SOCIETY. 81 



to decline, and it lias lost some of its voters, and a considera- 

 ble portion of its trade. The population in 1870 was 4,588. 



54. Grass Valley. Grass Valley, the chief quartz min- 

 ing town of the State, is 2,500 feet above the level of the sea, 

 and thirteen miles north of Cplfax, on the Central Pacific 

 Railroad. The site is in the midst of an amphitheater of 

 gently rolling hills, which have a fertile red soil, and are cov- 

 ered either by nice little homesteads and gardens, or by a 

 multitude of young pine trees, which have arisen to take the 

 place of the older trees, cut down to supply firewood or shaft- 

 ing timber. A large area is occupied by residences. Several 

 square miles must be included within the town plat. There is 

 abundant room for the orchards and gardens which surround 

 many of the dwellings. The ugly piles of boulders, the bare 

 rock, and the deep excavations on the hill-sides, which show 

 the ravages of the placer miner, are not seen here. This is the 

 home of the quartz miner, who has built a comfortable house, 

 surrounded it with flowers, and fixed himself to enjoy life 

 with his family. Unlike most of the placer mining camps, 

 this is a beautiful town, and it has an appearance of comfort 

 and permanence and steady prosperity that would do no dis- 

 credit to a thrifty New England village. There is now in the 

 township a population of 7,000, most of whom are collected in 

 the town. The business is sufficient to pay a fair profit, if it 

 were evenly divided, to many more. The township is the 

 greatest center for gold-quartz mining in the world, and the 

 annual gold yield is estimated at $4,000,000. There are 

 here, within a small area, a number of the richest mines in 

 the State. The miners of Grass Valley have two serious dis- 

 advantages : the lodes are very narrow, and water is found 

 abundantly at a depth of 50 or 75 feet. But the richness of 

 the rock, and the proximity to the centers of the population, 

 have more than counterbalanced the drawbacks. 



55. Marysville. From 1855 to 1860, Marysvilte was the 

 first in beauty, and the third in population and trade, among 

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