The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 23, 1898, Page 10

THE SAN The Feather of ) e Pror A Il e e River bottom has always been one owing to imperfect working. : building of ten miles of substantial roads; the pro- quired five miles of iron piping; also the erection of r ing that have been: accor hed in California the most productive :r mining localities in Cali- When every detail considered by scme viding of dwellings in three separate camps capable an electric plant, to enable the work to he carried or of the Feather River from forr Some rears ago, after certain parts of the of tha most nent e in the country it was of accommodating from 150 to 300 men, besides the by night as well as by da nd the conn i its cour: ; entitled to the first place. river land had been worked it w certained, by agreed that the most ay of getting at the necessary workshops; also the building of a canal the different points and the ditch stations In fact, to being considered assaying the mud at the bottom, that a certain gold in the bottom of th ather River at this pol 1g the right bank of the Feather River 40 feet head offices by telephone, requiring over for one of the greatest f ‘engineering in the his stretch r rich in the precious metals. w p_x turning th nu(h»vl' cour wide and 6000 feet iong, requiring the excavation of of telephone \\_n tory of the world. In mining engineering it cannot But it so happened that at this point the water was thereby leavye the g retch in a con 000 cubic yar to carry the river when turned out In _me e nalr‘u('lmn of the canal cemer be parallel ¢ ‘ deep and swift runnir so that mining by dre« _to be worked by hydrs ¥ its natural bed; the construction of a permanent \\ull(\\as'uu'rvm along the entire s almost impossible to give an adequate idea of ing was out of the qu n. It wz so doubtfu A 1ount of required the procuring of power, which was ob- river, .»rl a width of four feet on top and tv this stupendous work. whether this process would have been isfactory to insure the work to t n, sing the / repairing the old Miocene ditch, which re- on the bottom, LT TLL GREAT PROSPECTS &iow. whi"an i > ity to mining con- Difficulties attend Sitions, and: an invitation to the re it were unknown in the of the world to come and see for them- first f ars of our gold history IN selves what exists here. Where man had merely to stzke For the capitalist on the lookout for and work it by primitiv safe and profitable investment no = gupuis Sie s MINING try in the world uch uce- and scient o s, ments as California. to wealth R oW is made very easy climatic con- By JACOB NEFF : the prospector. Indeed, if he h ditions that for comfort caunnt be/sur spirit nothing will dis- President Miners’ @ssociation X d. All this should be m throughout our’ cou and T the present time the outlook. put in distributing such inforr 2 for the mining industry in Cali- is of vital importance that the truth @i fornia is brighter and more en- should be strictly adhered to. N e St than it has been in Sible good can resuit from ex which prospecting e concerning our mining indu i e ars past. Miners .and “The actual facts are rosy : ey every reason for 100k- and need no embellishment. i ra, Plums ing hopefully toward the future. I be- cation and misrepr: ation do much In the P A eI 1 e lieve that future to be exceptionally tily in sympathy with the Golden . rich in fulfillment. In my judgment th : for bilee 2 It will probably 5 2 g miners to pursue is to avoid being mis- the TR D s T T } led by middlemen. I am not much in amount of ol tal this State, now revived with renewed g, 0070 the middleman, and regard his expect an influx of ern people vigor, will be the occ n of a jubilee [regence in mining deals as a detri- inteliigence and means, who will fifty years h even more Ppro- ment to the industry. He places a fancy ceive an important object lesson wh nounced in tm‘m\ m and general in- price upon roperty and reaps the among us. ; terest than the one we are now cele- benefit himse _ The mines are here. What we brating A healthful indication is the reopen- is the capital \\’th\{h_wtl*’ o st e . ing and profitable working of mines them ACOB » We who are familiarcwith sthe e once nb ioned and now ing on a President Min As sources of Californ a mining center e oL s Mines formerly be- know what a mary country is.ours newa to be on this wester ore. But this knowl- ing the falsit 1 by _ First i 1 aniin % : ing out gold as N.m,fm to have half the life he ha edge should be disseminated; should turning out gold ht hi the Klondike. = 4 g = I believe that in the hal brought him to lon R Te ed until the whole world realizes , t 0 eV FA8% O EE . the poor little fel- the fact that in Ca 2 ave e fi eart-broken. ou see, he triec he £ h > as they have in the heart-brok: ¥ he tried tunities incalculak for passed, It is true that v different °p us awake all night the same as mining of that glittering tr , gold. ¢ . In early days he used to down South, and when he How shail we spread the fame of our * g was sufficient to discovered what a contract he had in a State? By judicious advertising; by repay the miner. w the earth must three weeks' night he simply collapsed. GOLD BEDS OF HNC]ENT CALIFORNIA RIVERS ON MOUNTAIN TOPS. SECRET Mikt EL..6.660 CANADA Hiwws CHANNEL EL.6300 FT. NTOINE CANON. BED Cr WORTH FORK OF AMERICAN RIVER.. Al CROSS SECTION Of"‘ 5ECRET HILL AND CANAD A Hi A. Volca ement Capp LL CHANNEL . 8 m;‘ea" lmenT 40 dee d-rock dashed with numerous vems- 3% qua e Sliceole 8 1085 peron B fonea fixu Canal. wandplar Gravel, auartzose, uld‘lomnfunfmn the modern cdrainage system lL"le Some nn\\(‘l de Ititudes even higher s been drifted at several points, and also hydraulicked where the vol- nts an isolated bench of gravel about one-half mile long and $00 feet (North n the Can nic capping c wide. The grade of this channel is very steep, being about 6 feet per 100 feet. Channel is about 300 feet wide at gravel line. < There are several “theories” asto the gemesis of these “ancient gold bearing rivers.” There is the ma- sine which referred the formation of the rich gravel deposits to the action of the sea. This the- has dferents. Eminent authorities believe that the absence of marine fossils on the one hand AT the presence of the remains of terrestrial life positively refute this theory. The “blue lead” theory supposed the ex- ent river flowing ra: the northeast to the southwest and having a general course parallel with the lountains. The theory derived its name from the bluish color of the gravel filling the channel. The “‘flu- in its essence, ascribes the origin of the rich gravel accumulations to the depositions of ancient rivers with ‘ourses similar to = pugrent rivers. The character of the deposits shows that theére has been an intermittent action. But while there 15 this “sanin81v of opinion as to the origin of the gravel *accumulations, there still exists a difference of opruion regarding ‘he geological age of the deposits. Remain$ of mastodons have’been found in the goid gravel beds up- turned by the miners, evada * theory, its Q OF CALIFORNIA. BY JOHN HAYS HAMMOND. Prior fornia and 1% ent in Cali- in the vears 1848 ively, the estima in circulation i 2,000,000,000 to $: 1d exciten nt of :en computed circulating -ased by the me- intro- part Calif n to the ni. world W be rec «d when it is said that fully one-c of this increase has been deriv r:l from the gold mines of that State. Of the entire 1d produc- tion of ifornia, not 1 th.m nine- tenths has been yielded by the “‘aurif- erous gravels y The total yield of the auriferous grav- of California would be represented the value of a cube of pure gold edge of fourteen feet. Over has been invested in the n ‘alifornia. auriferc The avels may be divid- ed into two cl : First—The shallow or modern placers. Second—Deep « ncient placers. These terms are indicative characteristic difference t ex- ists between the two classes of placers. The f these terms W 1 in explanation of the of occurrence of the uperfic 1 and mode s. These placers are accumulations of auriferous alluy along the gulches, bars, flats, etc., and are designated gulch, bar or flat dig- gin ccording to their topographical position. The deposits along the mod- ern rivers belong to the shallow placers. The gold-bearing detritus of which they consist has been derived from the ancient placers or the q z veins; in some instanc from both sources. Through the disintegrating and trans porting power of the mete ic agencies, especially of running water, the ma- terial h been brought from the above sourc and redeposited in places of lower elevaticn, where it w: discov- ered by the pio i Thus the assorting proc carried, by natural agenc one step farther than of the deep or ancient pla- and two steps farther than in the ion of the gold-bearing quartz To this process of the higher concentration of the gold is due the ex- traordinary richness of the shallow pla- From the shallow placers, and from the beds of the modern rivers, came nearly all the gold produced by Cali- fornia up to the year 1854, and indeed the larger percentage up to the year 1860. The exhaustion of the gold grav- els, capable of being worked with profit by such primitive means as were avail- able at that time, led to the abandon- ment of the shallow diggings. The unworked deposits, also, often occur below the drainage level. The pan and cradle, especially the former, are still used for the purpose of “prospecting” or testing the gravel, and for cleaning up the sluices, batter- ies, etc., at all mines. ver mining by sluices, fockers, etc., is now almost entirely limited to the operations of the Chinese, several thou- sands of whom, scattered over the State, follow the business in a desultory way. A few of the bars of the present rivers are still being worked by “wing dams,” by which as periods of low water the river is diferted to one side so as to leave dry the gravel deposit. In several localities, Butte and Pla- cer counties principally, plans are be- A\ out to work the beds of ed to be rich by construct- by which the water is ge flumes which carry poin which it 3 tract the ng !h ad ¢ aiverted into la it below the gned to e tem involves conside is usually attended with tainty as to the succ prise. Dredges where a g t of the enter- are used in a few localities gravel occu below the drain- » level of the locality to elevate the wvel to a point sufficiently high to btain the requisite grade for sluicing and for the dump. The gol ving apparatus of the shallow mine—the pan, cradle, are now objects of h interest. nature, a: i From th< ir the illimitable resourc the deep plac the shallow diggings, as a rce of gold, will be but of a tran- sient character. The virtual exhaus- tion of the superficial gravel deposits gave origin to that “prospecting” for | the source of gold which resulted in fll\- discovery of the deep placers and of the | quartz veins. From these discoveries dates the in- auguration of mining as a scientific and | permanent industry in this State. The quartz bowlders found in gravel mines often carry considerable gold. At Polar Star mine, Dutch Flat, a white quartz bowlder was found which contained $5760 worth of gold. The gold | h undoubtedly been derived from the zold-bearing quartz veins so numerous along the western slope of the Sierras. | By water it has been transported and deposited along with the detritus in pre®existing valle In the quartz veins the gold rarely ex- ists of such large size as often found | in the gravel deposits, and this would seem to be incompatible with the the- | ory of its source as above given. Formation of Nuggets—To this seeming incongruity several the- | ories have been advanced. Professor ‘Whitney is of the poinion that the gold | veins were richer nearer the surface in pliocene times than mow, and main- tains that gold veins g poorer as depth is attained. In the judgment of the writer, who has examined nearly all the mines of this State, there is no connection between the richness of the ore and the depth at which found. A more plausible explanation 6f the for- mation of the nuggets is, as has been suggested by Le Conte and other geolo- gists, that their large size is often due to a chemical as well a phenomenon. It seems probable that the gold has been redissolved and re- precipitated. By oxidation, the iron py- rites has been changed into the sul- phate. Percolating solutions of the sul- phate of iron dissolve the gold with which it comes in contact, and coming in contact later with organic and other | reducing agencies, the sulphate of iron | is changed by them to the sulphuret, depositing the gold as this change takes place. By the deposition of gold in some such manner, from solutions con- stantly in the same place, nuggets are formed. The aggregate length of the ancient channels has been estimated at 400 miles. This does not include the so- called cement channels, which are but of subordinate economic importance. The yield per mile of channels of the average character is, at a low estimate, from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. Good chan- | nels for drifting yield from $100 to $500 | per lineal foot of the stratum extract- ed. From one-fifth to one-half of the gold in the channels usually may be ob- tained from drifting, where the bed- | rock gravel is accessible: the lowest stratum of gravel, four to eight feet in depth, carries this portion of the ag- gregate gold contents of the channel. Hundreds of millions have been taken out of the gold deposits of Cali- fornia but her treasures of gold have hardly been touched. where now found. | explain | a mechanical | reaching. in places a height of over DESERT MlNlNG IN CALIFORNIA. By H. Z. OSBORNE. OLD was known to exist in Southern California, and was . | minea in a small way, long be- fore Marshall’'s discovery at Co- loma in January, 1848. One Francisco Lopez, a native Californian, discov- ered gold in Francisquita Canyon, less than thirty five miles from Los Angeles, in 1842. This discovery was within the boundary of the Camulos rancho, the homestead of the Del Valle family, la- ter made famous as the scene of Helen Hunt Jackson’s <tnry by R.)mnn’l " The *T“, gold was found in placer: d by Lopez and hi: and they have been intervals until the present d tes f worked at ‘were not very rich, and by reason of the scarcity of water the greater part of the season, their yield w never much in excess of the day w men employed. : Long before the time of Lopez gold was mined in the placers in the Colo- ges of the rado River region by Mexicans, who came north from Sonora, and by In- dians. A discovery of gold was thus made at San County and there well authenticated recorc gold discov now known mining district, San Diego C ounty, teen miles northwest of Fort Yuma, F0, NOW in San Die of a placer and workings in what is , as early as 1775. None of these discoveries created any excitement. \Uulhmn C 1ln‘nrnn hem:: the most ‘THE FIRST OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE Headquarters Tenth Military Department, Monterey, Cal., Aug. A General R. Jones, Adjutant-Gene: U. S. A, Washington, D. C. wve the honor to ‘nferm you tha companied by Lieutenant W. man, Third Artillery, acting adjutant-general, I s 12th of June last to make a tour through | the northern part of California. My principal purpose was to visit the new- discovered gold placer in the valley | of the Sacramento. We reached San Francisco on the 20th, and found that all, or nearly all, its male population had gone to lht‘ mines. The town, which a few months before was so busy and thriving, was then almost deserted. On the evening of the 24th the horses of the escort were crossed to Sausalito in a launch, and on the following day we resumed | i the journey, by way of Bodega and ma, to Sutter’s Fort, where we arrived on the morning of July 2. Along the whole route mills \\ne'!ymg idle, fields of wheat were open to cattle and horses, houses vacant and farms going to waste. At Sutter’s there was more life and busin Launches were discharging their cargoes at the river and rts were hauling goods to the fort, where already were established veral stores, a hotel, ete. Captain utter had only two mechanics in his employ—a wagon-maker and a black- | smith, whom he was then paying $10 per day. Merchants pay him a month- ly rent of $100 per room, and while I was there a two-story house in the fort | was rented as a hotel for $500 a month. | I proceeded twenty-five miles up the American fork to a point on it now | known as the lower mines, or Mormon \d|gglngs The hillsides were thickly | strewn with canvas tents and bwsh ar- ;bnrs A store was erected, and several boarding shanties in operation. The day was intensely hot; yet about 200 men were at work in the full glare of | the sun, washir®g for gold, some with | tin pans, some with close-woven In- }dlan baskets, but the greater part had |a rude machine known as a cradle. This is on rockers six or eight feet long, open at the foot, and at its head has a coarse grate and sieve; the bottom is | rounded, with small cleats nailed across. Four men are required to work | this machine. One digs the gravel in | the bank close by the stream, another | carries it to the cradle and empties it on the grate, a third gives a violent rocking motion to the machine, while the fourth dashes on water from #he stream. The sieve keeps the coarse lstones from entering the cradle, the ;; Made by COLONEL R. B. MASON, U. S. 4., 1 | current of the water earthy matter and the 4 rried out washes off tt gravel is gr: at the s ving th a fine heavy black cleats. The sand and gold mixed to- gether are then drawn gff through auger holes into a pan below, are in the sun and afterward separ: blowing off the sand. A party of four men thus employed at the lower mines averaged $10! day. The Indians and those who hs nothing but pans or willow baskets gradually wash out the earth and s arate the gravel by hand, leaving not ing but the gold mixed with the nd, which is separated in the manner de scribed. The gold in the lower min is in fine bright scales, of which I send several specimens. On the 7th of July I left and crossed to a small stream empty- ing into the American fork, three or four miles below the sawmill. I struck this stream (now known s Webers Creek) at the washings of Sunal & Co. They had about thirty Indians employ- ed, whom they pay in They were getting gold of a character similar to that found in the main for and doubtless in sufficient quantities to satisfy them. I send you a small specimen, presented by this compan of their gold. From this point we pr ceeded up the stream about -eight miles, where we found a great many people and Indians; some engaged in the bed of the stream and others in the small side valleys that put into it. These latter are exceedingly rich, and two ounces were considered an ordi- nary yield for a day’s work. A s 1 gutter not more than a hundred yards long by four feet wide and two or three feet deep was pointed out to me as the one where two men, William Daly and Perry McCloon, had a short time be- fore obtained in seven days $17,000 worth of gold. I might tell of hundreds of similar instances; but to illustrate how plenti- ful the gold was in the pockets of com- mon laborers, T will mention a simple occurrence which took place in my presence when I was at Weber’s store. This store was nothing but an arbor of bushes, under which he had exposed for sale goods and groceries suited to his customers. A man came in, pic up a box of seidlitz powders and as its price. Captain Weber told him Jt was not for sale. The man offered an ounce of gold, but Captain Weber told him it only cost 50 cenis, and he did not wish to sell it. The man then of- fered an ounce and a,half, when Cap- tain Weber had to take it. The prices foot gold m nd above the fi the mill