Book Description

Excerpt from Hittel on Gold Mines: And Mining of California In quartz mining the auriferous rock is ground to a very fine powder, the gold in which is caught in quicksilver, or on the rough surface of a blanket, over which the fine material is borne by a stream of water. About two-thirds of our gold is obtained from the placers, and one-third from the quartz. A mine is defined and generally understood to mean "a subterraneous work or excavation for obtaining metals, metallic ores or mineral substances;" but this definition does not apply to our placer mines, which are places where gold is taken from diluvial or alluvial deposits. Most of the work is not subterraneous; it is done in the full light of day. In some of the claims the pay-dirt lies within two feet of the surface; in others it lies much deeper, but all the superincumbent matter is swept away. Water is the great agent of the placer miner; it is the element of his power jits amount is the measure of his work, and its cost is the measure of his profit. With an abundance of water he can wash every thing; without water he can do little or nothing. Placer mining is almost entirely mechanical, and of such a kind that no accuracy of workmanship or scientific or literary education is necessary to mastery in it. Amalgamation is a chemical process it is true, but it is so simple that after a few days experience, the rudest laborer will manage it as well as the most thorough chemist. It is impossible to ascertain the amount of gold which has been taken from the mines of California. Records have been kept of the sums manifested at the San Francisco Custom House, for exportation, and deposited for coinage in the mints of the United States; and there is also some knowledge of the amounts sent in bars and dust to England; but we have no account of the sums carried by passengers to foreign countries and coined elsewhere than at London, or used as jewelry, or of the amount now in circulation in this state. According to the books of the Custom House of San Francisco, the sums manifested for export were as follows: In 1849, $4,921,250; in 1850, $27,676,346; in 1851, $42,582,695; in 1852, $46,586,134; in 1853, $57,331,034; in 1854, $51,328,653; in 1855, $45,182,631; in 1856, $48,887,543; in 1857, $48,976,697; in 1858, $47,548,025; in 1859, $47,640,462; in 1860, $42,303,345; in 1861, $40,639,089; a total of $551,603,904 in twelve years. The exportation of gold commenced in 1848, but we have no record of the sums sent away in that year. Previous to 1854 very large sums were carried away by passengers, who gave no statement at the Custom House; since that year, the manifests show the exportation correctly within a few, millions. I am entirely satisfied that the total gold yield of California has been not less than seven hundred millions of dollars; but I have not room here to state the reasons for this opinion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.