Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-09-10

are preparing for a long stay. Great
bodies of ore have been located in that
vicinity that will pay 50 to the ton,
which means a liberal profit TO the mill
owner.
Another instance is furnished by a mine
near Grass Valley, probably the Oldest
quartz mine in the State-the North Star.
Ten years ago it was thought that the pay
ing ore had given out. The drifts were
abandoned and the machinery taken away.
But by improved methods and the intro
duction of water-power-which, by the
way, now supplies the power for all the
mills in the yicinity-the mine has been
reopened and has just paid a dividend of
$4,000. The old, reliable mines of this
district appear to be paving better than
ever. The Empire, working continuously
since 1850, claiming the honor of more
working days than any other quartz mine
in the State, is turning out better ore, and
more of it, than ever before in its history;
and every one is familiar with the famous
Idaho, which paid the first of its 224
monthly dividends in 1869, and has turned
out more than $4,000, 900. The Eureka,
on the same ledge, handed over to its
owners almost $1,000, 900 before its drifts
ran into the Idaho.
These mines are all owned in the State,
much of the stock being held in the
county. The people here resent the charge
hat foreign capital has secured most of the
mining property. Erastus Bond, Assessor
of the county, states hat he has been able
to find only one hydraulic mine owned
by English capitalists, and that is the Blue
Tent, which has never paid a dividend
and has swallowed up many an assessment.
FRUIT MAKING UP THE Loss IN MINING.
Mr.. Bonds official figures prove another
interesting and encouraging fact in connec-
| ton with the new life that is stirring this
community. The fruit-grower has more
than made up for the heavy losses entailed
by the closing of the hydraulic mines.
Not only has the as~sessment-roll shown no
falling off, but a positive and steady gain
is noted of about $275,000 last year and
100000 this. The mining property has
not yet ceased tumbling, 100000 having
been knocked off last year in Nevada town
ship alone. The Eureka Lake Is but one
of the many great mines whose valuation a
few years ago ran into the millions. Its
assessment this year is a sorry $4,000.
These few figures tell more forcibly than
columns of description, what the pears and
grapes are doing TO keep Nevada in the
front rank of California counties.
W FooTHILL CITIES.
Nevada City is aquaint place, built upon
both banks of Bear creek, which is here a
small stream in a valley that might almost
be called a canyon. The town is sur
rounded by the ineffsceable traces of the
miner-the r~ock-dumps, tunnel-mouths and
the whited holes in the mountain side left
by the hydraulic monitor. These latter
give the appearance of huge landslides.
The streets Chamber all over the steep hill
sides, and are narrow and irregular, meet
ing one another at all angles and curving
about in a whimsical fashion that reminds
one of a European village. The heavy
rains of a winter would wash these streets
into Bear creek were they not protected
by a luxury rare to our interior towns, a
complete pavement of pine planking.
Electric lights, both here and at Grass
Valley, give evidence of the march of pro-
gress. The homes are homes, indeed. A
cleanly swept path leads the stranger
through a trim garden, under the shade of
lined with shade trees, that attain a
BrOWtu anu flSOi III tueSt uiouilldlus HOi
surpassed in the valleys.
Grass Valley is more level and is laid
out on a more liberal scale than Nevada
, City. Otherwise its characteristics are the
, same. Both these towns boast of their ex-
cellent school facilities. The Grass Val
ley High School bears the distinction O.
, being the only one north of San Francisco
excepting that at Sacramento, whose course
e of study prepares for admission to the
, University. The people here are also ex
, tremely proud Of the salubrity of theil
r climate. Every old miner who has trieC
his luck among the lower Sierras remem
2 bers with vividness the warm days and tn,
cool nights that called for a pair of goot
blankets. The character and range of tn,
fruit grown here is evidence enough of thu
1 climate. The summer days are decided,
warm, the summer nights refreshingl.
: cool, while in winter the rain comes IL
abundance, but does not stay upon the sur
!, face to make oceans of mud. The snow
appears occasionally. Last years foot @
snow was the first that whitened Gras
s Valleys streets for three years. The al
mosphere is of that rarity and dryness pc
culiar to mountain regions, and the eleva
tions are covered with a dense growth
y young pines that give to the air that ba
samic odor so agreeable to jewellers by tn
seaside. The health-giving properties {
this mountain climate are becoming known
and the tired jewellers of the cities al
hocking into the hills. The hotel propr
N etors of both Grass Valley and Nevad
lc City report a steadily increasing incom
from health-seekers. II is said that a cas-
of native-born consumption has yet to /
e, discovered in Nevada county.
. THE MINERS AND THEIR POLITICS.
h There is much here to remind the stral
te ger of early California days, but nothir
SO much as the people. The hardy min'
l. of the fifties is still here, old and g@rizzle
to but with his activity apparently unin
it paired. He has seen the newcomer
is the hills gather his wealth and depart, b.
! he has never thought of going himse'
n Many a fortune has been made here al
ID many are being made to-day, but the
nv are few rich men in the district. II
ye metropolis of the bay or the other gre
ct cities of the East possess too potent
nd charm. The prospector, the stalwa
no. mountaineer, who knows neither fear II
a w~eariness, is still to be found, as his woI
to is by no means finished. But he no long
er dreams of $4,000 pockets and ledg
DIS heavy with metal, nor of capitalists WI
are willing to buy a claim as soon as the
is a stake on it. He contents himself wi
a the location of paying veins, and col
plains that he is unable to find a purchas
is for them at a price greater than the val
W of the gold in sight. The miners a
as mostly from Cornwall, and it is this ia
w that makes the county securely Repub
mr. can, as they attribute their improved &C
i dition in this country to the protect
< tariff, and vote solidly for the party tn
supports it. At the forthcoming elect
the Republican leaders count upon .
be majority for their candidate.
is
he
rs hura "iVes Up Nc" VI.
IT, No.r NorI- c., tho laa1tp0 hon