THE MINES OF THE WEST: A REPORT TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, BY ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, PI. 1)., COMMISSIONER OF MININ(r STATISTICS. NEW-YORK: J. B. FORD AND COMPANY. 39 PARK ROW. 1869. C 0 N' N T S. Page. INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SECRETARY OF TIHE TREASURY........ I LETTER OF THE COMMISSIONER TO TIIE SECRETARY,............ REPORT: PART I.-Observations of the present condition of the mining industry: SECTION I.-Notes on California: Chapter I.-The new Almaden mines..................... II.-The Mother Lode of California.............. 11 III.-The quartz and placer mines of Nevada county, 22 IV.-Giant powder and common powder,.......... 33 SECTION II.-Notes on Nevada: Chapter V.-Present condition and prospects of the Comstock mines,................................. 38 VI.-Ormsby, Washoe, and Churchill counties,.... 76 VII. —Lander county,............................ 77 VIII.-Nye county,............................ 99 IX.-Lincoln county,............................ 112 X. -Esmeralda county........................ 115 XI.-Humboldt county,.......................... 117 SECTION III.-Notes on Montana: Chapter XII.-General geological features,................ 134 XIII.-Population, property, railroad, etc.,........ 138 XIV.-Placer mines,.......................... 143 XV.-Quartz mines,.......................... 146 XVI — Operations of the United States law........ 152 SECTION IV.-Notes on Idaho: Chapter XVII.-Report of Mr. Ashburner,........... 161 XVIII.-The War Eagle tunnel,................ 164 XIX.-Bullion product,......................... 166 SECTION V.-Notes on other mining fields: Chapter XX.-Arizona,................................. 167 XXI.-Utah,.................................. 168 XXII. —The Isthmus of Panama,.............. 169 PART II.-The relations of government to mining: Introduction,.............................................. 175 SECTION VI. —Mining law: Chapter XXIII.-Mining and mining law among the ancients,............................. 179 XXIV.-Mining law in the middle ages........... 189 XXV.-The Spanish mining law,............... 193 XXVI.-Modern German codes,.................. 199 XXVII.-The code of France,.............. 2C4 XXVIII.-Mining law of Switzerland,........ 206 XXIX.-Mining law of England,................ 206 XXX.-Mining regulations of Australia........ 212 XXXI.-Mining laws of Canada,............... 212 XXXII.-Conclusions,........................... 215 SE TION VII. — Miining education: Chapter XXXIII.-Means of disseminating infornmation with regard to mining and metallurfy; the National School of mines,............ 224 lV. CONTENTS. Page. SECTION VII. - Mining education-Continued. Chapter XXXIV.-The Freiberg School of Mines,.......... 230 XXXV.-The Paris School of Mines,............ 238 XXXVI. —The Prussian School of -Mines,........ 244 XXXVII.-The School of Mines at Clausthal,.... 249 ArPENDIX.-Statistics of bullion, ores, etc., at San Francisco, for the year 188,.. 250 LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, April 1, 1868. SIR: An appropriation having been made by Congress to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to collect reliable statistics of the mineral resources of the United States, a special appointment was conferred upon Mr. J. Ross Browne, under which he performed this service in the States and Territories west of the Rocky mountains. To Mr. James W. Taylor the duty of collecting similar statistics east of the Rocky mountains was assigned. The position held by Mr. Browne having become vacant, and it being in the opinion of the department important that the work should be continued, you have this day been appointed a special commissioner for the collection of statistics in the western division above specified. A copy of the instructions under which Mr. Browne performed his duties is herewith enclosed. Inasmuch as his preliminary report, printed by Congress in 1867, and his subsequent report for 1868, now in the hands of the public printer, cover the material points embraced in the instructions, it will be unnecessary for you to enter into similar investigations in detail, except in cases where omissions may have occurred, or where the information obtained may appear to be erroneous or imperfect. The most important subjects for inquiry at present seem to beFirst. As to the different processes of treating the ores, their chemical combinations, and the system demonstrated by practical experience to be the most successful. Second. The relative merits of the various inventions, machines, and mechanical contrivances now in use or projected for the reduction of the precious metals, and for all other purposes connected with the business of mining and metallurgy. Third. The special needs of the great mining interest, how it can be encouraged and rendered most productive, how far individual enterprise should be left untrammelled by legislative action, and to what extent and in what instances government might properly lend its aid to facilitate the development of the mines and thus arrest the present annual decrease in the production of bullion. Fourth. What has been the experience of other countries, resulting from the establishment of national institutions for the education of miners, and how far would the systems prevailing in Europe be applicable to our people or appropriate under our government? General suggestions of this kind cannot of course always be implicitly carried out, but it is expected that your scientific and practical experience will enable you to furnish valuable information on the subjects indicated. It will be necessary, in the performance of the duties assigned to you, that you should visit in person the principal States and Territories embraced within your division. You will be pleased to submit your report to this department on or before the first day of October next. I am, very respectfully, HUGH McCULLOCH, Secretary of the Treasury. R. W. RAYMOND, Esq., New York City. LETTER FROM ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, COMMISSIONER FOR THE COLLECTION OF MINING STATISTICS, TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. WASHINGTON, D. C., January 18, 1869. SIn: The report which I have the honor to transmit herewith is mainly my own work. At the time when I received my appointment as Comnmissioner of Mining Statistics, there was but a small remnant of previous appropriations left in the treasury which could be applied to the work with which I was charged. Preferring to go into the field as soon as possible, and prepare myself by personal observation for my task, I decided, with your approval, not to wait for the necessary appropriation, but to use the money already applicable, to enable me to see as much as possible of the districts within my department. I am happy to say that by the almost universal courtesy of railway, steamboat, stage, and express companies, my expenses of travel were much reduced, and I was able, with the small sum at my disposal, to complete during the sumner a journey of some 13,000 miles. In this connection it is my duty especially to acknowledge the interest manifested in my mission, and the facilities put at my disposal by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, the North'American Steamship Company, the California Steam Navigation Company, the Union Pacific Railroad Company, the Central Pacific Railroad Company, and Wells, Fargo & Co. The lack of means put it beyond my power to engage competent assistants, or even to employ a clerk for tabulating and calculating statistics. Obliged to do the whole work myself, I am nevertheless indebted to numerous gentlemen of the States and Territories I visited for their hearty sympathy and assistance, and feel bound to mention particularly the members of the California Academy of Sciences, Mr. Sherman Day, Mr. Titus Cronise, Mr. William Ashburner, and Mr. Henry Janin, of San Francisco; Messrs. Watt, Crossman, Lee, Merchant, and others, superintendents at Grass Valley; Messrs. Brumnagim, connected with the Mariposa company; Mr. A. P. R. Safford, United States surveyor general, Mr. Louis Janin, and Mr. Caesar Luckhardt, of Virginia City; Messrs. Boalt, Stetfeldt, and Riotte, of Austin; Messrs. Eaton, Keyes, De Lacy, and others, of Montana. Many of these gentlemen put themselves to trouble and expense to further my objects; some of them furnished me with valuable information, which will be found credited to them in the proper place. Under these circumstances, the report now presented is necessarily partial. I have not attempted to make it comprehensive, at the cost of accuracy. It contains my own observations and such others as I have 4 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES collected from perfectly trustworthy sources. Many papers promised to me, which I would be glad to have included in it, have not yet arrived; and as the writers are under no obligation but that which their own courtesy imposed, I cannot well hurry or blame them. The report is in two parts, the first containing such observations of the present condition of our mining industry as I could collect, and the second discussing at considerable length the subjects involved in the relation of the govern4ent to that industry. The subject of methods and processes of mining and reduction I have entirely postponed, proposing to treat it in my next report with more care and thoroughness than would have been possible in the brief period, and with the limited means, at my disposal last year. I hope to be able to present such a description and discussion of the different methods and apparatus used or proposed in this country as will be of practical value, not only as a means of determining the progress of the country in these respects, but also as a convenient summary for the benefit of the mining communities, and the great number of our citizens directly or indirectly interested in mining and metallurgy. As my object has been-to make a plain and simple statement, I have avoided, as far as possible, the use of technical or obscure terms, using only, I believe, such as can be found in the ordinary English dictionaries, or readily explain themselves from the context. There are also introd nced a few sketches of underground workings, selecting such mines as were capable of being represented by simple profiles. These profiles are taken on the plane of the vein, (local irregularities being disregarded,) and show the quantity of ground already excavated, and the quantity remaining, either unopened or so far opened as to come under the head of " reserves," which includes the portions of a vein where " stoping," or extracting ore, may at once be commenced, the preparatory shafting and drifting (or opening of galleries) being complete. The Eureka mine, of Amador county, California, and the Social and Steptoe mine, of Egan canon, Nevada, are examples, in which the amount of reserves, or ground opened in advance, is very large. Many of the Grass Valley mines are characterized by the same peculiarity, as the sketches show; and in this case, the prudence of the management is worthy of high praise, since the Grass Valley veins are narrow and hard, and the maintenance of large reserves is a matter of difficulty and expense. I ought to add that many mines of celebrity and interest are not represented by sketches, not because I desired to omit them, but because (as is the case with the Comstock mines) they could not be shown in simple profile, or because the expense of making the necessary measurements and drawings (in cases where none were accessible to me) was greater than I felt justified in assuming, or finally, because the character of the underground workings was so irregular and unskilful as to confer no credit upon the owners, and convey no instruction to the public. The bullion product of the present year is more difficult to be estimated than that of almost any preceding one. The bullion tax having been abolished, the best source of knowledge on the subject is taken away. Wells, Fargo, & Co.'s express returns, which have hitherto been an important aid in estimating the movement, and thus the product, of bullion on the Pacific coast, have lost their comprehensive character by the establishment of a rival express company (the Union Pacific,) the amount of the business of which is said to be considerable, but has not been, tomy knowledge, thus far authoritatively reported. From the best WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 5 authorities, and such official returns as I can collect, I estimate the product of the whole country as follows: California...................$........... 22,000,000 Nevada............................................... 14,000,000 Nevada -. —--------------------..14,000,000 Montana..........-................................. 15,000,000 Idaho -.............................. 7,000 000 Washiilgton and Oregon...............-.............. 4,00},000 Arizona....................................... 500,000 New Mexico.................................... 250,000 Colorado and Wyoming........-...................... 3,250,000 All other sources................................... 1,000,000 67,000,000 This is a decrease of $8,000,000* from the product of 1867, which showed a falling off of some $8,000,000 as compared with that of the year before. Montana, Idaho and Colorado manifest a satisfactory improvement; but there is a decrease of $5,000,000 from California, and $6,000,000 from Nevada, the latter being due to the exhaustion of many of the Comstock ore-bodies. It is an instructive fact that the greater part of the product from deep mining is furnished by the same mines this year as last year and the year before, indicating that a more general adoption of systematic and economical methods would result in greater stability of production. The yield from placer mining must be expected to decrease, and its place must be supplied by the cement and quartz mines. The causes of the decrease in our production of bullion may be enumerated as follows: 1. The exhaustion of many surface deposits. 2. The reaction following upon a period of excited speculation, and the collapse of numerous dishonest schemes. 3. The increasing and novel difficulties attendant upon the management of deep mines and the reduction of refractory ores. 4. The lack of communications, capital and knowledge, such as are required for the creation of e-nterprises based on the extraction and reduction of ores of low grade in large quantity —the only stable form of mining. 5. The vexatious and ruinous litigation which waits upon mining on the public domain, and which is most troublesome and expensive where mining is, in other respects, most profitable-thus operating to destroy those enterprises which have overcome other difficulties. All these may be summed up in one sentence. Mining has been found in too many instances to be unprofitable; and the individuals who have lost money have retired from the business. It certainly is not the duty of the government to give bounties to bolster up mining industry, if that industry is by the nature of the case an unprofitable one. Yet it cannot be denied that the decrease of the product of gold and silver in this country is a matter which particularly concerns the government at this time; and it may well be inquired, whether the causes of it are remediable. I believe that time will remove many of them, and that the action of the government, based upon a just appreciation of its relations to the mining industry, will do away with the rest. Concerning the extent of our " mineral resources," the half has never been told; but those resources are but one factor, which must be joined with labor and * Part of this apparent decrease may be accounted for by the item of $5,000.000 in Mr. Browne's estimate from " unknown sources," which I have reduced to $1,000,000. 6 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES, ETC. intelligence to make the product wealth. When the industry of mining in these rich fields is based upon a foundation of universal law, and shaped by the hand of educated skill, we may expect it to become a stately and enduring edifice, not a mere tent, pitched to-day and folded to-morrow. This industry has been the pioneer in our far western territory. It has founded States, attracted population, enlarged the boundaries of civilization; and it has done this great work in a lawless and careless way, without much regard to the future. All other parts of society springing from it, are gradually becoming systematized and consolidated, but the primitive industry remains in its primitive condition. Establishing everything else, it has not established itself. I believe that with the extension of the government surveys over the public domain, and the reduction of its vast area to order and law, the consolidation and definite adjustment of the mining interests will become imperatively necessary; and inasmuch as mining outruns all other activities in our new territories, and needs more than any other the aid of judicious legislation, I believe it should receive immediate attention. I may venture to hope that the views and suggestions contained in the following pages, based as they are upon much personal observation, experience and study, will not be without value to the government and the country. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, ROSSITER W. RAYMOND. Hon. HUGH MCCULLOCH, Secretary of the Treasary. P A I T I. OB SERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT CONDITION AMN1 PROSPECTS OF THE MINING INDUSTRY..... 1,,, _,~,,,,,, SECTION I. NOTES ON CALIFORNIA. CHAPTER I. NEW ALMADEN QUICKSILVER MINES. The traveller visiting these mines leaves San Francisco by rail for San Jose, a pleasant city at the southern end of the bay. At several intervening stations and along the road may be observed the good effects of irrigation, in beautiful gardens and orchards. At one place, a magnificent stream of water is supplied by an artesian well. The numerous windmills used for the elevation and distribution of water are a most picturesque feature in the landscapes of California, and might be introduced with advantage in many older States, perhaps for other purposes than those of irrigation. The boring of artesian wells is doubtless destined to be widely practiced, since there are few countries where they are rendered at once so necessary by climatic conditions, and so successful by topographical features. The valleys along the mountain ranges and their foot-hills do not receive, in surface streams, an adequate proportion of the water which so vast a mountain area must collect, partly because the excessive evaporation dries up the streams, and partly because they sink into the sandy soil. But the water thus apparently lost in the earth can be recovered by artesian borings, in which it frequently rises in vast volume and force. Wells judiciously located in such a region could hardly fail to be perennial fountains. In fact, the disappearance of water by sinking, which seems at first sight a great disadvantage to the country, is probably the means of preserving for man that necessary moisture without which the land would remain a desert, as it appeared, in many places, to the eyes of its discoverers. If the rivers ran in tight channels, doubtless this dry and ever-shifting air would carry away the last drop of their moisture, and deposit it in the sea, or on remote mountain summits out of reach. The mines of New Almaden are about 13 miles from San Jose, in the Coast range. The drive thither, through the valley, and winding up among the hills, is beautiful in the extreme. There is a good deal of timber along the road-that is, a good deal for California. The valley looks like some large park. Magnificent oaks overshadow the smooth wide road; great gardens and wheat fields, such as never Atlantic States dreamed of, border it on either hand. The distant mountains, seeming near at hand through the clear air, are constant companions of the journey. New Almaden itself is, perhaps, the prettiest spot for residence in all California. The mines and furnaces have been frequently described. At the time of my visit the ore from the deepest and newest labores was among the best that I saw; and the prospects for future production were as good as ever. There is quicksilver, irregularly distributed, at so many points in the Coast range, that the business of mining and reducing the ores would be open to ruinous competition, but for the peculiar commercial status of the question. As, from time to time, quicksilver mines are 10 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES offered for sale in New York, and many persons imagine that this branch of mining involves large, prompt, and sure profits, it will be worth while, perhaps, to exhibit the commercial aspect of the question for the benefit of the public. The quicksilver trade of the world is substantially an armed truce between Spain and California. The mine of Old Almaden, in Spain, sup plies the market of London and a large part of Europe, and ships its product as far west as the city of Mexico. Until recently, it also controlled the great Chinese market, but Mr. Butterworth, shipping 10,000 flasks to Hong Kong, and selling at far below the cost, forced the re-shipment to Spain of all the Spanish quicksilver; and the market has since been in his hands. The same tactics on the part of Spain keep him from the London market; and the two great producers are thus forced to divide the world between them. But the New Almaden company is not the only producer of quicksilver in California, and is obliged for self-preservation to accede to a combination with the New Idria and the Redington; and itt s this combination which now controls the production of quicksilver, and will probably, for a long time to come, prevent the successful establishment of any rival enterprise. It must be borne in mind that the consumption of this metal is limited. A certain amount for manufactures, a certain amount for metallurgical purposes, and the diminishing quantity required for calomel, with what the Chinese manufacture into vermilion, comprise the principal demands. Now, the quantity used in metallurgy, which is the most considerable, is hardly affected by the price of mercury. If it were $1 a pound instead of 60 cents, there would be no less consumed; if it were 25 cents, the demand would scarcely increase. In fact, the cost of quicksilver lost in amalgamation is (to wasteful men, like our mill-men) very trifling. In Mexico, where the patio process is employed, perhaps a pound and a half of quicksilver is lost for every pound of silver extracted; but in Washoe the loss is (I am told) not more than a third as much. The Pacific States and Territories require altogether about 1,200 flasks, or 91,800 pounds per month; Mexico and South America, 1,000 flasks each; China, 1,000. The total annual demand does not exceed 50,000 flasks, the production of which is divided among different companies as follows: New Almaden, 24,000; New Idria, 10,000; and Redington, 10,000. These three companies have agreed to confine themselves to the above limited amounts (the works at New Almaden, for instance, are only run to half their capacity to furnish the allotted 24,000 flasks) and to buy up the quicksilver made by all other companies. There are a number of smaller mines, like those of Guadalupe, which I visited, about eight miles from New Almaden, and which produce perhaps 150 flasks monthly. All these mines are forced to sell to the before-mentioned combination, which pays them 40 cents a pound, and sells to the public at 60. This margin of profit may seem excessive, but it must be remembered that the returns from sales are extremely slow. The metal is sent to distant agents, and must be sold at retail before the money is received by the producer. It takes perhaps two years to work off the whole of one annual crop. With money at two per cent. a month, this delay is serious. The present combination, which includes the Barrons, (who were in a certain degree forced to go into it, to save their profits on a large amount of quicksilver, which they had scattered through the western hemisphere at the expiration of their well-known contract with New Almaden,) is able to command foreign capital at comparatively low rates; and hence can afford to wait for the slow remuneration of the trade. WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 1I The following is the number of flasks of quicksilver (76k pounds each) produced at the New Almaden mines, California, during the year 1868: Flasks. Flasks. January........-.......... 3, 000 August-.....2............... 2, 00( February.............. 3, 001 September...........-........... 1,600 March. —..-............-..... 2,501 October..-............ 1,600 April —-........................ 2, 000 November........................ 2,262 May.............................. 2,000 December-.... 1,660 June............................ 2,000 July.-.. —................. —.- 2, 000 Total..25,624 Or 1,960,236 pounds. For these returns I am indebted to the courtesy of William Bondf Esq., president of the company. CHAPTER II. THE MOTHER LODE OF CALIFORNIA. It is not easy to describe that formation known in this State as the Mother Lode, and extending, it is said, from Mariposa through three counties, into the neighborhood of Placerville. I traversed it through nearly its whole length, and studied with some care its general characteristics; but I confess myself puzzled to answer the very first question which arises concerning it, namely, is it a lode at all? In spite of the statements so often and so positively made, there is not the evidence of a continuous outcrop for 60 miles to support that supposition. Frequently the vein cannot be found on the surface; frequently it is " split up" (according to theory) into several branches. Nor have careful surveys established the identity of the individual outcrops exposed. In fact all that can be held as proven is, that there is a certain belt of the slates, within which occur, parallel with the stratification, the outerops of veins or layers of auriferous quartz, which bear, on the whole, a certain resemblance to each other in general features. Yet even this resemblance is not invariable. Different mines on the Mother Lode have different kinds of rock, different quality of quartz, different associated minerals. The Pine Tree and Josephine, adjacent mines, and known to run together, carry distinctly different ores. It is only fair to say, however, that the Mother Lode itself is held by some to be a double vein, the two halves being of different ages, (as is always the case in a double fissure vein,) and showing, throughout the course, a steady antithesis of character. This question I will not argue. At many points, the double nature of the deposit cannot be recognized.'At other points, especially in Tuolumne county, there is a talcose companion vein east of the main quartz deposit, and at the celebrated Amador mine, by Sutter creek, there is a socalled boulder vein in the east. It is very difficult to identify these various formations so as to prove (whatit is quite as difficult to disprove) that the Mother Lode is indeed a great master vein, occupying the central fissure in a system. It is even almost impossible to decide whether the different veins which are included under the one name are really fissure veins. Ashburner hints that they are veins of segregation, intercalations among the slates; Blake thinks them true fissures, though always or nearly always conformable to the layers of slate. I incline to the latter view, but I cannot bring forward absolute proof of the pre-existing fissures. Without any doubt, there are evidences enough of the movement of one wall on the other, of dislocations of vein matter, producing " slickensides," which sometimes run directly across the vein, 12 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES The quartz is sometimes (as in the Amador mine) knit to the hanging wall by ribs or cross-flaws of quartz, at right angles to the vein sheet; and these can be traced into the vein mass. It is hard to explain this without the hypothesis of a fissure gradually filled. " Horses" are not uncommon-another significant fact. The quartz itself has lost the comby structure so often seen in fissure veins, and appears dense, laminated, and streaked parallel with the walls. Some of it actually has a cleavage like felspar; and one intelligent man whom I have met believes most positively that the so-called quartz of the Mother Lode is felspar. He is mistaken. Felspar sometimes appears in these mines; but it is yellow, not white; and the gangue is genuine quartz, but quartz which has undergone so severe and long-continued a pressure as to lose the traces of its original structure, and receive new peculiarities from circumstances. In the Eureka at Grass Valley I saw (and no doubt the same might be observed on the Mother Lode) portions of the vein where the comby structure could still be traced, though with difficulty, in the solid mass of quartz. All these, and other signs, are interpreted by me to mean " fissure vein." If I am right, then the Mother Lode presents to us either a huge continuous fissure, or a succession of similar ones, remarkably regular in strike and dip, and remarkably free from cross-courses or branches. This regularity results, no doubt, from the conformability of the fissure or fissures to the slate-strata. But what force could open those strata in such a way, to such an extent, and with so little disturbance of the walls, or creation of faults and cross-courses? In reply to this question I can only offer a suggestion. Future observation may throw the needed light upon the subject. Let it be borne in mind that the auriferous slates which here flank the Sierra Nevada do not dip westward, as one would naturally expect them, tilted by the upheaval of that range, to do; but on the contrary, dip towards the east, at various angles, though in general very steeply. This strange phenomenon, analogous to some Alpine occurrences which long perplexed the geologists of Europe, finds its probable explanation in the observations made by Professor Whitney, the State geologist, in the ridge between the north and middle forks of the American river. "This ridge," I quote from Cronise's Natural Wealth of California, " is cut by deep cations or gorges, in one instance 2,000 feet in depth, with sides sloping at as high an angle as 45 degrees. The auriferous slates beneath are sometimes eroded to a depth of 1,500 feet, and peculiar facilities are thus afforded for the study of their structure. It was in this vicinity that Professor Whitney observed the very interesting fact, illustrative of the probable fan-like structure of the strata flanking the central portion of the Sierra. These usually show an easterly dip, towards the chain; in these deep vertical sections, it was noticed that the upper 1,000 or 1,200 feet had the normal dip to the east, but below this there was a gradual curve, and at the bottom the dip was to the west, as if the upper portion of the strata had been forced back by immense pressure from above." If the slates, first lifted on the east by the rising Sierra, were afterwards slowly overborne by its weight, we have precisely the cause requisite for longitudinal fissures on a grand scale. Further speculation would lead us too far. An account of one or two of the principal mines, visited during my examination of the Mother Lode, taken together with the details given in the report of my predecessor (1868, pp. 14-19,) will throw some light on the nature and commercial importance of this extensive deposit. The ]Mariposa mines, Mariposa county, the property of the Mariposa WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 13 company, are now being worked under a new arrangement by the company itself. The financial adjustment which has been effected does not come within the province of this report; nor shall I repeat the general description of the property, with which the public has been made familiar, but content myself with adding, by way of illustration to what is said in Mr. Browne's last report, (pages 21-30,) two profile sketches of the Josephine and Pine Tree mines, showing their present condition and amount of reserves. G G Josephine Mine.-Profile-Scale, 200 feet to the inch. Course of vein, northwest and southeast; dip, northeast. A, Ketton drift; B B, Josephine drift; C C, Black drift; D D, caved ground; E E, Swiss shaft; F F, main shaft; G G, English drift; P P, pillars of quartz, left to support the vein; H H, Pine Tree drift, connecting the Josephine and Pine Tree mines. Yield per ton. 1. Stoped out, vein 20 feet thick -................................ $22 00 2. Stoped out, vein 18 feet thick.................................... 22 00to$42 50 3. Stoped out, vein 20 feet thick............................. 22 00 4. Stoped out, vein 18 feet thick.....................average.. 22 00 5. Stoped out, vein 41 feet thick....................1.. ]3 50 6. Stoped out, vein 4 feet thick.-...................... 7. Stoped out, vein 5 feet thick......................... 8. Stoped out, vein 11 feet thick -................-................. 25 00 to 50 00 9. Ground standing, vein 8 feet thick........-................ 10. Stoped out, vein 16 feet thick......................... 20 00 11. Black talc slate, very rich. The quantity of low-grade ore still in the reserves is immense, and the amount of mining ground not yet open, beyond calculation. The problem here, as everywhere, is the reduction of the second-class ore. By the Ryerson process, the company expects to do this successfully. The working results obtained by that process are given below. The Josephine and Pine Tree are the two mines on which the immediate development of the Mariposa estate, and the recovery of the company's fortunes, depend. The Princeton is in a bad condition, and would cost too much to reopen and extend; the Mariposa is for the present exhausted; the Ophir and Green Gulch offer no known productive ground. It is evident that on the great extent and excellent position of the Josephine and Pine Tree the first operations must be based. The following is a profile of the Pine Tree: 14 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES B //B/ / * Z Pine Tree Mine.-Profile-Scale, 200 feet to the inch. Course nearly northwest and southeast; dip, northeast. A A, Fremont drift; B B, upper or railroad tunnel; C C, Garden drift; D D, Wet drift; E E, lower tunnel, the mouth of which is 720 feet west of the west shaft; G, west shaft; K, engine underground; W W, winzes, or interior shafts. Yield per ton. 1. Stoped out and carved in, vein 14 feet thick....................... $26 00 2. Stoped out, vein 14 feet thick....................-......2....... 26 00 3. Stoped out, partly caved in, vein 14 feet thick...-...-........... 26 00 4. Stoped out, vein 14 feet thick................-....... 24 C0 5. Stoped out, vein 30 feet thick......- 9 00 6. Stoped out..-..................................... 7. Stoped out............-...-......................... 8 00.to$1200 8. Stoped out....-................ 9. Stoped out..-................................ 9 50 10. Stoped out..-.............-...................... 9 50 11. Stoped out -.............................. 12. Stoped out..-.............-...... 14 00 Yield of 12, by Ryerson process, produces $25 to $45 per ton. 13, 14, ]5, reserves, estimated by Captain Ketton to contain 20,000 tons of workable ore. 16, 17, reserves, of little value; vein small. The ore, however, at the extremity of drift A, yielded $60 per ton. All the above yields, except in a single instance, refer to the ordinary process of stamping and amalgamation, as practiced in the two mills on the Merced, known as the Benton mills, and celebrated in California for their cheap crushing and great loss of gold. The Ryerson process of amalgamation, which has been tried for more than a year on the estate, is more expensive, but more thorough than that formerly in use; and for the ore of the Josephine and Pine Tree mines appears to have given very encouraging results. At the little Bear Valley mill, 1,500 tons of Josephine rock have been reduced, yielding $36,944 83, or $24 66 per ton. When it is remembered that the Josephine was abandoned because it would not pay $8 per ton at the Benton mills, the gain by the new process is apparent. The ore is first coarsely crushed with stamps, then reduced to powder in revolving drums, containing chilled iron balls, about as large as musket balls, and then introduced into a cylinder, in which it is exposed to mercury and steam. The Josephine rock worked by this process at Bear Valley is the same in appearance as that which formerly yielded $6 to $8 per ton at the Benton mills. Mr. Hicks, in charge of the Bear Valley mill, thinks the Pine Tree ore still better. Since my visit, the Bear Valley mill has been WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 15 destroyed by fire, and the company has finished once more the dam across the Merced, and will soon be producing large amounts of bullion, the Benton mills having been adapted to the Ryerson process. THE ONEIDA MINE OF AMADOR COUNTY. 5r _ A X - > —- _ I Course nearly north and south; dip 65 to 80 east. A A, south shaft, 500 feet deep; B B, middle shaft, 400 feet deep; C C, D D, E E, F~ 100, 200, 300, and 400 foot levels; I, stoped out, good vein, over 10 feet thick; 2, ditto; 3, 4, present stopes, vein 20 feet thick; 5, bottom workings of mine, vein 20 feet thick; 6, ground standing, not supposed to be rich; 7, hardly any vein. The average width of the vein is about 14 feet. Seven hundred feet north of B is the north shaft, 150 feet deep, on a vein of 12 feet. Water is lifted from this mine in buckets, like those formerly used in the Hayward. The heavy gouge along the footwall renders extraction of 4'* rock easy, as in the Hayward also, 2. e. Mr. Morgtan, he superintendent, states the cost of mining at $3 25, and milling at supposed 25 per ton. Giha ant powder has been tried, but not adopted. The ircmstances neiher require nor the avorein is about 14 feets Sevily tihunbered, anfeet in good condition. The yield of rock in 1867 was $22 per ton; this year the vein is broader and not so rich, ieldingeep, on the averagn ofe, only 16feet. per toi. The shipments of bullion from this mine erein in Marc h 21,500H in April, $10,500; in May, $18,300, and in the first shipments of June, $10 100~The variations being due to the times of cleaning up, once iof three weeks, and the Hayerage monthly shipment being $1h5,00. The Oneida mill contains 60 stfamps40 at 450 pounds, and 20l at 60 ponds., The latter give the best satisfactione Amalga ation p ith copper in stances neither require nor favor it. The mine is heavily timbered, and battery aind is nror starip outside, theln blankets, then concentrators,er ton. The shipments of bullion from this mine wmere, in March $21,500; (four Hungerford and four Hendy,) pan and sether. In mine and mill $10,100 the variations being due to the timnes of cleaning up, once io together 105 men, all told, are employed. Mr. Morgan thinks he could save 20 men by opening another shaft. 16 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES THE EUREKA MINE OF AMADOR COUNTY. A M l\ 6 6 I I' I 7 I S-.. _.............. G G C Profile-Scale, 200 feet to the inch. A A, the Badger shaft; B B, the middle shaft; C C, the north shaft; D, caved ground on the old Badger line; E, F, G, levels; M M, the Badger line, formerly separating the two mines; N, a dam holding the water of B B from C C; I J, old Badger stopes; 2 2, ground worked out in the Eureka; 3 3, present stopes; 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, reserves, the splendid extent of which is evident when we consider the width of the vein, which is in the lowest levels over 15 feet; P P, pillars of ground left standing as supports. WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 17 This profile is the same as that given in the report of Mr. Bowie, of San Francisco, except that ft is not a vertical section, but a map on the vein, showing the amount of ground open and the extent of reserves. The far-famed Amador, alias Eureka, alias Hayward's mines, is situated at Sutter creek, in Amador county, on the "Mother Lode." Sutter creek is about 18 miles from Latrobe, a station on the Sacramento railroad-which was intended to run from Sacramento to Placerville, but stopped ingloriously at Shingle Springs, and now that the Central railroad has adopted the river route via Dutch Flat, over the mountain, may perhaps never get any further. The difference which railroad and river transportation make in some of the incidental expenses of mining operations is illustrated by the fact that freight from San Francisco to Latrobe costs but $5 50 per ton, while the cost from Latrobe to Sutter creek is $12 per ton. The claim now owned by the Amador company is 1,850 feet in length upon the course of the ledge, north 220 west. The average dip is 710 east, and the width varies from 3 feet to more than 20, being 15 feet in the lower stopes at the present time. Mr. Browne's report, based upon such data as-were attainable in June, 1867, represents the main or Eureka shaft to be 1,230 feet in depth. Accurate surveys made since that time establish the exact depth as 1,109 feet on the incline, or 1,054 feet vertically. The lowest level is 1,084 feet on the vein, the remaining 25 feet being used as a sump. This was especially.required by the system of drainage employed. Up to the present time there have been no pumps in the mine, the water being hoisted in large. buckets. Most of the water was from the surface. Old exhausted stopes in the upper part of a mine are often very troublesome in collecting water and conducting it into the deeper workings, from which it must be hoisted or pumped at considerable expense. The system of bailing instead of pumping is practicable where the water is not too abundant; and this was the plan adopted and obstinately adhered to by Mr. Hayward, as long as he owned and managed Eureka. The system has certain advantages. The plant is inexpensive and easily kept in repair. There is no trouble in sinking deeper, such as the readjustment of pumps, or perhaps replacing them with others of larger calibre. The same hoisting gear may raise water part of the time and ore the rest. On the other hand a pump works steadily, without interfering with other operations in the shaft, without constant manual labor in emptying buckets, &c., and is adequate (if selected with proper forethought) to all the sudden or climatic variations in the quantity of water entering the mine. The Eureka, mine at its present depth needs two shafts constantly available for hoisting rock. Mr. Hayward's positiveness as to the superiority of buckets, enforced by his great pecuniary success in managing the mine, went far to convince many minds that, for this mine at least, pumps were not necessary. But Mr. Inch, a very experienced mining captain, now superintendent for the company, no sooner took charge than he determined to change the system of drainage. He will run a drain-tunnel near the surface to catch the water on the vein and keep it out of the lower levels; and the drainage in depth will be effected by means of pumps, to be placed in the south or Badger shaft, (now being deepened for the purpose,) while the Eureka and middle shafts will be devoted to hoisting rock. This is true economy. It is possible that the popular reports that the profits of this mine amount to $50,000 monthly, were at one time true. But it is difficult to arrive at a just estimate of such a point, without considering the condition in which the mine and mills are kept. About the first of March last H. Ex. Doc. 54 2 18 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES Hayward & Company sold the property to the Amador company for about $750,000. (The Amador company which was formed in October, 1867, seems to have been merely Haywood & Co. under a new name.) The production of the mine for several months preceding and following this transfer is as follows: October. Production................................. $38,371 00 Expenses................................. 14,123 04 Profit................................ 24,247 96 November. Production................................. $37,060 97 Expenses.................................. 13,505 43 Profit................................. 23,555 54 December. Production......................... $35,000 89 Expenses-......................... 11,073 12 Profit................................ 23,927 77 January. Production................................. $43,021 03 Expenses.........-.................... 11,255 01 Profit............................ 31,766 02 Total profit of four months, $103,497 29, of which $88,000 was declared in dividends during that period. There were 3,700 shares, the par value of which was $400. The dividends were $6 per share monthly, or 18 per cent. annually on the capital stock, yet the mine was sold at $200 per share. This is a fact which eastern capitalists would do well to ponder. In the San Francisco market, where the value of mines is best understood, the stock of an active, successful mine is not intrinsically worth par, unless it is paying from 30 to 40 per cent. annually. In other words, a mine earning profit at the rate of $300,000 per annum is worth in cash, under the most favorable circumstances, only $750,000. I say "under the most favorable circumstances," for it is not often that a mine is sold while it is in good paying condition, with ample promise for the future. When mine-owners look forward to selling they are apt to neglect the necessary preparatory work for the future, to make old timbers, old ropes, and old machinery last a little longer, and in every way to get as much immediate profit, and postpone as much inevitable expense, as possible. This was sadly true of the Mariposa mines. And, to a certain extent, it may be said of the Hayward. The new company has spent a good deal of money in repairs, and will have to spend more in necessary improvements. But the mine itself was well opened. Messrs. Ashburner and Janin, two of the most careful and impartial engineers on the Pacific slope, examninig the property for the purchasers, measured the quartz in the stopes, calculated its value from the actual returns of large amounts worked in the mills, and computed the total reserves in sight at 108,027 tons, with a gross value of $1,778,366. The cost of mining and milling does not exceed $6 per ton, leaving an apparent profit of $1,130,204. A reduction of 25 per cent. for cont-ngencies, over-estimate, &c., leaves $847,653 as the final net value of the WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 19 reserves. At the present rate of about 2,000 tons a month, it would take some five years to exhaust the ore actually in sight and ready for extraction. The statement of this mine, from the books of the company, is as follows: Statement of the Eureka or Amador mine, at Sutter creek, Amador county, California, formerly known as Hayward's mine. Date. eNumber of tons mined. Gross yield. Per ton. 1867. October.................................... 1,650 $38,837 44 $23 53 November.................................. 1,568 37,395 56 23 85 December.................................,773 35,103 06 19 80 Total...............-................... 4,991 111,336 06 Average per month.................................. $37, 112 03 $22 31 1868. January...1...-.......................... 1,885 $43,077 05 $22 85 February -.................... 2,106 47,245 46 22 43 March..........................-.......... 2,259 52,787 25 23 37 April......................................... 1,885 42, 023 43 22 29 May...................... 2,203 43,769 82 19 87 June.-.................................. —.- 2,156 45,474 32 21 09 July.-................2..................... 2,229 47,198 69 21 17 August....................................... 2,243 45, 094 33 20 10 September.................................. 1,823 42,420 54 23 27 October............................... (Not given. ) 46,518 97 Total yield for 10 months........................... $455, 609 86 Total yield for 13 months.............-................. 566,945 92 Monthly average, 1868.............................. 45,609 86 Monthly average whole period............................ 43, 611 22 Average yield per ton, 1868........................................... $21 77 Average yield per ton, 1867 and 1868-....-........ —......... —..... 21 88 Dividends for 1868, $7 per share monthly..............-.. $259, 000 Investments in property and improvements, equivalent to about $1 per share monthly........................... 40, 000 Expenses of running mine and mill have varied from $14,000 to $22,000 monthly, averaging about $18,000, or, for 1868. about..................................... 180, 000 Total disbursements therefore about................... 479, 000 20 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES THE KEYSTONE MINE OF AMADOR COUNTY. W OA --- F.... A Profile of north shaft and workings-Scale, 100 feet to the inch. Course of vein, north-northwest and south-southeast; dip 43~ east. A A, north shaft of Keystone, 380 feet deep; B, 110 feet level: C, 190 feet level; D, 250 feet level; E, 220 feet level, north; F, 360 feet level; at D the vein is pinched; 1, 2, old ground stoped out; 3, old stope, in which the vein was 20 feet wide; 4 ditto, vein 15 feet; 5, the vein here is spliced, and the bottom seam only worked out; 6, stope in four-foot vein. The south Keystone shaft, 640 feet south of these workings, and the Geneva workings, on a vein west, said to be the true mother lode of Amador, are both unconnected with the north shaft, and at present (June, 1868) full of water, having been drowned out by the severe rains of the winter of 1867 and'68, and not yet reopened. The company owns 2,800 feet on the Keystone vein, and 800 on the Geneva. The quartz, like that of the Eureka and Oneida, is hard but not tough-a "kindly mill-rock." The gold is apparently contained, for the most part, in sulphurets. There are steam hoisting works at the south Keystone, and a whim on the Geneva. The Keystone mill has 24 stamps (550 pounds) and no rock-breaker; blankets, sluices, and Hepburn pans are employed in amalgamation; Hendy concentrators and shaking tables in the concentration of tailings. The sulphurets (about 2 per cent.) assay $300 to the ton, and have been treated by chlorination. A new process was being tested during my visit, with what result I have not learned. The company pays $60 and $40 gold, with board, monthly to the first and second class miners; $50, with board, to mill-hands. WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 21. Statement of the Keystone mine, Amador county, California, for the year ending July 31,1868. Receipts; Bullion........................................... $154, 354 87 Premium on sales of bullion........................... 1, 167 42 Cash on hand August 10, 1867........................ 844 83 Amount of superintendent's account, August 10, 1867.. 7, 555 47 Total receipts........................... 163,922 59 The above quantity of bullion was derived from about 12,000 tons of quartz; average yield, $12 86 per ton. Disbursements: Real estate-house and lot............................... $100 00 Assay account-assays of bullion and ores................. 250 59 Tax account-government tax on bullion..... $515 52 tax on property at mine......... 549 1.8 1, 064 70 Insurance at mine....................................... 556 25 Freight account-on bullion received............ 546 90 on coin forwarded to the mine. 132 74 on materials, provisions, &c... 982 81 1, 662 45 Stationery at mine and in San Francisco.................. 46 55 Interest paid.................................. 66 82 Team account-feed and livery................-.......... 392 05 Boarding-house account-provisions, &c........ 7,939 17 cook and help........ 1,227 00 9, 166 17 Machinery account-pump, &c....-..................... 501 25 Expense account, at mine and in San Francisco... 296 71 Salary of superintendent....................... 3,600 00 Salary of secretary............................ 600 00 Salary of clerk at mine................... 465 00 4, 665 00 Bills payable August 10, 1867.......................... 1,696 33 Mine account-timbers....................... 4,428 32 wood.......................... 1,393 97 stones and materials........... 6,123 22 sundries....................... 282 91 12,228 42 Mill account-wood........................... 11,568 91 castings........................ 3,002 66 stores and materials.............. 1, 523 58 working sulphurets.............. 1, 563 11 17,658 26 Labor account-mine......................... 29, 638 48 mill....................... 7, 124 47 36, 762 95 Water ditch account..................................... 1, 644 13 Dividends paid stockholders -...................... 75, 000 00 Total disbursements.................................163, 758 63 22 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES CHAPTER III. THE QUARTZ AND PLACER MINES OF NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. THE EUREKA MINE, GRASS VALLEY. n,,:The mines of Grass Valley and Nevada City IV R i? were described at considerable length in Mr. iB J. Ross Browne's last report. I only add z sketches and explanations as to a few of the BLX' principal mines, from which their condition and D \\ xz prospects may be inferred. The management of the mines and mills of this county may be studied by the engineer with profit. There are W1 \ no fitter illustrations of workmanlike mining, E( J timbering, hoisting, crushing, and amalgama~ ^ tting, than some of these companies present. F Cross Section-Scale, 200 feet to the inch.'5 - F/R B A C 2