ITS QUALITY QUICKSILVER MINES. * 391 



troy. It appears from his calculations that seven-eighths of all the 

 deposits made at his mint from the commencen ent of the business 

 until April 1850, exhibit a variation in quality -of only fifty-cents 

 per ounce troy, the fineness averaging between 873|- thousandths 

 and 898|- thousandths. The general fineness of nearly all the gold 

 brought to the mint is 886 thousandths ; the flat spangles of the 

 rivers, which bear a small proportion to the mass, averaging 895 

 thousandths. The alloy detected in this gold is wholly silver tinged 

 with a small quantity of iron, and the removal of the iron, dirt or 

 sand in melting occasions usually a loss in weight of about 3^ per 

 cent. If the grains have been cleansed by the magnet the loss is 

 reduced to about 2| per cent., but if they are wet or dampened the 

 loss may raise to even higher than 4 per cent. California gold is 

 regarded as consisting of 995 parts gold and silver in every 1000 

 parts by weight, which renders it necessary to separate these metals 

 before converting them into coin, for, according to law, the stand- 

 ard national gold is so constituted, that, in 1000 parts by weight, 

 900 shall be pure gold, and 100 an alloy, compounded of copper 

 and silver. 



If the confident representations of travellers, miners, laborers and 

 scientific men are to be heeded, the California placeres and mines 

 will continue to yield an increasing ratio of precious metal ; but 

 time alone can disclose the degree in which their products will be 

 multiplied. Should they reach $ 100,000,000 annually — and they 

 may surpass that amount — the yearly addition to the gold of Europe 

 and America, will be 6| per cent, on $ 1,800,000,000, which is the 

 estimated amount of that metal in those two quarters of the globe. 

 This vast sum more than doubles the past contributions of Ameri- 

 can mines during the period of their greatest productiveness. 1 



Gold, however, is not the only important mineral element of Cali- 

 fornia's wealth. Her quicksilver mines are believed to be numer- 

 ous, extensive and valuable. The cinnabar ore which produces the 

 quicksilver, lies near the surface, is easily procured and is represent- 

 ed to be remarkably productive. The mine of New Almaden is a 

 few miles from the coast, midway between San Francisco and Mon- 

 terey, and in one of the ridges of the Sierra Azul. The mouth of 

 this mine is a few yards from the summit of the highest hill that has 

 been found to contain quicksilver, and is about 1,200 feet above the 

 neighboring plain and not much more above the ocean. Its ore-bed 

 seems to be embraced in a greenish talcose rock. By a very rude 



J Article by the Hon. Professor Tucker, Hunt's Magazine, July 1850, p. 25. 



