Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-10-10
Appeai for Miniug.

A belt of territory there is on the west.
ern slope of the Sierra. once famous for
its deposits Of gold, and which still con-
tains imbedded in its rocks and gravel
enough to double the coined irgots of
the world-a belt which has given
more money to the age than any other
section of the globe; land that has had
history; stirring and unique; that has
inspired poets aud furnished noveIsts
with characters and scenes. That ter
ritory that has done SO much to stimu.
late commerce and enrich the nations;
that has built and beautifed our cities,
has been condemned by the cities it has
made and the country it has redeemed,
and lies crippled aud helpless, poor but
proud of its former glory.
We, though given but voice as feeble
as the feeb!est wave that BEATS on our
shores. will lift that voice; if but in a
vain appeal, in behalf of that auriferous
belt and the stricken but gallant people
who still hold the fortress in which is
held the munitions of war that may yet
decide the fate of our country and her
priceless institutions, one and all.
"Strike. but hear" was the pleading
of the Grecian in the desperation of his
cause. The powers that be in California
have struck destroying blows at the toll
ing miner and the monuments he has
built. 1t is now time to hear. Passion
has had its sway. Let anger and op-
preston pause and listen.
Lo TX back at the past, and see the
swarming of the Eastern parent hive,
and the fight of thousands to these gold.
en- shores. They came in youth and
manhoad's prime, gauntless, and more
intelligent people than ever pioneered a
country before. They came fer gold; for
that substance whose talismanc influence
has given more impet us to progress than
anything else besides. They, by their
genius and labor have poured into the
lap OF civilization two thousand millions
of dollars, and by this vivifying power
have countless millions more been created
for the uses of mankind.
Look back upon the past and see your
cities rise and expand. Look at them
now and see how many of the noblest
edifices owe their origin to miners and
mines, and how few to the products ei
your grain fields, vineyards, or wide ex.
tended PASTURE lands. But for the gold.
en- hills of the Sierra, San Francisco
would be but a Struggling hamlet by the
sea.
The time was when the Legislature OF
the State declared mining to be the para.
mount interest OF the coast, to be foster.
ed aud protected. Farther on Congress
provided for the sale of the mineral lands,
and on the patents of title is the proof
that the lands were sold for pur pose
The Government has taken the money
with distinct understanding and
through its courts declared the under
standing shall not be carried out. The
miner. after building canals, aqueducts,
great lakes for the storage of water, af.
ter investing a lifetime at one pursuit,
and what little money he has saved, in
land valuable only for it's gold in gravel,
is suddenly stopped from his enterprise
without the Government so much as in.
ouring into the equities involved, or in
vestigaiing scientifically to see if the
great avocation of mining can be pur.
sued. The flow into the channels OF
trade of millions of dollars year has
been stopped. Cities laDguish, for a
great and invigorating industry is check.
ed. and the principle laid down by the
courts that would stop the descent Of
mountain soil that is not barren, must
soon close the quartz mills and silence
their thousands Of stamps. for the sands
from pulverized rock are the sands of the
desert. If the courts can stop the flow
of a million tons of soil on which in its
new location in the valleys the choicest
fruits will grow, the case is plain, they
can silence the stamps that provide a
thousand tons few inches of which on
the surface is barrennessand death. And
so. without some intervention, mining is
doomed.
We appeal from the fiat that has gone
forth. In the name OF the intrepid