New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-10-22

I'm Fn-sn these s,erssing 1t lesst swiee The ne
Of tie trees in any fores. ever aw elsewhere,
While tie Balsan ia just tie most shspely AID
graceful tree 90 esrtb-s1eh are the forests which
cover al but the snowy peaks Of tie mountains Of
CaliforrA Trees II 70 eight feet through are -
connon IN tie Sierra Nevada, and hear In re
Coas. Range also, ~ those three !, four feet II
diameter are (or were n tie pine forests 81 New
York and New. England. Consider that .hese ssnta
box down on the Cod Mines wherein very large
proportion Of the uOst active population 81 tbs
State mus. for sge, be employed, While the ssr-
cultural districx lie Just below them aud even TIE
,esbosrd cities are but /. days nde further, sod
the value Of these fcres. becomes apparent TIE
day il not dItAnt-ihere are those living who VII
zee it-vten what is bow California y II have spop-
uls.ion Of Three 10 siI Millions; thea ehs Die I'm
Der lands in the Sierra vii be worth more per sore
than would Dow be paid FOR farms u The rieaei'
valleys near San Frsncsco.
Tie timber q the lower hills and plains h
generally Osk-sbOrt bodied, vide spreading, aid
Of poor quality, ave for fuel, being trash tessiy
broken, Ike clay pipe stem, and not durable
The more common variety looks Ike the White
Oak found in New England psstures, but resemble.
il IN look. only Live Oak IL neIt 10 abundance
and also q poor article. Il has q smooth, dark
bark, short, crooked trunk, profusion Of good
for.nothing limbs, and small, deep green leaves,
which defy the frosx Of Winter. The trunk s
often bsrked BY Vsndals for tanning, leaving the
tree standing alive, bat certain 70 die. Block and
Rock Oak are found in some Of the mOuntsih
valleys, and seem 10 be Of fair quality. Large
Cotton wood and Sycamore line some Of the streams,
but very ,psrinsly. Her Evergeens are tie pride
Of California.
The Gold Nine. are generally found among the
| foot hills Of the Sierra, or in the beds Of the
streams which trsserse those hLx 10 many 10
| stances hills DOW tower where r. ~ once ran
bow long since, who may tell Trees 10 stste Of
semi petrifsetiOn are dug out from under hundreds
Of feet Of cold earth, which n have lain IN
| disturbed since creation. The beds Of ancient
lakes are covered BY rugged nights and these beds
being often aurferous it IL one Of the arts Of the
miner 10 know just where 10 tunnel through the
4" rim rock" 10 az 10 strike what was the bottom
Of the lake. and thus extract its gold chesply as
| may be Washing the beds Of modern stresms,
which was the earliest and most profitable fed OF
mining adventure, 10 now nearly at an end or
turned oy er 70 the Chinese who willing 10 work
hard and steadily for much less than will satisfy
the aspirations ola Yankee. There are still some
creek.beds that will pay in Winter, when water is
abundant, that remain 10 be washed out; but, IN
the main river mining is at it's last gasp. Very
few dams are being or have recently been con-
structed 10 turn rivers from their beds and permit
those beds to be suiced OUT and l doubt that this
special department Of mining ever paid its agsre-
gate cost. The expense is serious; the product
often moderate, and subject to many contingencies
Hencefortb, dams Will be constructed mainly
10 feed the canals or bitches" whereby water is
supplied to works that must otherwise be aban-
doned OF these bitches, The State Register for
1859 has list Of several hundreds in number,
amounting in the aggregate to 5,726 miles OF artl-
fetal wster-courses constructed wholly for mining
purposes, at total cost Of sl3 575, 400 or about
twice that Of the original Erie Canal The largest
Of these ditches is that Of the Eureka Canal Com
pany, leading water from the north fork OF the
Costumes River 10 Diamond Springs, 290 miles, at
q cost Of SO, 900; but there are many far more
expensive and important being far larger, and
carried over q more difficult country. At the head
Of these stand the Mokelumne Hill Canal in Cala-
yeras County, only 60 miles long, but costing
$500 900, the Columbia and Sanislaus, in Tue
lumne County, 30 miles long, which also cost
100000 and the South Yuba Canal, in Nevada
County, costing S5OO,OOO Many larger enter
prises than even these have been projected, but
l.. ,tsl,o ha
found willing to supply the needful cash. Thus in
Msriposss alone it has been estimsted that an an
nus rental Of ten millions Of dollars would be paid
for water could enough of il be had at living rates
/ merely guess that it could not be paid many
years.
of course, / do not suppose that the Gold
Mines Of California will ever be thoroughly worked
out-certainly not in the next thousand years; yet
/ do not anticipate any considerable increase IN
their annual production, because deem $50, OOO,-
600 per annum - much as can be taken out at q
profit under existing circumstances The early
miners of California reaped what Nature had been
quietly sowing through countless thousands OF
years. Through the action Of frost and fire, growth
and decay, air and water, she had been slowly
wearing down the primitive rocks in which the
gold was originally deposited, washing away the
lighter mater, and concentrating the gold thus
CLEANED from cubic miles Of stubborn quartz and
granite in q few cubic feet of earth a. the bottom
Of her water-courses. Many miner b" thus
taken ont in a day gold which could not have been
extracted from the rock where it first grew in
many weeks. Even the hills in which it is now
mainly found can be Xashed down at one dollar