The San Francisco call., 1899-12-25

I
and hotels and State Mineralogist Cooper
Is holding down the heavy one, other one.
| or Whatever II Is. in the ferry building
ana waiting to see what he will see. The
/ situation may be settled when the State
| Board OF Examiners sits on the bills of
the Gage bureau early in January and it
may be settled some other time Cooper
sits in the ferry building. keeping the
mass stirred up which prevents precipita-
| lon. The situation may not be settled
until there Is some sort Of a shaking up.
| 1t develops that the Governor has put
| w. L. Watts In charge Of the field work
provided for in the appropriation bill
which illegally gave the field patronage
to the Governor TO the extent OF $4,000 d
| year and caused the trouble. Mr.. Watts
Is In charge OF himself and Stephen Bow
ers, and will probably soon be welding a
! scientific corps Of three, as it is under
stood that when the Governor can decide
on whose friend to appoint there Will be
an expert set TO work on the mother lode.
| Bowers gets $3.50 month and Watts gets
| so more. for being the bOss-the Cover
| nor geological adJutant general
| Mr.. Watts particular work outside OF
/ the general supervision of Stephen Bow
ers and the coming mother lode man, will
! be in the oil feld. in which he has so as
| siduousiy worked for several years as a
! representative OF the bureau. lie says
that he Will finish some geological work in
! the southern region and then compile
Statlstlcal and general Information about
1 the oil industry. Then he will study the
oil fields north OF Tehachapi. These mat
/ ters Will yield reports 10 be published as
! bulletins. II Is no family secret that in
/ the past the quite able and laboriously
| complied reports of Mr.. Watts have been
cut down or pigeon-holed in the office,
| which is one OF the reasons for the lack
/ of fraternal love between Watts and the
/ bureau administration. If Watts reports
are cut down now he will do 1t himself
and be happy.
! Ii is getting TO be years now since any
/ results OF Professor Watts constant pet
roleum labors have been published by the
bureau. The good OF his hunting and re-
/ recting has reached the public only
/ through private advices and contributions
| TO papers but the OF! industry will be
DountlIuily reported on during the coming
year. State Mineralogist Cooper will issue
/ voluminOus and very valuable bulletin
| and the Governors bureau may be count
! ed on 10 keep up its own end, especially as
/ Gage is playing miocene sandstones him
/ SELF.
| Mr.. Watts, by the way. is an interesting
/ character in one view, and displays quail
/ ties of nobility even in association with
| Governor Gage. His long experience and
wide acquaintance in the California oil
/ field have brought him repeated offers Of
/ princely remuneration for private services
/ as an expert during the boom, but he
waves them aside and sticks TO his scien-
! titic bureau job al Sl75 a month and eX-
/ penses, because he likes the work, is de-
/ voted 10 the cause and has no hunger for
! riches.
Mr. Bowers is to explore and report on
/ individual counties, so that there will be
descriptive bulletins of some sort on Cali
/ fornia counties He reported on some
counties when he was a field deputy under
| Irelan. and people who are against Cages
! private mining bureau recall his descrp-
ton OF Orange County In the tenth report
as nearly an oblong square" But as this
Is political fight bad language must be
/ expected TO cut figure. He Is now in
San Diego County.
Mr. Cooper will get his county maps and
registers printed, If he can, without con-
cern for Mr.. Bowers literary efforts, and
as Mr.. Watts and the Governor will hold
Mr. Cooper's maps and registers in con-
/ tempt. the counties will hear reports from
both barrels. After the long silence OF
the State Printing Office, II would take
! the Government Printing ONCE at Wash
l ington TO print all the reports and bu!le-
tins that State boards and officials want
issued, and the two mining bureaus, with
| rival records TO make, will do their share
/ to keep the State Printer busy.
The Governors appointees went to work
/ in November and sent their bills TO II. 5.
/ burden, secretary of the board of trus-
| tees of the State Mining Bureau. The
/ State Mineralogist, who has firmly with
held any recognition Of Cages right TO
appoint bureau employees. would not ap-
I
not meet in time to take any action. n
| meeting Of that board is always a strain
on something and triumph for Mr.. Dur
| den, who gets them together once In
while. When jefferson Doolittle gets TO
I town w. s Keyes is off exporting a mine.
and when he gets back Thomas b. Bishop
/ is buried under a lawsuit, and somebody
! else is down south. so the November bills
were not before the December meeting OF
! the State Board of Examiners The trus-
/ tees being men of political honors and
. ttgh ran1f diGRTgrinn looking
! for political fights, and few days ago
/ they formally approved the November
and December bills of Messrs. Watts and
/ Bowers without Mr.. Coopers co-opcra-
ton. So they will come before the Board
of Examiners in January. Then Attorney
! General Ford Will decide whether or net
a simple appropriation bill could legally
amend the statute giving the State Min
eralogist the appointment OF bureau en-
ployes, subject to confirmation Dy the
! trustees, and pass the patronage 10 Gage.
A contest over the Governors mining Du-
reau Is likely to arise. Meanwhile tle
miners should take a good look at the
State Mining Bureau.
The proceedings OF the late State con-
vention of the California Miners Associa-
ton held in San Francisco in October have
been published in pamphlet form and are
/ being distributed. Copies can be had on
application to the office OF Secretary Ben
jamin, 33l Pine street. In MIR. BenJamlnS
! absence in Alaska the publication has
/ been supervised by j. Z. Douglas. who
ably assisted Mr.. Benjamin for some time.
| In the absence of both President w. &.
! Ralston and Secretary Benjamin the ex-
| ecutive committee is holding no meetings.
| Mr. BENJAMIN is expected back from
! Alaska about the middle of January and
| Mr. Ralston will return from the East
| about that time, when association affairs
| will move again. While in the East Presi-
! dent Ralston will visit Washington. and
while there display his usual vigorous
| activity in behalf OF pending and pro-
posed mining legislation.
The Calaveras County Miners Assocla-
ton has begun a good roads campaign
and thus both done good thing for itself
| and presented an example OF what these
| county associations in the mining
| regions can do for home interests
by acquiring strength and life and
taking hold of local problems. In regions
where mining is the chief interest and
main support of population and prosper
| ity miners associations should be the
| leading forces in behalf of home interests
! and local progress, and they have the ad-
| vantage OF the moral and other backing
| of the powerful California Miners Asso-
| citation OF which they are part.
| AT a recent meeting of this association
| at San Andreas the good roads problem
was made the chief topic. The meeting