The San Francisco call., 1897-09-19

| a call lor the annual mee ing OF the California
| Miners Assoti tion in this city on October
| Is. the meeting 10 last two dIys.
] This wears convention OF this tody Will be
very i'm por tant to the mining Interests OF Cali
| iornia for two reasons. ImI ortant measures
will be discussed and acted upon, and the
! question OF whether this strong and success
| Iul body shall survive and preserve its active
and efici mt career W III be so.yed. Everybody
approves of the California NJ ne S Association.
aud thanks it for the grea. good that it has
| DONE but 1t has become the victim OF apathy
| among the mining men of the State. 1t is
| composed OF delegates from county miners
| associations, and its treasury depends wholly
on the per capita tax levied on the afliliating
associations tor TIE purposes l effective
work between the annual meetings is done by
strong executive committee, OF which ]. H.
| Ntf is president and Julian Sonniag secre-
| tary. This committee cen do little effective
| work without money for expenses, and the
| annual convention S cost about $500.
But the county associations are not paying
| their oues and therein is the indicator of
apathy aud the danger mentioned. The asso-
citation is not something which the miners
can passiyely trust IN as in a sort of eternal
providence, and the active members OF the
executive committee are discouraged. There
will, however, be an effort 10 stir up latent
interest, and the meeting may turn out to be
large one and the needed dues may roll in.
One of he many important things to be con-
sdered at the annual meeting is the subject
of river improvement for the mutual bene fl t
of the mining and agricultural regions of the
Sacramento Valley. A friendly understanding
with the Anti-Debris Association and other
valley interests has been reached and the pial
is to do 10 more fighting. but to pull toget her
| o receive from Congress large appropriations
TO be divid ed between dredging the navigabe
portions OF the streams and building more re-
straining dams, which will all ow more of the
millions in the gravel banks 10 be unlo cked
with hydraulic giants. scheme of this ma
| ture, including determination of what is to
be sought from Congress. will be the subject
of discussion and resolution. The executive
committee of the association is the only active
| power that can effectually back up the efforts
| OF Congressman, and herein appears one of the
I future needs for the association and money TO
| ena bic 1t TO do eff ctive work.
| The revision and amendment of Federal
| mining laws will be another of the important
| subjects. Last year q committee, of which
Curtis H. Lindley is chairman, was appointed
to study the subject. and lis long and interest
| ing report recommending changes in the laws
will come up, and the report viii be the result
| of year of study. w. s. Ktyes, who was
| delegate TO the recent in International gold-min-
| ing convention at Denver, is member of
committee on the same thing appointed by
| that convention, and he lett yesterday to at
| tend meeting of the committee in Denver
next Thursday. The WORK of these two COM
mitees will likely be amalgamated in the
| future, and the result viii doubtless be some
| far-reaching aud important changes in the
Federal mining laws. which are crystalliza-
| tion Of the rules which informally became es-
! tab.ished among the early California miners.
The wishes OF the representative mining men
of this State on national legislation will be
| formulated next month, and the decisions of
| the convention will be important influences
| on future changes.
| Other important matters call for the active
support OF mining men for this hitherto strong
| organization and help promise an important
| convention next month.
| State Mineralogist A. S. Cooper has ready for
publication the first of the series of county
| mining maps which will be distinguishing
| feature of h S administra tion. The map OF
Santa Barbara has been Autographed in thr ee
| co ors, and ii will be print ted for disri button
soon. Mr.. Cooper proposes to issue no biennial
report descriptive of the mines and mineral
| resources OF the State, as all his predecessors
| have done but will publish instead com plete
| register OF the mines and minerals of Cali or
| mia, acco ompanied by large maps of all the
| coun ties having i'm mportant mine raj resources
| This will CO institute the most complete min.
| ing directory ever made and it is unique
enterprise. It will contain no descriptive
matter. the Information all being IN tabular
| form. The register will consist of six long
! tabular statements dealing respectively with
| the quartz, hydraulic and drift mines of the
State, mills and arastras, mineral springs and
| all the mis- scellaneous minerals The charac-
| ter of the formation, which will be briefly
| given in words figures, may be judged by
the following headings OF the columns in the
| list of quartz mines:
Name OF mine nearest town, section, town.
| ship. range, map mum ter, whether patented,
| elevation, number of veins, width of vein,
| strike, dip, character of ore, hanging wall
foot wall, shaft, incline, open cut, tunnel,
| drifts, greatest depth below outcrop, mill
power. employees, name and residence OF owner
and superintendent, re terences to pub ished
| reports.
| To secure the needed information circulars
| and blanks are being sent TO owners and su-
perntendents throughout the State and in
| formation on file or published is being COM
piled In the office. The value and complete
ness of the work will depend largely on the
readiness with which the blanks are filed and
returned and 1T is hoped that all mine owners
| will respond VITA correct information.
| All the mines, ETC, listed in the register will
| be indicated on the maps with reference num-
| bers. The maps are being made on the large
! scale of one-half inch TO the mile and show the
geographical features, including gulches,
roads and trails, in great detail. On this scale
| map of the State would be over twenty-five
feet long, and that of Santa Barbara County
about twenty y-iour by thirty-six inches.
| 1t is Mr.. Cooper's intention to hire a eompe-
tent man in each county to carefully revise
| the map after it is compiled. The publication
| of these maps and registers would be q great
tax on the funds of the bureau, and Mr.. Coopa r
expects TO get the Boards of Supervisors TO
pay the cost of printing and paper after the
| mpiling and engrosslng are done. Board 5
OF Supervisors may thus eheaply issue these
maps for distribution along W tn descriptive
| matter about their county which they wi n
| to print. Each map and regi ter viii be is
su.d, ii possibl,, as soon ready, and in a
year or more they will be published all to-
gether. Work is now being done on the ma ps
of Trinity, SHASTA and K .rn, and several Will
| be made this fall.
The usual field work of the bureau has been
wholly discontinued, except for Deputy W. L.
| Watts studies in the southern oil region, and
| the deputies dismissed except Messrs. Preston
| and Means, who compi ing maps in the
ofice. This const tutes quit, revolution in
49, 10 nd la hnr of ,;,,iS a.