The record-union., 1896-04-02
MINING ON TIE COSUMNES.
Considerable Activity is Nov Manifested
in That Locality.
Electricity for a Michigan Bar Mine
Monitors and Dams in Use at
San Francisco Hill.

The Interior Development Company
Of Michigan Bar is manifesting itself as
one Of the most progressive mining con-
Germs on the coast The management
lately decided to add an electric plant to
the many improvements made during
the past year,
By using electric lights, Manager
Smyth hopes to nearly if not quite
double the output of bullion, which is
now about $4,000 per month A dy-
namo of twenty horsepower is now on
the grounds, and linemen and cleo
tricians are engaged in placing the wires
and machinery. Incandescent and arc
lights will be SO distributed that the
men operating the monitor, drills, picks
and shovels will be able carry on their
work at night as well as during the day.
Heretofore only the monitors could be
run during the night, and as the pres
sure is only about twenty feet, COM
paratively small amount of gravel could
be moved. The company also proposes
to use electricity for lighting their
offices, store, shops and clearinghouse
The company has increased it's water
supply .veral hundred inches by erect
ing new fumes and siphon-pipes along
its entire line of forty-six miles of ditch.
This, it is thought, will insure an abun-
dant supply of water to the large irriga-
ton districts on the CCsumnes River.
AT SAN FRANCISCO HILL.
Two monitors, one eleven inches and
another seven inches in diameter, were
turned loose on a seventy-five-foot
gravel bank at Forest Home, near
Michigan Bar, last week.
For several months John Graham,
who owns the land on which the mine
is located, assisted by Los Angeles
men, has been engaged in laying three
miles of pipe necessary to secure a
water supply, and in constructing
bitches and impounding dams. The
gravel deposit to be worked has been
known for years as San Francisco Hill.
Miners have known for many years that
the ground was rich, but the laying of
three miles of pipe meant an outlay Of
labor and money which none of them
were willing to undertake.
During the seventies a company of
San Francisco men, impressed with the
effectiveness of their engines as fire ex-
tinguishers, conceived the idea of util-
izing one of them in the gold fields.
They accordingly shipped one to Forest
Home, and right diligently they pumped
| and pumped for three months. But the
little engine, mighty at San Francisco
fire, was not equal to the task of remov-
ing mountains. 1t could make sad
havoc amid shingles and cinders, but
cemented gravel, powders and black
sand were too much for It, Consequently
the company cleaned up an pulled out,
and from that day until the monitors
were turned loose last week San Fran
cisco Hill remained unmolested.
The engineers have estimated that
there is enough gravel in sight for a run
Of half century. The natural facili-
ties for impounding the debris are un-
excelled. The gravel, an ancient chan
mel, is deposited on the highest ground
in that vicinity, at the head of Arkan-
saw Creek. This stream traverses a
fiat country many miles before finding
its way to the Costumes River.
Some miles below the mine the water
will be diverted, by means of the stone
impounding dam, into an irrigation
ditch, now under construction. and it
is claimed that not a grain of sand or
q drop of water will ever find its way
into the river