The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 22, 1902, Page 8

ISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 OPULENT EL DORADO COUNTY OPENS UP VAST SLATE DEPOSITS THAT COULD ROOF THE W ‘Splendid Section of California Finds Another Sourc> v few the place hall picked race of the Sutter & Marshall sawmill, the first golden found in Alta ja, prospects of it re brough is rich in mines e capacity of prod lum- ing mparatively new the slates, shales and far off Cambrian, Silurian riod world's t com- k. Then, in some of earth's sur- were known rous animal ¥s of early time, slate up and appeared as out- green, purple, gray and ks, having a pecutiar n of which the slate plates or laminae much for Califor- »assing around gold, cli- not niggardl g a due allowanc tate. There i in El Do- oming gen- s that capital »rado and e are vast nce of this y e ugh, while it Dorado County for te abounded there e supply have never i, at least not on comparable to that be- g or fruit raising, Sven now slate pro. ng the possibilities in immediate future, may in its infancy, but it is sturdy infant that will be om yet very strongly Huge Array of Slates. s ne n in E to complaint of the pric .).n can go out with a There who h; powder, a few chis- ¢ make for himself in ugh shingles of slate with which nd sides of s house. the tops sion of hills canyon through furk of the Americ Xture and hard as ly_split; other de- n be crumbled be- ec lic. Placerville is the leader of El o enterprise, lying in a favorable ition among the foothills of the Sierra a at the end of the first railroad constructed in California and look- ing forward to the time when some trans. continental line shall be constructed ough it and so bring 1t into immediate touch with the great country lying east of the mountains, In its hotels and other public places a; tn be found glittering collections of mmin. erals, attesting to the richness of the s Jodes and placers, the whole be. ing sufficient to outfit mining museums with specimens. In the heart of the town, on a main street, the workings of a quite recent mining enterprise are in evidence, the quartz making up an unique spectacle, considering that it abuts on flower gar- Dorado County | of Wealth. | dens and modern and handsome homes. | Through the streets of Placer i tervals, resound the booming noises that | 1 blasting in the hills, where the | seeks for precious metals, other mineral substance. Down | main thoroughfare heavily loaded drawn by four horses, go carrying slate quarried out in the hills be- e bar. . | Experimental Stage Passed. s with so many other industries in Cal- | ifornia, that of slate producing has al- | ed through the period of ex- | en From the mistakes af the pa: ti ruit producers of California, the min- | ers and other classes of citizens prepar- | ing products for the market have arrived | an understanding of the circumstances s that attend them as | he south fork of the | along over s that once were rich with gold | were the original slate quarries | ate. To say the truth, these de- | posits are abandoned. By the banks of | re piled up large masses of | s of earlier quarryings, | 1. No one doubts that | yend C bar is good, but there | was no dumping ground for the refuse. In front of the operators stood the re- straining influence of thé California De- | bi ommission, which would not permit | the American River to be filled up. That | stopped the quarrying there. From this episode the more recent ex- ploiters of the EI Dorado County slates have taken counsel and have sought more | eligible sites, where their industry need rot be suspended for any visible cause. | As the gold industry has to a very large | extent gone from the river courses of California to the mountains and hillsides so, but for different reasons, has the more modern slate enterprise. There is this radical difference between slate quarrying and quartz mining for | gold or other metals: The slate manifests | itself above ground and extends down ward to a great depth in a solid ledge, wher: the gold quartz is more uncer- | fain of discovery at the outset and is | elusive when the miner would follow | sors. ORLD Wi ol SCENES lLLUSTRATlNd DIVERSE FEATURES OF #1ISTORIC LAND OF GO LD ON MOTHER LODE. Seekers for Gold tistics_available the State marketed, all of it being fr Dorado County, 3140 squares of roofing slate, worth $18,000, in 189 the product was 4000 squares of the 1 of $24,000; in 1900 and 1901 it is estimated that the worth $60,000. Now any one who views the works of the modern slate companies does not have to take the word of anybody to see that they have selected sites that save hem from encountering the difficulties that effectually tied ‘up their predeces- Both of the slate quarries named in the foregoing are situated upon hills and there are deep canyons below that will not be filled up in a century by all the debris that they will cast out. “The hills stand up sheer and tall and the land slopes away for long distances. By rea- son of such location the neighborhood of the quarries is not deyoid of plcturesque suggestions. Resemble the Palisades. Looking upward from. the deep canyon below the works and quarry of the Cali- fornia Slate Company, the observer views hat which, at a short distance, appears to bear a striking superficial resemblance to the famous Palisades, which are famil- ar to all persons who have ever sailed on the Hudson River in New York. Only a_very small portion of the California El | Slate Company’s ledge has been uncover- ed. The experts say that the deposit at the edge of the south fork of the Ameri- can River at Chile Bar is unquestionably: total output was | Are Actively Delving in Cényons, While Large Plants Are Gleaning Treasure From Quartz. in_symmetrical arrangements, ready for shipment to San Francisco and other points, where it is needed for roofing. There are thousands of pieces of slate | that have been chipped down to the requisite thickness and dimensions to be used for roofs, that are gazed at by stran- gers who t Placerville and that hold the promise of a coming great industry of the county of El Dorado. Some of the | slate is gray, but the supply of that color is_relatively small in proportion to the whole of the deposits. The great bulk is dark-colored, such as is found on the roofs of public buildings. When slate is standing perpendicularly |in the quarry it is a very easy matter to | detach it from the mass. It is brought down in slabs varying from six inches to one foot in thickness. When it is green, chance to dry out, it is worked very eas- ily and wi.nout splitting at unexpected places. The quarryman breaks it open with steel chisels that are of varying thickness, but all quite thin. The thinnest chisel is, naturally, used to pry off a very thin layver and a thicker chisel for a stratum of greater thickness. The operation of detaching.the roofing slate from the slab to make it fit for mar- keting really amounts to little more than prying it off. The treatment of stone is precisely such as is given to wood that is to be taken from a block by wedges. Slate is elastic and successive chisels, in- serted at various places, take off layers without breaking them into small frag- that is before the moisture has had a | ments and produce slates of the requlslte1 and also at ‘the California State Fair at Sacramento pieces of slate more than ten feet long split to the thickness of three- sixteenths of an inch. El Dorado County counts upon making a great deal of money from the slate quarries which are now in operation be- cause slate deposits in all parts of the ‘lwarld have been successful. | rial is useful for pavements, | posts, billiard table beds, mantels, fir | boards, register frames, radiator top steps and risers, platform tiles, wainsco ing, cisterns, sinks, refrigerators, impo: ing stones, moldings, thresholds, laund tubs, bathtubs, counter tops, greenhouse shelves, table tops, card receivers and many other purposes. In acdition to the home demand which will be created the Pacific Coast States and Territori there will be a field for this latest indu: try of ‘El Dorado County in Australia. According to the trade papers of the East that make a specialty of reporting the movements of American slate to, mar- ket and other topics relating to the in- dustry, the slate exports from the United States to Europe in ten months of 191 were of the value of $805,257, as against $695,557 in the corresponding period in 1900. Picturesque Figure. A, picturesque figure in the history of the exploitation of slate in El Dorado County is Jacob Strahle, who made the first billiard table on the Pacific Coast and who was identified for many years with billiards. In the early Strahle imported the beds of billiard ta- curbstones The mate- | times Mr. | | companies advantages. It was not necessa to perform any hard teaming to get the product to market, and he had the ad- vantage over any rivals of being several @ | two slate quarri miles nearer than they to_the raiiroad After a time he succeeded In enlisting | Pennsylvania capitalists in the enter- prise of slate quarrying and the Califor- | nia Slate Manufacturing Company was | The directors are F. S. Chad- bourne, H. F. Ingersoll, F. S. Ingersoll, M. Glaser and H. S. Martinez. Large Enterprisés. El Dorado County has a record of hav- ing produced many millions in gold from her mines. Large mining enterprises are | still characteristic of the county. Its | topography makes it feasible to use wa- ter to devlop electric power inevery di- rection and this power is applicable to the economical operation of mines. “No other district in the West has greater oppor- tunities for cheap and efficient motive power than El Dorado County.” So writes G. J. Carpenter in the Mountain Demo- crat, of which he is the editor and pro- prietor. There are none to deny the truth of this assertion. Nor will any one take exception to the following statement of | Editor Carpenter: With a record of over $250,000,000 produced from her mines in the past, with the greatest mineral zone in the world extending across the entire breadth of the county, with miles of an- cient river channels as yet scarcely prospected, together with cheap timber, facilities for cheap power and_transportation, the outlook for the pioneer Industry in the empirs county is indeed full of promise in the future. The county will for her prosperity. D | 3~ COUNTY HAS ALL THE SLATE WEST OF MISSOURI RIVER. HE significance of the new industry of El Dorado County is that in the quarries of that county is all the marketable slate known to exist west of the Mis- souri River. This gives the county a sure market for a vast area and adds a material source of wealth to the region made historic by Marshall and his sturdy compeers, who flocked to the vicinity where he picked up the first California nugget. But not alone on gold and slate does El Dorado depend ature has conferred upon her many resources which promise greater treasures than even the glittering past can boast. The views of the editors of El Dorado outline satisfactorily the bases upon which El Dorado builds her not unreasonable hopes for advancement. Great water power, broad timber belts and fruit production enrich the county rarely. + They are apparent to all men. | down the vein to riches. Going along | with this is the consideration of the com- { parative ease with which slate and gold quartz can be worked. | " The slate can be peeled off in layers s | easily as the layers of a ripe orange can | be detached and the material is ready for marketing at once, with very little preliminary preparation. The value is established on discovery and without any assay. Slate is slate all the world over and is all useful. Two Quarries Producing. There are two glate quarries in El Do- rado County that are in active operation. The nearest of these to the tracks of the Southern Pacific Company is the one | owned by the California Slate Company, of which F. S. Chadbourne, formerly State Harbor Commissioner, is the gen- eral manager. This is on the very edge of Placerville, situated upon a hill above the city, and not more than a mile dis- tant. The other is the property of the Eureka Slate Company. That is at Kel- sey, several miles from Placerville and separated from it by high ranges of hills and the deep canyon of the south fork of the American River. Willlam J. Dingee is the president of the Eureka Slate Com- pany. Expert slate workers have been brought from abroad by both of the com- panies, David Williams, who was a slate quarryman in Wales and also in_ Penn- sylvania, is the foreman of the Califor- nia slate quarry, and John Winsboro is watching the work at the Eureka quarry and directing it. The Eureka Company was incorporated only in 189, Siate pre- viously produced for marketing in this State has been taken out in comparative- lly small quantities. From the best sta- a continuation of the ledge of the Cali- fornia Company. Chile Bar lies not less than 1200 feet iower than the top of the California_quarry. Therefore, it is sup- posed that the California deposit is 100) feet deep.. When the operations are push- ed downward the outward semblance to the aspect of the Palisades will be even more striking than it is now. The deposit of slate at the works of the Eureka State Company's plant at Kelsey is, seemingly, as extensive as that of the California Company. The hoisting works of the machinery at Kelsey takes the slate that is being quarried out at the bottom of a canyon to the top of a high hill, which is apparently all slate of va- rious colors, textures and degrees of hardne: At either of the quarries men- tioned ere is enough material to keep large forces at work for many years and the surrounding hills have other prospects that are probably as vast. Consequently, it would seem that El Dorado County not only has cnough wealth in slate to suffice for the immedlate future, but that also, as in a store house of incalculable size, there is sufficient to satisfy the demands of the world for an indefinite period. Architects, so the rumor goes in El Do- rado County, have been many times dis- appointed in receiving the slate, for which they have placed large orders. This was due principally and almost entirely to the lack of capital in possession of the parties who tried to establish a market prior to the taking over of the two prop- erties now operated by the companies that have been mentioned. Ready for Market. A feature of the local landscape is fur- nished by masses of slate neatly piled up is always, to the expert tor, morally certain. The machinery of the slate quarries of El Dorado County is quite simple. The California Comparny brings up the quarried slate from the bottom of the. present workings upon a tramway that is ope- rated by water. Simply by gravitation, an iron tank on wheels, when filled with water, hauls up the inclined tracks a large load of slate on the tram. The Eureka quarry hoists with steam, brlnfing cord wood to the top of a hill for fuel, there employing a steam engine. The engineer is signaled bv electricity from the depths of the quarry, which are quite a distance from him, when to hoist. The only other machinery that is in use now applies to the cutting of slate after it is pried off into the proper sizes for use in roofing. This is effected by a ma- chine provided with a sort of Kknife, or stral?ht steel edge, which, being forced to fall forcibly upon the slates as they are successively 'presented for trimming or dressmg‘ as it is styled by the quarry- men, chops off the edges straight. That is all there is to preparing the stone shingles that may grace the roofs of the mansions of San” Francisco. . Gnunpy Foresees Wealth. There are other processes to-be em- ployed upon :slate designed for other uses. ‘With the jig saw slate can be cut up into almost any shape desired. ‘Those who attended the Midwinter Fair in this city may remember that in the El Dorado exhibit was a handsome design in slate. Colonel Chadbourne has vroved the cleav- age of the slate from the quarry of the bles by salling vessels from the East. After a time he began to explore Cali- fornia for slate and visited many coun ties in that quest. He made his first dis- covery in 187. Subsequently his enter- prise was rewarded by finding other de- posits of large size, all of which were in El Dcrado .County. He discovered the deposits at Kelsey that are now being worked by the Eureka Slate Company, and he quarried there for a time. He had not the capital to carry on the business upon a large scale. Before the rallroad was constructed from Shingle Springs to Placerville he had satisfled himself that there was enough slaté in El Dorado County to make the exploitation of it a gbod Investment, and it was largely through his representations that the rail- road line was continued on to Placer- ville. Mr. Strahle worked , the Kelsey quarry and then sold out his interest jn the property to Willlam J. Dingee. e has an interest in another tract where there is slate. In the course of his op- erations he caused samples of slate from |all parts of the world where there are producing quarries to be gathered for inspection, and competent judges re- ported that. El Dorado =~ had as fine an article as could be found any- where. Strahle still lives near Kelsey. Although he is 70 years old, he may be seen any fine day climbing over the hills and always concerned in slate. The enterprise of Colonel F. 8. Chad- bourne has brought into operation the works of the California Slate Company. He heard of the deposits in El Dorado County and investigated. He soon discov- California Slate Company by exhibiting | ered that the location which he selected at the El Dorado County District Fair|and now occupied by his company had — continue to contribute to the stream of treasure that for more than fifty years has been flow- ing out of the Golden State; will continue to add its portion of the royal metal to the coffers of the world. The topography of the county is such that water can be carried to every part of it. In fact a plentiful supply of water is carried to | all sections on the line of the mother lode by | three great ditch systems on the three great ridges or divides within the county—the sys- tem of the California_Water Company on the north drvide, the El Dorado Water and Deep Gravel Mining Company’s system on_the mid. dle and the Diamond Ridge or Park Canal sys- tem on the south divide. Another close observer of the affairs of the county is W. E. Mackenzie, editor of the Placerville Nugget, who has written the following review of the existing con- ditions in El Dorado for The Call by re- quest: A review of the resources of EI Dorado County at this poinf in its history must include three factors which are at present prominent end of increasing importance in the develop- ment of the State of California—mining, lum- bering and the generating of electric power to be transmitted to the cities and industrial cen- ters of the State. This county shares with the State at large the present hopeful outlook. First among her industries ranks mining. Her mines are still immense storehouses of fortune to which the pick and drill of the miner, backed by enterprise and modern equip- ment,’are the keys. Much successful work has been done recently in the mines which have already produced millions upon mitlions of dol- rs. Vast belts of timber, the finest of its kind In the world, are now being developed by enter- prising limber companies. and the past year as witnessed the construction of a lumber cable 1800 feet high across the American River Mineral Region Prospers. -~ and a lumber railway which taps the timber intain streams and lakes are sle resource of the county. as’ elsewhere, t harness the o th | wheels of 1 power matured r power and some work has al the water of plants in this cot er Fork and Wrights Lake. Dorado County also contains the only west of the Mississippi , the quantity These produce fir: ment waits only cont{nental rall- Dorado County has been a At present indi- ble certainty to its 2 future. Increasing travel has so congested traffic on the Central Pacific between Sacramento and Reno as to render necessary either a double track system | over the mountains or the building of a new road with easier grades and less snowsheds. The Southern Pacific has recently surveyed a route through Placerville across the mountains which will reduce the grade about 4000 feet and obviate the necessity of maintaining snow- sheds, besides shortening the route over forty miles. Under these circumstances the con- struction of the road Is almost an assured fact. A few years ago El Dorado was county of California, and in a re ig projects that are coming her way now there is promise of restoration to her former position. = Her mines and quarries, timber beits and water power are most inviting flelds Tor capital and enterprise. In these utterances of the editors of the Placerville papers are very thoroughly shadowed forth the reasons for the be- lief in the future of the old empire county. Miners Are Active. There are many miners prospecting in the canyons of El Dorado. The mines that are being actively operated embrace the Larkin, which is situated on _the mother lode, three miles south from Pla- cerville; the River Hill mine, formerly known as the Gentle Annie, on the edge of Placerville, where from forty to fifty men are steadily employed; the Pyramid mine, on Dry Creek, near the junction with Webber Creek; the Vandalia, four miles south from Shingle Springs at Canyon; the St. Clair mine at Kelsey: the Starlight mine at about two miles from El Dorado; the South Slope mine, at the head of Onion Valley, near Eleven Pines, and about thirty miles from Placerville: the Golconda quartz mine in_the Pilot Knob mining district, and the copper mines Cambrian, Noonday, Little Emma and Ford, which'are on the copper forma- tion that lies west of the mother lode. Staging the Sierras. The diversion of the railroad from the line originally contemplated by the con- struqtors of the road over the Sierras to conngct with the Union Pacific has not de- grlved Placerville of the advantages of eing a distributing point for a consider- able section. Teams carry out freights to the adjoining country the favorable season. a stage line in From Placerville runs to Lake Tahoe and other stages con- nect with points nearer at hand. It is still a pleasure for many Californians to 80 to Placerville and stage it over the high Sierras to Tahoe, the distance being only sixty-five miles, which is easily cov- ered in a day by making an early start from either end of the line. Here are the skilled jehus who wield the reins still in the fashion that made travelers like Hor- ace Greeley and others amazed. Cool of rerve, resolute, careful and strong, here they still are not without honor. A casual view of Placerville would lead the observer to say that the dwellers are getting much out of life in the way of solid enjoyment, which is added to by climate, altitude, pure water and a grat'- tude for nature's bounteous gifts. PRESENCE OF TROOPS AWES THE CHEYENNES BUTTE, Mont., Jan. 21.—A specfal to the Miner from Miles City says Troop F, Sev- enth United States Cavalry, to-day re- turned to Fort Keogh from the Lame Deer agency, on the Cheyenne Indian res- ervation, whither the troop had been sent to quell a threatened outbreak of the In- dians and suppress the war dances caused by a tragedy following an attempt to ar- rest an Indian for alleged cattle rustling. Everything is reported quiet at the agency, the presence of the soldlers hav- hfi had a wholesome effect upon the red- skins. A detachment of about fifty cav- alrymen has been left on guard at the :rg:‘:m); as a prgcaution against further