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GEOLOGIC GUIDEBOOK ALONG HIGHWAY 49 



[Bull. 141 



anything in excess of the combined figure was operating profit. By 1914 

 the cost had risen to $1.60 per ton, and by 1918 still farther rising costs 

 and the low grade of the ore forced the closing of the mine. It had pro- 

 duced about $4,000,000. 



At one stage in this operation affairs had reached a crisis. The man- 

 ager reported to the home office in New York that in order to continue 

 operations a big new hoist must be purchased and a deeper shaft sunk. 

 Twenty-five thousand dollars was required for the purpose, and it was 

 questionable whether the money would be forthcoming. Then, before a 

 reply could be received, came one of those astounding turns of fortune of 

 which a gold mine is capable. A raise on the 1350-foot level, being driven 

 for an orepass, encountered a rich pocket of specimen ore in the footwall 

 of the Bull vein that produced the $25,000 almost overnight. A quick 

 telegram relieved the pressure on the New York office. 



In 1920, The Carson Hill Gold Mines, Incorporated, with Mr. W. J. 

 Loring as manager, consolidated all the old mines on Carson Hill between 

 the villages of Carson Hill and Melones, and took over the property of the 

 Melones mine. This company found a rich oreshoot on the Morgan claim 

 and mined it down to a depth of 4550 feet. Cut samples showed as high as 

 $80 per ton and mill heads assayed over $20 per ton at times, but the 

 average grade of the oreshoot was $12.60 per ton. Increasing costs and a 

 lowering in grade of the ore closed the mine in 1926. The operation had 

 produced about $6,000,000. The bottom of the mine when this company 

 took it over was at 3000 feet. They left it at 4550 feet. The late Olaf 

 Wenstrom, the last manager for the company, told the writer in a letter 

 that there is still ore at the bottom, of good milling grade, some of it 

 showing visible gold. No mining has been done since at that depth. 



After a shutdown of seven years, a new operation of the mine was 

 undertaken by the Carson Hill Gold Mining Company with the writer in 

 charge. Work was started in April 1933. It was planned to work the 

 marginal ores of $2 to $3 grade. Wages and the costs of materials were 

 low and much of the necessary equipment was on the property. The cost 

 of repairs to equipment and mine workings was correctly estimated at 

 $100,000. 



The times then were hard. Men were out of work. Miners were eking 

 out an existence on ranches, in pocket mining, and in placering the 

 already worked gravels. One man, a graduate engineer, told the writer 

 he was getting 85 cents a day from his pocket mining, and others told a 

 similar story. Miners were back again to pork and beans, with little pork. 

 It was a time for gold mining to get busy. 



Mining was begun where ore could be produced at the least cost. The 

 footwall gloryhole was worked and excavation of the Union pit by power 

 shovel was started. The ore from these workings was dropped through 

 an ore pass to loading chutes in the long haulage tunnel. Two shovel pits 

 were operated on the outcrop of the Calaveras vein, from which the ore 

 was hauled by trucks to loading chutes. Underground mining also was 

 done on upper levels of the Morgan and Calaveras mines. Early in the 

 operation the price of gold was increased from its traditional price of 

 $20.67 per ounce to $35 per ounce, and this made ore of lower gold con- 

 tent profitable to work. Underground mining then progressed to greater 

 depth until it was at the 3500-foot level. 



The mill, at the start, had a capacity of 650 tons per day, but this 

 was later increased to a maximum of 1100 tons per day. Gold recovery was 

 by amalgamation, concentration, and cyaniding. All gold was turned out 

 in the form of bullion bars and no concentrate was shipped. The huge 

 tailing pile at Melones, over 3,000,000 tons, represents all the ore pro- 

 duced by the Carson Hill Gold Mining Company and some from the 

 preceding operation. Tailing from the Melones Company operation had 

 been discharged into the river. 



The Carson Hill Gold Mining Company continued operation until 

 May 1942, when the stamp mill burned down. Any hope of rebuilding and 

 resuming work was extinguished a few months later by government Order 

 L-208, which required the closing of all gold mines as a war-time measure. 

 Under this operation the mine produced 2,840,000 tons of ore from which 

 $6,500,000 was recovered. It had paid for the purchase price of the mine 

 and had paid eleven dividends. 



There is no accurate record of the early production from Carson Hill 

 but the total production is estimated to be over $26,000,000, 



