The San Francisco call., 1898-10-09

A hearing will be held before a notary nublic in Sonora on November as to the mineral or non-mineral character or long list of parcels of Government land in Tuolumne County. They have been re- turned by the Surveyor General as min eral, but the department may classify them as agricultural. The Sonora Union Democrat sounds warning that all these lands lie in mineral belts; that IandhoIo- CTS are after them, and that hundreds or quartz and placer claims will be lost to miners unless the miners LOOK up the lands and appear with evidence of their mineral character. Attention is ukeW1se called to another advertised list of lands in that county, which have been selected by the State as indemnity school lands It is asserted that they are all mineral but they will be declared nOn-mineral un- less protests are filed at the Land Office at Stockton before October N. These 1n- stances are but Illustrative of the fact that all through the mining regions or the State only vigilance and effort on some body's part will save great areas or min eral land to prospectors and miners. The great problem, of course, is that connect ed with the railroad lands and which the pending mineral lands bill seeks to solve. But there is also a great amount or pup lie land which is chiefly mineral, but which will steadily go into the agricul- tural list if all the active interest dis-
 
 Practically all the ground on which Sonora stands was dug over and washed for gold in early times. A snort Ilhe ago an old-timer informed Jacob Meyer that his garden had escaped the slutce boxes of the early hfties and that there was probably gold under his onion oeds MT Meyer Is not miner, but after seV- eral weeks of thought he concluded that he needed q well anyway and that he would sink to bedrock for water IT he found gold so much the better. He dug and found nuggets as big as his thumb. He dug further and tried to drift out the rich gravel but the water drove him out He was more lucky than Dow of Dow's Flat. He thankfully hauls up the cool water during the dry spell and wonders how he can get rid of the rest of the cussed stun There W1u be re- spectacle mining plant in MT. Meyers garden next summer.
 The directors of the Mountain Copper Company have declared an interim divi- dend of 2s 6d per share The circular announcing 1t gives this information con- corning the great and rapidly expanding operations of this company in Shasta County:
 During the first six months of the year 1O3 900 tons of ore were extracted from the mine, averaging 7.53 per cent of copper. The stacks in process of celebration and local treatment in California were much increased, as only 72,000 tons of ore were Smelted, producing 1929 tons of copper in matte, which has been sent to the New Jersey works to be refined The deliv- cry or me copper rom these works dur ing the period was 3980 tons. of which 2S00 tons were marketed, the balance be- ing still in process of treatment for the separation of its gold and silver Louis Banding of Sonora writes that the reported discovery of molybdenum in Kern County, noted in these columns 1 recently. was not the first find of this i rare metal in this State. He says that eight years ago a three-foot vein was 1 found in Tuolumne County. It is molyb- | denite, the sulphide of the metal. The ! molybdate of lead Is found in a mine ! seven miles from Sonora.
 We learn that Contractor Erickson, with a large force of men, will shortly go to work to open up the marble quar- ry near Columbia It will be remembered that the quarry was leased for ten years last December to Prince Poniatowski and T. 5. Bullock of the Sierra Railway It was understood that the privilege of buy ing was given The price was said to be $250 900, and the money paid for the lease $8000 per aunum. For some weeks past | boring with core drills has been in pro- gress to test the quality of the stone 4 depth of about ninety feet has already been obtained, and 1t is the intention to ! proceed until a depth of 250 feet is reached The grade of the marble, so far as tested, has been of the highest quality. Taking everything into cOnsid-