56 



a goodly amount of valuable instruction of itself; but, as a condensed view will 

 serve our purpose equally well, and at the same time convey a clear idea of their 

 advancement and progress, this course will be pursued. I will thus state the 

 number of mines that could be considered in full operation from 1852 to the 

 close of 1855, a period of three years, the figures being the aggregate at the end 

 of each year. 



In the beginning of 1852, the number of mines that continued to the close of 

 that year was fourteen. At the close of 1853, the number had increased to 

 thirty-nine. At the end of 1854, their numbers amounted to fifty-one. And at 

 the close of 1855, the total number is sixty-five. 



In addition to the total for 1855, as above, there are thirteen companies open 

 ing their lodes, preparatory to the commencement of erecting reduction works 

 and the reduction of their ores. But as no reduction works are, as yet, erected, 

 they are not included as in actual operation. 



I have pursued the uniform rule, never to consider a mine as having a legiti 

 mate existence until it has been in operation one full year in the reduction of 

 ores. For if it can sustain itself during that period, and prudently managed, it 

 is certain to do more than this subsequently, in this State. 



The strict adherence to this rule has brought us to the above result, as regards 

 the number actually engaged, and which may be considered among the perma 

 nent things of the State. But had a departure from this rule been adopted, and 

 every little vein on which a mere scratch had been made, recorded as a mine in 

 operation, we should, if honest, have, been obliged to chronicle failures equally 

 numerous with those that occurred during the " great crash " in this business in 

 1852. The greater part of those failures were in mines of this character, and 

 many of them even worse than this, viz : failures from having no lode whatever. 



Such operations are not legitimate mining, and it is a harsh rule to judge 

 legitimate operations by. To apply such a rule would be equally consistent with 

 the striking illustration of Mr. Everett, who, a short time since, in lecturing 

 before a public body, elucidated the comparative value of gold and the products 

 of agriculture, by which, through immense labor, he proved to his wondering and 

 delighted audience, that the product of that metal from the mines of this State, 

 for five years, amounting to nearly three hundred millions, did not equal in value 

 the entire products of agriculture of all, the States inhabited by our Atlantic 

 neighbors. If their aggregate had not been sufficient to have swamped us, in 

 this herculean estimate, he could have fallen back on the world at large, and the 

 wonder is that he did not do so. 



It was to be hoped that the day had passed by, when we were to suffer such 

 prejudicial detraction from men of high character and education, but it seems 

 otherwise. In years gone by, men of small capacities indulged in such material 

 to astonish and delight. "Former precedent " of our capacities in the production of 

 gold was their guide, but that pedestal has slipped from beneath their feet, and 

 they are now silent. But the above comes from a higher source, and conveys 

 more meaning than floats upon its surface. What heinous act have we, as a 

 people, committed, that Atlantic savans should thus seize every opportunity to 

 detract from even the small amount of credit, which, on fitting occcasions, they 

 are willing to acknowledge is our due. It is not enough that we send them from 

 fifty to sixty millions per annum, for the material which each year they force 

 upon our markets, and furnish large sums for many of their internal improvements 

 to the prejudice of our own, but we must then be coolly told that the labor of 

 eighty-six thousand men does not equal that of the balance of the Union. And 

 would thus insinuate an idea, which their tongues would parch at, did they 

 attempt boldly to utter. I hope I may not have misconstrued the import of the 

 remarks alluded to, but I can place no other construction upon them. 



