F OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 285 
of the mine as the single brick did of the city. I have, however, obtained from two mines statistics 
of some value in this relation. 
From my own investigations I set the workable ores of the State down as containing from the 
720,000th to the 60,000th part of gold. 'The former can only be worked where little mining and 
no grinding is necessary. ‘The poorest ores worked at Brewer’s mine are about equal to this. At 
many of the mines ore is worked that does not contain over the 200,000th part of gold. 
Copper and silver are the only alloys found in the gold. Bismuth occurs native at Brewer's 
mine, and is taken up in the process of amalgamation, and fused with the gold; it is not, however, 
a native alloy. ‘The fineness of the gold, at some of the principal mines, is presented in the follow- 
ing table—fine gold being 1000. 
Gold from Hale’s mine, - - - - - . - - 929 
«Bogan mine, - - - - - - - - .950 
« « ~ Blackman’s mine, - - - - - - - 990 
tt Pair'F'oresthi mine, |» - . - - - - - 818 
« «  Nott’s mine, - - - - - - . - 930 
The force employed at the mines is very fluctuating, and somewhat dependent upon the prices of 
the staple crops of the State. At the Fair Forest mine there were, at my last visit, in operation 
two mills, employing eight hands and five mules. At Nott’s mine a steam engine of 25-horse power 
is the moving force, and the grinding machinery consists of six stamps and four mills, that grind 
from 200 to 240 bushels of ore a day—employing thirty hands and sixteen horses. The product of 
this mine is about 50 dwts. of gold a day, on an average. 50 dwts. of gold, distributed among 
200 bushels of ore, does not quite amount to twenty-five cents per bushel: I am satisfied that the 
ore contains more than this amount of gold, and that the waste sands will be worked over at some 
future time: still I believe that this represents pretty correctly the product of many of the mines. 
The following statistics of Brewer’s mine were politely furnished by Mr. Craig, the superin- 
tendent. 
Force employed for six months, in 1844. 
Hands, - - 170 Carts, - - 43 Rockers, - - 62 
Horses and mules, 49 Wagons, ro 
Product in that time, $13,130. 
Force employed from January 1st to October 18th, 1845." 
January. April. July. October. 
Hands) SS 2P"= 2 IBs =) A192 9g ASE -. - e102 
Horsesand mules, 37 - - - - 55 - - - 34 - - - 27 
Carts, - - - - - 33° - - - - 46 - - + 30 ~,+ - 2 
Wagons, - - - - 2---. 2-+--+- — + -.25— 
Rockers, =< - = =/29) = -=9- 3°48) "=" 21\=) 20 ais 21 
The product for that time was $15,087. 'The total product of this interesting mine, from its dis- 
covery, in 1843, to October 18th 1845, was $53,580 71. 
When I first saw it, in the Spring of 1844, ground was fairly broken, and there were about 200. 
* The force at the mine was reckoned up at the times here given. 
66 
