The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1896, Page 26

THE SAN FRAN ISCO CALL, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1896 MINES AND MINING IN CALIFORAIA'S RICH DOMAIN Y Material Increase in Gold Production and an A\A)akéning in the Mining Industry of the State Is Shown for the Year That Is Glosing W HE years 1896 closes with the show- ing of a considerable increase in California gold production and an ning in the gold-mining industry of the State that has filled it with life, hope and confidence such as has not been known for many years. The year 1897 opens with brighter pros- pects for every community and industry connected with gold-mining than has ap- peared for a generation and with a promise that the year will bring a steady and rapid acceleration of the new devel- opment arnd an increase in the produc- tion that will far exceed the increase in 1896. Attempts to estimate the State’s gold production for 1896 can at this date be lit- | tle better than fairly intelizent guess- work. The Mint and Welis, Fargo & Co, are the only agencies that make any at- tempt at an original and careful estimate of the gold product. The express com- pany formulates after the.first of the year a total estimate for the State based on its treasure shipments: The Mint does not begin its investigations until after Jan- uary 1. Few mining companies give pub- lic information about their production, much bullion goes elsewhere than to the | Mint and the most experienced cbservers who are most broadly in touch with this industry can but formulate opinions at | this time. The fignres will be known in | March when long and careful investiga- tions by the statistician of the Mint are ended. Charles G. Yale, statistician of the Mint | ana Mining Bureau, judges that the year | wiil show an 1ncrease of about $1,500,000 | over the $15,334,317 for 1895. Other high | authorities place the increase at between $3,000,000 ard §4,000,000, making the total | production for 1836 approximate $19,000,- 000. These figures, however, are not an ex- ponent of the remarkable development of tbe mining industry in this State during the year, and they are no criterion forthe production of 1897. These figures of the product of 1896, whatever they may be, do not tell of the boom in gold mining that has thrilled the State, turned millions of capital in this direction, repopulated scores of deserted mining towns, awak- ened prosperity and injected new life into every industry that depends upon mining. The reason is that. the prospectors, the | miners and the money that have produced | the activity which began a year and a half ago and marked the year now closing have | been engaged in but developing old and | new mining properties which have not yet reached the point of production, but whose output will be felt in 1897 and more in | 1808, California is just beginning to partake of a worid-wide boom in gold-mining. Never before in the history ot the world was the search for gold so universal and intense. Capital the world over is turn- ing to the gold fields of every zone and continent. O.d fields are becoming new | and new ones are being sought. During | the past two years South Africa has been the greatest field and London has poured | her millions into it. Australis has found | new life and gives great promises. Lon- | don is taking up New Zealand. From | Mexico, Central and South America re- | ports of mining development and enter- | prises come constantly. Experts are being sent to the undeveloped fields of Biberia, Korea and China. The present new mining activity in Cal- ifornia is thus part of an activity that is universal. Several reasons for it might be given, There are good practical ones, but perhaps the chief is a psychic one. | The movement is another illustration of the contagion of ideas, the “mental sug- gestion” which gives universality to tendencies in business affairs as well as in religion, philosophy and so- cial life at different periods. Large capi- talists have flocked after others into the | gold fields the world over. Small capi- talists have flocked after their neighbors, Poor men have flocked to prospect be- cause others were doing it, and they have gone where the most people were prospect- ing. The spirit of gold-mining has got | avroad, and more and more peonle hanker for gold mines. A spirit of great enter- | prise and boldness marks mining opera- tions more and more, | contributes | sources are the capitalists of this State, ! much more in 1897. Special and adequate causes will be found contributing to this widespread | which developments have proceeded are | $esih Africa T~ ///////////////////////// also been a very important factor in this revival, and it is one of the features of the year's operations. Various recent im- provements in mining machinery and ap- pliances have made them more efficient and operations more economical. The | cyahide process of treating refractory ores, tailings, etc., is just coming into success- ful use here, yielding large profit in the working of certain ores which could not be worked by the older methods and in- creased profits from ores to which the process is adapted. Cheaper power in abundance with the aid of electrical plants has had its share to do with the boom. The instaliation of power-trans- mission plants in mining regions has been a feature of the year, and the rapid development of these will be a notable feature of the coming year. The water- power of the Sierras is being distributed by wires among the mines about and above the streams, giving cheaper plints and cheaper power. This recent cheapen- ing of mining operations makes possible the working of low-grade ores in new or abandoned mines, makes more profitable the working of all mines and generally encouragement to the in- dustry. The itapulse to turn to gold-mining thus meets stimulating conditions. Everything goes easier now. The pros- pector who has a promising claim can now easily sell it or get the assistance of capital to develop it. Partly developed or paying mines can be more easily sold, and the money from such salesisapt to go right into the development of other properties. It is easier for men to turn to mining investments and easier to find them, The capital that has gone into gold- mining in California during the year may be classified as Eastern, foreign and Cali- fornian. The Eastern investors are the most conservative. The Kastern money | meinly goes into developed and paying properties and thus contributes little to the development of the gold resources of | the State, except indirectly through the purchase money being turned to the de- velopment of other mines, asis apt to be | the case. The foreign capital is generally willing to take larger risks, but insists on a degree of development or a showing that makes the risk a pretty safe and promis- ing one. The ones who are doing most for the develonment of our gold re- and especially of San Francisco. Since Califoruians have taken hold of gold- mining they have been the most willing to take risks. They are the ones most ready to take hold of mere prospects and develop them. There is no basis for an intelligent esti- mate of the amount of capital that has been invested in the California gold fields during the year, but the fizures, if known, would express millions. A large amount of European capital has been invested, and, with the deals now under considera- tion, the amount will undoubtedly be A large proportion of the Eastern capital invested has gone into | the great development in Southern Cali- fornia which has marked the year. The heavy investors among San Franciscans | include such men as Senator Perkins, W. W. Montague, John Rosenfeld and his sons, George W. McNear, Baker & Ham- ilton and other prominent downtown merchants. Some of these men have in- vested $100,0C0 each during the past year. Many new companies are being formed with capital of from $1000 to $5000. Smaller sums invested by a great number of people aggregate a large amount. The fact that Californians are taking hold so vigorously is one of the most interesting and promising features of the situation. They display the boldest enterprise and deserve great credit. The presentdevelopment Is mainly con- cerned with the region of the mother lode | stretching for about 100 miles through the old mining counties, from El Dorado to Mariposa. Here a new era of deep min- ing of quartz veins has begun. It takes | from one to three years and a great deal of money to develop adequately one of those mines, and this is why the output has not been more largely increased after | the great revival of activity which has marked the year and the investment of millions. Few large vproperties upon S5 A Graphic Showing of the Werld’s Gold Preduction in effect, but it will be seen to be largely a “tendenty’’ marking a period which at its beginning promises to be bistorical for a vast increase in the world's gold produc- | tion. The working of this contagion of impulse may be observed here. Five years ago if a Front-street merchant were asked to invest in a mine he would say that he never gambled. Few outside of mining men would consider a mining proposition for an instant. Now half of Front street is turning money into Cali- fornia mines. Not only are the large merchants of San Francisco rapidly tak- g stock in new mining companies, but professional ‘men, small merchants about the City, and clerks are doing the same thing. Hundreds of unemployed or poorly employed have gone prospeciing to the mountains or deserts or are pre- paring to do so in the spring. There is a similar turning to the gold fields by millionaires and paupers throughout the State. All this is largely because the thrill—because the fever has risen. One and two years ago South Africa and Australia were the centers of the goid ex- citement and attention was just turning to California. -The great discoveries apd operations of the Rand had accelerated and broadened the English investments in gold mines, made the attention of capital easier to win and stimulated the seeking for new fields for investment. As Califor- nia had always led in gold production the attention of willing foreign investors easily turned this way. Thus began an influx of foreign capital, contributing a large stimulus to the industry. Auother cause was the drop in the price of silver and the closing of silver mines. Silver-miners turped to gold-mining ana began coming to California in search of promising investmeuts. This helped start Eastern capital thitherward, brought en- terprise to the State and afforded another galvanic current for tbe industry here. The cheapening of mining processes has Butte, Nevada and Calaveras have felt the yet open. For example, in Amador County alone $2,000,000 is beinz spent on about ten properties in the way of devel- opr.ent. The owners know that these mines will pay, and so they are sinking shafis, opening up ore bodies and erecting mills of from twenty to fiity stamps. These mines wnen opened and working, together with smaller mines being devel- oped, will double the output of Amador County. 8o all along the mother lode big mines are being purchased and developed, and miners are swarming into the region conducting operations on every scale from that of the poor prospector to that of the great London Exploration Compeny. » During all the years that mining rather languished in this State it was universally and confidently said that we had but scratched the surface of the California gold fields and that the tremendous sum of treasure which the State had yielded in the past was but a small fraction of the amount yet buried in its hills. Now works are giving life to the faith. It has been realized thatalong the mother lode the veins do not pinch out a little way from the surface and that by digging deep ores as rich and extensive as those near the surface await the operations of enterprise. Besides this mcvement to go deeper in new and in abandoned mines there 'is a great and promising field for prospecting. This region coniains many undeveloped lodes and undiscovered veins. There are all along the mother lode gaps miles in length across which the streaks of gold have not been traced. These will be patiently worked at, and some of these days men with money and diamond drills will go fishing for these lost veins. . 4 The activity which began and which is centered in the mother lode region has naturaliy had a stimulating effect on other regions. The great placer districts of Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Trinity, revival greatly within the year. Hydraulic mining will probably show an increased output of about $1,500,000. ,Those counties n which hydraulic mining is unhampered are enjovingan increase in operations and prosperity, and on the watersheds of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, where re- straining dams and the supervision of Government engineers are required, the great operations which were so suddenly checked vears ago are being steadily re- sumed. Nearly 200 permits to operate hydraulic mines have been issued by the Debris Commission under the Caminetti law todate, and many applications are on file. Here again the gold output of the year has not shown the year’'s increase in mining - operations, as time and money are required to build restraining dams and reach the point of production. This year’s output of the hydraulic mines will be nearly $4,000,000, and this amount will show a large increase within two years from the mines now preparing for opera- tions. The expenditure of the Congres- sional appropriation of $250,000 for the constraction of large impounding dams on some of the leading tributaries of the their population during the past year. Thousands have been added to the popula- tion of the mining regions, and this, with the influx of money, has given new pros- perity to the business men of every line inthe mining towns. Little machine-shops and foundries in the principal mountain towns are busy repairing and making machinery. Teamsters again line the mountain roads. Abandoned road houses have had the broken window panes re- placed and their doors opened again to the wayfarer. There is no question in the minds of mining men most familiar with the con- ditions in all the great gold regions of the world that the revival now begun in Cali- fornia will bring a constantly larger annual izncrease, which will soon place this State again at the head of the list of the world’s gold fields. South Africa and Australia are not likely to much increase’ their present annual output, and when the $85,000,000 once yielded by California and the extent and richness of the little- worked lodes and gravel deposits are con- sidered, this will be seen to beno mere hopeful dream. N /] 12,422,811 18,923,281 15,334,317 LAWS FOR THE MINER. The Movement for Extensive Min- Ing Leglislation Which Is Now Under Way. The development of a great organized effort to secure extensive and needed min- ing legislation by Congress and the State Liegislature has marked the year now clos- ing. Tbis effort is being made by the California Miners’ Association, which waged its first successful battle in behalf of hydraulic mining, which resulted in the Caminetti act and the measures at- tending it. The Miners’ Association is so thoroughly reprezentative of the highest legitimate interests of mining in this State, is com- posed of men of such high character and has acted so wisely and conservatively, though vigorously, that it has disarmed opposition, won the cordial support of the entire business world and the press of the State and become a powerful influence not only at home but in Washington. It and local rules. The law would afford much protection, convenience and satis- faction and prevent much litigation. “Second, a bill making it a misdemeanor to maliciously remove or deface any min- ing monument or location notice. “Third, a bill making it compulsory on the part of persons purchasing ores or other valuable mineral products to keep a record of the purchase, containing the name of the person from whom purchased, aate, weight and the mine or reduction works from which the product was taken. This is intended to lessen the stealing from mines and mills. “Fourth, a bill making it a felony for any person to steal ores or any valuable vroduct from any mine or reduction works. “Fifth, a proposed amendment to the mechanics’ lien law, which was not seem- ingly drawn in the interest of the miner and which has lost much of its validity by the construction of the Supreme Court. “Sixth, a repeal of the present law com- pelling certain officers of mining corpora- tions to make verified weekly and monthly financial statements and of the work done The Progress of California’s Gold Yield From 1348 to the \,Pmsent Time. The Figures Arranged Vertically Indicate the Sacramento will proceed during the com- ing year, and during the session of the Legislature this winter the miners will endseavor to settle the availability of the like appropriation by the State, which has been called in question. Drift mining in these placer-mining counties has also begun to feel the gen- eral stimulus. The vast beds of pay grave! buried under lava caps and other formations present a great and profitable but comparatively little - worked field. There is such a demand for investment that attention is now actively turning in this direction, and many drift mines are being opened, giving promise that in the comparatively near future the output of these upper counties will be greater than ever before. Of course the discovery of the Randsburg gold fields has been one of the great events of the year, and its development wiil be one of the important features of the com- ing year. All this has bronght general prosperity in 1ts train, and there is every promise that during the coming year and the next one the mining industry will give pros- perity in greater measure to every other industry and business interest in the State. There has during the year been a very great increase in the amount of min- ing machinery and appliances manu- factured in this State. Nearly all this 7 Ji74) Production by Millions, It is interesting to note that the annual gold production has been very rapidly in- creased during the last five years. The product of the world for 1895 1s estimated by the Director of the United States Mint at $203,443,772, an increase of $21,000.000, or 12 per cent over the product for 1894, which in turn was an increase of 2614 per cent over the product of 1893. T'he same authority places the United States at the head of gold producing countries in 1895, the percentages of the total product being as follows: United States, 23.1 per cent; the I'ransvaal, 21.2 per cent; Australasia, 21.1 per cent; Russia, (mainly Siberia), 16.7 per cent, and the restof the world 18 9 per cent. In 1895 the production was as follows: Australasia, $41,760,800; South Africa, $40,346,000; United States, $39,500,000; Russia, $27.646,000. The value of the product of 1895 from the three principal gold countries was as follows: United States, $46,830,200; South Africa, $42 993 - 869; Australasia, $42,793,824. The world's product for 1895 was double that of 1883, when the lowest point was reached. California and Colorado together pro- duced nearly $31,000,000 in 1895, and it was mainly the increase from these two States which placed the United States again at the bead of the list. While last year and this year the production of these two States has been nearly equal, the gold re- e e il UV T 1895 According to the Figures in the Accompanying Text. manufacturing has been done in San Francisco, and the value of this manu- facturing output of this City is estimated at $2,000,000 for the year. Of course a great proportion of it has been made by the few great makers of mining machinery and placed in large mines in other Pacific Coast States, and shipped to Central and South America, Australia and other foreign markets, for San Francisco is yet the leading creator of the best and bizgest mining machinery. During the year the Union Iron Works placed in the Ana- conda mine the largest hoists in the world, and it has contracted to build some of the largest mills ever constructed. But California has greatly increased the demand for mining machinery and Cali- fornia manufacturers have been able to well hold the home field against Eastern makers as well as successfully competing with them throughout the West. During the year the demand has been largely for prospecting and developing machinery and a large number of the smaller manu- facturers have been kept busy. Besides the demand created by new operations the market in this line is further stimulated by the demand for new, improved and more economical machinery to replace old appliances, as more attention is being given now to careful work in milling. The manufacturers are thus engaged in a keen competition to produce the best. There is a great present demand for' electrical machinery and supplies for mining operations and the electrical com- panies expect a great increase in the de- mand for 1897. It is the same with the powder demand, which has immensely increased. . But we must go tojthe miniag region to vividly realize what the mining revival has done for the prosperity of the State. The towns along the mountaln slopes are bumming with prosperity. Many a de- serted town has wakened up into life. Many little towns have doubled or trebled sources of California are so vastly greater than those of Colorado that it must quick- ly outstriy its present rival, and there is every prospect that within a few years California will stand alone at the head of the list. Its average annual product since the discovery of gold is $30,000,000 and if it reaches again bat little more than half the product of 1852 and does as well as it did during ten consecutive years, it will alone outrank South Airica and Austral- asia. Various estimates of the annual gold production of this State have been compiled by different aunthorities. The latest and most reliable is one by Charles G. Yale, based on long and careful inves- tigation. Mr. Yale's record is as follows: 245,301 67,615,487 69,433,931 55.485,395 .477.885 16.482.194 15,019 210 17.264,836 16,878.009 15,610,723 16,501, 68 18,839,141 13/600,000 12.661.044 14,718,506 13,588,614 12,7504 11,212,918 12,309,793 12.728.869 12,871,900 is thus a strong influence which has taken up the mining laws ot the State and Na- tion. The work was formulated at the an- nual meeting of the association a few weeks ago, and it is now in the hands of four competent committees. The legislative wants of the miners in- clude mainly the addition of a Depart- ment of Mines to the executive branch of the Government, the passage of the min- eral Jands bill now pending in Congress, a careful revision of the entire mining laws of the United States and the enactment by the Legislature of what may be termed a code of mining laws. Since the Depart- ment of the Interior recently ruled that mining claims could not be filed upon land bearing oil and other non-metallifer- ous mineral products, and that the oil tields were agricultural land, it has been determined to ask Congress to enact a law which will restore these products to the mining field. These matters are partly in the hands of the standing committee on legislation, of which Tirey L. Ford is chairman, and partly in the hands of special committees appointed at the annual meeting. Caurtis Lindley is chairman of the committee on revision of Federal laws and A. H. Rick- etts 1s chairman of the committee on State legislation. There is also a special com- mittee on the mineral lanus bill. The campaign for a Secretary of Mines isinchoate yet. The great fight on hand in Congress is one in behalfof the mineral lands bill, and this is a continuation of the fight which was so bravely made at the last session. This bill, which is iu- tended to prevent nearly a million gcres of lands within the railroad grants in this State from being patented to the railroad company as agricultural lands and to pro- vide for a commission to segregate them, was passed by both houses of Congress at the last session, but was tied up by a Sen- ate amendment, secured by Mitchell, in- cluding Oregon in its provisions. It will thus come up at the short session as un- finished business, and with Messrs. Ford, Ricketts and others energetically laboring for iv from this end and with the entire Ca'ifornia‘ delegation active in its behalf itis likely that it will pass and save an immense area of mineral lands to the mining industry. The committee on revision of the Fed- eral laws will spend a year studying the mining laws of all countries and will re- port at the next annual meeting, Co- overation from the mining States and Territories will be sought. Of most immediate interest to the min- ers of this State are the bills which the Legislature will be asked to pass at the coming session. They have been indorsed by the Governor and will be strongly urged. Some of them were first proposed. by the Mining and Scientific Press and were formulated by A. H. Ricketts. Cali- fornia, though it has for forty years been the great mining State of the Union, has never enacted a code of mining laws sup- plementary to the Kederal mininyg stat- utes, as has every other mining State and Tercnitory. Its few laws are fragmentary, special, and some of them obnoxious to the miners. This condition has produced uncertainty, inconvenience, wrongs and litigation. The scope and purpose of these several bills are stated as follows by Attorney A. H. Ricketts: “The set of bills to be presented to the Legislature on behalf of the Miners’ Asso- ciation in the interest of the locator, tne mine-owner and the mine laborer are briefly these: “First, a bill regtlating the mannerof acquiring and holding mining claims. It contains many provisions for matters which the Federal law leaves to State laws at the mine. Thislaw was intended as a | check on Comstock mining companies whose shares were schjects of speculation at the stock gxchanges. It works hard- ship in cases where mines are some distance from persons authorized to ad- minister oaths. 1t would not beso obnox- ious if it did not make the directors of delinquent corporations liable in $1000 damages to any stockholder complaining thereof, and so afford so many opportun- ities for blackmail. “Seventh, a repeal of the law requiring the assent of two-thirds of the stock- holders of any mining corporation for the purchase of any additional mining ground or for the leasing or disposing of prop- erty. This law was directed at manipula- tions on the Comstock. “We also wish to submit a constitu- tional amendment, declaring mining to be a public use. This the Legislature has repeatedly done, but the Supreme Court holds it to be a private use and that the exercise of the right to eminent domain is not applicable thereto. “But little claim to originality is made for any of this proposed legislation, the various bills being made of the best fea- tures of the statutes of the various min- ing States and Territories, all of which have long since seen the necessity for sup- plving the deficiencies in the Federal mining law.” The Miners’ Association has thus a large programme on hand for the field of legislation, but the miners are asking for nothing at the expense of any other indus- try, or for anything at the experse of the taxpayer, gt g EARLY ESTIMATES. Some Figures on the Gold Yield Given by C'ose Ob- servers. In mining circles predictions are confi- dently made that the yield of 189 will approach that of 1881, when $19,223 155 was produced. If this prediction is veri- fied it will mean an increase of nearly $4,- 000,000 over the product of 1895 and place Califorsia beyond the reach of rivalry in gold vproduction of any section of the ‘Western Hemisphere. The State of Colo- rado bas been looming wup for the past two years since the won- derful development of the Cripple Creek districr, as a possible competitor for the rank of the leading gold-producing State, and if the unauthenticated estimates of the production in that State for the first six months of the present year are sus- tained California stands some danger of having to surrender first place to the lively State on the eastern slope, but the chances are that Colorado, as a gold producer, must be content to occupy second place now and in the future. The production of gold in this State in 1895 amounted to $15,334.317, which was $1,411,036 in excess of the pro- duction of 1894. After 1881 the produc- tion declined to about $12,000,000 a year and remained almost stationary for a period of twelve years. Tne discourage- ment resnlting from the enforced cessa- tion of hydraulic mining seemed to have affected the whole industry, which con- tinued until the marked revival of the present year has put new life and vigor into the industry. That the mining industry of California has taken on a new lease of life and started on a career that will rival that of its earlier years there are abundant and convincing signs. : The number of mines, old and new, which have been added to the list of pro- ducers in the present year, according to * Moo the reports of the Bureau of Mining several hundred in excess of 1895 while double the numper of miners have been engaged in the laborious occupation of opening up new mines or in working those already in overation. Prospectors have been tramping over the entire State, and the results of their labors are beginning to be felt. Mining experts have found their time fully occupied in inspecting proper- ties for foreign and local capitalists, who are prepared to purchase and operate those properties that fulfill their exacting qualifications. The season is now over, but it is stated by a competent authority that more mines will change hands within the next three months than was ever known in as short a period in the history of the industry. Most of the mines thus transferred are those which the original owners had not enough capital to develop, and many have laid idle for years. The new owners are prepared to push development just as soon as the impedi- ments of title are swept away and the season permits active work. There has been granted by the Debris Commission- ers permits for operating over 1 bydraulic properties. Not all have bes worked in 1896, but many have, and, 1t ¥s estimated, over $1,500,000 wiill be tHe product {rom the new hydraulic mines. The new Randsburg district has hardly fulfilled expectations as a ‘producer, though $250,000 is expected from this source as a new contribution to the gold production of the State. This district has shown some wonderfully rich surface in- dications, but no tunnels have been driven thus far over a hundred feet in depth, so that really nothing is certainly known of the future production of the district until a proper depth has been reached by the shafts now being driven. The statistician of the Mint, President Valentine of Wells, Fargo. & Co., the Selby smelter and others who ultimately bandle the gold production of the State, all agree that there wiil be a marked in- crease in the production for 1896. Both at the Mint and at the smelter the receipts of gold have greatly increased over those of 1895. Wells, Fargo & Co. also report increased receipts to date, but full reports will not be made until after January 1, when the receipts of all the offices for the year have been aggregated. From all sources that it is possible to consult it is believed that there is no county in tha whole State that will not show some in- crease, while many of them will show a very marked one. The following esti- mate by counties may be regarded as conservative: 4 5 . 81, 50,000 5 75 50,000 125,000 90,000 500,000 25.00) Mariposa. Nev: Placer Piam Riverside. Sscramento. Bernardino. o 1000 1.250,000 690 000 20,000 120, +... 819,027,000 Based on this estimate, Amador County increases its product by nearly $60,000, Butte by §53,000, Calaveras §780,000, with the Utica mine in full operation; El Dorado $50,000, Humboldt $33,000, Kern, with the Randsburg district, $270,000; Mariposa $9000, Nevada $120,000, Placer $100,000, Plumas $50,000, Sacramento $30,- 000 and San Diego County $306,000. Shasta County estimates an increase of $120,000, Sierra $56,000, Tuolumne $25,000, Trinity $80,000 and Yuba $10,000. All the other counties of the State claim increased pro- ductions of from $3000 to $10,000 each. Based on this estimate the product of gold for 1896 will show an increase of §3,700,000, by many considered as too low. Some affirm that an increase of $5,000,000 will be found nearer the true tigure. The ap- proximate figure will not be known until Wells-Fargo’s report is givan, some time in January. The true, accurate and offi- cial result, gatherea with iniinite pains by the statistician of the Mint and indorsed by the Government, will not be known until March. —_—— ' OTHER MINERALS. They WIIl Generally Repeat the 4 Records of the Previous Year. There is yet no data besides the figures of last year upon which to base any defi- nite estimates of tne production of the long list of minerals embraced in the field of mining. There is no indication, how- ever, that they will vary much from the figures of 1895. The statistics of the min- eral products besides gold and silver are compiled by the Mining Bureau and Sta- tistician Charles G. Yale will not have his _eport ready for some months. The total will again approximate $7,000,000, includ- ing metals, oil, structural- materials, non- metallic products, etc. y Silver will again be fourth on the list and the production will show u decrease as compared with the $600,000 of 1895. Quicksilver was the product of second importance in 1895 when the value was $1,337,131, and petroleum was third with a record of 1,245,339 barrels and a value of $1.000,235. Quicksilver will show but a small variation and though the p‘roduo tion of petroleum has decreased this year through the lessening of the output of the Los Angeles fietd the value per barrel has doubled during 1895, and it cannot be told whether quick silver or petrolenm will stand second in the list of mineral products in 1896. The Mining Burgnu has made a special study of the oil fields of Southern California during the year, Field Assistant W. L. Waits spending several months on the work. An im- portant new development of oil fields in Fresno County has marked the year. There has been a good deal of talk abotl the oil possibilities of Alameda, Colusa, l Napa ant Humboldt counties, where there are promising indieations but no impori- ant efforts at developing or proepecting. N