San Andreas independent., 1858-02-13
LETTER FROM SAN ANTONIO.
san ANTONIO. Feb. 9th. 1853.

/ MR.. EDITOR :-Ihe green fields and
warm sunshine of February being admi.
rably adapted to the business, I have ven.
tured on tourof exploration through the
somewhat secluded mining precincts loca-
ted along the San Antonio and Calaveri-
tas ridges, commencing at Railroad Hill,
and terminating at that renowned politi-
cal myth, Bunty's Gulch, which latter
seems to indicate the eastern verge of the
gold belt between these two streams.
In company with an excellent friend,
thoroughly acquainted with every claim
on the ridge, your correspondent COM
menced his explorations with examining
the claim of Messrs. Bachelor, Whitlock,
knight d Palmer, located on the south
side of Railroad Hill. These gentlemen
have been engaged in drifting tunnel
through very hard slate ledge, for more
than year; lately they suspended this
operation and resorted to hydraulic wash
ing; but owing to the extreme cold of the
water, they. have suspended this also, for
month or SO, when they will resume
Their prospect is good for a paying claim
that will last from five to ten years.
On the northeast side of the same hill
is located the original Railroad Claim,
first tested by yourfellow -townsman, Judge
Garretsee, and now owned by Messrs.
Cooper, Early & Ferguson. They have
run in principal drift 80 feet, from
which they have branched off in many
directions, finding ground that pays wages
wherever they have drifted. The main
lead of pay dirt appears to be about IS or
80 feet wide, with an average depth of 1
feet. In many spots they obtain 81 to
the pan. This, of course, is not to be
taken as average dirt; but from the best
information obtained, conclude that they
realize from Sc to sl0per day to the man
They cannot possibly work out their ground
inside of five years. The ledge here, as
in fact all along this ridge, is hard,
jagged slate; and the paying stratum of
gravel covering it, is quite hard, but dis
solves very readily, when exposed to the
air for short time.
The next claims of any considerable
Importance above Railroad Hill, are on
Hope Hill, half mile farther up. The
entire hill is claimed, and every claim is
paying large wages, though none of them
shell out such fabulous piles as are some-
times mentioned in some of our northern
newspapers. The tunnels all open to-
wards the southeast and east, and are
worked by the following companies =
Messrs. Newman & Co.; Flagg d Vim
chester; Pierce & Co.; and Burnham &
Brant. aeEt a ~fEY
Most of these gentlemen having been
engaged drifting here for year or more,
the {" "inards . of Hope Hill are not SO
hopeful as erewhile they were, though
not yet, by any means, abandoned to des-
pair. From the unbroken quiet of the
upper world, one would not suppose that
within fifty feet from the surface where
he walks, there was labyrinth of tun-
ncls, covering more than anacre of space,
as complicated in it's windings as the
"Cretan Labyrinth of old, - rcsounding
with the din of human labor, night and
day, and contributingannually to the cur
rency of the world, more than S125, 600.
One of the kind and obliging proprie-
tors of the Newman claim showed us
through all these claims; and it is my
opinion that there is no better mining
property in this county than Hope Hill.
They make no "large strikes but they
have ten years work before them, that
will pay large wages every day; and about
this there is scarcely doubt, as it is ev-
erywhere prospected, though compare
lively but little worked. In one drift we
were shown a spot cut out to the right of
the car-track about feet long, by three
feet wide, from which, to pay current ex-
penses, the proprietors OF one OF these
claims had panned out over 5000. In
many spots they obtain as much as So to
the pan; and anywhere on the lead, which
is over 100 feet wide, they can raise from
so cents to 81 to the pan. This, how
ever, the reader will understand, is only
on particular stratum of dirt, above and
below which it is not so rich. In one
place, where several miners were at work,
piece of red-colored dirt, as large as ga
pound of soap," was handed us for in
spection. 1t was literally covered with
gold, and must have contained at least
s.. so. e ~ qiA
About two weeks ago, in the claim of
Pierce & Co., on this hill, young man
was quito seriously injured by the falling
of a spall of dirt from the top of the drift;
though it was not more than two feet above
his head, and there was nota wheel-barrow
load of dirt struck him, he is disabled for
year and perhaps for life.
Leaving Hope Hill, we passed eastward
up the ridge towards San Antonio, all the
way in sight of the San Antonio Water
Ditch, which supplies this section of the
county with water. The water of this
ditch is clear as crystal, and extremely