GOLD MINING IN CALIFORNIA

Dunstan Times, Issue 318, 29 May 1868, Page 3

GOLD MINING IN CALIFORNIA

The Alta California says that looking at it as a speculation, it is the fancy of the pres3 generally to have a fling at gold mining. In every circle we hear men telling of successful adventures in what they misname mining. If you inquire closely, you will find 'all losses by speculations in Washoe stock as losses iu mining. Monny

paid for claims supposed to cover good mi- n uing ground, and money spent in finding ii out that there was no such ore as repre- ii sented, is called mining. Money put into t opening out ores that assay well, but which, after putting up expensive works, I are found so full of base metal that our v present milling will not work them, is n classed as los es by mining. Tempted by a under estimates, men go into stock compa- s nies and find they cannot pay the assess- y ments, so they lose what they have paid t by forfeiture. Soon after, this numerous s crowd croaks against what it understands b as ' mining ' Of all the class of regular n newspaper writers there is scaroely one p that does not take a fling at mining, and s scarcely one really knows anything about i actual mining. Hearing much talk from j. the loungers about, they get an idea that mining is all loss and no gain. Seldom, if i ever, these writers hear anything from men really engaged in mining. Legitimate miners are at their work, and are not encountered in the saloons, nor in the elus- i ters at our street corners. When we con- „ sider that sixty millions of dollars are pro- a duccd annually from our mines, we cannot r resist the conclusion that mining is a steady and a profitable business, and that B a great many persons are engaged in it sue- „ cessfully ; so many, indeed, that if they f would takejtke same pains . to chronicle r their success and their monthly profits, as c others do to circulate their vague and un- ; substantiated denunciations against what c they understand as mining, people would r get a just conception of the wealth of our ] Pacific States. They who best know the { value of good mines well worked, are si- e lently realising. They don't talk nor j, write. Like the dog with a rich bone, c they don't even like people to be looking , inquiringly, and counting the income re- , turn. Unfortunately, one man who has a t loss to tell of, like one whose head gets a t crack in a crowd, makes outcry more than c one hundred men whose heads have not 6 been hurt. San Francisco owes everything ( to the gold mines of California. People s come here for gold. They are kept here , for gold. All other industries are an out- , growth from our gold mines. Take them 5 away, and the whole State as well as the ] city would retrogade. The production of , the precious metal is the talisman which ( started this coast into life, and v ill stimu- , late its growth as year after year rolls , around. We are not of those who complain that capital in San Francisco does not give aid to mining. It has done its reasonable share, despite the efforts of the press to discourage it. What gold mining asks—and it asks no more—is fair and honest representation. There are gold bearing quartz mines enough to assure us that gold mining will endure and be a permanent dependence of California. Every business has its risk'. Taking the actual results of gold mining, pursued as a regular business wc are confident that it will be found to have less risks, in proportion to the profits, than any other business wherever it has beeu conducted with equal prudence and economy. It is free from the risks of close competition over importations, dull markets, dead seasons, changing fashions, remnants, bad debts, and the worry of a hundred detail annoyances, repeated daily, from multitudinous dealings. It is not one season you make and another you lose. If you have a good mine in regular work, and keep your dead work a year ahead, it is the most steadfast and trustworthy of all investments for revenue. No advertising, no higgling, no white lies, no customers to please, and all seasons alike. There may be exceptions to some of these rules, but they are more rare than in any other business. Gold mining has some other admitted advantages over all other industries that need to be considered. When once under system, it does not exact continuous personal presence, but gives you reasonable recreation. Besides, the duller the times, and the harder the money panic in other pursuits, the more eager is the demand for the production of your gold mine. If statistics speak truly, in all mercantile business men fail in staggering proportions. But the rarest thing one hears is the failure of a gold miner, whose mine is once opened and in regular work. The chief risk is not in working a gold mine, but in finding one that is workable. A mere mining claim has no value. Listen to no large talk ; you must have proof of the fact that the ore has been well and largely tested. As a general rule you are safest when you get on the well known mineral belts that have mines and mills strewed along their well known course. Then you want to be convinced that the particular part of the belt you examine has a sufficient proportion of "pay chutes." All quartz, on whatever mineral belt, is not pay quartz. Every line of quartz consists of alternations of pay and barren chutes or sections. Take no account of certified analysis of small pieces of quartz. They should go for nothing. The vein may furnish rich specimens, and yet be generally not rich enough to pay. Prefer veins, as a general rule, that supply an assured plenty of rock of a lower grade, so it be safe for satisfactory results, to veins that are so ssnall as to make supplies uncertain, even when the yield of gold promises more to the ton. Ten dollar-rock, and plenty of it, is more desirable than twenty dollar-rock with scant, uncertain supply. Rock that mills easily by present mill process, is greatly to be preferred. Though other ores show more gold, and doubtless a time will come when they will a be more valued, they do not answer your j purpose at present. Of two places, one • accessible and another difficult of access ; and shut out from the world, prefer the • former, unless there bo much counterbalt ancing disadvantages. Be sure that your 1 capital is competent to your undertaking. f As a rule, throe or four should unite to

make sure on this point. There is no paying mine that cannot extend its workings in time so as to satisfy the increased capital parties desired to invest. For centuries the mines of Mexico, of Peru, and Chili have been worked to proverbial profit, under difficulties that are not in California. In Europe, lean gold and silver ores, in very deep workings, are still the most envied investments. So would be our Gold mines of California, if their undoubted superiority were understood abroad. But California, with the best chances to offer, is perhaps the only mineral country in the world where the press decries its mines, and unwittingly sends abroad advice not to come and invest in this our best and most attractive property.