Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-03-10
SUNDAY. uARCH 10, 1889.
DON'T 60 OFF Half-CocKed.

Don't so Off Half-COcKed.
The HERALD has heretofore warned
the people of Los Angeles and elsewhere
that they ought to exercise great caution
in rushing down to the Santa Clara gold
placers. We have yet seen nothing that
would justify the thronging of thousands
of adventurers into Lower California. In
common with all patriotic Californians,
we should welcome any development
that would pour gold into this State in
something like the volume of 40; but,
even if there were gold in immense
quantities on our neighboring Peninsula,
the region thus far exploited is far too
limited in extent to afford scope for the
labor of one-half of those who have al
ready gone to Lower California.
We have also called attention to
the fact that the Mexican mining laws
will prove very embarrassing even to the
successful hunters after gold. There is
not only the probability that heavy ex-
port duties will have to be paid on all
the gold taken out of the Santa Clara
mines, but the certainty that the Mexi-
can import duties on all supplies, imple-
ments and goods of whatsoever kind or
description carried into Mexico are quite
oppressive. The cost Of subsistence will
thus be placed at figure which can only
be met by those who carry with them
full purses.
For years past it has been known that
there were gold placers in that portion
of Mexico. Itwas as well known forty
years ago as now. Don Abel Stearns
and Don Juan Bandini owned ranches
in that section then, and the
presence of placer gold and quartz
carrying gold and silver was a
theory well established, and both
of course made experiments to test the
value of the deposits, and without satis-
factory results. Quite a number OF
quartz ledges have been exploited around
San Rafael and in other portions of
Lower California, and some rich pockets
were opened up, but thus far no reliable,
well-defned vein has been discovered.
Prof. G. E. Anthony, the mineralogist
of the International Company, has just
returned from the Santa Clara mines,
and his talk to the San Diego reporters is
of a very conservative character. He says
that the placers will run out in few
months, but that valuable quartz lodes
will be discovered that will be of perma-
nent benefit to San Diego and Lower Cal
ifornia. These statements should be read
in the light of the fact that as Mr.. An
thony is in the employment of the Inter
national Company, and as the excite
ment puts money in the pockets of that
corporation, he is naturally biased in
favor OF the mines, and that without in
any way impeaching his integrity.
Rich people may safely go to the
Santa Clara mines, or where they list,
for that matter, but we again strongly
caution those who cannot afford to
throw away their money to wait. All
the prescriptions are that not one out Of
ten of those who seek the Mexican and
American gulches in the Santa Clara
mountains will recoup themselves for the
money they expended in getting there.
A strong dissuasive argument is the fact
that half dozen similar excitements in
the past in the same portion of Lower
California have proved fiascos. If the
placers have the extent and richness
claimed for them they can be readily
reached in couple of weeks from now,
when matters will have taken shape,
supplies will be abundant, the severe
weather will have moderated, and un-
speakable hardships and deprivations will
thus be avoided. If the true recourse of
this much vaunted region shall be finally
discovered to lie in working quartz lodes,
the Mexicans themselves have an adage
which runs that man will get poor on
q gold mine, can make living out of a
silver mine, and will get rich on an iron
mine.
To the excited imagination visions OF
enriched people figure in long process
sion returning from the Santa Clara
mines. To those who are guided by the
light of the past, great crowd of disap-
pointed, impoverished and wretched
prospectors may be as clearly discerned
by the minds eye filing past as the out
come of this latest craze.