114 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



country in such numbers and richness as to make the labor of raising and 

 shipping the ores a lucrative business. Not only is it already a lucra- 

 tive business, but after only three years of prospecting there have teen 

 many mines opened which have been sufficiently developed to establish 

 their marvellous. richness. Copper mining in our State has proved to be 

 a branch of industry in which persons with limited means have been 

 enabled to engage with flattering prospects of success, because the ores 

 are found sufficiently rich to pay for shipment at a trifling distance be- 

 low the surface; hence there need be only a small outlay of labor or cap- 

 ital before receiving returns by the sales of ores at San Francisco. It. is 

 reasonable to expect that in the course of the next year copper will com- 

 prise a very large item among the shipments of the metals from the 

 Pacific coast. 



There were fifty-four copper mining companies represented at this 

 year's Fair, with a great variety of ores, and it is under, rather than over, 

 the true number to state that there are already not less than three thou- 

 sand copper claims recorded in the State. To open and work these mines 

 to advantage requires a greater supply of labor than is now available, 

 and cheaper transportation to tide water. The discoveries in this one 

 interest during the past year are of sufficient magnitude to render the 

 future of California what its most hopeful citizens could desire. Up to 

 this time our copper miners have been Obliged to ship their oi-es abroad 

 for smelting, and as it is well known that most of these ores are rich in 

 silver, and gold, and other mineral substances, their full value is not 

 secured by those owning the mines. The time, however, is rapidly ap- 

 proaching when our copper miners will club together to erect works in 

 California, or in the East, where fuel and labor is cheaper, so that by 

 owning the works the proprietors of each mine will be able to obtain 

 the results of an honest assay of their ores. Smelting works have been 

 erected at Antioch, a very accessible point near the junction of the Sac- 

 ramento and San Joaquin Elvers, for the partial reduction of ores; but 

 these works are not intended to accomplish what is the great need — the 

 separation and saving of all the valuable metals contained in the rock. 

 When this shall have been done, there is little doubt but that our copper 

 mines will yield marvellous returns on the capital invested in their de- 

 velopment. 



ENTRY OF SPECIMENS OP COPPER ORE. 



Bull Eun Copper Mining District, Calaveras County : 



Specimens of ores taken from the ledge one hundred and fifty feet 

 below the surface. 



Higby & Company's Mine, Calaveras County : 



Specimens from shaft, fifty feet deep on side of ledge. 



Copper Hill, Campo Scco District, Calaveras County: 



Specimens from the surface of the ledge, and from a depth of two 

 hundred feet. This claim is on the same lead as the Lancha 

 Plana. 



Prospect Mining Company, Calaveras County : 

 Specimens of surface ore. 

 Specimens contributed by J. B. McG-ilvery. 



Campo Seco Mine, Calaveras Count}' : 



Specimens seventeen feet from the surface. 



