The herald., 1893-07-08
OUR MINING FUTURE.

Whilst mining has not been alto
gether neglected in this part OF the
state, yet it has not received the stten-
tion from capital which it deserves.
The field is far more extensive than
those who have paid but slight or
casual attention TO it imagine. Take
from the Soledad csfion to the Piru dis
trict and its extensions, and there is
stretch Of country forty miles wide and
over forty in length, which is what the
miners would term "gold bearing"
belt. There are but few places in this
vast extent Of territory where the pros.
pector cannot find the color, and years
before Marshall aroused the gold-sesk.
ing ardor of the world by his discovery
at Coloma the yellow metal was success
fully mined within the area mentioned.
The drawb to mining activity in this
great belt is the paucity of water. It.
however, lies below very extensive
watershed, and some day capital will
turn its attention to the immense facili.
ties for storage Of the precious element
and furnish the required desideratum to
make these placer regions practically
profitable.
But the auriferous area does not stop
here. Gold exists in paying deposits at
the heads Of all the gulches and caflons
that reach to the mountains which align
the Mojave desert to the west. Pros.
pectors have sufficiently determined this
fact to justify us in auguring the devel-
opment of important placer mining
industries at the various points indi-
Gated as soon as capital, conjoined with
intelligent direction, turns its attention
to this great field of dormant wealth.
Already great deal of good and profit
able work has been done in San Gabriel
csfion, and miners whose views are
worthy of consideration believe that
the real hidden wealth in mines of that
caflon is yet TO be made available by the
exploitation of the intelligent pros
pector.
The great mining future, however,
which is to pour its countless riches into
the lap of Los Angeles lies in the con-
tiguous country east of the desert.
There are numberless promising dis
tricts in the desert itself; but when
Southeastern California and Nevada are
opened to the hand OF industry by the
railroads that are building and pro-
jected, then will mining in this part OF
the state and its tributary territory take
on boom that will astonish the coun-
try. From Kearsarge to Phoebe there
are numberless districts that have been
prospected and that are known to be
rich in precious metals. If we should
draw line reaching from the Candelario
mines, through Belmont to Robertson
district and thence to the boundary of
Utah, we would bisect one of the most
extensive mining regions in the world,
and all the districts lying south of that
line would naturally become tributary
to Los Angeles. With railroad afford
ing transportation to this extensive
stretch of country, the miners of all
that region would receive their supplies
IRON this city, and our commerce and
manufactures would be greatly enriched
by the trade and the raw material that
would be derived from that immense
region.
We are on the threshold of potential
tiles of mineral wealth, which, supple
mented with our unlimited agricultural
resources, would alone warrant the
growth OF great commercial and man.
uiacturing city here; but when we
further consider our maritime situation,
and the position we hold toward the
commerce of the Pacific, it h not claim
ing too much when we look forward to
the time, in the near future, when Los
Angeles will be one of the greatest cities
in the American union.