302 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 



sulphuret of silver, in a gangiie of gray quartz, running through 

 trap and porpliyritic greenstone. The lode called the Esmer- 

 alda, the most prominent and apparently the mother lode of 

 the district, runs with the meridian, and contains very little 

 or no gold, while other leads, running at right-angles to it, con- 

 tain nmch free gold ; that is, j^articles of metallic gold which 

 liave formed no chemical union with the silver ore. The Esmer- 

 alda mines were discovered in August, 1860, by J. M. Cory; 

 not much of the ore has been taken out, no mills have been 

 erected, little of the ore has been reduced, and therefore not 

 much is known of the real wealth of the district, although little 

 doubt is entci'tained that it will in time produce much silver. 

 There are several small ditches at the Mono placers, but the 

 county has no quartz-mills, and thus far no auriferous quartz 

 has been discovered. 



South of Tuolumne lies Mariposa county, which is drained 

 by the Mariposa and Merced Rivers. The mines are shallow 

 placers and quartz. There is, I believe, not a hydraulic or 

 tunnel claim in the county, and the mining-ditches are few. 

 The towns are small ; the population in the placers misteady 

 and irregular in their mode of life ; and the county, taken as a 

 Avhole, is considered one of the most unpleasant parts of the 

 state for the home of a family. In consequence of the scarcity 

 of ditches there is no watei* in summer, and the placer miners 

 therefore lie idle during a great part of the year, and either go 

 to other counties or spend their time in dissipation. The 

 county assessor reports five mining-ditches w^ith a total length 

 of forty-two miles.' The quartz lodes are numerous and rich. 

 There are thirty-four quartz-mills, of which four are on Fre- 

 mont's ranch ; four at Coulterville ; at Gentry's Gulch anil 

 Whitlock Creek three each; at AguaFria, Bean's Creek, Bear 

 valley. Burns' Creek, Mariposa Town, Mariposa Creek and 

 Stockton Creek two each ; and at Bull Creek, Corbett's Creek, 

 Guadalupe, Mount Ophir, North Fork, Quartzburg, and Sax- 

 ton's Creek one each. The Fremont ranch, which contains 

 forty-eight thousand acres, is the most valuable mineral estate 



