SOME FACTS ABOUT QUARTZ MINING IN CALIFORNIA.

Southland Times, Issue 640, 6 March 1867, Page 3

SOME FACTS ABOUT QUARTZ MINING IN CALIFORNIA.

(From the San Francisco Bulletin.) Although great successes in mining are exceptional, the exceptions in California are becoming 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 luckyTuba county miner, whose net receipts ■were 102,011 dollars. The largest income in [Nevada county is that of Jules Fricot, which was 182^511 dollars. This is 71,000 dollars in excess of the largest income returned in San Francisco by one of the heaviest banters, 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 Bipert and Pralus, partners of Fricot, whose incomes amounted to over 91,000 dollars each, Full returns from the principal mining centres of the State would furnish many similar examples of 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 ont of the princely incomes realised during the last century from the mines ii Mexico and South America, and are th< more remarkable when we consider ho^ disproportionate they are to the amoun invested in the mines which producec taem, compared with the amount investec "in the banking, commercial, and rea estate operations, which yield smaller re turns in the great cities. Some of th< enormous banking capitals of th< country, for instance, reaching fron 2,000,000 to 10,000,000 dollars, anc some of the heaviest railroad invest ments, reaching sums even higher, do no yield as much profit as some quart: mines which represent a capital expendi ture of from 100,000 to 500,000 dollars only.

ever obtained in the palmiest days of the 1 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, quarts mining is begining 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 accout 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 terri- j tory, is certainly very great, and so long as the tendency to speculation and ex- j travagant expenditure is restrained, per- 1 sons 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 is a permanent industry, which developes other industrios, creates new fields for labor, stimulates science and mechanics, opens a wider market for for agricultural and manufactured products, and encourages settlement. To this element chiefly are we indebted for the favorable reaction in the interior counties which has bean 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 mining intelligently and carefully are public benefactors, and we can read with satisfaction of their aood fortunes. A further evidence of the permanent character of the gold quartz interest is furnished by the anxious efforts making to ascertain the minimum cost of manipulating the 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 low-priced 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 Scientific Press of San 3Traneisco, doubts the statements made not along ago to the effect that quartz mining in Australia has reached a perfection in point of system and economy not yet attained in 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 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 Australia, 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 Mr Hopkins, engineer of the Black 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, which is put through the mill at the rate of about four tons a day to the stamp. Thousands of tons of such rock, taken from the old ' dump piles ' about Grass Valley, have been crushed 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 Valey miner, with his associates, is now putting up a 40-stamp mill on a mine near Lincoln, almost identical in character with the Black Hill mine in Australia, which he will guarantee will crush as much as the 60-stamp mill of the Australian Company; in fact, a 5-stamp ; mill already on the mine has for a long time been crushing at the rate of over 30 ' tons per day — a much greater duty, per stamp, than is being obtained from the wonderful Australian machinery, about which so much .has been said. The Australian Company pay 98 cents per ton for taking out and delivering their rock at . the mill. 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 ■ can let a. contract for having it done, at L an expense of 40 cents more, against 61 P cents, the reported cost of the Australian Company! It will thus be seen j that the Californian Company can make a handsome profit out of their mine, at a f yield per ton which would run the famous r Australian Black mill in debt at the rate [of 1000 dollars per week ! ! We presume [ that it is the calculation of Mr Attwood k to work this mine with Chinese labor, which can be obtained here as cheap as white labor can be had in Australia." 3 The report of A. Eamond to the ? G-eological Survey, upon the quartz mines 1 of the Toulume and the Mariposa dis--3 tricts, which was alluded to in the " Bul--7 letin " some time ago, shows that the * Adelaide Company crushes and amali gamates at a cost of only 45 cents per i ton, and gives a list of numerous other -I mills at which the cost of crushing '- ranges from 1 dollar to 1 dollar 50 cents c per ton. The Adelaide rock is said to b be but slightly decomposed, while thai 1 of most of the mines referred to is the i ordinary white quartz. [Furthermore. - the general facilities for eeonomica] t mining are not equal in the districts z named to those of some others in California. The report of Mr Eemond foi 8 the entire State, and the forthcoming re, port of the Assessor of Nevada county,