238 IIESOXJIICES OF CALIFORNIA. 



CHAPTER yill. 



MINING. 



§ 175. Chief Industry. — Mining is the chief industry of 

 Cahfornia. It employs more men and pays larger average 

 wages, than any other branch of physical labor. Although it 

 has been gradually decreasing in the amount of its production, 

 in the profits to the individuals engaged in it, and in its rela- 

 tive importance in the business of the state, it is yet and will 

 lono; continue to be the laro;est source of our wealth, and the 

 basis to support the other kinds of occupation. 



§ 176. Metals obtained. — Our mines now wrought are of 

 gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, and coal. Ores of tin, lead, 

 and antimony in large veins, beds of sulphur, alum, and as- 

 phaltum ; lakes of borax and springs of sulphate of magnesia, 

 are also found in the state, but they are not wrought at the 

 present time, though they will probably all become valuable 

 in a few years. Platinum, iridium, and osmium are obtained 

 with the gold in some of the placer mines, but are never found 

 alone, nor are they ever the main object sought by the miner. 

 The annual yield of our gold mines is about forty millions of 

 dollars, of our quicksilver two millions of dollars. Our silver, 

 copper, and coal mines have been opened within a year, and 

 their value is yet unknown. All our other mining is of little 

 importance as compared with the gold. 



§ 177. Gold Mines. — Our gold mines are divided into pla- 

 cer and quartz. In the former, the metal is found imbedded in 

 layers of earthy matter, such as clay, sand, and gravel ; in the 

 latter it is incased in veins of i-ock. The methods of mining 

 must be adapted to the size of the particles of gold, and the 



