SOME FACTS ABOUT QUARTZ MINING IN CALIFORNIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 168, 9 February 1867, Page 3

SOME FACTS ABOUT QUARTZ MINING IN CALIFORNIA.

(From the San Francisco Bulletin.) Although gi'oat successes in mining are exceptional, the exceptions in California afitebecoming quite numerous, and afford, examples of the heaviest incomes realised on this coast. The second "largest income return for 1865 in San Francisco, was*that of James P Pierce, a lucky Yuba county miner, whost, net receipts were 102j011 dollars. The largest income in Nevada county is that of Jules Fricot, which was 182,511 dollars. This is 71,000 dollars in uxcess of tiie largest income returned in San Francisco by one of the Heaviest bankers, and was derived from quartz mining. ■It is ■ probably the largest income in the State. There are many other persons in Nevada county whose incomes for 1865 ranged between 40,000 and 100,000 dollars. Among these are Messrs Ripert and Pralus, partners of Fricot, v/Hose incomes amounted to over 91,000 dollars each. Full returns from the principal mining centres of the State would .furnish .many similar examples nf the wealth derived from successful mining operations, and would support the idea that the most wealthy citizens of California are Hereafter to be the owners of Her best lodes. The figures presented above remind one of the princely incomes realised during the last century from the mines in Mexico and South America, and arc the more remarkable when Vy'o consider How disproportionate they are to the amount invested in the mines; which produced them, compared with the amount invested in tlie 'banking, : commercial, .and real estate operations, which yield smaller returns in the great cities. of the enormous banking capitals of tlie country, for instance, leaching from 2,000,000 to I 10,000,000 dollars, and some of the Heaviest railroad investments, reaching sums even Higher, do not .yield as much profit as some quartz mines which represent a capital expenditure of from 100,000 to 500,000 dollars only. / ' Large fortunes are being realised from quartz mining at this time than were ever obtained in the palmiest days of the placer mining excitement, when the cream of the surface diggings was yet unskimmed. Despite the exceptional character of the lucky instances, it must be admitted that with improved machinery and processes, cheaper labor, greater experience, and the application of the same patience and economy • which are necessary to success in other pursuits, quartz mining is beginning to take rank as a safe and legitimate business, and the instances of successful results are steadily multiplying. It is only by a recognition of these facts that we can account for the daily increasing attention which is bestowed upon quartz by many of the most prudent and careful capitalists in the State. The temptation to invest in the conveniently located veins of California, where machinery, labor, water, and timber are all more easily and cheaply procured than in any: other mining territory, is certainly very great, and so long as the tendency to speculation and extravagant expenditure is restrained, persons of wealth can yield. to it within reasonable bounds with advantage to their private fortunes, and to : the general welfare of the State. Quartz mining, unlike placer mining, does not disfigure nor desolate the. country. It it a permanent industry, which developes other industries, creates new fields for labor, stimulates science and mechanics, opens a wider market for agriculture and manufactured products, and encourages settlement. To this, element chiefly are we indebted for the favorable reaction in the interior counties which has .been Heretofore commented upon in our columns. This Has increased the taxable property of Nevada, .for,instance, nearly 500,000 dollars in one year, and swollen Her payment of income tax in the same period from about 120,000-to 166,000 dollars. Hence, those who embark in quartz mmmg 'intelligently and carefully are public benefactors, and we can read with satisfaction, of their good fortunes. ! "'"'•' • A further evidence of the permanent character of the gold quartz -interest is furnished by the anxious efforts, making to ascertain the minimum cpst of manipulating tlie ore. A reduction of the cost of crushing and treatment to a moderate average will make valuable an immense quantity of 'low-priced rock' tHat is not now Held in much esteem, and will vastly increase the extent and profit of quartz operations. Enough is known already to justify the belief that ultimately the lowpriced ores, worked in.great quantities by the most economical processes, will be the most certain investments. We notice in this connection that the Mining and Scie.nti.fic Press of San Francisco, doubts the -statements made not long ago to the effect that quartz mining in Australia has reached a perfection in point of system, and; economy not yet attained iii California. It asserts that late journals published in the quartz mining regions of Australia, and correspondents writing from Australia to California for information, make the frank y . admission that California is ahead of Australia, both in her machinery and Her processes. The; Press further ' says that California machinery is being introduced in Aust] alia, in the confident belief in its superiority. The special illustration offered in behalf of Australian economy in quartz mining was obtained from the report of MrHopkins, engineer of the felack Hill Mining Company, "who stated that His Company was making a profit from quartz that yielded only two dollars per ton. This quartz, says the Press, is a large mass of decomposed outcrop, wliicli is T put through tlie null at the rate of about four tons a day. to the stamp. Thousands of tons of sucKf rock, taken from the old 'dump piles' about Grass Valley, Have been cruslied at the same rate, and at no greater cost ■'• than is required for the 'Black Hill ore. , "Mr Attwood, anotHer skilful engineer, and an old Grass Valley miner, with his associates, is now putting up a 40-stairip mill on a mine hear Lincoln, almost identical; in cHaracter with the' Black Hil-mine in Australia, which he will guarantee will crush as much astHe 60-stamp mill of the Australian Company. : ; lii fact r a 5. stamp mill:already on ;the mine, has for a long time been., crusliiiig . at the rate of over 30 tons per day— a much greater duty, per stanip, than is being obtained from; the wonderful Australian machinery, about which so much Has been said.; The Austaalian Company^ pay 98 cents per ton for taking out and deHverihsf their rock at the miU. Mr Attwood has let a contract for taking out and delivering his ore at; the mill for 40 cents per ton, 250 tons to be delivered daily, and He will crush it or

j can let a contract for having it done, at ! an expense of 40 cents more, against 01 j cents, the reported, cost of the Australian Company ! It will thua be seen that tlie Calif ornian Company can make a Hand- | some profit out of their mine, at a yield i pur ton which would run the famous Australian Black mill in debt at the rate of 1000 dollars per week ! ! We presume that it is the calculation of Mr Attwood to work this mine with Cliinese labor, which can be obtained Here as c'.uap as white labor can be had in Australia." The report of of A. Ilamond to the Geological Survey, upon the quartz mine* of tlie Toulume and the Maripoaa districts, -which was alluded to in the Bulletin Home time ago, shows that the Adelaide Company crushes and amalgamates at a cost of only 75 cents per ton, and gives a list of numerous other mills at which the cost of .crushing ranges from 1 dollar to 1 dollar 50 cents per' ton. The Adelaide rock is said to be but slightly decomposed, while that of most of the mines referred to is tlie ordinary white quartz. FurI thermore, the general facilities for econo- ! mical mining are not equal in the districts named to those of some others in California. The report of Mr Remond for the entire State, and the forthcoming report of the Assessor of Nevada comity, will afford valuable and reliable data for opinion on this interesting subject.