The union Democrat., 1869-04-17
sale Of Mineral Lands.

ME-. EDITOR IN recent issue Oi the ci0N
DEMocRAr in commenting on the present stat,
of things, ascribes the depression in the coun
~. to the loose and free manner in which tht
mines have been heretofore worked, invok
ing law to peg residents down to a spo,
and inferentially thinks that heaven may ye,
be reached by sale of them ALL | believe
the editor sincere in his statements, but they
provoke reply. Ii is evident that sooner or
later, the question of the disposition Of the
mineral lands, will come up in a serious
shape; but il never will be raised by miners
1t will come up and be preached (as it has
been already by class not miners, some of
whom undoubtedly will believe in good faith
from their ideal stand point, TO bring about
euch an event, whilst others will absurdly
talk of things in connection Herewith OF
which they practically know nothing, and
who not foreseeing the unhappy consequences
of the sale rian, eynce q want OF discrim-
mating foresight.
Congress afte: the discovery Of these mines
had the subject before ii in respect to the dis
position Of them, when it was debated by tie
wlsest and best of the nation. That body
showed It's good sense by acting negatively in
the matter and by throwing them open to the
Industry of the world. On that occasion
Thomas H. Benton made use of these sens-
BILE words 81 care not if gold covers the soil
of California knee deep; let the world gather
1t up, it is common Inheritance. and in due
time we will find it all in the channels of
trade Benton was right, and if the advo-
Gates of sale in this State were 10 apply their
hands to the pick and shovel business dozen
years, they too would lie willing to accord 10
Benton an appreciatiYe wisdom and sound
judgment.
The mineral lands lie within n certain
belt, and it is mistake to suppose gold to
be found in all places within this belt. They
may be described as plainly mineral, plainly
agricultural, and mixed. Those that are
plainly mineral lie in ravines, creeks, gulch-
es, banks and fats. Those agricultural lie
on mountain tops high ranges and strips bor-
dering on the mineral belt The mixed is
more gravel IN i;s characteristic gold being
slightly diffused through the SOIL vet not in
such quantity as to Justify labor for it, hence
cannot be worked to profit, and indeed never
will be. These mixed lands may properly
be classed with the agricultural, the true
mineral lands stand relatively in the ratio of
about one 10 three thousand, that is, there is
about one acre of mineral land 20 where there
is three thousand acres fit only for agricu!-
tural and other purposes.
Now to show up the matter more fully, leI
MS survey AID cut up the truly mineral land
In Tuoumne County, into forty acre lots, and
see where it will lead US, five such lots would
take in all the mining ground ncrth of Sono-
ra; fifteen more would take in all the rest of
Township No. One. Thirty such lots would
embrace all the truly mineral ground in Town
ship No. Two. Thirty-iive. all in Township
No Three; and Thirty in Township No. Four.
Amounting in al to one hundred and fifteen
lots. To be safe, let us pass beyond the truth
ard say, two hundred lots of forty acres each
of truly mineral ground; in all, about eight
thousand acres. Now, we will fix the actual
mining population OF this coCnty at three thou
sand, which is II fair figure, and deduct from
th,s, the owners of two hundred lots, and we
find that those two hundred lot owners would
hold all the mineral ground in the county.
nnd twenty-eiSht hundred poor devils left out
in the cold, without any mining rights what
ever, and who would be compelled to 90 else
where for Subsistence, or accept the bitter al
xernatlve of seridom.
1t is evident, that were Congress to vote
these mines into market, it would most un-
justly deprive thousands of miners of the means
of Subsistence; from the fact that they as a
rule being poor, could not afford the meaus
TO buy the lots. Spectators and those hav-
ing money would buy them all up in less than
u muuth iilCl Tue faSSuSe VI Sutn u law: Dut
AS matters stand, we are doing as we'll as
could be expected. and could do better if we
had a market. Nature in her wise arrange
ment has designed the farmer and miner to
operate in concord and for each others mutu-
al benefit. She has drawn her lines rs it
were separating one from the other with a
bre@d margin, over which it was never con,
tempated for enc to invade the rights of The
other, and least of all, to have her benefits to
the miner hogged up hv fortunate few. to
fill the Unsuitable nav of speculative avarice.
The advocates of sale, can at this dav en-
JOY all they could ask under a fee-simpe plan.
They can pre-empt and fence in all they need
but this, they will not do; they want Coz
Cress To do for them, what is in their CIV n
hands to perform. Let them go to worl and
build us a Railroad, and the miners will take
care of the mines. The miners received these
fields in good faith from generous govern
ment land return the pledge by pouring tteir
earnings into the lap of trade If We are to
have laws of any kind. let them restrain
some ot the farmers we have, from run
ming their lines ta embrace mineral ground
which they hold for speculative purposes. and
contne them to those bounds where nature
has designed they should remain XEB.
Slumgulion Bar, April Is. 1869