FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



409 



Nebraska, $1,402; New Mexico, $54,929; Ore- 

 gon, $963,458; Nevada, $53,846; silver, do, 

 $1,973,400; other sources of gold, $82,732; 

 silver, $107,584. For the year, 1863, the re-' 

 ceipts of gold were $23,149,495 ; silver,$l,674,- 

 606. Tlie old mines are prolific and new ones 

 seem to rival them. Idaho was set off as a 

 separate territory at the last session of Con- 

 gress. It lies north of Colorado and Utah, and 

 takes in the northern ranges of the Rocky 

 Mountains, with the head waters of the Mis- 

 souri, Columbia, Yellow Stone, and North 

 Platte rivers. The localities, where workings 

 have been commenced, are numerous, but many 

 of them have not been reported or described. 

 They must be various and widely separated, 

 judging from the characteristic varieties in the 

 quality of their productions. Among the de- 

 posits received at the mint were grades of fine- 

 ness from 795-1000 to 949-1000, the latter in 

 considerable quantity, from Salmon river, a 

 tributary to the Columbia. The quality of the 

 gold produced from the mines of Idaho is equal 

 to that in the older gold regions of country, 

 and the quantity appears to be inexhaustible. 



Not less promising are the mines opening in 

 Oregon and Washington Territory. The work- 



ings are numerous, and constantly increasing 

 in number. The characteristic energy of the 

 people will, no doubt, soon develop the min- 

 eral wealth of those far distant regions. 



In Oregon the fineness of gold seems to be 

 tolerably regular and steady, and nearly equal 

 to the average of California. In the gold from 

 Washington Territory the variation is great, 

 ranging from 650-1000 to 938-1000. 



The returns from Oregon and from Idaho 

 and Washington territories are, as yet, imper- 

 fect; but enough is known to warrant the 

 statement, that in quantity and quality the gold 

 of those regions will rival, if not surpass, the 

 productions of the California mines. Arizona 

 is now yielding both gold and silver. The 

 amount, as yet, is small, but every new open- 

 ing strengthens the assurance that the quantity 

 of those metals is also unlimited. 



From British America were received at the 

 mint several deposits of Canadian gold, which, 

 in some instances, yielded as high as 947-1000 

 fine. The mines of Nova Scotia do not yield 

 as at first anticipated. A small portion only 

 of the product of those mines reaches our insti- 

 tutions the greater part being sent to the Brit- 

 ish mint. 



RECEIPTS AND EXPORTS OF GOLD IN NEW YORK FOR 1863. 



By reference to page 471 of the Cyclopaedia 

 for 1862, the table for that year will be 

 found. It will be observed that the amount of 

 specie drawn from the interior into the banks 

 was largest in the month of July, when the 

 rise of gold first became important, and that 

 for a year it reached the sum of $43,907,975. 

 This year, with a much greater rise in price, 

 the sum so drawn in has been much less. 

 The largest amount obtained was in October, 

 when the desire to invest in Government stocks 

 became very great, and the price of gold rose 

 rapidly after the fall in summer. The amount 

 drawn in from circulation and shipped out of 

 the country in two years, has been, it appears, 

 nearly $75,000,000. There has been, in addi- 

 tion, a large amount shipped to Canada, and 

 also from other ports than New York. The 

 whole amount that has left the country will 

 not fall short of $120,000,000. 



The natural fluctuations of gold were inter- 

 fered with to a considerable extent by the 

 movements of speculators, who, at some periods, 



as in February and March, caused the price to 

 rise to a very considerable extent above what 

 the mere action of paper and purely commercial 

 agencies would have produced. In order to 

 prevent this movement, which it was supposed 

 was undejrmining the national credit by caus- 

 ing a large apparent difference between the 

 Government paper and the metals, the follow- 

 ing law was passed by the Legislature of the 

 State of New York : 



"Any and all banks, insurance companies, trust 

 companies, savings institutions, and other moneyed 

 corporations, shafl be and are hereby prohibited from 

 making or continuing any loan or loans, in money or 

 otherwise, upon gold coin or bullion, or any paper rep- 

 resentations of these or either of them, or upon any 

 foreign bill or bills of exchange whatsoever, under the 

 penalty of a forfeiture of their charter or articles of as- 

 sociation, as the case may be ; and any such loan or 

 loans so made, or continued to be made, shall be abso- 

 lutely void, and no action for the recovery thereof shall 

 lie in or be entertained by any court of justice of this 

 State." Section 2 provides that this act shall take 

 place immediately. Feb. 18th, 1863. 



These laws, passed when gold was at the 



