128 



CALIFORNIA. 



ii;; 



an amendment or amendments to Article XIV of the 

 Constitution of the State relative to water and water- 

 rights. 



2. To propose and submit to the people of the State 

 such amendment or amendments to tne Constitution 

 of the State as may be necessary or proper to secure 

 to the people the right of appropriation, diversion, 

 and use of flowing water for irrigation or other bene- 

 ficial purposes, and as may be necessary or proper to 

 protect aD such rights in the courts of the State. 



3. To enact all Jaws necessary or proper to protect 

 the people of the State in the full ana free enjoyment 

 of the right to appropriate, divert, and use flowing 

 water in the State for irrigation or other beneficial 



rposes, and so as to fully protect all such rights in 

 e courts. 



4. To repeal section 1422 of the Civil Code. 



5. To propose and submit to the people of the State 

 an amendment or amendments to Article VI of the 

 Constitution of the State relative to the judicial de- 

 partment, so far as it relates to the Supreme Court. 



Notwithstanding the importance of the sub- 

 jects proposed, the two houses tailed to agree 

 on any measure. On March 8, United States 

 Senator John F. Miller, Republican, had died, 

 and on the 23d the Governor had appointed 

 George Hearst, a Democrat, in his place until 

 the assembling of the Legislature. This body, 

 on Aug. 4, elected A. P. Williams, Republican, 

 by a vote of 70, to 24 for Hearst. 



Mining. We give a review of mining opera- 

 tions in the State for the year 1885. Califor- 

 nia has continued to maintain its place as a 

 producer of gold since the discovery of the 

 metal within its borders. The yield of pre- 

 cious metals for the year was nearly $10,000,- 

 000 in gold and $4,000,000 in silver. The 

 quartz-mines are especially noteworthy. 



New enterprises have been begun, opera- 

 tions have been resumed on several old mines, 

 and in no preceding year since the inaugura- 

 tion of quartz-mining in the State have so few 

 of these establishments been closed. 



Calaveras and Amador counties show the 

 greatest activity in quartz-mining. El Dorado 

 County has prosecuted this business with con- 

 siderable vigor. Nevada County probably is 

 the banner county for quartz - mining ; old 

 mines in which their former owners sank for- 

 tunes have been reopened, and are now yield- 

 ing liberally. In Trinity, Shasta, Butte, Sierra, 

 and Plumas counties this industry has already 

 reached large proportions, some of the mills 

 running as high as 60 stamps. 



The output of gold has been affected by the 

 closing of the hydraulic mines, but not so seri- 

 ously as might have been expected. 



Drift-mining and river-beds' operations are 

 branches of mining which are only second to 

 quartz-mining at Forest Hill, San Juan, along 

 the Scott, Klamath, and Salmon rivers. They 

 are carried on very successfully, some of the 

 companies employing from 100 to 150 men, 

 and taking out sums varying from $150,000 to 

 $400,000 per year. 



The owners of gravel claims let out portions 

 of their territory to gangs of Chinamen, and 

 others who work over the surface with under- 

 currents and sluices, and a million dollars is 



probably the result of their combined labors 

 for the year. 



California is the largest producer of quick- 

 silver in the Union. From 30,000 to 35,000 

 flasks are produced every year from the mines 

 of New Almaden, Napa Consolidated, Great 

 Western, and Redington. They give employ- 

 ment to 1,000 miners, and about $4,000,000 is 

 invested in this business. 



About 80,000 tons of coal were extracted 

 for the year, principally from Mount Diablo, 

 lone, and Lincoln. 



Copper is also mined in various parts of the 

 State, principally in the southern districts, but 

 owing to depreciation of the price many of the 

 mines have been abandoned, and gold and sil- 

 ver ore containing this rebellious metal can 

 not be worked at a profit. 



Wine and Fruit. Forty million pounds of 

 fresh fruit were shipped out of California by 

 rail between Jan. 1 and Sept. 1, 1885, an in- 

 crease of 32,000,000 pounds over the shipments 

 for the corresponding period of the previous 

 year. It was said at the State Convention of 

 wine-growers that in 1885 the production of 

 wine in the State was between 15,000,000 and 

 16,000,000 gallons, and that the requirement 

 for home consumption and export was between 

 8,000,000 and 9,000,000 gallons. Fully one 

 third of the crop of 1885 was fit only for dis- 

 tillation. In reference to the wine-produc- 

 tion of the State in 1875, the total exportation 

 of California wines was 1,031,507 gallons. 

 Five years later the exportation was more than 

 doubled, amounting to 2,487,353 gallons. In 

 1885, 4,256,224 gallons of wine were exported 

 and 263,840 gallons of brandy. 



The vintage of 1886 was the best as well as 

 the largest in the history of California. The 

 yield is estimated at from 17,000,000 to 19,500,- 

 000 gallons of wine, of which 3,000,000 will 

 go into brandy. There has been a great in- 

 crease in acreage of vines, and it is estimated 

 that $75,000,000 is now invested in the wine 

 interest in California. Equal progress has 

 been made in raisin- culture, and the total prod- 

 uct for the year is estimated at 703,000 boxes. 

 It is thought that there are now 8,000,000 

 fruit-trees in the State. In dried fruit there 

 has been an enormous increase, and all of it 

 has found ready sale. There has been an in- 

 crease of more than 4,000 per cent, over the 

 product of 1885 in extracted honey. 



Riverside, the great orange and raisin grow- 

 ing colony in San Bernardino County, is soon 

 to have the only large cold-storage works for 

 fruit in this country. The establishment will 

 cost $40,000, and will have capacity for cooling 

 and shipping ten car-loads of fruit daily. 



Wool. The production of California wool 

 has been as follows : 



Pounds. 



1880 46,074,154 



1881 46,076,689 



1885. 

 40,527.119 I 1886. 



Pounds. 

 1884 87.415,380 



86.561.890 



88 40,848,690 



Wheat, etc. The Secretary of the State Agri- 



