The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1850-11-30
The CliiS9. ma Mines.

Evening PicaVune OF Thai CITY is cor
rect and impartial statement. I'D. H"g
rnE MiNrs.-I'e consider every fact
connected with tie progress and modes
OF the development OF the mines, as IN
vested with the greatest interest to the
community The present prosperity oil
every branch of industry and business
pu,sued by our population. is Immediate
iv afflicted by the success or failure attend
ING mining operations; and the future
,roepects ol our foreign commerce aud
domestic trade depend almost entirely
upon the certainty regularity, and extent
OF the products OF gold from the MINING
regions.
During the current year, there has pro-
babIy been more than twice the amount
OF labor expended in mining operations
OF any previous Year since the gold dis
covery; but we have reason TO believe;
that the product evolved up to he pre-
sent time, has not been one half as great as
that OF the last year at the same date IN
the season. A very large proportion OF
tnp'time and labor that have been thus tar
expended, have been employed in dam
miug and canna,ing operations, prePara-
tory TO gathering Of the deposits, IN the
beds of the rivers, which il has been be-
lieved would be laid bare by such means
1t is difficult to form any adequate idea,
but from actual observation, oI the extent
and magnitude of these works, or 10 ar
rive ct any just estimate, but by personal
intercourse wlh the parties concerned,
OF the enormous expenses attending them.
From our onu observation sand enquiries
in the course of recent excursions up some
of the principal rivers tributary to The
Sacramento and to the san Joaquin, we
JUDGE it would be much below actual
numbers could they be definitely asctr-
tatnad, to say that twenty I'VE thousand
men have been employed at least SIX
months Of the present year, IN these works
preparatory to taking the gold expected
10 Dc reached thereby. Their expenses
for TODD, cioinog, Implements, &c, can
MOI have been less than three dollars per
nan daily. These expenses have been
It for the most part, by advances made
b. the traders eSta bished IN the vicinity
O the operations prosecuted, and upon
tie credit Ut the works in hand. All,
| h operatives and creditors, seem to
h ye been inspired with unwaverlng hope
a. confidence, thai rich results would
b. certain to reward them before the close
ei he season. Few, however, OF all the
d. inning and canalllng enterprises that
have been entered upon his year, had
been completed or rendered in the least
productive, when the sudden and uhex-
., cted frrshet OF about the last OF Sep
telnbel, swept away, on every river from
the Yuba on the moth, to Kings River at
the south, almost the entire work of the
season. We have not been able 10 learn
oil more than two or three dams that hav"
not been so perfectly destroyed, as to
render it certain that no attempts at re-
construction will be ,.aGe this season.
Thus by the swell OF the mountain tor
rents OF a few hours continuance, aSrsater
amount of property or OF capital invested
in miniag enterprises has been totally
annihllated, than all which has been lost
by the fire. or the floods that have spread
their devastations through the cities OF
California. The loss to the parties con-
coined has been absolutely ilreparable.
No. one thousand OF all tina! have devoted
the whole OF the summer aud autumn to
preparations for croWning harvest DUR
ing the present month, will have paid
their expenses Of living, TO say nothing OF
the irrecoverable loss OF time aid labor.
> he inland traders who have given The
eredi, on which this class OF miners have
ben enabled to 90 on, will find 1t in most
cases, We believe, utterly Impossible to
meet their obligations, this year at least,
IN the city merchants who have trusted
them; and consequently every interest in
the community viii, we lear, soon ieel
the effects OF the calamity.
The primary sufferers have, however, a
large proportion Of them at least, gone to
work 10 get out gold by the cheap and
only process left to their choice, that OF
washing the deposits which are accessible,
bv the use OF the Burke Rocker, the COM
mon cradle, md the pan. II rs hoped and
believed that most Of them will be able by
such means, to make sufficient to deiray
their current expenses, and in addition to
that acquire the means OF laying IN their
winters supply of provisions. -,
Some new modes OF mining and gold
washing have been adopted during the past
year, which in our opinion, promise the
best results. What is called he Cayota
mining is a very sensible aud profitable
mode. THIS mode was first introduced
Lv some Cornish miners, and they pro-
ceeded very inteIIig-ntIy to work TAX
ina for true the Obvious theory to account
for the formation Of bars on the shores OF
the rivers, they correctly judged that be-
low the junction OF the guIches or ravlnes
that descend from the mountain sides 10
the river, the heaviest and richest deposits
OF gold washed down throus such ra-
,inns womb lie nearest 10 the original