The San Francisco call., 1903-09-09
Statistics ShoU Midas
Treasure Torn From
Granite Hills.

q a.
cluding the year 1901, has been esti-
mated by Charles Yale to amount
to 1882, ,365,OSS. The greatest produc-
ton recorded was in the year 1853.
when the total was SS1. .294 700. The
gold output for the year 1S4S was
estimated with very different results, the
figures going from SPA, ,3O1 to SO 900 900.
The conservative view Is taken by Yale,
who Is the statistician OF both the United
States Mint in this city and OF the State
Mining Bureau, and he places the total at
S245, ,9O1.
The next year the total rose to S1o.15i.-
36O. In 1850 the output In gold was S41,-
273,1O6; in 1851 it was S75, ,93S 232; IN 1852 the
total was SS1, ,294, 700; in 1854 It was S69. 49,.
9S1; In 1885 the amount was SIS, ass, 1896; the
year 1856 made a record OF production OF
S57 ,5O9,411- Then the product ran between
s4O,OO0,O00 and s46OOO.OOO per annum for a
series OF years extending from 1851 to 1861,
inclusive Of both years mentioned. Then
came records In successive years OF S3s.-
s54 sos. s23 so, ,7SS. $24O71, ,423 and so on. The
surface placers had been largely ex-
hausted. The quartz, drift. hydraulic and
other mining eras, the latest being the
the gold industry evolved.
Minerals other than gold have been
found incidental to the mining Of gold.
Greater economies have revived old Rold
mines that once were discarded because
the former owners did not know how 10
make them profitable or because the i'm
mediate returns did not fulfill the gilt
tering dreams that were entertained when
the deposits were unscientihcally opened
for production. Great mineral industries
apart from gold have come into existencs,
not sprung suddenly into the light, but
produced by careful and systematic ef-
forts following discoveries.
In the year 1901 the gold output Of Cal
Kornia was s16,9S9.044 The total mineral
output Of the State for the year 1901 was
34.355. .9s1. From this 1t will be seen that
gold in 1901 was less than half OF the
value Of the minerals OF California pro-
duced that year.
A discovery that may be OF vast i'm
portance to California and to the world
has been made in Death Valley. 1t Is now
supposed that there is a sufficient guam
tity OF inter in that desert and forbidding
section to supply the entire world. For
many years Chile has had the monopoly
OF the production Of inter for the man
ufacture of powder for military and for
mining use. Two large concerns are now
exploiting Death Valley for inter. The
inhospitable sands of that torrid region
have long supplied vast quantities OF bo-
rax annually. If the expectations OF the
men who are exploiting the desert for
inter shall be realized the deserts that
have yielded gold, petroleum in untold
quantities and borax WV prove to be as
well enriched by nature as any part or
the wide area known as California
Bv the banks of rivers, in the Hat al
luvial lands that lie along the rivers and
nv the ubuntain streams that foam down
the eanks of the high Sierra the new
eold dredgers are tOiling in several coun-
ties In the north daily and nightly rise
the steam and smoke banners that tell
uvbere the smelters are at work on Cal
ifornia copper. And in a large array OF
counties there are forests Of derricks that
indicate where petroleum is being mined
IN nropel the machinery of California and
40 he used in the furnaces Of locomotives
and steamships. Clearly the mining era
is far from being ended. II will not come
40 a close in a century yet 1t will be
greater than ever in the days of ~