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Title: 1895 Pictorial History of Nevada County, California (979.437 COM (622.342 NEV, PH 1-4))(2000) Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Catalog #: 979.437 COM (622.342 NEV, PH 1-4) Author: W. F. Prisk, J. E. Poingdestre, and Samuel Butler. Foreword and index by David A. and Ardis H. Comstock. Publisher: Grass Valley: Comstock Bonanza Press Related Items: Directories > Nevada County Mining Review (622.342.NEV)(1895) Pamphlets > Grass Valley and Vicinity (PH 1-4)(Circa 1895) Published: 2000 Copyright: In the public domain or published before 1925 Subjects: Nevada County, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Mines, Mining Industry, Who's Who, 19th Century, 1890s Notes: Full title: 1895 Pictorial History of Nevada County, California: Reissue of "Nevada County Mining Review" compiled by William Frederick Prisk Jr. and the staff of the Grass Valley Daily Morning Union and "Grass Valley and Vicinity" compiled by J. E. Poingdestre with an historical sketch by Samuel Butler: To which has been appended a new foreword and a comprehensive index compiled by David A. and Ardis H. Comstock. vi, 186 pages. # of Pages: 194 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Metadata By: Bill Wetherall Printed or handwritten: All printed text Date Scanned: 2024-07-21 19:24:05 Scanning Equipment: CZUR Book Scanner Item Sourced From: TIFs First Created: 2024-08-07 22:21:34 Last Updated: 2024-12-07 05:53:36

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

Page: of 194  

NEVADA COUNTY MINING REVIEW the east of the Grass Valley gold belt is a continuation of the same belt which can be traced across E] Dorado and Placer Counties. It runs across Nevada County, and is the dividing line between the Grass Valley and Washington belts. Immediately east of the serpentine belt is an immense vein of ferruginous steatite, varying from twenty to one hundred and fifty feet in width. This monster vein is auriferous, and is being successfully mined on the South Yuba river. The ore is, however, very low grade. East of the auriferous steatite is an auriferous formation of black slate, mica, talc and chlorite schists, with quartzite and dikes of diorite and diabase, the black slate predominating. This is commonly known as the Washington belt, and continues to the mouth of Diamond creek. Init are numerous strong veins of auriferous quartz, some in contacts and others in fissures, crossing the slates. Masses of infiltrated quartz often are found in the black slates, carrying a considerable quantity of gold. About a mile east of the Washington mine the rocks begin to change from their slaty character and gradually become more siliceous, schistose and harder going east, to a point about half of a mile west of the Yuba mine. East of this the formation changes gradually to protegene, alternating with narrow beds of syenite and schistose rocks. Some of the protegene belts are chlorite and others talcose. From the Eagle Bird mine east to Fuller lake the protogene rocks predominate. Numerous veins of auriferous quartz, from one to thirty feet thick, crop out along the hillsides and can be traced from the tops of the ridges down the sides of the mountains and across the cafions. This belt continues northerly, crossing the Middle Yuba river into Sierra County, and in going south into Placer County, the protogene gradually changes into a hard quartzite, alternating with schistose rocks. ast of the Fuller lakes the formation is syenite, with beds of slate and schistose rocks, This forms a belt which includes the auriferous region north of Cisco, known as the Meadow Lake district. East of Meadow lake the same alternating slate, schistose and syenite formations continue to the summit of the Sierras. MINERALS AND MINING Nevada County’s chief sources of wealth are not its timber lands, its ice ponds or its agricultural productions, Mining for gold has been the leading industry and the chief factor of its wealth since the days of ’49, and this same search for the yellow metal will doubtless continue to be the great attraction of the future. Our quartz and gravel mines haye produced millions of dollars in gold LI se bullion, and in extracting this bullion from the dark recesses of the earth, many millions of dollars have been invested. The system of canals in this county, built originally to supply the great hydraulic mines with water, is one of the most complete and expensive in the world, The mining possibilities of Nevada County are almost without limit. Although this county is famed for the richness of its quartz veins and gravel channels, it is not lacking in other valuable minerals and products. In the western part of the county, near the Yuba boundary, a system of copper veins traverse the entire width of the county, and at Spenceville this vein has been worked with profit. A few miles east of Spenceville there is also a copper lode of excellent quality yet undeveloped. Iron ore of high grade and inexhaustible quantity has been found in the vicinity of Indian Springs. The iron belt is found to extend across the county from the Bear to the Yuba rivers, at an elevation of one thousand four hundred feet. Manganese is also found in this region in considerable quantities. Marble of excellent quality and different varieties is found near North Bloomfield. Granite, for building purposes and for general use, can be found throughout the entire northern half of the county. The principal quartz systems, from which the bulk of the gold extracted during the past two decades has been taken, are in Grass Valley and Nevada townships. In Rough and Ready is found a system of quartz veins that have been developed to a small extent. At Grass Valley, two thousand four. hundred and seventy feet above the sea level, are found two systems of veins of auriferous quartz, one running east and west and the other north and south. Both of these systems have been worked at a great profit, the product of the quartz mines of this district alone being estimated at $100,000,000. This is sufficient to testify to the value and permanence of quartz lodes here located. In Nevada township, both quartz and gravel mining is being vigorously prosecuted. The ores of the quartz veins in this district are more highly mineralized than those in the Grass Valley district, but the latter yield much more readily to the milling process, thereby making them much cheaper to work. ‘The ores in the Rough and Ready district are of a somewhat refractory character also. The concentrates from all the districts are of a high grade. In the Washington dirtrict there are many quartz ledges, and they are generally large and strong. They have been worked with profit, and are of such a nature as to be worked cheaply on a large scale, Between the South and Middle Yubas quartz mining has not received much attention, except at Graniteville. The ledges at this place are noted for their width and strength. At Columbia Hill, considerable