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 castward 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. claim will last seven or eight years. It is worked only in the summer. Hayt & Co. have a very small claim.

The

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 bas 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

portions of antimony, arsenic, lead, and zinc, with traces of tellurium, and are intersected by elvan courses, which run north and south, and dip to the west at an angle of 70°. The elvan courses are usually from one foot to four feet in thickness, and the intervals between them are very irregular. Quartz veins crossed by elvan courses are usually poor near the intersections. Those lodes which run with the courses are very spotted, rich in some places, and poor in others. Where the quartz is thick in these veins, it is richer than in the narrow places. Pockets

and coarse gold are rare.

MARLETTE. The following mines are on the mother lode or its branches. The Marlette, 800 feet long on the mother lode, near the Mokelumne river, is reputed to be rich, but unprofitable on account of the high cost of working. There is a 10-stamp mill which has been idle a year and a half.

CONEY.-The Coney mine, 800 feet long, is half a mile south of Jackson, on a vein which is 30 feet west of the main mother lode, and can be traced for 10 miles by its croppings. The dip in this mine is 72° to the northeast. The lode is nine feet wide. The deepest workings are 200 feet from the surface, and drifts have been run 300 feet on the vein, all of which, so far as examined, is pay rock. For 150 feet from the surface there is much slate, and lower down the vein-stone is all quartz. Near the hanging wall is found ribbon rock, containing some free gold, which is rare elsewhere. Five per cent. of the vein matter, and in spots 20 per cent., is sulphurets, which yields $7 50 per ton of unconcentrated rock, and $200 per ton of clean sulphurets. The free gold yields $6 per ton, so the total yield may be put down as $13 50 per ton. The mill has 16 stamps in four batteries. Hendy's concentrater and sluices are used in concentration. It was necessary for the purpose of working this mine with a profit to have a chlorination establishment, which has been erected. The furnace is 17 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 8 feet high outside, with a smoke-stack 25 feet high. There are two reverberatory hearths one over the other, and each 10 feet square, with a capacity to hold a ton and a half. There are 12,000 brick, fifty perch of stone, and five cubic yards of soapstone in the furnace, which it is supposed will last three years. A charge is roasted 12 hours in each hearth, so that the furnace has a capacity to roast three tons in 24 hours. The total cost of the establishment was $2,100, and the cost of the chlorination is estimated at $25 per ton of sulphurets. A cord of wood costing $4 is consumed in roasting three tons. BLUE JACKET.-Adjoining the Coney on the north is the Blue Jacket mine, 1,000 feet long. The shaft is down 100 feet deep. Only $1 25 per ton of free gold has been obtained, and $100 per ton from the concentrated sulphurets. No work is being done now.

TROWBRIDGE.-The Trowbridge adjoining has 1,200 feet, and is at work, but is not crushing. The Adams mine on the same vein is not crushing.

ONEIDA. The Oneida mine, 3,000 feet long, is a mile and a half north of Jackson, on the mother lode. The course there is nearly north and south, and the dip to the eastward from 65° to 80°. The main shaft is 500 feet deep, and drifts have been run about 600 feet on the vein; the width is from 10 to 40 feet; the foot-wall is slate, and the hanging wall greenstone. The quartz is white and blue, with some ribbon rock which contains more free gold than is found in other parts of the vein. There is a black putty gouge on the foot-wall. There are two pay chimneys, which dip to the north, and all the rock in them is pay. The quartz within six or eight feet of the hanging wall yields $30 or $40 per ton, but the average of all worked is $17 50 per ton. All the ore heretofore worked has been taken from one pay chimney, which is 300 feet long, horizontally, at the surface, and 400 feet long at a depth of 400 feet. The vein pinches out at the ends of the pay chimneys, so that there is very little barren rock. The walls are, in places, as smooth as glass. The mine is opened so that there is ore enough in sight to supply 60 tons per day for five years.

The mine was discovered in 1851 by a hunter who chased a rabbit to some

large quartz croppings, in which, after a brief examination, he found rich specimens of gold. Since then work has been prosecuted continuously and with almost constant profit. Three or four mills were built successively, and the mine has changed hands a dozen times. Many thousand tons of quartz have been crushed from it, but there is no record of its early yield. In eight months preceding June 1, 1867, $135,000 were taken from 7,710 tons, at an expense of $5 per ton, leaving $12 50 net per ton. The present owners have not had possession long, and they have expended much in opening the mine and putting the mill into good condition. The superintendent says that if the proprietors had ot had a considerable sum of money at their control after purchasing the mine, they would have been ruined, since without the repairs and the new shafts and levels they could have got nothing.

The mill has 60 stamps, and is driven by steam. Amalgamation begins in the battery, and continues on copper aprons below; then there are shakingtables, blankets, copper sluices 60 feet long, blankets again, and sluices. The screen is No. 4, punched in slots. One per cent. of the ore is sulphurets, which, when concentrated, yield $200 to the ton.

HAYWARD.-The Hayward mine, one of the most valuable gold mines of California, is 1,800 feet long, and includes two old claims known as the Eureka and the Badger. The average width of the vein is 12 feet, and the dip 75° to the east. All the rock is taken out. The hanging wall is of hard serpentine; the foot-wall is of slate, polished smooth. The foot-wall swells so that the mine closes entirely up behind the workmen, and saves the trouble of leaving pillars, and prevents any apprehension of caving in. There is a continuous black putty gouge. There is only one pay chimney, and that is 500 feet long, horizontally, on the surface, and at 1,200 feet below the surface the supposed length is 600 feet. The walls come together at the ends of the pay chimney, which dips to the north at an angle of about 80°. The deepest incline is 1,230 feet deep, the greatest depth reached in the mines in California. The surface of the earth at Sutter creek is 900 feet above the sea; so the lowest drifts in the Hayward claim are 30€ feet below the sea level. Work was commenced in 1852, and has been continued uninterruptedly since. A 10-stamp mill was erected on the Eureka claim in 1852. A new mill, with 20 stamps, was erected in 1856, and 20 more were added the next year. A 10-stamp mill was built on the Badger or southern claim in 1854, and six more stamps were added in 1857. Mr. Hayward, the present owner, obtained a controlling interest in the Badger in 1854, purchased the Eureka in 1858, and became sole owner of the Badger in 1859, thus consolidating the two claims. There are three shafts-the southern 760 feet deep, the middle 960, and the northern 1,230.

At the level of 760 feet a pillar has been and is to be left to catch the water which comes from the surface. About 45,000 gallons were hoisted daily in buckets in the early part of June-25,000 from the southern and 20,000 from the northern part of the mine. In February and March the quantity was twice as great.

There are two mills now, with 56 stamps, and with capacity to crush 80 tons per day, but at times much quartz is sent to custom mills. The gold is nearly all free, and the amalgamation is effected chiefly in the mortar and on copper aprons. The sulphurets are saved in sluices. For the first 200 feet the Badger mine did not pay, and it was with the utmost difficulty that the mill was kept going, but the vein appeared to be getting wider and the quartz richer, and work was continued, with some trust from the laborers, until the receipts exceeded the expenses; and soon after the two claims were consolidated the Hayward took a leading position among the mines of the State. Within 500 feet of the surface the average yield did not exceed $10 or $11 per ton, and now it is, according to report, $27, with a wide vein and 125,000 tons of ore in sightenough to keep the two mills going for five years. The proprietor of the mine

has a great fear of being suspected of seeking publicity, and he refuses to give information about the details of his receipts or expenses, or even to communicate his experience in or his opinions about quartz mining. It is, therefore, necessary to rely upon the statements of persons not connected with the mine for the yield; and they say the total yield has been $6,000,000; the gross yield last year per ton $27; the net yield, $22 per ton; the amount of rock worked in 1866, 30,000 tons; and the profit of that year, $660,000. Much rock is at times sent to custom mills to be reduced. The quartz in sight, it is estimated, will yield $3,375,000 gross, and $2,750,000 net.

Sixty miners are employed, 12 blacksmiths and engineers, and 25 others as feeders, amalgamaters, teamsters, &c. The miners and laborers in the mill work by two shifts, a day shift and a night shift of 10 hours each; and at the end of each week the shifts change, so that each man works in the night-time one week and in the day-time the next. The rock is carried from the mine to the mill on a tramway.

RAILROAD.-The Railroad mine, 800 feet long, has been worked four years, has produced $70,000, and has had much rock which yielded $15 per ton. A depth of 340 feet has been reached, and drifts have been run 300 feet on the vein. There is no mill connected with the mine.

LORING HILL.-The Loring Hill, 700 feet abreast of the Railroad mine, on another branch of the mother lode, was worked for ten years, paid from $5 to $12 per ton, and has been idle for five years. Work is soon to be resumed. A depth of 150 feet was reached.

WILDMAN.-The Wildman, 1,130 feet long, has reached a depth of 530 feet and has run 200 feet on the vein. There is a 12-stamp mill, which is busy at custom work.

LINCOLN.-The Lincoln mine, 2,078 feet long on the mother lode, is half a mile north of Sutter creek. The course of the vein there is north 17° west, the dip about 75° to the eastward, and the width six feet. A depth of 669 feet has been reached in one shaft and 270 in another; and drifts have been run 400 feet on the vein. There are two pay chimneys, one 150 and the other 250 feet long. They dip slightly to the north, although their lines are irregular. The mine has been worked since 1851, with the exception of a couple of years. About 3,500 tons have been extracted annually while the mine was worked. Work was stopped in November, 1866, and is to be resumed next year. There is a 20stamp water-mill, which is now doing custom work for Hayward. catches 90 per cent. of its gold in the mortar, 3 per cent. on the apron, 5 per cent. on the shaking table, and 2 per cent. on blankets.

The mill

COMET.-The Comet mine, on the mother lode, north of Sutter creek, is 750 feet long, and a depth of 145 feet has been reached. The mine is now being opened to a greater depth.

HERBERTVILLE.-The Herbertville mine, 1,200 feet long on the mother lode, a mile north of Sutter creek, was worked from 1851 till 1859, but never was profitable, though some good quartz was found. A depth of 600 feet was reached. There was a 30-stamp mill, which was burned down.

KEYSTONE.-The Keystone mine includes claims on two distinct lodes-3,000 feet on the Keystone, which runs north 48° west, and dips eastward at an angle of 52°; and 840 feet on the Geneva, which is 280 feet east of the Keystone, has a dip of 64°, and a width varying from 3 to 7 feet. The foot wall of the Geneva vein is slate, and the hanging wall is a hard greenstone. The average width of the Keystone is 10 feet. Professor Ashburner, in a report on the mine, says "the wall of this (Keystone) vein on the west is generally hard, well-defined, and regular; on the east it is softer, and frequently incorporated with the quartz. The ground in many places is loose, and the vein seems to have been subjected to great pressure, crushing the quartz to powder." There are many horses of hornblendic slate in the Keystone vein, on which vein most of the work