of the deep diggings, and according to repute it has produced more gold in proportion to its population than any other in the county. Among the notable claims are the following: The Texas, 500 feet long by 150 feet wide. The pay stratum is from 6 to 25 feet deep and 125 feet below the surface. Work was coinmenced in 1853, and has continued since with an interruption from 1859 to 1862, caused by water. The claim employs 8 or 10 men, and it pays, sometimes, $500, and never less than $200, per week above expenses. The total production has been about $60,000, and there is pay ground enough to last for 5 or 10 years more. A stream of water yielding 16 inches, miners' measure, has been struck in the bottom, and a pump with a pipe 14 inches in diameter, with a five-foot stroke, is used for keeping the claim clear. The lowest drain is 60 feet below the surface. A tunnel to drain the bottom of the claim would have to be two miles long. The Union claim, 1,000 feet long by 100 wide, was opened in 1860, and is 150 feet deep. The average number of men employed was ten, and the average weekly yield has been about the same as in the preceding claim. On one occasion they took out 90 ounces or $1,700 per week for several weeks. total yield has been about $40,000. The claim is doing nothing now, but work will be resumed. The The Wild Goose claim, 800 feet long by 100 wide, has been worked to a depth of 200 feet without finding bottom or pay. A drift is now being run in hope of finding bottom. Four years' work and $15,000 have been spent without any return so far. In two drifts of this company the dirt swelled so fast for three days that the drifters made no headway. The Perseverance claim, 800 by 100 feet, has been worked to a depth of 130 feet without finding anything, and the shaft is still going down. A drift run into this claim from the adjoining Union claim has struck rich pay gravel. The Dashaway, 1,000 by 100 feet, has been worked by an incline 300 feet deep perpendicularly from the surface, which is there on a hillside. The claim has been worked five years, and has produced about $25,000. Five men are at work in it. The above are the only companies now working or likely to work soon. out. The Ohio, 800 by 100, yielded $50,000; worked out. The Harper, 200 by 100 feet, yielded $100,000; worked out. The Lone Star, 300 by 100 feet, yielded $100,000; worked out. The Holmes and Toll, 100 feet square, yielded $100,000; worked out. The Hitchcock and Burgess, 100 by 50 feet, yielded $100,000; worked out. The Skunk Tunnel, 400 by 100 feet, yielded $50,000; worked out. MURPHY'S.-Murphy's, 16 miles from San Andreas, formerly known as Murphy's Camp, is situated on the limestone belt in a pleasant valley surrounded by low hills. The diggings are found here in a basin half a mile in diameter, with dirt and gravel to a depth of 200 feet. The pay stratum was found in some places within twenty and in others within 100 feet of the surface; but little of it was high enough to be washed in the natural channels, so the miners hoisted the dirt by derricks, or with a horse, rope, and pulley, to their sluices. Afterwards, however, an open cut 900 feet long and for a considerable distance 40 feet deep was made. This facilitated the washing of the flat greatly. There were a dozen claims which paid high, averaging $100,000 or more each it is said, but there is no record of the details. The Rhodes claim, one of the richest, produced $250,000 from an area 100 feet long and 40 wide. The deepest workings were 100 feet. In one afternoon it paid 37 pounds, and the next forenoon 63 pounds of gold. In this claim a tunnel was eut through a large mass of limestone far below the surface, and in the midst of the mass was found a cavity containing a rich auriferous quartz boulder weighing not less than half a ton; and there was no orifice leading to the cavity large enough to let in a stone weighing 20 pounds. There was, besides, some rich gravel in the cavity. This statement about the quartz boulder, if it came from some unknown source, would deserve no consideration, but it is vouched for by Alonzo Rhodes, agent for Wells, Fargo & Co., who is an intelligent gentleman, and is reputed to be most trustworthy. Murphy's derives some importance from the fact that it is a stopping point for travellers going to and from the Big Trees. Some of the gold at Murphy's was quite black on the surface. Between Murphy's and Douglas Flat an old channel has been traced for 600 feet. VALLECITO.-Vallecito, 14 miles from San Andreas, is a level valley, with deep diggings, which are covered with three strata of lava or volcanic sand. The valley was in its most flourishing condition from 1852 to 1855, and is still far from being worked out, but there was a lack of drainage, and the claims which would pay for drifting have been exhausted. In 1855 a mammoth tunnel, to be 2,700 feet long and 100 feet deep, was commenced, to drain the flat, which is about 86 feet deep in the deepest workings. After 400 feet of the mammoth tunnel had been cut, a considerable part of the way in very hard greenstone, and after $15,000 had been spent, the work was abandoned. In 1862 a new tunnel, to be 1,500 feet long and 36 feet below the surface, was commenced, and last spring it was completed, though the flume is not yet ready for washing. The flume in and out of the tunnel is to be 2,000 feet long, and the total cost of the work is $30,000, exclusive of interest. An ancient channel 100 feet wide has been traced for half a mile up and down the valley, and it is considered still rich. The ground is held by old miners, who will now wash off their claims through the tunnel. No public notice has yet been given of the conditions on which miners can tail into the tunnel. The shipment of gold from Vallecito is $20,000 per month; formerly it was $60,000. The Day and Hunter claim in Vallecito Flat was 100 feet square, and paid $25,000. The Isabel and Mitchell, of the same size, paid the same amount. In the Durham & Co. claim a piece weighing 25 pounds was found. There were 50 claims in the flat that paid well, but there is no record of their production severally. Near Vallecito is a gravel ridge 60 feet deep, and a portion of it paid well in hydraulic claims. MINOR PLACER CAMPS.-At San Domingo, on the limestone belt, four men took out $100,000 in three years, commencing in 1863. Near Murphy's is Owlbarrow Flat, which is rich and might be drained. Indian creek, San Antone, and Cave City, on the limestone belt, have had some rich elaims, but the diggings are now nearly exhausted. QUARTZ REGULATIONS OF ANGELS.-The quartz reglations of the Angels district provide that a lode claim for one person shall be 100 feet on the vein, with 150 feet on each side; and a discoverer is entitled to 50 feet more on the vein than an ordinary claimant. The regulations say: He or she [the claimant] shall have the right to all the dips, strikes, or angles of every vein originating on the claim. We understand that a vein originates on or below the surface running downwards, and not from below running upwards; so that no person or persons locating a claim on either side of the boundaries of another shall have a right to a vein running through his or their claim that originates, as above understood, on the claim first located; but no man shall have the right to follow a vein on the length of it beyond the perpendicular of his boundary. Miners shall be compelled to perform at least 10 bona fide days' work on their claim or claims during the year commencing from the first day of April, 1860. Miners failing to do so, their claim or claims will be considered forfeited and open to other parties. It will be observed that there is no express requirement of any work after the 1st of April, 1861, as a condition of title; but the intention was undoubtedly to require 10 days' work on each claim within each year, ending with March. The records of this district were burned in 1855, and no copies or written evidences of title before the fire are preserved. There are 57 quartz claims on record in the district, and 55 of them bear date previous to 1864. In that year no claim was made; in 1865, one; one in 1866; and none in 1867 up to June 1. QUARTZ REGULATIONS OF SAN ANDREAS.-The following are extracts from the miners' regulations of the San Andreas district for ledge mining: Claims in said district shall be 200 feet in length on the lead, with all its dips, spurs, and angles, with 300 feet in width on the surface. Shareholders shall be compelled to perform one day's labor for each 200 feet held or claimed by them, or its value in improvements thereon, in each month, from the first day of May to the first day of November in each year; if they fail so to do their claim shall be considered forfeited and open to entry by other parties, unless the first parties shall have been prevented by sickness of themselves or families from complying with this law. When a company shall have put $500 worth of work on a claim the same may be held over for one year, and no longer, by a renewal of the record of said claim, made at any date previous to the first day of May of each year, during which year the parties owning such claim shall not be compelled to perform any work on the same. These regulations were adopted in March, 1866; and there are 57 lode claims recorded, the latest dated in 1865. There is no quartz mine in operation in the district, save at Wilson's creek, where there are two arrastras at work. QUARTZ MINING IN CALAVERAS.-The most noted quartz mines of Calaveras county are the Morgan, the Reserve, the Enterprise, the South Carolina, the Stanislaus, the Union, and the Carson Creek, at Carson Hill; the Bovee, the Angels, the Hill, and the Sickles, at Angels; all on the mother lode; and the Woodhouse, near West Point. A number of rich veins have been found near the limestone belt, but their wealth has been confined to pockets. MORGAN. The Morgan mine, 500 feet long, on the mother lode, was discovered in 1850 by a man named Hance, who took in six partners, Morgan being the president. The discovery was made on the summit of Carson Hill, and the rock was extremely rich; indeed, if the statements of those who lived at the place are to be taken, the gold was abundant beyond any parallel. Much of it was taken out in mortars, and not unfrequently there were so many strings, of gold in the rock that cold chisels had to be used to cut them. On one occasion gold to the amount of $110,000 was thrown down at one blast. The news filled the State with excitement. The town of Melones, on the southern side of the hill, became the largest mining camp in the State, with a population variously estimated from 3,000 to 5,000. People came in crowds to see the mine. Robinson's ferry, on the Stanislaus river, two miles south of the place, took in $10,000 for ferriage in six weeks. From February, 1850, till December, 1851, the production continued uninterrupted and with very little decline. In that time, according to Thomas Deare, who has lived at the mine longer than any other person, $2,800,000 were extracted and immense sums were stolen. It is reported of one Mexican miner that he stole $1,500 in one day from the arrastra which he had in charge, and paid it the next day for a horse. All the rock too poor for the hand mortar was ground in arrastras, and it is said that 50 of them were running at one time. The facilities for stealing were great and the temptation strong. Gambling was carried to a great extent and gold seemed to have lost its value. The miners were mostly Mexicans, who, as a class, were not looked upon with much favor by American miners; but they had had some experience in this kind of mining and their services were indispensable. They could pick up the lumps of gold in the mine, or they could take handfulls of amalgam from the arrastra with little fear of detection. As for the amount taken in this way, it could never be ascertained, but that it was great was assumed in the common conversation of the miners themselves. The vast production was too great to be witnessed in peace. Several hundred ruffians banded themselves together under the lead of Billy Mulligan and others of his kind and drove away the owners of the mine by force and worked it themselves. A suit to eject them was commenced, and after nine months their work was stopped by injunction, and in the spring of 1853 final judgment was rendered in favor of Morgan and his associates. Morgan then went to England to sell the mine, but more litigation sprang up about the title, and there was no final decision and very little work till the spring of 1867, the mine having lain idle for nearly 15 years. The work has lately been recommenced, and report says some marvellously rich rock has been taken out, but the superintendent did not consider himself authorized to give the precise facts for publication. The mine is near the summit of the hill and includes two veins, which unite 100 feet below the surface. One is about six feet wide and called the stratified vein, because of numerous seams parallel with the walls; the other is 40 feet wide and is called the boulder vein, because the quartz in it is solid and boulderlike. A tunnel 160 feet long strikes the vein 100 feet below the outcroppings, and from this drifts have been run 200 feet on the vein, finding pay rock all the way. The richest rock is a talcose slate on the foot-wall. The mine can be worked conveniently by tunnels to a depth of 500 or 600 feet. There is no mill now, but the proprietors propose to erect one, and they are now taking out rock. In the middle of June they had 5,000 tons already out. RESERVE.-Immediately south of the Morgan is the reserve mine, 980 feet long. This mine was opened in 1860 by a tunnel 300 feet long and a shaft 135 feet deep, and common report says that 3,000 tons of talcose slate were crushed and $200,000 obtained. A report made by a French mining engineer to the Melones and Stanislaus Mining Company, which is better authority than cominon report, says the yield has been $130,000. Mr. Coignet, the author of the report, says: The lead worked at the Reserve belongs to that order of vein which runs west 15° north, east 15° south, and is rich in ore throughout its whole extent. At the walling, [foot-wall,] and for many feet in width, the slate formations are impregnated with auriferous pyrites, partly decomposed near the surface. I was told on the spot that the slate formations of the casings throughout the length of the claim did not pay less than $18 per ton at the mill,、 and that the ore formerly extracted contained from $90 to $300 per ton. ENTERPRISE. The Enterprise, 900 feet, adjoining the Reserve on the south, has been opened by a tunnel which runs 450 feet on the lode. There is no mill connected with the mine, nor is any work being done. SOUTH CAROLINA.-The South Carolina, 2,550 feet long, adjoins the Enterprise. The vein is seven feet wide, and has been opened by drifts running 580 feet on the lode, 280 feet below the surface, in pay chimney all the way. The mine was first worked, from 1850 to 1853, by some Mexicans under a lease, who accounted at the rate of $85 per ton; but rumor says that the actual yield was much larger, and that the total amount which they took out was $400,000, and that they got $40,000 in one week from their arrastras. In one period of seven months they accounted for $119,000, and paid over, according to contract, onehalf, or $59,500; but the owners were dissatisfied, and terminated the lease in 1853, and the mine, notwithstanding the general belief in its great wealth, stood still five years. In the spring and summer of 1858 a ten-stamp mill ran for three months and took $19,000, and then the work was stopped by litigation. The last rock taken out paid $40 per ton. The mill is now in ruins, and no work is being done. Mr. Coignet says of the South Carolina : The quartz is generally white-bladed, foliated with green, slaty streaks, and assuming a striped appearance. It is in these slate formations that the flattened or laminated leaves of gold are found. Sometimes the quartz is compact and yellowish, but then it is nearly always near an intersection. Against the walling [foot-wall of these leads the slates are of a yellow brown, very talcose, and perforated by cubical holes, indicative of deposits of rotten iron pyrites. These are ductible, and can be cut with a knife. Between their strata is found some bluish quartz surrounded by pure gold. On the whole line of the leads, beginning at the South Carolina claim and up to the Hope, where they still exhibit the same character, it may be said that these slaty formations, in a breadth of several feet from the walling of the lead, contain at least $18 per ton. STANISLAUS.-The Stanislaus mine, 1,200 feet long, is on the middle branch of the mother lode, immediately north of the Stanislaus river. At this claim the vein runs nearly north and south, and dips to the east at an angle of 75 degrees. The mine has been opened by three tunnels, one 400 feet long and two of 100 feet each, and by several shafts running down from the tunnels. The quartz is remarkable for containing much gold in the form of a telluride, which, though very rich, has never been worked so as to yield much. Mr. Coignet, who examined the mine, says: The quartz croppings are white, with reddish tints in the cracks, and containing crystals of feldspar, of carbouate of lime, and of iron. The free gold which had been found on the surface changed readily into tellurets of gold and silver, and into auriferous iron pyrites, which, by their decomposition when in contact with the atmosphere, have spread a reddish hue over the rock. In these ledges, among which the Stanislaus offers an example, the thickness of the quartz varies considerably, both in its course and incline, whereas the roofing [hanging wall] remains perfectly regular. Thus, from the middle of the tunnel to within a few feet of the shaft, at the northern extremity of French and Wood's claim, the croppings have a thickness of more than six feet, whilst beyond that space the quartz disappears in the slate, without, however, causing a break in the lead. At the bottom of the shaft just mentioned the lead has a depth of six inches and contains numerous crystals of tellurets. At 120 feet south of the entrance to the middle tunnel a shaft was formerly sunk by Mexicans, by means of which a large sum was taken. There also the quartz has disappeared, and the ore is found in the slate. The rich deposits of the lead are found in chimneys with a horizontal incline of about 31 degrees to the south in the walling, [foot-wall, ] and in the small quartz feeders which follow the line of the slate formations, and at their junction with the principal leads. It is of importance to observe, with regard to this mineral system, that tellurets are found/exclusively in the quartz which contains crystals of feldspar and carbonates of lime and of iron; and hence, whenever these minerals are met with, the speedy appearance of ore may be relied upon. The compact quartz of the lead is often found to contain, and, in fact, generally does contain, auriferous iron pyrites, which are sometimes of great richness. The slate formations in which the lead is imbedded are also full of iron pyrites, but contain no gold, or perhaps a very small amount. The difference between these two kinds of pyrites is such that they can be readily distinguished from each other. The richest pyrites, in fact, seldom crystalize very distinctly, being in compact masses, which clearly exhibit the numerous lines of cleavage; they are very bright, and have a very distinct yellowish appearance. The indifferent pyrites, on the contrary, are found in well-defined cubical crystalizations, isolated, and with a sharp edge, and usually disseminated through the slate formations. Throughout the length of the zone [the main pay chimney] the roofing [the hanging wall] is well defined, but the walling [the foot wall] is irregular, and composed of quartz feeders which follow the stratification of the slate formations and finally unite with small quartz veins containing feldspar, carbonates of lime, and, as is the case always, some tellurets. The association of these minerals is so perfectly verified that when one is met there is a certainty of the presence of the others at a short distance. * * These ores are sometimes of an extraordinary value; thus, during my visit to Melones, an assay which I made myself on four ounces of sulphurets and tellurots, taken from a concentration of second-class ores, yielded $150 of gold and $1 of silver, or about $17,500 to the ton of concentrated sulphurets. No process of economical manipulation of this class of ores has, as yet, been found without inflicting serious losses. The concentration which has to be resorted to, costly in itself, still permits the escape of a large portion of the precious metals. Charles A. Stetefeldt, a mining engineer and metallurgist, to whom specimens of the ore from the Stanislaus mine were submitted, wrote a report, in which he said: These ores are of extraordinary interest for the mineralogist and metallurgist, since besides their great richness in native gold, they contain also telluric gold and silver in such quantities as have never before been known. Telluric ores of all kinds are extremely rare, and found only in small quantities at the following places: at Offenbanya, Salathna, and Nagyag, in Transylvania; at Schemnitz, in Hungary; at the Sawodinsky mines, in the Altai mountains; and at Spottsylvania, in Virginia. But at none of these places are the telluric |