SALE OF MINEEAL LANDS. 449 



would be but small ; if much were sold, there would l>o a 

 great increase in the value of mining property and in the di^ 

 mand for labor. The result of a well-managed sale, or dona- 

 tion system, would be that the present miners, and not distnni 

 capitalists, would come into possession of the richest places, 

 and that every man in the state could, at a trifling cost, obtam 

 a claim that woidd furnish him with profitable employment for 

 many years. There are certain places in the mines where the 

 claims are mostly in quartz-veins or deep banks, which will 

 require many years to work them out, and there the popula- 

 tion is comparatively stable. Of these places. Grass Valley 

 and North San Juan may be taken as examples. The traveller 

 sees at once, on approaching them, that there are more com- 

 fortable homes, more families, and more peace and sobriety 

 among the inhabitants, than in the majority of the mining 

 towns. The difference is a very great and important one, and 

 if it can be removed by elevating the other towns to the level 

 of those two, the sooner the better. 



The " monopoly" argument was used in Illinois, against the 

 sale of the mineral lands there, and prevailed for a time; the 

 consequence was, the population was made up of vagrants, and 

 the dwellings were all shanties, and society was no society at 

 all. Finally the lands were sold, and the result was a great 

 benefit to the people and the mining districts, in every social 

 and industrial respect. 



It may be objected to the sale of the mineral lands, thai 

 *'ttie wisdom of our ancestors" has determined that mines 

 should always belong to the government, and be open to all 

 persons willing to work them. The objection may be recog- 

 nized as a good one when that policy is proved to be wise by 

 evidence and argument — not till then. The reason of the an- 

 cient policy was, that most of the land was owned by ignorant 

 and unenterprising people, chiefly nobles, who, if they had 

 owned the minerals, would have allowed the natural wealth of 

 the land to remain undeveloped. But that state of affairs does 

 not and never can exist in California. On the contrary, no- 



