except about 2,376,000 pounds, or 1,000 tons, portions of which remain at the mine, at Stockton, and San Francisco, ready for shipment.

THE KEYSTONE MINE.-Explorations in this mine have been extensive and costly during the past year. The cross-cut toward the south line, in the sixth level, at a depth of 350 feet, running from the south or Houghton shaft, struck the main lode where it was 10 feet wide, of 15 per cent. ore.

best to sink the main shaft 200 feet, to avoid the necessity of working by a It was deemed winze at so great a distance from the shaft, as it was calculated the shaft would strike the ode at that depth. At the depth of 552 feet a cross-cut was made 43 feet in length before the lode was reached. Its width at that depth could not be ascertained, owing to the great increase of water, which prevented the men drifting till a sufficiently large sump-hole could be made.

The company have taken out but little ore during the past year, having ceased operations, except for exploration, early in April. At present they only employ a few men to attend the machinery and pumps, to keep the mine from filling with water. The total receipts from the sale of ores taken from this mine amount to $375,000. The amount of assessments collected exceed $100,000, the whole of which has been expended in developing the mine and purchasing machinery. The company has never declared a dividend.

THE OTHER COPPEROPOLIS MINES.-The Empire, Consolidated, and Inim itable were worked to some extent in the spring; but have been idle for several months. The owners of the latter mine (which is parallel and immediately adjoining the Union) had sued that company for taking out ore from their ground. The case attracted considerable attention from its novelty and the value of the interests involved. It was decided in favor of the Union Company. THE NAPOLEON MINE.-The new shaft on this mine was sunk to the depth of 195 feet, when work was suspended. No ore has been taken from it during 1867. THE CAMPO SECO MINE.-This mine has been partially worked for a few months during the present year. Smelting works were erected by the company as early as November, 1865, and arrangements made for working economically. A railroad a mile in length was constructed for the purpose of conveying the ores from the mine to the furnace. works, the ore, after reaching the surface through the shaft, is carried down to By a judicious arrangement in the location of the the furnaces by its own weight, and these being located on the banks of the Mokelumne river, the slag and other waste is dumped into that river at trifling cost for labor.

The smelting works consist of two cupola furnaces and a McKenzie blast, moved by a water wheel, and a roasting kiln. The furnaces are built of sandstone and lined with steatite, both of which materials are abundant in the neighborhood of the works, and appear to be tolerably well adapted for the purpose. The object of the company in erecting these works was not to make copper or matte of a high standard, but to concentrate the ores obtained below 10 per cent. into about 35 per cent. regulus. The experience of the persons in charge confirms the remarks heretofore made in relation to the impolicy of each mine smelting its own ores. The ores here, like the bulk of all obtained from the mines on the cupriferous belt which traverses the State from north to south, are nearly pure sulphides of iron and copper, rarely containing more than five per cent of silica, and consequently difficult to reduce alone. The average assay of 20 samples shows 45 per cent. sulphur, 40 per cent. iron, 6 to 10 per cent. copper, the remainder being silica, water, &c. To reduce such an ore to regulus it was found necessary to add 20 per cent. of quartz, in order to supply sufficient silica to combine with the iron after the liberation of that metal from the sulphur. Had silicates of copper or ores containing a considerable percentage of quartzose gangue rock been available, a much larger product of copper would have been obtained at the same cost of fuel, flux, and labor.

Even in the processes for roasting the ores in kilns the absence of silica is

a great disadvantage and source of loss. The sulphur, when in sucn excess, as in this class of ores, when heated, coats the ores, forming a refractory material for future operations.

The two furnaces on this mine, when in full operation, smelted about eight tons of ore and 20 per cent. of quartz in 24 hours. To do this it required 250 bushels of charcoal daily, which cost about 20 cents per bushel; two men to attend the furnace as smelters, two to supply materials, two to carry off the slag, which, owing to the large proportion of iron and the nature of the flux, was large, and two others to prepare the materials for the furnace feeders. Most of the work was performed by Chinese labor.

THE LANCHA PLANA MINES.-These mines being under the control of the proprietors of the Union, have not been worked during the year.

THE MINES IN AMADOR COUNTY.-The Newton, Cosumnes, and Pioneer mines, in this county, ceased operations in April, 1867.

THE MINES IN MARIPOSA COUNTY.-The principal mine in this county, La Victorie, owing as much to disagreements among its stockholders as to the depreciation in the value of ores, has been idle nearly the whole of the present year. Having given a description of this mine in previous report, the following particulars relating to its working will be interesting for reference: After an examination made by order of the company, the engineer in his report states that the mine from the tunnel has been well opened. The foot-wall, where the tunnel enters the vein, is well defined; but, as yet, the hanging wall had not been found, although the vein had been pierced about 70 feet. Two thousand tons of ore had been taken out of the mine, chiefly from pockets or smaller veins, mixed with the materials which had been thrown into the larger vein. A series of deposits of ore exists above the foot-wall, more or less connected, containing quantities of black oxide, and until the works are carried below the surface disturbances the size, value, or permanency of the lode cannot be determined. From the indications in the present workings there is reason to believe the mine will prove permanent and valuable. The company not having the means to obtain proper machinery, had done the best they could under the circumstances. The mine is well timbered, and is in good condition for future operations.

A shaft had been sunk about 90 feet, on an incline which it was supposed would intersect the lode. But by a cross-cut run from the bottom it was found that the lode had changed in dip. The shaft was therefore sunk nearly vertical, so as to strike it about 80 feet below, or on a level with the tunnel. While running this cross-cut, seams and deposits of black oxide were met with.

The extraction of ores while the mine was worked was slow and costly, owing to the broken nature of the country rock. The difficulties that beset the company are in part due to the isolated locality of the mine. It is too far from any travelled road to obtain the advantage of cheap transportation by teams returning empty from the mountains. The nearest point of shipment is 84 miles, over a rough country. The cost of transportation swallowed up the value of the ore. In addition to this, the company conducted its business on the same extravagant scale as the richest of the Washoe companies. Its officers, salaries, office rent in San Francisco, and incidental expenses outside the mine amounted to $16,000 per annum. There are few undeveloped mines that could stand such a drain. Under more economical management, and with cheaper transportation, this mine might add something to the wealth of the State, even at the present low price of copper. Its ores are abundant, and of a higher grade than the

average.

THE BUCHANAN MINE is located in Hunter's valley, Mariposa county, and has been worked at intervals during the past year. The shaft, in June, had reached 150 feet in depth, where the lode was found to be seven feet wide, of tolerably compact sulphurets. Having oxides, silicates, and carbonates convenient to the smelting works, this company, during the year, has made 100 tons of

60 per cent. matte, most of which has been forwarded to San Francisco, where it remains at present for want of a market. There can be no better illustration of the reduction in the value of copper than is afforded by the working of this mine. The matte made from its ores in 1865, averaging 60 per cent. of copper, sold at San Francisco for 16 cents per pound. The same grade of matte cannot be sold at present at nine cents per pound.

At James's ranch the Green Mountain Company have erected smelting works and made a few tons of matte.

None of the other copper mines in this county have been worked during the present year.

THE MINES IN SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.-But little having been done towards developing the mines in this county during the present year, there are no new facts to report concerning them.

THE MINES IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY.-With the exception of prospecting among the claims near the Solidad pass, nothing has been done in this county during the past year.

THE MINES IN PLUMAS COUNTY.-The Genesee Valley smelting works had to cease operations during the winter owing to the weather, and work has not been resumed since, the price of copper offering no inducements to the proprie tors to incur the expense of refitting furnaces and mine.

THE MINES IN DEL NORTE COUNTY.-With the exception of the Alta none of the copper mines in this county have been worked this year. The Alta company have been engaged in developing their mine. They have sunk their main shaft to the depth of 500 feet, run their tunnel 200 feet, and drifted at several levels, finding bodies of ore which appear to improve in quality as the workings progress. The disturbed and broken character of the formation ceases at 200 feet from the surface. The company has sent 400 tons of ore to San Francisco since January, 1867, which has been reshipped to New York. The average of ore has been about 16 per cent.; but the costs attending its transportation to San Francisco, and reshipment thence to New York, absorbs the value in expenses. THE MINES IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY.-None of the copper mines in this county have been worked this year.

THE MINES IN NEVADA COUNTY.-Capital and labor have been expended in prospecting the copper mines in the western part of this county, where there is a copper-bearing formation extending across it from north to south, on which many claims have been located and to some extent explored. The lodes are

generally large, but the ores are of too low a grade to cover the costs of transportation. Of several hundred tons sent to New York and Swansea the average returns did not exceed nine per cent. of metal. Under more favorable conditions, with cheap labor and transportation, these mines might be made to pay. At present they can only be worked at a loss.

The first shaft in the district, called the Well, because sunk for the purpose of obtaining a supply of water, is near Spenceville, in Rough and Ready township. It was used as a well for five years, till the excitement about copper in 1862, when, on cleaning it out, a deposit of sulphurets was exposed 70 feet wide, and extending to an indefinite length in the direction of the stratification of the enclosing metamorphosed clay slate, with a foot-wall and fluccan. But the ore, only ranging from eight to nine per cent., did not pay for extraction and transport. The Last Chance, the only mine worked for copper in this county, is located on this belt, near the Empire ranch. It was discovered in 1863, and has since been explored with such satisfactory results as to warrant its owners, who are among the most enterprising citizens in the State, (D. O. Mills, of San Francisco, A. Delano, S. D. Bosworth, and E. W. Roberts, of Grass Valley,) to make application to procure title from the federal government to the land on which the mine is located, the first application of the kind made. A shaft has been sunk to the depth of 200 feet, where the lode is found 12 feet wide, of sulphur

ets, averaging from 12 to 20 per cent. of metal. Before the rise in price of freight a shipment of this ore to Swansea returned a profit of $35 per ton. The company own 2,400 feet on this lode.

Considerable excitement was created in this county towards the close of 1866 by the discovery of ores in the Fox mine, from which about 40 tons of oxides and carbonates were shipped to Swansea in October of that year. But the excitement ceased as the price of copper declined, though nearly 100 claims were recorded during the last quarter of 1866.

Several small parcels of ores have been received at San Francisco during the present year from the Western Star and Green mines, located near the Last Chance and on the same lode; but at present and for several months past none of the mines have been worked.

OTHER CALIFORNIA COPPER MINES.-With the exception of the Union Company, who own a mine in Marin county which they prospected for a few months in the spring, the above is a full statement of the progress made in copper mining in California during the year 1867.

THE OREGON COPPER MINES.-The Queen of Bronze and other mines in this State have been idle during the past year. New discoveries have been made, but none of them have been developed sufficiently to prove their value. They are referred to merely to show the extent of country on this coast in which copper has been discovered.

The most important of the discoveries have been made in the southern part of Douglas county, where croppings of ore exist, not in the form of gossan, as in California, but as masses of oxides and carbonates, which will be of importance if extensive smelting works should be erected.

The mines on Eagle creek, Baker county, have been explored with such results as to have induced the owners to enter into a contract with the Oregon Steam Navigation Company to carry their ores to San Francisco, at a stipulated price, for a year.

THE LOWER CALIFORNIA COPPER MINES.-The Sance mine, at Loretto, has not been worked during the past year. The shaft on this mine has reached the depth of 114 feet, where the lode is seven feet wide, the ore said to average 12 per cent.

A few tons of ore were received occasionally at San Francisco from mines along the lower coast, during the past spring, but such shipments have entirely ceased for several months.

THE COPPER MINES OF NEVADA.*-Most of the ores found in the district of Pahranagat, though generally famous for the silver they contain, are more properly described as copper ores. They consist chiefly of gray copper, copper pyrites, erubescite, and other familiar ores of copper, combined with sulphites of silver, lead, iron, zinc, &c. No gold has yet been found in the district. These ores are contained in a quartzose veinstone in some ledges; in others the gangue rock is calcspar, (a carbonate of lime.) Some of the ores contain as high as 50 per cent. of copper. This district lies in the extreme southeast corner of Nevada, where it joins Utah and Arizona, in 37° 37′ north latitude and 112° longitude west from Greenwich. The mineral wealth of the district is contained in a range of mountains about six miles long and four miles wide, running nearly north and south, the general name for which is Mount Irish, though each peak has a separate name. Some of the crests of the range tower to the height of 11,000 feet, and are covered with perpetual snow. The lodes present the characteristics of true fissure veins, and appear to consist of several series, crossing each other in some places at right angles, the whole being contained in a metamorphosed limestone formation. In any other locality they would be valuable for copper mining.

* Described more fully in the section on Nevada.

Similar ores are obtained in the mines of Inyo and Mono counties, California. These, however, contain a per cent. of gold. These ores are refractory when worked by the ordinary mill processes. Some of this class of ore taken from the Camanche mine, in Mono county, and sent to Swansea for reduction, returned $1,000 per ton in gold, silver, and copper. The mines in Kearsarge, Fish Springs, Aurora, and other districts among the higher divisions of the Sierra Nevada produce similar ores. The completion of the Central Pacific railroad will be of great benefit to the miners of this extensive mineral region, particularly if a process shall be discovered by which the gold and silver can be extracted without wasting the copper they contain-a contingency quite possible. If such an establishment for smelting as the interests of the coast demand were erected at some point convenient to water and railroad carriage, the refractory ores of the Sierras would become valuable.

THE PEAVINE MINES.-In November, 1866, several tons of ores from this district were brought to Sacramento by the Central Pacific railroad, which passes within three miles of it, being the first shipment from the Sierras by railroad. The total cost for freight by railroad and steamboat was $12 per ton.

Two of Haskell's water-lined furnaces have since been erected in the district, one to operate for silver, the other for copper, but neither has yet been completed. The ores are chiefly carbonates and silicates, and the furnaces will probably be able to reduce them to a portable form for transportation. As they contain a per centum of gold and silver it may be found profitable to ship them to Europe for separation, till suitable works shall be erected here.

An excellent map of this district has been published by A. J. Hatch, deputy United States surveyor, which will be found useful for reference.

THE MINES IN ARIZONA.-The copper mines on Williams fork of the Colorado have been partially worked this year. The developments have been satisfactory so far as the extent of the lodes and the grade of the ores are concerned, but the difficulties attending smelting operations for want of furnace materials and fuel, the scarcity of means for transport, the high cost of freights from the mines to market, and the low prices paid for ores have caused a cessation of work or confined operations to a limited scale. In March there were 100 men employed at the Central and Planet mines, and about 150 about the works at Aubrey City, nearly all of whom have since been discharged.

The receipts of orcs from these mines since January 1, 1867, have amounted to 1,156 tons, 600 of which were from the Planet mino. The whole quantity ranged between 20 and 60 per cent. of metal.

The ores in this district would be valuable if suitable smelting works were erected anywhere on this coast, as they are chiefly carbonates, silicates, and oxides.

THE GREAT CENTRAL MINE Contains 3,600 feet on two parallel lodes, and several hundred feet on other lodes adjacent. The ore is abundant and of good grade, and contains some gold and silver. In May last, the company had about 200 tons, averaging 25 per cent., and 50 tons of selected, averaging 60 per cent., lying on the river bank awaiting transportation. One of the smaller lodes, the "Marion," at the depth of 75 feet from the surface, is five feet wide, composed of oxides of iron and copper. At the depth of 125 feet from the surface the main lode exhibits symptoms of sulphur. This, while affording evidence of the permanence of the lode, is not favorable to smelting operations. For 200 feet on each side of the shaft on the main lode (which is the extent of its exploration) it is found to be from five to seven feet wide.

In April last the company completed a furnace capable of reducing 16 tons of ore in 24 hours, and made about 50 tons of coarse copper, ranging from 60 to 70 per cent., which has been sent to New York. But operations ceased in June.

THE PLANET MINE, though located near the Great Central, contains several