The record-union., 1891-12-15
MINERS CONVENTION.
The Call Under Which the Confer
ence viii be Held.
It is Claimed That Quartz and Drift
Mining is Involved, as Well as
That of Hydraulic Mining.

mittee was appointed to prepare call Tor
State Convention of miners. to be held in
San Francisco January 2Gth. Another
committee was appointed to prepare and
publish an address to friends of the
mining industry" and has issued the fol-
lowing:
To the PeopIe of the SStote Of California: Tie
miners and citizens of Placer County, in call
ing upon the friends of the mining industry
TO meet IN a State Miners Convention TO dis
cuss their common grievance, and 10 devise
ways for general relief. deem it proper to give
TO the people of this State, through the me-
dunn of this address, some of the many rea-
sons which Justify and call for this move
ment.
In doing this we represent the industry of
this State that within the last forty-three
years has poured into the channels OF trade
more than 81, ,250, 100000 in gold and more
than $5o0oo,Ooo in silver We represent the
industry which can again furnish an equal
amount, il accorded the same fair and unfe-
stricted freedom and encouragement which is
so wisely extended 10 ali other industrial pur-
suits. And we represent the industry that,
II it did not create the state at least created
all the conditions that entitled it TO become
one of our glorious Union, and then furnished
the means that enabled that Union 10 rnain-
tain its integrity against the most gigantic
struggle for aisintegIation ever known 10 the
world.
California, with its grand gold product, still
leads the combined aggregate gold product of
all the other states and Territories by $780,
and copper product OF any one or them by
over $500. .00G, 900. Even now, the annual
gold product OF California, restricted as It is,
by unjust. abnormal causes, is far III the lie 10
Of tnat OF any other State is still a thif1 Of
the total of all of them, ana a ninth OF the
total gold product of tine world. And We
claim, and propose to show you, that once re-
lease the industry from the dragging IricbiCn
with small portion OF the agri .ulturii in
cuStry, Clear away the tangling legal web of
court and department decisions and rulings,
giant
which for twelve years past, silently, but
surely, has been and is now engaged in alien
ating TO its self the peoples heritage in the
mineral lands, and the annual gold product
Will double and treble its present figure.
Our grievance is only one; the unfair, un-
Just and oppressive construction and mis-
construction of laws. But it bears on us from
many directions, and in many ways. From
il many consequences have come direct and
indirect Unless relief be had, and shortly q
large part of the mining Industry viii be en-
tirely wiped out.
Commencing with 1867, the annual gold
product of the State gradually diminished by
reason OF the working out OF the rich shallow
placers. which were the concentrations of ages
of erosion OF portions of older auriierous
placers and still older quartz veins. For the
exploitation OF the shallow placers unslilied
labor answered, but for the uneroded portions
of the older placers and the auriferoUs quartz
veins, labor alone was powerleSs, ,reqUIr ne the
assistance of capital Then, too, for these last
the conditions OF their existence had to be
studied and learned, and new methods and
appliances of mining tested and developed
Necessarily the gold yield To replace the
rapidly diminishing product of the shallow
placers came slowly. The most readily ac-
cessible of these new sources OF gold, the
quickest of development and the surest Of
returns, was found to be in the van deposits
of exposed auriferOuS gravelS the detrituS OF
an extinct river system. In their exploitation
the great industry OF hydraulic mining was
developed. By itself in the latter 70's it
was fast increasing the annual gold product
of the State when the legal fight commenced
against its existence which has continued un-
interruptedly since, and resulted in its practi-
cal suppression. As results OF litigation,
have come the Gepopulation of whole COM
munities, the property accumulations of
years have been made valueless, the oppor-
tunities OF many of our people for obtaining
living taken away, the best local market in
the States destroyed and a hundred millions
OF gold that might to-day be in circulation,
giving lie to all other industries, still buried
in natures treasury.
We have no wish to review all that has been
stated pro and con relating to this during the
last twelve years, but simply claim now as
then that the magnitude of the industry, both
absolutely and relatively, entities it to the
as consequence, conceding the fact that hy
craulic mining debris has oVer1owed and in
jured farming lands, the first trial of relief is
not to stop the mining, but to protect the
farmers. When this has once been fairly
tried, if it fail, then is the time to consider
other relief. But ii will not fail. On this the
testimony of disinterested experts is sup
ported by the unanswerable logic of accom-
pliShed facts. Debris dams have been built in
France and Italy, many of them have accom-
plished the purpose for which designated and
have stood the time test for seyenty-five wears.
Disinterested experts have studied the prob
lem presented by our mining debris anu say
that it can be impounded and permanently
restrained from injuring the farming lands.
That statements herein may not rest on our
assertion of them, we present for your con-
sideration some extracts from the report of
the Commission of United States Army En-
g1neeTs appointed by Act of Congress under
what is known as the Biggs bill. This was
a4aAf
fornia Legislature of 1SS7, being there unan-
imously agreed to. This Commission spent
the years 1889 and 1890 in preparing its re-
port, which was transmitted and received by
Congress February 21, 1891. (Singularly
enough no friend of the mining industry has
been able TO see copy of that report until
now, though its enemies have long since had
it, We quote from the report referring to
hydraulic mining, page 5J
at is estimated that over one hundred mill
ions of dollars were invested in this branch
of mining previous to the restriction by the
courts"
"In 1880 it was estimated that the land in
The Sacramento Valley damaged by the min
ing debris from the Feather River, Yuba
River and Bear River amounted TO ii .o46
acres and the value of said land was So, 51O-
SD" (fages ana g.
No mention is made of damage on the
American River lands.
Amount of auriierous gravel workable
(pages IA and 15E
Gu Yds.
North Yuba water-shed........ 80 ,0oo. 900
L
South 1uba watershed. .......... 560,00O, 900
Deer Creek watershed. ............. 25.OOO.OOO
Below the forks of the Yuba. 4O,oOO,OOO
Bear River Tegion on... 157, 900, 600
American above the forks. los, 100000
Total amount gravel available-1 /, III ,00O, 900
Hydraulic miners thoroughly acquainted
with the gold yield of these gravels estimate
the average gold contents TO be so cents cubic
yard, making an estimated total Tor these of
the almost lnconceivable sum Of 1885, ,0o0-
600.
These figures include but small portion of
the watershed OF the Sierra, while the same
conditions are true to a greater or less extent
throughout the entire gold fields of Califor-
MIA, extending from Siskiyou to San Diego.
In this report, in connection with estimates
of workable auriferous grayels and in refer
ence to proposed storage sites, figures of hold
ing capacity TO these sites are given, which
show clear margin over and above the esti-
mates OF the workable grayels.
IheSe sites OF storage dams, withSestmates
of cost, are given as follows (referring 10 the
Iuba River, page 1S):
One at DeGuerre Point, 10 COST. S64O. 900
Page 27-Restriction works on the
lower 5000
Page 73-Dam on Bear River...... l77,369
Page TS-Dam on North Fork ofthe
American nRiver............................ 66,O56
Page S1-Dam on Middle Fork of
the American. .........- 72,16s
Page S2-Dam at Rattlesnake Bar,
American nRlver-.........................- 195,S91
Total cost of storage dams .451,4S4
We have invited your. attention at some
length TO hydraulic mining, not that IL is the
only branch OF mining which is feeling the
unfair Interpretation of our laws but because
1t has been crushed, and the story il tells is
most emphatic. The same Interpretation OF
law which has shut down the hydraulic
mines cSn be used TO shut down the drift and
even the quartz mines. The language used in
the decree of injunction by the State and
Circuit Courts is so worded as TO be possible of