240 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



no account of the sums carried by passengers to foreign coun- 

 tries and coined elsewhere than at London, or used as jewelry, 

 or of the amount now in circulation in this state. According 

 to the books of the custom-house of San Francisco, the sums 

 manifested for export were as follows : 



In 1840, $4,921,250; in 1850, |2'7,676,346 ; in 1851, $42,- 

 582,695; in 1852, $46,586,134 ; in 1853, $57,331,034 ; in 1854, 

 $51,328,653; in 1855, $45,182,631 ; in 1856, $48,887,543; in 

 1857, $48,976,697 ; in 1858, $47,548,025 ; in 1859, $47,640,462 ; 

 in 1860, $42,303,345; in 1861, $40,639,089; a total of $551,603,- 

 904 in twelve years. 



The exportation of gold commenced in 1848, but we have 

 no record of the sums sent aw^ay in that year. Previous to 

 1854 very large sums were carried away by pnssengers, who 

 gave no statement at the custom-house ; since that year, the 

 manifests show the exportation correctly within a few millions. 

 I am entirely satisfied that the total gold yield of California 

 has been not less than seven hundred millions of dollars ; but 

 I have not room here to state the reasons for this opinion. My 

 estimate is considerably less than that of most business men 

 of the state, and less than that made by Hunt's Merchants' 

 Magazine. There Avas undoubtedly a regular increase in the 

 annual yield of the mines from 1848 to the end of 1853 ; and 

 there has been a gradual decrease since the beginning of 1854 

 — a decrease perhaps not very regular but still certain. Since 

 1854 considerable sums exported from San Francisco and in- 

 cluded in our tables, came from mines beyond the limits of 

 California, such as the mines in Southern Oregon, in the east- 

 ern part of Washington Territory, in British Columbia, auil 

 in Nevada Territory ; and while the Californian gold yield has 

 been decreasing, these extraneous sui>plies have been incre: s- 

 ing. Several millions must be deducted from the annual 

 shipments since 1858, for foreign gold. The gold yield wii 

 undoubtedly continue to fill, but to what point and at what 

 rate no one can knoAV. I believe that in 1870, the yield will 

 not exceed thirtv millions of dollars. 



