MIXING. 329 



years of searching for others like it. The total production of 

 the State has never exceeded 52,000 flasks in a year, and at 

 present may be estimated at little more than half that amount. 



The New Almaden is the great mine of the State, and has 

 produced in the last twenty-four years about 600,000 flasks, or 

 45,000,000 pounds of metal. The highest production was in 

 1864, when it reached 43,000 flasks. It is situated fifteen 

 miles southward from San Jose. The New Idria mine is on 

 the eastern slope of the Diablo ridge, seventy-five miles south- 

 eastward from Hollister ; the Redington mine, twenty-eight 

 miles east of Calistoga ; the Phoenix and Washington, in Pope 

 Valley, ten miles east of Calistoga ; the Oakville, six miles 

 southward from the town of St. Helena ; and the St. Johns, five 

 miles northeastward from Vallejo. The St. Johns and the 

 Great Western, eighteen miles beyond Calistoga, are mines that 

 promise to become important in the future. The total present 

 production of the State is about 30,000 flasks. The consump- 

 tion of the Pacific States and Territories is 19,000, and of the 

 remainder of the continent, 11,000, st> that North America 

 has no need either to export or import now. 



The metal is extracted from the ore by sublimation. The 

 furnaces and condensers used diifer greatly in the manner of 

 construction, and also in the expense of running. 



At the Xew Almaden and New Idria mines the old style 

 of furnaces are used. They are about fifty feet long, twelve 

 feet high, and twelve feet wide. At one end of each furnace 

 is the fire chamber, which may be nine feet cubic inside ; 

 next that is the ore chamber, of about the same size ; and be- 

 yond that is the condensing chamber, in which there are a 

 number of partitions, alternately running up from the bottom 

 and down from the top, with a space for the fumes to pass, 

 their course being up and down, and up and down again, and 

 so on for a distance of thirty feet to the chimney, which is 

 forty feet high. In the bottom of the condensing chamber is 

 water. The wails between the fire chamber and the ore 



