SOPHIA. The Sophia mine, two miles east of Sonora, is 2,150 feet long, on a vein which runs northeast and southwest and dips 80° southwest. The vein is crossed by dikes which the miners call granite. Their width is usually three feet, though one is forty. The gold is found in pockets near the dikes. Every pay chimney is near a dike, but some of the dikes have no pay chutes near them. The walls are of slate, and there is on one side or the other a talcose gouge, usually on the hanging wall; and when in the foot wall it indicates the proximity of a pocket. There are within a distance of 300 feet, horizontally, three pay chutes, each of them from ten to twenty feet long. The mine has been worked by a tunnel 400 feet long, and a shaft 80 feet deep; and another tunnel 130 feet below the level of the first one is now in 170 feet. The total yield from the mine has been $45,000, and in the year ending May, 1867, the produce was about $5,000. There is a five-stamp mill on the claim, but it has not rock enough to run regularly.

BALD MOUNTAIN.--On the same Bald mountain, and it is supposed on the same vein, is the Patterson and Turner claim, which yielded $30,000 in one pocket, and $60,000 in all.

On the same mountain is the Ford claim, which was discovered in 1851, and was wonderfully rich at the surface. One pocket yielded $40,000, and the owners rejected offers to purchase shares at the rate of $500,000 for the entire mine.

The Austrian claim, on the same mountain, had one pocket that paid $70,000, besides several others smaller.

The three claims last mentioned are all idle now, and were worked only near the surface. There is no regular (as distinguished from a "pocket") pay chute in Bald mountain, the gold being nearly all in pockets. The gold is of very fine quality, some of it 960 fine. Some pockets are surrounded by shattered and decomposed rock, and about these some mill rock is obtained, but the pockets in hard rock have all their gold in a little compact cluster.

Bald mountain is only a mile east of the limestone belt which runs through Tuolumne county, and many miners say that all the gold near the limestone is in pockets.

DRAPER.-The Draper mine, 4,000 feet long, six miles eastward from Sonora, is on a vein which runs north and south, is nearly perpendicular, and is 15 inches wide in granite walls. The lowest workings are 325 feet deep, and they extend 410 feet on the vein. There are three pay chimneys, one of 70, one of 90, and one of 60 feet in horizontal length. Between the pay chimneys the walls pinch together. The mine has been worked regularly since 1858. The quartz yields about $40 per ton, and 150 or 180 tons are extracted monthly and worked in steam custom mills, to which $6 per ton is paid for crushing and amalgamation. The price in water mills is $5 per ton. The ore is heavily charged with sulphurets of iron, copper, lead and zinc.

NONPAREIL.The Nonpareil mine, one mile from Big Oak Flat, is on the Nonpareil vein, which runs east and west and dips to the north at an angle of 70°, and has an average width of five feet. The walls are slate, and the quartz of the veinstone is mixed with slate, and in places the hard slate is seen full of particles of gold. Several shafts have been sunk, and the deepest workings are 140 feet on an incline. Drifts have been run 160 feet on the vein in pay all the way. At 70 feet from the surface the rock yielded $30 and $40 to the ton, but in the lowest levels the pay has been $13. The rock contains five per cent. of sulphurets which assay $300 or more to the ton, some samples yielding double and treble as much. The mine is now troubled with water, and work has been stopped, but a tunnel 650 feet long would drain the mine to a depth of 340 feet. There is a five-stamp mill which is also idle. The power is supplied by a Faucherie turbine wheel seven inches in diameter and four feet long, including the driving wheels. There is 345 feet of perpendicular fall for the water, and 60

inches are used at a cost of 15 cents per inch, or $9 for 24 hours. The turbine was bought with the assurance that it would drive 24 stamps, but the opinion among those who have seen it work is that it would not drive more than 10 Farrand's oscillating pan and Hinkle's pan are used in the amalgamation.

BURNS.-The Burns mine, on the Nonpareil vein and adjoining the Nonpareil mine, has a mass of decomposed talcose slate which is in places 25 feet wide. It all pays to work, and 12 tons are rushed daily through the five-stamp mill. Five additional stamps are being put in. The pulp, after being amalgamated in the mortar and on copper plates just below the battery, runs into tanks and settlers, and from the tanks the sand is put into Varney's pans to be ground, and it is afterwards amalgamated in settlers.

OTHER QUARTZ NEAR BIG OAK.-The Rattlesnake mill containing 10 stamps, erected in 1866 at Big Oak Flat, is not running now.

The Cosmopolite mine, near the head of Garrote creek, is on a vein which runs northwest and southeast and dips to the northeast, and is ten feet wide. The lowest workings are 150 feet below the surface, and a 10-stamp mill, formerly known as the Cross or Anita mill, belongs to the mine.

The Mississippi mine at Big Oak Flat has had some rich pockets. A mill was built in 1866, but it is not running now, crushing being done at present in

an arrastra.

The Cross mill is standing idle. It belongs to the Golden Rock Water Company and offers to do custom work.

The Mack mill is also idle. The Jackson mill, four miles east of Big Oak Flat, ditto.

SECTION V.

CALAVERAS COUNTY.

The county of Calaveras extends from the Stanislaus river on the south, to the Mokelumne on the north, and from the summit of the Sierras on the east, to near the base of the foot-hills on the west. The rivers which serve as the northern and southern boundaries are permanent, but all within the limits of the county, unless streams confined to the snow regions near the summit, go dry in summer. The Calaveras river, from which the county takes its name, and the San Antonio, are considerable streams in winter, but their beds are bare in the fall.

With the exception of West Point, all the towns of any note in this county are on the lime belt, or west of it; and most of them are within 1,800 of the level of the sea, and in a region which, except near the large streams, is gently undulating, so that there is little difficulty in travelling about. All the streams are auriferous, but most of the diggings have been shallow and are now exhausted, and as a consequence the business of the county has very much declined. There is not one large hydraulic claim in the county, and although there are many quartz claims that have each yielded large sums, there is no quartz mine that has paid high and constantly for five years. There is good reason to believe, however, that Calaveras will, in a few years, occupy a much higher position in quartz mining than at present. The county is well supplied with water by ditches; the roads are comparatively good; and timber can be had in sufficient quantity for mining purposes.

The debt of the county is $240,000, and the State and county tax is four per cent. annually of the assessed value of property.

There are fifteen ditches in the county, with a total length of 300 miles, constructed at a total cost of $2,000,000. The only large ditches are those owned

by the Mokelumne Hill and Campo Seco Company and by the Union Water Company.*

The principal quartz mining towns are Angels, West Point and Carson Hill. Murphys, Douglas Flat and Cave City are placer mining towns on the limestone belt. Mokelumne Hill and San Andres are near old channels, and both have some shallow placers. Jenny Lind and Campo Seco had rich placers in early days, but both are exhausted now, at least so far as the present wages and modes of working will permit. Cat Camp, near the western line of the county, not worked hitherto because of the lack of water, is to have a ditch finished before the end of the year, and 350 claims have been located there in anticipation.

Deep beds of gravel have been found in several high ridges in the eastern part of the county, but so far as they have been examined they have not proved rich enough to pay for hydraulic washing. It is known that there are considerable deposits of gravel near the Big Tree grove. Some explorations have been undertaken in the hope of finding in that neighborhood the Big Blue lead of Sierra and Placer counties, but without success.

El Dorado Flat is a portion of an old channel near the Stanislaus river, 300 feet above its level, and half a mile above Robinson's ferry. The gravel is 100 feet deep, and the bed rock pitches as if the stream had run up the course of the present Coyote creek. Ten men, in four months, took out $7,000 at El Dorado in the early part of 1867.

The Mokelumne river paid very well at nearly all the bars, more than a dozen in number between Union bar and Clay's bar, and even in the bottom of the channel. At Sandy bar 107 pounds of gold were taken in two days by seven Frenchmen. The river was flumed every year from 1850 to 1865, and for the first seven or eight years paid high. At Union bar much of the gold was in pieces resembling melon seeds in size and shape. The Mokelumne river has been worked for about 30 miles along its course.

The Stanislaus river has been worked every year since 1849. In that year the work was confined chiefly to the bars; in 1850, 1851 and 1852 the stream was dammed at many places and turned, but paid at only a few. The bed, except near the mouths of Carson's creek, Coyote creek, and Jackass gulch, was comparatively poor. The best diggings were found at the heads of bars and near high-water line, and the rich spots in the deeper parts of the bed were nearly all in crevices, some of them made by the decomposition of quartz veins. After 1853 the river was flumed repeatedly, but in nine cases out of ten these fluming enterprises were unprofitable. The river mining, for the last six or seven years, has been mostly in the hands of Chinamen.

BIG TREE GROVE.-The Big Tree grove, situated 15 miles from Murphys, 81 miles from Stockton, and 4,500 feet above the level of the sea, is a favorite place of resort. Five days' time and $50 are required to make the trip from San Francisco and back in the cheapest and most expeditious manner.

The

* Mr. Watson, referring to the resources of Calaveras county, says: "The sectional area of this county is 1,140 square miles, with but 98 square miles or 62,763 acres of cultivated land. The assessor's valuation of the county is $2,004,430. The population, 16,299 in 1860,* is mostly engaged in mining pursuits, and are large buyers of imported products and merchandise, all of which must pass over the Stockton and Copperopolis railroad. Aside from the gold and copper of this county, there are extensive quarries of marble and granite of very superior quality, which cannot be worked at the present rates of transportation. Her upper range of mountains are covered by a dense forest of pine and oak, embracing an area of about 300 square miles, which can probably be transported to the San Francisco market for 25 per cent. less than an equal quality of timber can be procured from any other source on this coast. In this county is located the Big Trees or "Mammoth Grove," which, as a curiosity, attracts thousands of tourists every year, and, as a natural production, it excites the wonder and admiration of every visitor. The up freights for the county will amount to 15,640 tons per annum, and down freights, including copper ores, 65,400 tons per annum-total, 71,040 tons.

* Estimated population in 1866, 12,000.-Swett's Report on Public Schools.

elevation is so great that snow lies four or five months in the year, and the hotel, which is commodious and well-kept, does not open for visitors until May or June, according to the season. The grove contains 90 trees over 15 feet in diameter, and of these ten are 30 feet through just at the ground, though 10 or 15 feet above the diameter is considerably less. Five men spent 22 days in 1854, cutting down a tree which was 92 feet in circumference and 300 feet high. The stump has been taken as the foundation and floor of a house in which dancing parties are sometimes held. There is abundant room in it for a large quadrille. The bark was taken from another tree to a height of 116 feet from the groundup to where the branches began-at the same time, and the tree did not begin to show signs of dying until two years afterwards, and some of its boughs were green six years later. It is estimated that one of the trees which had fallen long before the grove was discovered was 450 feet long and 40 feet in diameter. Prof. Whitney carefully counted the rings of the tree which was cut down and found that they numbered about 1,300. The big trees are scattered about in a forest of very large trees, many of which are as high, and some almost as large, as the smaller specimens of the sequoia gigantea, as the big tree is technically named. The number of visitors annually is about 2,000.

AGRICULTURE.—Agriculture in Calaveras county is not in a very flourishing condition. Water is not cheap enough to be used for irrigating grain or pasture land; fruit and wine will not pay the expense of transportation to Sacramento, and brandy will not pay with the present tax upon its production. There are a multitude of fine orchards and vineyards, but as many of them are unprofitable, so they are neglected. With cheap water and cheap transportation to market this county should be prominent in the production of wool, wine, and fruit.

At Douglas Flat, in the orchard of Mr. Hitchcock, the peach thrives better than any other tree fruit. The yield is very large and regular, and the quality good. Apricots do not thrive. The white winter Pearmain apple bears well and keeps well. The Porter apple bears well, and though rated as a fall fruit in the eastern States, keeps here till February. The Wine Sop keeps till June. The Newtown pippin is the best keeper, bears well, and has a fine flavor. The Belleflower, Northern Spy, and Peck's Pleasant are good at neither bearing nor keeping. The Vandevere bears tolerably, but does not keep. The Esopus Spitzenberg keeps well, but does not bear heavily. The Roxbury Russet bears very well, but does not keep. The same may be said of the Baldwin, except that it bears well only in alternate years. The Golden Russet is one of the best and most regular bearers and keeps till December.

At Murphys, although the distance is only two miles from Douglas flat, the fruit is two weeks later in ripening, and the more delicate kinds, such as figs will not ripen. The difference in elevation does not seem to be more than a couple of hundred feet. In the western part of the county figs are very productive.

METEOROLOGY.-The amount of rain in the rainy season of 1865 and 1866, at Murphys was 31 inches, and in 1866 and 1867 44 inches.

As much as 10 feet of snow has fallen at the Big Trees in one storm, but the depth is seldom more than five feet at any one time. As the ground does not freeze, there is no good sleighing.

SAN ANDREAS.-San Andreas is the present county seat, and is situated at a point where San Andreas ravine intersects an ancient river channel. The county seat was formerly at Mokelumne Hill, on the northern limit of the county, and was removed after the people had voted at a special election for San Andreas. Great frauds were practiced in the election, especially at Mokelumne Hill, which then contested the election, and years elapsed before the courts and county offices were removed to San Andreas, which had spent $75,000 in the contest. The people of the new county town were much chagrined to find that there was scarcely any perceptible increase in the amount of business or in the value of property

after the change, and many of those who spent their cash would be glad to have it back, even if Mokelumne Hill were to have its former dignity. The monthly shipment of dust from San Andreas is $25,000, nearly all placer.

THE SAN ANDREAS OLD CHANNEL.-An ancient channel runs past San Andreas, and indeed it is to the rich deposits of the old river that the town owes its existence. This ancient channel has been traced a distance of eight miles from the head of Old Gulch, past San Andreas, and Gold Hill, to the south fork of the Calaveras. The general course is nearly west; the average width is 100 feet, and the depth under the surface is 150 feet, of which about 100 feet is volcanic sand. The richest pay stratum is a soft blue gravel, four feet deep, which yields seven-eighths of its gold at the first washing; but there is also a red cement, which sometimes usurps the place of the blue gravel on the bed rock; sometimes overlies it, and sometimes occupies half the channel, leaving the blue on the other side. This red cement is not so rich as the blue, nor is the gold so coarse, and it should be crushed in a mill, if more than one-third of its gold is to be got at the first washing. Some of the gold found in the blue gravel is quite black. It has been reported that a petrified turtle thirty inches long was found in one of the claims on this channel; but the report is mentioned here not to accredit it, but suggest it as a matter for investigation.

Mr. Marshall says he found in the pay dirt in the claim of Marshall and Showalter an Indian mortar, and this is perhaps one of the best authenticated cases of human handiwork found in an ancient stream.

In that claim, starting from the surface, the shaft passed through 5 feet of coarse gravel; then sand and gravel 100 feet; then a thin bed of fine brownish gravel; then 4 feet of cemented sand; then 15 feet of blueish volcanic sand; then 6 feet of pay dirt, and finally slate-bed rock, one foot of which is rich.

The following is the form of a notice used in locating a claim on this channel: NOTICE.The undersigned claims this ground for mining purposes, known as the Robert McCall & Co.'s claim, being a deep or shaft claim, and being bounded on the northwest by the Gilchrist and Cornwell claim, and on the southeast by the Plug Ugly claim, 1,000 feet more or less, and he intends to work it according to the laws of the San Andreas mining district. WILLIAM IRVINE.

JOHN SHOWALTER, Recorder.
August 18, 1862.

The first notable claim on the channel commencing at the highest point that has been worked is that of Foster, Frazier & Co., 800 feet long on the channel, where the depth is 100 feet. It has been worked 10 years, and paid about $7 per day to the hand. The pay is obtained by drifting, and is taken to the surface through a shaft and tunnel.

After an interval in which the channel has not been found, we come to the claim of McLaughlin and Dore, who have been at work 10 years, and have averaged about $5 per day. Three or four men are now employed on the claim. After another space in which the channel was not found, is the claim of George Barnhardt & Co., situated on the hill between Old Gulch and French Gulch. It has been worked six or seven years, and four or five men are now employed in it. It is a hydraulic claim, and the bank is 75 feet deep.

The next claim, that of Young & Co., is on the hill, south of upper Caleveritas, and has paid well for 10 years. It has been worked both by hydraulic and by tunnel. Three or four men are employed.

Knight, Simpson & Co., work their claim by the hydraulic process, with four men. It has paid well for six or seven years.

The railroad claim on Railroad Hill, one mile below the previous claim, has never paid, but has broken several parties who took hold of it. It is now idle. The channel was never found in it.

Wade, Johnson & Co., between Yaqui Gulch and lower Calaveritas, employ