and the expenses were $70,000; in 1866 the receipts were $65,000, and the expenses $50,000. The road is watered every evening along its whole length by water carts, which are stationed at intervals of three miles. This is found to be the cheapest method of keeping the road in good condition, for if it were left dry it would have deep dust, which would obstruct the wheels and blow away, leaving deep ruts. About one-fourth of the expense in keeping the road in order is required to keep the snow down. Last winter snow lay for nine miles on the road, and 10 span of horses were kept for the special purpose of breaking it down. There was a station in the middle of the snow belt, and whenever it began to snow a man started with a team and a sled in each direction to the end of the enow belt and then drove back; then took another team, and the horses were kept going as fast as they could. In this way the snow was packed down and the road was made hard and fit for travel. It would be useless to shovel the snow from the road, which would immediately drift full. The toll for a fourhorse wagon from Shingle Springs to Van Syckles and back is $17 50, threefourths being for the eastern trip. Most of the freight, however, has been carried in wagons drawn by more than four horses. The best teams have 10 mules and two wagons, the second wagon being smaller and fastened immediately to the first. An ordinary load for such a team is 20,000 pounds. The advantages of having two wagons instead of one are that one wagon, unless made in a most unwieldy manner, would not be strong enough to support the weight; that the two wagons do not cut up the road; that if there is a mud-hole, only a small part of the weight is in it at a time; that at any steep pitch in the road the wagons can be separated, and each hauled up separately; and that one teamster can as casily take care of two wagons as of one. The cost of the first wagon is about $600; of the second, $300; and of good mules, $300; making $3,900 as total cost, exclusive of harness. The tolls on a round trip from Shingle Springs to Van Syckles are $26 25; and the total necessary outlay on a trip $240. This is the most extensive toll road in the United States.

MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES.-A considerable part of the marble used for tombstones in California is obtained from a marble quarry at Indian Diggings. Stealite, or soapstone, of very good quality is obtained from a quarry near Placerville, and numerous places in the county supply a chalk-like silicate of lime that is used in San Francisco for polishing metals, especially silver-ware. The, county has 85,000 acres of enclosed land, 22,000 acres under cultivation, 1,164,000 grape-vines, 91,000 apple trees, 52,000 peach trees, saws 10,000,000 feet of Lumber annually, has taxable property assessed at $3,500,000, and casts 5,000 votes. Agriculture has made more progress in this than in any other mountain county, perhaps because of its proximity to Nevada, which it supplies with fresh and canned fruit, with wine, and with many kinds of vegetables. The possossion of the Placerville road across the mountains has done much to bring business to the county. The Alabaster cave in the northwestern corner, and Lake Tahoe at the northeastern, are both places of fashionable resort.

THE BLUE CHANNEL.-There are several old channels in El Dorado county, and they appear to belong to two different systems of drainage and periods of existence. They may be distinguished as the blue and the gray, according to the eolor of the cement or gravel found in their beds. The blue is prior in time, and only one blue channel has been distinctly traced in the county. It runs from the northwest to the southeast, nearly with the course of the slates, and has been found at White Rock, Smith's Flat, and Tryagain tunnel. The channel is 220 feet wide, and 250 feet above the level of Weaver creek. The rim Jock is never less than eight feet higher than the bottom of the channel. The centent is harder and more brittle, and contains more quartz, and quartz of a bluer color, and pebbles smaller and more uniform in size than the gray cement. channel, with its well-defined banks and a deep covering of lava, formed a bed in which ran a subterranean stream of water that broke out in springs on the hill

This

side, where the channel was cut through by Weber creek, and the quantity of water was sufficient to supply Placerville when it had 4,000 inhabitants. A tunnel company working in the basin of Hangtown creek cut a tunnel across this old channel, and the stream of water which had previously run down to Weber creek then ran out through this tunnel into Hangtown creek. The tunnel company sold the water to the Placerville Water Company, but the South Fork Canal Company, which had previously appropriated the water of Hangtown creek, brought suit for the water on the ground that Hangtown creek was the natural outlet for this water, and that they owned it by prior right. Professor Silliman was called as a witness by the defendants, and after examination he testified that the waters never had run into Hangtown creek, but that until the tunnel was cut their only escape was at the springs on the bank of Weber creek. The plaintiffs, after seeing the testimony, discontinued the suit. This is the only case known to us of a legal investigation into the character of an ancient auriferous channel in California.

GRAY CHANNELS.-The gray cement is in several channels, which rise 20 miles or further east of Brockliss's bridge, and runs westward across the blue channel and at a higher level in the divides between the present streams. The gray cement is from 20 to 50 feet deep, and is found on both sides of Hangtown creek, in high hills, which have been prospected along a length of 10 miles, and worked with profit in many places. The old channels were cut through by numerous ravines, which carried the gold down to the creek, and thus made the bed of that stream rich as it was in early days. The following are the principal claims on the Weber divide, south of Hangtown creek, commencing at Coon Hollow, on the north side, and going eastward.

CLAIMS ON WEBER DIVIDE.-Aldersen Brothers Hydraulic claim has been worked 12 years, has paid largely, and employs six men. The claim is 150 feet deep, and uses 200 inches of water.

The Phillips and Parker claim is 800 feet long by 300 wide, and 80 deep. It employs three men, and has paid well at times.

The Italian claim, 1,000 feet long, was worked for years by hydraulic process, but now the pay dirt is brought out through a tunnel.

The Weber claim is worked as a drift claim in the summer, when water is scarce, and as a hydraulic claim in the winter. It yields large pay.

The claim of the San Francisco Cement Gravel Company is 1,200 feet long, running, as do the other claims along here, to the middle of the Hill Learsago. A tunnel was run 800 feet into this claim, and was abandoned because the gravel was too hard to wash in a sluice. The company are now about to pipe away the face of the hill preparatory to opening and retimbering the old tunnel. It is the expectation of the company to erect a mill to crush the cement.

In the Buckeye claim the face of the hill is being piped away to make room for a cement mill.

On the Cox claim, Cox's pan is being tried for the reduction of cement. It is a cast-iron pan, six feet in diameter, and 18 inches deep, with four iron arms projecting on a level with the top of the pan from a central vertical axis, and from each arm project three strong wrought-iron fingers, reaching down to within an inch of the bottom of the pan. In the bottom are a number of holes, an eighth of an inch wide, and half an inch long, through which holes the pulverized matter escapes. The bottom is of white chilled iron. A charge of 1,200 pounds of cement is thrown in, a stream of five inches of water is turned on, and the arms are started, making 20 or 30 revolutions per minute. In seven minutes and a half all the pebbles and boulders are washed clean, and they are discharged through a gate into a sluice prepared for the special purpose of carrying them off. There is another sluice for washing the fine matter. Charging and discharging occupy two minutes and a half, but the discharging gato is to be enlarged, so that the discharge will not occupy more than a quarter of

a minute, instead of two minutes, as at present. By this pan 40 tons can be worked in 12 hours, more than would be done by a 15-stamp mill, and the work is done in better style, because the pebbles and boulders which form from 50 to 75 per cent. of the cement are excluded from the sluice in which the gold is caught. The greater the quantity of base matter carried through the sluice, the greater the danger of the loss of gold. The power is supplied by a hurdy-gurdy wheel, which is eight feet in diameter, four inches in thickness, with buckets four inches deep, and nine inches apart. The power is nominally by 19 inches of water, but much is lost through leakage, and the proprietor of the pan asserts that he does not use more than 12 inches under a head of 260 feet. The wheel is made by bolting together two layers of twoinch plank, laid crosswise. The cost of the wheel was $100, and of the machinery, including pan, gearing, and all, less than $1,500. The cement in this claim appears to be nearly as hard as any found elsewhere.

In the Italian claim a tunnel is being run to be 800 feet long.

The Van Dusen claim has a tunnel 800 feet long, and is standing idle because of the hardness of the cement.

The Hardy Brothers have a hydraulic claim, which has been worked three years.

McConnell & Co. have the next claim, and work it by the hydraulic process. Stewart and Hall have crushed their cement in an eight-stamp mill, which is now standing idle.

The Scott Brothers' claim is 1,000 feet long, was opened by a tunnel in 1854, and was abandoned because of the hardness of the cement. Work has now been resumed in the expectation of erecting a mill.

CLAIMS ON RESERVOIR HILL.-North of Placerville, on the north side of Reservoir Hill, commencing at the west, are the following claims, viz:

· Hancock and Salter's hydraulic claim, drained by a tunnel, and open cut 1,500 feet long, has been worked by two men five years, employs 100 inches of water, and pays well.

The Friar claim has yielded $50,000, but after leaving the surface the miners found the cement so hard they could not wash it, and nothing was done on it for years. A San Francisco company is now at work, opening it by a tunnel, to be 1,000 feet long, and to be finished in two years.

The Slide claim is being opened by a tunnel, to be several hundred feet long. This claim never yielded much.

The Pioneer claim is worked by drifting, and has paid very high. It has been worked for 12 years.

The George Barlow claim is also worked by drifting, and has paid well at times.

The Live-oak claim is worked through a tunnel, and has yielded $50,000 or $60,000. Under this claim runs the blue channel.

The Roanoke claim has the repute of having been one of the richest claims on the channel, but nothing could be ascertained of its yield.

On the south side of Reservoir Hill are the following claims, viz:

The Trask claim is worked by the hydraulic process by a company of Chinamen with very little profit.

The Oldfield is a hydraulic claim.

The Wolverine was worked with much profit in early days, and then lay idle for a long time. Work has lately been resumed on it. It seems that there was a slide which threw the pay stratum out of its regular position in this claim. The Ohio has a tunnel 800 feet long, employs five men, is paying well, and has been worked for 12 years.

Crusen & Co. have a claim on Wisconsin flat, and are trying to reach the Blue 'channel through a tunnel 1,200 feet long, from the end of which they are sinking a shaft to be 80 feet deep..

The Granite Company are running a tunnel to strike the Blue channel, and are in several hundred feet.

The Deep Channel Company has been at work seven or eight years. The dirt is hoisted through an incline by horse power, and pays $4 to the car load. Most of their cement is crushed in the 10-stamp custom mill of P. M. Taft.

The Blue Lead Company employ 10 or 15 men in their claim, and crush their cement, which yields about $8 per ton, in a 10-stamp mill, driven by 30 inches of water over a wheel 45 feet in diameter.

The Buchanan, Fremont, Henry Clay, and Hook and Ladder Companies, facing Smith's Flat on the east, have had some very rich claims.

Redd & Co. have a five-stamp custom mill, and crush cement for the Hook and Ladder Company.

SPANISH HILL CLAIMS.-On Spanish Hill, east of Placerville, are the following claims, viz:

Hoxie's claim, which is now exhausted. It paid from $10 to $16 per day to the hand for several years.

The Stogy Tunnel claim was equally rich, and is worked out.

The Bay State was also rich, and is not exhausted, but has been consolidated with the next claim, and is worked by hydraulic.

The Hook and Ladder claim has a crevice 175 feet, and a tunnel 600 feet long, running to the bottom of the crevice. The hill is to be washed down through the tunnel.

The Golden Gate and Duroc claims come next, and have been consolidated. Two auriferous quartz veins are found in the slate bed rock in these claims, and it is supposed that some of the gold came from the decomposition of the slate. The Hoxie, Stogy, Bay State, Hook and Ladder, Golden Gate, and Duroc claims have yielded together not less than $200,000.

INDIAN DIGGINGS.-Indian Diggings, 25 miles southeastward from Placerville, is on the limestone belt, and is the furthest north of all the large mining camps on that belt. No solid bed rock is found here. It is supposed that pay gravel is found 200 feet from the surface, and to drain the diggings to that depth would require a tunnel a mile long. At Slug gulch a shaft was sunk down through what appeared to be solid limestone bed rock into a stratum of limestone boulders. A ditch of water was accidentally turned into this shaft, and the water ran there for several days without any accumulation of water in the shaft. No outlet was ever discovered. Brownsville, at the side of the Indian Diggings, may be considered part of the same place, and the two together have about 20 acres of deep diggings, which will not be exhausted for many years. Indian Diggings and Brownsville, unlike Columbia and Volcano, do not wash with a pipe in a dump box.

The Douglas hydraulic claim, the most notable claim at Brownsville, is 180 feet square, and was worked for 10 years previous to 1866. In 1856 and 1857 it yielded $55,000, and since the latter year has paid little over expenses. There has been no work of late for lack of drainage. An open cut has been started to drain the claim, so that it can be washed 20 feet deeper; 700 feet of the cut have been completed; there is a quarter of a mile still to be done, and several years may elapse before it is finished.

PLACERVILLE MINING REGULATIONS.-Each district in this county has its own mining regulations.

The mining regulations of the Placerville district, adopted March 21, 1863, provide that

Each claimant may hold 200 feet in length upon a ledge or lode with all its dips, spurs and angles, and 250 feet upon each side thereof.

Each claim must be filed for record within five days of posting notice thereof, and the notice must distinctly specify the general direction of the claim, ledge, or lode, and the record made accordingly.

RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES

Each company shall be required to expend at least seven days' work ledge or lode held by them for and in every month of the time said claim is held; upon the otherwise the same may be considered as abandoned.

The number of quartz claims on record is 186.

The following are copies of notices entered in the record book:

Notice is hereby given that we the undersigned claim 1,000 feet on this ledge, commencing at this notice and running in a northerly direction to a stake and pile of stones, and that we intend to hold and work the same according to the laws of the Placerville mining district. Said claim is situated in H. S. Hulburd's ranch, in Placerville. May 23, 1867.

Notice is hereby given that we the undersigned claim 1,500 feet each way from this notice, [Signatures.] on any and all quartz lodes discovered in sinking this shaft. July 18, 1866.

MUD SPRINGS MINING REGULATIONS.-The following are the principal [Signatures. ] provisions of the mining regulations of the El Dorado or Mud Springs district, adopted April 7, 1863:

No person shall be allowed to hold more than 300 feet by location on the same ledge, but can hold 600 feet in width for the purpose of prospecting and defining his lead or ledge. The discoverer of a ledge is entitled to an extra claim.

A notice upon a claim to be valid must be written with ink, and placed upon a board, stake, or tree in as conspicuous a place as possible, and upon, or as near the ledge as can be. Such notice must state the number of feet claimed, describing as accurately as possible the boundaries thereof, containing all the names of the claimants with the date truly affixed; a true copy of which must be recorded by the district recorder within 20 days from the date of such notice, or such claim shall be considered forfeited.

Notice upon a claim holds the same for 20 days only. Recording the notice of a claim holds the same for 90 days only, before the expiration of which time labor to the amount of $2 50 for each 300 feet in the claim must be expended upon the claim by the company, which will hold the same for 15 months from the date of record. Non-compliance with the provisions of this article by any company will be construed as an abandonment by them of their claim.

In case of dispute between parties claiming the same ledge or lead, each of the contending parties may choose an arbitrator, and the two may choose a third person, who shall be disinterested. trators, whose decision shall be final, unless notice of an appeal be given within The three shall constitute a board of arbiten days of the rendition of the decision.

There is no provision requiring a description of boundaries. The number of claims on record is 40. the notices recorded:

The following is a copy of one of

DRY CREEK, April 1, 1863.

Know all men by these presents that we the undersigned claim 45 claims on this lode, 300 feet each, making in all 13,500 feet, and intend prospecting the said claims for coal, copper, silver, gold, or any other minerals it may contain, running in a northerly direction 13,000 feet and southerly 500 feet, with all its dips, angles, and spurs.

[Forty-five signatures.]

GEORGETOWN MINING REGULATIONS.-The following are a portion of the quartz regulations of the Georgetown mining district, adopted December 10,

1866:

The size of claims to each person locating shall be 200 feet of or on any quartz lode or ledge, including all dips, spurs, angles, and all surface ground and minerals which may be contained within the space of 150 feet on each side of said ledge or vein located; but no company's claim shall exceed 3,000 feet in length on any one vein or ledge.

The discoverer of a vein or lode of minerals shall be entitled to one claim for his discovery. All notices of claims located, whether individual or company, shall describe the locality of said mine, the number of feet claimed, the point where measurement commences, and name the lode or company locating.

Said notice shall be posted on the lode, and shall hold the claim for 10 days from the date