The Gold Fields of Lower California. 5 



sea. Quite a camp was once established at this point, but owing 

 to the propensity of the miners for stealing cattle from Mr. Han- 

 son, the camp was finally destroyed and prospectors given little 

 chance to learn the true value of the district. 



Other placers similar in character to the above are to be found 

 throughout this gold belt, back of San Rafael and San Quintin, 

 in various directions, but none of them have been well pros- 

 pected or worked by any experienced miners. The extent and 

 richness of these large tracts of land cannot therefore be foretold. 

 Doubtless, many fortunes await those lucky few who may first 

 prospect the gulches leading from the placers, or who may 

 select carefully their claims. If the reports now in circulaticn 

 prove reliable, this discovery exceeds any made in the days of '49. 



The gold belt may be said to be bounded on the north by San 

 Diego County, though gold is found in nearly all parts of San 

 Diego County in greater or less quantity; on the east the Colo- 

 rado desert is a sufficient barrier for the present, until transporta- 

 tion can be provided, while no southern limit is known, though 

 we may for convenience limit it to the peninsular range, ending 

 in the San Pedro mountain, about which our interests in the 

 gold developments must center. We may expect all sides of 

 this great mountain and its dependencies to be thoroughly pros- 

 pected in the near future, and no one need be surprised at some 

 rich developments. 



The discovery of these rich placers, though they may be limited 

 possibly in extent, will result in the rapid development of the 

 mineral resources of this important territory. Even if the present 

 excitement is doomed to be short lived, we shall not see the day 

 when the placers of the peninsula will become wholly exhausted. 



But it is not to the placers that we shall look for the greatest 

 returns, but to the ultimate discovery and development of the 

 many quartz veins known to exist below the line. 



Promising quartz mines are now being developed at Los 

 Cruzes, at San Rafael, and near the Santa Rosalie Bay, two 

 hundred miles south of the first named, while numerous valuable 

 quartz veins are being denounced (located) around the Santa 

 Clara placer mines, around which the present excitement centers. 

 The Santa Clara placers are 150 miles from San Diego, and 

 already boast a mining camp variously estimated at from 300 to 

 2,000 population, where no one has been previously living, 

 while all the surrounding towns are reported as virtually de- 

 serted. 



If the reports continue favorable, the editor will debate the 

 question — which is the mightier, the pick or the pen? and give 

 our readers the latest news from the mines. 



C. R. OrcutU 



