Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-01-01

| quantities that ii decreases temporarily i
value. 1t is to the discovery of gold in ur
usual quantities in California that we ow
the brilliant, almost meteoric flight of on
State from dreamy, slow-soing Mexica
| dependency, to its present advanced condi
| ton.
Mankind, when crowded together, be
come FESTIVE, which leads to dissensions AM
wars; when in that condition the. peopl
become unhealthy, and sickness and pest
lence follow. BY these effects the surplu
population is removed, otherwise the;
could not obtain food enough TO
their support. When gold is discovered il
new locality, colonists follow the gold
seekers, and the pressure is thus relieved
The area of fertile land ON the earth's sur
face is ample for the supper
of more than all the inhabitants o
the world that have lived upon it at am
one time, if the population had been even
ly distributed, but there must be som,
strong incentive TO overcome the indolenc,
of an oyercrowded community and tbs
natural love of home inherent in man.
Gold can be produced in California fol
many years TO come, but its extraction i:
annually becoming more difficult There
are causes in operation which will surely
lead to total suspension of its production
in the State, but the supply will not then
be exhausted. On the other hand, labor
in proportion will become cheaper, and the
value, or rather the purchasing power OF
the gold, will increase. For these reasons
mines which years ago would not pay to
work, are now being opened and wrought
with profit. These remarks apply equally
TO the gold fields of other States and for
eign countries.
Unless some new and productive Id
field is discovered, the value of gold will
continue to increase, and the reaction al
ready commenced, with its train of evils,
will continue until the old condition of low
prices, poorly paid labor, and general stag
nation returns. There are those who be-
lieve that such change wolld be an inn
provement on the present feverish high
pressure condition of the world. But the
argument of these important questions is
foreign to the purpose of this report In
view of the fact that the diminution in the
production of gold is the direct cause OF
the present depression of business and the
fall of prices, it would be a wise policy OF
the part of our people to encourage the pro-
duction OF that metal SO abundant in our
State, that the inevitable return to the for
mer condition may be as gradual as posi-
bic, and not partake of the nature OF a
crisis. This can be done without the sacri-
flee OF any rights of the agricultural inter
ests, if legislation can be effected in the
proper spirit, and the general interest of
the whole people be considered.
The neutrality-suspicious., an increased
production of gold, and the impartial dis
tribution of the surplus waters OF the rivers
OF the State Tor irrigation purposes, should
engage the attention of our legislators until
an equitable adjustment is effected
For many years California enjoyed a
golden era in more senses than one, during
which time our people thought themselves
better business men than their neigtbors
While the gold lasted they cared but little
to compete in manufacturing, because they
were to great extent independent of the
rest of the world; but the golden fruit will
no longer fail into our hands without the
trouble of picking and while it is dis
agreeable fact to admit, we are becoming
yearly more and more dependent on the
other States and Territories, and can no
longer defy the law of supply and demand
If we decide to abandon the gold mines we
must encourage agriculture and manufact
ures. We cannot manufacture successfully
unless we can compete with prices of other
countries, including that of labor. Other
wise goods can b. sold in our market
cheaper than we can make them
We should have larger and more in
dustrious population to purchase and use
our manufactures. Too many idle men
crowd to the cities when they should be in
the country working small farms or utiliz-
ing the water powers. In adapting our
selves to the new order of things our con-
dition may be better in the end, but the
transition from our former independence
will bring with ii share of bitterness.
METHODS OF MINING.
Gold in California is obtained by two
distinct and separate methods One is
called placer mining, which is simply
collecting free gold from natural deposits
in which it has been concentrated by forces
acting slowly but continuously through
many geological ages. The other method
is known as quartz or vein mining. The
material worked is quartz. the natural
matrix for gold. 1t is assumed that the
gold in the quartz has been concentrated
also by natural causes from the wall rocks
or the rock formations in which the veins
have been formed. Nature, to produce
placer gold, first concentrated that metal
in the veins, and subsequently changed the
solid rocks, including the quartz, into sedi-
ments and finely-divided particles Hav-
ing practically exhausted the surface
placers, man, with vast expenditure of
capital and labor. attacks the quartz, from
which he gathers small quantity of gold
Upper had this in mind when he aptly
said, In mountain of quartz we find a
grain of gold"
Placer mining is practiced by various
methods. but all of them based on the
same general principle taking advantage
of the great specific gravity of gold (1925S)
and using water not only to remove the
foreign matter, but also to allow the
precious metal to settle below worthless
material. The first placer mining in the
State was simple; it consisted in washing
the rich auriferous sediments in a miner
pan, rocker, sluice, or long tom. When
the cream was skinned, and the most ac-
cessible placers exhausted, more force and
more water were required to collect The
disseminated gold. This led to ground
sluicing, in which large and powerful
streams were conducted through the claims,
while the auriferous earth from the sides
was picked down or shoveled into the tor
rent. The richer sediments gathered by
this crude process were further concen-
trated in suices, and the operation finished
in the miners pan. This mode of mining
is not new. In the old work of Agricola,
"De Re Metallica," published in
Latin, in the year 1921, on folio
30, quaint engraving may be found,
in which ground-sluicing is represented.
and upon which our modern method is no
improvement. The sluices, rockers, pans
and rifles pictured in that ancient volume
go far to show the truth of the saving.
There is nothing new under the sun"
The next step in advance was 'boomin~
In this operation a large quantity of .,ser
was gathered in reservoir, an al the
proper moment foodgate wa opened
suddenly and the whole body { wat.-r
precipitated on the gold field, thus imitat-
ing the torrent that nature employed TO do
similar work, but on a grander scale: this
method, too, is old. The process is infinitely
described in "Pliny's Natural History
(Bohn's edition, vol. G, .fol. 99) and quoted
in full in the second annual report OF this
office, folio "A.
The grand elimination of placer mining
is the hydraulic method. Hydraulic
mining" in which water is conveyed for
long distances in canals, bitches" TO
reservoirs, called pressure boxes" and
from them in large iron pipes under great
pressure to the auriferous deposits, and
projected in powerful streams through noz-
zles four to nine inches in diameter, against
the banks. The operation is assisted by
blasts in which hundreds of kegs of pow
der are employed in a single operation.
As far as / can learn this is q modern and
California invention. All the details OF
hydraulic mining, as conducted in Cali
fornia, are described in the second annual