80 [APPENDIX 



ing the metal may be (as they frequently are in this country,) exceedingly 

 productive. 



Our citizens embarked in this delusive speculation in a most inconsiderate 

 manner. The results that followed from their earlier operations are too well 

 known : the capital at their command, being small, was expended even be 

 fore their veins were opened, and this great lever of success in these ope 

 rations being thus early suspended, prevented the prosecution of the enter 

 prise to a successful termination, which would have ended in profit in place 

 of loss. 



The fault, " if fault there be," lay at the door of misguided apprehensions, 

 induced by flattering reports of results which had flowed from hasty examin 

 ations, but not in the veins themselves ; as these were dumb, and unable 

 to speak for themselves, until men of larger means developed their capa 

 bilities, the cause of failure was attributed to a want of metal in the lodes ; 

 hence the distrust which has up to the present time attached itself to this 

 branch of mining, and has resulted in serious loss to the country at large, as 

 well as to the private citizen. 



A few have grappled through against all obstacles, who were fortunate 

 enough to command the necessary means, and now have their mines opened 

 and in successful operation. But it has been at the expense of heavy out 

 lays of capital, and nearly two years of industrious application and hard labor ; 

 the results which they have produced has been the means of fixing on a per 

 manent basis, the character of these mines, which it will be difficult to affect 

 injuriously hereafter ; and their integrity as lucrative employments, and 

 safety for capital investments in themselves, is questioned by none who are 

 conversant with their present condition. 



Notwithstanding their acknowledged intrinsic value, there is an incubus 

 resting upon them, which prevents, and must still prevent, their more exten 

 sive ocoupancy, and until removed in some manner, will stand as an insuper 

 able obstacle to their future progress. This rests in the doubtful and un 

 certain tenure, by which these mines are held, being subject, as they are, to 

 the government of the majority of the people in the district in which they 

 are located, and whose interests directly considered, are both unconnected 

 and foreign, though following a profession similar in some respects to that 

 under consideration. 



The position of the Placer miner, and those engaged on veins, is different 

 in many respects. In the case of the former, there is but a comparatively 

 small amount of capital requisite to pursue his business advantageously and 

 successfully : in the other, experience has fully demonstrated that he cannot 

 pursue his business successfully without large expenditures. In the case of 

 the former, the extraction of gold is conducted by the simple process of 

 washing ; in the other, it can be extracted from the gaugue often only by 

 complex metallurgical processes, and subjected even then to much uncer 

 tainty, and, at times, loss requiring what the Placer does not, the employ 

 ment of men who have made it the study of their lives, and the use of 

 means mechanical and scientific, which do not come within the requisition 

 of the former, to conduct his operations to a successful issue. 



The operations of the placer miner are generally limited as to time, sel 

 dom exceeding a year in the same locality, on his removal his interests in 

 his former residence ceases ; in the case of the miner engaged on veina, he 



