The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-01-06
GOLD IN CALIFORNIA
STILL MAINTAINS LEAD
GOLD DREpeEs PRoDRcE IS PER
CENT OF THE PLACER GOLD
COPPER, LEAD AND ZINC.


Iures compiled by Charles G. Yale, of
the United States Geological Survey.
The mine figures for 1914 We're $780,
653, 496 in gold and 1,471,S59 fine oun-
Ices of silver; the estimate for 1915 in
dictate an output of $22.S60,590, in gold
and 1,974,529 ounces of silver. an in
crease of $2,207,O 94 in gold and 5O2,670
fine ounces of silver. California re-
mains the premier gold producing state
of the country. The yield for 1915, is,
the largest in 80 years and with one
exception, the largest in 81 yeals.
There are about 700 producing metal
mines in the state, about evenly divided
between deep and placer mines. About
100000 tons of ore are mined and
treated in the state annually of an ev-
erage value in all metals of 1915 per
ton. In value of all metals produced,
Shasta is the leading county, while in
value of gold output, Nevada, Amador,
Yuba, and Sacramento are the leading
counties in the order named.
Placer Mining.
Placer mining for gold, for years con-
sidered a decadent industry in CAL
ifornia, has for the past IL years been
growing in Importance, until now the
placer mines are producing A per cent
of the total gold yield, the other Sc
per cent coming from deep mines. This
condition has, been entirely brought
about by the dredging operations, the
gold dredges now producing some Sc
per cent of the placer cold. During
1915 there were 81 gold dredgeJ in
California, of which were closed down
all or part of the time, and one was
burned, leaving 60 active drcdges. Of
the idle dredges, | was being moved
from Oroville to Shasta county; one
from OroVille was rebuilt; and one in
Shasta county was removed to new
ground in the vicinity. A new one
was built In Calaveras county. A large
/ 16 cubic foot bucket dredsc is under
construction for the Yuba Consolidated
/ goldfields, in Yuba county, and another
one of equal capacity (to Gig 70 feet
below water line) is being built for the
county. Plans have been prepared for
still another of the Same size for the
Yukon Gold company II the same
dredge field. The present tendency Is
toward extensive yardage in dredging
operations SO the new machines are
much larger and more powerful than
those built formerly 1t is considered
probable that for this reason the yield
of dredge-g gold in California will con-
tinue about the SINE for years, ever
though the old and smaller mac!2iAes
discontinue operations.
General Mining Revival.
There has been o distinct revival II
all kinds of metal mining in the st2tt
in 1915, particularly in gold mining
The dredge men have begun operations
on tracts formerly considered too small
for this class of work; and numerou
quartz mines have been reopened
while the older ones have been deep
ened with good results.
Silver.
shows an estimated increase in 1871
as compared with 1914, of 502,670 oun
ces. This is mainly derived from tn
smelling of copper, lead and zinc ores
although some silver is recovered II
the mining Of both quartz and place
! gold.
Copper.
The estimated mine yield of cope
in California in 1915 is 44,O98,55
pounds, as compared with 3O,507,69
pounds in 1914, an increase for 1915 o
1850, $3.50 pounds The larger proper
lion of this was derived from Shasti
ccahty, as usual, although CalaVera
and Plumas counties contributed
liberal quantity and other countie
contributed q liberal quantity an
other counties made some yield.
Lead.
The mine output Of lead in 1914 wa
4,251,923 pounds; in 1915 it is estim
ated at 6,346,319 pounds, an increas
| for the latter year of 2,094,396 pounds
! Most of this is derived from the south
ern counties of the state, particular
? Inyo county.
Zinc.
The estimated zinc output of tn
state in 1915 is 11,443,926 pounds
against 3S9,471 pounds in 1914, an In
crease for 1915 of 11,054,455 pounds
: This is the largest production of thi
metal ever made in California in on
year. The greater proportion was de
rived from Shasta county, where on
of the large copper smelters has in
stalled a zinc sorting plant. my
= county was also q large contributor
. the zinc output of the state.
V That Was the Trouble.