STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 327 



been obtained assaying veiy largely. A large accumulation of ore now 

 on hand it is thought will yield five hundred dollars to the ton by mill 

 process. Being high up in the Sierra Nevada, there is, of course, an 

 abundance of water and timber in the vicinity of these ledges, the pine 

 forests being, in fact, among the finest in the world. The remote and 

 out of the way situation of this district, however, is much against it, 

 freights being obliged to go by the way of Aurora; though it is likel}' a 

 shorter route, crossing the mountains in the vicinity of the mines, will 

 yet be opened. Throughout the scope of country denominated the 

 Southern Mines, being that between Amador and Tulare Counties, this 

 branch of mining has been moderately prosperous during the last year, 

 the aggregate product being about the same as for several years past; 

 while for the Northern District, it has been somewhat larger than usual, 

 the increase in the annual product of the State being due to this section. 



The mere enumeration of isolated cases of success would occupy much 

 space, and cannot be attempted; nor is that necessary, the numerous 

 heavy sales that have been made the past year indicating sufiieientl}' the 

 decree of this success. Durinic this time over one million dollars have 

 been paid for mines situate in Tuolumne County, and about an equal 

 amount /has been invested in mines in the vicinity of Clrass Valley, the 

 Eureka Mine and mill at that place having in October last alone been sold 

 for a sum approximating one half that amount, the purchasers being J. 

 B. Dickinson, of New York, Robert and William Watt, of Grass Valie}^, 

 George W. Beaver, W. 11. V. Cronise, W. E. Dean, Milton Bulkley, and 

 others, of this city. In addition to these, other large sales have been 

 effected in various other localities. These sales have mostly been made 

 to California capitalists, and paid for in gold, though it makes no sort of 

 difference what style of money payment is made in, so long as the kind 

 is agreed upon beforehand; miners will dispose of their claims just as 

 readily for currency notes as for gold ; and the idea that the introduction 

 of national currency could facilitate sales is equally falhicious and absurd 

 with the complaint about the mountain towns being depojnilated and gone 

 to decay — they having done so simply because the diggings that lead to 

 their being built, and that supported them, are exhausted, and there is 

 no longer any necessity for people or towns at these particular spots. 

 Nothing can resuscitate them but sowing the placers again with gold. 



Reviewing the whole field of quartz operations, it is evident that this 

 branch of mining in California has not only received a new impulse tiie 

 past year, but that its rewards have been steadily on the increase, and 

 the confidence felt in its future greatly established. A large number of 

 new mills, generally of greater capacity than the average of an earlier 

 day, have been erected; old ones have been enlarged or repaired, and 

 idle ones set to work — the increase of crushing capacity for the State 

 equalling, perhaps, twenty-five or thirty per cent. The expenses of 

 working the rock have meantime been reduced, while the percentage of 

 gold saved has been increased. The yield has, of course, been very 

 unlike in different localities, often fluctuating much even in the same 

 locality and mine; the scale of variation running from five dollars to 

 one hundred and fift}' dollars to the ton. The average throughout the 

 State may, perhaps, be set down at thirty dollars per ton, giving a mar- 

 gin for clear profits, over cost of working, of three hundred per cent. 

 In some sections it is less than this, and in other large districts consid- 

 erably more. At Clear Creek, on Kern Eiver, and about Grass Vallc}^, 

 the average yield is at least thirty dollars per ton. A great deal of rock 

 is worked with a compensating margin that does not yield more than 



