English and Foreign.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 352, 15 March 1856, Page 3

English and Foreign.

CALIFORNIA. KXTIIA-OHDINARY Goi.D DrSCOVEEY. The Democratic Slate Journal (Sacramento) Oct. 29th, publishes the following account of an extraordinary gold discovery in tht southern mining districts of California. A new gold fever has seized the people of Tuolumne countrj and the southern mining districts. If we may credit the sfttemente of the Union Democrat and Sonora Herald, a discovery more wonderful than any that struck the world with amazement in 1848 and 1849, has been made recently n*ar Sonora. The heads of the cautious traders of Sonora, who have lived safely, through a hundred gold fevers, seem fairly to be turned by the new excitement. Table Mountain, which has been almost undisturbed by the miners during the last five years is the scene of the discovery. Some enterprising man, while cutting a tunnel, has found that the mountain' was, at some ancient day, a bed of a stream, and that it contains gold in unprecedented quantities. The Democrat says;—" Table Mountain makes its first appearance in Calaveras country, traversing which it crosses the Stanislaus river near Abbeby's Ferry, about seven miles from Sonora. Nearing Columbia, Springfield, and Shaw's flat, it passes Sonora, leaving Jamestown, and Montezuma to the east, and pursuing a south-east, serpentine course in a bold and well defined line, from three hundred to one thousand feet wide at the summit, it again strikes the Stanislaus at Burn's Ferry. On the other side of the river it extends into Amador countiy —a spur on this side of the stream reaching as far down as Dent's Ferry. Spurs also project from the main mountain a', several other places. Originally, only a portion in this neighbourhood was called Table Mountain, from its peculiar formation and resemblance to a table. But the general characteristics of the mountain aie much the same —its abrupt basaltic walls rising up from one hundred to seven hundred i'eet in height. '1 he surface, or shell, is generally covered with scoria, evidently the result of volcanic action." Amongst the extraordinary statements made in regard to the good fortune which has already" attended the investigations of the miners, we find the following fiom the Democrat i—" One hundred square feet of this dirt, which has been lately worked, was fourd to contain over one hundred thousand dollars ! The gold is of the richest and purest description, selling here at eighteen dollars and a quarter per ounce, and yielding at the mint nineteen dollars. Numerous tunnels and shafts are now being driven into it in search of its hidden treasures. Several parties near Jamestown, and on the .Mormon Creek side of the mountain, have been perseveringly engaged in tunnelling operations with considerable. and, in some instances, complete success. In February last, or about that time, a shaft was sunk in Caklwell's garden, cm Shaw's Flat, a mile ti\.d a half from Sonora, which led to further expirations and much additional prospecting. The claim of Mr. Caldwell proved exceedingly rich, so that cveiy foot of ground in the vicinity-w. Bat once* staked "off and c'a:med, and there is now one co.-.tiuuous line of shafts, extending for nearly a mile, which are being thoroughly woiked, ail proving rich and productive beyond precedent i» this region. From the present yield, it is a low estimate K> say that the mountain from this city to Burn s I<\. lT} —twenty live miles -contains at least one "hundred" millions of gold dust. I lie Sonora Herald publishes the Mlowim: sU enients: - Many claims are turning o««- « is reported, from two to seven pounds ot gold'per day, and the miners do not «erk

very hard at that. We have been told bj' many who saw that buckets full of dirt are taken out that would average a pound of gold to a pint of dirt. These statements are not made for the purpose of exciting the public mind, but are actual facts as they really exist. Wherever the miners have succeeded n penetrating the interior of the mountain, they tiud the precious inttal in vast quantities—almost too vast for credence, were it not amply corroborated by ocular proof. In places for more than seven miles of its length, rich prospects have been obtained. We prophecy that ere many months have elapsed, hidden wonders will be brought to light from the dark depths of Table Mountain, which will astonish the ■world."