tunnel so that the gravel could be worked to the bed rock. The expenses incurred before a dividend was declared were $142,000. The expenses of working this claim from July 24, 1860, to December 21, 1862-two and one-third years were as follows: December 21, 1862, to April 1, 1863-three and one-fourth months: During the period of two and one-third years, eight months were lost in lowering the exist ing tunnel, so as to obtain the requisite fall for the flumes. In June, 1863, this company was regularly incorporated, and the office established in San Francisco. The following is a detailed account of expenses and receipts since then : Receipts and expenditures of the Eureka Gold Mining Company's Claim from June 5, 1863, to August 11, 1864. August 11, 1864: Cash, labor account Expense, lumber, candles, coal, merchandise, incidentals. Claims account Hose... Powder... Water.. $24,986 56 4,568 42 602 50 1,488 10 9,642 17 35,782 49 272 81 108 40 66, 000 00 4,078 45 The average quantity of gold in it was, per cubic yard............. $23,565 76 20,017 78 27,849 75 71,433 29 156,307 73 84,874 44 .44 .20 MANZANITA HILL. McKeeby & Company's Claims, average length 851 feet by 315 feet, square yards... Average depth, feet.. Amount of gravel, cubic yards... 28, 240 120 1, 191, 400 $368,932 78 368,932 78 This claim has been in operation since 1855. The total quantity of water used has been 339, 374 inches, the price of which has varied from 50 cents to 20 cents per inch. The aver age quantity of gold, 30 cents per cubic yard. Cost of water, 74 cents per cubic yard. Total cost of extraction, including water, 20 cents. The shaft sunk from the surface of the bed rock to the sluice is 169 feet 10 inches. The size of the claims is 180 feet by 80, or one-third of an acre in area, (each company owning several claims.) The average quantity of water required for the complete working of each has been 18,614 inches; at 20 cents per inch, $3,722. The Middle Yuba Company's receipts over expenses for 12 months ending July 1, 1864.. The Eureka Lake Company's receipts over expenses for 12 months ending July 1, 1864, were, say.. $85,506 145,000 230,506 Net receipts..... The safe capacity of discharge of the canals of both companies, being a constant stream during 10 hours, is as follows: 20 per cent. deficiency in supply, stoppages, and other causes.. 13, 200 2,620 Say 10,000 inches per day, &c. 10,580 In reference to the Eureka Lake canal, Mr. Black makes the following remarks: The section of country which can be supplied by these works extends over a large portion of Nevada county, commencing at the junction of the North and South Yuba rivers, four miles below French Corral; thence it extends in a northeasterly direction between these rivers toward the summit of the Sierra Nevada. A main ridge between these rivers gradually rises from 1,500 feet, the altitude of French Corral above the sea, to 8,000 feet on the summit. Numerous lateral spurs, with ravines separating them, extend from the main ridge on each side to the rivers. In most cases the mining ground is situated on benches near the extremities of these spurs; in some, however, it is situated in channels between them. From French Corral to Eureka, a distance of about 32 miles, the average width between the rivers is seven miles; from thence the width gradually increases to about 16 miles on the summit of the mountains. The first portion is that in which the mining section is situated, and comprises an area of about 175 square miles. The area of the different places where gravel deposits have been found may together be about 15 square miles. The deposits in addition to those from French Corral to San Juan, already described, extend on the north side of the ridge by Badger's Hill, Grass Valley, Eurisko, and further up by Woolsey's, Moore's, Orleans Flat, and Snow Point to Eureka: and on the south slope of the ridge from Montezuma to Pleasant Hill, Cherokee, Chimney Hill, Columbia Hill, Lake City, Bloomfield, Relief Hill, and Mount Zion. The thickness of the deposits varies from 60 to 200 feet, nearly similar to those before described at San Juan, save that they are not so rich in gold, and are more intermixed with seams of clay, which render them more difficult to be worked. From Eureka to the summit of the mountains no deposits have been found. The geological formation is mostly granite and gneiss, which rise into high and rugged peaks, some of which attain an elevation of 8,500 feet above the sea. The Middle and South Yubas, with their tributary streams, such as Cañon creek, Pass creek, and others, take their rise in these mountains, amongst which are numerous lakes from 20 to 400 acres in area. The Cañon Creek lake, situated at the head of Cañon creek, about four miles west of the summit, is the largest, and forms the company's principal reservoir. A substantial dam formed of blocks of granite has been erected across its outlet. The transverse width at bottom is 120 feet, its height 70 feet, and length from bank to bank 250 feet. The front is protected with two layers of 24-inch lumber, well secured to the face. An arched sluice is constructed through the dam, by which the flow of water is regulated from the interior. When full of water, the Area of the reservoir is 500 acres, the average depth of water 42 feet, and its contents 935,000,000 cubic feet of water. Sources of supply, from the middle of April to the middle of August, are derived from the mountain streams, which become swollen from the rapid melting of the snow, and afford a four months' plentiful supply. After that date recourse is had to the reservoirs. The following is a list of the storage reservoirs named in the above estimate, with their capacity and cost: The average annual water sales of the Eureka Lake Water Company, according to the annexed statements, amount to $161,369, over and above expenses of management, repairs, &c. Deducting 10 per cent. from this for bad debts will leave a net income of $145,233. Some idea of the magnitude with which mining operations are carried on along this ridge may be inferred from the fact that since 1850 the annual quantity of gold transmitted to San Francisco has amounted to from $1,500,000 to $2,000,000.” So great has been the quantity of ground washed away, that many of the ravines are covered with a depth of 20 feet and upwards of tailings from the sluices, composed of sand and gravel. The fall, therefore considered necessary for the sluices, of one foot in 15, can only be obtained in those places that are situated above the rivers, such as those in the San Juan district, and higher up the ridge at Badger Hill, Grizzly Hill, Woolsey's, Moore's, and Orleans Flat. In order to obviate this difficulty of want of fall, tunnels are being constructed at different points, which take from two to five years to complete. Some of those I visited are through granite or trap, and cost at the rate of from $20 to $60 per running foot. They are six to eight feet in width, and seven feet in height; when completed a flume will be laid through them and extended a long distance down the ravine. All the tailings with which a ravine is incumbered will be carried away through the flume by the current of water. After the present year, many of those tunnels now being constructed will be finished, when numerous companies will be enabled to work, which are now precluded from doing so on account of insufficiency of fall in the creeks. I annex a detailed statement of the localities supplied by the Eureka Lake Water Company, and the amounts realized during one week; it is a fair average statement of the weekly sales during the year. Water sales of the Eureka Lake Water Company for the week ending July 5, 1862. Lake City, Grizzly Hill, and Kennebec Snow Point Woolsey's Moore's Orleans Pleasant Hill Cherokee.. Bloomfield San Juan $175 00 62 16 407 09 213 84 169 14 32 50 228 02 10 50 1,395 67 Columbia Hill Chimney Hill.. Eureka... 4, 180 77 Abstract of monthly reports by secretary of the Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Company. 853 83 484 35 212 17 6159 FRENCH CORRAL.-The Nevada Water Company was organized and incorporated in New York in November, 1858. It then purchased the Shady Creek and Grizzly ditches, and now owns, in addition to these ditches, a large extent of mining ground. The Shady Creek ditch was located in January, 1851, and the Grizzly ditch in 1852. Both were constructed for the purpose of conveying water from Shady creek (a tributary of the Yuba river) to French Corral. The Shady Creek ditch, the only one in present repair and use, has a running capacity of about 2,500 inches, miner's measure. Its width is eight feet at the top and six feet at the bottom, and its depth three feet, having a grade of about 14 feet per mile. Its length is about 12 miles, and with the exception of some 4,000 feet of fluming is excavated wholly in earth. The cost of construction of ditches and reservoirs owned by the Nevada Company has been about $150,000. They pass through Birchville mining district, but at present only supply water to the French Corral district. Six or eight sets of claims in this district besides the claims owned wholly or in part by the Nevada Company are supplied from their ditches. Another ditch from Shady creek to French Corral, built in 1855, at a cost of some $50,000, including reservoirs, having a capacity of about 500 inches, is owned by the Empire Tunnel Company of this place. The principal claims in the French Corral district are the Kate Hayes Company, Bird & Smith, Black & Brother, Empire Tunnel Company, Empire Flat Company, Dockum Company, French's, Glaister's, Burke & Company, and the Nevada Water Company claims. The price paid for water is 15 cents per inch, and the quantity used by different companies varies from 200 to 1,000 inches per day. The gold range of this district is a deposit of washed gravel filling a welldefined old river channel to the average depth of about 150 feet, varying in width from 1,000 to 3,000 feet. This deposit is continuous from French Corral to San Juan, a distance of six miles, broken only by ravines, but below French Corral and above San Juan it is cut off by the deep cañons of the South and Middle Yuba rivers. This deposit is composed of what the miners call blue and red dirt-the blue gravel or cement underlying the red or gray. Both strata have until recently been worked by blasting with powder and washing by the hydraulic process. Hereafter it is believed that the blue cement will be crushed with greater profit, besides saving a larger percentage of gold lost by the ordinary washing. The Empire Tunnel Company have built and are running very successfully a 10-stamp mill, crushing the blue cement. The American Company, at Sebastopol, are also realizing profits from their eight-stamp mill, working the same blue gravel. The English or "Truckee Ditch Company," some 10 or more years ago, expended nearly $1,000,000 in a ditch from the Middle Yuba to the mines on the dividing ridge between the Middle and North Yubas. The enterprise proved disastrous for the reason that paying hydraulic mines could not be found. The gold deposits of that region were generally found in a thin stratum of gravel lying on the bed rock, while the mass of earth above contained little or no gold. The paying lead could be most readily worked by "drifting out," and required but a small amount of water to wash it. Under such circumstances an extensive and expensive ditch like the Truckee Company's would not pay, and has fallen into disuse. Their water right has recently been purchased by some San Francisco capitalists. TUOLUMNE DITCH.-Most of the ditch water used in Tuolumne county is supplied by the Tuolumne County Water Company, which takes its water from the Stanislaus river about 20 miles in a direct line above Columbia. The company own two ditches known as "the old" and "the new." The former cost $550,000, and the latter $1,000,000. The old ditch was commenced on the 1st July, 1851, and it began to supply water in May, 1852, but the price of water, introduced at such great cost, was necessarily high, and the miners formed a |
