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BRUSHVILLE.-The Austin and Hathaway mine at Brushville, half a mile south of the Calaveras river, is on a similar deposit, and has been worked down to a depth of 30 feet. The owners of the mine, who reside in San Francisco, are erecting a 20-stamp steam mill.

PLYMOUTH.-The Plymouth mine, 2,000 feet long, at Brushville, is on a deposit similar to that at Quail Hill. Mr. Heusch, a mining engineer, who examined the mine in 1865, said:

This mineral deposit may be described as a vein or belt of gold-bearing quartz imbedded in a soft decomposed talcose rock, the whole being enclosed between two nearly perpendicular walls of greenstone. The quartz, of which there is a lode of about eight feet in width,

(2.) Ten (10) small samples collected at various points in the open cut, with a view to determine where the ore was richer or poorer, (the details of which are appended,) gaveGold

Silver

Total

Assay value of same.

$17 08

5 82

22 90

24 70

(3.) A large lot of 2,843 pounds of ores collected some time since, under direction of Messrs. Attwood and Peachy, were carefully worked by Mr. Lewis Blanding, giving by working tests an average of

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(4.) Averaging these three independent sets of returns, as we have for the general average

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An inspection of the tabulated results given in detail with this report will show that the silver is very unequally disposed, being found in greatest quantity in the incline shaft or near its mouth. If we view the results from the least favorable side, even accepting the lowest single averages as those most likely to be obtained in working in the large way, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the whole mass of the ores at Quail Hill, so far as explored, exceeds the average gold tenor of most of the best quartz mines of the State of California.

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COST AND MODE OF TREATMENT.-At Quail Hill the water-power is sufficient to move 100 stamps, as the water is delivered under an estimated pressure of about 200 feet head. The only water in all the region is at the command of the owners of Quail Hill. The reservoir has a present area of over 650 acres, and the right of flowage, by the terms of its location, of an elevation of 15 feet more than its present height. A line of survey is now being run for a ditch, estimated to be of about ten (10) miles in length, to convey the water to Quail Hill, and also of the line marking the area of flowage at an elevation 15 feet higher than the present. This reservoir fills the valley known as Salt Spring Valley.

With these facilities it is estimated that the cost of treatment of the Quail Hill ores will not exceed 70 to 80 cents per ton, including the cost of extraction and delivery at mill. The mode of treatment is based on the condition of the gold, which is all free, viz: amalgamation in battery, double discharge; moderately coarse screens, No. 2 or No. 3; amalgamated copper aprons and riffles; large settlers to collect amalgam and mercury; an ample flow of pure water to aid in settling the residuum, and large slime pits to retain the tailings, are the main features. As experience in the management of the ores teaches us better methods, such improvements as are thus warranted may gradually be introduced. Blankets may form a part of the system, following the copper inclines.

I would not advise an estimate of value exceeding $10 per ton, net saving, or say 40 and 50 per cent. of the demonstrated value. The residue is not lost, and the ample head and flow of water will permit the company at any future time to set up a pan mill, or any other approved mode of working over the tailings, provided the tailings are retained as herein advised, and should be found valuable.

occupies the western part of the vein, while the remaining space is filled with the auriferous talcose rock, the whole forming a regular channel of gold-bearing matter of about 40 feet in width, many hundred feet in length, and doubtless many hundred feet in depth. It is in fact a wide chasm, running through a hill several hundred feet in height, and filled with auriferous quartz and other gold-bearing matter.

Mr. Heusch estimated that there were, within 300 feet of the surface, in a length of 600 feet, 214,185 tons of auriferous matter that would yield $10 gross and $4 net per ton. There is a 10-stamp mill on the mine, and it began to run on the 1st of September. The estimated yield is $8 per ton, and the expense $2. LAMPHEAR.-The Lamphear mine, 1,800 feet long, is two miles southeast of Mokelumne Hill, is on a vein which is four feet wide, and has been worked to a depth of 45 feet and to a length of 100 feet. Six hundred tons of rock have been worked, and some of it was quite rich. There is an eight-stamp mill on the mine.

CADWALLADER MILL.-The Cadwallader mill has three stamps, was built for prospecting, and is not at work.

FRENCH MILL.-The French mill, at Rich gulch, six miles east of Mokelumne Hill, was built two years ago, has 15 stamps, and is standing idle.

MCGLYNN'S MILL.-McGlynn's six-stamp mill, erected at San Andreas to crush quartz, is being moved to Irvine's claim, on the old channel, to crush cement. CHEROKEE.—The Cherokee mine, 1,700 feet long, west of Altaville and a quarter of a mile west of the line of the mother lode, was discovered by some placer miners, who washed the gravel and clay from the surface of a vein of decomposed quartz, and dug up the carious quartz filled with auriferous clay and washed that too. The discoverers, having taken out $27,000, sold to others, who got $9,000 and then leased it to a gentleman who obtained $30,000; and after him came a party who got out $25,000. The mine is now owned by a citizen of San Francisco, who has a 16-stamp mill now idle on it. The gold is coarse and is in pockets, and most of the rock does not yield more than $2 or $3 per ton.

SAN DOMINGO.—At San Domingo a rich auriferous pocket was found in limestone, the rock yielding $1,500 per ton. After most of the gold-bearing quartz was extracted the mine was sold to a San Francisco company for $10,000. They never obtained any return for it.

MURPHY'S.-At Murphy's a similar pocket was found and a mill was erected at a cost of $40,000. Although water could have been obtained in constant supply, it was driven by steam. The rich rock was soon exhausted, and the mill was sold and removed.

At Murphy's there is a three-stamp mill now running, called the Valparaiso mill. At Cave City some rich rock was found, and a mill was built, but it has since been moved.

At El Dorado there is a mill.

CRISPIN.-The Crispin mine, 2,400 feet in length, two miles west of Murphy's, is on a vein which runs east and west and dips to the south at an angle of 80°. A shaft has been sunk to a depth of 100 feet, and drifts have been run 150 feet on the vein. The width of the lode is six feet, but the pay is confined near the surface to a very narrow seam next the hanging wall, though it widens as it goes down. The pay chimney is only 30 feet long on the surface, but at the 100-foot level the drifts have not reached the end in either direction. The walls are of slate, with a gouge of auriferous talcose slate. There is a water-wheel for pumping and hoisting, but no mill. A custom mill crushed 225 tons and obtained an average of $20 per ton.

A quartz lode running northwest and. southeast passes through Murphy's and Douglas Flat, and has been struck at many places by placer miners. At the surface it consists of decomposed quartz, and all along its line quartz boulders are found, and some of them have been rich.

ISABEL.-The Isabel mine, about half a mile westward from Vallecito, yielded $50,000 in a single pocket. A mill was erected, but as it did not pay it was moved away, and the mine is not worked.

CALAVERITAS.-The Calaveritas mill, erected about 10 years ago by a French company at a cost of $110,000, has been moved away. It never crushed a pound of quartz from the mine which it was built to work. Before it was completed the pocket supposed to represent the average richness of the vein was exhausted, and as no auriferous rock could be found afterwards, the mill had nothing to do.

ALBION.—The Albion mine, in Salt Spring valley, three miles west of Copperopolis, has been worked for three years with a 10-stamp mill. The average yield is about $6 per ton, leaving very little profit. The gold coins $11 per ounce. THORPE'S.-Thorpe's mine, 600 feet long, six miles west of Angels, is on a vein which runs northwest and southeast, and is similar in its gangue to the Bovee mine. The thickness of the lode is three feet, and the yield is $10 per ton. The rock is crushed and amalgamated by two arrastras, driven by a water-wheel 24 feet in diameter.

The Ratcliffe mine, 400 feet long, is two miles southwest of Angels, on the Copperopolis road. The vein is from four to six feet wide, and the rock is quartz mixed with talcose slate. This mine has been worked at intervals for three or four years, but steadily for 18 months, by one man, who throws the quartz upon the road, where it is ground fine by the heavy wagons passing over it, and then he shovels the dust into his sluice, which runs along the road, and catches the gold. This is the only lode mine worked on this plan in the State.

CARPENTER.-Adjoining the Ratcliffe mine and on the same vein is the Carpenter mine, on which a five-stamp mill was erected in 1855. The mill was moved to Angels, and the mine is now lying idle.

PURNELL.-The Purnell mine, 600 feet, adjoining the Carpenter, has been worked for five or six years, and a 10-stamp mill is now going up on it.

SECTION VI.

AMADOR COUNTY.

Amador, one of the smallest mining counties of the State, and also one of the most prosperous, lies between the Mokelumne and Cosumnes rivers, extending from the summit of the Sierra to near the plain, with a length of 50 miles and an average width of 14. It owes its prosperity chiefly to the mother lode, which crosses the county about 12 miles from the western boundary, and has within three miles three mines, which have all been worked continuously for 15 years, have probably produced not less than $8,000,000, and form the most remarkable cluster of quartz mines on one vein in the State. Twelve miles further east, near Volcano, there is another rich quartz mining district, which has some peculiar features. Otherwise, the county has not much wealth. It has no great thoroughfare leading across the mountains, no place of fashionable summer resort, no productive mines of copper, no extensive hydraulic claims, few rich surface placers, and no quarries of marble or deposits of plumbago.

The agriculture of the county is prosperous but not extensive. The farmers do not aim to do more than supply the home demand, except in wine, and for that there is no regular market as yet. The county has a large number of vineyards, and they are cultivated with care. Timber is abundant in the eastern part of the county, but scanty in the western.

Near the eastern boundary, at an elevation of 10,000 feet above the sea, is Silver lake, a mile long and a half mile wide, surrounded by beautiful scenery.

It will probably become a favorite summer resort at some future time, when better means of access are provided.

A road following up the main divide between the Cosumnes and Mokelumne rivers, in this county, leads across the Sierra Nevada through the Carson pass. It was made at considerable expense, but there is not much travel on it.

The most remarkable topographical feature of the county is the Jackson butte, which rises 1,200 feet above the adjacent country, five miles from the county seat. In form it is a regular cone, with a sharp peak, and there are no signs that it ever had a crater, although it has often been spoken of as an extinct volcano. Jackson creek, Sutter creek, Dry creek, and Indian creek, which drain the county between the rivers that serve as boundaries, all go dry in the spring. Water is supplied by 28 ditches, with an aggregate length of 433 miles and an aggregate cost of $1,154,500. The only large ditches are the Butte, Amador, and Volcano ditches.

The county debt is $100,000, and the State and county taxes together are $3 20 on the $100 of assessed value.

Jackson, the county seat, formerly had rich placers in its neighborhood, but now depends chiefly upon quartz. Sutter Creek is the chief town and business centre of the county. It ranks next to Grass Valley for the production of quartz. gold. Amador and Drytown are other towns situated on or near the mother lode. Volcano, the only placer mining town in the county now producing much gold, is on the lime belt, and has diggings very similar to those of Columbia and Murphy's. Butte City, which depended on shallow placers and was once populous and prosperous, is now exhausted and abandoned. Buena Vista, Forest Home, Willow Springs, Slabtown, Clinton, and Aqueduct City are also worked out. Tiddletown has a few good hydraulic claims, and Lancha Plana several that pay a little more than expenses. Ione City is surrounded by a fertile farming land, and there are more than 1,000,000 vines in the vicinity.

The quartz mines of the county, as a class, were unprofitable previous to 1858, but since that year they have been steadily improving, and the white population has been increasing. It is estimated by county officers who have occasion to make close observation, that 1,000 Chinamen have left the county this year,

Several high ridges or divides that come down from the Sierra are supposed to consist chiefly of gravel with rich auriferous strata in them, but there is no proof of the correctness of this theory save the general resemblance of these ridges to others known to be auriferous.

VOLCANO.-The town of Volcano, situated on the lime belt, 12 miles eastward from Jackson, was so named because it is in a deep basin, and the first miners at the place supposed they were in an extinct crater. This supposition has not been accepted as correct by scientific men generally who have visited the place, although there are many marks of volcanic outflows in the neighborhood. The diggings here are very similar to those of Murphy's and Columbia on the lime belt further south, and the same difficulties of drainage have been experienced.

On China Hill, south of Volcano, are the following hydraulic claims:

Ross & Co., 300 by 100 feet, have been at work since 1855, and have made $5 or $6 per day. During the last three years three men have been employed. Their claim is 80 feet deep.

Goodrich & Co. have 200 by 100 feet, have worked for 12 years, and have not found very good pay. The claim is SO feet deep, and will last four or five years. There are two men at work.

Farrin & Co. have 300 by 100 feet, and are working to a depth of 20 feet, below which they have no drainage, and must hoist their dirt. The claim has been worked at intervals for 13 years, and now employs three men.

The Murphy & Co. claim is 300 by 100 feet on the surface, and 100 feet deep,

has paid from $8 to $12 per day to the hand until within the last year, and lately has not paid expenses.

There have been a number of other claims on China Hill, but they are either abandoned or of little note.

At the mouth of China gulch are the following dump-box claims :

Foster & Co. have 400 by 150 feet, employ six or seven men, and have been at work since 1853, excepting from 1858 till 1862, when they were idle, waiting for the completion of the open cut to give them drainage. In 1866 they took out $8,500 clear of expenses. The claim will last three years, and is worked only in the summer.

Sullivan & Co. have 200 by 150 feet, commenced work in 1865, and have made $3 or $4 per day to the hand. They employ four men, and their claim will last two years.

Armstrong & Co. have 800 by 150 feet, and employ five men. They commenced work in 1852, and made good pay till 1857, when work was stopped for want of drainage. In 1861 they began again, and did well till 1866, in which they only paid expenses. This year they are again getting good pay. The claim will last seven or eight years. It is worked only in the summer. Hayt & Co. have a very small claim.

On Mahala Flat, Goodrich and Co. have a hydraulic claim, 200 by 100 feet. They have worked since 1856, and have made wages until lately. Two men are employed.

On Volcano Flat are the following dump-box claims, which are worked only in summer:

Terrill & Co. have 400 by 100 feet, and employ six men. The claim has been worked since 1861, and has paid very well.

Green & Co. have 300 by 100 feet, employ five men, have been at work since 1861, and have made good pay.

The Italian claim has been worked since 1865, and pays well.

Cerrelli & Co. have been at work since 1865, and have obtained good pay. Much ground now occupied for gardening purposes in Volcano will be mined out within three or four years.

QUARTZ REGULATIONS OF AMADOR.-In Amador county, each district has its own mining regulations for quartz, as well as for placer mining. If a claim is not within the limits of any district, it may, according to custom, be recorded in the nearest district, and held under its laws.

In the Volcano district a lode claim for one person is 200 feet on the vein, and 75 feet on each side.

In the Pinegrove district a claim for one person is 300 feet, and 100 feet on each side, and in this, as in the Volcano district, one day's work is necessary each month to hold each share.

In the Volcano, Pinegrove, Clinton, and Jackson districts a company's claim, no matter how large, may be held for a year by doing work to the amount of $500, posting a notice on the claim, and filing notice with the recorder that such work has been done.

In the Jackson district, if the company is a small one, it may do work to the amount of $20 for each share, and this will hold the claim for a year.

There are no pocket veins in Amador county similar to those at West Point, in Calaveras county, or at Bald mountain, in Tuolumne. The limestone at Volcano is full of bunches of quartz, but they are not large enough to work, and there are no regular veins.

In the vicinity of Volcano, most of the quartz veins cut across the slates at an angle of 45°, and run between 15 and 30° east of north.

Elvan courses are abundant in the limestone.

QUARTZ VEINS ABOUT VOLCANO.-The quartz lodes in the vicinity of Volcano generally run northeast and southwest, cut across the slates, contain considerable

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