54 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



Gold is being mined in thirty-one of the fifty-eight 

 counties. 



"Among the twenty-five gold mining states of the 

 Union California has, as a gold-producing region, the 

 distinction of holding the records on all counts. Cali- 

 fornia has made by far the largest aggregate yield; 

 the largest output in a single year ; the highest annual 

 average; the lead as a gold producer for the greatest 

 consecutive number of years; the greatest number of 

 varied branches of gold mining and the widest dis- 

 tribution of gold deposits. 



"Gold is mined in the highest parts of the Sierra 

 Nevada, the foothills, the valleys and on the beaches 

 of the ocean. Even in the wastes of the Mojave 

 and Colorado deserts are many productive gold 

 mines. In one county there are gold mines being 

 worked at elevations of 9000 to 13,500 feet and at 

 places more than 200 feet below sea level. In 

 another county from the opening of a vertical 

 shaft at 1500 feet above sea level they are mining 

 to a depth of 3896 feet, or 2394 feet below sea 

 level." 



The climate of California favors mining, as it does 

 farming, with a whole year suitable for working in 

 the open. Even in surface mining there is no unpro- 

 pitious season, if water has been provided for the 

 period of dry streams. The combination of mining 

 and farming helps to keep some men busy all the 

 year. Yale says: 



"In some of the foothills and upper valley counties 

 men work in their orange and olive orchard and 



