Volcano weekly ledger., 1855-12-01
Kern River Mines.


of Tulare and seventy-fve miles distant from
Visalia the county seat of said county.
Leaving Vsalia, the first mining locality on
your way to Greenhorn is White River
Here are some sixty or seventy miners, who
are apparently doing well In our converse
ton with them they expressed themselves sat
isfed with the result of their summers labor
and fair prospect for winter operations. No
very extensive discoveries however, have been
made here. Passing on from this point, al
ternate belts of arid plains and rich alu-
vial bottoms are crossed, until you arrive at
the foot hills of the Serras, when a mile or
so brings YOU into the Burnt District as it is
very appropriately called The foot hills are
thickly covered with dwarfish underbrush
which continues to diminish as you gain the
summit the exhausted condition Of your horse
admonshes you of the necessity Oft breathing
spell" But little shrubbery or vegetation Of
any kind here greet the eye, and what little
there is seems to be struggling to support n
miserable existence, diminutive in size, thinly
dispersed over the hills, and partaking of the
hue of the ashy colored earth, giving to the
scene Immediately around you a barren and
desolate appearance, and you are obliged men,
tally to exclaim, What could live here ~
The descent is long, and in several places
dangerous, until You arrive at the bottom,
when on inquiry your position is aScertained
to be the veritable Greenhorn Gulch Here,
on looking around you find an immense noun
tain gorge covered in all visible directions
with huge granite boulders, of a crumbling
and decayed appearance, with an occasional
opening in the walls of this chasm, which lead
to extensive subterranean chambers, similar
in character to those found in the primitive
limestone formations Of Amador and Calaye-
ras counties To us, these formed most in
teresting object, as these dark recesses pre-
sent subterranean world, whose treasures
are a subject of deep reflection and some CON
lecture to the wise, and of laborious and adj
yantageous exertion to the industrious and
miner In these caves have been
some of the richest deposits in that
district The ore is more valuable in market, |
and as it appeared to us, been subject to at
triton in higher degree than that extracted
from the bed of the river
The mines are known to extend about fifty
miles north and south, and some twenty in
width. About ten miles east of Greenhorn,
this barren, ashy colored surface is superseded
by a deep red soil, with clay and slate beds,
and a vigorous growth Of redwood or noun
tain cedar and pine.
There are about five hundred personsin all
in these mines, the most Of whom are doing
paying business. The diggings, aside from
the streams, may De denomnated surface"
and so far as we could judge from informa-
alton gathered from the miners of that sec
ton, they will compare fayorably with any
other new diggings in the State. 1t is true,
the district is but just pIospected, and
miners supplies are high, and at times diff
cult to obtain, but we think there is no doubt
that with the facilities for working the indus
trious miner will find these mines much more
profitable than many Of the crowded placers
Of the north But with all these disadvan-
tages, and all that can be said against them,
the discovery of these mines has undoubtedly
unlocked an immense source of wealth to the
State, and opened up an extended field for
rcniuneratiye labor Among our energetic
and ever money-making citizens, capital is
constantly seeking new sources of profitable
investment and to those who choose to be-
come interested, the numerous Quartz mines
OF Kern River present field for the employ
ment of capital at once safe, active and re-
munerative in high degree. A year or two
perhaps may pass, before the mines are ex-
tensively occupied, but we are satisfied that
the time is not far distant when this whole
section shall be occupied, and the sound of
the pick and shovel will be heard from out
every gorge and canon, and thousands will
present themselves at the streams, in the gulch-
es and on the mountain tops, to claim from
mother earth the rich inheritance which she
is ever ready to yield up to her worthy and
industrious sons.
The belts of sand and alluvium before re-
ferred to, the Deltas," together with the re-