very important. Unless a mine has a good dump, it cannot be worked by hydraulics to any advantage.

The Oregon Gulch Gold Mining Company are at work at present on a largo slide, and still have a good dump. But when they follow the lead under the basalt, they will find the bed rock much higher than where they are now at work. This will give them an excellent dump, sufficient to wash all the gravel under the mountain up to Cherokee Flat. The indications are that they are at work on the western side of the lead or pay streak, and as they follow into the mountain they will get nearer its centre, where the gravel will probably be richer than where they are working at present, and much more water will be met with. This will be a great assistance in washing the sand and gravel. Except in an abundant supply of water at all seasons of the year, the natural facilities for working this claim are superior to those of any other claim of a similar nature in this vicinity.

They have been turned to good account by the manager of the company, Mr. William Hendricks. All the work has been done in a thorough and miner-like manner. The position of the company's flume is lower than any other in this locality, so that, as the work progresses, all the water in the mountain must pass through it; this is important, as the use of the water in the mountain will be of great value.

The scarcity of water in the dry season will only delay the working of the mine. If water should be brought in by a ditch company, work could be continued during the whole year, which would be a great advantage, but this would in a measure be neutralized by the cost of the water.

The expense of bringing water to a desirable point, either by pumping it up from the river or by iron pipes, is so great that it is difficult to see any profit in the enterprise, unless the mine owners in the mountain should bring it in for their own use.

These mountain claims are among the most enduring placer mines in California. This ancient river bed is as rich as the bed of Feather river; and a company owning half or a whole mile of the Feather river bed, as rich as it was before it was worked, would have possessed one of the most valuable mines in the world. The cost of working the old bed under the mountain will not be greater than that required to flume and drain Feather river.

The climate is mild and healthful. Mining operations can be prosecuted at all seasons of the year. Being within four miles of the terminus of the Marysville and Oroville railroad, labor and all supplies required in mining can be obtained as cheaply as at any other mining locality in California.

THE CHEROKEE BLUE GRAVEL CLAIM.-The Cherokee Flat Blue Gravel Company have a claim a mile wide across the mountain by two miles long on its course, south of Cherokee. They have been trying to get into the channel, but have not yet succeeded. They started a low tunnel, which ran into trap rock so hard that work was stopped, and then a shaft was sunk 155 feet deep, and the water became so troublesome that that had to be abandoned; and then an incline was commenced, and that has reached the red gravel, which is supposed to rest on the blue cement. The claim is probably very valuable, but much time and money may be required to open it. The company is incorporated in San Francisco. A steam pump is used for hoisting water from the incline. The claim has been worked since 1856, and the present company have spent $70,000. The blue cement supposed to be on the bed rock, where it has been reached, has yielded $8 per day to the hand, when worked under great inconvenience, and has been soft enough to be washed in a sluice without crushing.

THE EUREKA CLAIM.-The Eureka Company cut a tunnel 900 feet long, and, after nine years' work, got into gravel, but did not succeed in making enough to repay them for $40,000 expended. They are not at work now. The tunnel is 106 feet below the top of the rim rock.

THE CHEROKEE CLAIM.-The Cherokee Company, who have a piping claim in the flat, took out $54,000 in 50 days' washing in 1866 from a stratum seven feet deep, 100 feet wide and 300 feet long. The company own 50 acres, have piped away about six, have expended $150,000, and have extracted $500,000. They had water to wash 60 days this year, and in one dry season they could wash only 10 days. It is to be presumed from the yield of the small part of their claim already worked, that if they had an abundant supply of water they might produce more than any other placer claim in the State.

Welch & Co., adjoining the Cherokee Flat Blue Gravel Company, have a claim 100 feet square, from which they have taken $25,000.

DIAMONDS.-Cherokee has been notable for the production of diamonds, a number having been obtained here. They are mostly found in the red gravel next to the blue cement at the bottom of the channel. This "red gravel," as it called, is a stratum of tough red clay enclosing pebbles of various kinds, mostly quartz and green-stone. The gems have not been observed in this stratum, but after portions of it have been washed, they have been picked up in the sluice. Some persons have spent days and weeks in hunting for diamonds, but without avail. They are not sufficiently numerous or valuable to pay for a special search. The metal in the red gravel is more valuable than the stones. If at some future time there should be an opportunity to wash much of this stratum, attention will no doubt be given to the diamonds, which might, under favorable circumstances, be obtained in sufficient quantity to reward the extra care required in collecting them. Those found at Cherokee are nearly all clear, and so brilliant at the surface and so regular in their crystallization, that no doubt of their character could remain in the mind of any one familiar with the natural form.

MORRIS, NIMSHEW, AND KIMSHEW.-Between Cherokee and Oroville Morris ravine has cut deep down into Table mountain, and has washed away much auriferous gravel, but has not enabled the miners to get fairly into the channel, though they have spent much money in attempting to get in. The ravine claims were very rich.

Nimshew and Kimshew are places north of Cherokee where tunnels have been run in to strike the old channel under Table mountain, but they have not paid much.

BANGOR.-Bangor is 12 miles southeastward from Oroville on an old channel, the bed of which is about 60 feet below the level of the lowest ravines in the neighborhood. At the bottom of this channel is a deposit of hard blue cement, about 60 feet wide and six feet deep. In this cement are found boulders weighing several tons, and the gravel is green-stone, trap, granite, slate, and quartz; the last being not more than one-eighth of all the gravel. The stream seems to have been about as large as Feather river, and to have run toward Oroville with a grade of five feet in 100. Over the pay stratum there is a barren grayish cement, softer than the blue.

This channel was discovered in 1857 by some placer miners, who, while running a cut in a ravine, found the bed rock dipping down, and after following it as far as they could in the cut, they went off some feet and sunk a shaft, which in 65 feet struck a rich stratum, which paid $100 per day to the hand. The existence of a channel being proved, the outcroppings of the rim rock at the ravines and on the hill-sides showed its course, and it was claimed for miles. The pioneer claim was known as Boyle's.

The claim in which the channel was next opened was that of Tucker, to the southeast. This claim was worked three or four years, but did not yield much profit, the pay stratum being found for a distance of only 200 feet.

The Floyd claim, adjoining Tucker, the third in reaching the pay, was worked for a year and half, in which time the pay dirt was exhausted. The cement was so tough that it was washed eight or nine times, and was not entirely dissolved then. The yield from the first five washings was $46,500; the expenses $14,500;

the dividends $32,000. About $23,000 was obtained from the first washing; as for the production of the washings after the fifth, no information could be obtained, but it was probably quite small. This claim was 300 feet long, and pay was found for a length of 220 feet in the channel. The shaft reached the pay in April, 1858, and it has been customary to wash the dirt every spring.

Next to Floyd's was the Oroville claim, 600 feet long. It was worked by three shafts and paid well for several years. Common report says the bed rock

was not well cleaned.

Between the Oroville and Boyle claims the channel did not pay in any place, though many shafts were sunk. Southeast of Tucker's nothing was found, and it is doubtful, according to some miners, whether the channel was struck.

The Barnum claim, northwest of Boyle's, is 1,500 feet long, and was opened in 1861 by a shaft, which struck the pay stratum at a depth of 55 feet. Two hundred feet of the channel were worked out in a year and a half, and the dirt was washed three times in a sluice 300 feet long. The first washing, immediately after the cement was extracted, yielded $8,000; the second, a year later, gave $2,000; and the third, after an interval of two years, yielded $1,500. The dirt is not fully washed yet, and it is saved to be put through the sluice again. Two other shafts have been sunk, but nothing has been taken out of them as yet, though good prospects have been found in one of them. Several companies are prospecting for the channel northwest of the Barnum claim.

CEMENT BARREL.-At the Barnum claim Mr. E. Bassett has been trying to reduce cement in a barrel eight feet long and three feet in diameter, made of boiler iron. An iron pipe runs through the barrel, passing through hollow journals, and through this pipe exhaust steam from the engine is to pass, so as to heat the cement. There are two doors opposite to each other in the barrel, each 10 by 14 inches, for charging and discharging. A ton of cement, 10 pounds of quicksilver, and 60 gallons of water will be a charge, and when the door is fastened down the steam will be turned on; the barrel will be set to revolving at the rate of 20 revolutions per minute. In 20 minutes the cement will be at boiling heat, and in 50 minutes it will all be disintegrated. One hour will be required for a charge, including charging and discharging. There is no doubt that the cement can be disintegrated in this manner, and the expense does not exceed 25 cents per ton. The barrels are lined with wood set endways, two and

a half inches thick.

WYANDOTTE.-Wyandotte, sixteen miles west of Forbestown, has some ravine claims, half a dozen hydraulic claims, and an ancient channel, the same that is worked at Bangor. This channel is 50 feet below the level of a creek that passes Wyandotte, and thus there is no natural drainage, and the blue cement at the bottom of the channel is not supposed to be rich enough to pay for pumping. Several shafts have been sunk to the bottom, striking the channel. The hydraulic claims at Wyandotte have banks 75 feet high, and take 40 inches of water cach on an average, with a pressure of 75 feet. There is a large body of this gravel. A thousand inches of water are purchased here, a small portion of it for irrigating orchards and vineyards, but mostly for shallow mining.

FORBESTOWN.-Forbestown, 22 miles eastward from Oroville, on the main divide between the Yuba and Feather river, and on the main road between Oroville and La Porte, has quartz and placer mines, lumbering and turpentine-making among its resources.

The town was in its most flourishing condition in 1855, when it polled about 400 votes, and now it polls only about 100.

The shipment of gold from Forbestown in 1866 was $135,000; from the 1st September, 1866, to the 15th July, 1867, it was $80,121.

There are a number of springs on the ridge near Forbestown, all about the same level, and all have cold water. No town in the State has so large a supply of cold and good water from springs above the level of the main street.

In Robinson's hill, near town, there are a number of quartz veins, most of them small, and many of them visibly auriferous.

In

New York Flat is the principal mining district near Forbestown. Three hydraulic claims are at work there now, employing in all about 20 men. 1866, four companies there took out $50,000.

There has been some difficulty about drainage, and the Nevada Company are making a deep cut to be half a mile long, and to drain a body of ground 4,000 feet long and 300 feet wide, supposed to be rich.

MOOREVILLE AND EVANSVILLE.-Mooreville, in the southeastern corner of the county, has a large body of auriferous gravel, in a good position for piping, except that it is difficult to get water high enough. There was a ditch which was too low down, and it has now gone to ruin. A new one to be 60 feet higher has been commenced, but no work is being done at it now. Some doubt is entertained whether the gravel is rich enough to pay for washing. Evansville, four miles southwest of Forbestown, purchases 200 inches of water, some of it for mining and some for irrigation.

BANGOR QUARTZ REGULATIONS.-Each mining district in Butte county has its own quartz regulations.

The regulations of the Bangor district contain the following provisions:

ARTICLE 2. The size of a mining claim in this district shall be as follows: for ravine or surface mining a hundred yards square, provided that a ravine claim shall extend from bank to bank; for blue lead claims a hundred feet in length and extending from rim to rim; for quartz or other mineral-bearing rock 200 feet on the lead with its spurs and angles, and 100 feet on each side of said lead, with sufficient ground adjacent thereto for the erection of the necessary works.

ART. 4. Persons locating claims in this district shall post in one or more conspicuous place or places thereon a notice containing the number of claims, with the names of the locaters and a general description of the ground claimed, with the boundaries thereof, and within 10 days thereafter file with the district recorder, hereafter to be provided for, a general description of said claim, with the boundaries thereof sufficiently distinct as to be easily found by reference to the record, which record and notice shall be bona fide proof of possession of said claims for the space of 90 days from date of record thereof.

ART. 5. After the expiration of the 90 days mentioned in the previous article, all claims shall be deemed abandoned, unless the parties locating the same shall proceed to work them in good faith, and by expending in labor and improvements at least $5 per month for each 100 feet claimed until the amount so expended shall amount to $60 for each 100 feet of the whole amount claimed.

ART. 6. Parties having complied with articles four and five shall be entitled to hold their claims without further expense for two years.

FORBESTOWN MINING REGULATIONS.-The mining regulations of the Forbestown district now in force were adopted on the 9th June, 1863, and 48 quartz claims are recorded in the district.

The following are the main provisions :

The size of an individual claim on gold-bearing, silver, or other mineral veins shall be 100 feet in length on the ledge vein or lode, including all lateral spurs, angles, variations, and intersecting veins, with a width of 200 feet on both sides of the ledge.

When there is conflict in boundary, or as to location, the claim or claims first located shall have priority of right; location and property and the claim subsequent in date, if it is a lateral interference, may be extended by expansion on the other side, if desired, provided the same does not interfere with a prior location.

Every claim located in this district must have good, substantial notices, specifically setting forth the direction, nature, and extent of the claim, posted at each end of the same in some conspicuous place, and a copy thereof filed in the office of the recorder within 10 days thereafter.

Each quartz mining company who have claims in this district, upon which $50 worth of work shall have been expended, must be worked upon in good faith at least two in every 30 days by the company holding said claims, and all ground which shall not have been so worked within 30 days shall be deemed vacant ground and subject to location the same as though it had not been located. Those claims on which work to the amount of $50 shall be done may be held by the claimants for the period of six months after work shall have been stopped on the same, when the claim shall be considered abandoned.

The size of a placer or ravine claim shall be 100 feet in length, running up and down the

ravine, and the owner or owners of said claim or claims can work the same as wide as he or they choose, and if a quartz lode runs across the placer claim the owner of the same shall be entitled to 100 feet of the quartz lode, 50 feet on each side of the main or deepest channel running through his claim.

NISBET QUARTZ MINE.-The Nisbet Mining Company, incorporated in Marys ville, has a mine 3,600 feet long on a vein which runs north and south, dips 50° to the cast, and averages two feet in width at Oregon City. The walls are of

slate. The main shaft or incline is down 160 feet, and drifts have been run 700 feet on the vein, in pay all the way. The lode varies in thickness from six inches to nine feet; in very narrow places sulphurets form one-tenth of the vein, and in the widest not more than a hundredth. The sulphurets assay from $1,300 to $1,600 per ton; are caught in a sluice and are saved to be worked at some time in the future. The mill has eight stamps, and there is a six-inch pump for drainage, all driven by steam. Work was commenced on the mine with arrastras in 1851, and the present mill was built in 1864. The yield at the surface was $34 per ton; and of late it has been $10, exclusive of the sulphurets, for the reduction of which no arrangements have been made. Thirteen men are employed; nine white men and four Chinamen. The latter are considered better feeders because they do not become impatient and dissatisfied with the monotony of the labor.

SPRING VALLEY.-The Spring Valley mine, a mile and a half east of Cherokee, is on a vein which runs north and south, is seven feet wide, and is nearly horizontal at the surface for 200 feet, and dips 50° to the cast. The claim is 300 feet long. There was a 10-stamp mill which crushed several thousand tons of rock, and extracted, according to report, from $10 to $24 per ton. The mill was burned down and work ceased on tlie mine, but lately work has been resumed, but there is no new mill as yet.

OTHER QUARTZ MINES OF BUTTE.-The Powell mill, at Oregon City, has 12 stamps, and has been idle a year.

The Rock River mill, which stood between Oregon City and Cherokee, has been removed. There was a roasting farmace attached to it.

There is a five-stamp quartz mill at Mount Hope, not running.

Three quartz mills at Yankee Hill have been burned down-the Yankee Hill, the Virgin, and the Fuller.

Derrick's quartz mill, at Oregon City, was taken across the mountains in 1863, and stays there.

White & Nutter's mill, at Oregon City, was moved away in 1866.

The Bloomer Hill mill, 14 miles north of Oroville, has eight stamps, and is now running, but the mine is pockety, and the yield is very irregular.

Near Lovelock's, seven or eight miles above Dogtown, an arrastra is running. Smith & Sparks's mine, two miles and a half northeast of Oroville, is on a vein four feet wide, running north-northwest, and dipping northeast. The walls are of slate. The mill has eight stamps, was built in 1865, and rebuilt in 1864. It has been standing idle for two years. The owners are mostly San Franciscans. The Forbestown Mining Company own 15,000 feet in 9 or 10 claims, on different lodes. Mexican lode No. 1 is five feet wide, and has yielded $20 per ton for 100 tons; and Mexican lode No. 2 is 12 feet wide, and has yielded $10 per ton for 200 tons. There is a five-stamp steam mill which has not been used except for prospecting purposes, and is now standing idle.

The Shakspeare mine, 3,000 feet long, has a vein 12 feet wide and has been opened by a small shaft. Ten tons yielded $10 per ton.

The Polecat lode, one mile from Forbestown, is two feet wide, and 100 tons of its quartz yielded $1,200.