November 6, 1858 (4 pages)

Sots aed —E————E—————————————— THE HYDRAULIC PRESS . . A Word to Old Settlers. —_[ are open and paying, and others not. B. P. AVERY, EDITOR. gnc. gressing from the subject of the flume. The In spite of the thoroughly careful and . best section of it is laid at the base of a peras . . systematic manner in which hydraulic mining . pendicular cliff of rock close to the river sold to the Miner’s Ditch Company . is pursued in this Vicinity~-in spite of the bank. Thiscliff ig at least 125 feet high,and SATURDAY, -NOV. 6, 1S5S. . the pioneers, who go before and dis-. Clark Brothers being at least 2,000 . for $48,000, being at the rate of $1,. great lengths of sluice boxes employed, am. at its summit has been worn in twenty feet The Grizzly Ditch. TAIL SLUICES. adligee seins It is usually the case in California 7 wh a duck ‘thee ave veural . This well-known property has been towns, at least in mining towns, that . extensive Tail Sluices—that of the we cover the advantages, are not the ' feet long, and valued a little time . 000 per share. ‘This ditch was com. ounting to many hundreds of feet, and the . by the action of the water, leaving a half rr eae Siens or Procress.—The Sierra Nevada Hotel was re-opened in first rate style on Tuesday last by Messrs. Gordon & Crawford. These gentlemen have had the house plastered 1,5 been the fate of the and thoroughly refitted, and their table is not surpassed in the mountains. The public are directed to their card in this issue of the Press. 8. Z. Ross & Co., have opened a new and extensive assortment of Groceries, Provisions, Miners’ Supplies, Crockery, and Furniture, in the building known as the Theater. Give the “little Drury” Store a visit. Spero has returned from Fraser river, and now holds forth at the Pioneer Saloon. Toe Mines.—The “ Deadman” boys realized from their last “clean up” the sum of $5,800. This amount would have been much exceeded had they cleaned up the whole length of their sluices. A fourth int2rest in the Bloomer Cut was sold this week for $4,200, and is said to be cheap at that price. This company have been employed about two years in running a tunnel through which they could wash all their dirt, and as it is now nearly completed, they will soon be making their fortunes. The top dirt on the rim rock, on which they have been washing along back, has paid big wages. Moore & Readshae tried another blast in their bank last week with satisfactory results. The hard earth was very much cracked and shaken up by the explosion, and now crum~ bles readily under the forcible streams of water projected against it, whereas before it was almost impervious to aqueous influence. The Wyoming company are still sinking their shaft. At last accounts it was down 42 feet below the bench on which they have been washing. This makes the total depth of their bank about 142 feet. The bed rock is probably ten feet deeper at least. with such an immense body of paying dirt as this, they may reasonably look forward to several years of profitable washing. Scnoor Stratistics.—Through the kindness of the Trustees we are fur. nished with the following interesting particulars in regard to the condition of the District School, and the number of children in the township. Bridgeport Township constitutes School District No. 2, and contains but one school, which is located in this town. The total number of children in the district is 229, of which 121 are between the ages of 4 and 18, and 108 under 4 years ; 115 are boys, 114 girls, and 130 were born in Cals ifornia. The number of pupils at~ tending school is only 51, out of 121 entitled to attend, the daily average attendance being 30. We believe there are one or two private schools at other points in the district, so that the number of children receiving instruction is greater than the above figures would indicate. The total amount of expenditures for school purposes during the last 12 months was $1-543.90, of which som $682.50 was paid to teachers, and $861.40 consumed in the erectien of a school house and purchase of books. $1,369.53 of the .whole amount of expenditures was raised by subscription amongst the citizens generally, the balance $174.37 being received from the school fund. Our little town has reason to feel proud of its liberality towards the cause of education. ‘The erection of that school house, and the instructing of from 30 to 50 ehildren during the st year are the best things we have one. Many a litle fellow may emerge from that institution to fame and usefulness, and will remember the spot where he received the germ of his excellence long, perhaps, after San Juan has ceased to exist. Fixe Weatuzr.—Since the recent rains we have been blest with the finest of weather; a clear sky and balmy atmosphere have been our constant companions Come up here ye pent-up denizens of the Bay, and for awhile enjoy the beauty of mountain scenery. } a a mn ones to reap the benefits of them. They work hard to develop new facilities for amassing wealth in which . This prospecting miner and of the founder of new towns. Shrewd fellows, who are alert graspers of good chances, always follow in the wake of these adventurous pioneers, somewhat as certain inferior creatures follow beasts of prey and comein for the feast which their bravery or skill did not secure. We confess to a liking for all sorts of pioneers—shiftless vagabonds as they are sometimes. They are the precursors and inaugurators of civiliza~ tion; they level the walls of savage~ ness which keep back empire, and open whole continents to the interests of humanity. The work they perform being of such value, they should reap an abundant crop of rewards for themselves. We have remarked that they seldom do this, and are sorry forit. Bat it is their own fault. These observations were begun with the intention of saying something very practical to the old settlers of North San Juan. We wanted to tell them that, if fortunes and homes are to be made in this thriving village, they are the ones who deserve them. In short, we wanted to whisper in their ears these words—Don’t let the new comers get ahead of you. Every week hereafter some strangesr will sit down amongst you—will start business in a more showy and liberal manner, and entice customers away from your shabby looking establishments. We say, welcome to all who come, but we do not like to see the new hands take all the wages. If the merchants and tradesmen who are already here want to retain their share of public favor, they must fit up in as good a style as is usual elsewhere, and not wait for others to set the example. Several of our mera chants are doing an excellent business, yet they abide contencedly in insecure wooden houses of very homely appearance. The gentlemen who lately erected the two-story brick edifice which adorns Main street, did more by that to secure themselves custom than they could have done by almost any other plan. Such buildings, besides, are good recommendations for the town, and do much to publish its advantages. they seldom acquire a share. SWEETLAND.—This old and famous locality, which was first settled in 1850, “still lives” and prospers. Many amiable families reside there, and several beautiful residences are being built. The cottage of Mr. Hiscox is one of the most picturesque and tasteful houses in the mountains. The reputation of this town is not stained by the crifmes and rowdyism which have afflicted nearly every other mining village. The diggings, though rich, have not been of that kind which would attract a large floating population with its wild excesses, being very deep and requiring years of patient toil to open them. Those who have had the courage to persevere have done well, and will do better. The Buck. & Breck. claims, owned by Curtis & Co., have paid very rich, and, we believe, are still paying. The proprietors are now running a tunnel. Cloke & Co., and tho Last Chance company are also running tunnels. The Manzanita and Tennessee companies, as also Fowler & Co., and Moore & Hillard, have all completed their tunaels and are washing either with good success or the certain prospect of it to cheer them. The Kentucky company have lately got to washing, and have struck rich dirt. They cleaned up last week $428 as the result of one and a half days’ washing. The gold can be seen in the bottom dirt, whilst a little above, prospects of 15 cents to the pan can be obtained. On Buckeye Hill, which is across the creek from Sweetland, there are several companies at work, and doing well. ‘ Hitchcock & Lewis, Evans & Co., and Evans & Dannals, are all running in tunnels. “The bed rock is micaceous slate and sand stone, and is comparatively soft and easily cut or blasted. In addition to the claims enumerated, there are many others around the village of Sweetland with which we are not familiar, some of which ago at upwards of $5,000. The Tail Sluice of Winham, McDowell and Ewing is elsewhere noticed at length. The hills on each side of Sweetland Creek are mostly composed of the rocks named above. ‘These have frequent veins of excellent looking quartz cropping from them, some of which must contain gold in remunerative quantities. It should be tested by all means. [If it is really auriferous it will add largely to the permanence and success ef the place. Bay~“ Bank Blasting ” is recommended by a writer in the San Andreas Independent, as a great laborsaving mode of mining in deep diggings. He says he is satisfied from some experiments, that he has made on a small scale, “ that six hundred pounds of powder, properly placed and confined, will loosen more dirt than the labor of six men, with the tools now in use, will do in one month, while the expense attending is greatly in favor of the powder. The latter will cost, say, $165; the labor and tools of six men will cost, at least, $500—leaving $335 in favor of the powder, besides costing a great deal less for water to run the same amount of drift off.” The idea of applying blasting to mining in deep banks is not original with the Jndependent’s correspondent, nor is his the only experiment. The blasting process has been tried in this vicinity for a number of weeks past, and the general results have been carefully noted from time to time in the “Press.” Its value as an aid to the miner in procuring a supply of dirt for washing has been fully proven and accurately stated. Instead of piping, or picking, at a hard bank of earth for perhaps more than half the time, he can now keep his boxes running full of dirt constancly, at a great saving of time and money and labor. The great desideratum with miners has long been to obtain an wninterrupted supply of dirt at as small a cost for labor as possible ; the application of blasting appears so far to meet this want. It is being extensively tested in these diggings, and so far has not failed in a single instance to realize the hopes of the experimenters. Seyeral companies have already adopted it as a regular and indispensable part of their mining operations, and in our opinion its use is destined to be common throughout the State. There are no arguments needed to convince anybody of the fact that the explosion of confined powder will displace mases of earth; we only want to experiment and ascertain the best modes of applying this fact to the purposes ofthe gold miner. The press through out the entire mining region ought tu call special attention to the subject. It merely needs to be generally men~ tioned to be generally tested. The universal introduction of blasting as. a means of procuring dirt, will work a great gain not only to the miners themselves but to the State. It will make profitable a large quantity of ground which is not now worked for the reason that its excessive hardness prevents a sufficient supply being ob. tained by ordinary methods except at a@ greater cost than the total yield. But the miners ought to use electricity to fire their blasts, as well in rock tunnels as in banks, instead of fuse. It would be much chearer in the long run, and would prevent that dreadful loss of life and limb which saddens the mining record of every locality. Toe BeavtiruL IN NaTuRE.— About this, with pleasure, we often read but seldom take the trouble to enjoy. Whatcould be more pleasant, how could time be more profitably passed, and what could more tend to the refinement of the feelings of our innermost soul, now so sadly roughen-~ ed by contact with the business-world, whose only idea is—wealth—the eurse of mankind, because it leads on to luxury—than to take a trip to the mountains, where may be breathed pure air, which shall expand the dustfilled lungs of those of cities, and invigorate the system; where too may be seen the stately pine, gracefully swaying to and fro with the breeze, whose music shall enliven the care~ worn, and whose plumed top, as it rises high mto the ethereal blue of the heavens, remiding one of the God who in marcy has thus created in beauty surrounding nature for the humblest to enjoy ? i menced by Messrs. Pettibone, Marsh, . . and Stuart in November, 1851, and runs from Grizzly Canon and Bloody Run to Cherokee, a distance of 18 or 20 miles. It was completed to Cherokee in the summer of 1852, ata cost of about $38,000, and gave thai town an immediate impetus and imvortance by the introduction of water to the surrounding diggings. Branches were extended to San Juan and French Corral the following year at an additional expense of about $12,000. The extension to San Juan, not long after the discovery of the diggings by Nathaniel Harrison, gave the place its first substantial com-~ mencement and led to the development of the mineral riches surrounding it, and ultimately to the construction of the Middle Yuba Canal, which first introduced a constant supply of water in June, 1856. The reservoir which is still in use . on the south side of the town, and the . old flume which now crosses Main street, were both constructed by the Grizzly company. The French Corral branch of the Grizzly Ditch, from San Juan down, was sold to Pollard & Co., in 1855, for $6,000, and in 1857 the branch from Cherokee to this place was bought by the Middle Yuba company for $10,000. For the last two years the Grizzly Ditch has paid remarkably well, yielding a dividend of $500 per an-~ num to the share, in view of which fact the price at which it was sold may be deemed very advantageous to the buyers. The old Grizzly company was always popular amongst the miners, and the above facts in regard to its history will prove interesting to a large number of old residents who still abide on the Ridge. The ditch of the Miners’ Ditch Company, who now own the Grizzly, was commenced in the spring of 1855, to bring water from the Middle Yuba to the diggings at Snow Point, Orleans, Moore’s, and Woolsey’s Flats, and was completed we believe during the following year. It will now be able to supply Cherokee with water the whole year round, and that town, encompassed as it is by rich and extensive diggings, will soon renew its . youth and enter upon a long season of general prosperity. The facts given in this brief article forcibly illustrate the beneficent re. sults which flow from the investment of capital in ditch enterprises. The Village on the Hill. The character of a people is often judged by the manner in which they treat their dead. Generally, the more tender and decent the mode of disposing of those who “have lived,” the more refined do we infer the character of the living to be. A reverential respect for the dead, whether they went out with their pale faces from the circle of our own homes or not, indicates the possession of sensibility and proves the deathlessness of affection. Judged by this standard what must be the . character of our viliage? There is no need . to dilate upon the cause of these remarks, for every one knows it already; the thing needed isto remove it. Of course, it makes no difference to the dead whether the mouldy roofs of their last homes are protected . from the thousand leveling accidents which threaten them or not. It makes no difference to them, whether grass grows, and trees wave,and roses bloom above their graves or not. But it makes a difference to the living. It pleasantly flatters the self love of the quick to know that the spot where their decaying bodies must lie will be jealously guarded and held sacred. Itis @ delightful reflection that the place of our eternal repose will, by its beauty, attract a few souls to communion with their better selves. Let us make our graveyard on the hill a sacred spot and a lovely one. TAGS IRAE. STARS RIVER eters aarGravelling the street will not cost much,it appears. The improvement to which we alluded last week cost from $17 to $30 to each house concerned in it, and wuuld cost not to exceed $25 on an average if extended to the upper part of Main street. The paving need notibe so deep as at the foot of the street, for v'vious reasons, and can be much quicker dons. Some grading is required, but the ground is soft enough from the recent rain to render that a comparatively easy task — 1t will be shameful if another winter is allowed to pass without the main street being paved,when the means to that end are so cheap and conven ient. Vicious Cow —Dr. Eichelroth’s little girl playfully shook her hands at acow the other day, whereupon the animal tossed her a considerable distanve, but fortunately without injuring her. The cow’s horn apparently caught under the waistband of the sweet child’s frock, and did not happen to hurt her person in the least. ‘* A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken without charity.” , which is the conceded impossibility of saving use of quicksilver, and all the iugenions ap. circle, whose two points hold in their grasp pliances for arresting the precious metal, 0 immerse boulder, behind which, as into a such as false bottoms of wooden or granite , huge vessel, leaps the roaring cataract of blocks, and the many kinds of riffles—though chocolate-colored water and stones, sending the latter are mostly discarded now,—a large . forth its] muddy spray and icy breath asit portion of gold wil! escape, going to the en. leaps,and at one plunge striking the worn, richment of ravine and river channels. Itis. slimy granite below. asserted by some that at least one-half the; The lumber for the flume at this place was gold criginally contained in the earth is lost . lowered down with ropes from above a distto the parties who do the first washing. Whe. ance of six hundred feet; and the hight of ther this be correct or pot, the amount which . the ridge above the river is probably about escapes is really very great. There are ma. one thousand feet. . ny reasons for this loss, the principal one of . Taken altogether, this point is wild and picturesque. Its thundering cataract of rocky mud, the overhanging boulder suspended above the spectator’s head as if a petrified Titan held it there, and the precipiteus mountains towering above the river on every hand clad with moaning pines, combine te leave upon the mind an impression of awe and yet a sense of keen enjoyment. The enterprising gentlemen who have constructed, and only recently completed, the work we have described, will undoubtedly realize a very rich reward. Sweetland Creek receivés the tailings of a large number of claims. These tailings lay along its channel for adistance of more than one mile, and are fifty feet deep in places, having half swallowed up the trees which stand in the bottom and deprived them of their vitality. These tailings have just been tapped by Messrs. Winham & Co., and are known to be rich. Pieces of the hard dirt--which came down cntire from the claims above— have been picked up, on which scales cf gold were to be seen, and the gravel generally,we are informed, affords a better prospect: than can be obtained in the original dirt. Perhaps we owe our readers an apology for pursuing this subject to such length, but its interest seemed to justify s:me amplification, even at the risk of wearying those who are already familiar with it. ail the gold even under the most favorable circumstances, by reason of the extreme lightness of much of it. The loss is greater in the diggings surrounding San Juan than it would otherwise be on account of the stone like hardness of some of the earth, which rattles in lumps along the sluices, and passes off, a great deal of it, undissolved, with all its auriferous particles. Strata of pipe clay are also fuund, and the pieces of this as they roll along are supposed to pick up gold and steal off with it. To remove these causes cf loss as much as possible the miners long ago concluded the best plan was to have a great length of sluice, it being reasonably supposed that the more friction and soaking the difficultly soluble earth was subjected to the less of it would escape undissolved. But at heend of the longest sluices the tailings, as the washed gravel and dirt are called after they leave the boxes, are found to contain gold in considerable quantities. These tailings accumulate in ravines, and hollows, and on hillsides in deep banks, though the larg est pertion of them find their way to the river channels and go down to impede the navigation of the Yuba. Where the nature of the ground admits of it they are conducted through another and longer set of sluices, which are generally laid in sections, each section being lower by many feet than the preceding one, thus occasioning a succession ot falls plunging down which the stubborn cement is crumbled in a great degree and made to yield its treasures. S metimes it ‘*s]acks” on exposure to the a:r, anl when reconducted into boxes dissolves readily.— This re-washing of escaped dirt constitutes what is termed tail-sluicing, and has become a very important branch of mining in this district. The tailings are thus coliected and submitie to a second washing sometimes»y those from whose claims they ran but more frequently and systematically by other parties who purchase the right te them either for a given period or in perpetuity. The tailings of seyeral d.fferent sets of claims commonly fiud a vent down the same SEE declivity or into the same ravine, and are. Dre :-—In the odor cf sanctity, near the then collected into one eet of boxes, the wa. Ml. E. Church in this town, during the early ter needed to wash them flowing with them . Part of last week, Ancient William Gost. well known citizen who was noted fcr h's great strength and solid sense. That he wag pious, his constant attendance at ehurch sufficiently proves, although we have seen people turn up their noses at him as if they tought otherwise. He was a great lover of natnre, and might be found every morning and evening scenting the air of this beautiful climate on the summit of Goat Hill— named after him by neighbors sensijle of his merite. He was reserved and silent ia his habits, and had an accentric way, if addressed by passers by, of crying out ‘uhm ba-a-a-a!” No doubt it was this rather contemptuous expression of his, ut:ered to some person who felt insulted by it, that led t>his untimely death; for it is our painful duty to say that he was ruthlessly shot. But even as he fell, as if in contempt of death i'§ self, Mr. Goat was heard to repeat his eecentric cry of ‘‘ ba-a-a-a!”’ We never heard anything else charged against our venerable friend, except that,. “when young, he was caught kid-napping.— Poor fellow! Like the ungodly, his horn has been put down. His long beard will no more wave in the wind, nor his sober regarls be cast upon beauty wending churchward. And for nis destroyer—we kuow his ‘offense smells rank to heaven!” Hint To ExcHanGes.—-Some of our cotemporaries are in the habit of crediting news items, which are copied intothis;aper from the Nevada Journal or Democrat, to the HyDRAULIC Press. Lately an item of much isterest in relation to some telegraphic experimeuts of Mr. Pattison, and which item we obtained from the Journal, was credited to us, although,in accordance with invariable custom, the sourc) whence we obtained i# was acknowledged. This is not s matter of very much importance, except that “the laberer is worthy of his hire,” and an honest man does not like to receive what is due te anether. Be careful Messieurs ed tors, and render unto the imperial Roman his legiti mate property. from the diggings. Not unfrequently the tailings whch fl\w into ravines or small water courses are kept sluiced down toa uniform shaliowness by the natural action of running streams, and as much of the gold remains behind, they often prove to be richer than the original deposits from which they came. The chief expense the preprietors of tail-sluices have to incur is the cost ofconstrncting and keeping inrepair their flumes, for when these are once completed one or two men can generally attend them, no labor being necessary but in occ*sionally cleaning up and repairing or extending. Wedo not know the number of tail-sluces which are running in this vicinity, but it is considerable. The most extensive one isowned by Winham, McDowell & Ewing. It is situated on Sweetland Creek—-which empties into the North Yuba some two miles or more below this town--and is really an enterprise o considerable magnitude. The flume is laid along the bed of the creek below the town of Sweetland. It is constructed of inch and a half and inch and a quarter lumber, consis's of two parallel sets of boxes which are laid snugly side by side, and oach of which is four and a half feet wide by two and a half deep, making a total width of nine feet, supported on heavy posts and stringers, and banked in solidly on either side by gravel, which has been allowed to rise toa level with the flume, for the purpose of anchoring it, by means of dams here and there. The total length of flume is about 1,500 feet, 600 feet of which are laid through tunnel which pierces a ay point of land, thus saving a considerable mat conse —distance; and the totalcost isstated at from} We are indebted tothe Nevada Journal for $12,000 to $14,000. At one place a point of . the following items: al land has been cut down and washed off, reane —— elt tte gre Besenen vealing indisputable evidences of a slide at . gramme, the oer age _ svar be dead found entire under the mass of rock and . ig Boring transferred its occupants to San Quenearth, and on being chopped proved to be in . tin a few days ago. 1: a tolerably sound pe, though in the The Supreme Cours has granted Ale. VNgEe first stages of that transformation which converts them, under the influence doubtless aa All who wish tg subscribe to that refined and excellent family paper, the HESpERIAN can do so by giving their names to Mr. Wentworth. Every lady ought to be a subscriber. aasSamuelson invites the particular attention of the ladies to his fine stock of Confectionery. a new trial. The American Theatrical Company has been playing with much success at Orleans, Moore’s, and Woolsey’s Flats. Banefits were tendered, . of sulphurous acid and iron, into a black meats * the gg at — o. “PS * * 16 to the pan has been obtained at Saliors mass resembling charcoal, and which curls wit tas Wee ken bertett thai. up in dry smooth chips on being exposed to} Old cnonge the epee cai whose head : ion is vei bad long been ‘blossumin’ fur de grave,” is 2 nas bigs _ * ~_ snags das bagaig dead at last. The Journal gives a p'evsant'ac-’ with oxide of iron which colors the soil ex. count of the oldfellow. He was ‘‘done’’to death -rock isti f . by wicked boys putting Croton Oil in his bitters. cept toward : the bed roc _— aie ° Goo. & Hage, Eades bean egqelenek 6 slate—where it is of a blueish lead color,hea. Go imissioner in Chancery. It is the; first.apvily impregnated with sulphuret of iron, and . pointment of the yas ever — 7 _ = $ie A . issi t an ridge giving cff on exposure the peculiar offensive wink Co. fa hie ado and will pisces ve odor of sulphuretted hydrogen. ar and sell the = 4 & v4 —. Ne eae ; The Democrat says that 30 patien On the surface of this slide are growing ee eae county Modpital during the three larger trees than are buried beneath it. The . months ending Oct 31st. Of om, 17 i been i cured and discharged, 3 have died, and 16 now SAEs ronen Bae evidently _— weageeved a remain in the hospital. The cost of aaa tho} the brow of the ridge above by a projecting . indigent sick for the quarter has been $2,426. cliff of slate and mica schist, huge fragmenta . A two-fifths interest 1a the Nebraska Shaft . : lid dl si Claims has been sold to Messrs. Birdseye, Critof which are seen in the slide and lyitg tenden, and Li. Dawley for $20,000, sae . above the buried cedars. But we are dives

Sots aed —E————E—————————————— THE HYDRAULIC PRESS . . A Word to Old Settlers. —_[ are open and paying, and others not. B. P. AVERY, EDITOR. gnc. gressing from the subject of the flume. The In spite of the thoroughly careful and . best section of it is laid at the base of a peras . . systematic manner in which hydraulic mining . pendicular cliff of rock close to the river sold to the Miner’s Ditch Company . is pursued in this Vicinity~-in spite of the bank. Thiscliff ig at least 125 feet high,and SATURDAY, -NOV. 6, 1S5S. . the pioneers, who go before and dis-. Clark Brothers being at least 2,000 . for $48,000, being at the rate of $1,. great lengths of sluice boxes employed, am. at its summit has been worn in twenty feet The Grizzly Ditch. TAIL SLUICES. adligee seins It is usually the case in California 7 wh a duck ‘thee ave veural . This well-known property has been towns, at least in mining towns, that . extensive Tail Sluices—that of the we cover the advantages, are not the ' feet long, and valued a little time . 000 per share. ‘This ditch was com. ounting to many hundreds of feet, and the . by the action of the water, leaving a half rr eae Siens or Procress.—The Sierra Nevada Hotel was re-opened in first rate style on Tuesday last by Messrs. Gordon & Crawford. These gentlemen have had the house plastered 1,5 been the fate of the and thoroughly refitted, and their table is not surpassed in the mountains. The public are directed to their card in this issue of the Press. 8. Z. Ross & Co., have opened a new and extensive assortment of Groceries, Provisions, Miners’ Supplies, Crockery, and Furniture, in the building known as the Theater. Give the “little Drury” Store a visit. Spero has returned from Fraser river, and now holds forth at the Pioneer Saloon. Toe Mines.—The “ Deadman” boys realized from their last “clean up” the sum of $5,800. This amount would have been much exceeded had they cleaned up the whole length of their sluices. A fourth int2rest in the Bloomer Cut was sold this week for $4,200, and is said to be cheap at that price. This company have been employed about two years in running a tunnel through which they could wash all their dirt, and as it is now nearly completed, they will soon be making their fortunes. The top dirt on the rim rock, on which they have been washing along back, has paid big wages. Moore & Readshae tried another blast in their bank last week with satisfactory results. The hard earth was very much cracked and shaken up by the explosion, and now crum~ bles readily under the forcible streams of water projected against it, whereas before it was almost impervious to aqueous influence. The Wyoming company are still sinking their shaft. At last accounts it was down 42 feet below the bench on which they have been washing. This makes the total depth of their bank about 142 feet. The bed rock is probably ten feet deeper at least. with such an immense body of paying dirt as this, they may reasonably look forward to several years of profitable washing. Scnoor Stratistics.—Through the kindness of the Trustees we are fur. nished with the following interesting particulars in regard to the condition of the District School, and the number of children in the township. Bridgeport Township constitutes School District No. 2, and contains but one school, which is located in this town. The total number of children in the district is 229, of which 121 are between the ages of 4 and 18, and 108 under 4 years ; 115 are boys, 114 girls, and 130 were born in Cals ifornia. The number of pupils at~ tending school is only 51, out of 121 entitled to attend, the daily average attendance being 30. We believe there are one or two private schools at other points in the district, so that the number of children receiving instruction is greater than the above figures would indicate. The total amount of expenditures for school purposes during the last 12 months was $1-543.90, of which som $682.50 was paid to teachers, and $861.40 consumed in the erectien of a school house and purchase of books. $1,369.53 of the .whole amount of expenditures was raised by subscription amongst the citizens generally, the balance $174.37 being received from the school fund. Our little town has reason to feel proud of its liberality towards the cause of education. ‘The erection of that school house, and the instructing of from 30 to 50 ehildren during the st year are the best things we have one. Many a litle fellow may emerge from that institution to fame and usefulness, and will remember the spot where he received the germ of his excellence long, perhaps, after San Juan has ceased to exist. Fixe Weatuzr.—Since the recent rains we have been blest with the finest of weather; a clear sky and balmy atmosphere have been our constant companions Come up here ye pent-up denizens of the Bay, and for awhile enjoy the beauty of mountain scenery. } a a mn ones to reap the benefits of them. They work hard to develop new facilities for amassing wealth in which . This prospecting miner and of the founder of new towns. Shrewd fellows, who are alert graspers of good chances, always follow in the wake of these adventurous pioneers, somewhat as certain inferior creatures follow beasts of prey and comein for the feast which their bravery or skill did not secure. We confess to a liking for all sorts of pioneers—shiftless vagabonds as they are sometimes. They are the precursors and inaugurators of civiliza~ tion; they level the walls of savage~ ness which keep back empire, and open whole continents to the interests of humanity. The work they perform being of such value, they should reap an abundant crop of rewards for themselves. We have remarked that they seldom do this, and are sorry forit. Bat it is their own fault. These observations were begun with the intention of saying something very practical to the old settlers of North San Juan. We wanted to tell them that, if fortunes and homes are to be made in this thriving village, they are the ones who deserve them. In short, we wanted to whisper in their ears these words—Don’t let the new comers get ahead of you. Every week hereafter some strangesr will sit down amongst you—will start business in a more showy and liberal manner, and entice customers away from your shabby looking establishments. We say, welcome to all who come, but we do not like to see the new hands take all the wages. If the merchants and tradesmen who are already here want to retain their share of public favor, they must fit up in as good a style as is usual elsewhere, and not wait for others to set the example. Several of our mera chants are doing an excellent business, yet they abide contencedly in insecure wooden houses of very homely appearance. The gentlemen who lately erected the two-story brick edifice which adorns Main street, did more by that to secure themselves custom than they could have done by almost any other plan. Such buildings, besides, are good recommendations for the town, and do much to publish its advantages. they seldom acquire a share. SWEETLAND.—This old and famous locality, which was first settled in 1850, “still lives” and prospers. Many amiable families reside there, and several beautiful residences are being built. The cottage of Mr. Hiscox is one of the most picturesque and tasteful houses in the mountains. The reputation of this town is not stained by the crifmes and rowdyism which have afflicted nearly every other mining village. The diggings, though rich, have not been of that kind which would attract a large floating population with its wild excesses, being very deep and requiring years of patient toil to open them. Those who have had the courage to persevere have done well, and will do better. The Buck. & Breck. claims, owned by Curtis & Co., have paid very rich, and, we believe, are still paying. The proprietors are now running a tunnel. Cloke & Co., and tho Last Chance company are also running tunnels. The Manzanita and Tennessee companies, as also Fowler & Co., and Moore & Hillard, have all completed their tunaels and are washing either with good success or the certain prospect of it to cheer them. The Kentucky company have lately got to washing, and have struck rich dirt. They cleaned up last week $428 as the result of one and a half days’ washing. The gold can be seen in the bottom dirt, whilst a little above, prospects of 15 cents to the pan can be obtained. On Buckeye Hill, which is across the creek from Sweetland, there are several companies at work, and doing well. ‘ Hitchcock & Lewis, Evans & Co., and Evans & Dannals, are all running in tunnels. “The bed rock is micaceous slate and sand stone, and is comparatively soft and easily cut or blasted. In addition to the claims enumerated, there are many others around the village of Sweetland with which we are not familiar, some of which ago at upwards of $5,000. The Tail Sluice of Winham, McDowell and Ewing is elsewhere noticed at length. The hills on each side of Sweetland Creek are mostly composed of the rocks named above. ‘These have frequent veins of excellent looking quartz cropping from them, some of which must contain gold in remunerative quantities. It should be tested by all means. [If it is really auriferous it will add largely to the permanence and success ef the place. Bay~“ Bank Blasting ” is recommended by a writer in the San Andreas Independent, as a great laborsaving mode of mining in deep diggings. He says he is satisfied from some experiments, that he has made on a small scale, “ that six hundred pounds of powder, properly placed and confined, will loosen more dirt than the labor of six men, with the tools now in use, will do in one month, while the expense attending is greatly in favor of the powder. The latter will cost, say, $165; the labor and tools of six men will cost, at least, $500—leaving $335 in favor of the powder, besides costing a great deal less for water to run the same amount of drift off.” The idea of applying blasting to mining in deep banks is not original with the Jndependent’s correspondent, nor is his the only experiment. The blasting process has been tried in this vicinity for a number of weeks past, and the general results have been carefully noted from time to time in the “Press.” Its value as an aid to the miner in procuring a supply of dirt for washing has been fully proven and accurately stated. Instead of piping, or picking, at a hard bank of earth for perhaps more than half the time, he can now keep his boxes running full of dirt constancly, at a great saving of time and money and labor. The great desideratum with miners has long been to obtain an wninterrupted supply of dirt at as small a cost for labor as possible ; the application of blasting appears so far to meet this want. It is being extensively tested in these diggings, and so far has not failed in a single instance to realize the hopes of the experimenters. Seyeral companies have already adopted it as a regular and indispensable part of their mining operations, and in our opinion its use is destined to be common throughout the State. There are no arguments needed to convince anybody of the fact that the explosion of confined powder will displace mases of earth; we only want to experiment and ascertain the best modes of applying this fact to the purposes ofthe gold miner. The press through out the entire mining region ought tu call special attention to the subject. It merely needs to be generally men~ tioned to be generally tested. The universal introduction of blasting as. a means of procuring dirt, will work a great gain not only to the miners themselves but to the State. It will make profitable a large quantity of ground which is not now worked for the reason that its excessive hardness prevents a sufficient supply being ob. tained by ordinary methods except at a@ greater cost than the total yield. But the miners ought to use electricity to fire their blasts, as well in rock tunnels as in banks, instead of fuse. It would be much chearer in the long run, and would prevent that dreadful loss of life and limb which saddens the mining record of every locality. Toe BeavtiruL IN NaTuRE.— About this, with pleasure, we often read but seldom take the trouble to enjoy. Whatcould be more pleasant, how could time be more profitably passed, and what could more tend to the refinement of the feelings of our innermost soul, now so sadly roughen-~ ed by contact with the business-world, whose only idea is—wealth—the eurse of mankind, because it leads on to luxury—than to take a trip to the

mountains, where may be breathed pure air, which shall expand the dustfilled lungs of those of cities, and invigorate the system; where too may be seen the stately pine, gracefully swaying to and fro with the breeze, whose music shall enliven the care~ worn, and whose plumed top, as it rises high mto the ethereal blue of the heavens, remiding one of the God who in marcy has thus created in beauty surrounding nature for the humblest to enjoy ? i menced by Messrs. Pettibone, Marsh, . . and Stuart in November, 1851, and runs from Grizzly Canon and Bloody Run to Cherokee, a distance of 18 or 20 miles. It was completed to Cherokee in the summer of 1852, ata cost of about $38,000, and gave thai town an immediate impetus and imvortance by the introduction of water to the surrounding diggings. Branches were extended to San Juan and French Corral the following year at an additional expense of about $12,000. The extension to San Juan, not long after the discovery of the diggings by Nathaniel Harrison, gave the place its first substantial com-~ mencement and led to the development of the mineral riches surrounding it, and ultimately to the construction of the Middle Yuba Canal, which first introduced a constant supply of water in June, 1856. The reservoir which is still in use . on the south side of the town, and the . old flume which now crosses Main street, were both constructed by the Grizzly company. The French Corral branch of the Grizzly Ditch, from San Juan down, was sold to Pollard & Co., in 1855, for $6,000, and in 1857 the branch from Cherokee to this place was bought by the Middle Yuba company for $10,000. For the last two years the Grizzly Ditch has paid remarkably well, yielding a dividend of $500 per an-~ num to the share, in view of which fact the price at which it was sold may be deemed very advantageous to the buyers. The old Grizzly company was always popular amongst the miners, and the above facts in regard to its history will prove interesting to a large number of old residents who still abide on the Ridge. The ditch of the Miners’ Ditch Company, who now own the Grizzly, was commenced in the spring of 1855, to bring water from the Middle Yuba to the diggings at Snow Point, Orleans, Moore’s, and Woolsey’s Flats, and was completed we believe during the following year. It will now be able to supply Cherokee with water the whole year round, and that town, encompassed as it is by rich and extensive diggings, will soon renew its . youth and enter upon a long season of general prosperity. The facts given in this brief article forcibly illustrate the beneficent re. sults which flow from the investment of capital in ditch enterprises. The Village on the Hill. The character of a people is often judged by the manner in which they treat their dead. Generally, the more tender and decent the mode of disposing of those who “have lived,” the more refined do we infer the character of the living to be. A reverential respect for the dead, whether they went out with their pale faces from the circle of our own homes or not, indicates the possession of sensibility and proves the deathlessness of affection. Judged by this standard what must be the . character of our viliage? There is no need . to dilate upon the cause of these remarks, for every one knows it already; the thing needed isto remove it. Of course, it makes no difference to the dead whether the mouldy roofs of their last homes are protected . from the thousand leveling accidents which threaten them or not. It makes no difference to them, whether grass grows, and trees wave,and roses bloom above their graves or not. But it makes a difference to the living. It pleasantly flatters the self love of the quick to know that the spot where their decaying bodies must lie will be jealously guarded and held sacred. Itis @ delightful reflection that the place of our eternal repose will, by its beauty, attract a few souls to communion with their better selves. Let us make our graveyard on the hill a sacred spot and a lovely one. TAGS IRAE. STARS RIVER eters aarGravelling the street will not cost much,it appears. The improvement to which we alluded last week cost from $17 to $30 to each house concerned in it, and wuuld cost not to exceed $25 on an average if extended to the upper part of Main street. The paving need notibe so deep as at the foot of the street, for v'vious reasons, and can be much quicker dons. Some grading is required, but the ground is soft enough from the recent rain to render that a comparatively easy task — 1t will be shameful if another winter is allowed to pass without the main street being paved,when the means to that end are so cheap and conven ient. Vicious Cow —Dr. Eichelroth’s little girl playfully shook her hands at acow the other day, whereupon the animal tossed her a considerable distanve, but fortunately without injuring her. The cow’s horn apparently caught under the waistband of the sweet child’s frock, and did not happen to hurt her person in the least. ‘* A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken without charity.” , which is the conceded impossibility of saving use of quicksilver, and all the iugenions ap. circle, whose two points hold in their grasp pliances for arresting the precious metal, 0 immerse boulder, behind which, as into a such as false bottoms of wooden or granite , huge vessel, leaps the roaring cataract of blocks, and the many kinds of riffles—though chocolate-colored water and stones, sending the latter are mostly discarded now,—a large . forth its] muddy spray and icy breath asit portion of gold wil! escape, going to the en. leaps,and at one plunge striking the worn, richment of ravine and river channels. Itis. slimy granite below. asserted by some that at least one-half the; The lumber for the flume at this place was gold criginally contained in the earth is lost . lowered down with ropes from above a distto the parties who do the first washing. Whe. ance of six hundred feet; and the hight of ther this be correct or pot, the amount which . the ridge above the river is probably about escapes is really very great. There are ma. one thousand feet. . ny reasons for this loss, the principal one of . Taken altogether, this point is wild and picturesque. Its thundering cataract of rocky mud, the overhanging boulder suspended above the spectator’s head as if a petrified Titan held it there, and the precipiteus mountains towering above the river on every hand clad with moaning pines, combine te leave upon the mind an impression of awe and yet a sense of keen enjoyment. The enterprising gentlemen who have constructed, and only recently completed, the work we have described, will undoubtedly realize a very rich reward. Sweetland Creek receivés the tailings of a large number of claims. These tailings lay along its channel for adistance of more than one mile, and are fifty feet deep in places, having half swallowed up the trees which stand in the bottom and deprived them of their vitality. These tailings have just been tapped by Messrs. Winham & Co., and are known to be rich. Pieces of the hard dirt--which came down cntire from the claims above— have been picked up, on which scales cf gold were to be seen, and the gravel generally,we are informed, affords a better prospect: than can be obtained in the original dirt. Perhaps we owe our readers an apology for pursuing this subject to such length, but its interest seemed to justify s:me amplification, even at the risk of wearying those who are already familiar with it. ail the gold even under the most favorable circumstances, by reason of the extreme lightness of much of it. The loss is greater in the diggings surrounding San Juan than it would otherwise be on account of the stone like hardness of some of the earth, which rattles in lumps along the sluices, and passes off, a great deal of it, undissolved, with all its auriferous particles. Strata of pipe clay are also fuund, and the pieces of this as they roll along are supposed to pick up gold and steal off with it. To remove these causes cf loss as much as possible the miners long ago concluded the best plan was to have a great length of sluice, it being reasonably supposed that the more friction and soaking the difficultly soluble earth was subjected to the less of it would escape undissolved. But at heend of the longest sluices the tailings, as the washed gravel and dirt are called after they leave the boxes, are found to contain gold in considerable quantities. These tailings accumulate in ravines, and hollows, and on hillsides in deep banks, though the larg est pertion of them find their way to the river channels and go down to impede the navigation of the Yuba. Where the nature of the ground admits of it they are conducted through another and longer set of sluices, which are generally laid in sections, each section being lower by many feet than the preceding one, thus occasioning a succession ot falls plunging down which the stubborn cement is crumbled in a great degree and made to yield its treasures. S metimes it ‘*s]acks” on exposure to the a:r, anl when reconducted into boxes dissolves readily.— This re-washing of escaped dirt constitutes what is termed tail-sluicing, and has become a very important branch of mining in this district. The tailings are thus coliected and submitie to a second washing sometimes»y those from whose claims they ran but more frequently and systematically by other parties who purchase the right te them either for a given period or in perpetuity. The tailings of seyeral d.fferent sets of claims commonly fiud a vent down the same SEE declivity or into the same ravine, and are. Dre :-—In the odor cf sanctity, near the then collected into one eet of boxes, the wa. Ml. E. Church in this town, during the early ter needed to wash them flowing with them . Part of last week, Ancient William Gost. well known citizen who was noted fcr h's great strength and solid sense. That he wag pious, his constant attendance at ehurch sufficiently proves, although we have seen people turn up their noses at him as if they tought otherwise. He was a great lover of natnre, and might be found every morning and evening scenting the air of this beautiful climate on the summit of Goat Hill— named after him by neighbors sensijle of his merite. He was reserved and silent ia his habits, and had an accentric way, if addressed by passers by, of crying out ‘uhm ba-a-a-a!” No doubt it was this rather contemptuous expression of his, ut:ered to some person who felt insulted by it, that led t>his untimely death; for it is our painful duty to say that he was ruthlessly shot. But even as he fell, as if in contempt of death i'§ self, Mr. Goat was heard to repeat his eecentric cry of ‘‘ ba-a-a-a!”’ We never heard anything else charged against our venerable friend, except that,. “when young, he was caught kid-napping.— Poor fellow! Like the ungodly, his horn has been put down. His long beard will no more wave in the wind, nor his sober regarls be cast upon beauty wending churchward. And for nis destroyer—we kuow his ‘offense smells rank to heaven!” Hint To ExcHanGes.—-Some of our cotemporaries are in the habit of crediting news items, which are copied intothis;aper from the Nevada Journal or Democrat, to the HyDRAULIC Press. Lately an item of much isterest in relation to some telegraphic experimeuts of Mr. Pattison, and which item we obtained from the Journal, was credited to us, although,in accordance with invariable custom, the sourc) whence we obtained i# was acknowledged. This is not s matter of very much importance, except that “the laberer is worthy of his hire,” and an honest man does not like to receive what is due te anether. Be careful Messieurs ed tors, and render unto the imperial Roman his legiti mate property. from the diggings. Not unfrequently the tailings whch fl\w into ravines or small water courses are kept sluiced down toa uniform shaliowness by the natural action of running streams, and as much of the gold remains behind, they often prove to be richer than the original deposits from which they came. The chief expense the preprietors of tail-sluices have to incur is the cost ofconstrncting and keeping inrepair their flumes, for when these are once completed one or two men can generally attend them, no labor being necessary but in occ*sionally cleaning up and repairing or extending. Wedo not know the number of tail-sluces which are running in this vicinity, but it is considerable. The most extensive one isowned by Winham, McDowell & Ewing. It is situated on Sweetland Creek—-which empties into the North Yuba some two miles or more below this town--and is really an enterprise o considerable magnitude. The flume is laid along the bed of the creek below the town of Sweetland. It is constructed of inch and a half and inch and a quarter lumber, consis's of two parallel sets of boxes which are laid snugly side by side, and oach of which is four and a half feet wide by two and a half deep, making a total width of nine feet, supported on heavy posts and stringers, and banked in solidly on either side by gravel, which has been allowed to rise toa level with the flume, for the purpose of anchoring it, by means of dams here and there. The total length of flume is about 1,500 feet, 600 feet of which are laid through tunnel which pierces a ay point of land, thus saving a considerable mat conse —distance; and the totalcost isstated at from} We are indebted tothe Nevada Journal for $12,000 to $14,000. At one place a point of . the following items: al land has been cut down and washed off, reane —— elt tte gre Besenen vealing indisputable evidences of a slide at . gramme, the oer age _ svar be dead found entire under the mass of rock and . ig Boring transferred its occupants to San Quenearth, and on being chopped proved to be in . tin a few days ago. 1: a tolerably sound pe, though in the The Supreme Cours has granted Ale. VNgEe first stages of that transformation which converts them, under the influence doubtless aa All who wish tg subscribe to that refined and excellent family paper, the HESpERIAN can do so by giving their names to Mr. Wentworth. Every lady ought to be a subscriber. aasSamuelson invites the particular attention of the ladies to his fine stock of Confectionery. a new trial. The American Theatrical Company has been playing with much success at Orleans, Moore’s, and Woolsey’s Flats. Banefits were tendered, . of sulphurous acid and iron, into a black meats * the gg at — o. “PS * * 16 to the pan has been obtained at Saliors mass resembling charcoal, and which curls wit tas Wee ken bertett thai. up in dry smooth chips on being exposed to} Old cnonge the epee cai whose head : ion is vei bad long been ‘blossumin’ fur de grave,” is 2 nas bigs _ * ~_ snags das bagaig dead at last. The Journal gives a p'evsant'ac-’ with oxide of iron which colors the soil ex. count of the oldfellow. He was ‘‘done’’to death -rock isti f . by wicked boys putting Croton Oil in his bitters. cept toward : the bed roc _— aie ° Goo. & Hage, Eades bean egqelenek 6 slate—where it is of a blueish lead color,hea. Go imissioner in Chancery. It is the; first.apvily impregnated with sulphuret of iron, and . pointment of the yas ever — 7 _ = $ie A . issi t an ridge giving cff on exposure the peculiar offensive wink Co. fa hie ado and will pisces ve odor of sulphuretted hydrogen. ar and sell the = 4 & v4 —. Ne eae ; The Democrat says that 30 patien On the surface of this slide are growing ee eae county Modpital during the three larger trees than are buried beneath it. The . months ending Oct 31st. Of om, 17 i been i cured and discharged, 3 have died, and 16 now SAEs ronen Bae evidently _— weageeved a remain in the hospital. The cost of aaa tho} the brow of the ridge above by a projecting . indigent sick for the quarter has been $2,426. cliff of slate and mica schist, huge fragmenta . A two-fifths interest 1a the Nebraska Shaft . : lid dl si Claims has been sold to Messrs. Birdseye, Critof which are seen in the slide and lyitg tenden, and Li. Dawley for $20,000, sae . above the buried cedars. But we are dives