a minute, instead of two minutes, as at present. By this pan 40 tons can be worked in 12 hours, more than would be done by a 15-stamp mill, and the work is done in better style, because the pebbles and boulders which form from 50 to 75 per cent. of the cement are excluded from the sluice in which the gold is caught. The greater the quantity of base matter carried through the sluice, the greater the danger of the loss of gold. The power is supplied by a hurdy-gurdy wheel, which is eight feet in diameter, four inches in thickness, with buckets four inches deep, and nine inches apart. The power is nominally by 19 inches of water, but much is lost through leakage, and the proprietor of the pan asserts that he does not use more than 12 inches under a head of 260 feet. The wheel is made by bolting together two layers of twoinch plank, laid crosswise. The cost of the wheel was $100, and of the machinery, including pan, gearing, and all, less than $1,500. The cement in this claim appears to be nearly as hard as any found elsewhere.

In the Italian claim a tunnel is being run to be 800 feet long.

The Van Dusen claim has a tunnel 800 feet long, and is standing idle because of the hardness of the cement.

The Hardy Brothers have a hydraulic claim, which has been worked three years.

McConnell & Co. have the next claim, and work it by the hydraulic process. Stewart and Hall have crushed their cement in an eight-stamp mill, which is now standing idle.

The Scott Brothers' claim is 1,000 feet long, was opened by a tunnel in 1854, and was abandoned because of the hardness of the cement. Work has now been resumed in the expectation of erecting a mill.

CLAIMS ON RESERVOIR HILL.-North of Placerville, on the north side of Reservoir Hill, commencing at the west, are the following claims, viz:

Hancock and Salter's hydraulic claim, drained by a tunnel, and open cut 1,500 feet long, has been worked by two men five years, employs 100 inches of water, and pays well.

The Friar claim has yielded $50,000, but after leaving the surface the miners found the cement so hard they could not wash it, and nothing was done on it for years. A San Francisco company is now at work, opening it by a tunnel, to be 1,000 feet long, and to be finished in two years.

The Slide claim is being opened by a tunnel, to be several hundred feet long. This claim never yielded much.

The Pioneer claim is worked by drifting, and has paid very high. It has been worked for 12 years.

The George Barlow claim is also worked by drifting, and has paid well at times.

The Live-oak claim is worked through a tunnel, and has yielded $50,000 or $60,000. Under this claim runs the blue channel.

The Roanoke claim has the repute of having been one of the richest claims on the channel, but nothing could be ascertained of its yield.

On the south side of Reservoir Hill are the following claims, viz:

The Trask claim is worked by the hydraulic process by a company of Chinamen with very little profit.

The Oldfield is a hydraulic claim.

The Wolverine was worked with much profit in early days, and then lay idle for a long time. Work has lately been resumed on it. It seems that there was a slide which threw the pay stratum out of its regular position in this claim. The Ohio has a tunnel 800 feet long, employs five men, is paying well, and has been worked for 12 years.

Crusen & Co. have a claim on Wisconsin flat, and are trying to reach the Blue channel through a tunnel 1,200 feet long, from the end of which they are sinking a shaft to be 80 feet deep.

The Granite Company are running a tunnel to strike the Blue channel, and are in several hundred feet.

The

The Deep Channel Company has been at work seven or eight years. dirt is hoisted through an incline by horse power, and pays $4 to the car load. Most of their cement is crushed in the 10-stamp custom mill of P. M. Taft.

The Blue Lead Company employ 10 or 15 men in their claim, and crush their cement, which yields about $8 per ton, in a 10-stamp mill, driven by 30 inches of water over a wheel 45 feet in diameter.

The Buchanan, Fremont, Henry Clay, and Hook and Ladder Companies, facing Smith's Flat on the east, have had some very rich claims.

Redd & Co. have a five-stamp custom min, and crush cement for the Hook and Ladder Company.

SPANISH HILL CLAIMS.-On Spanish Hill, east of Placerville, are the following claims, viz :

Hoxie's claim, which is now exhausted. It paid from $10 to $16 per day to the hand for several years.

The Stogy Tunnel claim was equally rich, and is worked out.

The Bay State was also rich, and is not exhausted, but has been consolidated with the next claim, and is worked by hydraulic.

The Hook and Ladder claim has a crevice 175 feet, and a tunnel 600 feet long, running to the bottom of the crevice. The hill is to be washed down through the tunnel.

The Golden Gate and Duroc claims come next, and have been consolidated. Two auriferous quartz veins are found in the slate bed rock in these claims, and it is supposed that some of the gold came from the decomposition of the slate. The Hoxie, Stogy, Bay State, Hook and Ladder, Golden Gate, and Duroc claims have yielded together not less than $200,000.

INDIAN DIGGINGS.-Indian Diggings, 25 miles southeastward from Placerville, is on the limestone belt, and is the furthest north of all the large mining camps on that belt. No solid bed rock is found here. It is supposed that pay gravel is found 200 feet from the surface, and to drain the diggings to that depth would require a tunnel a mile long. At Slug gulch a shaft was sunk down through what appeared to be solid limestone bed rock into a stratum of limestone boulders. A ditch of water was accidentally turned into this shaft, and the water ran there for several days without any accumulation of water in the shaft. No outlet was ever discovered. Brownsville, at the side of the Indian Diggings, may be considered part of the same place, and the two together have about 20 acres of deep diggings, which will not be exhausted for many years. Indian Diggings and Brownsville, unlike Columbia and Volcano, do not wash with a pipe in a dump box.

The Douglas hydraulic claim, the most notable claim at Brownsville, is 180 feet square, and was worked for 10 years previous to 1866. In 1856 and 1857 it yielded $55,000, and since the latter year has paid little over expenses There has been no work of late for lack of drainage. An open cut has been started to drain the claim, so that it can be washed 20 feet deeper; 700 feet of the cut have been completed; there is a quarter of a mile still to be done, and several years may elapse before it is finished.

PLACERVILLE MINING REGULATIONS.-Each district in this county has its own mining regulations.

The mining regulations of the Placerville district, adopted March 21, 1863, provide that

Each claimant may hold 200 feet in length upon a ledge or lode with all its dips, spurs and angles, and 250 feet upon each side thereof.

Each claim must be filed for record within five days of posting notice thereof, and the notice must distinctly specify the general direction of the claim, ledge, or lode, and the record made accordingly.

Each company shall be required to expend at least seven days' work upon the ledge or lode held by them for and in every month of the time said claim is held; otherwise the same may be considered as abandoned.

The number of quartz claims on record is 186.

Tho following are copies of notices entered in the record book:

Notice is hereby given that we the undersigned claim 1,000 feet on this ledge, commencing at this notice and running in a northerly direction to a stake and pile of stones, and that we intend to hold and work the same according to the laws of the Placerville mining district. Said claim is situated in H. S. Hulburd's ranch, in Placerville. May 23, 1867.

[Signatures.] Notice is hereby given that we the undersigned claim 1,500 feet each way from this notice, on any and all quartz lodes discovered in sinking this shaft. July 18, 1866.

[Signatures. J MUD SPRINGS MINING REGULATIONS.-The following are the principal provisions of the mining regulations of the El Dorado or Mud Springs district, adopted April 7, 1863:

No person shall be allowed to hold more than 300 feet by location on the same ledge, but can hold 600 feet in width for the purpose of prospecting and defining his lead or ledge. The discoverer of a ledge is entitled to an extra claim.

A notice upon a claim to be valid must be written with ink, and placed upon a board, stake, or tree in as conspicuous a place as possible, and upon, or as near the ledge as can be. Such notice must state the number of feet claimed, describing as accurately as possible the boundaries thereof, containing all the names of the claimants with the date truly affixed; a true copy of which must be recorded by the district recorder within 20 days from the date of such notice, or such claim shall be considered forfeited.

Notice upon a claim holds the same for 20 days only. Recording the notice of a claim holds the same for 90 days only, before the expiration of which time labor to the amount of $2 50 for each 300 feet in the claim must be expended upon the claim by the company, which will hold the same for 15 months from the date of record. Non-compliance with the provisions of this article by any company will be construed as an abandonment by them of their claim.

In case of dispute between parties claiming the same ledge or lead, each of the contending parties may choose an arbitrator, and the two may choose a third person, who shall be disinterested. The three shall constitute a board of arbitrators, whose decision shall be final, unless notice of an appeal be given within ten days of the rendition of the decision.

There is no provision requiring a description of boundaries.

The number of claims on record is 40. The following is a copy of one of the notices recorded:

DRY CREEK, April 1, 1863.

Know all men by these presents that we the undersigned claim 45 claims on this lode, 300 feet each, making in all 13,500 feet, and intend prospecting the said claims for coal, copper, silver, gold, or any other minerals it may contain, running in a northerly direction 13,000 feet and southerly 500 feet, with all its dips, angles, and spurs.

[Forty-five signatures. ]

GEORGETOWN MINING REGULATIONS.-The following are a portion of the quartz regulations of the Georgetown mining district, adopted December 10, 1866:

The size of claims to each person locating shall be 200 feet of or on any quartz lode or ledge, including all dips, spurs, angles, and all surface ground and minerals which may be contained within the space of 150 feet on each side of said ledge or vein located; but no company's claim shall exceed 3,000 feet in length on any one vein or ledge.

The discoverer of a vein or lode of minerals shall be entitled to one claim for his discovery. All notices of claims located, whether individual or company, shall describe the locality of said mine, the number of feet claimed, the point where measurement commences, and name the lode or company locating.

Said notice shall be posted on the lode, and shall hold the claim for 10 days from the date

thereof without record, but no claim shall be held valid without record after the expiration of said time unless labor is being done on said claim.

All hotices of quartz mining claims are required to be recorded unless labor is being done on the claim, by a recorder elected by the miners of Georgetown quartz mining district. Said district recorder shall keep a book, record all claims, copy the notice, and give the names of the members of each company.

It shall be the duty of the recorder to go upon the ground and define the claim, measuring and staking the same, and he shall receive for such service the sum of 50 cents for each name, and if not required to perform such service, to receive 25 cents only.

Any person or corporated company locating a mining claim within this district shall be required to have expended in actual labor upon each and every claim not exceeding 1,200 feet, and a proportionate amount for larger or smaller claims, the sum of $50, within 60 days from the date of the record, and $150 within six months from the date of record, and a like amount for every additional six months until the sum of $500 shall have been expended. Whenever the sum of $500 shall have been expended in prospecting or development of the mine, whether by sinking shafts, running tunnels, cuts, or drifts, whether on the ledge or in the direction thereof, designed practically to develop the claim, then and thereafter for the term of two years said claim shall be held by the parties peforming the labor or expending the said amount; but no labor being performed for the period of two years, the said claim shall be considered abandoned and subject to relocation.

REED. The Reed mine, 2,000 feet long, is three miles south of Placerville, has a greenstone hanging wall, a slate foot wall, and a vein 18 feet wide. The quartz, as found by a shaft running down 80 feet prospects well, and a 10-stamp mill is going up.

PACIFIC.-The Pacific mine, 1,800 feet long, is on the same lode, and is within the limits of Placerville. The mine was opened in 1852, and was worked till 1862, when it caved in, and then it lay idle four years. Lately a Boston company has purchased it and opened the main shaft to a depth of 320 feet, and found some good quartz, but not enough to commence work upon. The quartz is a ribbon rock, tinged in places with a green color. The total yield of the mine is reported to have been $500,000, and the annual average profit for seven or eight years $30,000. The new shaft was started 120 feet northeastward of the working vein, and in going down 300 feet four veins were intersected, each about six feet thick, all containing similar quartz and all widening out as they go down. The two middle veins thus far reached are mixed with a large proportion of talcose slate, and appear to be barren. The westernmost of the four veins has produced all the gold of the Pacific mine in a depth of 200 feet, in a pay chimney 200 feet long. The chimney was nearly vertical, but dipped slightly to the north. A 20-stamp mill, erected in 1853, is standing idle.

HARMON.-The Harmon mine, 1,400 feet long, just north of Placerville, is on a vein which is 100 yards west of the Pacific lode, and is 30 feet wide in places, though the average is not over four or five. The vein stone is a white quartz with seams of black slate, and a considerable proportion of sulphurets of iron and lead. It was worked with arrastras and paid high; and then a 15stamp mill was erected, but that has not been profitable and is now idle. The reputed cause of the trouble is the difficulty of reducing the undecomposed sulphurets found below the water-line.

SHEPARD.-The Shepard mine is 1,200 feet long, on a vein two feet wide, near Placerville. The claim was opened at the end of 1866, and yielded some rich pockets of beautiful foliated gold. The specimens extracted were worth $5,000. The mill rock from its appearance must have contained at least $30 per ton. The vein matter was much of it an ochrous earth, intersected with seams of quartz. The rock was worked through a crusher and two arrastras driven by steam. Much of the vein has been opened by open cut to a depth of fifteen feet.

CLEOPATRA. The Cleopatra, 1,200 feet long, on the same vein, is to be opened to a depth of 100 feet, and then if the rock prospects well a mill is to be erected with a capacity to crush 20 tons per day; the contractor to receive half half the mine for opening it and erecting the mill.

WHITE AND BURDICK.-White and Burdick own two claims, one of 2,000, the other of 1,800 feet, on the same vein. The claim of 1,800 feet has been opened to a depth of 75 feet, but the mine caved in several years since and is not well reopened yet. Miners have been working at it since last year. There is a 10-stamp mill, which was built in 1861.

PERSEVERE.-The Persevere mine, 4,200 feet, at Poverty Point, near Placerville, is on a vein five feet wide. A depth of 155 feet has been reached and a

drift has been run 45 feet on the vein. No mill has been erected yet. WHITE.-The White mine, 2,000 feet long, near Placerville, has a 15-stamp mill, which is idle. A new shaft is now being sunk. The rock is rich in sulphurets.

MANNING. The Manning mine, five miles eastward from Placerville, has a vein two feet wide, a shaft 180 feet deep, and a six-stamp mill. No work is being done.

ELLE ELLEN.-The Elle Ellen, 2,000 feet long, is half a mile from the Manning, on a vein which runs northwest and southeast, is nine feet wide, and dips to the east at an angle of 80°. The hanging wall is hard blue slate, and the foot wall brown slate. There is a tunnel 100 feet long run on the vein. There is no mill.

EPPLEY.-The Eppley mine, 1,200 feet long, two miles and a half south of Placerville, has been opened to a depth of 85 feet, and 30 tons of rock sent to mill have yielded $1,500, or $50 per ton. The mine is to be opened further, and so soon as enough good quartz to pay for a mill is in sight, one will be built.

DAVIDSON.-The Davidson mine, a mile and a quarter northwest of Placerville, has a tunnel 350 feet long and a shaft 160 feet deep. The quartz prospects well, but none has been worked as yet. The New York and El Dorado mill, of 20 stamps, has been purchased to be erected on this mine.

MONTEZUMA The Montezuma Quartz Mining Company, an English association, own claims on four veins seven miles south of El Dorado, and are working two of the claims. That on the Montezuma vein is 1,900 feet long; has been worked since 1851, and has yielded $150,000. The lode runs north and south, is three feet wide, has slate walls and ribbon quartz, which averages $10 per ton. There is a black clay slate gouge on the hanging wall. A depth of 180 feet has been reached and drifts have been run 180 feet on the vein. The McDowell vein is seven feet wide, three-quarters of a mile east of the Montezuma and parallel with it. A depth of 25 feet has been reached. There is a 20-stamp mill, made to run either by steam or water. The Montezuma Company have invested $100,000 in the property, and it is said they are the only English company mining for gold now in California.

NEW YORK AND EL DORADO MILL.-The New York and El Dorado mill was erected at a cost of $20,000, five miles south of El Dorado, by a New York company under representations that they possessed a splendid mine; but they found nothing, and the mill has been sold for $2,500 to be moved to Davidson's mine, a mile and a quarter northwest of Placerville.

HERMITAGE.-The Hermitage mine, six miles south of El Dorado, at Sugar Loaf, is on a pocket vein and has paid irregularly, yielding $100,000 in all. A mill was erected in 1852 and taken down, and a second mill of 20 stamps was erected in 1866, at a cost of $17,500, by a Boston company, which paid $38,000 for the mine. The vein is 10 feet wide, and a depth of 175 feet has been reached. A tunnel is being run to intersect the shaft at a distance of 170 feet. It is said that there is a large quantity of pay rock in sight suitable for milling, but most of the gold heretofore obtained has been taken out in a hand mortar. The mine was discovered by placer miners, who followed up a rich streak of gold in gravel till it stopped at this quartz vein.

UNION. The Union lode runs north 10° east, dips east at an angle of 80°, and is from 3 to 12 feet thick in slate walls, which, according to Professor Sil