94 
GEOLOGICAL REPORT-THIRTY-FIFTH PARALLEL. 
feet, and raised the ground, a sandy earth mixed with iron ochre, to the surface, where it was 
washed for gold in the same way, in bateas.” 
From the preceding extracts and descriptions, the experienced placer-miner of California will 
at once conclude that both kinds of gold deposites—the river and the hill or dry-diggings— 
are found in that region. The rudeness and inadequacy of the means for washing this aurifer¬ 
ous earth are also very apparent, and there can he little or no doubt that the new methods of 
washing placer deposites in California would, if applied in New Mexico, develop great riches 
even in those parts of the placers already washed in such an imperfect manner. The introduc¬ 
tion of water hy canals and aqueducts, and the adoption of the “ hydraulic method” of washing, 
would doubtless reveal ten ounces of gold where one only could he obtained before, and with no 
more labor and less time. 
According to Gregg, the quantity of gold taken from these placers and mines, between the 
years 1832 and 1835, could not have amounted to less than from sixty thousand to eighty thou¬ 
sand dollars per annum. Since that time, however, there has been a considerable falling off, 
the yield for some seasons being only thirty thousand or forty thousand dollars. Mr. Gregg, 
however, estimated the aggregate yield, since the first discovery, at more than half a million of 
dollars. 1 This estimate was made in 1844, and the mining has not been vigorously prosecuted 
since that time. Mr. Gregg also observes that “ only a very small portion of the gold region 
has as yet been dug, and experience shows that the dust is about as likely to be found in one 
part of it as another.” 
The principal difficulty in working these placers has been the absence of sufficient water. The 
miners do not appear to have constructed a single ditch or canal to the dry-diggings, hut rely 
upon the winter snow for their supply. They were in the habit of collecting the snow in a 
vat, and then melting it with heated stones. Of course, with such a limited supply of water 
hut little gold could be obtained, and it did not even permit of the use of anything but hand 
implements, such as the pan or batea for washing. 
It appears that the gold from the new placer was generally considered inferior to that from 
the old. In order to determine this, Dr. Wislizenus took some of the wash-gold and subjected 
it to analysis, and gives the following result: 
Native gold ........ 92.5 
Silver....... 3.5 
Iron and silex_____^_ 4. 
100.0 
This exhibits hut a small portion of silver, and it is probable that it was not all separated 
from the gold, or possibly by “ native gold” the natural alloy is meant. It is probable that 
the difference between the gold of the two placers is very slight, if indeed there be any. Gregg, 
in his work, states “ that the gold is of very fine quality, and that it produced at the United States 
mint an average of $19 70 to the troy ounce after melting, or about $19 30 gross. It was at 
first bought by the traders at the rate of $15 per ounce ; but in consequence of the competition 
which was afterwards excited by the dealers, its price was raised for a short time above its 
maximum at the mint, although it has since settled down at about $17 30 per ounce troy.” 2 
The gold region was for the most part, as in California, a kind of common property, although 
the government often interfered, and secured a considerable share of the most profitable work¬ 
ings. Dr. Wislizenus makes the following observations on the laws governing the mines at 
the time of his visit: “ Though the law in New Mexico was generally very liberal in granting 
lots for mining, the instability of Mexican laws, and their arbitrary administration, have neu¬ 
tralized and annihilated it.” u When a New Mexican wants to work a gold or other mine not 
1 Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies, Yol. i, p. 167. 
2 IbicL, p. 168. 
