels they espoused, they
fell amid the jungles of the tropics and fatted that rank soil there with right
precious blood ; or, upon the sands of an accursed waste, were bound and
slaughtered by inhuman men who lured them with promises and repaid their
coming with a most cruel assassination. In the filthy purlieus of a Mexican
village swine fed upon all that murder left of honored gentlemen, until the very
Indian, with a touch of pity, heaped up the sand upon the festering dead, and
gave slight sepulture to our lost pioneers.
Though from the first some there were who found in California all they
sought; and as they lived so died, surrounded by their children and their
newly made friends, and were buried in churchyards with holy rites ; and al-
though those more lately stricken repose in well-fenced grounds, guarded by
society they planted, and whose ripening power they have witnessed, and are
gathered to a sacred stillness, where we too may hope that we shall be received
270 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
when full soon we sink to our eternal rest. Alas ! far different the death and
burial of full many a pioneer.
In deeds of loftiest daring of individual man, encounters fierce and rudest
shocks, too often has parted the spirit of the pioneer,. and left his mortal body-
to nature and the elements. Thus wilds are conquered, and to civilization new
realms are won.
Upon his life and death let them reflect who would deny to the pioneer the
full measure of the rights of freemen.
For us we behold the river or the rock, the mountain's peak, the plain —
whatever spot from which his eyes took their last look of earth. There, as he
lies, one gentle light shining athwart the gathering darkness, still holds his
gaze. Guided by that light we will revisit the distant home of the dying pio-
neer. In imagination we will there revive the faded recollections of the in-
trepid boy who, in years long past, disappeared in the wilderness and the west,
and for a lifetime has been accounted dead. We will renew, while we console,
the grief of the aged father and mother. To the fresh sorrows of the faithful
wife we pledge the sympathy and love of brothers. To the sons and daughters
of our friends we stretch forth our hands in benedictions on their heads. To
ancient friends we too are friends, until with our praises, and the eventful story
of his life, we make to live again in his old peaceful home him who died so
wildly. What though, to mournful questioning, we cannot point their graves ]
They have a monument — behold the State ; and their inscription, it is written
on our hearts.
Thus, as is meet, we honor our dead pioneers with severe yet pleasing recol-
lections, grateful fancies, and tears not unmanly. With an effort we turn from
ourselves to our country.
Of populous Christian countries Upper California is among the newest. Her
whole history is embraced within the lifetime of men now living. Just ninety-
one years have passed since man of European origin first planted his footsteps
within the limits of what is now our State, with purpose of permanent inhabita-
tion. Hence all the inhabitants of California have been but pioneers.
Cortez, about the year 1537, fitted out several small vessels at his port of Te-
huantepec, sailed north and to the head of the Gulf of California. It is said
that his vessels were provided with everything requisite for planting a colony
in the newly discovered region, and transported four hundred Spaniards and
three hundred negro slaves, which he had assembled for that purpose, and that
he imagined by that coast and sea to discover another New Spain. But sands
and rocks and sterile mountains, a parched and thorny waste, vanquished the
conqueror of Mexico. He was glad to escape with his life, and never crossed
the line which marks our southern boundary. Here We may note a very re-
markable event which happened in the same year that Cortez was making his
fruitless attempt. Four persons, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Castillo, Dor-
antes, and a negro named Estevancio, arrived at Culiacan, on the Gulf of Cali-
fornia, from the peninsula of Florida. They were the sole survivors of three
hundred Spaniards who landed with Pamfilo Narvaez on the coast of Florida
for the conquest of that country, in the year 1527. They had wandered ten
years among the savages, and had finally found their way across the continent.
The same Nunez was afterwards appointed to conduct the discovery of the Rio
de la Plata, and the first conquests of Paraguay, says our authority, the learned
Jesuit Father Miguel Venegas.
The viceroy Mendoza, soon after the failure of Cortez, despatched another
expedition, by sea and land, in the same direction, but accomplished still less ;
and again in 1542, the same viceroy sent out Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a coura-
geous Portuguese, with two ships to survey the outward or western coast of
California. Ln the latitude of 32 degrees he made a cape which was called, by
himself, I suppose, Cape Engano, (Deceit;) in 33 degrees, that of La Cruz, and
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 271
that of Galera, in 36| degrees, and opposite the last he met with two large
islands, where they informed him that at some distance there was a nation who
wore clothes. In 37 degrees and a half he had sight of some hills covered with
trees, which he called San Martin, as he did also the cape running into the sea
at the end of these eminences. Beyond this to 40 degrees the coast lies NE.
and SW., and about the 40th degree he saw two mountains covered with snow,
and between them a large cape, which, in honor of the viceroy, he called Men-
do.ciua. The headland, therefore, according to Venegas, was christened three
hundred and eighteen years ago. Cabrillo continued his voyage to the north in
midwinter, and reached the 44th degree of latitude on the 10th of March, 1543.
From this point he was compelled by want of provisions and the bad condition
of his ehips to return, and on the 14th of April he entered the harbor of Nativi-
dad, from which he had sailed.
In 1578, at midsummer, Sir Francis Drake landed upon this coast, only a
few miles northward from this Bay of San Francisco, at a bay which still
bears his name. Sir Walter Raleigh had not yet sailed on his first voyage to Vir-
ginia. It will be interesting to know how things looked in this country at that
time. After telling us how the natives mistook them for gods, and worshipped
them, and offered sacrifices to them, much against their will, and how he took
possession of the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth, the narrative goes
on : " Our necessaire business being ended, our General with his companie trav-
ailed up into the countrey to their villiages, where we found heardes of deere by
1,000 in a companie, being most large and fat of bodie. We found the whole
countrey to be a warren of a strange kinde of connies, their bodies in bigness as
be the Barbaric connies, their heads as the heads of ours, the feet of a Want,
(mole,) and the taile of a rat, being of great length ; under her chinne on either
side a bagge, into the which she gathered her meate, when she hath filled her
bellie abroad. The people do eat their bodies and make great accompt of their
skinnes, for their king's coat was made out of. them. Our General called this
countrey Nova Albion, and that for two causes : the one in respect of the white
bankes and cliffes which lie toward the sea ; and the other because it might
have some affinitie with our countrey in name, which sometime was so called.
" There is no part of earth here to be taken up, wherein there is not a reason-
able quantitie of gold or silver"
. Every one will at once recognize the burrowing squirrel that still survives to
plague the farmer, and who it will be seen is a very ancient inhabitant of the
fields he molests ; and no one but will dwell upon the words in which he speaks
of the gold and silver abounding in this country. Were they but a happy guess
in a gold-mad age, a miracle of sagacity, or a veritable prophecy ? Before he
sailed away, "our General set up a monument of our being there, as also of her
Majestie's right and title to the same, viz : a plate nailed upon a faire great
poste, whereupon was engraven her Majestie's name, the day and yare of our
arrival there, with the free giving up of the province and people into her Majes-
tic's hands, together ivith her highness' picture and arms, in a piece offivepence
of current English money under the plate, w her eunder was also written the name
of our General."
These mementoes of his visit and the first recorded landing of the white man
upon our shores, I think have never fallen into the possession of any antiquary.
And it would also appear that Sir Francis Drake knew nothing of Cabrillo's
voyage, for he says: "It seemeth that the Spaniards hitherto had never been
in this part of the country, neither did discover the lande by many degrees to
the southward of this place."
There were other expeditions to Lower California and the western coast, after
the time of Cortez and Cabrillo, but they all proved fruitless until the Count de
Monterey, viceroy of New Spain, by order of the King, sent out Sebastian
Viscayno. He sailed from Acapulco on the 5th day of May, 1602, with two
272 KESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
large vessels and a tender, as captain-general of the voyage, with Toribio
Gomez, a consummate seaman, who had served many years in cruising his
Majesty's ships, as admiral ; and three barefooted Carmelites, Father Andrew
de la Assumpcion, Father Antonio de la Ascension, and Father Tomas de
Aguino, also accompanied him. And that Viscayno might not lack for coun-
sellors the viceroy appointed Captain Alonzo Estevan Pegnero, a person of
great valor and long experience, who had,, served in Flanders; and Captain
Gas par de Alorcon, a native of Bretagne, distinguished for his prudence and
courage; and for sea affairs, he appointed pilots and masters of ships ; likewise
Captain Geronimo Martin, who went as cosmographer, in order to make draughts
of the countries discovered, for the greater perspicuity of the account intended
to be transmitted to his Majesty, of the diseoveriesca.n.d transactions on this
voyage. The ships were further supplied with a suitable number of soldiers
and seamen, and well provided with all necessaries for a year. This expedition
was therefore, in every respect, a notable one for the age. Its object, the King
of Spain himself informs us, was to find a port where the ships coming from the
Philippine islands to Acapulco, a trade which had then been established some
thirty years, might put in and provide themselves with water, wood, masts, and
other things of absolute necessity. The galleons from Manila had all this time
been running down this coast before the northwest wind, and were even
accustomed, as some say, to make the land as far to the north as Cape Mendo-
cino, which Cabrillo had named. Sebastian Viscayno with his fleet struggled
up against the same northwest wind. On the 10th of November, 1602, he
entered San Diego and found, on its northwest side, a forest of oaks and other
trees, of considerable extent, of which I do not know that there are any traces
now or even a tradition. In Lower California he landed frequently, and made
an accurate survey of the coast, and to one bay gave the capricious appellation
of the ' Bay of eleven thousand Virgins.' Above San Diego he kept further
from the shore, noting the most conspicuous landmarks. But he came through
the canal of J3anta Barbara, which I suppose he so named, and, when at anchor
under one of the islands, was visited by the king of that country, who carne
with a fleet of boats and earnestly pressed him to land, offering as proof of his
hospitable intentions to furnish every one of his seamen with ten wives. Finally
he anchored in the bay of Monterey on the 16th of December, 1602 — this was
more than four years before the English landed at Jamestown. The name of
Monterey was given to this port in honor of the viceroy. On the 17th day of
December, 1602, a church, tent or arbor, was erected under a large oak close
to the seaside, and Fathers Andrew de la Assumpcion and Antonio de la
Ascension said Mass, and so continued to do whilst the expedition remained
there. Yet this was not the first Christian worship on these shores, for
Drake had- worshipped according to a Protestant ritual at the place where he
landed twenty-five years before. The port of Monterey, as it appeared to those
weary voyagers, and they were in a miserable plight from the affliction of scurvy,
seems to have been very pleasing. It is described in the narrative of Father
Andrew as an excellent harbor, and secure against all winds. " Near the shore
are an infinite number of very large pines, straight and smooth, fit for masts and
yards, likewise oaks of a prodigious size for building ships. Here likewise are
rose trees, white thorns, firs, willows, and poplars ; large clear lakes, fine pas-
tures and arable lands," &c., &c. A traveller of this day, perhaps, might not-
color the picture so highly. Viscayno sent back one of his ships with the news,
and with the sick, and with the other left Monterey on the 3d of January, 1603,
and it was never visited more for a hundred and sixty-six years. On the 12th,
having a fair wind, we are told that he passed the port of San Francisco, and
that losing sight of his other vessel he returned to the port of San Francisco to
wait for her. Father Andrew de la Assumpcion (as reported in Father Venegas)
on this interesting point uses the following language : " Another reason which
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 273
induced the Capitania (flag-ship) to put into Puerto Francisco was to take a
survey of it and see if anything was to be found of the San Angustin, which, in
the year 1595, had, by order of his Majesty and the Viceroy, been sent from the
Philippines to survey the coast of California, under the direction of Sebastian
Rodriguez Cermenon, a pilot of known abilities, but was driven ashore in this
harbor by the violence of the wind. And among others on board the San Au-
gustin was the pilot Francisco Volanos, who was also chief pilot of this squad-
ron. He was acquainted with the country, and affirmed that they had left ashore
a great quantity of wax and several chests of silk ; and the general was desirous
of putting in here to see if there remained any vestiges of the ship and cargo.
The Capitania came to anchor behind a point of land called La Punta de los
Reyes."
Did Vizcayno enter the Bay of San Francisco ? I think it plain that he did
not. Yet exceedingly curious and interesting it is to reflect that he was but a
little way outside the heads, and that the indentation of the coast which opens
into the bay of San Francisco was known to him from the report of the pilots
of the ships from the Philippines, and by the same name. In the narratives of
the explorers the reader is often puzzled by finding that objects upon the shore
are spoken of as already known, as for example in this voyage of Vizcayno the
highlands a little south of Monterey are mentioned by the name of the Sierra
de Santa Lucia, so named at some previous time : the explanation follows in the
same sentence where they are said to be a usual land-mark for the China ships —
i. e., undoubtedly the galleons from the Philippines. Vizcayno could reach no
further north than Cape Mendocino, in which neighborhood he found himself
with only six men able to keep the deck ; his other vessel penetrated as far as
the forty-third degree ; and then both returned to Acapulco. In those days
there was a fabulous story very prevalent of a channel somewhere to the north
of us which connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and it seems that some
foreigner had actually presented to the King of Spain a history of a voyage he
had made directly across from Newfoundland to the Pacific ocean by the
straits of Anian. The King is said to have had an eye to the discovery of this
desirable canal at the same time that he was making provision for his trade from
the Western Islands.
In 1697 the Jesuits, with patient art and devoted zeal, accomplished that
which had defied the energy of Cortez and baffled the efforts of the Spanish
monarchy for generations afterwards. They possessed themselves of Lower
California, and occupied the greater portion of that peninsula, repulsive as it
was, with their missions. In 1742, Anson, the English commodore, cruising off
the western coast of Mexico, watched for the Spanish galleon which still plied
an annual trip between Acapulco and Manila. This galleon was half man-of-
war, half merchantman, was armed, manned, and officered by the King, but
sailed on account of various houses of the Jesuits in the Philippines, who owned
her tonnage in shares of a certain number of bales each, and enjoyed the mo*
nopoly of this trade by royal grant. She exchanged dollars from the Mexican
mines for the productions of the east, and we read that at that day the manufac-
turers of Valencia and Cadiz, in Spain, clamored for protection against the silks
and cotton cloths of India and China thus imported — by this sluggish craft which
crept lazily through the tropics, relied upon rain to replenish the water jars on
deck, and was commonly weakened by scurvy and required about six months
for the return voyage — into Acapulco, thence transported on mules to Vera
Cruz, and thence again after another tedious voyage to Europe. Anson watched
in vain ; the prudent galleon thought it best to remain under the shelter of the
guns of Acapulco, in the presence of so dangerous a neighbor. He sailed away
to the west, stopped and refreshed his crew at a romantic island in the middle
of the Pacific ocean, went over to Macao and there refitted, and then captured
the galleon at last, with a million and a half of dollars on board, as she was
H. Ex. Doc. 29 18
274 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
going into Manilla, after a desperate combat with his ship, the Centurion. He
then returned to China, extinguishing a great fire in Canton with his crew, sold
the galleon in Macao, and got back safe to England with his treasure. His
chaplain, Mr. Richard Walter, the author of the admirable narrative of this cele-
brated voyage, goes on, after relating the capture, to say : " I shall only add,
that there were taken on board the galleon several draughts and journals. *
* * Among the rest there was found a chart of all the ocean, between the
Philippines and the coast of Mexico, which was that made use of by the galleon
in her own navigation. A copy of this draught, corrected in some places by
our own observations, is here annexed, together with the route of the galleon
traced thereon from her own journals, and likewise the route of the Centurion
from Acapulco through the same ocean."
Here we may look for information. We have at least one log-book and chart
of the old Manilla galleons. What if we could have access to the books of
account of those venerable old traders in their monasteries at Manilla ! Examin-
ing this chart we find that the coast of California, from a little further north than
Punta de los Reyes, is laid down with remarkable accuracy. We have a great
indentation of the coast immediately below Punta de los Reyes, a large land-
locked bay with a narrow entrance, immediately off which lie seven little black
spots called Los Farallones — in short, a bay at San Francisco, but without a
name. The Farallones, I think, were named by Cabrillo, in 1542, two hundred
years before Anson's time. Was this our port of San Francisco as we know it,
or that which Vizcayno entered when he anchored on the 12th of January,
1603, under a point of land called La Punta de los Reyes ? Lower down we
have Point Afio Nuevo and Point Pinos, and a bay between, but not the name
of Monterey, then a great many islands, then Point Conception, then San Pedro,
and then the Port of San Diego, and Lower California to Cape San Lucas. The
outward track of the galleon lies between 12 and 15 degrees north, and on her
return she goes up as high as about 35 degrees, and there being off Point Con-
ception, but a long way out to sea, she turns to the south and runs down the
coast to Cape San Lucas, where the Jesuit fathers kept signal fires burning on
the mountains to guide her into port, and expected her return with the fruits
and fresh provisions which the exhausted mariners so much needed. Such was
the strange precursor of the steamship and clipper on the waters of the Pacific,
and the first great carrier of the commerce between its opposite shores ! You
will observe how nature brings this commerce to our doors. The outward run
of the galleon so near the equator was to take the eastern trade-winds, which
wafted her without the necessity of changing a sail directly to the Philippines ;
China and the Indies — and her returning course was to avoid these trade- winds
and to catch the breezes which to the north blow from the west. And this
great circle of the winds touches our shores at the Bay of San Francisco. This
chart was drawn for the use of the Spanish generals, (for such was the title and
rank of the commanders of the Spanish galleons,) and " contained all the dis-
coveries which the Manilla ships have at any time made in traversing this vast
ocean."
It was these discoveries that gave names to so many points upon our coast
undoubtedly, and prompted so many explorers, after Cabrillo, and both before
and after Yizcayno. Knowing so much, the wonder is that these navigators
did not know more. They named, and noted on their chart, yet did not know
our Bay of San Francisco. Yearly for centuries they coasted by. A priest or
soldier standing upon the deck of this old-timed ship, might gaze upon a glori-
ous land that overhung the western sea ; with hills on hills a swelling pile,
glowing in sunsets that had gilded them through countless ages. But, save in
the casual visits of the earliest navigators, we know not that foot of white man
yet had pressed the soil of California. The world was busy in commerce and
Hi war. But the breeze still rufiled the vacant waters, dimpled the idle grass,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 275
and fanned the sultry sides of the solitary mountains of California. These
slopes and plains pastured but the deer and elk. A despicable type of man, in
petty groups, wandered through these valleys, of which the bear was more the
lord than he. No other human tenant occupied the most delightful of the habi-
tations of man, nor had from the creation down.
The Spaniards were at best but feeble navigators. Witness the galleons
making a tedious progress in the latitude of calms. Anson says that the in-
structions to their commanders were, in his day, to keep within the latitude of
30 degrees, if possible, as if they feared to encounter the stiffer breezes further
north, an instruction, however, not always followed, as their chart demonstrates.
To vessels such as then were built or to be found in Mexican or South Ameri-
can ports the daily winds from the northwest, which in summer roughen the
sea all along the coast to Cape San Lucas, were gales against which it was
dangerous and almost hopeless to attempt to make head. This labor had not
diminished from the days of Cabrillo and Vizcayno. These most beneficent
northwest trade-winds cut off California from Spanish America by sea. By
land the desert tracts of the Gila and Upper California, both unexplored,
barred the approach from the south; and to the east the human imagination
had not yet traversed the interval from the Atlantic ocean. In 1769 the
history of mankind may be said to have begun upon this coast. In this wise
it begun.
Charles the Fifth, on the 17th day of November, 1526, addressed these
words to his Indies :
" The kings, our progenitors, from the discovery of the West Indies, its
islands and continents, commanded our captains, officers, discoverers, colonizers,
and all other persons, that, on arriving at those provinces, they should, by
means of interpreters, cause to be made known to the Indians that they were
sent to teach them good customs, to lead them from vicious habits and the
eating of human flesh, to instruct them in our holy Catholic faith, to preach to
them salvation, and to attract them to our dominions."
The same spirit breathes through every part of the laws of the Indies, as
they were issued for successive centuries, which may be seen by reference to
the code in which they are compiled.
The ministers who executed these pious purposes of the king were mainly
the soldiers of the cross. Christian priests converted our savage ancestors in
the forests of the north of Europe, and laid the foundations of the great re-
public of European states, of which the cement is modern civilization.
Christian priests endeavored to repeat that grand achievement in America. A
sublime contemplation ! They interposed the cross and staid the descending
sword and the still swifter destruction of private greed. Their powerful pro-
tector was the King of Spain, when both continents were almost entirely Span-
ish. Their dusky converts who acknowledged the dominion of Christ were
saved as subjects of the king, were admitted to civil rights, and mingled their
blood with that of the descendants of the Visigoths. In the lineaments and
complexion of the Spanish American we still behold the native Indian whom
the church preserved. Exalted charity ! at least in motive ; and although the
teacher could riot foresee that the same lesson would not effect the same re-
sult in pupils so diverse, it was not their fault that they did not raise the
crouching Indian to the level of the conquering German.
In 1767 the Jesuits being banished from the Spanish dominions, Lower Cali-
fornia was transferred to the charge of another celebrated order, the Francis-
cans. Into this field, when it had been wrested from the Society of Jesus, the
Franciscans were led by one who was born in an island of the Medi-
terranean, the son of humble laborers. From his infancy Father Junipero Serra
was reared for the church. He had already greatly distinguished himself in the
conversion and civilization of heathen savages in other parts of Mexico ; and
276 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
afterwards had preached revivals of the faith in Christian places, illustrating1,
as we are told, the strength of his convictions and the fervor of his zeal by
demonstrations which would startle us now coming from the pulpit — such as
burning his flesh with the blaze of a candle, beating himself with a chain, and
bruising his breast with a stone which he carried in his hand. Further, this
devout man was lame from an incurable sore on his leg, contracted soon after
his landing in Mexico ; but he usually travelled on foot none the less. You have
before you the first great pioneer of California ! His energies were not destined
to be wasted in the care of missions which others had founded. He entered
immediately upon the spiritual conquest of the regions of the north. Josef de
Galvez, then visitor general, a very high officer, (representing the person of the
king in the inspection of the working of every part of the government of the
province to which he was sent,) and who afterwards held the still more exalted
position of minister general for all the Indies, arrived at this time in Lower
California, bringing a royal order to despatch an expedition by sea to re-discover
and people the Port of Monterey, or at least that of San Dieogo. Father Ju-
nipero entered with enthusiasm into his plans, and after consulting with him
and learning the condition of the missions and the latitude of the most northern,
Galvez, the better to fulfil the wishes of his majesty, determined, besides the
expedition by sea, to send another which should go in search of San Diego by
land, at which point the two expeditions should meet and make an establish-
ment. And he further resolved to found three missions, one at San Diego, one
at Monterey, and another mid-way between these, at San Buena Ventura. A
fleet, consisting of two small vessels, at this time came over to Lower California
from £an Bias; the San Carlos and the San Antonio, otherwise the Principe.
Of these the San Carlos was the capitania or flag-ship. Galvez, a really great
man, labored with great diligence and good nature to get them ready for sea;
with his own hands assisting the workmen, such as there were to be found in
that remote corner of the world, in careening the vessels, and the fathers in
boxing up the ornaments, sacred vases, and other utensils of the church and
vestry, and boasting in a letter that he was a better sacristan than Father
Junipero, because he had put up the ornaments, &c., for his mission, as he called
that of San Buena Ventura, before that servant of God had those for his of San
Carlos, and had to go and help him. Also, that the new missions might be
established in the same manner with > those of Sierra Gorda, where Father Ju-
nipero had formerly labored, and with which he was much pleased. Galvez
ordered to be boxed up and embarked all kinds of household and field utensils,
with the necessary iron-work for cultivating the lands, and every species of
seeds, as well those of old as of new Spain, without forgetting the very least,
such as garden-herbs, flowers, and flax, the land being, he said, in his opinion,
fertile for everything, as it was in the same latitude with Spain. For the same
purpose, he determined that from the furthest north of the old missions the
land expedition should carry two hundred head of cows, bulls, and oxen, to
stock that new country with large cattle, in order to cultivate the whole of it,
and that in proper time there should be no want of something to .eat.
Father Junipero blessed the vessels and the flags, Galvez made an impressive
harangue, the expedition embarked, and the San Carlos sailed from La Paz, in
Lower California, on the 9th day of January, 1769. The whole enterprise was
commended to the patronage of the Most Holy Patriarch St. Joseph. On the
San Carlos sailed Don Vicente Villa, commander of the maritime expedition ;
Don Pedro Fages, a lieutenant commanding a company of twenty-five soldiers
of the Catalonian volunteers ; the engineer, Don Miguel Constanzo ; likewise
Dr. Pedro Pratt, a surgeon of the royal navy, and all the necessary crew and
officers. With them for their consolation went the Father Friar Fernando Par-
ron. Galvez, in a small vessel, accompanied the San Carlos as far as Cape San
Lucas, and saw her put to sea with a fair wind on the llth day of January,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 277
1769. The San Antonio, the other vessel, went to Cape San Lucas, and Galvez
set to work with the same energy and heartiness to get her ready. She sailed
on the 15th day of February, 1769. The captain of the San Antonio was Don
Juan Perez, a native of Majorca, and a distinguished pilot of the Philippine
trade. With him sailed two priests, Fathers Juan Vizcayno and Francisco
Gomez. The archives of this State contain a paper of these times which cannot
but be read with interest. It is the copy of the receipt of the commander, Vin-
cente Villa, containing a list of all the persons on board the San Carlos, and an
inventory of eight months' provisions. It reads thus :
OFFICERS AND CREW, SOLDIERS, ETC., OP THE SAN CARLOS.
«
The two army officers, the father missionary, the captain, pilot, and
surgeon 6 persons.
The company of soldiers, being the surgeon, corporal, and twenty-
three men 25 persons.
The officers of the ship and crew, including two pages, (cabin boys
doubtless) 25 persons.
The baker and two blacksmiths 3 persons.
The cook and two tortilla makers 3 persons.
•
Total , 62 persons.
Dried meat, 187 arrobas, (25 pounds,) 6 libras; fish, 77 arrobas, 8 libras ;
crackers, (common,) 267 arrobas, 3 libras ; crackers, (white,) 47 arrobas, 7 libras ;
Indian corn, 760 fanegas; rice, 37 arrobas, 20 libras ; peas, 37 arrobas, 20 libras ;
lard, 20 arrobas; vinegar, 7 tinajas, (jars;) salt, 8 fanegas ; panocha, (domestic
sugar,) 43 arrobas, 8 libras ; cheese, 78 arrobas ; brandy, 5 tinajas ; wine, 6 tin-
ajas ; figs, 6 tinajas ; raisins, 3 tinajas; dates, 2 tinajas ; sugar, 5 arrobas ; choco-
late, 77 arrobas; hams, 70 arrobas; oil, (table,) 6 tinajas ; oil, (fish,) 5 tinajas;
red pepper, 12 libras ; black pepper, 7 libras ; cinnamon, 7 libras ; garlic, 5
libras ; 25 smoked beef tongues ; 6 live cattle ; 70 tierces of flour, each of 25
arrobas, 20 libras ; 15 sacks of bran ; lentiles, 23 arrobas ; beans, 19 arrobas,
20 libras ; one thousand dollars in reals (coin) for any unexpected emergency.
Besides 32 arrobas of panocha (domestic sugars,) 20 for the two missions of San
Diego and Monterey, one half to each, and the remaining 12 arrobas for the grat-
ification of the Indians, and to barter with them. 16 sacks of charcoal ; 1 box
of tallow candles of 4J arrobas ; 1 pair of 16-pound scales ; 2 pounds of lamp
wick.
The original of this simple and homely document, but which enables us to
realize so clearly these obscure transactions, yet so full of interest for us, was
given unquestionably to Galvez, and this copy we may presume brought to
to California on this first voyage of the Santa Carlos to serve as her mani-
fest. It is dated the 5th of January, 1 769. Of the same date we have the
instructions of Galvez to Villa and Fages, addressed to each of them sepa-
rately— that is, the original is given to Villa under the signature of Galvez
and a copy to Fages. They are long and minute. The first article declares
that the first object of the expedition is to establish the " Catholic religion
among a numerous heathen people, submerged in the obscure darkness of pagan-
ism, to extend the dominion of the King our lord, and to protect this peninsula^
from the ambitious views of foreign nations." He also recites that this project
had been entertained since 1606, when it was ordered to be executed by Philip
III, referring to orders which were issued by that monarch in consequence of
the report made by Vizcayno, but which were never carried into effect. He
enjoins that no labor or fatigue be spared now for the accomplishment of such
just and holy ends. San Diego, he says, will be found in latitude 33 degrees,
278 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
as set forth in the royal cedula of 1606, (one hundred and sixty-three years
before,) and that it cannot fail to be recognized from the landmarks mentioned
by Vizcayno. At the conclusion in his own handwriting we have the follow-
ing:
"NoTE. — That to the fort or presidio that may be constructed, and to the
pueblo (village) of the mission which may be established at Monterey, there
shall be given the glorious name of San Carlos de Monterey. — JOSEPH DB
GALVEZ," (with his rubric.)
When the San Antonio sailed she seems to have carried a letter from Galvez
to Pedro Fages, who had gone in advance on the San Carlos, for we have it now
in the archives. It is dated cape San Lucas, February 14, 1769. The body
of the letter is in substance : That the San Antonio arrived at the bay (Sari
Lucas) on the twenty -fifth of last month, (January ;) that she was discharged
and cleared of barnacles ; that he examined the vessel with his own eyes, and
found the keel thereof as sound as when it was placed in the vessel ; that the
necessary repairs had been made, and her cargo again placed on board, and that
to-morrow, if the weather permit, she will sail, and that he trusts in Providence
she will come safely into Monterey and find him (Fages) already in possession
of the country.
So far it is in the handwriting of a clerk. He then adds a postscript with his
own hand, addressed as well to Father Parron and the Engineer Constanzo as
to Fages. I read it, for it is pleasant to have, as it were, a personal acquaint-
ance with the eminent personage who directed the foundation of Upper Cali-
fornia, and to find him a gentleman of such manifest abilities, generous temper,
and enthusiasm :
"Mv FRIENDS : It appears that the Lord, to my confusion, desires infinitely
to reward the only virtue I possess, which is my constant faith, for everything
here goes on prosperously, even to the mines abounding in metals. Many peo-
ple are collecting, with abundance of provisions.
" I hope you will sing the Te Detim in Monterey, and in order that we may
repeat it here, you will not withhold the notice of the same an instant longer than
is necessary.
4 ' This is also for the Reverend Father Parron.
" JOSEF DE GALVEZ," (Rubrica.)
Just as active was he in getting off the land expedition. The chief command
was given to Don Gaspar de Portala, captain of dragoons, and then governor of
Lower California ; the second rank to Don Fernando Rivera y Moncada, captain
of a company of foot soldiers who carried leathern bucklers. And in imitation
of Jacob, Galvez, in view of the dangers of the route through savages and an
unknown country, divided the force into two parts, to save one if the other was
lost. Rivera was to lead the first and the governor to follow after. Rivera sets
out towards the north as early as September, 1768, collecting mules and mule-
teers, horses, dried meat, grain, flour, biscuits, &c , among the missions; en-
camps on the verge of the unexplored regions, and sends word to the visitor
general that he will be ready to start for San Diego in all of March. Father
Juan Crespi there joins him, and on the 24th day of March, which was Good
Friday, he begins the journey. This party consisted of the Captain Rivera,
Father Crespi, a pilot who went to keep a diary, twenty-five foot soldiers with
leathern bucklers, three muleteers, and a band of Christian Indians of Lower
California, to serve as pioneers, assistants to the muleteers, and for anything else
that might be necessary, and who carried bows and arrows. They spent fifty-
two days in the journey, and on the 14th day of May arrived, without accident,
at San Diego. Father Junipero Serra, president of the missions of Lower Cal-
ifornia, and of those that were to be founded, marched with Portala. The sea-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 279
son of lent, the dispositions to be made for the regulation of the missions during
his absence, and the preparations for the expedition in its spiritual part, detained
him, so that it was May before he joined Portalaat the same encampment from
which Rivera had set out. The reverend father president came up in very bad
condition. He was travelling with an escort of two soldiers, and hardly able
to get on or off his mule. His foot and leg were greatly inflamed, and the more
that he always wore sandals, and never used boots, shoes, or stockings. His
priests and the governor tried to dissuade him from the undertaking, but he said
he would rather die on the road, yet he had faith that the Lord would carry
him safely through. A letter was even sent to Gralvez, but he was a kindred
spirit, and agreed with Father Junipero, who, however, was far into the wilder-
ness before the answer was received. On the second day out, his pain was so
great that he could neither sit nor stand, nor sleep, and Portala, being still
unable to induce him to return, gave orders for a litter to be made. Hearing this,
Father Junipero was greatly distressed on the score of the Indians, who would
have to carry him. He prayed fervently, and then a happy thought occurred
to him. He called one of the muleteers and addressed him, so runs the story,
in these words : " Son, don't you know some remedy for the sore on my foot
and leg ? " But the muleteer answered, " Father, what remedy can I know ?
Am I a surgeon ? I am a muleteeer, and have only cured the sore backs of
beasts." " Then consider me a beast," said the father, " and this sore which
has produced this swelling of my legs, and the grievous pains I am suffering,
and that neither let me stand nor sleep, to be a sore back, and give me the same
treatment you would apply to a beast." The muleteer, smiling, as did all the
rest who heard him, answered, " I will, father, to please you ; " and taking a
small piece of tallow, mashed it between two stones, mixing with it herbs,
which he found growing close by, and having heated it over the fire, annointed
the foot and leg, leaving a plaster of it on the sore. God wrought in such a
manner — for so wrote Father Junipero himself from San Diego — that he slept
all that night until daybreak, and awoke so much relieved from his pains that
he got up and said matins and prime, and afterwards Mass, as if he had never
suffered such an accident ; and to the astonishment of the governor and the
troop at seeing the father in such health and spirits for the journey, which was
not delayed a moment on his account. Such a man was Father Junipero Serra ;
and so he journeyed when he went to conquer California. On the first of July,
1769, they reached San Diego, all well, in forty-six days after leaving the
frontier. When they came in sight of the port the troops began firing for joy ;
those already there replied in the same manner. The vessels at anchor joined
in the salute, and so they kept up the firing, until, all having arrived, they fell
to embracing one another, and to mutual congratulations at finding all the ex-
peditions united and already at their longed-for destination. Here, then, we
have the officers and priests, soldiers and sailors, and laborers, mules, oxen and
cows, seeds, tools, implements of husbandry, and vases, ornaments, and utensils
for the church, gotten together to begin the work of settlement, conversion, and
civilization on the soil of California. The first day of July, ninety-one years
ago, is the first day of California. The year 1769 is our era. The obscure
events that I have noticed must yet by us be classed among its greatest occur-
rences, although it saw the birth of Napoleon and Wellington.
The number of souls then at San Diego should have been about two hundred
and fifty, but the San Carlos had had a very hard time at sea, not reaching
San Diego (which place she found with difficulty) until twenty days after the
arrival of the San Antonio, which sailed five weeks later. She had, of the
crew, but one sailor and the cook left alive ; all the rest had died of scurvy.
The first thin£ to be done was to found a mission and to look for Monterey,
which from Vizcayno's time had been lost to the world. For founding a mis-
sion this was the proceeding :
280 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES,
Formal possession of the designated spot was taken in the name of Spain.
A tent or arbor, or whatever construction was most practicable, was erected to
serve as a temporary church, and adorned as well as circumstances would per-
mit ; a father in his robes blessed the place and the chapel, sprinkling them
with water, which also he had first blessed for the occasion, and immediately
the holy cross, having first been adored by all, was mounted on a staff and
planted in front of the chapel. A saint was named as a patron of the mission,
and a father appointed as its minister. Mass was said and a fervent discourse
concerning the coming of the Holy Ghost delivered. That service, celebrated
with such candles or other lights as they might have, being over, the Veni
Creator Spiritus — an invocation to the Holy Ghost — was sung, whilst the con-
tinual firing of the soldiers during the ceremony supplied the place of an organ,
and the smoke of the gunpowder that of incense, if it was wanting.
The mission being founded, the next thing was to attract the Indians. This
was done in the simplest manner, by presents of food and cloth to the older ones,
and bits of sugar to the young ones. When they had learned enough of their
language to communicate with them, they taught them the mysteries of the faith,
and when they were able to say a few prayers and make in some sort a confes-
sion of faith, they were baptised and received into the fold of the Church. At
the same time they were drawn from a wandering life, collected in villages around
the mission Church, and instructed in the habits and arts of civilized life. To
keep them in the practice of their lessons, spiritual and secular, the father in
charge of the mission had over them the control of a master, and for them the
affection of a parent, and was supported in his authority by the soldiers at the
presidios, or an escort stationed at the mission itself.
This was the mode of accomplishing what Galvez in his instructions declared
to be the first object of the enterprise. And in this manner Father Junipero
begun the work at San Diego on the 16th day of July. An untoward incident
of a very unusual nature in California attended this first essay. The Indians,
not being permitted to steal all the cloth they coveted, surprised the mission
when only four soldiers, the carpenter, and blacksmith were present, and Father
Junipero would have been murdered then at the outset, but for the muskets,
leathern jackets, and bucklers, and mainly the valor of the blacksmith. This
man had just come from the communion, to which circumstance the fathers at-
tributed his heroism, and although he wore no defensive armor of skins, he
rushed out shouting vivas for the faith of Jesus Christ and death to the dogs,
its enemies, at the same time firing away at the savages.
On the 14th day of July the Governor Portala and a servant ; Father Juan
Crespi and Francisco Gomez ; Captain Fernando Rivera y Moncada, the second
in command, with a sergeant and twenty-six soldiers of the leathern jackets ;
Lieutenant Pedro Fages and seven of his soldiers — the rest had died on the San
Carlos or were left sick at San Diego ; Don Miguel Constauzo, the engineer ;
seven muleteers, and fifteen Christian Indians, sixty five persons in all, with a
pack train carrying a large supply of provisions, set out to rediscover Monterey.
The mortality on board the San Carlos prevented any attempt at that time by
sea ; that vessel having to be laid up at San Diego, whilst all the efficient men
were transferred to the San Antonio, which was sent back with the news and
for reinforcements, and lost nine men before reaching San Bias, although she
made the voyage in twenty days. Such was navigation on this coast at that
time. Portala returned to San Diego on the 24th of June, six months and ten
days after his departure. He had been at the port of Monterey, stopped there
and set up a cross without recognizing the place. Father Crespi, who kept the
diary, said he supposed the bay had been filled up, as they found a great many
large sand-hills. This disappointment caused Portala to keep on further towards
the north, and at forty leagues distant in that direction they discovered the port
of San Francisco, which they recognized at once by the description they had of
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 281
it. The fathers considered this circumstance as providential. They remem-
bered that when Galvez was instructing Father Juuiperoby what names to call
the three missions he was to found, the father had asked him : "But, sir, is there
to be no mission for our father, St. Francis?" and that the visitor general had
replied : "If St. Francis wants a mission, let him show us his port, and we will
put one there." And in view of the discovery, they thought that it was now
clear that St. Francis did want a mission, and had concealed Monterey from
them purposely that they might go and find his port ; and Galvez to some extent
may have been of the same opinion, as they say, for he ordered a mission to be
founded there, and a presidio also, as soon as he received the news. However
this may be, a question of more historical interest, or curiosity, at least, is whether,
notwithstanding that Portala kneiv the port from description as soon as he saw-
it, any other white man had ever seen it before. His latest guide was the voy-
age of Vizcayno, who had entered the port of San Francisco on the 12th of
January 1603, and anchored under a point of land called Punta de Los Reyes,
namely, in the bight outside the heads and north of Point Bonita.
In the port of San Francisco, as known to Vizcayno, the Manilla galleon San
Augustine had been wrecked a few years before. Did a galleon ever enter our
bay ? Vizcayno was searching for a port to shelter the Manilla trade ; if he had
seen our harbor would he have ever thought of recommending Monterey 1 He
was doubtless following the pilot who gave the information of the loss of the
San Augustine ; if that pilot had seen this port would not the specific object of
Vizcayno have been to find it again, and not generally to explore the coast to
look for a good harbor? Had anything been known of it, would it not have
been mentioned by Galvez in his first instructions to Villa, in which he is so
earnest on the subject of Monterey? Would he have waited for this news to
have given the urgent orders that he did, that this important place should be
taken possession of immediately, for fear that it might fall into the hands of
foreigners ? It seems to me certain that Portala was the discoverer. And I
regard it as one of the most remarkable facts in history, that others had passed
it, anchored near it and actually given its name to adjacent roadsteads, and so
described its position that it was immediately known ; and yet that the cloud
had never been lifted which concealed the entrance of the bay of San Francisco,
and that it was at last discovered by land.
Although Portala reported that he could not find the port of Monterey, it was
suspected at the time that he had been there. Father Junipero writes that such
was his opinion and that of Don Vicente Villa, of the San Carlos. In the same
letter he mentions another matter, and one which disturbed him greatly. The
Governor Portala, finding his provisions very short, determined if a vessel did
not arrive with relief, to abandon the mission on the 20th of March.
But California was saved at the last moment. The San Antonio came in on
the 19th and brought such a quantity of provisions that Portala set out again
by land, and Father Junipero himself embarked on the San Antonio, which
had proved herself a good sailer and well commanded, and anchored in the bay
of Monterey, namely, on the 31st day of May, 1770, and found that the expe-
dition by land had arrived eight days before ; and we thus see that the journey
from San Diego at that time was made quicker by land than by water. Father
Juuipero writes that he found the lovely port of Monterey the same and un-
changed in substance and in circumstance as the expedition of Sebastian Viz-
cayno left it in 1S03 ; and that all the officers of sea and land, and all then-
people assembled in the same glen and under the same oak where the Fathers
of Vizcayno's expedition had worshipped, and there arranged their altar, hung
up and rung their bells, sung the Vcni Creator, blessed the holy water, set
up and blessed the cross and the royal standards, concluding with a Te Deum.
And there flie name of Christ was again spoken for the first time after an
interval of more than one hundred and sixty-seven years of silence. After
282 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
the religious ceremonies were over, the officers went through the act of taking
possession of the country " in the name of our lord the King."
When this news was received at the city of Mexico it created a profound
impression. At the request of the Viceroy the bells of the cathedral were rung,
and those of all the other churches answered ; people ran about the streets to
tell one another the story, and all the distinguished persons at the capital waited
upon the Viceroy, who, in company with Gralvez, received their congratulations
at the palace ; and that not only the inhabitants of the city of Mexico, but also
those of all New Spain might participate in the general joy, the Viceroy caused
a narrative of the great achievement to be printed ; and which, indeed, was cir-
culated throughout old as well as New Spain. It commences by referring to
the costly and repeated expeditions which were made by the Crown of Spain
during the two preceding centuries to explore the western coast of California
and to occupy the important port of Monterey, which now, it says, has been
most happily accomplished; and it is jubilant throughout. Nothing of this sort
occurred when they heard a short time before of the discovery of the Bay of
San Francisco ; and in this authoritative relation it is not even mentioned.
Governor Portala, with the engineer Constanzo, very soon returned to Mexico
in the good ship San Antonio, and carried themselves the tidings of their suc-
cess. We may imagine what a description they gave when we remember that
they left San Diego about the middle of April, and that" at that season
the country through which they passed to Monterey -was mottled all over
with the brightest and most varied colors. They were the first to behold
a California spring in all its boundless profusion of flowers. When they
were gone there remained only Father Junipero Serra and five priests,
and the Lieutenant Pedro Fages and thirty soldiers in all California ; for the
captain, Rivera y Moncada, with nineteen soldiers, the muleteers and vaqueros,
was at this time absent too, in Lower California, whither he had gone to bring
up a band of two hundred cattle and provisions. It is impossible to imagine
anything more lonely and secluded than their situation here, at the time the
bells were ringing so joyfully in Mexico on their account. Very soon, how-
ever, they began to get on good terms with the Indians, for Father Junipero
wa3 not a man to lose any time in beginning his work. And when they came
to understand one another, the Indians there, under the pines, told them awful
tales about the cross which Portala had set up the year before when he stopped
at Monterey without knowing the place ; how when they first saw the whites
they noticed that each one carried a shining cross upon his breast ; and how
they were so terrified when they found the whites had gone and had left that
large one standing on the shore that at first they dared not approach it ; that at
night it shone with dazzling splendor, and would rise and grow until it seemed
to reach the skies ; and how, seeing nothing of this sort about it in the day
time, and that it was only of its proper size, they had at last taken courage and
gone up to it, and to make friends with it, had stuck arrows and feathers around
it in the earth, and had hung strings of sardines on its arms, as the Spaniards
had found on their return. For the truth of this story the prudent father
would not vouch, but they were still willing to regard it as an omen, and to
attribute to it their easy success in converting the natives of those parts, as
Father Junipero wrote to the Viceroy for his edification and encouragement.
Father Junipero soon removed his mission from Monterey to a more suitable
place close by, on the river Carmelo. This was his own mission, where he
always resided when not engaged in founding or visiting other missions, or in
some other duty appertaining to his office of president of the missions of Upper
California. This high office he held for the first fifteen years of the history of
California, and until his death, which occurred at his mission of Carmel on the
28th of August, 1784. His activity and zeal in the conversion and civilization
of savages are really wonderful, and scarcely intelligible to us. The sight of
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 283
a band of Indians filled him with as much delight as at this day a man feels
at the prospect of making a fortune. He regarded them as so many souls that
he was to save ; and the baptism of an Indian baby filled him with transport.
With what sort of a spirit he worked for these creatures you see pleasantly
exhibited in the foundation of the mission of San Antonio de Padua, some
twenty or thirty leagues below Monterey. With an escort, a couple of priests,
and a pack train carrying all the necessary articles for a new church, he goes
off into the mountains, examines all the hollows, and selects a beautiful little
plain, through which flowed a small river. Here he orders the mules to be
unpacked, and the bells to be hung upon a tree, and as soon as that is done
he seizes the rope and begins to ring, crying out at the same time at the top of
his voice, "Hear ! hear! oh ye gentiles! Come to the holy church ! Come
to the faith of Jesus Christ!" Father Pe'yras, who was with him, remon-
strates, "What do you stop for? Is not this the place for the church, and are
there no gentiles in the neighborhood?" " Let me alone," says Father Juni-
pero; "Let me unburthen my heart, which could wish this bell should be
heard by all the world, or at least by all the gentiles in these mountains" — and
so he rang away there in the wilderness.
The missions of San Francisco and Santa Clara were not founded for several
years after the occupation of Monterey. The wants of the new missions of
his jurisdiction induced the Reverend Father President Junipero to take a
journey to Mexico to see the Viceroy in person, and although he succeeded to
his satisfaction in other things, it was only after much entreaty that he obtained
a promise that these two missions should be established after communication
was opened by land. This was done by Captain Juan Bautista Ariza, in 1773,
whilst Father Junipero was absent on his visit to Mexico. [NoTE. — A grand-
daughter of Captain Juan Bautista Anza is now living in this city. She is the
wife of Don Manuel Ainsa, and the mother of a large family of great-
grandchildren of the first pioneer who came to Upper California, direct
from Mexico by land.] He made his report to the Viceroy in 1774, and cartie
back again with a considerable number of soldiers and families in 1776. In the
mean time, in anticipation of his arrival, the San Carlos was sent up to examine
the port of San Francisco, and ascertain whether it could be really entered by
a channel or mouth which had been seen from the land. This great problem
was satisfactorily solved by the San Carlos, a ship of perhaps some two hun-
dred tons burden at the very utmost, in the month of June, 1775. When she
entered they reported that they found a land-locked sea, with two arms, one
making into the interior about fifteen leagues to the southeast, another three,
four", or may be five leagues to the north, where there was a large bay, about
ten leagues across and of a round figure, into which emptied the great river of
our father, St. Francis, which was fed by five other rivers, all of them copious
streams, flowing through a plain so wide that it was bounded only by the hori-
zon, and meeting to form the said great river ; and all this immensity of water
discharging itself through the said channel or mouth into the Pacific ocean,
which is there called the Gulf of the Farallones. This very striking descrip-
tion was accurate enough for the purposes of that day ; and as soon as Anza
and his people had arrived, and Anza in person had gone up and selected the
sites, a party was sent by land and another by sea to establish the presidio and
mission of San Francisco. The date of the foundation of the presidio is the
17th of September, and of the mission the 9th of October, 1776. The historian
mentions in connection with these proceedings some things which may claim a
moment's attention. In the Valley of San Jose, the party coming up by land
saw some animals which they took for cattle, though they could not imagine
where they came from; and, supposing they were wild and would scatter the
tame ones they were driving, the soldiers made after them and succeeded in
killing three, which were so large that a mule could with difficulty carry one,
284 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES.
being of the size of an ox, and with horns like those of a deer, but so long that
their tips were eight feet apart. This was their first view of the elk. The
soldiers made the observation that they could not run against the wind by reason
of these monstrous antlers. And after the presidio, and before the mission was
established, an exploration of the interior was organized, as usual, by sea and
land. Point San Pablo was given as the rendezvous ; but the captain of the
presidio, who undertook in person to lead the land party, failed to appear there,
having, with the design to shorten the distance, entered a Canada somewhere
near the head of the bay, which took him over to the San Joaquin river ; so he
discovered that stream.
Then there are some traits of the first inhabitants of this place, the primitive
San Franciscans. They lived upon muscles and acorns, blackberries, straw-
berries, and fish, and delighted above all things in the blubber of whales, when
one was stranded on the coast. They wore no clothes at all, at least the men,
and the women very little; but they were not ashamed. They found it cold
all the year round, as did the fathers who first took charge of the mission, and
to protect themselves, were in the habit of plastering their bodies with mud. They
said it kept them warm. Their marriages were very informal, the ceremony consist-
ing in the consent alone of the parties; and their law of divorce was equally simple,
for they separated as soon as they quarrelled, and joined themselves to another,
the children usually folio wing the mother. They had no other expression to signify
that the marriage was dissolved than to say, "I have thrown her away,"
or "I have thrown him away." And in some of their customs they seemed to
have been Mormons. In their marriages affinity was not regarded as an objec-
tion, but rather an inducement. They preferred to marry their sisters-in-law,
and even their mothers-in-law; and the rule was, if a man married a woman, he
also married all her sisters, having many wives who lived together, without
jealousy, in the same house, and treated each other's children with the same love as
their own. Father Junipero's death closes the first period of our history. It is a
period marked by exploits. They are those of humble and devoted, yet heroic
missionaries. The story is diversified with only such simple incidents as that, in the
summer of 1772, the commander, Pedro Fages, had to go out and kill bears for
provisions to subsist on, which formidable game he found in abundance some-
where near San Luis Obispo, in a Canada that still justly bears the name of
Canada de los Osos : and that in 1780 the frost killed the growing grain at
Easter. And only one instance of bloodshed attended the happy course of the
spiritual conquest. The vicious Indians of San Diego, on a second attempt,
murdered one of the fathers and two or three other persons, and burned the
mission, which some little time afterwards was re-established. We are told
that they were prompted to this deed by the enemy of souls, who was very
much incensed at finding his party falling into a minority by reason of the con-
stant conversions of the heathen in that neighborhood. All the seeds that
Galvez was so provident in sending up took root and prospered beyond the
most sanguine expectations which he could have entertained when he predicted
that the soil would prove as fertile as that of old Spain ; and the cattle in-
creased and multiplied with an increase without a parallel, so that in short time
his purpose, that there should be no lack of something to eat in this country,
was fully accomplished.
Our historian is the friar, Father Francisco Palou, one of the followers of
Father Junipero, whose life, like a devout disciple, he wrote here at the mission
of San Francisco. He was the first priest who had charge of this mission, and
his book was written here in 1785. It was printed in the city of Mexico in
1787. It is the first, undoubtedly, out not the worst book written in California.
Copies of the original edition may be found in some private libraries of this
city, bound in sheepskin, clasped with loops and buttons of the same, and with
a long list of errata at the end. This volume is of itself an object of interest.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 285
To the work there is a preface which bespeaks the indulgence of the reader,
because it was written among "barbarous gentiles, in the port of San Fran-
cisco, in his new mission, the most northern of New California, without books
or men of learning to consult." There are also the reports of several censors,
and both a civil and ecclesiastical license to print it, and likewise a protest, of
which ihe writer is entitled to the benefit at this day. He declares, in obe-
dience to the Church, the Inquisition, and the Pope, that he intends and de-
sires that no more faith should be given to his performance than to a mere
human history, and that the epithets he gives Father Junipero, and the title of
martyrs which he bestowed on some of the other missionaries, are to be under-
stood as mere human honors, and such as are permitted by a prudent discretion
and a devout faith. The narrative is clear and circumstantial, well supported
by public and private writings, and obviously true. The miraculous is always
introduced as hearsay, and, whilst it does not impeach the veracity of the writer,
serves still further to illustrate the times by showing us the simple credulity of
the class to which he belonged — the founders and first settlers of California.
With the book there is a map. It exhibits the coast of Upper California from
San Diego to San Francisco. The only objects visible on it are nine missions
and a dotted line, to show the road that the fathers travelled from one to the
other, viz : San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, San Gabriel, San Buenaventura,
San Luis, (Obispo,) San Antonio, San Carlos de Monterey, Santa Clara, San
Francisco, and three presidios, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and San Diego, all
lying near the coast, and back all a blank. Looking upon this old map, we re-
alize that California was designed for the Indians. They were to be its people
after they were converted and instructed as others had been in Mexico. The
missions were to be the towns. The presidios were to protect the missions within,
and defend the country from enemies without. Only enough settlers were to
be introduced to relieve the government from some part of the burden of sup-
plying the presidios with recruits and* provisions from Mexico. For this pur-
pose, pueblos San Jose de Guadalupe and Los Angeles, one in the north and the
other in the south, were established, both in the time of Father Junipero Serra.
A small tract of land was given to these villages for their use collectively, and
smaller parcels to each inhabitant as his private property. Neither of these
pueblos appear on this old map, of such little consequence were they regarded.
Father Palou, in relating the rejoicings at Mexico in consequence of the discov-
ery of Monterey, says : '• The said extent of three hundred leagues in length" —
an accurate measurement of the new dominions of the king in Upper Cal-
ifornia— "is of fertile lands, peopled with an immensity of gentiles, from whose
docile and peaceable dispositions it was hoped they would be immediately con-
verted to our holy faith, and gathered in Catholic pueblos, (villages,) that thus
living in subjection to the royal crown they might secure the coasts of this
Southern or lDacific ocean." The first grant of land made in California was a
tract of one hundred and forty varas square, at the mission of San Carlos,
November 27, 1775, to one Manuel Butron, a soldier, in consideration that he
had married Margarita, a daughter of that mission. Father Junipero recom-
mends this family, to wit, the soldier and the native Indian woman, to the
government, and all the other ministers of the king, " as being the first in all
these establishments which have chosen to become permanent settlers of the
same." The Indian appears in everything.
In tranquillity this California of the Indians remained for more than fifty
years. The fathers built new missions, and continually replenished their stock
of converts, which at one time amounted to at least twenty thousand. They
planted vineyards, orchards, and the olive. They taught the Indians, to some
extent, agriculture and the mechanic arts. They made flour, and wine, and
cloth, and soap, and leather, adobes and tiles, and with their villages of disciples
about them, lived at ease as well as in peace. There was but one obstacle in
286 - EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
their way. A great law of nature rose up to oppose them. The Indian of
California was not equal to those of Mexico. He was but a brute. The time
never came when he could be enfranchised and trusted to himself, and con-
verted into a Spanish subject as so many races had been further south. The
fathers must continue to hold their converts in subjection, or they would return
to the heathen state, or even worse would befall them. If the world could have
afforded to devote a paradise to such a purpose, and for the Indian, certainly it
would have been well if the missions could have lasted forever. I will endeavor
to present some of the features and some of the events of this Indian period, as
briefly as possible. And here, for whatever of interest I may be able to awaken
in the subject, I shall be indebted to Mr. R. C. Hopkins, the accomplished and
learned gentleman who has charge of the Spanish archives in the surveyor
general's office.
An American audience will of course desire to know something of the form
of the political government. Constitution or charter there was none. The
government was purely military, outside of the missions. All functions, civil
and military, judicial and economical, were united in the person of the com-
mandante of a presidio, in due subjection to his superior, and so on up to the
king, an autocrat, whose person was represented and whose will was executed
in every part of his dominions. In the archives is to be found a reglamento,
which, as the name imports, is a set of regulations for the peninsula of the
Californias, Lower and Upper. Its caption expresses that it is for the govern-
ment of the presidios, the promotion of the erection of new missions, and of the
population and extension of the establishments of Monterey. It was drafted
at Monterey by the governor, in 1779, sent to Madrid, and approved by the
king in 1781. When examined, it is found to adopt the royal reglamento for
the government of all the presidios, with such small variations as the circum-
stances of California required. There are minute provisions for paying, cloth-
ing, and feeding the officers and troops, and for supporting the families of the
troops, and other persons dependent on the presidios. The number of pack
mules to be kept at the presidios, and how the horses are to be pastured, and
that four are always to be kept in the presidio ready saddled by day, and
eight by night, is prescribed. Another pueblo was to be founded, as was done,
namely, Los Angeles. The pueblo of San Jose had already been founded, two
years before. The intent of these pueblos is declared to be to fulfil the pious
designs of the King for converting the gentiles, and to secure his dominions.
At that date, says the reglamento, the country was filled, from San Diego to
Monterey, with an immense number of gentiles, and only one thousand seven
hundred and forty -nine Christians, of both sexes, in the eight 'missions, strung
along through all that distance. The manner in which pueblos are to be
founded is given ; each settler to have his building lot and sowing field of
two hundred varas square, that being supposed to be enough to sow
two bushels of grain ; and the whole together to have commons for waod,
water, and pasturage; also a certain number of horses, mules, oxen, cows,
sheep, chickens, ploughs, hoes, axes, &c., are to be furnished to each ; and the
amount of pay — for a settler had his salary for a little while as well as his
outfit — his exemptions, and his obligations, are all minutely detailed. Of the
first we observe, that for the first five years he is to be free from the payment of
tithes ; of the latter, that all the excess of his productions beyond his support
he must sell at a fixed price to the presidios, and that he must keep a horse and
saddle, carbine and lance, and hold himself in readiness for the service of the
king. Also, we note that the building lot is a homestead, and cannot be alien-
ated or mortgaged, and descends to the son or (in default of a son, I suppose)
to the daughter, provided she is married to a settler who is without a lot of his
own ; and that after the first five years are past, each settler and his descendants
must, in recognition of the absolute property of the King, pay a rent of one-half
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 287
fanega of corn for his sowing lot. The only trace of a political right that we
find in the reglamento is the allowance to the pueblos of alcaldes, and other
municipal officers, to be appointed by the governor for the first two years, and
afterwards to be elected by the inhabitants. These officers were to see to the
good government and police of the pueblos and the administration of justice, to
direct the public works, apportion to each man his share of the water for irriga-
tion, and generally to enforce the provisions of the reglamento. This, perhaps,
was as much as they ought. to have had, for we see in the proceedings on the
foundation of San Jose, that neither the alcalde nor any one of the eight other set-
tlers could sign his name. As a check upon the abuse of their privileges the
elections were subject to the approval of the governor, who had also the power
to continue to appoint the officers for three years longer, if he found it necessary.
At first California formed a part of the kingdom of New Spain, and was gov-
erned directly by the Viceroy of Mexico. In 1776 it was attached to the com-
mandancia general of the internal provinces, which included also Sonora, New
Mexico, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Texas. Afterwards it was a part of the
commandancia general of the internal provinces of the west, when Coahuila and
Texas, New Leon and the Colony of New Santander had been erected into
another jurisdiction, under the title of the internal provinces of the east. The
commandante general seems to have had no fixed residence, but to have gone
from place to place, wherever his presence might be wanted, and so his orders
are sometimes dated from Arispe and sometimes from Chihuahua, both of which
now obscure places may be said in their time to have been the capital of Cali-
fornia. The Apache and Comanche Indian has watered his horse in their plazas
since then. This arrangement did not last many years, and California reverted
to the Viceroy again. Laws came from the King, in his council of the Indies,
at Madrid, as orders are issued by the commander-in-chief of an army; to the
second in command, to wit, the Viceroy at Mexico, from him to his next in rank,
we will say the commandante general at Arispe or Chihuahua, from him to the
governor of California at Monterey, and from him to the captain or lieutenant
in command of a presidio. They took effect only as they were published,
spreading as the courier advanced, and from place to place in succession, like a
wave, from centre to circumference. They came slowly, but in time every order
of a general nature would find its way into the archives of every province,
presidio, or pueblo in North and South America, and of every island of the ocean
which owned the dominion of the King of Spain. The archives of this State
contain a great many, and their counterparts are to be looked for in every public
office, from Havana to Manilla, and from Chihuahua to Valparaiso. When wars,
or the accidents of navigation, or the urgency of the case, interrupted or ren-
dered impossible communication with Madrid, each viceregent of the King in
his department exercised the royal authority. Therefore, in the nature of things,
the powers of every governor in his province were practically despotic. And
not only the laws, but every other expression of the wishes of the King were
transmitted in the same way, travelled through the same circuitous channels, and
were received, and published, and executed with the same dignity and formality.
Here is an example from the archives :
The King heard that the neighborhood of the presidio of San Francisco
abounded with deer of a very superior quality, and desiring to have some for
his park, issued an order to the viceroy of Mexico, who in his turn ordered the
commandante general of the internal provinces of the west, who despatched an
order to the governor of the province of California, who ordered the captain of
the presidio of San Francisco, who finally ordered a soldier to go out and catch
the deer, two years after the order was given by the King at Madrid. Allow-
ing a reasonable time for the hunt, and for sending the animals to Spain, it will
be seen that the King had to wait some time for the gratification of his royal
wishes.
288 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Another instance, and the more striking, as the subject-matter belongs to the
latitude of the equator, and as it serves to illustrate that the arbitrary govern-
ment of his Catholic Majesty was paternal and thoughtful as well, I give a
translation of the original, complete :
Jacobo Ugarte y Loyola, commandante general of the internal provinces,
writes to Pedro Fages, governor of California, as follows :
" ARISPE, April 22, 1787.
" On the 20th of November last past, his excellency the marquis of Sonora,
(Viceroy of Mexico,) was pleased to communicate to me the following royal
order :
" « The archbishop, Viceroy of Santa Fe, (in South America,) on the 2d of
July last, gave me an account of a remedy happily discovered by his confessor,
against the ravages of the jigger (nigua) in the hot countries of America, which
consists in annointing the parts affected by the jiggers with cold olive oil, which
causes them to die, and the sacs containing them can be easily extracted —
which the King desires should be published as a bando (proclamation) in the
district under your government, in order that it may reach the notice of all ;
and you shall take care that all those who are afflicted with said insect shall
use said remedy, which is as effectual as it is simple.'
" And I insert the same to you in order that you may cause it to be pub-
lished. May God preserve your life many years.
"JACOBO UGARTE Y LOYOLA."
And so this valuable specific was made known by a public crier and with a
roll of drums, all the world over, even here in California, where the troublesome
insect is fortunately unknown.
The couriers, who were the overland mail of that day, on leaving, for in-
stance, Monterey, received a certificate from the commandante of the presidio
that he started at a certain hour ; on his arrival at the next stopping place he
presented his certificate to the officer in command of the place, who noted the
hour of his arrival and departure, and so on at all the stopping places between
Monterey and La Paz, in Lower California; so that if the mail carrier loitered
on the way his way-bill would show it. Such way-bills from Monterey to La
Paz, with all these memoranda on them, may be found in the archives. It was
the unfortunate mail rider, and not the government, that people were in the
habit of blaming in those days. These way-bills show that he made the dis-
tance from San Francisco to San Diego in five days. Quiet old days ! But
little of a public sort was doing then in California. There was a dispute that
amounted to something like a law suit between the mission of Santa Clara and
the pueblo of San Jose. It commenced from the very day of the establishment
of the latter. Father Junipero objected to the pueblo being so near the mis-
sion, the boundary as at first established running about half way between the
two places. The governor was obstinate and Father Junipero desired that his
protest might be entered in the proceedings of the foundation, which the gover-
nor refused. The controversy by no means died out ; the head of the college
of San Fernando at Mexico, to which all the Franciscans of California belonged,
brought it before the Viceroy, praying him not to allow the Indians and mis-
sionaries to be molested by the pueblo. The governor of California was there-
fore ordered to investigate the matter, and seems to have settled it by making
the river Guadalupe the boundary from that time forward. Again, one Mariano
Castro obtained from the Viceroy permission to settle himself upon a place called
La Brea, in the neighborhood of the mission of San Juan Bautista; under this
license he applied to the governor to give him the possession of the land, but
the priests at San Juan objected strenuously, alleging that the place of La Brea
was needed by the mission for its cattle. This was represented by the governor
to the viceroy, who, in the end, told Castro to select some other place, and the
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 289
mission kept La Brea. We see with what jealousy, and how effectively, the
fathers vindicated the title of themselves and their Indian pupils to their
California.
For a complete view of the internal constitution of California at that day,
two facts, which are exceptional to this ecclesiastical domination, require to be
noted.
In 1791, Pedro Nava, commanclante of the internal provinces of the west, in
a decree dated at Chihuahua, gives to the captains commanding presidios, or
recognizes as already existing in them, authority to grant building lots to the
soldiers and other residents, within the space of four square leagues. I do not
know, but presume, that this power was exercised at San Diego, Santa Barbara,
and Monterey,, and hence the origin of the towns bearing those names, which,
at a later period, come into view as such. At San Francisco, however, there is
nothing in the archives, or elsewhere, yet discovered, to show that such a grant
was ever made by the captain of the presidio. And in 1795 a commissioner
was appointed under the orders .of the viceroy to select a place and establish
another town, who reported that " the worst place or situation in California is
that of San Francisco for the formation of a villa, as proposed." And therefore
the villa of Branciforte, so called in honor of the viceroy, the Marquis of Bran-
ciforte, was, by great preference, established near the mission of Santa Cruz.
It never attained any consequence, and some adobe ruins may now attest its
former existence.
Suspicion and exclusion were the rule towards foreigners. On the 23d of
October, 1776, the viceroy writes to the governor of California: "That the
king having received intelligence that two armed vessels had sailed from London,
under the command of Captain Cook, bound on a voyage of discovery to the
southern^ocean, and the northern coast of California, commands that orders be
given to the governor of California to be on the watch for Captain Cook, and
not permit him to enter the ports of California." At a later day a better spirit
prevailed towards Vancouver, who spent some time in 1793 in the port of
Monterey. We have a voluminous correspondence of his with the governor —
the letters in English, and written with his own hand. He sets forth the har-
monious understanding existing between England and his Catholic Majesty of
Spain, and their united efforts in the cause of humanity, and asks assistance in
arresting some deserters, and obtaining supplies, &c., which he will pay for with
bills on London. Instructions had been previously received by the governor to
treat Vancouver well. We see in this amiability between old enemies that the
great French revolution was making itself felt on this remote coast. And in
some of the letters of the fathers, of a little later period, we find Napoleon
spoken of as the great "Luzbel," (Lucifer,) for such he appeared to their im-
agination in their missions.
The first mention of an American ship occurs in the following letter from the
governor of California to the captain of the presidio of San Francisco :
" Whenever there may arrive at the port of San Francisco a ship named the
Columbia, said to belong to General Washington, of the American States, com-
manded by John Rendrick, which sailed from Boston in September, 1787, bound
on a voyage of discovery to the Russian establishments on the northern coast
of this peninsula, you will cause the said vessel to be examined with caution and
delicacy, using for this purpose a small boat which you have in your possession,
and taking the same measures with every other suspicious foreign vessel, giving
me prompt notice of the same.
'• May God preserve your life many years.
"PEDRO FAGES.
"SANTA BARBARA, May 13, 1789.
"To JOSEF ARGUELLO."
H- Ex. Doc. 29 19
290 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Twenty years before, this same Fages had Bailed on the San Carlos to re-
discover and people California. The San Carlos and the Columbia, and Fages
the connecting link ! The United States of America and California joined for
the first time in a thought ! It is impossible by any commentary to heighten the
interest with which we read this document. Its very errors, even to the gover-
nor's ignorance of the geography of his own country, are profoundly suggestive.
The Columbia did not enter the ports of California, but made land further to
the north, and discovered the Columbia river.
Fourteen years later, it would appear that American ships were more fre-
quent on this coast.
On the 26th of August, 1803, Josd Argiiello, comandante of the presidio of
San Francisco, writes to governor Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga :
" That on the first of the present month, at the hour of evening prayers, two
American vessels anchored in the port, (San Francisco,) one named the Alex-
ander, under the command of Capt. John Brown, and the other named the Aser,
under the command of Thomas Raben ; that as soon as they anchored the cap-
tain came ashore to ask permission to get supplies of wood and water, when ob-
serving that he was the same Brown that was there in the preceding month of
March, he refused to give him permission to remain in port ; that on the day
following, at six in the morning, he received a letter from the captain, (or super-
cargo,) a copy of which he transmits, which is as follows :
" PORT OF SAN FRANCISCO, August 12, 1803.
" To the Senor commandante of the port :
"Notwithstanding your order for our immediate departure from this port, I am
constrained to say that our necessities are such as to render it impossible for us
to do so. I would esteem it a great favor if you would come aboard and see for
yourself the needy circumstances in which we are placed, for during the whole
of the time we have been on the northwest coast we have had no opportunity
of supplying ourselves with wood and water, the Indians being so savage that
we have not been able to hold any kind of friendly intercourse with them what-
ever.
" We had several fights with them in the straits of Chatham ; the first was
in the port of Istiquin, where we were attacked by three hundred canoes, each
canoe containing from ten to twenty-three Indians, each one with two or three
escopetas and their pistols and spears. Three times in one day they attempted
to take the ship, but we defended the same without losing any of our men.
"From this port we went to the Ensenada of Icana, in said straits, at which
place we found about a thousand Indians encamped, many of whom came aboard
our vessel for purposes of trade, carrying their arms in one hand and their skins
in the other.
" After we had been four days in this port, all the Indians came aboard, say-
ing that they were not afraid of the Americans, since they were but few, while
there were many Indians, who had many arms.
" On the fifth day of our stay in this port, about six o'clock in the evening,
three or four canoes came alongside the ship, and, on being ordered to leave,
they refused, when our captain seized a gun and fired it in the air, on which
the Indians laughed very much, saying he did not know how to shoot, and
could not kill ; whereupon the captain seized another gun, fired at and killed
the Indian, on which the rest retired to the land, and all of them went to a
neighboring island ; and from ten o'clock at night till eight in the morning they
made no further demonstrations against us, at which time we made sail, in the
mean time striking upon a rock and somewhat injuring our vessel.
" From this port we went to Juan de Fuca, at which place we learned from
the chief, Tatacu, that the chief Quatlazepe had taken the ship Boston ; that
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 291
when the said vessel had been some four days in port, the Indian chief and the
captain of the ship, having some difficulty in relation to trade, the captain of
the ship said to the chief that he had traded with many chiefs to the north, and
that he knew he did not act like an honorable chief; whereupon the chief Pioe-
que replied to the captain that he was a bad man. At this the captain
seized a gun and ordered him ashore ; whereupon he went to his rancheria and
issued an order for the assembling of all the neighboring Indians, from the
straits of Juan de Fuca to the point of Nutka, which were so assembled within
three days ; and, after holding a council, they determined to take the Bos-
ton, which they affected in the following manner : At seven o'cl6ck in the
morning they went aboard and asked permission of the captain to have a
dance, as a ceremony of the renewal of the friendship after their recent dispute.
To which the captain replied that he was willing that they should do so. Ac-
.cordingly, at eight o'clock in the morning, a company of chiefs came and danced
on the quarter-deck, having in the mean time ordered their people to arm them-
selves with knives, so that while they were dancing they could jump aboard
and kill the whole crew, which they did ; for while they were dancing they
made presents of otter skins to the captain, and also to the sailors, who in a
short time had collected on the quarter-deck, when suddenly the Indians fell
upon them in iheir defenceless condition and butchered all save two, who escaped
and concealed themselves; the Indians carrying off everything that could be
removed during the whole of that day and night, and until twelve o'clock the
following day; having in the mean time discovered the two hidden sailors, who,
after some cruel treatment, were handed over to the chief, who spared their lives,
and they are now at that place. On the following day the ship was beached,
and her decks and part of the cargo burnt Quatlazape has made a fortification
at the place where the Spaniards were established.
" This is all the account I am able to give of the matter, and I pray you, in
the name of Grod, to come aboard our ship and see the needv circumstances in
which we are placed, destitute of wood and water, and our vessel needing repairs.
Trusting in your Christian charity, and that of your nation, we hope to be per-
mitted to remain in this port the time necessary to obtain supplies and make re-
pairs, since otherwise we shall certainly lose our ship.
" God preserve your life many years.
"JAMES ROWAN."
Times have changed, and Yankee captains are not now so meek in the port of
San Francisco. We do not know what John Brown had been doing in March,
nor can we vouch for the truth of all the particulars of their adventures on the
northwest coast, especially not for the number of escopetas and other arms car-
ried by each Indian. The loss of the Boston was doubtless communicated to
her owners and the public by John Brown and Thomas Rab(v)en on their return
to the United States. The guardians of this port do not note now the arrival
of foreign ships by the hour of evening prayers. There was a contrast of
national habits then between the^shore and the Yankee ships; and the same
contrast exists undiminished between the California of 1803 and 1860. From
time to time other American vessels, traders to the northwest coast, and whalers,
are said to have occasionally entered these waters, but at it was a Spanish colony
there could be no American commerce; anditAvas after the independence, there-
fore, that the hide trade sprung up.
With the beginning of the century earthquakes make their appearance for the
first time of record in the archives, and with startling effect. I prefer, on this
subject, to give the words of the contemporaneous documents :
292 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Account of earthquake at San Juan Bauti.ita, as given in letter of the captain
of the Presidio of Monterey, to Governor ArriUaga, on the 3lst of October,
1800.
" MONTEREY, October 31, 1800.
" I have to inform your excellency that the mission of San Juan Bautista
since the llth instant has been visited by severe earthquakes; that Pedro Adri-
ano Martinez, one of the fathers of said mission, has informed me that during
one day there were six severe shocks; that there is not a single habitation,
although built with double walls, that has not been injured from roof to founda-
tion, and that all are threatened with ruin ; and that the fathers are compelled
to sleep in the wagons to avoid danger since the houses are not habitable. At
the place where the rancheria is situated some small openings have been ob-
served in the earth, and also in the neighborhood of the river Pajaro there is
another deep opening, all resulting from the earthquakes. These phenomena
have filled the fathers and the inhabitants of that mission with consternation.
" The Lieutenant Don Raymundo Carillo has assured me the same, for on the
18th he stopped for the night at this mission (San Juan) on his journey from
San Jose, and being at supper with one of the fathers, a shock was felt so pow-
erful and attended with such a loud noise as to deafen them, when they fled to
the court without finishing their supper, and that about eleven o'clock at night
the shock was repeated with almost equal strength.
" The fathers of the mission say that the Indians assure them that there have
always been earthquakes at that place, and that there are certain cavities caused
by the earthquakes, and thai, salt water has flowed from the same.
" All of which I communicate to you for your information.
" May our Lord preserve your life many years.
"HERMENEGILDO SAL ."
San Juan Bautista is the mission between the Monterey and San Jose, about
twenty miles from the former and forty from the latter. The next mention comes
nearer home. »
Account of earthquake at Presidio of San Francisco, given by Louis Arguello,
Captain of Presidio, to Governor ArriUaga, on the Yltk oj July, 1808.
"I have to report to your excellency that since the 2 1st of June last to the
present date, twenty-one shocks of earthquakes have been felt in this presidio,
some of which have been so severe that all the walls of my house have been
cracked, owing to the bad construction of the same, one of the ante-chambers
being destroyed ; and if up to this time no greater damage has been done, it has
been for the want of materials to destroy, there being no other habitations. The
barracks of the Fort of San Joaquin (the name of the fort at the presidio) have
been threatened with entire ruin, and I fear if these shocks continue some un-
fortunate accident -will happen to the troops at the presidio.
"God preserve the life of your excellency tnany years.
"LUIS ARGUELLO.
" SAN FRANCISCO, July 17, 1808."
It could not be said now, if such shocks as these were to come again, that the
damage was limited by the "want of material to destroy" I acknowledge a
preference for one- story houses, and built of wood.
About this time the Russians were first seen in California. " Von Resanoff,
chamberlain of the Emperor of Russia, returning from his embassy to Japan,
after having inspected, by order of the court of St. Petersburg, the ports, estab-
lishments, and trading-houses that the Imperial Russian-American Fur Com-
pany possessed, as well on the side of Asia, at Kamschatka, and in the
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 293
Aleutian Islands, as on the continent and islands of the northwest coast of Amer-
ica, anchored at the port of San Francisco, in the month of May, 1807." So
says the French traveller De Mofras, who visited "California in the years 1841
and '42." An English traveller, Sir George Simson, governor-in-chief of the
Hudson Bay Company's territories, who was here in the same year with De
Mofras, thus makes us acquainted with one of the parties to a story of romantic
love, the first consequence of the advent of the Russians.
"After dinner, (at Captain John Wilson's, in Santa Barbara,) we were joined
by the remainder of our party, the Cowlitz having by this time come to an an-
chor ; and we again sallied forth to see a few more of the lions. Among the
persons whom we met this afternoon was a lady of some historical celebrity.
Von 'Resanoff, having failed, as elsewhere stated, in his attempt to enter the
Columbia in 1806, continued his voyage as far as San Francisco, when, besides
purchasing immediate supples for Sitka, he endeavored, in negotiation with the
commandante of the district and the governor of the province, to lay the founda-
tion of a regular intercourse between Russian America and the California settle-
ments. In order to cemenj the national union, he proposed uniting himself with
Dona Concepcion Arguello, one of the commandante's daughters, his patriotism
clearly being its own reward. If half of Langsdorff's description was correct,
'She was lively and animated, had sparkling, love inspiring eyes, beautiful teeth,
pleasing and expressive features, a fine form, and a thousand other charms, yet
her manners were perfectly simple and artless.'
"The chancellor, who was himself of the Greek church, regarded the differ-
ence of religion with the eyes of a lover and a politician ; but as his imperial
master might take a less liberal view of the matter, he posted away to St. Peters-
burg, with the intention, if he should there be successful, of subsequently visiting
Madrid for the requisite authority to carry his schemes into full effect. But the
fates, with a voice more powerful than that of emperors and kings, forbade the
bans ; and Von Resanoff died on his road to Europe, at Krasnoyarsk, in Siberia,
of a fall from his horse.
" Thus at once bereaved of her lover, and disappointed in the hope of being
the pledge of friendship between Russia and Spain, Dofia Concepcion assumed
the habit, but not, I believe, the formal vows of a nun, dedicating her life to the
instruction of the young and the consolation of the sick. This little romance
could not fail to interest us, and notwithstanding the ungracefulness of her con-
ventual costume, and the ravages of an interval of time, which had tripled her
years, we could still discover in her face and figure, in her manners and conver-
sation, the remains of those charms which had won for the youthful beauty, Von
Resanoff's enthusiastic love, and Langdorff's equally enthusiastic admiration.
Though Dona Concepcion apparently loved to dwell on the story of her blighted
affections, yet, strange to say, she knew not, till we mentioned it to her, the im-
mediate cause of the chancellor's sudden death. This circumstance might, in
some measure, be explained by the fact that Langsdorff 's work was not pub-
lished before 1814; but even then, in any other country than California, a lady
who was still young would surely have seen a book, which besides detailing the
grand incident of her life, presented so gratifying a portrait of her charms."
How strange, as he justly remarks, that Dona Concepcion had never seen that
book, though it had been printed more than twenty five years ! [General Val-
lejo, who was on the stand, here informed Mr. R. that this lady had died about
eight months ago.J
The Russians, in 1812, came down from the north and established themselves
at the port of Bodega, with one hundred Russians and one hundred Kodiak
Indians. It is said that they asked permission of the Spanish authorities before
doing so. The archives are full, however, of documents from 1812 up, showing the
jealousy and fear with which they were regarded by Spain, and afterwards, by
294 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Mexico. They occupied a strip along the coast from Bodega northwards, and
only a few leagues in depth, but without any precisely fixed limits.
In 1841 this establishment was at its best, consisting of eight hundred Rus-
sians, or Russo-Asiatics, with a great number of native Indian tribes around
them, working for wages. It was to circumscribe these intruders that the priests
crossed over and founded the mission of San Rafael in 1819, and of San Francisco
Solano at Sonoma in 1823, and commenced another at Santa Rosa in 1827.
The Russians raised some grain aud cattle, and trapped enormously. De Mo-
fras, whom I follow, says that the Kodiaks, in their sealskin boats, made
bloody warfare upon the seals, beavers, and especially the otters ; that they
hunted all the coasts, the adjacent islands, and even the marshes and in-
numerable inlets of the Bay of San Francisco ; and that there were weeks
when this bay alone produced seven or eight hundred otter skins, which may be
true, but seems to me to be a very large number. In 1842 the Russians all left
of their own accord, after having held their possessions, in the character of a
Russian colony, for thirty years, as completely as they now hold Sitka, and
•without apparently paying the slightest attention to the priests or the soldiers
who crossed over to look after them. At their fort of Ross, situated amid a forest
of gigantic pines, a Greek chapel reared its cross and belfries, with a most
pleasing effect. The nearest Catholic mission was but a little way off. Rome
and Constantinople here met upon this coast, after a course of so many centuries,
in opposite directions around the globe.
While Europe was convulsed, and America shaken, the profoundest quiet
prevailed in California. After a long time they would hear of a great battle, or
of the rise or fall of an empire, to perturb the souls of priests and other men.
But the government had other duties to perform, patriarchal and simple. On
the llth of February, 1797, Felipe de Goycochea, captain of the presidio of
Santa Barbara, writes to Governor Borica, -as follows :
" I transmit to you a statement in relation to the schools of the presidio, to-
gether with six copy-books of the children, who are learning to write, for your
superior information. May our Lord preserve your life many years.
" Santa Barbara, February 11, 1797.
"FELIPE GOYCOCHEA."
These copy-books are now in the archives for inspection. As they are the
property of the State, I will give samples, which being translated, read : "The
Ishmaelites having arrived;" "Jacob sent to see his brother;" "Abimelech
took her from Abraham " Good, pious texts, and written in an old-fashioned
round hand. Such was the employment of governors and captains in that
stormy time ; and so it continued through all the period of the mighty conflicts
of ISapoleon.' Even the more protracted commotions of Mexico herself wrought
no disturbance here. The dominion of Spain came to an end in California, after
.fifty-two years of such peacefulness, without a struggle. Mexico having estab-
lished her independence, California gave in her adherence in the following de-
claration :
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN CALIFORNIA.
* In the presidio of Monterey, on the 9th day of the month of April, 1822 :
The senor military and political governor of this province, Colonel Don Pablo
Vicente de Sola, the senors captains commandantes of the presidios of Santa
Barbara and San Francisco, Don Jose Antonio de la Guerra y Noriega, and
Don Luis Antonio de Arguello, the captains of the militia companies of the ba-
tallion of Tepic and Mazatlan, Don Jose Antonio Navarrete, and Don Pablo de
la Portilla, the lieutenant Don Jose Maria Estudillo for the presidial company
of San Diego,' the lieutenant Don Jose Mariano Estrada for the presidial com-
pany of Monterey, the lieutenant of artillery, Don Manuel Gomez, and the reve-
rend fathers, Friar Mariano Pay eras, and Friar Vicento Francisco de Sarria,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 295
the first as prelate of these missions, and the second as substitute of the rever-
end father president vicareo foraneo, Friar Jose Jenan ; having assembled in
obedience to previous citations (convocatorias) in the hall of the government
house, and being informed of the establishment of the kingdom of the empire,
and the installation of the sovereign provisional gubernative junta in the capital
of Mexico, by the official communication and other documents, which the said
governor caused to be read in full assembly, said : that, for themselves, and in
behalf of their subordinates, they were decided to render obedience to the or-
ders intimated by the new supreme government, recognizing, from this time, the
province as a dependent alone of the government of the Empire of Mexico, and
independent of the dominion of Spain, as well as of any other foreign power. In
consideration of which, the proper oaths will be taken, in the manner prescribed by
the provisional regency, to which end the superior military and political chief will
give the necessary orders, and the respective commandantes of presidios and the
ministers of the missions will cause the fulfilment of the same to appear by
means of certificates, which will be transmitted, with a copy of this act, to the
most excellent minister, to whom it corresponds, and they signed,
PABLO VICENTE DE SOLA,
JOSE DE LA GUERRA Y NORIEGA,
LUIS ANTONIO ARGUELLO,
JOSE M. ESTUDILLO,
MANUEL GOMEZ,
PABLO DE LA PORTILLA,
JOSE MARIANO ESTRADA,
FR. MARIANO PAYERAS,
FR. VICENTE FRANCISCO DE SARRIA,
JOSE M. ESTUDILLO.
One of the signers of this instrument, Pablo Vicente de Sola, was at that time-
governor under Spain, and held over for a year as governor still under the king-s
dom of the empire, as expressed in the declaration, and two others are the chief
of the ecclesiastical authorities, viz. the prelate of the missions, and the sub
stitute of the reverend father president of the missions. The style does not
much resemble our immortal instrument; and, as another difference, we observe
that all the parties to it are either priests or soldiers.
The Spanish governors were in all ten. Their names and the time they were
respectively in office, as follows :
Caspar dePortala... 1767 to 1771
Felipe de Barri -, 1771 to 1774
Fehpede Neve 1774 to 1782
Pedro Fages } 1782 to 1790
Jose Antonio Komeu 1790 to 1792
Jose J. de Arrillaga, (ad interim) 1792 to 1794
Diego de Borica 1794 to 1800
Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga 1800 to 1814
Jose Arguello, (ad interim) , 1814 to 1815
Pablo Vicente de Sola 1815 to 1822 and 1823
Under Mexico the list continues :
Luis Arguello ^ 1823 to 1826
Jose Ma.de Echandia 1826 to 1831
Manuel Victoria 1831 to 1832
Pio Pico, (ad interim) 1832
Jose Figueroa 1832 to 1835
Jose Castro, (ad interim) 1835 to 1836
Nicholas Gutierrez 1836
Mariano Chico 1836
Nicholas Gutierrez, (again for a few months) 1836
Juan B. Alvarado 1836 to 1842
Manuel Micheltorena , 1842 to 1845
Pio Pico 1845 to 1846
296 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
California, as a matter of course, accepted the republic as readily as the em-
pire. But it was difficult to throw off old habits, and the following document
discloses a temper towards strangers not creditable to a liberal government. It
is of greatly more value, however, as the recorded evidence of the arrival of the
first American who ever came to California by land. Let him tell his own story.
Letter from Captain Jedediah S. Smith to Father Duran.
REVEREND FATHER : I understand, through the medium of one of your
Christian Indians, that you are anxious to know who we are, as some of the
Indians have been at the mission and informed you that there were certain white
people in the country. We are Americans, on our journey to the river Colum-
bia; we were in at the mission San Gabriel in January la^t. I went to San
Diego and saw the general, and got a passport from him to pass on to that place.
I have made several efforts to cross the mountains, but the snows being so deep,
I could not succeed in getting over. I returned to this place (it being the only
point to kill meat) to wait a few weeks until the snow melts, so that I can go
on ; the Indians here also being friendly, I consider it the most safe point for
me to remain, until such time as I can cross the mountains with my horses,
having lost a great many in attempting to cross ten or fifteen days since. I am
a long ways from home, and am anxious to get ihere as soon as the nature of
the case will admit. Our situation is quite unpleasant, being destitute of cloth-
ing and most of the necessaries of life, wild meat being our principal subsist-
ence.
I am, reverend father, your strange, but real friend and Christian brother,
J. S. SMITH.
May 19, 1827.
His encampment must have been somewhere near the mission of San Jose' ,
as it was there that Father Duran resided. Who is there that does not sym-
pathise with Jedediah Smith ? "I am alog ways from borne, and am anxious
to get there as soon as the nature of the case will admit. Our situation is quite
unpleasant, being destitute of clothing and most of the necessaries of life, wild
meat being our principal subsistence. I am, reverend father, your strange, but
real friend and Christian brother."
Thus we came to this country the Browns and Smiths first, and in but an
unhappy plight.
As Jedediah Smith's letter shows, he had been here before. At that time he
had been required to give an account of himself, but had been able to find
vouchers, shipmasters, all of them doubtless from Boston, who had come to buy the
hides which under the new system were now within the reach of commerce :
" We, the undersigned, having been requested by Captain Jedediah S. Smith
to state our opinions regarding his entering the province of California, do not
hesitate to say that we have no doubt in our minds but that he was compelled to
for want of provisions and water, having entered so far into the barren country
that lies between the latitudes of forty -two and forty-three west that he found
it impossible to return by the route he came, as his horses had most of them
perished for want of food and water. He was., therefore, under the necessity of
pushing forward to California, it being the nearest place where he could procure
supplies to enable him to return.
" We further state as our opinions that the account given by him is circum-
stantially correct, and that his sole object was the hunting and trapping of beaver
and other furs.
" We have also examined the passports produced by him from the Superin-
tendent of Indian Affairs for the government of the United States of America,
and do riot hesitate to say we believe them to be perfectly correct.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 297
We also state, that in our opinion, his motive for wishing to pass by a differ-
ent route to the head of the Columbia river on his return, is solely because he
feels convinced that he and his companions run great risk of perishing if they
return by the route they came.
In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals this 20th day
of December, 1826.
WM. G. DANA, Captain of schooner Waverly.
WM. H. CUNNINGHAM, Capt. of ship Courier.
WM. HENDERSON, Capt. of brig Olive Branch.
JAMES SCOTT.
THOS. M. ROBBINS, Mate oj schooner Waverly.
THOS. SHAW, Supercargo of ship Courier.
L. s.
L. S.
L. S.
L. S.
L. S.
L. S.
In extenuation, however, it maybe said that Anglo-Americans had long been
viewed with uneasiness in this quarter. It was prophesied as early as 1805
that they would become troublesome to California. So wrote a governor in an
official letter now in the archives.
In a recent number of a magazine, (Harper's for June, I860,) Sylvester
Pattie, his son, and six others, are said to have been the first who accomplished
the journey overland from the United States to California. The dates men-
tioned in that account show that they could not have reached Lower California,
where they first arrived, sooner than 1829 or 1830, as it is said they left the
Missouri river in 1824, and icmained more than five years in New Mexico. The
Patties, therefore, cannot dispute this honor with Jedediah Smith.
After the adoption of the federal Constitution of 1824, by which was estab-
lished the Mexican United States, the governor of California was called the
political chief of the Territory, and was aided by a council known as the territo-
rial deputation. The government of the Territory continued subject to the
sovereign congress at the city of Mexico, as formerly that of the province had
been to the viceroy. Thus much will be a sufficient introduction. for the next
paper. It is to be regretted that it was not known to the gentleman who de-
signed the coat of arms adopted for this State.
"In session of the 13th of July, 1827, of the territorial deputation, a propo-
sition was made to change the name of the Territory to Moctesuma, the arms of
the same to be an Indian with his bow and quiver, in the act of crossing a
strait, placed in an oval, with an olive and live oak on either side; the same
being symbolical of the arrival of the first inhabitant to America, which, accord-
ing to the generally received opinion, was by xway of the straits of Anian."
The conception is poetical and simple, and differs in this particular widely
from the confused medley of incongruous figures with which we have chosen to
illustrate our idea of California. The name Moctesuma is very significant. It
shows How the Mexican, since his independence, has preferred to draw his
opinions, as he derives his blood, from the conquered rather than the conquerors.
A late but signal triumph of race! California was near losing the name given
her by heroes who came across the Atlantic, for one suggestive of a descent from
an imaginary people who came across Behring's straits.
The Russians and the American trappers, estrays dropping in from the
mountains, seemed to have taught the Californians the value of furs. The
government of the Territory very naturally made this new business a source oi
revenue. They sold licenses to trap. To obtain this privilege was rather' a
formal matter. Here is an example :
Juan B. R. Cooper petitions the governor for a license to trap with ten boats,
for seven months, for otters. The governor refers the petition to the alcalde, to
know whether Mr. Cooper is matriculated in the marine, i. e., a seaman. The
alcalde reports that he belongs to the first class of seamen, and the governor
orders a license to be issued to Mr. Cooper to hunt otters from the parallel of
298 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
San Luis Obispo to Bodega, two-thirds of the crews of his boats to be natives
of the country. ' There are many others who get licenses, whose names are
familiar to the oldest of the living pioneers. Edward Mclntosh got his on
January 9, 1834, William Wolfskill his September 21, 1833; and many of the
old Californians embarked in the same business, as Angel Castro, March 25,
1833, and Juan Bandini on the 9th of April, 1833.
Internal disturbances seem to have commenced in California about the year
1830. The liberal Spanish Cortez of 1813, in carrying out the constitution
which they had adopted for the Spanish monarchy the year before, decreed the
secularization of all the missions in the Spanish dominions. The design was to
make general what had always been done before by special authority — to
liberate the Indians from the control of the missionary fathers, and divide
amongst them, as their separate property, the land, cattle, and whatever else
they had owned in common ; to establish secular priests in the place of regular
priests or monks of the religious orders among them, for their spiritual guidance,
and in every respect to convert the Indian villages of the missions into Spanish
pueblos — the process by which, in so great a degree, society was constructed
in all Spanish-American countries, and the ultimate fulfilment of the purpose of
the King, everywhere so prominently put forth in colonizing California.
The decrees of the Cortez, not incompatible with the republican form of gov-
ernment, continued after the establishment of her independence to be the laws of
Mexico, but very few, if any, of them had been put into operation in California.
With the rest, that of secularization remained a dead letter. Enchandia, the
political chief, (as the governor was then entitled,) in 1830, very hurriedly, and
without consulting the supreme government, published, as the custom of the gov-
ernment was, a set of regulations for carrying this old law into effect. At that
moment he was superseded by Victoria, who suppressed the regulations, and put
a peremptory stop to the secularization of the missions. Victoria's conduct was
approved by the supreme government, but there was a party here warmly in favor
of the secularization, and disturbances which were considered serious and threat-
ening ensued, although I do not know that they resulted in bloodshed. The
chief promoter of the scheme was sent out of the country by Victoria ; and thus, I
think, civil strife commenced in California. The occasion was the disposition to be
made of the missions, which, we have seen, were once, and for so long a time, so
nearly all of California. It was the beginning of the downfall of those ancient
establishments, so difficult for us to comprehend, and now so entirely passed
away that to recall them is like recalling the images of a dream. What the
government of Mexico was opposed to was not the secularization of the missions,
but the manner in which it was attempted. The agitation which had been thus
commenced resulted in the passage, by the Mexican congress, of the law of the
17th of August, 1833, to secularize the missions of the Californias. Under it
the work was begun by Figueroa, the best and ablest of the Mexican gover-
nors. At the same time he had two other laws, most fundamentally subversive
of the old order of things, to carry into execution. They were the law for the
political organization of the Territory, being another of those decreed by the
Spanish Cortes in 1813, and the law of colonization, passed by the Mexican
congress, August 18, 1824, with the executive regulations, prescribing the man-
ner of its application, dated November 21, 1828. It is evident that this is the
true era of revolution in Mexican California. Observing the ancient limits of
the presidial jurisdictions, municipal governments were established for each
district. Authority was exercised, by elective bodies called ayuntamientos, ot
which the head was an alcalde or judge. This body regulated the economy of
the whole district, directly of the pueblo in which it resided, and of every other
pueblo in the district, through the intervention of local and subordinate ayun-
tamientos. This was the separation of the civil functions from the military
functions, both of which had been continued in the hands of the commanders
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 299
of the presidios, as in the Spanish times. Here in San Francisco, and for all
the region north of San Mateo creek, east indefinitely, and west to the ocean,
the separation of powers took place in December, 1834, at which time th^
ayuntarniento was established for the civil government of this presidial district,
and General M. G. Vallejo, then in command of the presidio, was left with only
his military command. In the secularization of the missions, Figueroa advanced
so far as to put administrators in possession in place of the fathers, at which
stage his proceedings were arrested by a decree of the Mexican President.
Ruin was inevitable; it was as rapid as spoliation could make it, and it was soon
complete. Governor after governor adopted regulations upon regulations, to se-
cure a faithful administration of the property of the missions, i. e., of the Chris-
tian Indians, who inhabited them, and by whose labor all had been built and
accumulated. It was to no purpose ; and of as little avail was the partial restor-
ation of the missions to the charge of the fathers, by Micheltorena in 1843.
The Indian was by nature a very little above the brute; the fathers were not
able to elevate him in spite of nature; the administrators stripped him without
compunction ; and, when the United States conquered the country, he was al-
ready exterminated, his destruction complete in ten years. When emancipation
began, Figueroa says there were twenty thousand Christian Indians in the mis-
sions of California.
Colonization was another idea introduced by the Spanish Cortes in 1813. It
was embodied in the Mexican law of colonization of 1824. The scheme was to
reduce all the public lands of the State to private property. The Spanish rule
before 1813 had ever been to make such grants the exception, and to retain all
lands, generally speaking, as the domain of the King. Other Mexican govern-
ors may have made informal grants of which nothing appears, but Figueroa was
the first to inaugurate the system of which we find the records in the archives.
He established a course of proceeding in exact accordance with the law and the
regulations, and adhered to it strictly, and executed it conscientiously, and with
great intelligence. From the lands subject to be granted are excepted such as
belong to pueblos and missions. Of pueblos, i. e., villages, there were but
two, San Jose and Los Angeles, or three, including the unprosperous Villa
de Branciforte. Whatever lands these owned were at their foundation sur-
veyed, marked out, and set apart to them, and then recorded. The same
course was followed with such of the presidios as were converted into pueblos,
as at Monterey, and would have been pursued with the missions when con-
verted into pueblos, if that change had not been arrested. In these cases
there could have been no uncertainty as to what lands the governor could
grant. With the missions untouched, or incompletely secularized as they
were left, there was difficulty. The title of the Indian who had consented
to become a Christian and a civilized man, binding as it was upon the
king, had always been indefinite as to quantity, and as to the situation of his
lands, save that it should be at and about the mission; in which essential par-
ticulars it rested altogether in the King's discretion, exercised by the proper
officers of his government. The Mexican republic stepped into the same relation
to these Christian Indians. That no injustice might be done them, every petition
was referred to the priests, and afterwards to the administrators of the missions.
They were asked whether the grant could be made without prejudice to the
Indians. As they replied so were the grants given or withheld. So it was at
least in Figueroa's day, and that, no matter how far the land petitioned for was
from the nearest mission. Other governors were neither so exact nor so con-
scientious as Figueroa. And as, in the hands of the administrators to whom they
were delivered over, the missions went rapidly down to complete ruin, it is evi •
dent that the lands required for the Indians would become continually less —
such would be, and was, the answer of their new guardians to the inquiries ot
the governor — and finally all was granted, and in some cases, it is alleged, even
300 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
the missions themselves. Their cattle without the aid of a grant from the gov-
ernor took the same course. It is not too much to say that when the United
Imitates in 1846 took possession of the country they found it passing through a
conquest still raw and incomplete. It was the conquest of the missions and the
Christian Indians by the settlers of the presidios and pueblos, who at first had
been introduced into the country mainly for their benefit, to aid the king and
the church in carrying out their pious and humane intentions towards them,
Yet it was well that it was so. Who that looVs upon the native Digger Indian
could wish that a superior race should be sacrificed or postponed for his benefit1?
We contemplate a miserable result of the work begun with so much zeal and
heroism in 1769. But because they failed, we none the less respect the motives
and the laborers, whether of church or state.
The unworthiness of the Californian Indian did not altogether deprive him of
sympathy. Every government expressed some feeling at seeing him hasten so
rapidly to his wretched end. And the just and kind-hearted Figueroa battled
for him manfully. In the midst of the complex labors of his administration he
was almost crushed by the arrival of three hundred persons, for whom he had
to make provision, without resources, and who came under the charge of a
director of colonization, instructed by the supreme government, at that time
radically democratic, to begin operations by taking possession of the property
of the missions and admit the new colonists to a division of it with' the Indians.
During the winter of 1834-'35 Figueroa and the director carried on an animated
discussion in writing, on the subject of the last of these propositions. Figueroa
maintained that the missfons were the private property of the Indians, arid pro-
tected from invasion by the constitution. The director insisted upon the letter
of the order of the supreme government. Figueroa said it was improvident,
and refused to obey it until he could make a representation to the supreme gov-
ernment on the subject. The end was that some of the partisans of the director
attempted an insurrection at Los Angeles, in the spring of 1835, which was
easily suppressed, but furnished Figueroa the opportunity to send the director and
the heads of his faction back to Mexico. Of these, the principal was the same man
who had been sent out of California by Victoria for the same cause, a desire to have
a part in the secularization of the missions. The colony, however, remained,
and, though numbering but three hundred, was a great addition to the popula-
tion of California in those days. Among them we find the names of several
persons who afterwards became conspicuous in the country, amongst them Jose
Abrego, Jose Ma. Covarrubias, Augustin Olvera, and Francisco Guerrero.
Figueroa died at Monterey, on the 29th of September, 1835, his death being
probably hastened by the effect of the anxiety and vexation of this controversy
upon a constitution already broken. At that time his manifesto to the Mexican
republic, in which he gives a clear and forcible statement of the whole affair,
and an able vindication of his conduct, was going through the press at Monte-
rey. His death seems to have been very greatly deplored at that time, and he
is still recognized as the ablest and most upright of the Mexican governors. His
work of the political organization of California lasted but a little while ; it fell
with the overthrow of the federal constitution of 1824, by Santa Anna, in 1836.
California then became a department ; political chief was changed into governor,
and territorial deputation into departmental assembly.
These changes, however, were not fully completed in California until 1839.
The department of the Californias was then divided into three districts ; the
first extending from the frontier of Sonoma to San Luis Obispo, its principal
point or seat of administration being the old Mission of San Juan, on the Pajaro
river; the second district included the rest of Upper California, the seat of its
administration being the city of Los Angeles, which had been promoted to that
rank from the original condition of a pueblo, in the year 1835; and the third
comprised Lower California, which, after a separation, was now reunited with
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 301
Upper California. These districts were divided each into two partidos, of which,
consequently, there were four in Upper California. Ayuntamteutos were abol-
ished, and a justice of the peace substituted in each partido. For the whole dis-
trict there was a prefect, who resided at the seat of the administration of one of
the partidos, and a sub-prefect, who resided at that of the other partido. In
1843 Micheltorena, acting under extraordinary powers, made some changes in
this system, but it was substantially restored by Pio Pico, in 1845, but when
again Lower California was thrown off.
With Figueroa everything like stability, and indeed' order, passed away.
The next year after Figueroa's death, the Californiaus drove away the gover-
nor, and Don Juan B. Alvarado being at that time president of the territorial
deputation, was declared governor. After this was done the diputation went
one step further and on the 7th of November, 1836, passed these resolutions :
(V) " California is declared independent of Mexico until the re-establishment
of the constitution of 1824."
(2.) " California is erected into a free and sovereign State, establishing a con-
gress," &c., &c.
Public documents for a while were headed " Free and Sovereign State of
California." This anomalous state of things laste^ until 1838. The demands
of the free and sovereign state were not complied with, nor on the other hand
was the central government disposed or perhaps able to push the controversy
to extremes. In 1838 Alvarado was appointed governor ad interim; and con-
stitutional governor in 1839, when we have seen that the innovations of Santa
Anna took effect. Whilst California was in rebellion the president of Mexico
commissioned Carlos Antonio Carillo as governor. Alvarado refused to recog-
nize him, and accepted the aid of a party of Americans who since the time of
Jedediah Smith seem to have found their way into the country. Alvarado
prevailed over Carillo ; and his appointment as governor ad interim compro-
mised the difficulties of those times. Here is a document relating to this con-
test, which will serve to illustrate California warfare. It is the report of General
Jose Castro to Governor Alvarado, dated the 28th of March, 1838:
" I have the honor to announce to your excellency, that after two days' con-
tinual firing without having lost but one man, the enemy took to flight, under
cover of night, numbering one hundred and ten men ; and I have determined to
despatch one company of mounted infantry, under the command o£ Captain
Villa, and another of cavalry lancers, under the command of Captain Cota, in
their pursuit, remaining myself, with the rest of the division, and the artillery,
to guard this point," &c., &c.
And here is another of the same period. It now appears that the Americans
who side'd with Alvarado had fallen under suspicion and into disfavor at about
the time that their chief made up his differences with the central government
and received his commission as governor ad interim. They were all arrested,
some fifteen or twenty, perhaps, it is said, by surprise, and sent to Mexico.
Amongst them was Mr. Isaac Graham, of Santa Cruz. This paper will also
serve as a specimen of California eloquence at that period, and I commend it at
the present moment as a model to our political orators.
Proclamation made by the undersigned.
" Eternal glory to the illustrious champion and liberator of the department of
Alta California, Don Jose Castro, the guardian of order, and the supporter of
our superior government.
" Fellow citizens and friends: To-day, the eighth of May of the present year
of 1840, has been and will be eternally glorious to all the inhabitants of this
soil in contemplating the glorious expedition of our fellow-countryman, Don
Jose" Castro, who goes to present himself before the superior government of the
302 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Mexican nation, carrying with him a number of suspicious Americans, who un-
der the mask of deceit, and filled with ambition, were warping us in the web of
misfortune ; plunging us into the greatest confusion and danger ; desiring to
terminate the life of our governor and of all his subalterns ; and finally to drive
us from our asylums, from our country, from our pleasures, and from our hearths.
" The bark which carries this valorous hero on his grand commission goes filled
with laurels and crowned with triumphs, plowing the waves and publishing,
in distinct voices to the passing billows, the loud vivas and rejoicings which will
resound to the remotest bounds of the universe. Yes, fellow citizens and friends,
again we say that this glorious chief should have a place in the innermost re-
cesses of our hearts, and be held as dear to us as our very breath. Thus we
desire, and in<|he name of all the inhabitants, make known the great rejoicings
with which we are filled, giving, at the same time, to our superior government
the present proclamation which we make for said worthy chief; and that our
governor may remain satisfied that if he (Castro) has embarked for the interior
of the republic, there still remain under his (the governor's) orders all his fellow-
countrymen, companions in arms," &c., &c.
The foregoing is signed by seven citizens of note and respectabilit}7 in the
country* When this laurel-Jaden vessel reached San Bias the Mexican author-
ities took a different view of the matter. They put General Castro in prison
and Graham and his companions in the best hotel in the place, (he says a pal-
ace,) and entertained them handsomely until they could send them back to Cal-
ifornia, which they did at the expense of the government.
In 1839 Captain John A. Sutter, a man who had seen many vicissitudes and
adventures in Europe and the wilds of America, arrived in California from the
Sandwich islands. By permission of Governor Alvarado he established himself
in the valley of the Sacramento, then the extreme northern frontier. He en-
gaged to protect the Mexican settlements extending in that direction under the
colonization law (the only vital thing left of the Mexican rule for many years)
from the incursions of the Indians, and he kept his word.
In 1841 he obtained a grant of land himself and built a fort, which soon be-
came the refuge and rallying point for Americans and Europeans coming into
the country. Over all these Sutter, by virtue of an appointment as justice of
the peace, exercised whatever government there was beyond the law of the rifle.
Practically his powers were as indefinite as the territorial limits of his jurisdic-
tion. Among those who early gathered around Sutter we find the names of
John Bidwell, who came in 1841, and Pearson B.Reading and Samuel J. Hens-
ley, who came in 1843, and many others well known at the present day.
The pioneers of that day all bear testimony to the generosity of Captain Sut-
ter at a time when his fort was the capital and he the government for the Amer-
ican colony in the valley of the Sacramento. In 1844 the numbers of this
population had come to be so considerable as to be a power in the State. In the
revolution which then occurred Sutter took the side of Governor Micheltorena.
But before he marched he took the reasonable precaution, so obviously required
by justice to his men, to obtain from Micheltorena a grant of the land for which
they had respectfully petitioned. Micheltorena then issued the document known
as the General Title.
In this document he declares that every petition upon which Sutter, in his
capacity of justice of the peace, had reported favorably, should be taken as
granted, and that a copy of this document given to each petitioner should serve
in lieu of the usual formal grant. This done, he marched to the south, but
was unfortunate, !or he was taken prisoner, and Micheltoreua expelled from the
country. This is the last of the civil wars of California.
In the spring of 1846 General Castro in the north, and Pio Pico, the governor,
in the south, were waxing hot against each other, and preparing for new con-
flicts, when the apparition of Captain Fremont, with his small surveying party
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 303
of old mountaineers, and the hardy and indomitable pioneers of the Sacramento
valley, and the bear flag, put an end to their dissensions. Castro had himself
prepared the way for this aggression by driving Fremont and his surveying
party out of the Mexican settlements a few months before. The colony on the
Sacramento necessarily sympathized with Fremont ; and rumors, more or less
well founded, began to run through the valley of hostile intentions towards all
the American settlers. But resentment and anticipations of evil were not the
sole cause of this movement. There cannot now be a doubt that it was prompted
as it was approved by the government of the United States, and that Captain
Fremont obeyed his orders no less than his own feelings.
Fremont was still on the northern side of the bay of San Francisco when the
American flag was hoisted at Monterey, on the ever-memorable seventh day of
July, 1846.
Before the war the government of the United States had fully determined,
so far as that matter rested with the Executive, upon the conquest and perma-
nent retention of California as soon as the outbreak of war should offer the op-
portunity. Orders, in anticipation of war, were issued to that effect, and it was
under these orders that California was actually taken. The danger cf that day
was that England would step in before us. Her ships were watching our ships
on the coast of Mexico. The British pretext, it is said, was to have been to
secure an equivalent for the Mexican debt due to British subjects; and it is un-
derstood that there was a party here who favored this design.
Because Commodore Sloat did not rush to the execution of the orders issued
in anticipation of war, on the very first report of a collision between the United
States and Mexico, the anxious Secretary of the Navy, dreading to lose the
prize, hotly censured him in a letter which reached him after the event had
broken the sting of its reproaches, and served only to assure him how well he
had fulfilled the wishes of his government. The flag of the United States was
no sooner flying than the Collingwood entered the bay of Monterey. There
had been a race between the Collingwood and the Savannah. What a moment
that was for us, and for the world ! What if the Collingwood had been the
swifter sailer, and Sloat had found the English flag flying on the shore ! What
if we had been born on another planet ! The cast was for England or the
United States, and when the die turned for us, the interest was at sti end.
As a feat of arms the conquest of California was nothing for a power like ours.
Even more feeble and as much distracted as the rest of Mexico, and with but
a nominal dependence upon the central government, but a very little force was
sufficient to detach California forever from all her Spanish-American connections.
Whatever of military credit there was is due to the pioneers who, under the bear
flag, had, before they heard of the beginning of the war, with an admirable in-
stinct for their own rights and the interests of their country, rebelled against
any further Mexican misrule, or a sale to the British. The loyalty of their
sentiments was beautifully illustrated by the alacrity with which they relin-
quished the complete independence which appeared to be within their grasp, and
turned over their conquests and the further service of their rifles to the country
which they remembered with so much affection, and a government from which
they would suffer themselves to look for nothing but wisdom and strength, and
a tender consideration for the rights and interests of the pioneer.
For three years and a half when there was no war, and for nearly two years
after there was a declared peace, California was governed, and for a great part
of the time heavily taxed, by the executive branch of the government of the
United States, acting through military officers. This I note as an anomaly in
the experience of the citizens of this republic.
California separated from Mexico, a new people began to come in from the
United States and Europe. But California was remote and yet but little under-
stood. Mr. Webster himself spoke of her as almost worthless, except for the
304 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
bay of San Francisco, and as though the soil was as barren and thorny as the
rocks of Lower California. Emigrants came, but not many — among the most
remarkable arrivals being the ship Brooklyn, freighted with Mormons. The
soldiers themselves were nothing more than armed colonists. And everything
was peaceful and dull, until suddenly, when no man expected, there came a
change of transcendent magnitude.
Gold was discovered at Coloma. This was an event that stirred the heart ot
the whole world. The motives which pervade and most control the lives of men
were touched. All the impulses that spring from necessity and hope were
quickened ; and a movement. was visible among mankind. To get to California,
some crossed over from Buenos Ay res to Valparaiso, scaling the Andes. The
Isthmus of Darien became a common thoroughfare. Peaceful invaders entered
Mexico at every point, and on every route startled the drowsy muleteer as they
passed over to the Pacific where the coast was nearest, or pushed on directly
for California. Constant caravans issued from our own borders, traversed every
intervening prairie, and explored every pass and gap of opposing mountains.
As the long train descended to the valley, perhaps the foremost wagon is driven
by an old man, who when he was a boy moved out in this way from Virginia
to Kentucky ; and passing still from one new State to another, now when he is
grown gray halts his team at last upon the shores of the Pacific. Ships sailed
from every port on the globe. The man at the wheel, in every sea, steered by
the star that led to San Francisco. So came the emigrants of 1849. The
occupation of California was now complete, and she became a part of the world.
The sighs, the prayers, the toiling and the watching of our overwearied
countrymen on these long painful journeys are still demanding a railroad to the
Pacific.
Eleven years are passed, and have they no voice ? We looked out upon a
wide expanse — uufenced, untilled — and though nature was lovely, our hearts
sunk within us. Neither the priest nor the ranchero had prepared this country
for our habitation. We asked who shall subdue all this to our uses ? We look
again ; and now, upon a landscape chequered with smiling farms and dotted
with cities and towns, busy and humming like the hive. What magic is it that
has wrought this change ? On every hand, with one acclaim, comes back the
answer. Labor, it is labor. Of our eleven years, here is the lesson. Man's
opinions and his passions were but insolence and vanity. Boasting and praise
made but the greatness of the passing day. And labor, only labor, has survived.
However silent, however humble and unseen, or on what bestowed, it is labor
which has created California, and which rules us at this hour. With our own
eyes this we have seen, and of our knowledge we know the lesson to be as true
as it is old.
California in full possession of the white man, and embraced within the
mighty area of his civilization ! We feel the sympathies of our race attract
us. We see in our great movement hitherward in 1849 a likeness to the
times when our ancestors, their wives and little ones, and all their stuff in
wagons, and with attendant herds, poured forth by nations and in never-ending
columns from the German forests, and went to seek new pastures and to found new
kingdoms in the ruined provinces of the Roman empire : or when swayed by an-
other inspiration they cast their masses upon the Saracens, and sought to rescue
the sepulchre of Christ from the infidels. We recognize that we are but the fore-
most rank of that multitude which for centuries has held its unwavering course out
of Europe upon America, in numbers still increasing ; a vast unsummoned host,
self-marshaled, leaderless, an innumerable, moving and onward forever, to possess
and people another continent. Separated but in space, divided but by the accidents
of manners, of language and of laws — from Scandinavia to California — one blood
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 305
and one people. Knowledge is but the conservation of his thoughts, art but the
embodiment of his conceptions, letters the record of his deeds. Man of our
race has crowned the earth with its glory ! And still in the series of his works
you have founded a State. May it be great and powerful whilst the ocean shall
thunder against these shores ! You have planted a people ; may they be pros-
perous and happy whilst summers shall return to bless these fields with plenty !
And may the name of the pioneer be spoken in California forever !
Since the foregoing address was delivered the following letter has been re-
ceived by Mr. Randolph from Mr. Sprague, a gentleman well known in this
city, and interesting as showing the discovery of gold in California thirty-five
years ago :
GENOA, CARSON VALLEY, September 18, 1860.
FRIEND RANDOLPH : I have just been reading your address before the So-
ciety of Pioneers. I have known of the J. S. Smith you mention, by reputa-
tion, for many years. He was the first white man that ever went overland from
the Atlantic States to California. He was a chief trader in the employ of the
American Fur Company. At the rendezvous of the company on Green river,
near the South Pass, in 1825, Smith was directed to take charge of a party of
some forty men (trappers) and penetrate the country west of Salt lake. He
discovered what is now called Humboldt river. He called it Mary's river, from
his Indian wife Mary. It has always been known as Mary's river by moun
tain men since, a name which it should retain, for many reasons.
Smith pushed on down Mary's river ; being of an adventurous nature, when
he found his road closed by high mountains he determined to see what kind of
country there was on the other side. It is not known exactly where he crossed
the Sierra Nevada, but it is supposed that it must have been not far from where
the old emigrant road crossed near the head of the Truckee. He made his way
southerly after entering the valley of Sacramento, passed, through San Jose and
down as low as San Diego. After recruiting his party and purchasing a large
number of horses, he crossed the mountains near what is known as Walker's
Pass, skirted the eastern slope of the mountains till near what is now known
as Mono lake, when he steered an east-by-north course for Salt lake. On this
portion of his route he found placer gold in quantities, and brought much of it
with him to the encampment on Green river.
The gold that he brought with him, together with his description of the
country he had passed through, and the large amount of furs, pleased the agent
of the American Fur Company so well that he directed Smith again to make
the same trip, with special instructions to take the gold fields on his return and
thoroughly prospect them. It was on this trip that he wrote the letter to
Father Duran. The trip was successful until they arrived in the vicinity of
the gold mines, east of the mountains, when, in a battle with the Indians, Smith
and nearly all of his men were killed. A few of the party escaped and reached
the encampment on Green river. This defeat damped the ardor of the company
so much that they never looked any more for the gold mines.
There are one or more men now living who can testify to the truth of the
above statement, and who can give a fuller statement of the details of his two
journeys than I can.
The man Smith was a man of far more than average ability, and had a bet-
ter education than falls to the lot of mountain men. Few or none of them were
his equals in auv respect. ***** *
x THOMAS SPRAGUE.
EDMUND RANDOLPH, Esq., San Francisco.
H. Ex. Doc. 29 20
306 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
APPENDIX 2.
Address on the acquisition of California by the United States, delivered before
the Corporate Society of California Pioneers, at the Academy of Music, in
the city of San "Francisco, on September 10, 1866, on occasion of the sixteenth
anniversary of the admission of the State of California into the federal
Union. By John W. Dwindle, a member of that society, president of the Ethno-
Historical Society of San Francisco, member of the Ethnological Society of
New York, and of the Historical Society of New York.
MR. PRESIDENT AND BROTHER PIONEERS : It has been suggested to me, by
the committee through whose hands I received your invitation to address you
at this time, that I should give a historical character to my address. I was
glad to receive this intimation, for it accorded perfectly with my own desire.
The great events of history, when not sufficiently remote to be counted by cen-
turies, are commonly reckoned by decades, or periods of ten years. We are met
on the occasion of the sixteenth anniversary of the admission of California into
the federal Union of the United States. But, presuming upon your assent, I shall
dedicate a portion of these exercises to the celebration of two other historical
events of signal interest and importance, namely : the conquest of California by
the United ,vtates, which took place twenty years ago, on the 7th day of July,
A. D. 1846, and the foundation of San Francisco, which was consummated
ninety years ago, on the 17th day of September, A. D. 1776. Two decades
have therefore elapsed since California has become Anglo-American, and nine
decades since San Francisco was inscribed upon the map of political geography.
It will therefore be peculiarly interesting on this occasion to cast a retrospect-
ive glance into history, and to inquire how it has come to pass that we are here,
and by what title we claim to possess this fair California of ours.
IGNORANCE OF EARLY GEOGRAPHERS.
It was only by accident, after all, that Columbus discovered the vast region
of continents and islands which are now called America. He was not in quest
of new continents, nor of the golden-fruited gardens of the Hesperides. Believ-
ing, from inductive reasoning, that the earth was round, but with very imperfect
notions of its magnitude, he was firmly persuaded that by sailing in a westerly
direction from the coast of Spain, he would in due time arrive on the coast of
China, which was then classed as a portion of the Indies ; and when he dis-
covered the first American islands, believing that he had already reached the
Indies, he gave to the natives the name of Indians, which inaccurate classifi-
cation they have ever since retained. Looking over the books and maps of the
old geographers, it is curious and wonderful to observe how much they did
know, and how much they did not know, of the geography of the northwestern
coast of America for more than two hundred years after the discoveries made
by Columbus. Although Cortez, when he fell into that inevitable disgrace
with which the kings of Spain have always rewarded their greatest benefactors,
sent out various expeditions from Mexico for the exploration of the northwest-
ern coast, and even accompanied some of them as far as La Paz, in Lower Cal-
ifornia, and although the viceroys who succeeded him sent out various expedi-
tions within fifty years after the conquest of Mexico, both by sea and by land,
which must have penetrated as far north as the 42d degree of latitude, yet the
physical geography of that region remained in the most mythical condition, and
the very existence of the Bay of San Francisco was contested as fabulous by the
Spanish viceroys of New Spain less than a hundred years ago. There is in the
possession of the Odd Fellows' library of this city an engraved map of the world,
published at Venice in the year 1546, which is remarkable for its general accu-
racy, and for the beauty of its execution ; but on this map, at the latitude of San
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 307
Francisco, the American continent is represented as sweeping around in a
large circle, and forming a junction with that of Asia ; while the Colorado,
the largest river in the world, rising in the mountains of Thibet, and
meandering through a course of 15,000 or 20,000 miles, pours its vast
volume of waters into the Gulf of California. In the year 1588, a Span-
ish captain of marine, named Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado, published an ae-
count of a voyage which he pretended to have made from the Atlantic ocean,
through the Northern sea, to the Pacific, and thence to China, giving all its
geographical details and personal incidents. This apocryphal voyage proved a
delusion and a stumbling-block to historians and voyagers for more than two
hundred years, and it was not until the year 1791 that two Spanish frigates,
sent out for that purpose by authority of the King of Spain, by a thorough
exploration of the extreme northwestern coast, established the fact that a pas-
sage through the North sea did not exiet, and that the pretensions of Maldonado
were utterly false. It is only within a comparatively recent period that the fact
has been generally received in modern geography that California was connected
with the main continent, and was not an island. In Ogilvie's " America, being
the latest and most accurate account of the New World," a most elegant and
luxurious folio, published in London in the year 1671, California is laid down
as an island, extending from Cape St. Lucas, in the tropic of Cancer, to the
45th degree of latitude, and including the famous New Albion of Sir Francis
Drake. The same map is reproduced by Captain Shelvocke, of the royal navy,
in his account of his "Voyage Around the World by way of the South Sea,"
in his Majesty's ship-of-war, published in London in 1726 ; and in a geograph-
ical work published in London in the same year, by "Daniel Coxe, esq.," an
account is given of "a new and curious discovery and relation betwixt the river
Meschachebe (Mississippi) and the South sea, which separates America from
China by means of several large rivers and lakes, with a description of the
coast of the said sea to the Straits of Uries, as also of a rich and considerable
trade to be carried on from thence to Japan, China, and Tartary." I cannot
ascertain that California was relieved of its insular character among geographers
until the publication of a map by Father Begert, a missionary of the Society of
Jesus, in an account of Lower California which he printed at Manheim in the
year 1771, on his return to Germany after his order had been expelled, in 1769,
by order of the King of Spain, from the missions which they had successfully
established among the Indians of Lower California. Even after it was ad-
mitted that California was not an island, but a part of the main land, the most
indefinite notions prevailed as to the extent to which the Gulf of California
penetrated towards the north; and to the very last of the Spanish and Mexican
dominion, when any specific description was given to California in official docu-
ments, it was spoken of as a peninsula.
OUR TITLE TO CALIFORNIA.
If a Californian of ordinary historical intelligence were asked by what legal
title we assume to possess this country, after following the chain through Mexico
to Spain he would probably pause for Want of further specific information, or,
at the most, suggest that Spain derived her title to California through the right
of first discovery. If he were told that all the rights of Spain, and our rights
through her, to this land were derived entirely from a grant made to Spain by
the Pope, he would undoubtedly be greatly surprised; yet such is the historical
fact. Previous to the discovery of America by Columbus, in 1492, the Portu-
guese had discovered the Azore islands, in longitude 31 west, and on the strength
of that discovery claimed that the countries discovered by Columbus belonged
to the crown of Portugal, and that the Spaniards should be wholly excluded
from them, But the Spaniards refused to admit this pretension, and referred
308 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
the matter for decision to the then Pope, Alexander VI. It was then a part of
the law of nations, ancl of the public law of the world, that the Pope was
the ultimate source of all temporal power ; that he could make and unmake
kings, and dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth — powers which he fre-
quently exercised, and against which it were vain to contend. He was, there-
fore, by general consent, the acknowledged source of all lawful title to land.
He assumed to decide the case thus referred to his decision, and on May 3, A.
D. 1493, determined the matter in dispute between the crowns of Portugal
and Spain by drawing an imaginary line of longitude one hundred leagues
west of the Azores, and granting to the Spanish monarchs all countries
inhabited by infidels which they had already discovered, or might afterwards
discover, lying to the west, and to the crown of Portugal all those lying to the
east of that line. This line was afterwards removed two hundred and seventy
leagues further to the west, by a treaty subsequently made, in the year 1494,
between the Kings of Portugal and Spain ; but so thoroughly was the title thus
conceded by the Pope respected by the civilized world that when Henry VII
of England was afterwards about to intrude upon "some of the dominions thus
granted to Spain, he abandoned his project 011 being warned by the Pope to
desist. Our title to California is therefore deduced from the grant by the Pope
to Spain, from Spain by revolution to Mexico, from Mexico by conquest and
treaty to the United States, and from the United States, by the operation of
various grants and political acts, to the State and people of California.
At the time when this partition was thus made by the Pope between the
crowns of Spain and Portugal, the earth was supposed to consist of a large
plain, even although Columbus had been prompted to his discoveries from his in-
ference that the earth was a sphere, because in eclipses it cast a circular shadow
tipon the disc of the moon. It was not until the voyage of Magellan, concluded
in the year 1521, by which they reached the Spice islands of Portugal, in the
East Indies, by sailing westward from Spain, that it was proved by actual
demonstration that the earth was round, and the world learned that neither our
spiritual teachers, nor even the Scriptures themselves, were given to us to teach
us lessons in geography.
OUR POSITION HERE NOT AN ACCIDENTAL ONE.
Our position, as possessors of this land of realized promise and of future hope,
is by no means an accidental one. The popular notion probably is that the
acquisition of California by the United States was one of the accidental conse-
quences of our war with Mexico, which broke out in 1846. On the contrary,
the acquisition of California by the United States was the result of plans long
matured and persistently followed, and of a train of causes carefully laid by the
government of the United States, during nearly half a century before its con-
summation. Nay, more : not only the United States, but the governments of
England, France, and Russia had determined to acquire California ; and it was
only by superior promptness and skill that the United States finally became
the winners in the race. The very plan lately attempted to be put into execu-
tion by the Emperor of the French, of placing and maintaining an Austrian
archduke upon an imperial throne in Mexico, was not conceived by Napoleon
III, but was matured and published to the .world by the government of Louis
Philippe as early as the year 1844, four years before the French revolution of
1848, and was a part of a scheme devised by the French government to pre-
vent England or the United States from getting possession of Mexico, in case
France could not gain it for herself. From this programme, published by the
order of Louis Philippe by Marshal Soult, his minister of war, we shall gather
easily the charges made by France against Mexico before the tribunal of the
public opinion of the world, by which Louis Philippe attempted to justify, in
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 300
advance, that intervention in the affairs of Mexico which his government was
the first to propose, and which that of Napoleon III has since attempted to
effectuate. The following are the principal features of these charges :
JLOUIS PHILLIPPE'S BILL OF INDICTMENT AGAINST MEXICO.
Mexico was always prosperous under the rule of her Spanish kings. Private
enterprises succeeded; agriculture and mines were successful and remunerative;
public works were constructed of utility, magnitude, and permanence ; religion
and public and private morality prevailed ; the finances of the country were suc-
cessful and prosperous ; the people were contented and happy. The attainment
of independence from the mother country has completely reversed these happy
conditions. There is now no security for property or for private enterprise. The
agriculture of the country is becoming reduced to the rudest processes, its products
are diminishing from year to year, and the lands are returning to waste ; the mines
are neglected and deserted, and falling into a state of ruin. Public works are no
longer constructed, and those which were erected under the dominion of Spain
are mostly deserted and falling into a condition of dilapidation and ruin. The
priesthood is becoming corrupt, and public and private morals are rapidly fall-
ing to the lowest point of degradation. The finances of the country have long
since been in a condition of insolvency, and the expenditures have for many
years exceeded the receipts by an annual deficiency of several millions of dol-
lars. The army is composed of bandits ; it is recruited by taking from the
public prisons convicted murderers and other malefactors, who have yet to serve
a term of imprisonment not less than ten years, and granting them a free pardon
on condition of their serving five years as soldiers. The officers of the army,
who, under the government of Spain, belonged to distinguished and educated
families, are now drawn from the most despicable classes, or rise by promotion
from the ranks of this bandit soldiery ; and the disproportion of officers is so
great that the army of 20,000 soldiers is commanded by 84,000 officers, who
are entirely deficient in military faith and personal honor ; they murder in cold
blood their political and military prisoners ; they protect robbers and share
their spoils ; they are accomplices in assassination and murder ; and theft si
practiced by every one from the President of the republic down to the lowest
officers of the custom-house. Republican Mexico has always been the enemy
of France, oppressed her commerce, and practiced the moat atrocious tyranny
upon our citizens resident in her territory. She has discriminated against
French products, first by her tariffs, and afterwards in the manner in which she
has executed her custom-house regulations. She has, on the most frivolous
and unlawful pretences, confiscated the property of French merchants, for
which acts of robbery and violence she owes them at this time several millions
of dollars, for which she refuses to make them the least compensation. She
has thus fallen to the lowest condition of insolvency, brigandage, and ruin.
She is a public nuisance and robber on the highway of nations ; and any
nation, especially those having claims against her, has a right, as a matter of
international policy, to interfere and establish a solid government in Mexico,
which shall fulfil the obligations of national faith towards the •world, maintain
order, decency, and morality, and secure life, liberty, and property within her
own borders. This can be done only by the establishment of a Mexican mon-
archy ; for republican institutions have been tried there, and have resulted in an
utter and hopeless failure. The best citizens of Mexico desire the re-establisn-
ment of a monarchy ; those who are distinguished for their piety, morality,
culture, and the possession of property are willing to pledge themselves in ad-
vance to the support of the movement. Some of her most distinguished states-
men, in the face of threats of assassination, have already publicly declared, in
the capital of Mexico, that the adoption of this plan presented the only possible
310 EESOUECES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
hope for the restoration of Mexico to a condition of respectability and pros-
perity. " But there are certain conditions necessary to the success of this
scheme. The new monarchs of Mexico must he Catholic, and must have fam-
ily ties connecting them with the dynasties which formerly ruled in Mexico.
The infantas of Spain, the French princes, and the archdukes of Austria possess
these requisites, and any one of them would be unanimously welcomed by the
Mexican population. The establishment of any monarchy whatsoever in Mex-
ico is of the greatest importance to the policy of France, for a stable govern-
ment erected there would at once remove the disabilities and oppression to which
our commerce and citizens are subjected in that country ; and this can easily
be accomplished, for a column of 3,000 infantry, and a few vessels-of-war dis-
tributed upon the Atlantic and Pacific coasts are all that is wanted to subdue
the empire of Montezuma, whose conquest would be easier to-day than it was
in the time of Hernando Cortez !"
LOUIS PHILIPPE ENFORCES THE NECESSITY OF PROMPT ACTION.
But, continues the programme, if a Catholic monarchy is to be established in
Mexico, it should be done at once. The English, among all foreign nations,
have a preponderating political and commercial interest in Mexico. English
subjects own a large portion of the funded debt of Mexico, upon which the
annual interest is not paid, although pretended to be secured by an illusory
charge upon the customs. She is ready, therefore, at any moment, to make
this a pretext for seizing any portion of the coast or territory of the republic.
She has already acknowledged the independence of the revolted provinces of
Texas, with a view of taking them under her protection, or of establishing even
more intimate political relations with them. She has by her intrigues hitherto
prevented the United States from acquiring any portion of the Mexican terri-
tory ; and, if she retains her present influence at Mexico, and still more, if
she adds to it by gaining any territory there, or in any other manner, the
results cannot fail to be most disastrous to the interests of France.
The United States, too, have for more than forty years looked upon the
territories of Mexico with that covetousness of acquisition which has ever
distinguished that 'energetic people. The expedition of Burr would have
been hailed with favor if it had been successful, and his acquittal by a jury
must be taken as evidence of the popular sentiment in favor of the objects of
his expedition. After the purchase of Louisiana from France, and by the
treaty of Florida, so called, and by other subsequent treaties, the United States
gained a large extension of territory in the direction of the Pacific, and brought
down their possessions in Oregon and on the Pacific coast to the forty-second
parallel of latitude. They even sought, by other propositions communicated
to the court of Spain for the avowed purpose of defining the boundaries be-
tween the two countries south of that parallel, and proposing limits which were
altogether too vague for geographical or political boundaries, but which they
would have found sufficiently specific for the purpose of intrusion, to gain a
further extension of territory in the direction of New Mexico ; but these latter
propositions werft indignantly rejected by the Spanish monarchy. But since
the establishment of Mexican independence, and the weakness, demoralization
and ruin which have resulted from it, Mexico has seemed to the United
States to have become an easy prey to their grasping ambition. They
have permitted their own citizens to pass in armed bands over their borders
into Texas, and there to stir up revolt, which has culminated in successful
revolution ; they have acknowledged the independence of that country with the
view to its annexation to the Union as one of the federal States. A treaty of
annexation is at this moment in progress between Texas and the United States,
and will doubtless be accomplished as the crowning act of the present aclminis-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 311
tration of President Tyler. When that treaty is ratified by the contracting
parties, the military establishment of Texas will be occupied by the forces of
the United States, and war will immediately ensue between the United States
and the Mexican republic. That war can issue in but one result : the armies
of the United States will overrun and occupy the territories of the weaker
republic, and they will be at once and forever absorbed in the domain of the
federal Union. If France, therefore, determines to protect her interests by the
establishment of a Catholic monarchy in Mexico, she should act promptly *nd
decisively.
LOUIS PHILIPPE CONSIDERS THE DOMINION OF THE UNITED STATES IN MEXICO
PREFERABLE TO THAT OF ENGLAND.
But if Mexico is still to exist under a republican government, it is much
better for the interests of France that she should be absorbed by the North
American Union than that England should either maintain or increase her
influence there. The people of the United States have a strong instinct for a
government of law, and even the administration of their famous " lynch law,"
in their newly settled territories, arises from their sentiment of order. Under
their rigid administration, the persons and property of French citizens in Mex-
ico would be protected and respected, and we should not be compelled to make
vain reclamations on the government for official robberies and confiscations.
The sentiment of the people of the United States is favorable and even
friendly to France, and under their dominion we should not have occasion to
complain of odious and hostile discriminations against cmr commerce, and what
we should gain in these respects, England would be certain to lose. She would
no longer be the nation favored either by the terms of the laws, or by their vio-
lation in her behalf, but would be reduced, at least, to a position of equal com-
petition in matters of commerce, which is all that France desires. Our property
would be respected, the lives of our citizens would be secured, and, on equal
terms, we could exchange our products for the agricultural and mineral riches of
Mexico.
GRANDEUR OF THE AMERIGO-MEXICAN DOMINION.
This programme of the government of Louis Philippe concludes with a pre-
diction of the future greatness of the United States, which might well excite the
envy of the most enthusiastic eulogist of " the American bird of liberty :"
" If this takes place, the Union will command the Pacific ocean, through that
part of the territory of Oregon which will belong to her — through California and
the western coast of Mexico, Guatemala, Central America, and New Granada.
On the east, she will be mistress of the Atlantic coast, from Canada to the Isth-
mus of Darien, and thus will threaten the group of islands situated at the entrance
of the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean sea."
FAILURE OF THE FRENCH PROGRAMME IN MEXICO.
It is instructive to pause a moment and contemplate the results of this pro-
posed scheme for the overthrow of republican institutions and the establishment
of a monarchy in Mexico. Louis Philippe, its responsible author, and the crafty
schemer who prostituted the interests of France to the aggrandizement of his
own family, and who had thus published to the world this libellous imputation
of degeneracy and weakness against the republic of Mexico, was himself, within
four years afterwards, driven from the throne, and his dynasty subverted, with-
out his having the courage to permit a single musket-shot to be fired in their
defence. His scheme has since been taken up by his successor, Napoleon III,
a monarch of greater sagacity, resources, and force of will. But the Mexican
312 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
population has not received an Austrian archduke as their emperor with unani-
mous acclamations; a column of three thousand men lias not conquered -the
Empire of Montezuma; and the republic of Mexico still lives !
ATTEMPTS OF VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS TO ACQUIRE CALIFORNIA.
But while a covetousness of all the territories of the Mexican republic was
thus charged upon some of the great political powers of the world, upon circum-
stances of mere suspicion, the desire to acquire California was openly avowed
by several of them, and made equally manifest by the acts of others. France,
in particular, endeavored to qualify herself for the conquest of California, by a
previous exploration of the country of the most thorough and accurate character.
In 1841, Marshal Soult, the French minister of war, detached from the French
legation at Mexico one of its attaches, M. Duflot de Mofras, a gentleman per-
fectly competent for that purpose, with directions to make a thorough explora-
tion of California in respect to military resources, geography, agriculture, natural
history, meteorology, geology, population, and civil and political history. This
work he accomplished during a sojourn of two years, during which, as he him-
self states, he visited every mission, every village, and every rancho in Califor-
nia. The results of his exploration were published to the world by the French
government at the same time with their programme in regard to Mexico, of which
I have above spoken. This publication was accompanied with charts of all the
harbors on the coast of California, with their soundings ; with the most explicit
and accurate directions for entering them from the ocean; and with plans of all
the forts and presidios of California, which were so accurate that a distinguished
military officer of the United States, to whom I lent them, was enabled to re-
trace, at San Diego, the lines of some of the old fortifications there, respecting
which the officers in command at that station could not obtain any other reliable
information.
I shall trespass upon the patience of my audience by reproducing many of the
details of the report of this remarkable exploration. The inhabitants, saidDe Mofras,
in substance, are very friendly to France, for they are tired of the republic, and
desire a return to the old form of government. They hate the Americans, because
they are rapacious, protestant, and republican. They incline towards France,
because she is monarchical, powerful, catholic, and is of the same Latin race to
which they themselves belong. They have a presentiment of the approaching
downfall of the Mexican republic, and would hail in advance their annexation
to a strong European monarchy. The Americans, however, and the English,
have set their hearts upon the acquisition of California. England has already
offered to take California in payment of that portion of the public debt of
Mexico which is held by British subjects, amounting to several millions sterling
and to liquidate that debt herself, while the United States have already offered
$5,000,000 for that portion of California lying north of a line of latitude drawn
at equal distances from the bay cf San Francisco and that of Monterey.
While I was at San Francisco I visited a fleet of American vessels-bf-war
(Wilkes's exploring expedition) lying in the harbor there, and was received
hospitably on board by the officers, who made no secret of the fact that they
were executing a thorough survey of the harbor and of the surrounding country.
During my stay in California I also visited English men-of-war lying in the
same harbor, an$ evidently sent there for the same purpiose. English men-of-war
are almost always constantly cruising on the coast, as if waiting for a pretext
or opportunity to seize the country. The Americans have constantly a naval
force upon the coast, with instructions to seize the capital upon probable in-
formation of a rupture between Mexico and the United States. And in the
year 1842, Commodore Jones, upon such a rumor, which afterwards proved to
be unfounded, actually seized Monterey, the capital of California, and raised the
WEST OP THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 313
American flag there; Jmt, upon learning that the information upon which he
had acted was not true, he restored the place to ,the California authorities;
"yet, in my opinion, having once taken it, he would have done better to have
kept it, and also to have seized the port of San Francisco." There are many
persons in California who are friendly to France, and who can be very useful
to us; one of our countrymen, Maturin, at San Francisco; Baric, a French-
man, at Los Angeles ; Sunol, a Spaniard by birth, who served in the French
navy, who speaks our language well, who was on the French brig which
Napoleon quitted, in 1815, when he surrendered himself to the captain of the
Bellerophon. The most important point on the northwestern coast of the
Pacific is the port of San Francisco, which is in reality the key of the north-
west coast of America and of the northern Pacific ocean, Captain Beechey,
of the royal British navy, in 1813, describes it as being " sufficiently extensive to
contain all the British navy, well sheltered, and with good anchorage every where,
surrounded with a country varied with hills and valleys, partly wooded anil
partly of fine pasturage, and abounding with cattle of every kind." " It is
easy to enter this harbor from the ocean," says De Mofras ; <k one should, after
crossing the bar, lay well to the south, having the island of Alcatraz on a line
with the fort, and then, on approaching the gate or strait, one should keep in
the centre until Point Bonita is well passe/l, and then sail well over to the
north. There is a dangerous reef, called Blossom rock, which lies on a line
drawn from the southwestern point of Yerba Buena island and that of Alcatraz,
which is to be avoided; but just behind the point of Saucelito lives an English-
man, who is married to a native Californian, one Captain Richardson, who is
captain of the port, and an excellent pilot. There is no military force in Cali-
fornia. There are no garrisons at the presidios. The gun-carriages at the forts
have rotted away, and the guns, which were mostly cast at Manilla, more than
a hundred years ago, lie rusting on the ground. It is perfectly clear that Cali-
fornia will belong to whatsoever nation will take the trouble to send there a ship-
of-war and two hundred soldiers."
EFFORTS OF THE UNITED STATES TO OBTAIN POSSESSION OF CALIFORNIA.
Having thus giving a re'sume of the French report of our own intentions and
desires respecting the acquisition of California, I shall endeavor to give an au-
thentic account of them, and of those of other governments. It is true, as above
stated, that the English offered to receive Upper California in payment of a portion
of the public debt of Mexico ; and it is also undoubtedly true that the English
were prepared to avail themselves of the pretext of an indemnity for that debt
to take possession of California upon any favorable conjuncture. It is also true
that the acquisition of California had long been an object much desired by the
government of the United States. As early as the year 1835 President Jackson
proposed to the government of Mexico to purchase that portion lying east and
north of a line drawn from the Gulf of Mexico along the eastern bank of the Rio
Bravo del Norte up to the 37th degree of north latitude, and thence along that
parallel to the Pacific ocean. This would have included within the proposed
cession to the United States all the Bay of San Francisco, and the territory to
the north and east of it, and have left to the south the bay of Monterey. This
proposition was favorably received by the Mexican government, and would
doubtless have been accepted had i\ not been for the intrigues and powerful re-
monstrances of the British diplomatic representatives. The American govern-
ment, however, did not relinquish its designs, nor desist in the execution of its
plans for promoting the desired result. It continued to encourage and protect
the emigration of its citizens to California. It caused to be made scientific and
popular explorations by land, such as those of Fremont, and by sea, such as
those sucessfully and thoroughly made by Wilkes's exploring expedition.
314 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
Indeed, it is more than suspected that the main object of organizing Wilkes's
exploring expedition was a thorough hydrographic survey of the harbor of San
Francisco and its tributaries — a work which was so well accomplished that the
maps and soundings of the bays and rivers from San Francisco to Sacramento,
which were made on that occasion, are reliable to the present time. What Fre-
mont's instructions were on his last expedition to California is a well-kept cabi-
net secret, which will probably not be divulged, at least in our time ; but it is
evident from his course of action that he was directed, in case of receiving reli-
able information of the breaking out of war, to do all in his power to secure
possession of California. It is also very certain that the commanders of the
American men-of-war cruising on the coast of California had explicit instructions
not to suffer the country to fall into the hands of any other power. And the
popular impression is that the English were about to take possession of Cali-
fornia, and were prevented only by the seizure of Monterey by Commodore Sloat
on the 7th of July, 1846.
MOVEMENTS OF THE CALIFORNIANS IN RELATION TO THEIR ANNEXATION TO A
FOREIGN POWER.
Meanwhile the natives of California, with that instinctive apprehension of the
coming storm which seems to prevail in the political as well as in the natural
world, began to consult upon the policy of preventing the anticipated acts of
foreign governments by declaring their independence of Mexico, and placing
California under the protection of some great political power. In the year 1836
Don Juan Bautista Alvarado revolted against Mexico, and by the aid of sixty
American riflemen, headed by Isaac Graham, drove Gutierrez, the constitutional
governor of California, out of the department, and was himself proclaimed gov-
ernor in his stead. Acting in conjunction with General Mariano Gaudalupe
Vallejo and Don Jose Castro, and aiming at annexation with the United States,
he declared California to be completely independent of Mexico, and erected into
a free and sovereign state — el Estado libre y sober ana de la Alt a California —
and raised a flag like that of the United States, but with a single star. This re-
volt was finally abandoned on certain concessions being made by the central gov-
ernment, including the appointment of Alvarado as constitutional governor. In
1842 President Santa Anna sent General Manuel Micheltorena to California as
governor and commandant general, with 150 persons to act as officials, and
an army of 300 convicts, drawn from the prisons of Mexico.* But he
0 I should not dare to credit this act of Santa Anna if it were not officially substantiated
beyond any doubt. It was published at the time, at Mexico, in El Observador Judicial
y de Legislation, 1842, vol. i, p. 372, and also afterwards, in the Coleccion de las Decrctos y
Ordenes de Interes Comun, que dicto el gobierno provisional en virtud de las bases de Tncubaya,
Mexico: Imprenta de J. M. Lara, 1850, page 352, under date of February 22, A. D. 1842,
and is in the following terms :
" MINISTERIO DE JUSTICIA E INSTRUCTION PUBLICA.
" Exmo. Senor el exnio. Senor Presidente Provisional, en uso de la Facultad que concede
et art. 7° de las bases acordadas en Tacubaya y juradas por los represeritantes de los departa-
mentos, ha tenido a cien disponer : que de los reos senteuciados a presidio que existan en las
earceles de esta capital, se destinen trescientos al departamento de California^ escogiendo al
efecto a los que sengan algun oficio 6 industria util ; en el concepto de que si al llegar & aquel
destino hubieren guardado buena conducta, a juicio del gobierno departmental, se les recajar£
una parte de su cond6na, o se les indultara del todo, segun los servicios que prestaren, y
aun se auxiliara a sus familias para que vayan £ unirse con ellos, dandoles terrenos y los in-
strumeritos que necesiten para colonizar: (with the purpose of rebating a part or the whole
of their term of punishment, according to the services they render; and also their families
shall be assisted to join them, and lands and implements of cultivation furnished them.)
"Lo quetengo el honor de cornunicar a V. E. para su debido cumplimiento, y que sesirva
hacer saber esta suprema disposition a los presidiarios que al indicate efecto fueren escogidos.
"Exmo. Senor Gobernador del Departamento de Mexico."
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 315
too, after a stormy administration, was forced to retire, in the year 1845, after
having stipulated with the insurgents by the treaty of Cahuenga — so styled
from the rancho of that name where it was conducted — that he and his adher-
ents might march away with their side arms with all the honors of war. The
crisis of severance from the mother republic became every day more inevitable.
Dissatisfied as the Californians were with the exactions and oppressions of the
central government, and with the importation from Mexico of a convict soldiery,
who graduated from the camp to become turbulent citizens or ferocious bandits,
the question of secession from Mexico was freely discussed and its policy ap-
proved. They differed only as to what great political power should be invoked
for protection and annexation. The departmental assembly of California, in the
year 1846, passed a law for the election of delegates to a junta, or extraordi-
nary convention, to be styled "The general council of the united pueblos of the
Californias : el concejo general de Jos pueblos unidos de California," which was
to meet at Santa Barbara on June 15, 1846, for the purpose of determining the
destiny of California. Meanwhile the resident consuls and agents of the three
great powers which were striving for the possession of California— Forbes for
Great Britain, Guys for France, and Larkin for the United States — commenced
their movements and counter movements, each hoping to gain the predominat-
ing influence in the coming convention. But the result of an informal meeting
of some of the leading men of California, at the house of Don Jose Castro, in
Monterey, dissipated all these hopes, and showed that the convention, even if
held, must prove an utter failure. On that occasion a native Californian, whom
it would be invidious to mention, as he is now a loyal citizen of California, but
who then represented the monarchical party, spoke as follows : *
" Excellent Sirs, to what a deplorable condition is our country reduced !
Mexico, professing to be our mother and our protectress, has given us neither
arms, nor money, nor the materials of war for our defence. She is not likely
to do anything in our behalf, although she is quite willing to afflict us with her
extortionate minions, who come hither in the guise of soldiers and civil officers
to harass and oppress our people. We possess a glorious country, capable of
attaining a physical arid moral greatness corresponding with the grandeur and
beauty which an Almighty hand has stamped upon the face of our beloved Cali-
fornia. But although nature has been prodigal, it cannot be denied that we are
not in a position to avail ourselves of her bounty. Our population is not large,
and it is sparsely scattered over valley and mountain, covering an immense
area of virgin soil, destitute of roads, and traversed with difficulty ; hence it is
hardly possible to collect an army of any considerable force. Our people are
poor, as well as few, and cannot well govern themselves and maintain a decent
show of sovereign power. Although we live in the midst of plenty, we lay up
nothing ; but, tilling the earth in an imperfect maner, all our time is required to
procure subsistence for ourselves and our families. Thus circumstanced, we
find ourselves threatened by hordes of Yankee emigrants, who have already
begun to flock into our country, and whose progress we cannot arrest. Already
have the wagons of that perfidious people scaled the almost inaccessible summit
of the Sierra Nevada, crossed the entire continent, and penetrated the fruitful
valley of the Sacramento. What that astonishing people will next undertake,
I cannot say ; but in whatever enterprise they embark, they will be sure to prove
successful. Already are these adventurous land-voyagers spreading themselves
The alleged design of converting California into a convict colony was only a flimsy pre-
text for furnishing Micheltoreua with three hundred desperate soldiers ; still, it is interesting
to know that the intention of making our State the Botany Bay of Mexico was once thus
officially announced.
* The speeches which follow were reduced to writing at the time, by the late Thomas O.
Larkin, then American consul at Monterey. The first had already been delivered, in sub-
stance, in the Departmental Assembly.
316 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
far and wide over a country which seems suited to their taste. They are cul-
tivating farms, establishing vineyards, erecting mills, sawing up lumber, build-
ing workshops, and doing a thousand other things which seem natural to them,
but which Califomians neglect or despise. What, then, are we to do 1 Shall
we remain supine, while these daring strangers are overrunning our fertile plains,
and gradually outnumbering and displacing us ? Shall these incursions go on
unchecked, until we shall become strangers in our own land ? We cannot suc-
cessfully oppose them by our own unaided power, and the swelling tide of
emigration renders the odds against us more , powerful every day. We cannot
stand alone against them, nor can we creditably maintain our independence
even against them, nor can we creditably maintain our independence even against
Mexico ; but there is something which we can do, which will elevate our country,,
strengthen her at all points, and yet enable us to preserve our identity and re-
main masters of our own soil. Perhaps what I am about to suggest may seem
to some faint-hearted and dishonorable. But to me it does not appear so. It
is the last hope of a feeble people, struggling against a tyrannical government,
which claims their submission at home, and threatened by bands of avaricious
strangers from without, voluntarily to connect themselves with a power able and
willing to defend and preserve them, It is the right and duty of the weak to
demand support from the strong, provided the demand be made upon terms
just to both parties. I see no dishonor in this last refuge of the oppressed and
powerless, and I boldly avow that such is the step I would now have California
take. There are two great powers in Europe, which seem destined to divide
between them the unappropriated countries of the world. They have large
fleets and armies not unpracticed in the art of war. Is it not better to connect
ourselves with one of these powerful nations than to struggle on without hope,
as we are doing now ] Is it not better that one of them should be invited to
send a fleet and an army to protect California, rather than we should fall an easy
prey to the lawless adventurers who are overrunning our beautiful country ? I
pronounce for annexation to France or England, and the people of California will
never regret having taken my advice. They will no longer be subjected to the
trouble and grievous expense of governing themselves, and their beef, and their
grain, which they produce in such abundance, would find a ready market among
the new comers. But I hear some one say, "No monarchy !" But is not mon-
archy better than anarchy] Is not existence in some shape better than anni-
hilation ? No monarchy ! And what is there so terrible in a monarchy ? Have
we not all lived under a monarchy far more despotic than that of France or
England, and were not our people happy under it ? Have not- the leading men
among our agriculturists been bred beneath the royal rule of Spain, and have
they been happier since the mock republic of Mexico has supplied its place ?
Nay, does not every man abhor the miserable abortion christened the republic
of Mexico, and look back with regret to the golden days of the Spanish mon-
archy ? Let us restore that glorious era. Then may our people go quietly to
their ranches, and live there as of yore, leading a merry and thoughtless life,
untroubled by politics or cares of state, sure of what is their own, and safe
from the incursions of the Yankees, who would soon be forced to retreat into
their own country."
To these arguments General Mariano Gr. Vallejo,-a native of California, whom
we are proud to number among the members of this society, and who has not
lost our esteem in consequence of the assaults macle upon him by those who
have succeeded in confiscating so large a portion of that landed property of the
native Californians, whose possession was guaranteed to them by the treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, replied as follows :
" I cannot, gentlemen, coincide in opinion with the military and civil func-
tionaries who have advocated the cession of 'our country to France or England.
It is most true that to rely any longer upon Mexico to govern and defend us
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 317
would be idle and absurd. To this extent I fully agree with my distinguished
colleagues. It is true that we possess a noble country, every way calculated, from
position and resources, to become great and powerful. For that very reason I
would not have her a mere dependence upon a foreign monarchy, naturally alien,
or at least indifferent to our interests and our welfare. It is not to be denied that
feeble nations have in former times thrown themselves upon the protection of their
powerful neighbors. The Britons invoked the aid of the warlike Saxons, and fell
an easy prey to their protectors, who seized their lands and treated them as slaves.
Long before that time, feeble and distracted provinces had appealed for aid to
the all-conquering arms of imperial Rome, and they were at the same time pro-
tected and subjugated by their grasping ally. Even could we tolerate the idea
of dependence, ought we to go to distant Europe for a master ? What possi-
ble sympathy could exist between us and a nation separated from us by
two vast oceans ? But waiving this insuperable objection, how could we
endure to come under the dominion of a monarch ? — for although others
speak lightly of a form of government, as a freeman I cannot do so. We
are republicans. Badly governed and badly situated as we are, still we
are all, in sentiment, republicans. So far as we are governed at all, we, at
least, profess to be self-governed. Who, then, that possesses true patriotism
will consent to subject himself and children to the caprices of a foreign king
and his official minions ? But, it is asked, if we do not throw ourselves upon
the protection of France or England, what shall we do ] I do not come here to
support the existing order of things, but I come prepared to propose instant and
effective action to extricate our country from her present forlorn condition. My
opinion is made up that we must persevere in throwing off the galling yoke
of Mexico and proclaim our independence forever. We have endured her
official cormorants and her villanous soldiery until we can endure no longer.
All will probably agree with me that we ought at once to rid ourselves of what
may remain of Mexican domination. But some profess to doubt our ability to
maintain our position. To my mind there comes no doubt. Look at Texas
and see how long she withstood the power of united Mexico. The resources of
Texas were not to be compared with ours, and she was much nearer to her enemy
than we are. Our position is so remote, either by land or sea, that we are in no
danger from a Mexican invasion. Why, then, should we hesitate still to assert our
independence ? We have indeed taken the first step by electing our own governor ;
but another remains to be taken. I will mention it plainly and distinctly. It is an-
nexation to the United States. In contemplating this consummation of our destiny
I feel nothing but pleasure, and I ask you to share it. Discard old prejudices, dis-
regard old customs, and prepare for the glorious change which awaits our coun-
try. Why should we shrink from incorporating ourselves with the happiest
and freest nation in the world, destined soon to be the most wealthy and power-
ful ? Why should we go abroad for protection, when this great nation is our
adjoining neighbor ? When we join our fortune to hers we shall not become
subjects, but fellow-citizens, possessing all the rights of the people of the United
States, and choosing our own federal and local rulers. We shall have a stable
government and just laws. California will grow strong and flourish, and her
people will be prosperous, happy, and free. Look not, therefore, with jealousy
upon the hardy pioneers who scale our mountains and cultivate our unoccupied
plains, but rather welcome them as brothers who come to share with us a com'
mon destiny."
Upon the conclusion of these remarks General Vallejo and his friends retired
in a body from the meeting, and he immediately addressed a letter to the gov-
ernor reaffirming the views which he had expressed, and declared that he would
never assist in any project for annexation to any nationality except that of the
United States, or hold any office under any government which proposed to sur-
render California to any European monarchy ; and thereupon he and his sup-
318 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
porters retired to their homes. This movement on the part of General Vallejo
destroyed the prospects of the convention, so that, although its members were
elected, it never met for want of a quorum ; and within a few months thereafter
California was in the possession of the United States, by the taking of Mon-
terey, by Commodore Sloat, on July 7, A. D. 1846.
ENDEAVORS OF RUSSIA TO OCCUPY CALIFORNIA.
Meanwhile the Russians had for some time been quietly insinuating them-
selves upon the northern coast of California, with a view to its permanent occu-
pation. In the year 1812 they established themselves at the port of Bodega,
having previously obtained permission to do so from the authorities of Spain, for
the alleged purpose of maintaining fisheries and hunting for furs. But already,
as early as the year 1815, they had established large ranches in the interior,
had purchased cattle of the Spanish inhabitants, and had devoted themselves to
the rearing of herds and the production of wheat. During the revolutionary
troubles in Mexico, the Russians held themselves to have become the actual
owners of the territory which they occupied. About forty miles from Bodega,
beyond the river San Sebastian, they constructed a fort, which they called
Slawianski, but which the Mexicans designated as the Fort of Ross. Over this
floated the Russian flag, and a military governor was in command, appointed by
the Czar of Russia. So carefully was this military colony fostered by its own
government, that it possessed one-sixth of the white population of California in
the year 1842. But, on the final acquisition of California by the United States,
the military colony was withdrawn, and most if not all the Russian population
retired at or about the same time.
THESE VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE MINERAL WEALTH
OF CALIFORNIA.
When we consider what the causes were which have so rapidly developed
California to her present position, it seems surprising to us that the existence of
precious metals within her limits was not only not suspected, but was even most
authoritatively denied. The acquisition of California was considered desirable
by all these nations, because it was known that her conditions of climate and
soil were such, that her agricultural sources and productions must be almost
incalculable ; that she must become the seat of an immense population of a
highly civilized and prosperous people, and there form the nucleus of an empire of
political and commercial power which must exert a controlling influence over all the
coasts of the Pacific ocean. The United States, in particular, found themselves
almost in contiguity with the future seat of so much prosperity, wealth, and
power, and naturally desired that it should become their own. But although
rumors of the existence of gold in California had occasionally been heard, still
they had never been verified, or traced to any reliable source ; and they were
regarded as we now regard the fabulous stories of the golden sands of Gold
lake, or those of " Silver Planches," which are said to exist in the inaccessible
deserts of Arizona. It seems strange to us, that, when the geological character
of this country was so well known and so minutely described, the existence of
the precious metals in any large quantity should have been so explicitly denied.
De Mofras uses the following language :
" There are no minerals which can be exported from California. The mines
of silver and of lead which are situated near Monterey are known only by the
result of some very simple assays. Some deposits of marble, of copper and iron,
some traces of mineral coal which are found near Santa Cruz, some mines of
ochre, sulphur, asphaltum, kaolin, and of salt, have not been examined with
sufficient care. The only mine at present operated in this country is a vein of
virgin gold near the mission of San Fernando, which yields about an ounce a
day of pure gold, and is worked by a Frenchman named Baric.
WEST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 319
"The geological constitution of the soil of California is very simple. The
base of the Rocky mountains is formed of granites of various colors, sometimes
whitish with spots of black, sometimes gray or red ; above are stratifications of
gneiss, hornblende, quartz and talcose slate, similar to those which in Mexico
enclose veins of gold, micaceous schist, and talcose schist."
And yet, with all this explicit description, which gave rise to the recorded
suggestion that this geological formation was the same as that which in Mex-
ico contained veins of gold,vit never occurred to anyone of the statesmen or ex-
plorers who interested themselves in the acquisition of California that mines of
the precious metals existed within her limits.*
OUR GRATITUDE TO THE GIVER OF THIS GIFT.
We have thus shown that our position in California is not an accidental one,
but was the result of a long train of causes in which human agencies were ac-
tively at work. We should do injustice to ourselves, on this occasion, if we did
not give utterance to higher sentiments than those of admiration for the patriot-
ism of our fathers and the skill of our statesmen. We do not entertain those
notions of modern atheism, thinly disguised under the epithet of pantheism,
which limit the operative creation of God to the diffusion of a thin, gaseous sub-
stance throughout infinite space, upon which he set the impress of his law and
then went to sleep, leaving the existing universe to be evolved from a succession
of vortices. We do not believe that the whole animal and vegetable creations
have been evolved from bubbles of albumen, nor even that pantheistical philos-
ophers are only fully developed baboons, however probable this latter might
seem. This theory was first popularly presented to the world in a most shal-
low and unscientific work called The Vestiges of Creation, whose author never
dared to expose himself to general ridicule by revealing his name, because, just
after the publication of his book, Lord Rosse turned his tremendous telescope
upon the gaseous pantheistic nebulae, and instantly resolved them into fixed,
starry points. We believe as geology teaches us, that God has often, and at
remotely successive periods, interposed in the formation of the physical world, fit-
ting it for the creation and habitation of man. We believe that He still acts in
history, preparing great events, rewarding nations and men for goodness, and
punishing them for crime. We believe that His adoration is not superstitious,
nor prayer an unphilosophical act. " If the Lord had not been on our side —
yea, if the Lord had not been on our side," we should not now possess this
beautiful and glorious California, nor hope to transmit it as an inheritance to our
descendants. To Him, therefore, we pour out our collected tribute of gratitude,
and invoke His protection for ourselves and our children.
OUR DUTY TO THE FUTURE.
Standing, as we do, between the mighty past and the mysterious future,
recognizing our gratitude to our fathers and our duty to our children, let
us this day make a public confession and a solemn covenant. Let us con-
* In closing the historical narrative, it may be assumed as a fact that the inevitable rup-
ture between Mexico and the United States was hastened by the governments of both coun-
tries with the expectation that the existence of war would defeat the plans of the monarchical
party in Mexico. It is well known that the friends of Santa Anna, who was then in exile,
applied to the American government to pass htm through its blockade of Vera Cruz on his
proposed return to Mexico, upon the frank representation that although he was the ablest
general the Mexicans could have, and would undoubtedly command their armies during the
war, yet his presence and influence in the country would prevent the establishment of a
foreign monarchy there ; and that the President of the United States, appreciating these con-
eiderations, permitted Santa Anna to land at Vera Cruz perfectly free to pursue his own
course of action. There are gentlemen of the highest respectability residing in California
who came here upon the personal assurance of President Polk, in 1846, that the war should
not be concluded until Upper California was secured by treaty to the United States,
320 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
fess that those of us who have come into this country since the discovery
of gold in California was announced to the world, came here rather with
the spirit of adventure than with the intention of remaining here as per-
manent residents ; that we came here to gather our share of the mineral
treasures of the land, and then to return to the homes of our youth, there to
spend the remainder of our lives ; that, at first, we took no thought to found
here the institutions of a higher civilization, nor even to cultivate social rela-
tions ; and that, in this solitary isolation to which we condemned ourselves for the
Bake of gain, it was true, in a certain sense, of us, as individuals, that " our
hands were against every one, and every one's hand against us." Let us con-
fess that this Ishmaelitish tradition has still a certain influence upon us, and
that we do not devote ourselves as fully as we ought to the preparation for th«
great future of California ; and let us resolve that this day shall form a new era
in our organized efforts. The faculties of man are threefold, intellectual, moral,
and aesthetic ; he has reasoning powers which can be cultivated ; a moral and
religious sense which can be elevated ; and a perception of the beautiful in
nature and art which can be developed into a source of happiness and refinement.
As of men, so of nations, for nations are but aggregates of men. The man who is
wanting in cultivation of any of these faculties is but an imperfect man; a
nation which is thus deficient can never act a perfect part in the history of the
world. The Greeks and Romans were powerful peoples, highly developed in
intellect and aesthetics, but in religion and morals they possessed only the gross
and sensual superstitions of paganism. The Puritans of New England were
highly cultivated intellectually and morally, but not aesthetically; they were a
strong, stern, and unsocial race. The politicians of the French revolution were
men of powerful intellects, and of high culture in literature and art, but they
were wanting in religious sentiment, and disbelievers in the ever-present working
of an intelligent and personal Deity ; so that even Robespierre, contemplating
the threatened dissolution of his political system, cried out in his agony : " If there
is no God, then we must create one!" Deficiency in aesthetic culture is com-
monly the want of new countries. The want of culture has been ascribed to us in
California ; by this is meant the want of intimate and refined social culture, of
the perception of the beautiful in nature and in art — of that beautiful in nature,
and that ideal of human perfection, which the painter strives to perpetuate on
his canvas, the statuary to embody in marble, the poeb to crystallize in his
verse, and the musician to bring up from the profoundest depths of the human
soul. The charge brought against us is in a -large measure true, as it is always
true of new populations ; but we have advanced so rapidly to a high degree of
prosperity that it ought to be true no longer, and we ought ourselves to remove
this great reproach. Let us resolve, then, that we will do all in our power to
develop aesthetic culture in California ; that we will not only devote ,our aid to
the foundation of churches, colleges, schools, and the kindred institutions of
morals, science, and humanity, but also to the cultivation of arts, of the percep-
tion of the beautiful, to the advancement of painting and statuary. So shall
we do our duty to the future ; so shall come after us generations of Californians
against whom no such reproach can be brought — a perfect race, equally devel-
oped in their threefold faculties, by intellectual, moral, and aesthetic culture.
OUR CELEBRATION, TEN YEARS HEN£E, OF THE HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY OF
OUR CITY.
San Francisco was founded by a colony of soldiers and settlers who came
up for that purpose from Monterey, overland and by sea, in 1776, and imme-
diately set about constructing a chapel at the presidio, after which the following
proceeding took place, as recorded by Father Palou, one of the missionary
priests who belonged to the expedition :
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 321
" We took formal possession of the presidio on the seventeenth day of Septem-
ber, the anniversary of the impression of the wounds of our Father San Francisco,
the patron of the presidio and mission. I said the first mass, and after blessing
the site, (despues del bcndito,} tha elevation and adoration of the holy cross, and
the conclusion of the service with the Te Deum, the officers took formal pos-
session in the name of our sovereign, with many discharges of cannon, both on
Bea and land, and the musketry of the soldiers."
The seventeenth of September, A. D. 1776, must therefore be considered the
date of the foundation of San Francisco.
Ten years from now San Francisco will have completed the hundredth year
of her existence. In ten years most of us, under the ordinary providence of
God, will be still living. Let us then, on the hundredth birthday of our be-
loved city, go up and celebrate it on the plain of the presidio, where she was
born. Let us at that time renew the solemn exercises by which the soil was
consecrated to civilization : the blessing of holy mother church will not hurt the
most zealous Protestant among us. Let us rear mast -high the old flag of Spain,
with full military honors, to be replaced with equal honor by that of Mexico,
which in its turn shall give place, with " great discharge of musketry and of
cannon," to our own national emjblem of unity and strength 1
CONCLUSION.
*It is the singularly good fortune of the members of our society that they have
an assured position in the history of California, and one which can never be
taken away from them. Whatever the future may have in store for us as indi-
viduals, the Corporate Society of California Pioneers has had an existence whose
records must always remain in the literature and history of California. Our
banner is here, on which our names are inscribed, and that banner will always
float at the head of the "innumerable caravan" of the countless generations who
are to succeed us — of that column which, like the Macedonian phalanx, widen-
ing as it deepens, shall draw its vast recruits as well from the tropical regions of
the equator as from the confines of the frozen ocean. Behold the thin mist curl-
ing up from the ripple where the sunbeam kisses the western sea! It mounts
to Heaven, and on its slight curtain Aurora paints the glories of ,the rising
sun ; condenses itself into the fleecy whiteness which decorates the sky of
June; piles up the mighty thunder-cloud, with blackened .base and Al-
pine peaks of dazzling brightness; and, at the signal of the far-flash-
ing red artillery" of Heaven, and with reverberating crash, dissolves itself
in gentle rain ; descends with refreshing coolness on the thirsty land, rushes
in torrents of sheety foam adown the mountain side ; swells the vast river to its
grassy brink, and then returns its tributary volume to the mother ocean. So count-
less as the innumerable drops of rain shall be the people that come after us. So
shall they rise up from the mists of the future, filling Heaven and earth and sea
with the beauty, greatness, and goodness of their acts, and then return, like us,
to the great source from which they came. And among them, what multitudes
of unborn painters, sculptors, poets, merchant-princes, generals and statesmen !
Unknown they are to us, but sure to be — most of them still sleeping in the vast
caverns where repose the unborn generations of mankind. But from the depths
of the mists which conceal them, we already hear the reverberations of their
heavy tread. The parting haze already reveals the outline of the giant
forms of their leaders, but, alas, their faces are veiled ! These are the men for
whose coming we are to prepare this California of ours ; these are the men who
are to erect on the Pacific coast the imperial throne of the great American em-
pire!
H. Ex. Doc. 29—21
LETTER
FROM THE
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY,
ENCLOSING
Report of James W. Taylor, special commissioner Jor the collection of statistics
upon gold and silver mining east of the Rocky mountains.
FEBRUARY 15, 1867.— Referred to the Committee on Mines and Mining and ordered to be
printed.
TKEASURY DEPARTMENT,
Washington, February 13, 1867.
SIR : I have the honor to transmit a preliminary report upon gold and silver
mines and mining in the States and Territories east of the Rocky mountains, by
Mr. James W-. Taylor, who has been appointed a special commissioner for the
collection of statistical information on that subject by this department.
Congress having made provision by the civil appropriation act of July 28,
1866, for the collection, by the Secretary of the Treasury, of " reliable statistical
information concerning the gold and silver mines of the western States and Ter-
ritories," I referred the inquiry in relation to districts west of the Rocky moun-
tains to Mr. J. Ross Browne, whose report was transmitted to the House of
Representatives on the 8th of January. There remained for consideration ex-
tensive districts of New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Dakota, and Minnesota,
which may be properly designated as " western" States and Territories ; and
the mineral statistics of those regions,* especially in regard to the production of
gold and silver, were referred to Mr. Taylor.
The report herewith forwarded also contains some information upon the sit-
uation and prospects of gold mining along the eastern slope of the Alleghany
range, with some generaUstatements of the production of the precious metals in
Canada, Nova Scotia, and other parts of British America — a compilation made
by the direction of this department with a view to exhibit all the gold-bearing
districts within the territory of the United States or closely related to our
northern frontier. The kindred topics of the present and future production of
gold and silver in other quarters of the world, and the effect of our own treasure
supply upon the internal commerce and communications of the west, are briefly
noticed in the report herewith enclosed.
I repeat the hope expressed on a former occasion, that the reports above re-
ferred to may prove valuable contributions to the public information in reference
to the great mineral resources of the United States.
I am, very truly, your obedient servant,
H. McCULLOCH,
Secretary of the Treasury.
Hon. SCHUYLRR COLFAX,
Speaker of the House of Representatives
324 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
SAINT PAUL, February 8, 1867.
SIR: In pursuance of your letter of instructions of September 12, 1866, I
present some general information in regard to the production of gold and silver
in the Territories of New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana, in a district of Min-
nesota northwest of Lake Superior, of which the lake and river Vermillion in-
dicate the locality, and upon the eastern slope of the Alleghany range in the
States of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland,
with some notice of recent discoveries of gold in New Hampshire, Nova Scotia,
and Canada.
In a second instalment of this communication a general review of the pro-
duction of gold and silver in other quarters of the world is submitted, with the
purpose of indicating relatively the commercial and social importance of the
treasure product of the United States.
A third division presents a summary of the domestic commerce from the Mis-
souri river westward to the interior or mining districts of the United States,
having reference prominently to the situation and prospects of railway commu-
nication with the Rocky mountains and the Pacific coast.
The brief period and the limited means of information which have been avail-
able since the date of your commission will confine the present communication
to the form of a preliminary report, postponing a fuller consideration of the topics
enumerated to a subsequent occasion.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
This designation no longer includes the whole breadth of the Andean chain in
the United States. It refers only to the formation known in Mexico as the
Sierra Madre, or Mother mountain, from which the Sierra Nevada of California,
or the western wall of the mountain mass, diverges in northern Mexico, while
the intervening plateau of table lauds is now recognized as a distinct and char-
acteristic division of the continent. The Rocky mountains, or the cordillera of
the Sierra Madre, traverses the territory of the United States in a north-north-
west direction, from the 29th to the 49th parallel of latitude. The average
elevation of its crest is 12,000 feet above the sea, lifting, for a breadth of 300
miles, above the altitude of its eastern and western piedmonts, which, in the lati-
tude of Denver and Great Salt Lake, is fully 6,000 feet. Those valleys, slopes,
and gorges, which supply the sources of the Missouri, Yellowstone, Platte,
Arkansas, and Rio Grande rivers, are the prominent features of the Territories
of Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico, and will be the first topics of consid-
eration in relation to gold and silver mining east of the Rocky mountains.
NEW MEXICO.
If we compare a map of this Territory with any similar publication of the
last century, even as early as a chart in Moll's atlas of 1720, the vicinity of
Santa Fe is represented as even more populous than at present. The Spaniards
thoroughly explored the valley of the Rio Grande, and their mining settlements
were very numerous in the mountains of New Mexico. There is a tradition
that the Indians, whose labor had made the.mines of g^ldv silver, and copper
available to their Spanish conquerors, were at length driven into insurrection,
which was so far*successful as completely to interrupt all systematic mining.
This was about 1680, and at no subsequent period have the conditions of society
and industry been favorable to the resumption of mining enterprises. At this
time Indian hostilities prevent permanent labor, and almost exploration, in the
'remote districts of New Mexico.
Twenty years ago, when Colonel Doniphan led a column of American troops
to Santa Fe and Chihuahua, Dr. A. Wizlizenus, who accompanied the expedi-
tion as surgeon and for the sake of scientific investigation, reported that gold
GOLD* MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 325
wns? found to a large extent in all the mountains near Sante F£, south to a dis-
tance of about one hundred miles, or as far as Gran Quivira, and north for about
one hundred and twenty miles, to the river Sangre de Cristo. Throughout this
whole region gold-dust was then abundantly found by the poorer classes of
Mexicans, who occupied themselves with the washing of this metal in the moun-
tain streams, while at the Placer mountain, about thirty miles from Santa Fe,
gold-bearing quartz was worked. These statements in regard to gold are con-
firmed by the second annual message of acting Governor Arny, delivered in
December, 1866, to the legislature of New Mexico, who also reports the discov-
ery of thirty lodes of gold-bearing quartz at Pinos Altos, paying from $40 to
$200 per ton; of quartz veins at San Jose, in the Sierra Madre, intersecting
each other in all directions for a mile in width and three miles in length; of a
similar formation near Fort Davis, Texas ; and of extensive placer mines on the
San Francisco and Mimbres rivers.-
Governor Arny gives prominence to these gold discoveries, but adds that sil-
ver is the prominent and most abundant mineral of the Territory. Lodes of
silver, with its many combinations, are very numerous. He thinks it will be
the most profitable branch of mining in that Rocky mountain region, and enu-
merates as prominently argentiferous the districts of the Placer mountains near
Santa Fe, the Organ mountains near the Mesilla valley, and the Sierra Madre
near Pinos. The first and last of these localities are, as we have seen, gold-pro-
ducing also. In the Organ mountains over fifty silver mines have been discov-
ered, the ore being generally argentiferous galena. The district near Mesilla
valley in the'Organ mountains has a mean altitude of 4,400 feet, and is intersected
with ravines, affording favorable opportunities for horizontal drifts in opening the
veins. There is a belt or series of veins containing six principal veins and many
smaller ones, the six larger veins varying from two to fifteen feet in width. On
the largest of these veins is the celebrated " Stephenson" mine. This belt of
veins crosses the Organ mountains at or near the San Augustine pass, and both
sides of the chain of mountains present similar features and equal richness.
The country bordering on the north portion of Chihuahua is a rich silver dis-
trict. Immediately adjoining the new Mexican boundary are* the mines of " Cor-
ralitos,'' the most successful silver mines in the State of Chihuahua, having
been mined for forty years in a region most exposed to Indian hostility. Near
the old town of El Paso, tradition places the locality of one of the richest silver
mines known to the Spaniards, but its site was lost during the insurrection of
1680.
Dr. Wizlizenus, writing in 1847, thus proceeds with his enumeration of the
mineral resources of New Mexico : "In Spanish times, several rich silver mines
were worked at Avo, at Cerillos, and in the Nambe mountains, but none at pres-
ent. Copper is found in abundance throughout the country, but principally at
Los Tijeras, Jemas, Abiquin, Guadelupita de Mora, &c.; iron, though also
abundantly found, is entirely overlooked. Coal has been discovered in differ-
ent localities, as in the Raton mountains, near the village of Jemez, southwest
of Santa Fe, and near, but south of, Placer mountain. Gypsum, both common
and selenite, is found in large quantities, extensive layers of it existing in the
mountains near Algodones, on the Rio Grande, and in the neighborhood of the
celebrated Salinas. It is used as common lime for whitewashing, and the crys-
talline, or selenite, instead of window-glass. About one hundred miles south-
southeast of Santa Fe, on the high table-land between the Rio Grande and Pe-
cos, are some extensive salt lakes, or salinas, from which all the salt (muriate of
soda) used in New Mexico is procured."
Governor Arny, in his late message, observes of the production of copper,
that, before the late civil war, two copper mines were extensively worked— the
Santa Rita and the Hanover — turning out about twelve tons of copper per week,
and employing jointly about five hundred hands. Other copper mines had been
326 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
opened, and were about to commence operations. A copper mine has lately
been discovered a short distance from Fort Union, the specimens indicating a
rich deposit. The locality of this discovery will render it very valuable, as it is
convenient for the return wagons from Santa Fe and Fort Union to the Mis-
souri river. *
The indispensable conditions to the development of the mines of New Mexico
are, first, Indian pacification ; second, railway communication with New Orleans,
Vicksburg, Memphis, and St. Louis ; third, a geological reconnoissance.
Some additional statements, on the authority of Doctor Wizlizenus, in regard
to the mineral production of the adjoining State of Chihuahua, are valuable as
indicating what may be reasonably anticipated in New Mexico. Referring to
the rich silver mines of Chihuahua, he remarks that they are found principally
in the western part of the State throughout the length of the Sierra Madre, and
in a mean breadth of thirty leagues. The ores occur generally as sulphurets,
with iron or lead, sometimes as native silver and muriate of silver, and are found
either entirely in porphyritic rocks, or in stratified rocks, (limestone,) passing at
greater depth into igneous rocks. They are worked either by amalgamation or
by fire in common furnaces. Ifor the latter process they need generally an ad-
dition of greta, (litharge or oxyd of lead,) which forms, therefore, a valuable
article of trade.
The celebrated mine of Santa Eulalia, near the city of Chihuahua, produced
in seventy-two years, from 1717 to 1789, $52,800,000. The abundance of lead
found in Santa Eulalia makes the smelting of the ore very convenient. These
mines are not exhausted ; but from intrusion of water, want of capital, and the
attraction of new mines, they are but little worked. Doctor Wizlizenus describes
five other districts where silver ores have been found far superior in richness
and extent to the mines of Central Mexico, but in which little has been accom-
plished on account of the invasions of hostile Indians ; and he mentions gold and
copper mines as holding a similar relation to the lodes of silver, as prevails in
New Mexico. The annual production of silver and gold in 1 846 was estimated
at about $1,031,251.
•
COLORADO.
The summits and valleys of Colorado are the sources of the rivers Platte and
Arkansas, which are affluents of the Mississippi, and of the Rio Grande, directly
tributary to the Gulf of Mexico, and of the Colorado,. which falls into the Pacific
gulf of that name. No similar area of the Rocky mountains is more imposing
in scenery or physical relations than Colorado. Its mineral development is fully
commensurate.
The traveller by the route of the Union Pacific railway, in approaching the
Rocky mountains, will first traverse a formation of coal and iron. For over one
hundred and fifty miles, from the Arkansas to the Cache le Poudre, bituminous
coal, or a superior quality of lignite, has been discovered, at many points accom-
panied by iron ore* Next in situation westward — quite within the mountains, but
much below their snow-covered summits — is a mineral range from five to fifteen
miles wide, and extending from Long's Peak two hundred miles southwardly in
Colorado, within which most of the discoveries of gold, especially of auriferous
quartz, have occurred. Crossing the snowy range, on the western slope, ex-
tensive silver mines have been discovered. Governor Evans, of Colorado, in
November, 1866, remarked at a public meeting in Chicago: " I have just re-
turned from visiting a district about one hundred miles by ten or fifteen in ex-
tent, lying across the main mountain range west of Denver City, which is
pervaded throughout by extensive and rich veins of silver; some are of pure
silver ores, but the majority of them are argentiferous galena ores, varying in
richness, many of them yielding in the smelting furnace as high as six hundred
GOLD 'MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 327
dollars of* silver to the ton of ore." Salinas, or extensive deposits of salt, are
accessible, as in New Mexico ; and even petroleum is found near the eastern
base of the mountains. The forests supply timber even for exportation to
Kansas, and the mountain streams are generally available for the uses . of ma-
chinery and. irrigation.
The area of Colorado is 67,723,520 acres, and the most sanguine view of its
future agriculture is comprised in a statement by Surveyor General Pierce, in
1866, that "there are about 4,000,000 acres of agricultural land susceptible of
irrigation, which will make productive farms." 250,000 acres were entered under
the homestead and pre-empton acts in 1866, and 141,000 acres in 1865. A much
larger area is suitable for the sustenance of domestic animals. "The whole of
the plains," according to the testimony of Governor Evans, " and the parks in
the mountains of Colorado, are the finest of pastoral lands. Stock fattens and
thrives on them the year round, large herds and flocks being kept there in the
finest possible condition. In some parts, it is true, the snow covers the grass
for a part of the winter, but in other places cattle and sheep are wintered with-
out feeding, with entire success. The celebrated parks, North, Middle, South
and San Luis, are fine agricultural valleys for grass and small grains/'
Gulch 'or placer mining, although the first form of gold discovery in 1859,
has been prosecuted in Colorado with less success than in California — a remark
applicable to all the districts east of the Rocky mountains, with perhaps the
single exception of the Confederate gulch near Helena, in Montana Territory.
This may be owing to the less degree of disintegration to which the veins, or
gold geologically in situ, have been exposed. It has been observed that on the
eastern flank of the great Rocky mountain mass volcanic and other igneous
action has been less violent, the country is less abrupt, and the action of the
elements has been less marked than on the Pacific slope, and therefore placers
are not so frequent or productive. Whatever may be the force of this expla-
nation, the discoveries and developments of auriferous quartz lodes in the
Gregory district have mostly contributed thus far to the settlement of Colorado.
This district extends from Gold Hill to Empire City, about thirty miles along
the base of the snowy range, amd is, on the average, about ten miles in width—-
an area of three hundred square miles of gold-producing mountains, in which
many quartz mills are in operation. It is now generally admitted that the
range of gold-bearing quartz is .not^ limited to the Gregory district, but is as
extensive as the snowy range itself. t *
The successful reduction of auriferous rock is a problem of the future. The
immense production of Siberia, California, and Australia is mostly washed from
the sands of rivers or the adjacent detritus, nature, in each, case, having over-
come the mechanical and chemical difficulties presented by the matrix of gold.
In the reduction of Colorado ores the chemical are the chief difficulties. The
auriferous quartz of the Sierra Nevada, when pulverized, yields the gold readily
to the attraction of quicksilver — the gold is "free;" but, with hardly an excep-
tion, a Colorado mine exhibits a most refractory combination of gold with the
sulphurets of iron and copper. Nor are these the only mineral associations
which often baffle all former appliances for the separation of baser metals.
Quartz mining in Colorado has hitherto been unsuccessful from the failure of
numerous processes and methods of desulphurization and amalgamation which
had proved efficient in Europe and even in California; but during 1866 several
American inventions, or new combinations of existing methods, have been intro-
duced, and are now in course of trial. I shall not venture to describe their practical
operation or decide upon their success. Hereafter, as a result of personal exam-
ination and a full comparison of opinion, it may be practicable to do so; but at
present there is no subject which would more appropriately command the atten-
tion of a scientific commission.
The mechanical obstructions to working a gold mine in Colorado are very
328 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS.
great. In working a vein or lode, the iron or copper pyrites are usually sep-
arated from surface quartz by what is called cap, or a shutting up of the vein
by the wall rock. This is the great difficulty in opening a mine — it recurs in
descending, but the intrusion is less and less. The Montgomery district in
southern Colorado will afford an illustration. First, the blossom rock, desul-
phurized by the action of the atmosphere, was readily crushed and yielded
its gold to amalgamation; but soon the surface ore was exhausted; it became
necessary to traverse the cap rock, often 150 feet deep, which was a tedious
and expensive process, but at length the indurated pyritous ore was reached,
very productive of gold, but requiring to be removed and reduced at a great
cost of time, labor, capital, and skill. {Still, as some compensation, the testimony
is quite general that the mine widens and grows more productive of gold at its
lower stages.
The auriferous veins of Colorado are represented to be from six inches to
nine feet in width. Governor Evans claims that in most of the lodes now
worked the quartz rock yields an average of thirty-six dollars per ton, but that
.a production, threefold greater may be expected when the reduction of ores
reaches the perfection of a scientific assay. Lodes in California with present
facilities of labor, transportation, and supplies, are found to pay the* owner, if
$10 per ton gross can be obtained from the rock. In Nevada, over the moun-
tains, only 300 miles from the coast, and with very considerable adv^^ntages of
transportation by turnpikes, a lode must yield $25 gross per ton to reward the
owner for working it ; and this statement may be made in regard to quartz
mining in Colorado, while in New Mexico and Montana, even with security from
Indian hostilities, a lode must yield $40 per ton to pay. If the advantages in
prices, freights, &c., which exist in California, were supplied to the interior by
railroads, all the mining territories would profitably develop their quartz mines
at $10 per ton gross product.
MONTANA.
Of the streams which unite to form the Missouri river, the Jefferson, or most
western tributary, has been the principal scene of gold discovery. In the sum-
mer of 1862 a party of Minnesota emigrants crossed the northern plains destined
to the Salmon river mines. On reaching the Rocky mountains they found par-
ties of prospectors upon the Prickly Pear and Beaver Head branches of the Jef-
ferson, and in the Deer Lodge valley, upon remote tributaries of the Columbia.
In September these explorations were successful on Grasshopper creek, a tribu-
tary of the Beaver Head, and the placer mines of Bannock City soon attracted
a considerable mining population. In May, 1863, a discovery of bar or placer
mines was made about fifteen miles west of Bannock, on Horse Prairie creek,
another branch of the Beaver Head. It was of limited extent, but quite pro-
ductive. In June, 1863, there were further discoveries of placer mines about
seventy miles east of Bannock, on Alder creek, a tributary of the Jefferson.
These have proved of much larger extent and richness, extending continuously
more than fifteen miles. Virginia City is in their vicinity. These two districts
are respectively about fifty miles eastward from the summits of the Rocky
mountains, being within the semicircular park which the Rocky mountains en-
close between latitudes 44° to 46° and longitude 112° to 114°. A still more
remarkable development of gulch or placer mining occurred in 1865 at Helena,
a district about one hundred and thirty miles east of north from Virginia City,
but still two hundred miles southwest of Fort Benton, ascending the course of
the Missouri and the Jefferson. Some of the statements in regard to Confed-
erate gulch, near Helena, are difficult of belief. It is said that during three
months of the summer of 1866 three miners took 2,100 pounds of gold, or
8441,000, from a space three rods square, on Montana bar, in Confederate gulch.
A total production of $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 for 1866 is also claimed.
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 329
There "are many inducements to exaggeration in these statements. For some
years after the California discovery the demand for coinage induced large de-
posits at the government mints, but for the last half of the period since 3848 a
great proportion of the gold and silver product in the United States has been
cast into bars or ingots by private assayers. This proportion may now be stated
at fully one-half. Since, therefore, the United States mints and assay office re-
port $5,505,687 30 from Montana for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866, it
will be safe to double that amount as the probable production in that year. A
communication to the Treasury Department from an intelligent citizen of Mon-
tana only claimed $6,000,000 as the production of 1865. The following state-
ment is more likely to be correct than the bulk of newspaper reports :
1863 , $2, 000, 000
1864 5, 000, 000
1865 - 6, 000, 000
1866 . . 12, 000, 000
25, 000, 000
Considerable progress has been made in quartz mining. Over two hundred
lodes have been opened sufficiently to prove their value. The average yield of
the vein-rock is stated at forty dollars per ton. There are seventeen quartz
mills in the Territory, of which ten are in operation. Thirty are in process of
erection. In the vicinity of the minmg centres enumerated— Bannock, Virginia,
and Helena — 2,500 lodes represented to be gold-bearing have been prospected
and titles recorded.
About the first of June, 1864, ores of argentiferous galena, of which some
indications had been previously observed, were discovered to be valuable. The
first silver mines were opened on Rattlesnake creek, a branch of Beaver Head
river, about fifteen miles north of Bannock. Then followed, during the summer
of 1864, discoveries of similar veins in the Prickly Pear region, within three or
four miles of Bannock, in a district about twenty-four miles northwestwardly of
Virginia City, near gulches known as the Mill and Wisconsin, and upon the
mountains enclosing Deer Lodge valley. These silver veins, although bearing
more or less gold, are not necessarily connected with the gold districts hitherto
explored ; and a geological exploration would probably show that the silver de-
posits of Montana are more extensive, with a probability of becoming more pro-
ductive, than the gold mines. The assays of argentiferous galena have exhibited
results from $100 to $1,700 per ton. Three furnaces for smelting silver are in
operation — one at Bannock, one at Argenta, on a tributary of the Beaver Head,
and the third in the valley of the Boulder, a tributary of the Jefferson.
Upon the foregoing basis of exploration and discovery in Montana, the popu-
lation may be estimated as follows :
Jefferson and Edgerton counties, including Prickly Pear and Helena
districts 12, 000
Madison county, Virginia City v , 7, 000
Beaver Head county, Bannock City 2, 000
Deer Lodge valley, (western slope) 3, 000
Bitter Root valley, (western slope) 1, 000
Fort Benton and vicinity 1, 000
Other parts of the Territory 2, 000
28, 000
It is now well ascertained that the coal, iron, and petroleum formations ob-
served in Colorado are extended northward under the same conditions and in
330 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
equal proportion along the eastern flank of the Rocky mountains and far into
British territory. As the general level of the plains at Fort Benton and vicinity *
is also ascertained to be about four thousand feet above the sea, or two thousand
feet less than the altitude of Denver, there is no appreciable difference of climate
between those localities, and the remarks in regard to agriculture and stock-
raising in Colorado will equally apply to Montana.
In the autumn of 1866 a large number of copper lodes was discovered on the
head-waters of the Mujscleshell river, which yield from thirty to seventy per
cent, of the pure copper, in crevices ranging from four to six feet in width. The
metal is found in combination with the oxide and green carbonate of copper.
These copper mines are convenient to the wagon road, from Helena to the mouth
of the TMuscleshell, which is substantially the head of steamboat navigation on
the Missouri river.
Near the old Mormon settlement at Fort Lemhi, upon the head-waters of
Salmon river, in Idaho, important gold discoveries in 1866 have attracted popu-
lation— a settlement forty miles distant from Bannock city, and having business »
relations almost exclusively with Montana.
UTAH.
The dominant ecclesiastical organization of Utah is adverse to mining for gold
and silver, although iron and copper mines have been worked successfully in the
Wahsatch mountains. The general testimony is that silver will be discovered
in many localities. Sixty miles south of Great Salt Lake city veins of argen-
tiferous galena in Rush River district have proved valuable, and mining opera-
tions, including the construction of furnaces, are well advanced. These ores assay
260 ounces of silver. Coal for the supply of Great Salt Lake city is mined at
a distance of forty miles. An extensive silver district, in the southwestern
Angle of Utah, was lately transferred to the State of Nevada.
DAKOTA.
In addition to the Missouri and Yellowstone mines of Montana, under the
average longitude of 110°, the explorations of Lieutenant G. K. Warren, in
1847, and "of Captain W. F. Reynolds, in 1859 and 1860, under directions of
the United States topographical office, have satisfactorily established that the
Black hills of Dakota Territory, situated on the forty-fourth parallel of latitude
and between the 103d and 105th meridians of longitude, are rich in gold and
silver, as well as coal, iron, copper, and pine forests.
The area occupied by the Black hills, as delineated on a map which accom-
panies Lieutenant Warren's report, is 6,000 square miles, or about the surface
of Connecticut.* Their bases are elevated from 2,500 to 3,500 feet, and the highest
peaks are about 6,700 feet above the ocean level. The whole geological range
of rocks, from the granite and metamorphosed azoic to the cretaceous formations
of the surrounding plains, are developed by the upheaval of the mountain mass.
Thus, at the junction of silurian rocks, gold becomes accessible, while the car-
boniferous strata bring coal measures within reach.
With the pacification of the Sioux Indians, and the establishment of emigrant
roads, this district of Dakota would doubtless be the scene of great mining ex-
citement, as the gold-field of the Black hills is accessible at a distance of 120
miles from the Missouri river.
SASKATCHEWAN.
As early as 1862 some American explorers washed from the bed of the North
Saskatchewan river, at a distance of two hundred miles from its extreme sources
in the Rocky mountains, minute particles of gold, but with no return exceeding one
cent to the pa?i or five dollars per day. In subsequent years the emigrants from
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 331
Selkirk settlement, and a few American adventurers, obtained more satisfactory
results, there being frequent instances of ten dollars as a daily average, from bars
or gulches nearer the mountains. As the Montana explorations have advanced
towards the international frontier, each encampment proving more productive than
its predecessors, the opinion has prevailed that the sources of the Saskatchewan
would develop rich deposits of gold and silver, especially near the great centre
of physical disturbance, where Mount Hooker reaches an elevation of 16,000 feet,
and Mount Brown 15,700 feet above the sea, and from which the waters of the Sas-
katchewan, Peace, Frazer, and Columbia rivers diverge to three oceans. So
prevalent is this belief in Montana that a sudden migration of thousands may at
any moment be anticipated. Probably the intelligence received in Oregon^during
November, 1866, that American prospectors at the Kootonais mines had passed
the mountains on or beyond the boundary of 49° and found rich washings, re-
turning even $60 daily to the hand, on the sources of the South Saskatchewan,
will, if fully confirmed, be the signal of a movement over the border into' th°i
Saskatchewan basin as remarkable as that which filled the valley of Frazer river
with miners from California and Oregon in 1859.
VERMILLION DISTRICT.
In 1865, attention was directed to discoveries of gold and silver northwest
of Lake Superior, in the State of Minnesota. Lake Vermillion, an expansion
of a stream of that name, is the centre of the district in question. The outline
of this lake is very irregular. With a diameter of thirty miles, its surface is so stud-
ded with islands, its shore so broken with bays and headlands, that the entire
coast line cannot be less than two hundred miles in extent. In 1848, Dr. J. G.
Norwood, of Owens's geological survey, passed from the mouth of the St.
Louis river, at the western extremity of Lake Superior, to the sources of the
Vermillion river, and descending through the lake to the Rainy river, furnished
a sketch of its natural features and mineral exposures. His statements are re-
peated, so far as they record the usual indications of a gold formation.
Before entering Vermillion lake from the south, Dr. Norwood mentions a per-
pendicular fall of eight feet over " silicious slate, hard and gray, with minute
grains -of iron pyrites sparsely disseminated through it." This rock bears
east and west, with thin seams of quartz between the laminse running in the
line of bearing. There are also irregular patches of quartz from eight to ten.
feet long, and from six to twelve inches wide, which cross the strike at right
angles. The river is broken by falls three-quarters of a mile above, or south
of, Lake Vermillion.
The islands in the lake indicate very distinctly volcanic action, one of them
being an extinct crater. The prevalent rocks are talcose slate, which Dr. Nor-
wood describes as " eminently magnesian, thinly laminated and traversed by
numerous veins of quartz from an inch to five feet, wide, some of which contain
beautiful crystals of iron pyrites." He adds, that " from some indications no-
ticed, other more valuable minerals will probably be found associated with it."
A specimen obtained about midway of the lake is catalogued as " quartz of
reddish brown color ; cristaline, with yellow iron pyrites, crystallized as well as
foliated, disseminated through it."
These quartz veins were ascertained in 1865-'66 to be auriferous. A speci-
men weighing three pounds, containing copper pyrites, was forwarded by the
governor of Minnesota to the mint in Philadelphia, and upon assay, was found
to contain $23 63 of gold and $4 42 of silver per ton of 2,000 pounds. The State
geologist, Mr. H. H. Eames, reports an abundant supply of quartz equal in rich-
ness. Other assays in New York — in one instance, by officers of the United
States assay office— show results from $10 to $35 per ton. There are rumors
of larger proportions, but the above are fully authenticated. Professor J V. Z.
332 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN
t
Blaney, of Chicago, describes a vein ten feet in width, at the foot of a shaft of
fifty feet, which is " indubitably gold-bearing ;" and adds, " that specimens taken
from its central portion, as proven by a^say, would be sufficient in California,
Colorado, and other successful mining regions, to warrant further exploration."
Washings of the drift near the veins opened have produced gold, but in limited
quantities.
The productiveness of the Vermillion mines is not yet determined, but will be
tested by several mining organizations during the current year.
CANADIAN MINES.
When in 1862 gold was discovered upon the sources of the Saskatchewan, a
newspaper at Selkirk settlement, the Norwester, published statements of the
existence of gold between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg. Since the Ver-
million discovery, rumors of its extension into British America aro prevalent, and
suggest a probability that the mountain chain known to geographers as the
Laurentian, which separates the waters of the St. Lawrence and its lakes from
the tributaries of Hudson bay, may reveal to future explorers extensive de-
posits of gold and silver. The basin of the St. Lawrence, including the sand-
stones of Lake Superior, is a lower silurian formation ; that of Hudson bay,
granitic or primary, with many evidences in Minnesota, and along the Canadian
shore of Lake Superior, of eruptive or igneous agencies.
Sir Roderick Murchison has frequently advanced the opinion that the pro-
ductive gold districts of the world occur where the, silurian, and perhaps the
lower strata of devonian rocks are in contact with, or have been penetrated by,
greenstones, porphyries, serpentine, granitic and other rocks of the primary for-
mation. Gold, especially when traced to its original matrix, is found to occur
chiefly in veins or lodes of quartz rising from beneath and cutting through the
secondary strata or beds of which the surface was previously composed. These
conditions are observed in the Vermillion district, and Professor Owen, as early
as 1850, traced in this locality of Minnesota, and northeastwardly along the
north shore of Lake Superior, in Canada, what he denominated a " great plutonic
chain," and " the main axis of dislocation," from which silurian sandstones ex-
tend southwardly through Wisconsin and Minnesota, while on the north the
streams which are turned towards Hudson bay traverse a region exclusively
granitic, or primary. If in Minnesota an auriferous belt has marked this line of
junction, we may with reason 'anticipate its extension eastwardly into Canada,
and northwestwardly towards Lake Winnipeg. Indeed, as English explorers
trace this contact of primary and silurian formations along the basins of Lakes
Slave and Athabasca, and the channel of the Mackenzie to the Arctic ocean, it
becomes an interesting problem for future solution, whether the auriferous de-
posits of British Columbia and Saskatchewan may not be extended with various
degrees of productiveness along the crest which separates the waters of the
Gulfs of Mexico and St. Lawrence from those of the Arctic ocean and Hudson
bay, quite as the discoveries of this century now follow the Ural mines eastward
through Siberia to the Pacific.
The intrusion of granitic rocks is not confined in Minnesota to the north-
eastern angle of the State. *It has been traced southwestwardly, near Sauk
Rapids, upon the Upper Minnesota, and even to the northwestern boundary of
Iowa, in a wedge-like shape, although covered in most places by the mass of
drift which constitutes so large a portion of the surface of Minnesota. A similar
granitic cape, with its associated minerals, may be the explanation of the alleged
gold deposits in the township of Madoc, near Kingston, in Canada West.
In regard to the Madoc mines, the only facts fully established at the date of
this report are, that Chicago parties have become purchasers of fifteen acres,
the principal locality of the alleged discovery, for the sum of $35,000 ; that at
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 333
an excavation of six feet, made originally in search of copper, gold in consid-
erable quantities has been found in coarse sand, in decayed/ quartz, and also in
a cream- colored quartz that abounded in a crevice and its surroundings ; and
that an assistant of Sir William Logan, the government geologist, has written
a letter to L'Ordre, of Montreal, in which he says that the mine — " the Rich-
ardson"— " is as remarkable for its richness as for the manner of its existence,"
and that " he sees in the Richardson the best as well as the most encouraging
of all indications for the search of gold in Upper Canada." A correspondent
of the New York Tribune, apparently disinterested, and writing from the vi-
cinity January 22, 1867, asserts that " some thousands of dollars of native
gold have already been secured from this mine and other adjacent localities, and
sold in Belleville, Canada West, to jewellers, who pronounced it a very good
quality, fully equal to that of Australia." This section of Canada is also
known to abound in copper, iron, lead, slate, and marble.
The Chaudiere mines, near Quebec, are probably a development of the Alle-
ghanian range. They have hitherto been confined to placer or alluvial mining
on the tributaries of the Chaudiere. Quartz mining has not been prosecuted to
any great extent, although an official publication by the Canadian government
reports assays at $21, $37, and even $95 p5r ton.
NOVA SCOTIA.
The gold fields of Nova Scotia consist of some ten or twelve districts of
quite limited area in themselves, but lying scattered along the southeastern coast
of the province. The whole of this coast, from Cape Sable on the west to
Cape Canso on the east, a distance of about two hundred and fifty miles, is
bordered by a fringe of hard, slaty rocks, slate and sandstone in irregular al-
ternations, sometimes argillaceous and occasionally granitic. These rocks are
always, when stratified, found standing in a high angle, sometimes almost ver-
tical, and with a course in the main very nearly due east and west. They
seldom rise to any great elevation, the promontory of Aspatagon, about five
hundred feet high, being the highest land on the Atlantic coast of the province.
The general aspect of the shore is low, rocky and desolate, strewn often with
large boulders of granite or quartzite. This zone of metamorphic rocks varies
in width from six or eight miles at its eastern extremity to' forty or fifty at its
widest points, presenting in its northern boundary only a rude parallelism with
its southern margin, and composing about six thousand square miles of surface,
the general outline of ^hat may, geologically speaking, be called the gold region
of Nova Scotia.
A contributor to the Atlantic Monthly magazine for May, 1864, enumerates
Tangier Harbor, Wine Harbor, Sherbrooke, Ovens, Oldham, Waverly, Stormont,
and Lake Loon — a small lake only five miles distant from Halifax — as localities
which have fully determined the auriferous character of the district already de-
scribed, and selects for specific description, and as a specimen of other veins, the
Montague lode at Lake Loon. The course of this is E. 10° N., that being the
strike of the rocks by the compass in that particular district. It has been traced
by surface-digging a long distance — not less, probably, than half a mile. At
one point on this line there is a shift or fault in the rocks, which has heaved the
most productive portion of the vein about thirty-five feet to the north ; but for
the rest of the distance, so far as yet open, the whole lode remains true and un-
disturbed.
" Its dip with the rocks around it is almost vertical, say from 85° to 80° south.
The vein is- contained between walls of slate on both sides, and is a double or
composite vein, being formed, first, of the main leader ; second, of a smaller vein
on the other side, with a thin slate partition-wall between the two ; and third,
of a strongly mineralized slate foot-wall, which is in itself really a most valuable
portion of the ore-channel.
334 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
" ^he quartz which composes these interposed sheets, thus separated, yet
combined, is crystallized throughout, and highly mineralized ; belonging, in fact,
to the first class of quartz lodes recognized in all the general descriptions of the
veins of this region. The associated minerals are, here, cuprite or yellow-
copper, green malachite or carbonate of copper, mispickel or arsenical pyrites,
zinc blende, scsquioxide of iron, rich in gold, and also frequent ' sights' or visible
masses of gold itself. The gold is also often visible to the naked eye in all the
associated minerals, and particularly in the mispickel and blende.
" The main quartz vein of this interesting lode varies from three to ten inches
in thickness at different points on the surface-level, but is reported as increasing
to twenty inches thick at the bottom of the shaft, already carried down to a
depth of forty feet. This very considerable variation in thickness will be found
to be owing to the folds or plications of the vein, to which we shall hereafter
make more particular allusion.
"The minerals associated with the quartz in this vein, especially the cuprite
and mispickel, are found most abundantly upon the foot- wall side, or underside,
of the quartz itself. The smaller accompanying vein before alluded to appears
to be but a repetition of the larger ^ne in all its essential characteristics, and is
believed by the scientific examiners to be fully as well charged with gold. That
this is likely to come up to a very remarkable standard of productiveness, per-
haps more so than any known vein in the world, is to be inferred from the offi-*
cial statement in the Royal Gazette of Wednesday, January 20, 1864, published
by authority at the chief gold commissioner's office in Halifax, in which the
average yield of the Montague vein for the month of October, 1863, is given as
3 oz. 3 dwt. 4 gr.; for November, as 3 oz. 10 dwt. 13 gr.; and for December, as
5 oz. 9 dwt. 8 gr., to the ton of quartz crushed during these months, respectively.
Nor is the quartz of this vein the only trustworthy source of yield. The under-
lying slate is filled with bunches of mispickel, not distributed in a sheet or in
any particular order, so far as yet observed, but developed throughout the slate,
and varying in size from that of small nuts to many pounds in weight — masses
of over fifty pounds having been frequently taken out. This peculiar mineral
has always proved highly auriferous in this locality, and a careful search will
rarely fail to detect • sights ' of the precious metal imbedded in its folds, or lying
hidden between its crystalline plates.
" Nor is the surrounding mass of slate in which this vein is enclosed without
abundant evidences of a highly auriferous character. Scales of gold are everywhere
to be seen between its laminae, and, when removed and subjected to the proceeds of
'dressing,' there can be little doubt of its also yielding a very handsome return.
In fact, the entire mass of material, which is known to be auriferous, is not less
than twelve to fifteen inches at the surface, and will doubtless be found, as all
experience and analogy in the district have hitherto shown to be the case, to in-
crease very considerably with the increased depth to which the shafts will soon
be carried. No difficulties whatever are apprehended here in going to a very
considerable depth, as the slate is not hard and easily permits the miner, in his
progress, to bear in upon 4t without drilling upon the closer and more tenacious
quartz.
" The open cut made by the original owners of the Montague property, and
by which the veins have been in some degree exposed, absurd and culpable as
it is as a mode of mining, has yet served a good purpose in showing in a very
distinct manner the structure of these veins — a structure which is found to be on
the whole very general in the province. The quartz is not found, as might
naturally be supposed from its position among sedimentary rocks, lying in any-
thing like a plain, even sheet of equal thickness. On the contrary, it is seen to
be marked \>y folds or plications, occurring at tolerably regular intervals, and
crossing the vein at an angle of 40° or 45° to the west. Similar folds may be
produced in a sheet which is hung on a line, and then drawn at one of the
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 335
lower corners. The cross-section of the vein is thus maile to resemble some-
what the appearance of a chain of long links, the rolls or swel& alternating with
the plain spaces throwgh its whole extent. Perhaps a better comparison is that
of ripples or gentle waves as seen following each other on the ebb-tide in a still
time on the beach.
"The distribution of the gold in the mass of the quartz appears to be highly
influenced by the peculiar wavy or folded structure. All the miners are agreed in
the statement that the gold abounda most at the swells or highest points of the
waves of rock, ami that the scarcely less valuable mispickel appears to follow the
same law. The spaces between are not found to be so rich As these points of
undulation ; and this structure must explain the signal contrast in thickness and
productiveness which is everywhere seen in sinking a shaft in this district. As
the cutting passes through one of these swells the thickness of the vein at once
increases, and again diminishes with equal certainty as the work proceeds ; be-
low this point destined again to go through with similar alternations in its mass "
The gold of Nova Scotia is remarkable for its great purity, it being on the
average twenty-two carats fine, as shown by repeated assay. The bars or in-
gots are current in Halifax at $20 an ounce. Assays by Pr©fessor Silliman, of
Yale College, have ascertained values of $1*9.97 and $20 25, and the gold com-
missioner of Nova Scotia assumes $19.50 as the basis of his calculations of the
gold product of the province.
The official returns of the deputy gold commissioners for the several districts
to the chief commissioner at Halifax are unusually exact and reliable in re-
gard to the most important point of the whole subject, namely, the average
yield per ton of quartz crushed at the mills. By regulations of the mining
department, every miner, or the agent or chief superintendent of each mine, is
required, under penalty of forfeiting possession of the mine, to make a quarterly
return of the amount of days' labor ex pended, the number of tons raised and
crushed, and the quantity of gold. These returns are not likely to be exaggera-
ted, as a government royalty of three per cent, on the gross product is exacted.
Besides the miner's report, all owners of quartz mills are also required to render
official returns under oath, and in a form minutely prescribed by the provincial
law, of all quartz crushed by them during each month, stating particularly
from what mine it was raised, for whose account it has been crushed, and what
was the exact quantity in ounces, pennyweights, and grains. Upon this basis
it appears that the average for all the mining districts is $30 per ton ; while the
maximum yield at some of the prominent mines has been $1,000 per ton at
Wine Harbor, $240 at Sherbrook, $220 at Oldham, and $100 at Stormont,
during the months of October, November and December, 1863. These results
are independent of the great waste which attends the reduction of pyritous
ores. The cost of reduction at this time does not exceed $7 per ton, owing to
the moderate scale of prices for labor, supplies, and fuel in Nova Scotia.
The writer in the Atlantic Monthly, already referred to, accounts for the
absence %f alluvial gold by the peninsular formation of Nova Scotia. The ac-
tion of the glacial period would only transport the detritus of auriferous rocks
beneath the Atlantic ocean. Therefore, the gold of Nova Scotia is to be suc-
cessfully sought under the application of the most scientific and systematic
methods of deep quartz-mining. His summary of these methods is so suggest-
ive that it will be cited :
" The ill-considered system of allotting small individual claims at first adopted
by the colortial government was founded, probably, on a want of exact know-
ledge of the peculiar nature of the gold district, and the consequent expectation
that the experiences of California and Australia in panning and washing were
to be repeated here. This totally inapplicable system in a manner compelled
the early single adventurers to abandon their claims as soon as the surface-water
began to accumulate in their little open pits or shallow levels, beyond the con-
336 GOLD MIKES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
trol of a single buckgt or other .such primitive contrivance for bailing. Even
the more active and industrious digger soon found his own difficulties to accu-
mulate just in proportion to his own superior measure of activity, since, as sooa
as he carried his own excavation a foot or two deeper than his neighbors, he
found that it only gave him the privilege of draining for the whole" of the less
enterprising diggers, whose pits had not been sunk to the same level as his own.
Thus the adventurers who should ordinarily have been the most successful were
soon drowned out by the accumulated waters from the adjacent and sometimes
abandoned claims. Nearly all of these early efforts at individual mining are
now discontinued, and the claims thus shown to be worthless in single hands
have been consolidated in the large companies, who alone possess the means to
work them with unity and success.
" The present methods of working the lodes, as now practiced in Nova Scotia,
proceed on a very different plan. Shafts are sunk, at intervals of about three
hundred feet, on the course of the lodes which it is proposed to work, as these
ore distinctly traced on the surface of the ground. When these shafts have
been carried down to the depth of sixty feet, or, in miner's language, ten fathoms,
horizontal drifts or levels are pushed out from them, below the ground, and in
either direction, still keeping on the course of the lode. While these subter-
ranean levels are being thus extended, the shafts are again to be continued
downwards, until the depth of twenty fathoms, or one hundred and twenty feet,
has been attained. A second and lower set of levels are then pushed out beneath,
and parallel to, the first named. At the depth of thirty fathoms a third and
still lower set of levels will extend beneath and parallel to the second. The
work of sinking vertical shafts, and excavating horizontal levels to connect
them, belongs to what is denominated the ' construction of the mine,' and it is
only after this has been completed that the work of mining proper can be said
to begin.
" The removal .of the ore, as conducted from the levels by which access to it
has thus been gained, may be carried on either by 'direct' or by 'inverted
grades ' — that is, either by breaking it up from underneath, or down from over-
head, in each of the levels which have now been described, or, as it is more
commonly called in mining language, by ' understoping ' or by 'overstoping.'
When the breadth of the lode is equal to that of the level, it is perhaps not
very material which plan be adopted. But when, as at Oldham, Montague, or
Tangier, the lodes are only of moderate width, and much barren rock, however
soft and yielding, has of necessity to be removed along with the ore, so as to
give a free passage for the miner through the whole extent of the drifts, we
shall easily understand that the working by inverted grades, or ' overstoping, '
is the only proper or feasible method. In this case, the blasts being all made
from the roof, or 'back ' as it is called, of the drift, the barren or ' dead ' rock, con-
taining no gold, is left on the floor of the drift, and there is then only the labor
and expense of bringing the valuable quartz itself, a much less amount in bulk,
to the surface of the ground. The accumulating mass of the dead rock under-
foot will then be constantly raising the floor of the drift, and as constantly
bringing the miners within convenient working distance of the receding roof. In
the case of 'understoping,' however, in which the blasts are made from the floor
of the drift, it will be perceived that all the rock which is moved, of whatever
kind, must equally be brought to the surface, which entails much greater labor
and expense in the hoisting; and gravity, moreover, instead of co-operating
with, counteracts, it will be understood, the effective force of the powder."
There is quite a concurrence of testimony that the quartz seams increase in
richness as they descend, although the excavations have not-, as yet, been car-
ried to depths exceeding one hundred feet.
The mining statistics of Nova Scotia exhibit very accurately the average
yield per man, which, in 1863, was 95 cents a day ; in 1864, $1 39 j and in
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 337
1865, $2 13. At the rate per diem last mentioned, eacji man employed pro-
duced $684 80 per annum. The Australian estimates of the production per man
of the mining population do not exceed an annual average, since 1851, of $500.
The value of gold produced in Nova Scotia during the year ending Septem-
ber 30, 1865, was $509,080, (paying $18,038 in rents and royalties;) in 1864,
$400,440 ; in 1863, $280,020 ; and in 1862, $145,500. The earliest discovery
of gold occurred in 1860. The productiveness of the mines was not diminished
during 1866.
ALLEGHANY GOLD-FIELD.
It can only be determined by a geological exploration, which shall embrace
Lower Canada, Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland,
whether the gold formation of Nova Scotia is associated with the Laurentian
range, or is an extension of the auriferous belt which, first observed upon the
Coosa river in Alabama, extends in a general northeast direction along the eastern
flank of the Alleghanies to the Potomac river, with some partial developments
in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and upon the
Chaucliere river, of Lower Canada. In the latter case, the mining experience of
Nova Scotia may yield valuable suggestions in regard to the auriferous lodes
which are known to be very numerous in the talcose and chloritic schists of the
southern Alleghanies. Since the California discovery of 1848, little attention
has been given to alluvial mining in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia ; and
until recently capitalists fcave acquiesced in the opinion, so confidently ex-
pressed by Sir Roderick Murchison in "Siluria" and other publications, that,
notwithstanding numerous filaments and traces of gold near their surface, the
Alleghany vein-stones held no body of ore downwards which would warrant
deep quartz mining. At present, with twenty years' experience in gold mi-
ning ; with the testimony of miners in Colorado that a lode apparently closed
by cap-rock can be recovered, with increased richness, at a lower depth ; with
other analogies, however imperfect, from the successful treatment of pyritous
ores in Nova Scotia; and with the earnest application of inventive minds to
new and improved processes of desulphurization, it is evident that the working
of the southern mines will be resumed, perhaps with the encouragement of a
scientific survey under the auspices of the general government.
The deposits of gold at the United States mint and its branches between 1804
and 1866 from the States traversed by the Appalachian gold-field are reported
as follows :
Virginia $1, 570, 182 82
North Carolina 9, 278, 627 67
South Carolina 1, 353, 663 98
Georgia 6, 971, 681 50
Alabama , 201,734 83
19, 375, 890 80
If we admit '.hat an equal quantity passed into mamifactures or foreign com-
merce without deposit for coinage, the aggregate production would be about
$40,000,010, of which fully three-fourths, or $30,000,000, was mined between
1828 and 1848. .
It is not the purpose of this report to enumerate the enterprises now organ-
izing for the development of the Alleghany mines, but to recall some evidence,
mostly compiled before the California discovery, in regard to their situation and
mineralogical characteristics.
H. Ex. Doc. 29 22
338 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
VIRGINIA.
The gold veins of Virginia extend through Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier,
Culpeper, Orange, Spottsylvania, Louisa, Fluvanna, Goochland, Buckingham,
and a few adjoining counties.
In 1837 Professor Benjamin Silliman published (Journal of Science, first series,
vol. 32, p. 98) the results of a personal examination of mines in the vicinity of
Fredericksburg, of which a brief summary will be given. He describes the gold-
bearing quartz as embedded in talcose and mica slate, principally the latter. In
far the greater number «f cases the eye detects nothing but quartz, or sometimes
metallic sulphurets of iron, zinc, or lead, and the observer, unless previously in-
structed, would never suapect the presence of gold, either distinct or in the
metallic sulphurets. In the vicinity of the quartz veins rich washings occur.
In Spottsylvania county, on a branch near the Whitehall mine, $10,000 was
taken in a few days from a space twenty feet square, and $7,000 was found near
Tinder's mine, in Louisa county, in the course of one week. It often happened
that successful alluvial mining preceded the discovery of vein mines. Of the
latter several are described :
1. Busty'* mine, situated fifty miles from Richmond and fifty -three miles from
Fredericksburg, in solid quartz veins, fifteen to eighteen inches thick, at depth
of twenty-two feet ; structure of vein coarsely granular, like loaf-sugar, free from
foreign matter except inherent gold, and so white that even when pulverized it
showed no tint of color ; yield on one trial $80 per ton ; on another trial $240
per ton.
2. Moss mine, near the above ; situated in decomposed slate-rock ; surface of
vein little else than red clay, but firmer, and stratified below ; inclination of rock
and included quartz vein about 45° ; direction by compass north by east, and
south by west; diameter of vein sixteen, eighteen, twenty-four, twenty-seven, and
thirty inches, averaging twenty-four inches; quartz laminar, easily broken. and
separated from slate by blasting, but showing no signs of gold, though examined
by a magnifier; three tests returned $100, $140, and $200 per ton, yet in neither
case was gold visible in quartz or ore.
3. Walton mine, situated in Louisa county, forty miles southwest of Freder-
icksburg ; quartz vein firm and compact ; one foot wide ; occasionally porous
and interspersed with iron pyfttes and a dark iron ore, probably proceeding
from their decomposition; penetrated by two shafts of seVenty and forty feet;
first trial of poor ore, $80 ; second trial of averag,e ore, $160 ; third trial of ore
taken at random, $400 ; fourth trial of specimen, showing gold to the naked
eye, $2,660 per ton ; average of the series of assays, $820 per ton.
4. Culprper mine, situated eighteen miles west of Fredericksburg, upon the
Rapidan ; a tract of 524 acres ; hydraulic power for a twenty-stamp mill ; four
adits with connecting shafts ; main vein ten feet wide, but prone to divide into
strings not larger than a finger, nearly parallel and separated only by portions
of the slaty rock; gold more abundant in these strings than in larger veins;
much iron accompanying the ore; pulverized quartz always red or brown ; iron
pyrites in some places fresh and brilliant, elsewhere decomposed ; strata nearly
perpendicular ; specimens from fourteen localities, mixed together, returned $30
per ton ; specimen from a vein considered rich, but showing no sign of gold,
gave $80 per ton.
In the following paragraph, Professor Silliman only anticipates the experience
of miners at this day :
" Gold is often found in pyritical ores in which the gold is embedded in fine
particles. This mass when reduced to fine powder gives a residium of oxidized
iron about equal in weight to the fine gold, the latter being malleable or flat-
tened, while the former, being brittle, remains rounded or angular. In washing
this mixture in the pan the gold generally remains on the upper side of the
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 339
mass, and is therefore more liable to be washed off by the slightest ripple of th^
water. On the other hand, when the gold is embedded in quartz ores, especially
those with fine fractures, called in Virginia ' sugar ore,' or more properly gran-
ular quartz, the gold being of a similar form, is more quickly disengaged, and
appears in larger grains.
"On the contrary, the ferruginous grains, or iron sand, are so fine as to be
scarcely visible, and are invariably found at the bottom of the mass or residuum,
and therefore, as well as on account of their greater weight, are much less liable
to be carried off by the ripple of the waters."
Several successful instances of alluvial mining near the Rapidan are also
mentioned; on a Hempstead farm, $4,000 in 1831-'32, of which nearly $3,000
in sixty days; another instance two or three miles from Rapidan, $12,000; a
third, $40,000; all in the vicinity of the Culpepper mine.
The most remarkable of the foregoing statements relate to the assays of ores
from the Walton mine. Professor Rogers, of the University of Virginia, in-
spected this mine in 1836, and ascertained that in the lower adit leading from
the main shaft, the auriferous vein was twelve inches in width, and that the
talcose rock underlying the vein was also auriferous to a distance of six inches,
and sometimes more, from the quartz. He also observed the continued yield from
the quartz, and the uniform dissemination of the gold throughout the vein, and
the lower enclosing rock. An assay of Professor Rogers returned $280 per ton.
A writer in Harper's Monthly Magazine for December, 1865, describes the
gold mines in the vicinity of Richmond ; having previously given some general
information of the conditions under which gold has been discovered and mined.
"Sienite, gneiss, greenstone, and porphyry," he says, "appear to be the pri-
mary sources, and the pyrites are evidently the immediate matrix of gold. All
iron pyrites contain gold, and often silver, only excepting those of the coal
formation ; and the extensive gold deposits of Virginia may be said to be liter-
ally one continuous belt or accumulation of veins of iron pyrites.
"Most of the gold-bearing rock which has hitherto be eumined in Virginia is
principally a kind of talcose slate, somewhat resembling soapstone, but not so
greasy to the touch. This slate is red and ferruginous at the surface, but at a
greater depth is filled with small crystals of iron pyrites which are decomposed
near the surface and appear as peroxyd of iron, giving the slate a brown or
yellow tinge. This slate is a metamorphic rcfck, and runs in a regular belt
parallel with the Alleghany mountain chain.
" The gold found in the State of Virginia occurs in exceedingly small grains,
often so fine as to be not only invisible to the naked eye, but undiscernible even
by the assistance of a strong lens. This is the case even when the ores are
worth three or four dollars per bushel. Some veins of the slate region contain,
coarse gold in grains as large as the head of a pin, and even larger. These are
generally found in veins of quartz in which the pyrites are concentrated into
larger masses. Where the pyrites are disseminated in fine crystals through the
mass of the rock, the gold is found to be very fine. In the first pyrites the gold
is often invisible, even if after separation it appears to be coarse. By natural
or artificial decomposition the gold becomes visible, the pyrites are converted
into oxyd of iron, and, by aid of a lens, the gold can be detected embedded in
the oxyd of iron. Another form in which the native gold is not unfrequeutly
found in Virginia is in quartz, in whick it is embedded. Solid white quartz,
both in veins and in crystals, is found, in which the gold appears in spangles,
plates, grains, and also in perfectly developed crystals. Throughout the gold
regions of Virginia copper pyrites are found in all the metallic deposits. It in-
variably accompanies the gold bearing iron pyrites, and is always considered a
good indication of richness. Cases have often occurred in which the largest
amount of treasure has been abandoned, because the miners had not the knowl-
edge of proper appliances for separating the precious yield of gold and copper.3'
340 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE KOCKY MOUNTAINS.
The writer of the article here quoted proceeds to give many interesting details
of the gold mines of Goochland, Buckingham, and Flu van na counties. Among
these are the Belzoro mine, developing seven veins, which vary in width from
two feet six inches to thirty feet; Marks mine, with four gold-bearing quartz
veins; Waller mine, vein of brown oxyd of iron, six feet thick; Tellurium
mine, sold in 1848 to Commodore Stockton, who is reported to have ex-
tracted $250,000 in nine years; Snead gold mine, of three veins, one of them
being four feet wide, and composed of white quartz, which contains argentif-
erous galena, copper sulphates, and gold ; Ford mine, revealing copper pyrites
largely ; and Lightfoot mine, with four well-known and very rich veins ; all
of which have been worked successfully at different periods since 1 828.
The mineral wealth of Virginia in other respects is unsurpassed by Pennsyl-
vania or any part of the Union.
NORTH CAROLINA.
The gold district of North Carolina extends from northeast to southwest in
the general direction of its leading counties, namely : Guilford, Randolph, Da-
vidson, Rowan, Stanly, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, and Union.
In 1825 Professor Denison Olmstead designated as the district within which
alluvial mining was prosecuted, the counties of Montgomery and Anson, and the
eastern portions of Mecklenburg and Cabarrus as then organized. Gold was
first discovered in a "thin stratum* of gravel enclosed in a dense clay, usually of
a pale blue, but sometimes of a yellow color." This description is easily recog-
nizable as the detritus of th'e gold bearing rock afterwards discovered further
to the west. Many facts of the early success of placer mining on the tributa-
ries of the Pedee might be adduced, but it must suffice, in this connection, to
repeat from Wheeler's History of North Carolina an enumeration of the nuggets
which have been obtained since the first discovery in 1799 :
Tears. Pounds. Years. Pounds.
1799 , 4 1826 16
1803 28 1826 9£
1804 9 1826 8^
1804 ', 7 1835 13|
1804 3 1835 4J
1804 2 1835 5
1804 ... 1£ 1835 8
No more intelligible account of the placers of North Carolina exist than the
-communication of Professor Olmstead in 1825, from which a few paragraphs
will be given. After describing the gold-bearing alluvium as " gravel enclosed
in pale blue or yellow clay," he adds : " On ground that is elevated and exposed
to be washed by rains this stratum frequently appears at the surface, and in
low grounds, where the alluvial earth has been accumulated by the same agent,
it is found at the depth of eight feet ; but where no cause operates to alter its
original depth it lies about three feet below the surface. A miner sometimes
meets a stratum of the ferruginous oxide of manganese in a rotten, friable state.
In some instances the clay is deep red."
Very soon, however, thele gold deposits were traced to the auriferous lodes
traversing a belt of talcose, micaceous, chloritic, and hornblende slates, which
passes through several counties on the east side of another belt of granite and
west of one of trap. These veins, as early as 1828, were described as follows
by Charles E. Rothe, a miner and mineralogist from Saxony: "They occur
in greenstone formation often from two to four feet in thickness and a mile
•or more in length, which give assurance that they sink to a considerable
4
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 341
depth. Their general direction is east and west, dipping occasionally 40° to
50° north. The ores and minerals in these veins are rhomboidal iron ore,
prismatic iron ore, pyramidal copper pyrites, and prismatic iron pyrites.
In. the last two is a mechanical mixture with each other. They
show distinct signs of having been changed from their original form.
Where the atmosphere could have any influence on the pyrites we find that
one part of the sulphur has escaped, the consequence of which is, the metallic
appearance of the pyrites is changed to that of brown-reddish oxide of iron, and
owing to this color we can see the fine particles of gold, and ascertain the rich-
ness of the deposit. But where the pyrites have not undergone this change, then
the gold cannot be discovered, owing to the color being nearly the same. The
greenstone near the vein is most generally decomposed, and mixed with a great
number of loose crystals of prismatic iron pyrites. Between the greenstone and
the vein, or at the place of junction, the gold is most generally found."
The gold district of North Carolina is the second belt of the table-land, its
positions moderately elevated, and it is very seldom that the highest hills of
Davidson, Randolph, Rowan, Cabarrus, and Mecklenburg counties are traversed
by vein fissures.
In 1856 a report by Ebenezer Emmons, upon the geology of the midland coun-
ties of North Carolina, was published, which gives a detailed description of thirty
mining localities. Abstracts of his observations upon the leading mines of Guil-
ford, Randolph, Davidson, Rowan, Stanly, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, and Union
counties will best illustrate the characteristics of the auriferous belt through the
State. The order in which these counties are named coincides with their geo-
graphical position, commencing on the north :
1. McCulloch mine, in Guilford county, brown or desulphurized ore, to a depth
of one hundred and thirty feet ; vein two feet wide at surface, increasing to twenty-
four feet, with a dip at rfngle of forty-five degrees ; brown ore, soft and easily
crushed, yielding $30 to $40 per ton, and sometimes $100 ; at level of one hun-
dred and thirty feet, there are six inches brown ore on foot-wall, then copper
pyrites, then a belt of brown ore containing nodules or concretions of pyrites
more or less changed the middle of which is rich in gold, and then the principal
mass of porous quartz against hanging wall, which, though sometimes showing
films of gold, is usually poor ; wall rock, sienitic granite. ,,
2. Fis/ier H'H, in Randolph county; veinstone quartz, with white sulpburet
of iron mixed irregularly through it ; free from copper pyrites ; burnt to advan-
tage ; two to four feet wide near surface ; brittle, and when burnt easily pulver-
ized; average sixty dollars per ton, and gold worth ninety cents to pennyweight.
3. Conrad Hill, in Davidson county, six miles east of Lexington Court-House ;
situated eighty-eight feet above plain to the south; five gold bearing veins from
eighteen inches to two feet at surface ; third vein fifteen inches at surface, widen-
ing to eighteen feet at depth of one hundred feet, and finally developing sui-
plmrets of iron and copper rich in gold ; only four feet rich in gold ; wall-rock
talcose slate, but adjacent country traversed by trap.
4. Gold Hill, on southern border of Rowan county ; product to 1856,
$2,000,000 ; three strong and well-defined veins, one mile east of granitic belt ;
angle of dip 80° ; strata undisturbed by eruptive rocks ; veins associated with
sulphurets of iron and copper ; Earhardt vein worked 400 feet, expanding from
six inches to seven feet, a succession of lenticular segments overlapping at their
edges ; chief difficulties, fineness of gold and heavy giilphurets ; if sand saved
and exposed for a year the bulphurets are decomposed and metal liberated;
in 1854 $136,636 76 obtained in thirteen months from Gold Hill, expense*
$60,331 06, profit $76.305.
5. Parker mine, in Stanly county; most productive parts of rock are natural
joints or quartz seams ; pieces in proximity to natural joints sometimes weighing
a pound : " not a vein, but a decomposed mass with gold distributed in seams ;"
.
342 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
has produced $200,000 ; some masses at rate of eighty to one hundred dollars
per ton.
6. Reed mine, in Cabarrus county ; productive alluvial mining, as already
stated ; a vein at depth of ninety feet yields twenty- two dollars per ton. A .
Phoenix mine, in Cabarrus, was rich to 140 feet, twenty to sixty dollars per ton ;
but at that level white quartz and sulphate of barytes replaced the brown ore,
reducing yield to five dollars per ton. The Pioneer mine, also in Cabarrus, is
& fissure in granite sixteen to seventeen feet wide, but true veinstone eight to ten
inches ; gold in pure quartz mixed with sulphurets ; yield sixty-three dollars
per ton.
7. Howie and Lawson mine, in Union county, near the line of South Car-
olina ; fine, white, and granular quartz which near contact with slate-wall rock
is mottled with brown oxide of iron ; on this surface gold visible ; width of vein
six to thirty inches ; average sixty dollars per ton ; some specimens two hun-
dred and twenty dollars; traced three-quarters of a mile; sold in 1856 to Com-
modore Stockton.
8. Rudisili's mine, near Charlotte, Mecklenburg county ; three veins, three
or four feet wide ; gan'gue slaty, with stripes of quartz and copper pyrites, yield-
ing twenty dollars per ton; quartz brittle and readily crushed; "arrangement
of ore in the lode is usually in rich bunches, connected by strings." Dunn
mine, seven miles from Charlotte, remarkable for limonite produced from iron
pyrites, but unproductive of gold. The gold in the vicinity of Charlotte is
worth one dollar the pennyweight.
Copper mining has also received attention in North Carolina — the most per-
sistent and prosperous enterprise of the kind being in Guilfbrd county. The
" Washington silver mine," in Davidson county, produces a great variety of
metals in association with silver, which are difficult to treat metallurgically ; but
the attempt will doubtless be resumed with the aid of improved methods of
amalgamation.
The mineral wealth of North Carolina is by no means confined to the eastern
slope of the Blue Ridge. West of that range, between the Snowy mountain
and the Blue Ridge, and its transverse from the upper waters of the French
Broad river to the Lookout mountain, containing 5,000 square miles, there is a
field presented to the mineralogist not perhaps equalled for extent and interest
in the Unitec^ States. ' Smoky mountain constitutes the line between primitive
and transition rocks, and its acclivities are steep and broken, developing familiar
Muriferous combinations. Gold has been taken from all its streams ; and where
the spurs and belts of this mountain have been cut by denudation, veins of quartz
running with talcose slate are very apparent. Gold is often found in quartz
rock, out of place, and much decomposed. Coco creek is a very rich deposit.
Rumors of &ilver deposits were current in the army, during the late military cam-
paigns. This remote interior district will amply reward exploration.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
The auriferous belt already traced from Fredericksburg to Charlotte ex-
tends to the vicinity of Abbeville, in South Carolina — more restricted in width,
but with indications of greater richness.
Mines of Mr. William Dome, in the Abbeville and Edgefield districts, yielded
gold of the value of $300,000 in fifteen months preceding July, 1853. The
ore was highly ferruginous and silicious, and the gold was found among the
layers of the vein in streaks and pockets of extraordinary richness. It WHS
supposed to have been exhausted; but during 1866 work was resumed with
satisfactory results.
Professor Lieber, State geologist of South Carolina, has reported that the
most auriferous rocks are clay and talcose slates, catawberite, (a compound of
tale and magnetic iron,} specular iron, schist and itaberite. None of the later
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 343
formed rocks contain gold, and the mioa slates, and other older formations, con-
tain comparatively little; This is in accordance with the views of Murchison,
already referred to, who refers the position of gold universally to veins in altered
silurian slates, chiefly lower Silurian, and most frequently near their junction
with eruptive rocks.
The first mint deposits from South Carolina were $3,500 in 1829 ; the aggre-
gate of such deposits to June 30, 1866, was $1,353,663 98.
. GEORGIA.
The width of the gold range through the southern States is not yet defined.
If narrower in South Carolina, it is wider in Georgia than elsewhere. A line
crosses the State from Augusta on the Savannah, by Macon on the Ocmulgee,
to Columbus on the Chattahoochee, north of which is a platform of granitic and
palaeozoic rocks, which stretches to the Alleghanies, within which gold occurs
in almost every county. Near this southern limit a gold mine has been worked
in Columbia county, not far from Augusta, which has been continuously pro-
ductive for eighteen years. But with this breadth to the general auriferous
formation, there is evidence of two belts, which are separated by unproductive
metamorphic rocks. Probably the district of Georgia and Alabama, which is
most distinctly and remarkably gold-bearing, is from latitude 34° to 35n and
between longitude 83° and 86°.
Gold was first discovered in Habersham county about 1831. It was followed
by numerous developments along a line of hornblende slate from Alabama,
northeast through Cass, Cherokee, Hall, and Hart counties, and extending to
the Blue Ridge. Within this limit are the productive counties of Gilmer, Lump-
kin, Habersham, and Kayburn.
A mint was established at Dahlonega, in Lumpkin county, in 1837, which
has received $600,000 in a single year, with an aggregate coinage to February
28, 1861, of $6,121,919. Of this amount, $5,825,747 was received during the
period from 1838 to 1857.
Placer mining has been prosecuted in northern Georgia in a manner and with
a success not unlike the experience of California. Besides the true veins, which
traverse the strata in which they lie in various angles of dip and direction,
there are many depositories of gold in all directions around Dahlonega, which
* are auriferous beds of slates, often decomposed, and sometimes containing
pyrites, and the gossan resulting from its decomposition. In Lumpkin and
Habersham counties especially, these metalliferous beds have been worked like
open quarries, and the gold, in some instances, has been collected with the rocker
or the pan, without recourse to crushing ; worked, in fact, like deposit mines.
They contain rich nests and fine gold, most unequally diffused through the. dif-
ferent layers among the slates ; some are perfectly barren, in immediate contact
with other streaks that may yield many dollars to the hundred-weight of mate-
rial ; but they are so intimately mixed that all must be treated alike when
worked on the large scale. The immense quantities in which these materials
are obtained, and the ease with which they are quarried, sometimes render it
an object to work them, though their yield is, on the whole, very small. These
conditions are very favorable to the application of hydraulic mining, as carried
to perfection in California.*
* See article " Gold," in Appleton's American Cyclopaedia. The writer, who refers to his
personal experience in Georgia mines, adds that when the ores are not pyritilerous, and
there are facilities for stamping such as are used in cement mining by Californians, these
materials can be profitably worked, when only producing eighty cents or one dollar per ton,
or 1.8 part in 1,000,000; but, of course, where the material is hard quartz, and more espe-
cially if it is pyritiferous, the expense of working would be more than quadruple. Prof. W.
P. Blake in 1857 published a pamphlet, advising the improved methods of sluice-washing
for use in Georgia.
344 GOLD MINES EiST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
Waiving Further details, the following general observations may accompany
this brief review of the Alleghany gold mines :
1. There is yet much room for the vigorous and intelligent prosecution of al-
luvial mining. Especially in Georgia, where the country is abrupt and nature has
subjected the auriferous rocks to much dislocation and atmospheric exposure,
not only the beds of the rivers, but the adjacent detritus of their valleys, will
unquestionably give large returns to the new and powerful methods for washing
ponderous masses of earth. It is understood that companies are now organized,
who propose to introduce these hydraulic appliances upon the Chestatee and
other tributaries of the Chattahoochee river.
2. There is abundant evidence also that the upper portions of auriferous lodes
have been in a remarkable degree desulphurized, and may be worked to a con-
siderable depth with great advantage before the intrusion of what is called "cap''
in Colorado, or before the main body of the vein becomes obstinately pyritifer-
ous. Surface quartz mining, if the phrase is admissible, will warrant consider-
able investments, whatever subsequent experience shall demonstrate in regard to
the refractory sulphurets. It may be admitted that, hitherto, a quartz so modi-
fied in chemical constitution as to be ''honey-combed," having become cellular
and brittle from the decomposition of pyrites, with the gold set free from its
matrix, is the only material which it is profitable to reduce ; but the testimony
is ample that immense quantities of ore in this favorable situation are accessible
in the Alleghany gold district.
3. There are no grounds for the opinion that the auriferous lodes, strongly
marked as they are by native sulphurets, will not prove true fissure veins, im-
proving in quantity and quality with their depth. Professor Frederick Overman,
in a work entitled "Practical Mineralogy," published'in 1851, claims that the
pyritous veins of Virginia and other south Atlantic States will be more sure and
lasting than the gold-beariog localities of California. If the lower beds of Col-
orado mines can be raised and reduced with profit, deep sinking will be equally
successful in the Carolinas.
NEW HAMPSHIRE AND OTHER LOCALITIES.
In the townships of Franconia and Lisbon, lying immediately north of Mount
Washington on the lower Ammonoosuc river, gold has recently been discovered %
in quartz rock and a shaft sunk by a company of Boston capitalists to the depth
of seventy-five feet. A correspondent of the American Exchange and Review,
a monthly publication of Philadelphia, describes the gold-bearing quartz as tra-
versing talcose slate, and containing sulphurets of iron and copper and seams of
magnetic iron. Some extraordinary statements of recent assays from this locality
have been published — one by Dr. Hays, State assayer of Massachusetts, at
$867 of gold per ton, and another specimen of mixed quartz talcose slate, gossan,
pyrites, &c., at $312 42 per ton. In the adjacent township of Waterford, sur-
face quartz yielded $30 per ton; quartz taken at nineteen feet below the surface
$45. Gulch mining has been successfully prosecuted in the vicinity.
• If the New Hampshire discovery should warrant investments, there may be
a renewal of exploration and experiment in Vermont, where the Appalachian,
mountain system is likewise largely developed.
During the year 1863 lodes of argentiferous galena were traced in the vicinity
of Marquette, on Lake Superior. This district is from ten to twenty feet in
breadth and about fifty miles in length, and is situated between the schistose or f
iron range and Lake Superior. Assays reveal from ten to thirty pounds of sil-
ver to the ton of metal. In the same vicinity east of Marquette the Huron
mountains were reported in 1864 to be gold-bearing; but the rumors have led
to no practical results.
A geological exploration of Arkansas undertaken a few years since indicated
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROC&Y MOUNTAINS. 345
the probability of profitable mining for silver, and perhaps gold, in the Ozark
mountains of that State.
A district of Alabama, in the northeastern portion of the State, is a well-de-
fined extension of the Appalachian gold-field. Its production of gold deposited
in the United States mint and branches has amounted to $201,734 83, with an
equal amount probably diverted to commercial channels.
METALLURGICAL TREATMENT OF GOLD ORES.
A few general suggestions on the treatment of gold ores, and more particu-
larly the auriferous sulphurets so prevalent in the formations east of the Rocky
mountains, are submitted.
The direct method of attacking these ores is byj£re, as is always done by the
assayer in his laboratory, when he wishes to extract from a sample of ore all
the metal which it contains. Undoubtedly, when the. cost of fuel, fluxes, and
labor is reduced to something near the standard which prevails in the seaboard
States, the richer ores of Colorado, Montana, &c., will be reduced by smelting.
At present, however, there is reason to believe that the proper economic condi-
tions for smelting do not exist, except possibly in the case of argentiferous ga-
lena ; although experiments recently made at Swansea, England, upon large
quantities of pyritic ores sent from Colorado have proved entirely successful.
In conducting these experiments, and estimating their cost, care was taken
to make the conditions as to fuel, fluxes, labor, &c., the same as those existing
in Colorado. It is stated that smelting works upon a large scale, upon the Swan-
sea plan, are to be started immediately in Colorado. If this should be done,
there will ensue a subdivision of labor in the business of mining gold and silver,
as is now the case in iron mining. The miner will limit his efforts to the raising
of ore from his mine, and the smelting furnace will afford a market where the ore
will command its price. This will be better for all parties than the method hith-
erto pursued of raising and reducing ores under one administration.
But it will be a long time before the great mining regions of the Rocky moun-
tains will have a sufficient number of smelting works to meet the wants of our
enterprising miners, who are constantly prospecting new fields ; and there will
always be a class of ores too poor to bear the cost of smelting.
f The cheaper process of amalgamation, now universally employed in all our
mining districts, (and, when no sulphurets are present, the very best process,)
will continue to be very generally resorted to. This process consists in reducing
the ore to a fine powder by means of stamps, arastras, Chilian mills, or other
mechanical contrivance, and subjecting it to a continuous agitation with mercury,
with water enough to give a pasty consistency to the mass, the object being to
expose as fully as possible the fine particles of gold and silver to the attractive
power of the mercury, with which they form an amalgam easily separable by
subsidence in the lighter pulp of earthy matter of which the ore consists. The
amalgam thus obtained, on being subjected to moderate heat in an iron retort,
gives up its mercury, which passes over in vapor, and is condensed again in an-
other vessel, the metal being left in the retort. ,
In the case of pyritic ores, however, it is found that the process of amalga-
mation is seriously retarded by the impurities with which the gold and silver
are associated. Probably the ores of Colorado do not yield, by simple amal-
gamation, an average of twenty per cent, of their assay value. A previous
process of desulphurization is, therefore, indispensible ; and how best to
accomplish this is the problem which has occupied the attention of metallur-
gists for many years. Many methods have been advised, the majority of which,
being merely empirical, have had but an ephemeral reputation.
As already intimated further details are reserved for a subsequent occasion,
when an effort will be made to describe the various processes now in course of
experiment.
346 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS.
The treatment of silver ores rests upon a far more satisfactory basis of chemi-
cal experience, and the different methods in successful use are clearly and accu-
rately compiled in the last edition of Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures,
and Mines.
TREASURE PRODUCT OF THE WORLD.
^
When America was discovered the gold and silver supply of Europe did not
exceed $200,000,000, of which $60,000,000 was gold and $140,000,000 was
silver. According to the estimates of Humboldt sixty years, elapsed before this
aggregate of two hundred millions was doubled by the treasure product of
America.
M. Chevalier estimates that the total amount of gold and silver in 1848, the
t epoch of the California discovery, was $8,500,000,000, of which one-third was
geld. It will require thirty-two years, or from 1848 to 1880, to duplicate this
supply, even if $250,000,000 is assumed to be the average annual production of
gold and silver during that period.
We have the authority of Adam Smith that it was not until after 1570 that
the increased supply from the American mines produced any appreciable effect
upon prices. In 1550, or twenty years previously, the treasure stock of Europe
has been doubled ; and in 1570 it reached an aggregate of $600,000,000. To
this point the product of the American mines was absorbed by the new demands
of commerce. It was only until 1620, or fifty years later, with a further addi-
tion of $600,000,000 to the stock of money in circulation, that silver fell to
about one-third of its former value, with a corresponding appreciation of prices,
In these statements full allowance is made, for the consumption of the precious
metals by casualties, abrasion, and the arts.
Whatever may be said of the great social and commercial activities of the six-
teenth century, the development of human industry and intelligence in the nine-
teenth century will prove far more effective for the absorption of the vast quan-
tity of gold and silver now or hereafter produced.
The world in the sixteenth century received and assimilated three-fold the
treasure supply of 1492 without material change of prices, which was postponed
fifty years later, until a six-fold supply, or an aggregate of $1,200,000,000, had
been applied to commercial uses. Then was observed a reduction to one-third
of the former value of silver. If we compare the experience of the world since
1848, the stock of specie in that year of $8,500,000,000 will be doubled in 1880,
without any other effect than to vitalize commerce ; and $400,000,000 per an-
num can still be absorbed by the trade and intercourse of all the continents for
twenty years thereafter, or until A. D. 1900, before the monetary situation will
correspond with that of Europe in 1570, when the first effect upon the exchange-
able value of money is recorded.
We are assisted, by the experience of the sixteenth century, to the conclusion
that an aggregate of $25,000,000,000 in the year 1900 will hold a similar rela-
tion to the trade and intercourse of mankind that the amount of $8,500,000,000
sustained to the population and commerce of the world in 1848. If, as early in
the next century as 1920, the stock on hand sliould be increased six-fold, reach-
ing a total of $50,000,000,000, it might be attended, as in 1620, by a sensible
reduction in the exchangeable value of money ; but this contingency is too re-
mote and capable of satisfactory compensation to justify much solicitude in be-
half of posterity.
There are indications that the large excess in the production of gold over thafc
of silver, which, since 1848, has reversed the former relations of these metals,
may be less marked in future. The vast quantities of gold produced since 1848
are mostly from placers— from the detritus of auriferous rocks. These surface
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE SOCKY MOUNTAINS. M7
mines are soon exhausted. In California, notwithstanding the skilful applica-
tion of hydraulic power, the production of gold by gulch or placer mining has
diminished from $60,000,000 in 1853 to $20,000,000 in 1866. Except for new
discoveries, and some successful enterprises of quartz mining, the Australian
supply of gold would have likewise diminished. Very few diggings hold a min-
ing population longer than a single season. The " dust of gold " is soon gathered.
It may be admitted that Australia, Siberia, perhaps the sources of the Zambesi
arid the Nile in Africa, and northwest British America will, when further ex-
plored, reveal a great many districts \vhere the surface deposits are rich and ac-
cessible ; but each will be in turn a scene of great excitement and of rapid ex-
haustion, and, perhaps, before the close'of the present century alluvial gold mining
will be almost a tradition. This tendency is so apparent in erery gold-producing
community that public attention turns constantly, aad with solicitude, to the
separation of gold from its native matrix of rock as the only permanent means
of production. But at that stage silver mining comes into successful competition
with all existing methods for the reduction of auriferous rock. It has always
been more profitable to work mines of silver than of gold, of which Mexico, dur-
ing two centuries of experience, and the Pacific coast, during two decades, are
illustrations.
There was-' very little mention of silver while the discovery and conquest of
America were in progress. Among the vast mineral treasures of Montezuma, the
quantity of silver was small compared with gold. It was "El Dorado" which
was eagerly sought for by European explorers. Each country was ransacked,
with the forced labor of Indian slaves, for gold. This was the era of placer-
mining in the American dominions of Spain. In consequence of the importatioa
of gold, Isabella of Castile was obliged, as early as 1497, to modify greatly the
relations of gold and silver at the mints. The Spanish sovereigns acknowledged
the grant by the pontiff, Alexander VI, of their discoveries "in India" by a
donation of gold from Hayti. At length, however, after* the discovery of the
silver mines in Peru and Mexico, and when the experience of miners had elabo-
rated a systematic industry, gold ceased to be of much practical importance and
silver became the leading metallic product of Spanish America. Of the coinage
of Mexico from 1535 to 1845, $2,465,275,954 was of silver and $126,981,021
of gold. Except for Brazil, the proportion in South America would be fully
equal to that recorded in Mexico.
In the case of California, after many unsuccessful experiments, the reduction
of auriferous lodes has been established. The veinstones, when pulverized,
readily release the gold ; there is a remarkable absence of refractory alloys ; all
the conditions, especially in Grass valley, are favorable. Yet the yield of gold
does not exceed $9,000,000 per annum, while on the eastern slope of the Sierra
Nevada the annual production of silver, chiefly from the Comstock lode, amounts
to $16,000,000 per annum.
As the mining territories are explored, the discoveries of argentiferous veins
are reported in all directions. The interior of the vast mountain mass developes
in Sonora, Chihuahua, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho,
and Montana, the identical formations and conditions which, in a lower latitude,
characterize Durango, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, and the other well known silver
districts of Mexico. With the exhaustion of the placers (perhaps a remote con-
tingency) it is quite possible that the production of silver, as compared to gold,
will be restored to the old ratio of three of silver to one of gold.
But at present, as well as for the last eighteen years, the ratio of production
is reversed — three of gold to one of silver. The following statement is submitted
as an approximation, carefully avoiding exaggeration, of the quantities of the
precious metals produced in 1866 :
348 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Gold. Silver. Total.
United States $60,000,000 $20.000,000 $80.000,000
Mexico and South America 5,000,000 35,000,000 40:000,000
Australia. 60,000,000 1,000,000 61,000,000
British America 5,000,000 500,000 5,500,000
Siberia 15.000,000 1,500 000 16,500,000
Elsewhere 5,000,000 2,000,000 7,000,000
150,000,000 60,000,000 210,000,000
The annual production of silver since 1853 has not exceeded $50,000,000, or
,000, COO. Yet, within the period of fourteen years — from 1853 to 1866 — the
Bum of c£ll,250,000 has Been annually transported from European ports (in-
cluding shipments from Egypt) to Asia. The aggregates of bullion exports
were as follows :
Gold , c£24,773,647
Silver 157,424,757
Total 182,198,404
France alone, although the richest country of the world in the precious metals,
has, since 1848, parted with $165,947,253 of silver and taken gold in exchange.
This has resulted from a fall in the value of gold, as compared with silver, of
2J per cent, which, by comparison of the course of exchanges between England,
using -a gold standard, and Hamburg and Amsterdam, using a silver standard,
is the only monetary result of the excess of gold supply since 1848. Europe
and America will substitute gold for silver as money, while Asia will probably
continue to absorb silver for many years to come, before the ratio of currency to
population now existing in Europe shall extend over the eastern world.
A brief statement will illustrate the extent of the oriental demand for the
precious metals, which, now mostly confined to silver, will hereafter, or as soon
as the world shall desire it, extend to gold. India, in 1857, had a circulating
^medium of $400,000,000 for the use of a population of 180,000,000, or $2 22 per
capita. France has a population of 38,000,000, with a money supply of
$y 10. 000,000, or $24 per capita. Suppose China, Japan, and the other indus-
trious populations of Asia to be in the situation of India, and that the current
of bullion since 1853 has supplied the Asiatics with $3 per capita, there yet
remains a difference of $21 per capita before the monetary level of France is
attained, demanding a further supply of $21 per capita over a population of
600,000,000, or not less than $12,600,000,000.
The railway system will soon connect Europe and Asia, and constitutes a
most important ag^icy for the transfer of capital and distribution of money
among the populations of the eastern continent. Since the suppression of the
Indian mutiny, an English writer estimates that more than one hundred millions
sterling have been added to the currency and reproductive capacity of India,
mostly from England, in the construction of railroads and canals. There were
3,186 miles of railway in operation in 1865, having cost $86,000 per mile, and
having been constructed with the aid of a guaranty of five per cent, to stock-
holders by the province" of India. The system, for which the government in-
dorsement is already given, will be 4,917 miles of railway, at an estimated cost
of ^£77,500,000. These roads will relieve the government of liability when
their earnings reach ^£25 per mile per week, a point whi"h the leading lines have
nearly reached and which all are destined to attain. Such is the success of In-
dian railways that thair connection with Europe by the valley of the Euphrates,
and their extension into China, will probably be accomplished within tfc?? next
ten years. By that tiins Kussia will have undertaken a railway from Moscow
V
.GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 349
to Pekin, through southern Siberia — a great trunk line that would soon justify
a series of southern lines, penetrating central Asia over those leading caravau
routes which have been the avenues of Asiatic commerce for centuries.
If an investment of $430,000.000 in 5,000 miles of railway is financially
successful in Hindostan at this time, it may be anticipated that a population of
180,000,000 will warrant the enlargement of the system within the present cen-
tury fully four -fold, which would be only a fifth of similar communications
required and supported by an European or American community Suppose
gueh a ratio of railway construction extended over China, central and western
Asia and Siberia, it would be only one mile for every 9,000 people ; while in
the United States there are 36,000 milea for 36.000,000 people, or a mile to
every 'thousand ; and yet the Asiatic ratio, moderate as it is, presents the start-
ling result of 66.000 miles of railroad constructed by the expenditure of
$5,676,000,000. Such a disbursement of European accumulations in Asia
would go far to diffuse not only the blessings of civilization, but any excess of
production from the gold and silver mines of the world.
In Australia a railway has been constructed from Melbourne to the Ballarat
gold fields, 380 miles, at a cost of $175,000 per mile, which pays a net profit
nearly equal to the interest on the immense investment. It is difficult to esti-
mate the amounts destined to be absorbed for railways in all the continents,
under the direction of the great powers of the world — projected, constructed,
and administered by the wealth and intelligence of America, Russia, England,
Germany, and France. But the railway system is but an instance, among many
other causes, conducing, in the language of an eminent English writer,* " to
augment the real wealth and resources of the world ; to stimulate and foster
trade, enterprise, and production, and, therefore, conducing, with greater and
greater force, to neutralize by extension of the surface to be covered, and by
multiplying indefinitely the number and magnitude of the dealings to be car-
ried on, the a priori tendency of an increase of metallic money to raise prices
by mere force of enlarged volume. Already the boundaries within which capi-
tal and enterprise can be applied, with the assurance and knowledge alone com-
patible with durable success, have been extended over limits which ten or even
five years ago would have been regarded as unattainable. There have come
into play influences by which it seems to be the special purpose to contribute,
by the aid of the concurrent advance of knowledge, to tho removal or mitiga-
tion of many chronic evils against which past generations have striven almost
in vain."
TRANSPORTATION FROM THE MISSOURI RIVER TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
While postponing'a detailed consideration of the character and extent 'of trade
and transportation from the Missouri river to the mining' territories of the inte-
rior since 1848, some idea of the westward movement of merchandise and the
cost of its transportation, may be obtained from the Quartermaster General's
report to the Secretary of War for the year ending June 30, 1866, which ex-
hibits the transportation on account of .government, and the rates paid per hun-
dred pounds per hundred miles The rates from the Missouri river to northern
Colorado, Nebraska, Dakota, Idaho, and Utah were $1 45 ; to southern Colo-
rado, Kansas, and New Mexico, $1 38, with an addition from Fort Union in
New Mexico to posts in that Territory, in Arizona, and western Texas of $1 79
per hundred pounds per hundred miles. The total number of pounds trans-
ported was 81,489,321 or 40,774 6-10 tons, at a cost of $3,314^495. Parties
familiar with the course of this inland trade, estimate that the transportation on
account of government is one-ninth the total amount of transportation. At thi^
rate the whole amount paid in 1866 for freights from the Missouri river west-
ward was $30,830,055 According to a statement recently made by the ofiicers
* Tooke's History of Prices, rol. vi, p. 230, published iu 1857.
350 GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
of the California division of the Union Pacific railroad $13,000,000 in gold was
paid in 1863 for transportation eastward from San Francisco to the State of Ne-
vada and Territories east of the Sierra Nevada. The details of return freights
and the amount paid for the movement of passengers are, as yet, too incomplete
for publication. Not less than $50,000,000 per annum is expended on or near
the line of the Union Pacific railroad for the transportation of travellers and
merchandise.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
I beg leave to close this communication with a few observations of a general
nature :
1. There are two indispensable requisites to the development of the western
mines — security from Indian hostilities, and the establishment of railway com-
munication to the Pacific coast on the parallels of 35°, 40°, and 45°. Of these,
the completion of the " Union Central " on the average latitude of the fortieth
parallel may be anticipated in 1870 and will unquestionably give a great
impulse to the communities which it will traverse, probably in such a degree as
to warrant the immediate construction of a northern line central to Minnesota,
Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, and a southern line equally
indispensable to the Indian Territory, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and south-
ern California.
2. Great results of a social* no less than a material character may be antici-
pated from the act of July 26, 1866, extending facilities for acquiring title to
mineral lands. By that act, freedom of exploration, free occupation of govern-
ment lands for placer mining, a right to pre-empt quartz lodes previously held
and improved according to local customs or codes ' of mining, the right of way
for aqueducts or canals, not less essential to agriculture than to mining, and the
extension of the homestead and other beneficient provisions of the public land
system in favor of settlers upon agricultural lands in mineral districts, have been
established as most important elements for the attraction of population, and the
encouragement of mining enterprises. The Commissioner of the Land Qflice
has carefully analyzed this enactment, and greatly facilitated its execution by
a circular recently issued. The spirit of the legislation under consideration is
in the interest of actual settlement and occupation, and adverse to absentee
ownership for merely speculative purposes, of mining properties. It will pro-
bably be necessary to supplement the act in question by some general revision
of the local mining customs, which, although generally founded on the Spanish
code so long in use in Mexico, are often incongruous and obscure.
3. Great loss and disappointment have resulted from the unique geological
and mineralogical development of auriferous and argentiferous lodes of the
Rocky mountains and the Alleghanies. Metallurgical machinery and methods
which had been successful in Europe, and even in California, have proved inap-
plicable or met with unexpected obstacles in the reduction of ores. There is
no subject of greater importance than a scientific analysis of the situation arid
combinations of the precious metals and the best methods for their treatment.
How far Congress or any executive department can judiciously co-operate in the
solution of the mechanical and chemical problem which now confronts the skill
and experience of all interested in the economical reduction of the ores of gold
and silver, it is not within the province of this report to determine ; but the
great utility of the geological survey of Lake Superior and the Upper Mississippi,
in 1847, under the direction of Professor D. D Owen, may properly be referred
to as suggesting the expediency of a similar exploration under national auspices
of the mineral districts of the western States and Territories, and which might
be appropriately extended to include the metalliferous localities of the Al!e-
ghanies.
JAMES W. TAYLOR.
Hon. HUGH McCuLLOCH, Secretary of the Treasury.
CIECULAE
IN RELATION TO
. M I 1ST I N G- CLAIMS
UNDER
THE ACT OF CONGRESS APPEOVED JULY 26, 1866.— U. S. STATUTES, PAGE
251, CHAPTEE CCLXIL
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
General Land Office, January 14, 1867.
GENTLEMEN : Herewith will be found the act of Congress approved 26th
July, 1866, " granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the pub-
lic lands, and for other purposes."
By the first section of this act all the mineral lands of the United States, sur-
veyed and unsurveyed, are laid open to " all citizens of the United States, and
to those who have declared their intention to become such, subject to statutory
regulations," and also " to the local customs or rules of miners in the several
mining districts not in conflict with the laws of the United States."
It therefore becomes your duty, in limine, to acquaint yourselves with the
local mining customs and usages in the district in which you may be called upon
to do those official acts which are required by law, whether the same are re-
duced to authentic written form, or are to be ascertained by the testimony of
intelligent miners, which you are to obtain as occasion may require and justify,
in acting upon individual claims, a perfect record whereof is to be carefully
taken and preserved by the register and receiver, and to be accompanied by a
diagram or plat fixing the out- boundaries of the district in which such customs
and usages exist.
The .second section of the act declares that " whenever any person or asso-
ciation of persons claim a vein or lode of quartz or other rock in place, bearing
gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper, having previously occupied and improved the
same according to the local custom or rules of miners in the district where the
same is situated, and having expended in actual labor and improvements there-
on an amount of not less than one thousand dollars, and in regard to whose pos-
session there is no controversy or opposing claim, it shall and may be lawful
for said claimant, or association of claimants, to file in the local land office a di-
agram of the same, so extended laterally or otherwise as to conform to the
local laws, customs, and rules of miners, and to enter such tract and receive a
patent therefor, granting such mine, together with the right to follow such vein
or lode, with its dips, angles, and variations, to any depth, although it may enter
the land adjoining, which land adjoining shall be sold subject to this condition."
Mining claims may be entered at any district land office in the United State*
under this law, by any person, or association of persons, corporate or incorpo-
rate. In making the entry, however, such a description of the tract must be
filed as will indicate the vein or lode, or part or portion thereof claimed, to-
gether with a diagram representing, by reference to some natural or artificial
monument, the position and location of the claim and the boundaries thereof, so
far as such boundaries can be ascertained.
First. In all cases th« number of feet in length claimed on the vein or lode
352 CIRCULAR RELATING TO MINING CLAIMS.
shall be stated in the application filed as aforesaid, and the lines limiting the
length of the claim shall, also, in all cases be exhibited on the diagram, and the
course or direction of such end lines, when not fixed by agreement with the ad-
joining claimants, nor by the local customs or rules of the miners of the district,
shall be drawn at right angles to the ascertained or apparent general course of the
vein or lode.
Second. Where, by the local laws, customs, or rules of miners of the district,
no surface ground is permitted to be occupied for mining purposes except the
surface of the vein or lode, and the walls of such vein or lode are unascertained,
and the lateral extent of such vein or lode unknown, it shall be sufficient, after
giving the description and diagram aforesaid, to state the fact that the extent of
such vein or lode cannot be ascertained by actual measurement, but that the
said vein or lode is bounded on each side by the wall of the same, and to esti-
mate the amount of ground contained between the given end lines and the un-
ascertained walls of the vein or lode ; and in such case the patent will issue for
all the land contained between such end lines and side walls, with the right to
foMow such vein or lode, with all its dips, angles, and variations, to any depth,
although it may enter the land adjoining : Provided, The estimated quantity
shall be equal to a horizontal plane bounded by the given end lines, and the
walls on the sides of such vein or lode.
Third. Where, by the local laws, customs, or rules of miners of the district,
no surface ground is permitted to be occupied for mining purposes, except the
surface of the vein or lode, and the walls of such vein or lode are ascertained
and well known, such wall shall be named in the description, and marked on the
diagram, in connection with the end lines of such claims.
Fourth. Where, by the laws, customs, or rules of miners of the district, a given
quantity of surface ground is fixed for the purpose of mining or milling the ore,
the aforesaid diagram and description in the entry shall correspond with and in-
clude so much of the surface as shall be allowed by such laws, customs, or rules
for the purpose aforesaid.
Filth. In the absence of uniform rules in any mining district limiting the amount
of surface to be used for mining purposes, actual and peaceable use and occupa-
tion for mining and milling purposes shall be regarded as evidence of a custom
of miners authorizing the same, and the ground so occupied and used in connec-
tion with the vein or lode, and being adjacent thereto, may be included within
the entry aforesaid, and the diagram shall embrace the same as appurtenant to
the mine.
Where the claimant or claimants desire to include within their entry and dia-
gram any surface ground beyond the surface of the vein, it shall be necessary,
upon filing the application, to furnish the register of the land office with proof of
the usage, law, or custom under which he or they claim such surface ground, and
such evidence may consist either of the written rules of the miners of the district,
or the testimony of two credible witnesses to the uniform custom or the actual
use and occupation as aforesaid, which testimony shall be reduced to writing by
the register and receiver, and filed in the register's office, with the application, a
record thereof to be made as contemplated under the first head in the foregoing.
By the third section of the act it is required that upon the filing of the diagram
as provided in the second section, and posting the same in a conspicuous place
c!h the claim, with notice of intention to apply for a patent, the register shall
publish a notice of the same in a newspaper nearest the location of said claim,
which notice shall state name of the claimant, name of mine, names of adjoining
claimants on each end of the claim, the district and county in which the mine is
situated, informing the public that application has been made for a patent for
same, the register also to post such notice in his office for ninety days.
Thereafter should no adverse claim have been filed, and satisfactory proof
should be produced that the diagram and notice have been posted in the manner
CIRCULAR RELATING TO MINING CLAIMS, 353
and for the period stipulated in the statute, it will become the duty of the sur-
veyor general, upon application of the party, to survey the premises and make
plat thereof, indorsed with his approval, designating the number and description
of the location, the value of the labor and improvements, and the character of
the vein exposed. As preliminary to the survey, however, the surveyor general
must estimate the expense of surveying, platting, and ascertain from the register
the cost of the publication of notice, the amount of all which must be depos-
ited by the applicant for survey with any assistant United States treasurer or
designated depositary in favor of the United States Teasurer, to be passed to
the credit of the fund created by individual depositors for the surveys of the
public lands. Duplicate certificates of'such deposits must be filed with the sur-
veyor general for transmission to this office, as in the case of deposits for sur-
veys of public lands under the 10th section of the act of Congress approved
May 30, 1862, and joint resolution of July 1, 1864.
After the survey thus paid for shall have been duly executed and the plat
thereof approved by the surveyor general designating the number and the de-
scription of the location, accompanied by his official certificate of the value of the
labor and improvements and character of the vein exposed, with the tesimony
of two or more reliable persons cognizant of the facts on which his certificate may
be founded as to the value of the labor and improvements, the party claiming shall
file the same with the register and receiver, and thereupon pay to the said re-
ceiver five dollars per acre for the premises embraced in the survey, and shall
file with those officers a triplicate certificate of deposit showing the payment of
the cost of survey, plat, and notice, with satisfactory evidence, which shall be the
testimony of at least two credible witnesses, that the diagram and notice were
posted on the claim for a period of ninety days, as required by law and as con-
templated in the foregoing. Thereupon it snail be the duty of the register to
transmit to the General Land Office said plat, survey, and description, with the
proof indorsed as satisfactory by the register and receiver, so that a patent may
issue if the proceedings are found regular, but neither the plat, survey, descrip-
tion, nor patent shall issue for more than one vein or lode.
The unity of the surveying system is to be maintained by extending over the
mining districts the rectangular method, at least so far as township lines are
concerned.
The contemplated surveys of the mineral lands will be made by district dep-
uties, under contracts, according to the mode adopted in the survey of the pub-
lic lands and private laud claims, embracing in them all such veins or lodes a»
will be called for by claimants entitled to have them surveyed.
In consideration of the very limited scope of surveying involved in each mi-
ning claim, the per mileage allowed by law may not be adequate to secure the-
services of scientific surveyors, and hence the necessity of resorting to a per
diem principle, it being the most equitable under the circumstances.
The surveyor general is therefore hereby authorized to commission resident
mineral surveyors for different districts, where isolated from each other and abso-
lutely inconvenient for one surveyor promptly to attend to the several calls for
surveying in such localities ; the compensation not to exceed ten dollars per diem>
including all expenses incident thereto. Such surveyors shall enter into bonds--
of $10,000 for the faithful performance of their duties in the survey of suchr
claims as the surveyor general may be required to execute in pursuance of the-
aforesaid law and these instructions.
The fourth section contemplates the location and entry of a mine upon un-
surveyed lands, stipulating for the surveys of public lands to be adjusted to the
lines of the claims, according to the location and possession and plat thereof
In surveying such claims, the surveyor general is authorized to vary from the
rectangular form to suit the circumstances of the country, local rules, laws>,
and customs of miners. The extent of the locations made from and after the
H. Ex. Doc. 29 23
354 CIRCULAR RELATING TO MINING CLAIMS.
passage of the act shall, however, not exceed two hundred feet in length along
the vein for each locator, with an additional claim for discovery to the discov-
erer of the lode, with the right to follow such vein to any depth, with all its
dips, variations, and angles, together with a reasonable quantity of surface for
the convenient working of the same as fixed by local rules : Provided, No
person may make more than one location on the same lode, and no more than
three thousand feet shall be taken in any one claim by any association of per-
sons.
The deputy surveyors should be scientific men, capable of examining and re-
porting fully on every lode they will survey, and to bring in duplicate specimens
of the ore, one of which you will send to this office, and the other the surveyor
general will keep, to be ultimately turned over with the surveying archives to
the State authorities.
The surveyors of mineral claims, whether on surveyed or unsurveycd lands,
must designate those claims by a progressive series of numbers, beginning with
No 37, so as to avoid interference in that respect with the regular sectional
series of numbers in each township ; and shall designate the four corners of
each claim, where the side lines of the same are known, so that such corners
can be given by either trees, if any are found standing in place, or any corner
rocks exist in place, or posts may be set diagonally and deeply imbedded, with
four sides facing adjoining claims, sufficiently flattened to admit of inscriptions
thereon ; but where the corners are unknown, it will be sufficient to place a well-
built solid mound at each end of the claim. The beginning corner of the claim
nearest to any corners of the public surveys is to be connected by course and
distance, so as to ascertain the relative position of each claim in reference to
township and range when the same have been surveyed ; but in those parts of
the surveying district where no such lines have as yet been extended, it will be
the duty of surveyors general to have the same surveyed and marked, at
least so far as standard and township lines are concerned, at the per mileage al-
lowed, so as to embrace the mineral region, and to connect the nearest corners
of the mineral claims with the corners of the public surveys.
Should it, however, be found impracticable to establish independent base and
meridian lines, or to extend township lines over the region containing mineral
claims required to be surveyed under the law, then, and in that case, you will
cause to be surveyed in the first instance such a claim, the iriitial point of which
will start either from a confluence of waters or such natural and permanent ob-
jects as will unmistakably identify the point of the beginning of the survey of
the claim, upon which other surveys will depend.
Section 5 provides that in cases where the laws of Congress are silent upon
the subject of rules for working mines, respecting easements, drainage, and other
necessary means to the complete development of the same, the local legislature
of any State or Territory may provide them, and in order to embody such en-
actments into patents, you are directed to communicate any such laws to this
office.
SEC. 6. Should adverse claimants to any mine appear before the approval of
the survey, all further proceedings shall be stayed until a final settlement and
adjudication are had in the courts of the rights of possession to such claim, ex-
cept where the parties agree to settlement, or a portion of the premises is not in
dispute, when a patent rnajr issue as in other cases.
Section 7 provides for such additional land districts as may be necessary.
Section 8 for the right of way.
Section 9 for the protection of rights to the use of water for mining, agricul-
tural, manufacturing, or other purposes, for the right of way for the construction
of ditches and canals ; and makes parties constructing such work (after the pas-
sage of this act) to the injury of settlers liable in damages.
SEC. 10. Homesteads made prior to the passage of this act by citizens of the
CIRCULAR RELATING TO MINING CLAIMS. 355
United States, or persons who have declared their intentions to become citizens,
but on which lands no valuable mines of gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper have
been discovered, are protected, so that settlers or owners of such homesteads
shall have a right of pre-emption thereto, in quantity not to exceed one hundred
and sixty acres, at $1 25 per acre, or to avail themselves of the homestead act
and acts amendatory thereof
Section 11 stipulates that, upon the survey of the lands in question, the Secre-
tary of the Interior may set apart such portions as are clearly agricultural, and
thereafter subjects such agricultural tracts to pre-emption and sale as other pub-
lic lands.
In order to enable the department properly to give effect to this section of
the law, you will cause your deputy surveyors to describe in their field-notes of
surveys, in addition to the data required to be noted in the printed manual of
surveying instructions, on pages 17 and 18, the agricultural lands, and represent
the same on township plats by the designation of " agricultural lauds."
It is to be understood that there is nothing obligatory on claimants to pro-
ceed under this statute, and that where they fail to do so, there being no ad-
verse interest, they hold the same relations to the premises they may be work-
ing which they did before the passage of this act, with Ihe additional guarantee
that they possess the right of occupancy under the statute.
The foregoing presents such views as have occurred to this office in consider-
ing the prominent points of the statute, and will be followed by further instruc-
tions as the rulings in actual cases and experience in the administration of the
statute may from time to time suggest.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOS. S. WILSON,
Commissioner.
The UNITED STATES REGISTERS AND
RECEIVERS AND SURVEYORS GENERAL.
CHAP. CCLXIL
AN ACT granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That the mineral lands of the public
domain, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and opea
to exploration and occupation by all citizens of the United States, and those
who have declared their intention to become citizens, subject to such regulations
as may be prescribed by law, and subject also to the local customs or rules of
miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same may not be in conflict
with the laws of the United States.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That whenever any person or association
of persons claim a vein or lode of quartz, or other rock in place, bearing gold,
silver, cinnabar, or copper, having previously occupied and improved the same
according to the local custom or rules of miners in. the district where the»-same
is situated, and having expended in actual labor and improvements thereon an
amount of not less than one thousand dollars, and in regard to whose possession
there is no controversy or opposing claim, it shall and may be lawful for said
claimant or association of claimants to file in the local land office a diagram of
the same, so extended laterally or otherwise as to conform to the local laws,
customs, and rules of miners, and to enter such tract and receive a patent there-
for, granting such mine, together with the right to follow such vein or lode with
356 CIRCULAR RELATING TO MINING CLAIMS.
its dips, angles, and variations to any .depth, although it may enter the land ad-
joining, which land adjoining shall be sold subject to this condition.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That upon the filing of the diagram as'
provided in the second section of this act, and posting the same in a conspicuous
place on the claim, together with a notice of intention to apply for a patent, the
register of the land office shall publish a notice of the same in a newspaper
published nearest to the location of said claim, and shall also post such notice in
his office for the period of ninety days ; and after the expiration of said period,
if no adverse claim shall have been filed, it shall be the duty of the surveyor
general, upon application of the party, to survey the premises and make a plat
thereof, indorsed with his approval, designating the number and description of
the location, the value of the labor and improvements, and the character of the
vein exposed ; and upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre,
together with the cost of such survey, plat, and notice, and giving satisfactory
evidence that said diagram and notice have been posted on the claim during
said period of ninety days, the register of the land office shall transmit to the
General Land Office said plat, survey, and description, and a patent shall issue
for the same thereupon. But said plat, survey, or description shall in no case
cover more than one vein or lode, and no patent shall issue for more than one
vein or lode, which shall be expressed in the patent issued.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That when such location and entry of a
mine shall be upon unsurveyed lands, it shall and may be lawful, after the ex-
tension thereto of the public surveys, to adjust the surveys to the limits of the
premises according to the location and possession and plat aforesaid ; and the
surveyor general may, in extending the surveys, vary the same from a rectan-
gular form to suit the circumstances of the country and the local rules, laws,
and customs of miners : Provided, That no location hereafter made shall exceed
two hundred feet in length along the vein for each locator, with an additional
claim for discovery to the discoverer of the lode, with the right to follow such
vein to any depth, with all its dips, variations, and angles, together with a reason-
able quantity of surface for the convenient working of the same, as fixed by local
rules : And provided further, That no person may make more than one location
on the same lode, and not more than three thousand feet shall be taken in any
one claim by any association of persons..
SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That as a further condition of sale, in the
absence of necessary legislation by Congress, the local legislature of any State
or Territory may provide rules for working mines involving easements, drain-
age, and other necessary means to their complete development ; and those con-
ditions shall be fully expressed in the patent.
SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That whenever any adverse claimants to
any mine located and claimed as aforesaid shall appear before the approval of
the survey, as provided in the third section of this act, all proceedings shall be
stayed until a final settlement and adjudication in the courts of competent juris-
diction of the rights of possession to such claim, when a patent may issue as in
other cases.
SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States
be, and is hereby, authorized to establish additional land districts, and to appoint
the necessary officers under existing laws, wherever he may deem the same
necessary for the public convenience in executing the provisions of this act.
SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the right of way for the construction .
of highways over public lands, not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted.
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That whenever by priority of possession,
rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other pur-
poses, have vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged
by the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners
of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same ; and the
CIRCULAR RELATING TO MINING CLAIMS. 357
right of way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes aforesaid
is hereby acknowledged and confirmed : Provided, however, That whenever,
after the passage of this act, any person or persons shall, in the construction of
any ditch or canal, injure or damage the possession, of any settler on the public
domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party
injured for such injury or damage.
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That wherever, prior to the passage of
this act, upon the lands heretofore designated as mineral lands, which have been
excluded from survey and sale, there have been homesteads made by citizens
of the United States, or persons who , have declared their intention to become
citizens, which homesteads have been made, improved, and used for agricultural
purposes, and upon which there have been no valuable mines of gold, silver,
cinnabar, or copper discovered, and which are properly agricultural lands, the
said settlers or owners of such homesteads shall have a right of pre-emption
thereto, arid shall be entitled to purchase the same at the price of one dollar and
twenty-five cents per acre and in quantity not to exceed one hundred and sixty
acres ; or said parties may avail themselves of the provisions of the act of
Congress approved May twenty, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled " An
act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain," and acts
amendatory thereof.
SEC. 11 And be it further enacted, That upon the survey of the lands afore-
said, the Secretary of the Interior may designate and set apart such portions of
the said lands as are clearly agricultural lands, which lands shall thereafter be
subject to pre-emption and sale as other public lands of the United States, and
subject to all the laws and regulations applicable to the same.
Approved July 26, 1866.
INDEX.
LETTER FROM SECRETARY OF TREASURY 3
REPORT OF J. Ross BROWN
Section 1 . — Historical sketch of gold and silver mining on the Pacific slope 33
1. First mention of gold - 13
2. Gold found before 1848 13
3. Marshall's discovery 14
4. The discovery of gold in print 15
5. Excitement abroad 15
6. Pan washing .... 16
7. The rocker 16
8. Mining ditches 16
9. Miners' "rashes" 17
10. GoldLake and Gold Bluff 18
11. The "torn" 18
12. The sluice 1 19
13. Placer leads traced to quartz 19
14. A gold-dredging machine 20
15. Decrease of wages - 20
16. Growth of the quartz interest 21
17. Failure in quartz 21
18. Improvement in quartz mining •. 22
19. The hydraulic process 22
20. Hill mining - 23
21. Decline of river mining - 23
22. " Rushes " to Australia 24
23. The Kern river excitement 24
24. Ancient rivers 24
25. The Tuolumne table mountain 25
26. The Fraser fever 26
27. Discovery of the Comstock lode 27
28. The Washoe excitement 28
29. The barrel and yard processes
30. The pan process 29
31. Growth of the Washoe excitement 30
32. Virginia City 30
33. The silver panic
34. Litigation about the Comstock mines -•« 32
35. The many-lode theory 32
36. Expenses increasing with the depth 32
37. Some characteristics of Esmeraida, Humboidt, and Reese rivers
38. Sutro tunnel project
39. Baron Richthofen's report , 34
40. Columbia basin and Cariboo mines 36
Section 2. — Geological formation, &c,, of Pacific slope, (Report of Mr. William Ash-
burner)
1. Gold mining interest of California 37
2. Characteristics of the gold belt 40
3. Northern mining districts '• 43
4. Mining in the sierras ; mills, expenses, &c 47
Section 3. — Condition of gold and silver mining on the Pacific coast 49
1. Decrease of yield 49
2. The exportation of treasure from California 50
3. Receipts from northern and southern mines 51
4. Comparison of receipts and exports , 52
5. Quartz yield increasing 5^
6. Uncertainty in quartz mining 53
7. Professor Ashburner's statistics : 54
8. Re"rnond's statistics .- 55
9. Pulverization of quartz
1$. Amalgamation of gold
11. Sulpliurets and concentration
12. Citloriiiation •- 64
INDEX. 559
Page.
13. Gold in loose state 64
14. Placers 64
15. Cement mining 65
16 Hydraulic mining 65
17. River mining - 66
18. The Hay ward .quartz mine €6
19. Sierra Buttes mine €6
20. The Allison mine, &c €7
21. The Smartsville Blue Gravel Company's mine 68
22. Profits of mining generally 69
23. Difficulty of getting good claims 71
24. Comstock lode the mo^t productive in the world 71
25 Comstock mining companies '. 72
26. Quartz mills in Nevada 74
27. The pan ^ 76
28. The Wheeler pan 76
29. The Varney pan 77
30. Knox'span 77
31. Hepburn pan 77
32. The Wheeler and Eandail pan 77
33. Estimated yield of various mines 77
34. Assessments levied 78
35. The Gould arid Currymine 78
36. TheOphirmine , 60
37. The Savage mine 61
38. The Yellow Jacket mine 62
39. The Crown Point mine 62
40. The Hale and Norcross mine 82
41. The Imperial mine 83
42. The Empire mine 83
43. Productive mines of Reese river 84
44. Yield of various silver districts . 84
45. Improvements in silver mining 84
Section 4. — Resources of Nevada, Oregon, Washington Territory, Utah, Montana,
and Idaho 85
1. Historical sketch of Nevada 85
2. Geography and products of Nevada 63
3. Mines and mineral resources of Nevada 98
4. Mining property, &c 120
5. General view of the mines of Nevada, Washington Territory, Utah, Montana,
and Idaho 123
Report of Dr. A, Blatchly 132
Southeastern Nevada Io2
Arizona, (extract from Governor McCormick's message, October 8, 1866) 135
Section 5 138
1. The copper resources of the Pacific coast 138
2. Various copper districts 149
3. The geological formations in which copper is found 157
4. Reduction of ores 160
Section 6. — Quicksilver mines of California 170
1 . New Almaden mines 170
2. Products and exports 174
Section 7. — Borax, sulphur, tin, and coal 178
1 . Principal places where borax is found 178
2. Manufacture of borax 178
3. Discovery of borax in California 179
4. Product of borax in California 185
5. Process of working 186
6 Deposits of sulphur 387
7 Tin 187
8. Coal 388
9. Iron 192
Section8 — Mining region, population, altitude, &,c 193
1. The mining region and the mining population 193
2. Main divisions 394
3 Altitudes 194
4. Climate 395
5. Capacity to maintain a large population 198
6. Number of miners... 199
360 INDEX.
Page.
7. Timber 190
Section 9. — Annotated catalogue of the principal mineral species hitherto recognized
in California, &c 200
Notes on the geographical distribution and geology, &c 212
Section 10. — Laws and customs of foreign government's in relation to the occupancy
of mineral lands and the working of mines , 218
1 . The crown right , 216
2. Permanent titles to mineral lands in the United States 223
Section 11 226
1. Mining laws 226
2. Need of congressional mining law 229
3. The customary limitation of size 230
4. Proposed width of claims 231
5. Work required to hold claims 232
6. Proposed change as to work required 234
7. Law needed for centuries of mining . 234
8. Congress alone can establish uniformity 235
9. Miners' regulations — Quartz regulations of Nevada county, California 235
1 0. Quartz regulations of Sierra county, California 236
11. Quartz regulations of Tuolumne county, California 237
1 ] ^. Quartz regulations of Sacramento county 237
12. Placer regul ations of Columbia district, California 238
13. Placer regulations of North San Juan district 240
14. Placer regulations of Pilot Hill 1 241
15. Regulations of New Kanaka camp 241
16 Regulations of the Copperopolis (copper) district .* 242
17. Statute of Nevada concerning mining claims 242
18. Regulations of the Virginia district, Nevada 245
19. Regulations of Reese river district, Nevada 246
20. Quartz statute of the State of Oregon 247
21. Quartz statute, of Idaho - 248
22. Statute of Arizona 1 249
23. The mining laws of Mexico 257
• Section 12 264
1 Books on Californian mines 264
2. Table of distances 266
Appendix 1. Address on the history of California * '. 268
Appendix 2. Address on the acquisition of California by the United States 306
GOLD MINES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF TREASURY 323
REPORT OF JAMES W. TAYLOR 324
The Rocky mountains - 324
New Mexico 324
Colorado 326
Montana 328
Utah 330
Dakota >. 330
Saskatchewan 330
Vermillion district 331
Canadian mines - 332
Nova Scotia 333
Alleghany gold-field 337
Virginia 338
North Carolina 340
South Carolina > 342
Georgia 343
New Hampshire and other localities - 344
Metallurgical treatment of gold ores 345
Treasure product of the world 346
Transportation from the Missouri river to the Rocky mountains 349
General observations 350
MINING CLAIMS.
Circular of Jos. S. Wilson, Commissioner of the General Land Office 351
Act of Congress approved July 26, 1866.^ 355
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