HISTORY OP CALIFORNIA. 



41 



ries ; but the richest earth was discovered near the 

 Rio de los Plumas, or Feather River,* and its branches, 

 the Yuba and Bear rivers, and on Weber's creek, a 

 tributary of the American Fork. Explorations were 

 also made in the valley of the San Joaquin, which 

 resulted in the discovery of gold on the Cosumne's 

 and other streams, and in the ravines of the Coast 

 Range, west of the valley, as far down as Ciudad de 

 los Angeles. 



In addition to the gold mines, other important dis 

 coveries were made in Upper California. A rich vein 

 of quicksilver was opened at New Almaden, near Santa 

 Clara, w r hich, with imperfect machinery, the heat by 

 which the metal is made to exude from the rock being 

 applied by a very rude process, yielded over thirty 

 per cent. This mine one of the principal advan 

 tages to be derived from which will be, that the work 

 ing of the silver mines scattered through the territory 

 must now become profitable is superior to those 

 of Almaden, in Old Spain, and second only to 

 those of Idria, near Trieste, the richest in the 

 world. 



Lead mines were likewise discovered in the neigh 

 borhood of Sonoma, and vast beds of iron ore near 

 the American Fork, yielding from eighty-five to ninety 

 per cent. Copper, platina, tin, sulphur, zinc, and 

 cobalt, were discovered every where ; coal was found 

 to exist in large quantities in the Cascade range of 

 Oregon, of which the Sierra Nevada is a continuation ; 

 and in the vicinity of all this mineral wealth, there 



* Feather River is the first considerable branch of the Sacramento 

 below the Prairie Buttes. It has a course of about forty miles, and 

 empties into the main river about fifteen miles above New Helvetia. 

 Though the Sacramento is navigable for vessels only to that place, 

 boats can pass up one hundred miles further. 



