516 



REPORT — 1887. 



1852 ; Arizona in 1858 ; Colorado in 1859 ; Idaho and Montana in 

 1860. 



The chief gold-prodncing States after California are Xevada, Dakota, 

 and Colorado. But up to the year 1880 California produced 50 per cent, 

 of the gold of the United States, and 71^ per cent, of that obtained from 

 placer mines ; and even in 1885_it produced 40 percent, of the total amount 

 of gold obtained. 



The following table gives the relative importance of the chief gold- 

 producing States daring the census year ending May 31, 1880 : — 



Since 1880 California has decreased to ^12,700,000, chiefly in con- 

 sequence of repressive legislation as regards hydraulic mining. This 

 decrease would be far greater -were it not that quartz-mining has much 

 developed. The Bodie district, in Mono county, for some years gave the 

 chief supply of quartz gold ; but this has fallen off in yield, and the supplies 

 now largely come from districts further to the north-west. 



The gold yield of California has oscillated in past years from causes 

 unconnected with its own resources. In 1857 there was a rush to 

 Fraser river, in Bi'itish Columbia ; in 1863 a great rush took place to 

 Nevada, when from 15,000 to 20,000 people left the State. These varia- 

 tions in Californian produce are plainly seen in the total production of 

 the country. 



The great development of placer gold-mining in California was due 

 to the introduction of ' sluicing,' or washing the gravel in trenches cut in 

 the solid rock below. By this method deeper and poorer gravels could 

 be worked than by the older Californian methods. 



Sluicing, however, is no modem invention ; it was employed by the 

 Romans. In 1852 the system known as ' hydraulicking ' was introduced, 

 in which the gravel is worked by a stream of water forced against it 

 under pressure. By this system a great part of the Californian gravels 

 was worked up to January 1884. For years before that date there had 

 been constant disputes and litigations between the miners, the farmers, and 

 the owners of streams, because gold- working generally, but hydraulicking 

 especially, had ruined large areas of land, had choked or diverted the 



• Those marked + have since increased in yield ; those marked — have decreased 

 Dakota remains practically unchanged. 



