The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-06-24
California Setter.
MICHIGAN BLUFF, CALIFORNIA, }
May 18th, 1857. :
II. S. KNAPP, ESQ

IL ARAPP, ISQ.-
SIR After having been deprived of
the pleasure of communicating with my
friends verbally, accept with inexpress-
ible joy, an opportunity of conversing
through the medium of that instrument
"mightier than the sword" viz: the
pen. Having learned from the columns
Of the "Ashland Ualon," that you had
resumed your station as editor and pro-
prietOr of said paper, 1 take great pleas
ure in congratulating you upon your re-
turn to the front rank" of the Democ-
racy of my own native county.
Michigan Bluff is situated about sew
enty miles N. q. of Sacramento, and
thirty miles N. F.. of Album, in the Gen.
tre of one of the best mining districts in
the State. This mining locality is on the
divide between the middle and North
forks of the American river. The only
impediment to a pretty general success
in working the mines here, is the search
ty of that important element called wa
ter. Water here is not only insufficient
to supply present demands, but is sold at
such exorbitant prices that many claims
that would pay well whitewater at rea-
sonable price, cannot made to pay eva
ges and water MONEY" Water is sold at
prices ranging from so to rs cents for
washing with "hydraulic" which is the
principal manner ofworking all claims ex-
cept "river claims"and drifting claims"
1t generally requires from 2 to hands
to work "hydraulic " claim, and of
course it has to "pay big" to pay
wages and other expenses. A lydraul-
ic is rigged by placing fume up
on hill side. and running leFel until
sufficient altitude is obtained, which
varies from few feet 10 $50 #. or more
barrel os tank is placed at the base of
the fumes, which conveys the water into
hose, with tin pipe and brass nozzle
to the lower end, through which the wa
ter is forced against the bank of earth
with such force as to cause it to cave,
and wash into the sluices with great
rapidity. Drifting claims are those sit
uated in the hills where the top dirt is
too deep to pay for washing off, the pay
being chiefly on the bed rock. Those
claims are worked during the dry season
by drifting out the dirt next to the bed
rock, after which it is conveyed from the
drift through tunnel on car or wheel
barrow, or ,hoisted up through a shaft
in tub, drawn up by horsepower or
steam engine. Great Improvements are
being made every year in the facilities
for extracting the gold from dirt and
quartz. First gold washing was carried
on by means of rocker and pan, next in
troduced into use was the long-tem, next
sluicipg was made an important system
of mining, and finally the hydraulic hose
was introduced, which is now the prin-
cipal manner of washing gold.
Many discoveries have been made and
are still being made in quartz mining,
both for prospecting the quartz ledges
and extracting the gold therefrom.-
Many quartz mills are now in successful
operation, some of which have from so
to 100 stampers each weighing from 800
to 1000 Tbs. and crushing 200 or 800
tons per day. There is scarcely any end
to the gold bearing quartz of this coun-
try, and it is my opinion that when ma
chinery is brought to bear properly, and
the price of labor reduced little from
present rates, that quartz mining will be
the most extensive and profitable branch
of mining in the State. The principal
quartz mining is. carried on in Nevada,
Placer, Eldorado and Amandor counties,
all of which have mills that are paying
well.
It was thought by many few years
ago that the mines were about worked
over, but such is not the case, the re-
sources of the mines are only beginning
to be developed. It is now a notorious
fact that the most of the mining grounds
) in California will pay for working al
: : least three times; such is the case with
:. hill diggings at least, first they are
drifted, next "sluiced off," otter which
good wages can be made by cleaning W
the bedrock, and finally the tailings viii
: pay good wages for washing. Claim.
here are paying well, averaging from s.
: to an ounce per day to the hand clea
1 of expenses, while working, not inclu
ding expenses incurred in preparing
claims to work. ...-
May 18th, 1857.
FRIEND KNAPP: have few NOR