176 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



MINING REVIEW FOR 1863. 



The past year has been one of such unprecedented activity in the dis- 

 covery and development of the mineral interests on this coast, and par- 

 ticularly in this State, and the following review, prepared for and 

 published in the " Mercantile Gazette and Prices Current," in a small 

 compass presents so complete a histoiy of the year's transactions in this 

 department of our industry, as to warrant an insertion in this report : 



Mining, from its first settlement the primary pursuit in the industry 

 of California, is fast expanding into a leading interest on the entire 

 Pacific Coast. Pursued by the simplest means, and restricted in its ear- 

 lier stages to a single object, it has gradually been extending until all 

 the precious and many of the useful metals, as well as the more comnfon 

 minerals, have been made the subjects of its enterprise. Confined at 

 the outset to the gathering of free gold, a trifling expense and the rudest 

 contrivance were ample for its successful prosecution. With the partial 

 exhaustion of the placer diggings, the more costly and elaborate busi- 

 ness of working the auriferous quartz was entered upon, and finally the 

 still more complex and expensive treatment of silver ores, calling for 

 heavj- investments of capital and the employment of a vastly greater 

 amount of skilled labor and metallurgical science. From gold alone we 

 have gone on till silver, copper, coal, and quicksilver have successively 

 been brought within its range, and taken rank among the mineral staples 

 of the country. Step by step this branch of industry has enlarged its 

 area, and pushed into new provinces, until we find it busied with almost 

 every species of mineral, and standing side by side with agriculture and 

 commerce as an agent of profitable employment and j^roductive wealth. 

 That an interest like this should not be overlooked by the political econ- 

 omist and commercial reviewer, will be readily conceded by every one 

 acquainted with its magnitude and promise. As a remunerative field for 

 both labor and capital, it is entitled to the same consideration as these 

 other great sources of material wealth and public prosperity ; and we 

 may even count upon its increasing importance till it shall, at no distant 

 day, have attained proportions that will advance it to the foremost rank 

 in our industrial pursuits. 



There is, perhaps, no other portion of the globe of like extent con- 

 taining such a variety and abundance of mineral products as the Ameri- 



