The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-03-06
From the Pacific News, Nov. 80. ]
Mr.. Wr1ghts specimens and inrest,gations.

Inc OoId-Beaflng quartz OfCalfOrnIa.
] IN our last publication, we alluded briefly
to the interest which had been excited here
by the exhibition of some fine specimens of
gold bearing quartz, said TO be found ia in
exhaus;lble masses or quarries through the
whole mountain region which forms the
western slope Of the Sierra Nevada. We
have since had an opportunity ofexamining
these specimens, and of learning, more mi
nuteiy, the charater of the rock; the tests to
which it had been subjected. aud the results
which it has given. We desire to avoid all
exaggerated statements upon subject IN re-
! card TO which the attention of the world is
/ already su Efficiently awakened; yet we deem
it not too much to say, that the facts thus
Indicated in regard 10 the character anu
structure of this vast mountain range, ap-
pear to US altogether to surpass, in impGr-
tance, any previous discoveries in the gold
region, which have yet been made public.
We are glad to learn that the whole subject
will very soon be brought, in an authentic
shape, TO the attention Of the public, in the
/ form of full and comprehensive report TO
the Department of State at w ashington, by
| the Hon. Il. Butler King. AS early as June
last, Mr.. King devoted two entire months
to laborious exploration of the whole re-
gon, and fully matured his conclusion in re-
gard to it. His labors were interrupted by
a severe and protracted illness, but his re-
port will now soon be completed, and will
doubtless, we trust, reach Washington be-
fore the discussions upon the ca ifornia
question shall have come up in Con;res -
We hazard nothing in saying that tae facts
and views to he set forth in the report will
command public attention and interest, to
an extent, almost, if not altogether unexam-
pied by any similar document In Calfor-
MIA, we await its publication with impa-
tience. Mr.. King, we learn, will take to
| Washington with him, full collection Of
specimens of the gold formation, both pure
and in union with the quartz, which will
fully illustrate and demonstrate, with almost
mathematical clearness, his theory of the
gold region of California.
The particular specimens which we have
seen of these quariz-mOuntain quarries, are
in the possession of Mr.. Wright, one of the
members of Congress elect from California,
who will take them on TO Washington in the
steamer of the ist of December; They
consist for the most part Of small pieces Of
quartz rock, generally of a brownisH tinge,
and in some instances, presenting the appear
ance Of slight incpient decay, or ,iecom
position of the rock formation. In al these
specimens, the gold points, or particles, are
very slightly, if at all, visible to the naked
gold more clearly. Besides these pieces
which MIR. Wright has himself selected
with great care, as the fairest average sam
plies of the general appearance Of enormous
and very numerous veins or qua,ries Of
quartz, there is also one large fragment Of
the same rock, weighing we should suppose
some ten or twelve pounds, fror1 all parts
of which the gold protrudes plainly, in a
state almost pure. This single fragment of
quartz, which Mr.. Wright by no means re-
CARDS as an average sample of the qqarries,
but which he pronounced to be the .richest
rock specimen he has seen, is found by the
most careful specific gravity test as applied
to it by Mr.. Wright, to contain pure gold
to the amount of about SIX hundred dollars.
This piece of rock, we understand from
Mr.. Wright, is destined TO be- laid (as me-
mortal from the California mountains, we
suppose) upon the table Of the speaker of
the House of Representatives. Its appeal,
we think will be needed.
! But the interest or importance attaching
to this or to any other single and isolate
fragment specimen, however peculiar aud
curious and rich in itself, is very slight, and
even inconsiderabe, in comparison 10 that
which belongs to the more numerous frag-
ments Of quartz, in which very iiHl* gold
or none can be discerned by the nakSd eye,
and which have been cautiously selected by
Mr.. Wright on the spot, as the fairet aver
age specimens of wnole veins and qllarres
said to sweep visibly in sinuous and broken
lines the whole western slope of thetSierra
Nevada, and to form VAST masses of:moun-
tain rock, large and numerous enoagh to
freight many times over all the navias and
commercial marines in the world, Mr..
Wright has spent, he informs US, much OF
the past season among the mountains col
lecting his samples of quartz in different lO-
calities, and subjecting the yield of gold from
them, in very many instances, to the most
rigorous tests.
In all these experiments Mr.. Wright has
been guided by the skill and judgment OF
Mr.. Augustus Leland, a gentleman largely
conversant with mining operations. and who
has been from the first equally interested
r with Mr.. Wright in all researches which
have been made.
The astonishing result brought out by
these Investigations is that in particular
and very extensive vein, four pounds of this
rock yielded upon the average eleven dol
lars worth of pure gold, valued at sixteen
dollars to the ounce. That is TO say, the
yleI0 OF gOId from tncse average Samples Ot
rock in this particular vein, is nearly three
dollars for each pound of quartz MIR.
Wright exhibited to US TWO small masses oi
gold, each about the size and shape of a
large musket ball, and both presenting the
granulated appearance of gold extracted and
collected by the aid of quicksilver One ol
these contains about twelve dollars of pure
f gold, and is the largest yield winch hos beer
: obtained from four pounds Of the rock from
: the vein in question. The other cIntain.
: about twelve dollars, and is the shalles
: yield which has been obtained from any o.
: the experiments upon the rock of this vein
We understand that the tests applied have
been sometimes the operation ofquicksilver
and sometimes the test of the comparative
specific gravity of the pure quartz and the
golj-bearing quartz. The samples of the
: rock which Mr.. Wright has tested, hav,
been taken from many different veins. II
: no sample tested has the yield been less tha,
. one dollar to the pound of quartz. rh'
e average yield Of the different veins ha
a been, as determined by the samples, from
: one dollar and q half to two dollars TO th'
G pound Of rock. ,rs. t.
e A single fact will show the unheard O