Calaveras chronicle., 1851-11-08

MINING - THE SrECRBs.-We took /,
a stroll through the different tiggings in
the suburbs Of our city Oh Tuesday last, !
when we examined all the different
modes of digging now being prosecuted
here. Having visited that part Of Stock
ton Hill which created such a fnrore on
Monday afternoon last, we examined
the claim which originated it. The
company owning the claim numbers ten
persons. They had sunk shaft some
sixty feet into the hill, hen they struck
water, and at the same ;me gold-the
latter, however, not in such large de-
posites as was at first supposed, the
cart paying only five bits to three buck
cts, or, at the rate of about seVenty-tive
cents per sack. The gentlemen com
posing this company, have now two
fold object in view Water being very
scarce in the town, and commanding
fair price, they have commenced tunnel
ing the hill, in hope of obtaining suffi-
cient supply for all ordinary purposes
during the dry season; while, at the
same time, should the earth pay them
for working, they will continue their
mining operations.
On the Eastern slope of this same
hill, which has already yielded so enor-
mously, work is still being prosecuted
to good advantage. Gold was first dis
covered in this part Of the hill by par
ty of three gentlemen from New York,
who had been here only few weeks.
They worked six weeks, taking out
over ten thousand dollars from their
claim; when, supposing it worked out
they sold to another party for two thou
sand dollars. These again found the
lead, and are supposed to have taken
out upwards of twenty thousand dollars,
although, they have not for want of wa
ter, washed all the earth excavated.
Miners who have worked here long
time estimate that three millions of gold
dust have been taken from the Eastern
slope of Stockton Hill.
We descended into one Of these rich
holes to a depth of about one hundred
feet, and found that the gold was prin-
cipally embedded, or incrusted in spe-
cies of flinty, copperas colored lava,
which is SO hard that heavy sledges
must be used to break it up. The gold
is very pretty and coarse, being seldom
found in pieces of less than twenty-five
coptc IN yx,o1uht NJ IL
very remarkable feature in the soil as
we descended this shaft: at distance of
about fifteen feet from the surface, the
whole Of the outer coating Of the hill
has slid downward from twelve to eigh-
teen inches toward the flats below
This is observable in nearly all the holes
on that side Of the hill The best argu-
ment we have heard advanced to ac-
count for this slide is, that the great
amount Of cayotaing which has been
done in the hill, has so weekend the
natural support of the surface, that its
immense Weight is gradually bearing it
down to the valley. In view of this we
would urge upon the miners to use the
most extreme caution in their under
ground operations. When the ground
becomes saturated with water by the
rains, they should be more particularly
careful, in order to prevent many acci-
dents tl.at would no doubt occur by ill
advised descents into shafts that are not
well timbered up.
The flats at the foot of this and other
hills in the vicinity, will all pay we'll
when the rains set in. There are a
great many claims staked off in them,
and the owners of some are so confident
of their richness that they have refused
large prices for their interests.
COUNTY ADVERTISEMENTS. Ts.-We have on
file at present number of public notices,
sent in to us for publication by Judge
Smith, the County Judge They are of
some Importance, too, but zoe cannot afford