SALE OF MINERAL LANDS. 449 
would be but small; if much were sold, there would be a 
great increase in the value of mining property and in the de 
mand for labor. The result of a well-managed sale, or dona- 
tion system, would be that the present miners, and not distant 
capitalists, would come into possession of the richest places, 
and that every man in the state could, at a trifling cost, obtain 
a claim that would furnish him with profitable employment for 
many years.- There are certain places in the mines where the 
claims are mostly in quartz-veins or deep banks, which will 
require many years to work them out, and there the popula- 
tion is comparatively stable. Of these places, Grass Valley 
and North San Juan may be taken as examples. The traveller 
sees at once, on approaching them, that there are more com- 
fortable homes, more families, and more peace and sobriety 
among the inhabitants, than in the majority of the mining 
towns. The difference is a very great and important one, and 
if it can be removed by elevating the other towns to the level 
of those two, the sooner the better. 
The “monopoly” argument was used in Illinois, against the 
sale of the mineral lands there, and prevailed for a time; the 
consequence was, the population was made up of vagrants, and 
the dwellings were all shanties, and society was no society at 
all. Finally the lands were sold, and the result was a great 
benefit to the people and the mining districts, in every social 
and industrial respect. 
It may be objected to the sale of the mineral lands, that 
“the wisdom of our ancestors” has determined that mines 
should always belong to the government, and be open to all 
persons willing to work them. The objection may he recog- 
nized as a good one when that policy is proved to be wise by 
evidence and argument—not till then. The reason of the an- 
cient policy was, that most of the land was owned by ignorant 
and unenterprising people, chiefly nobles, who, if they had 
owned the minerals, would have allowed the natural wealth of 
the land to remain undeveloped. But that state of affairs does 
not and seve ran exist, in California. On the contrary, no- 
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