Collection: Directories and Documents > Directories

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Title: Nevada County Mining Review (622.342.NEV)(1895) Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Directories Catalog #: 622.342.NEV Author: W. F. Prisk Publisher: Daily Morning Union Related Items: 1895 Pictorial History of Nevada County, California (979.437 COM (622.342 NEV, PH 1-4))(2000) Pamphlets > Nevada City and its Resources Mining Interests and Business Firms, 1893 (PH 1-2)(1893) Pamphlets > Grass Valley and Vicinity (PH 1-4)(Circa 1895) Directories > Nevada County Mining and Business Directory, 1895 (650.025.POI)(1895) Published: 1895 Subjects: Nevada County, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Mining, Economics, Boosterism, 1890s Notes: William Frederick Prisk, Jr. (1870-1962) # of Pages: 158 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Metadata By: Bill Wetherall Printed or handwritten: All printed text Date Scanned: 2024-11-29 12:08:30 Scanned By: Dakota Stroh Scanning Equipment: CZUR Book Scanner OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: JPGs First Created: 2024-12-02 12:12:40 Last Updated: 2024-12-23 14:47:48

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 158  

MINING AND HE HISTORY of Mining is as old as the world itself, and it is a history of evolution and progress. Gold mining was practiced by the ancients, and their methods and utensils were of the simplest form. The evolution of gold mining apparatus in California has been great. From the wooden-pan and rocker of the days of ’49, have developed the magnificent quartz mills and hydraulic monitors of today. The mines of Ophir, from which Solomon obtained the gold for his temple at Jerusalem, were said to be the richest known during biblical times, and the history of California is the history of its mines. For, until Marshall discovered the little glistening nuggets in the mill-race at Coloma, California was practically unknown and its inhabitants were Spanish Caballeros, intermingled with a few adventurers and the native Indians. To the commercial world, the discovery of gold in California brougitt new life and renewed vigor, and in the dark days of rebellion the gold from the mines of California sustained the Nation's credit and placed the United States on an equal footing with the great nations of the world. , So the history of Nevada County would be incomplete and utterly valueless without a history of its mining development. From the old County of Nevada came many of the millions which California poured into the lap of the Republic when gold was most necessary. The pine-clad hills, the gulches, the ‘‘flats’’ and the river bottoms of Nevada County were. the first to yield their stores of the precious metal. In time, however, these sources became practically exhausted and the hardy pioneer was obliged to seek other sources from which to extract the yellow gold. The discovery of gold-bearing quartz veins supplied one of the sources, and the hills, on whose sides towered the giant pine, were tunneled and the vast bodies of gravel found, which supplied the other source. These industries, quartz and gravel mining, then became the factors which produced the wealth of California and attracted the miner, the farmer, the lawyer, the doctor, and men of all callings from every part of the globe. To the new El Dorado flocked thousands of determined men ITS DEVELOPMENT from the quiet New England villages and from the bustling commercial and farming centers. These were the pioneers! Men of energy, courage and indomitable will, and they established on the broad waters of the Pacific a commonwealth, the equal of which was never before seen or even dreamed of. While other sections of California have become noted for their manufactures, their fruits and their cereals, Nevada County has steadily progressed in the development of her pioneer industry and stands today at the head of the list of the great mining counties of the Golden State. But in the time of her prosperity she has not neglected her great agricultural and horticultural resources by any means. The fruits of Nevada County have found a market in the great cities of the East, and are known all over the Pacific Coast. Mining, however, is and probably always will be the leading industry of this county. The veins of rich, gold-bearing quartz, with which our hills are ribbed, have been proven to be almost inexhaustible and reach unknown depths. The ancient river channels, which yielded many millions of dollars during the palmy days of hydraulic mining, still lie buried beneath the mountains, awaiting the hand of man. The time will come when the inventive genius of man will devise some safe and practical method by which these channels will again be compelled to give up their shining gold, to be placed in the great exchequer of the world, Nevada County has limitless resources, and long after the last of the pioneers shall have passed to the ‘great beyond," she will be producing bullion for the multitudes of the earth, It was here that the first great discovery of gold-bearing quartz was made and it was in this county that the first great hydraulic mining enterprises were inaugurated and the powerful monitor first used, On Gold Hill, near Grass Valley, in October, 1850, a man named McKnight is credited with having discovered or uncovered by accident a ledge of quartz, bearing gold in abundance. The ledge was about two feet in thickness and a mill test of the rock gave $500 toeach ton. Since.