48 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



distant wells or brought from the mainland, so that 

 the health conditions are perfect. 



Climbing the hills and cliffs we may see attractive 

 homes of all kinds, combining to produce a town which 

 has caught the fancy of men and women from all over 

 the world. 



There are metals of some kind on all the Channel 

 Islands. Mr. Caire has informed me that very good 

 outcroppings of gold have been found at Santa Cruz; 

 I have not visited the mine or the locality. Silver 

 Canon, Santa Catalina, suggests the metal once mined 

 here, and according to Mr. L. Parsons, silver mines exist 

 at the Isthmus. A mine in Cherry Valley was worked 

 for some time, and thirty tons of ore, worth one hun- 

 dred and fifty dollars per ton, were taken out. At 

 Little Harbor many minerals crop out, among them 

 copper, and as a layman, not an expert, I have found 

 this, in a mineralogical sense, one of the most interest- 

 ing places on the island. 



While several mining booms have swept over Santa 

 Catalina, one in i860, which resulted in every one 

 being sent off the island. Silver Canon, on the east 

 end, is the site of the only serious work done here. 

 On the strength of the richness of this cafion the island 

 was once sold to an English company. The ore is a 

 galena, bearing a small percentage of gold, according to 

 Mr. Parsons already quoted. This mine has produced 

 about fifteen thousand dollars, the ore being brought out 

 on burros, and it was once sold for fifteen thousand dol- 

 lars more. The closing of the Indian mints and the 

 drop in silver are given as the reasons why work was 

 suspended, but the expense of getting the ore out 

 doubtless was the true reason. In this era of dirigible 



