Statewide County CA Archives History - Books .....Early Mining 1891
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com November 28, 2005, 7:26 pm

Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of Northern California

EARLY MINING.

  As would naturally be expected, the first devices adopted for washing and
collecting gold would, in a great measure, be imperfect and unsatisfactory, and
improvements would be constantly made. The first eager rush for the shining
treasure hurried the seeker on in so great haste that he could hardly take time
to invent apparatus or machinery. Therefore numbers of experiments were
introduced by thoughtful immigrants, but nearly all devised without practical
knowledge. Many excellent ideas were, however, obtained from men conversant with
the methods of other countries, and these suggestions assisted in unfolding one
method after another.

  In 1850 the "long tom" began to supplant the cradle, of which it formed
practically an extension, with a capacity five-fold and upward greater. This
apparatus was an inclined, stationary, wooden trough or box from ten to thirty
feet in length, a foot and a half wide at the upper end and widening at the
lower end, where perforated sheets of iron were let into the bottom, under which
was placed a shallow, flat riffle-box four or five feet long, with crossbars to
catch the running gold. Such bars were sometimes nailed also across the bottom
of the upper box to assist in catching the gold. Upon the mass of dirt shoveled
into this trough a continuous stream of water was permitted to flow from a pond
above. Other men below assisted in dissolving the dirt by stirring it with
shovels or forks and in removing gravel. The puddling-box obtained favor where
water was scanty and the clay tough. This was a box about six feet square
wherein the dirt could be stirred in the same water for some time, with a rake
and frequently with animal power. By removing a plug a few inches from the
bottom the muddy water could be run off and fresh water introduced.

  As an aid to the foregoing processes the quicksilver machine for saving fine
gold which the simple cross-bar failed to catch, was found of great utility. It
was a long rocker with perforated iron top throughout, above the riffle-box,
above each of whose bars some quicksilver was placed to absorb the gold, which
was regained by squeezing the mercury through buckskin and retorting its amalgam.

  But both of the above were replaced within two or three years by the more
effective permanent sluice, an extension of the torn, and either constructed of
boards, or as a simple inclined ditch, with rocks instead of wooden riffles for
retaining the gold. To the sluice and its auxiliary apparatus is due the immense
increase in the production of gold during the early mining period.

  Operations on river bars soon led to explorations of the bed itself, to which
end the stream was turned into artificial channels to lay bare the bottom. The
water was turned by wing-dams into flumes, which are usually cheaper than
ditches, owing to the rocky character of the banks. The flume current supplied
water for sluicing and power to pump the bed. Boulders were lifted by derricks.
At times the stream was confined to one-half of the bed while the other was
worked, and this operation was permitted in the dry season. The cost and risk of
deviating the river course caused the introduction of dredges with fair success,
the buckets of which discharged the dirt into huge rocker-riffles. Along the
northern coast of California the auriferous bluffs, worn away by the surf,
deposit very fine gold in the deep sand, which if carried away on mule-backs and
washed at the nearest stream.

  The saving effected by the rocker was four times that of the pan, and the tom
was about four times greater still, while the sluice was found to be three times
cheaper than the tom, reducing the cost to about thirty-five cents per cubic
yard. But even this price was too heavy to permit the mining of the largest
gold-bearing deposits with profit in the gravelly banks and hills, which had
moreover to be removed before richer underlying strata could be profitably worked.

  The celebrated hydraulic process was invented in 1853, to undermine and wash
down banks by directing against them a stream of water through a pipe, under
great pressure. The same stream did the work of a host of pick-men and
shovelers, and supplied the washing sluices so that in course of time, with
cheaper labor and machinery, the cost of extracting gold from a cubic yard of
gravel was reduced as low as half a cent, while the cost under the old rocker
system of 1848-'49 was estimated to cost several dollars. The year previous,
however, a Frenchman named Chabot used a hose without a nozzle upon his claim at
Buckeye Hill, Nevada County, to sluice away the gravel which had been loosed by
the pick; and a similar method is said to have been used at Yankee Jim's, the
same season. The water, of course, was obtained by damming the canon. After many
checks from lack of experience, the hydraulic system acquired in California a
greater expansion than in any other country, owing to the vast area of the
gravel-beds and the natural drainage provided by the Sierra Nevada slopes; but
an immense preliminary outlay was generally required in bringing water through
flumes, ditches and tunnels, sometimes for many miles. The official report for
1855 gave a total of 5,000 miles of canal in California for hydraulic mining,
costing $6,342,000. But on account of this process throwing down upon the
fertile valleys so great an amount of debris, called "slickens," thus rendering
valueless the most profitable horticultural and agricultural land in the State,
the Legislature of 1882 was prevailed upon to prohibit that method totally, and
accordingly since that time no hydraulic mining has been done. This legislation
of course depreciated the value of the mining districts, causing the towns and
camps to run down, the remaining residents to continue poor, while the people of
the valleys rejoice; and it is still a question with many whether the
prohibition will finally result in a net gain for the State. The main
consideration is that minerals are limited, while tanning and gardening are
supposed to be as lasting as the human race itself.

  Deep, timbered shafts were not common in placer mining, for the pay dirt was
seldom profitable enough to cover the expense; but for prospecting hills they
proved of value in determining the advisability and direction of a tunnel,
which, permitting easy drifting and offering a slight incline for drainage and
use of tramways, greatly reduced the cost of extracting the dirt. This method
had its beginning in California in the "coyote" burrowing of the Mexicans, and
in following gravel deposits under river banks. It did not assume the rank of a
distinct branch until 1852, when ancient river channels began to attract
attention. Fully half the early attempts resulted in failure, owiritf to
miscalculations and insufficient adjuncts. The first "extensive drift mining was
begun in 1852, at Forest Hill, Nevada, but the year previous J. McGillivray
drifted a claim at Brown Bar, on the middle fork of the American.

  Shaft and drift mining became more identified with quartz operations, which
already—in 1849—began to be regarded as a future main branch for mining. The
first quartz vein was discovered in Mariposa, on Fremont's grant, in 1849, the
reddish samples yielding two ounces to every twenty-five pounds. This discovery
was quickly followed by other developments along the gold belt, and in 1850 the
first mill was planted at Grass Valley. This was a "periphery" from the Eastern
States, brought here by Wittenbach, who. after working vainly on mica on the
American River in 1849, set it up at Grass Valley in the following year for Mr.
Wright. The second was an eight-stamp "Stockton" mill, with an engine of
sixteen-horse power, brought across the isthmus, and also erected by Wittenbach
for Mr. Wright. The development of quartz mining was so promising that the very
air became filled with wild rumors as to future operations and successes. Assay
upon assay demonstrated that California ore was ten to one hundred-fold richer
than well-paying lodes abroad, and explorations revealed that auriferous rock
existed throughout the State. But the extraction of gold from quartz at first,
on account of ignorance as to the best method of saving the small particles,
failed to yield more than two or three cents to the pound where assaying gave
twenty or thirty cents, and the reduction cost from $40 to $150 per ton, when it
should have been effected for $6 to $15. Also expensive works were often erected
in the vicinity of rich pockets, which were about cleaned out by other methods.
Hundreds were financially ruined, and quartz-mining fell into disrepute. A few,
however, persevered patiently until they attained success

  Those who found valuable nuggets were few as compared with the number who,
alighting on remunerative claims, took out fortunes from coarse and fine
pay-dirt. These especially formed the theme of anecdote and newspaper record,
all with the usual exaggeration. While Australia holds the palm for the largest
nugget found in modern times, California ranks second with a large number of
huge nuggets. The largest ever found in this State was from Calaveras, in
November, 1854, which weighed 161 pounds, less some twenty pounds for quartz,
which represented a sum of $30,000. Other remarkable finds are related elsewhere
in this volume. The best steady average of gold-dust was yielded perhaps by the
middle fork of the American River; and it was generally admitted that the steady
worker could show a far higher balance at the end of the year than the
prospectors and itinerant miners. In 1852 the average yield for each of the
100,000 men engaged in mining was only $600, while wages for common labor ruled
twice and three times higher.

  "Placer" mining consisted in collecting what gold could be conveniently
reached at or near the surface of the ground. The word is Spanish and is
pronounced plath-air in the mother tongue, but plass-er among English-speaking
people.

  The gold placers of the Sierra Nevada render possible the sudden acquisition
of wealth, as they also allure people into many successive years of expense and
toil without yielding a reward. Fortune is called the fickle goddess, and gold
is the most tickle of her representatives. Where gold may possibly be found is
easily told; but the quantity in the possible localities is exceedingly
variable. The drift of the glacial age directs where to find the placer, and the
vein of quartz contains it in place; but the drift may contain an infinitesimal
quantity only, and the quartz may be barren, but in either there are deposits of
wealth. Many, led on by strong desire and abounding hope, have sought for one of
these deposits ever since the discovery of gold in 1848, and it has continually
avoided their grasp; but others, favored by fortune, have struck upon them
unawares, gaining a large amount of wealth in a moment. These are called "rich
strikes," and they are widely published so that to a distant observer the
history of gold mining is made of brilliant successes, with all the industrious
miners rioting in wealth. But the greater number who toil year after year and
make no rich strike cannot be enumerated; their deeds are not of the exciting
character, and therefore they are not reported in the newspapers and do not
swell the pages of history. Bright points on a dark surface seen at a great
distance obscure the dark portion and make the whole appear bright.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/statewide/history/1891/memorial/earlymin108ms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/

File size: 12.7 Kb