The record-union., 1899-05-06
SOUTHERN MINES.

of interest to all who care to know of
Pacific Coast resources:
SOUTHERN MINES
A correspondent in the Times OF
Monday last pertinently drew attention
to the lack of intelligent interest shown
by investors in the mineral deposits of
Southern California. 1t is a fact that
there are, in the southern counties, hun
dreds of deposits of gold and other min
erals, which remain almost or entirely
undeveloped and in the working OF
which the owners find it impossible to
interest capital. Yet these same de-
posits, if located in sections of the
country which are more generally re-
cognized as mineral regions, would Gre
ate something like an excitement
In connection with this subject some
facts given by Mr.. Yale, the statistician
of the State Mining Bureau, at the
meeting held at the Chamber of Com
merce on Saturday, are of interest. Mr..
Yale shows that the total value of the
mineral products of the Southern Cali
fornia counties for 1898 was So,21l ,SS4.
By adding the county of Kern, the total
would be brought up to S6.34I ,4ol An
Interesting fact is that in these south
ern counties are mined or quarried no
less than twenty-four out of thirty-six
substances mined in the State and that
Los Angeles is the only county in the
State which has the lead in the amount
of product in five substances The total
value of the mineral output of Southern
California, exclusive of Kern County, is
nearly % per cent. of the mineral out
put of the State.
AS already mentioned in the Times
there has been a movement for the es-
tablishment of an independent miners
association in Southern California. At
the meeting on Saturday it was re-
solved that it would be best to establish
a Southern California branch of the
State association, with headquarters in
Los Angeles. 1t may be that this will
be the most satisfactory solution of the
question In any case, efforts should be
made to arouse more interest among in
vestors in the many promising mineral
deposits which are found south of the
Tehachapi range.
KRAMER STORY FALSE.
Los Angeles Times (Allen Kelly's
letter.: The efforts of eXcitable persons
to promote a stampede of prospectors
to a mining camp near Kramer by
sending out fantastic tales of Desert
sands richer than Klondike sand" has
caused a loss of time and money to
many men who cannot afford to waists
either These rich gold fields exist
only in the imagination of two or three
men. who are making a few dollars
by hauling prospectors to the camp
and back. Every experienced miner
who is lured to the place by the pub
lished tales of fabulous wealth turns
about and gets out as fast as he can
travel. The "tenderfoot" remains and
feverishly stakes out any old thing,
and lies down at night under a grease
wood bush and dreams of his fortune
hidden under the desert sand The
plain truth is that four prospectors.
who have been dry washing there for
about three years, have traced the gold
up to a porphyritic formation, from
which it came, and have a good pros
pect in a fifty-foot shaft They do
not pretend that their prospect hole is
q mine. and they do not know whether
the formation is a vein in place or
mere deposit of disintegrated quartz
and porphyry. These men are not re
sponsible in any way for the attempt
TO inStigate a rush to their camp.
There isn't rock enough in the dis
trict to make monuments ON the claims,
and most of the locations are marked
by splinters of cracker boxes or bits
of mesquite stuck in the sand These
stakes indicate the discovery of
nothing more than sand and sage
brush; mineral in place is the last
thing the locators think of looking for,
and it is just as well that they waste
no time looking for it, for it isn't
there The barren desert has been
staked out with splinters and twigs
for several miles. This fact does not
indicate that a big crowd has been
there. One man galloped over the
country on horseback and stuck stakes
and notices wherever he rode and
there is not a square foot of vacant
ground within four miles of Duncan's
prospect hole. Crowds in the camp;
men holding down claims with shot
guns; proving about at night to jump
claims and rio toll