Weekly Trinity journal., 1879-04-05

Most Of the companies now use large pipe
and the largest size of giants" and clear
great deal more bedrock in the course Of
season than formerly, and at much less
expense for labor. The town is situated
in circular basin of four or five miles in
diameter, the gold deposits being found
upon the "false" bedrock. The true bed
rock lies at great depth below the
workings, and has only boon found once.
In 1854 shaft was sunk, by subscription,
to find the bedrock, which passed through
several layers Of false rock. and reached
true bedrock, only att depth of moro than
six hundred feet. Gold wa. found when
ever the shaft passed through gravel, but
not enough to justify working, or even
further prospecting. The heavy debris
deposited in Weaver Creek has filed that
stream so deep as to ruin geat deal Of
rich ground. The Weaver Greek Flum-
ing Company have nume in at the out
let of the basin, commencing three miles
below town, fine piece Of work, each
box beng twenty feet wide by ten feet
deep, set at grade of two inches to
twelve feet. The company have laid
about mile of flume, the head of which
is in bedrock, and it carries of q large
amount of debris, but in season OF
foods the nums is sometimes c,egged by
the logs and brush set free by tho washing
away OF piles of tailngs. 1t is an en-
terprise which should pay its projectors,
Yves. of Weavervi!le the w. b. and II.
NJ. Company have conveyed water on to
Oregon Mountain, and are opening n
magnificent claim. This was the first
company to open this character Of mines,
and on the success which shall attend its
efforts doubtless rests the prosecution of
other enterprises Of n similsr character.
Trinity county is about one hundred
miles in length north and south, and from
twenty-six to seventy miles in width.
The published maps do not give correct
de,ineation of its boundaries. 1t contains
over 5000 square miles of territory, and
only about $500 inhabitants. excluding
the Chinese, who probably number two
thirds as many more.
Gold mining is, us we have said, the
chief industry of our people, and it is fol-
lowed to some extent in all tho places we
have named with the exception OF that
part of the county next Mendocino. The
presence OF cinnabar was noticed by the
miners Of Trinity River at an early day,
but there WAS no search made for the
mines Of that mineral until 1871. Miners
working upon one of the upper branches
of the river noticed the presence ofcinna>
bar in such quantities as indicated the
close proximity Of the place from which
it came. The lead was followed up and
tho mines Of Altoona discovered. AT the
time quicksilver was worth more than
dollar u pound, and preparations were at
once made to turn the discovery to account.
The tlrst ore was packed out in sacks and
retorted near the road to Yreka, and
when the character and permanency OF
the mine was demonstrated wagon
read to the mine was built and machin-
cry for reducing the ore carried on to
the ground. There are other locations
near tho Altoona, but being in the hands
of private individuals have not been so
fully developed. Frem indications found
it is thought that there are mines Of
cinnaba7 in the southern and western
part of the county, in that portion OF the
Coast Range near the Humboldt line,
but no organized effort has yet been
made to test the truth of this belief.
The price of farming land varies &C
cording to location. Small improved
places near market are higher proper.
tionally than large farms. Aside from
the two valleys (IIay Fork and Trinity
tho farming land is generally in small
patches, which are used for the produc-
tion of fruit and vegetables mainly. All
the fruits grow to perfection in this re.
gion, and in favor are much superior
to the fruit grown in ths Sacramento
Valley.
1t lie, however, in the gold production
that the county excels. From the books
OF Well, Fargo & Co.'S Express Agency,
at Weaverville, find that the amount of
gold dust shipped during the year 1878, by
that Company, was S64s,00 26. This
does not include the dust sent from Trini-
ty Center and Lewiston, most OF which is
shipped direct from those points, which
M. #. Griffin, banker at Weaverville, es-
Inmates at at least $l00, 900 more. Added
to this is the am cunt taken below by min
ing firms, a number OF the heav>
lest miners in the county taking the yield
of their claims irect to the Mint. Whit
with the amount we can figure upon to
certainty, and an approximate estimate of
that taken below In private hands, il is safe
to say that the gold yield of 1873 was very
close upon ono million OF dollars. The
Trinity gold bears a high standard Of
fneness-all the camps, with two or thres
exceptions, producing dust that assays
ever 900 fine.
Weaverville IL distant from Sacramento
City 2ls lies. The route is by the Cali
fornia and Oregon Railroad to Reading.
40 miles; thence by stage nearly due west
through the town OF Shasta to the Tswer
House. At this point the stage road d.
vides, one route leading through French
Gulch, in Shasta County, To Trinity Gen.
ter, and thence on to Fort Jones and Yre>
ka the other crossing the mountain by
way of Lewiston to Weaverville, the ter
minus. The distance from Reading 10
Wesyerville, forty eight miles. is made BY
stage. Passengers leaving Weavervills
at eight A. NJ. reach San Francisco tAe
next evening.