Volume 28 (1874) (430 pages)

26 MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. [January 10, 1874 Alpine County Mines. Monitor District. The Alpine Miner in its geners] mining review, hss the following sbout the mineg in Monitor district: Monitor, although unlike any other district in the county, is second in importance and interest to none of them. When a long distance away the curiosity of the gszer is aroused by the many tinted pesks of this region. There isthe General Shields, of a bright buff color, Red Mountain, of a deep vermillion, aud Monitor Pesk, with all the intermediate shades between huffand vermillion. The vast outcrop of the ledges cutting across the fsces uf these lofty mountains, some peering out from among, while othera overtop the tsll pines thst are scattered over their sides, form such a picture as is seldom seenin a mining region. Upon a near approach to these vast repositories of the precious metals, persons at all excitable become enthusiastic in their helief in the riches of the mines of that section. This, like Alpine district, hss the advantage of an unlimited water power with its five miles of frontage on the Carson river. From Bulliona to the town of Monitor, a distsnce of two miles, following the windings of Monitor creek, the traveler crosses one of the most extensive belts of mineral-hearing ledges in the whole country. We will mention a few of them: Florence, Manchester, Three Sisters, Mountain, Constitution, Ahe Lincoln, Hercules, Blind, Detroit, Chicago, Esmeralda, Ohio, Tarshish, Sunshine, Wild Yankee and American. These are buta few of the many that were located and worked upon in the early days of the district. In the fall of 1862 John D. Marks, Jacob Brandehury and Warren Burright were working away on the Esmeralda lode, situated about half a mile helow the town, when Mr. Burright suggested to his partners that they put a blast into a point of rock jutting out into the creek just helow where they were working, The suggestion was acted upon, and a hlast put in which blew off perhaps half aton of ore that assayed all the way from $65 to $3,000 to the ton. Ina short time the good news spread and hegau to attract the attention of parties from the outside, who visited the locality during the wiuter, and by spring agreat rush ensued. It is safe to say that one blast in the Esmeralda orcppiug, laid the foundation of the mining operations that have heen carried on so extensively, forupto that time nothing more than fair indications had heen met with. The history of the Marion—i. e. the name of the incorporation that undertook the developmeut of the Esmeralda lode—suhsequent to ’63 is hut a repetition of those heretofore giveu in Silver Mountain and Alpine districts—inadequate capital, discouragement, and final suspension. It isa firm and settled conviction in the minds of all the old settlers that in the Marion there is the making of one of the richest mines on the coast. The discovery of the Florence lode was the next great sensation. A man hy the name of George Prohasco came into camp early in the spring and speut afew days in looking around. On one of his excursions down the creek, in following along its bed, he found under the top of a fallen tree a mass of blue clayey matter that excited his curiosity. Upon closer iuspection with pick and shovel, it proved to he the top of a ledge which had hecome decomposed by the action of the water of the creek. In this mass of clay he found specimens of ore that had every appearance of native silver, hut which in reality wae nothing hut a rich galena. Prohasco went nearly crazy over his discovery, and when at a later day Dr. Hughes of Oarson offered him $12,000 coin for a controlling interest in his mine, he quite indignantly refused the offer. The result is that his mine remains to-dayin much the same condition it was when discovered. The Manchester mine, owned and worked by a San Francisco company, made some important developments, clearly proving the value of their property, hut on the death of Mr. Henry Dreschfeld, the leading spirit of the organizatiou, work was suspended in the early part of *65, and though frequently spoken of since by members of the company, has never been resumed. On the adjoining claim on the Manchester lode, known as the Merrimac Company, a tunnel was driven a distance of nearly two hundred feet, showing ore of a good quality of the same general character as that in the first mentioned mine. This ore is of the class knowu as argentiferous grey copper, some of it carrying as high a percentage of silver as $700 to the ton. Vhe depth on either miue was comparatively slight, but sufficient to demontrate the oontinuity of the vein, both the vertical and horizontal. To cut this ledge, the Forence, and some half a dozen others in the same helt, a location fora deep long tunnel was made by J. P. Ray, 8. G. Lewis, and others, and called the Winchester. For three years Ry vigorously pushed work on this tunnel and drove into the mountain 1,065 feet, cutting in that distance the Florence lode some 400 feet in, and atadepth of 150 feet. The lode was well defined, 15 feet thick, with a vein of ore 5 feet, At 648 feet the Manchester lode was cut, showing alarge ledge with clay casings on both sides. This ledge gave good assays, hut nothing was done towards opening itupf rther thauthe running through it. At the extreme point reached hy the tunnel another ledge was struck into, but never cut tnroagh. This last ledge is supposed to be the Oonstitution, which crosses the road and’ creek ahout one mile below town. The Winchester is a valuahle property, and at no distant day may be extensively worked. ’ The Constitution, just helow the Globe mill, owned hy the (in) Active Compsny, of New York, is a master yein, heing 20 feet between the walls, and csrrying sn argentiferous copper ore with fiskes of native copper liberally intcrspersed through the gangue. But little work has heen done upon thia mine. It was one time bonded to the Globe Company for the sum of $3,000, which was cheap as dirt. The Chicago and Detroit is located ou the Esmeralda belt of ledges, and has as good a prospect for a rich mine as any reasonsble company ought to desire. They havs cut three veins ina distance of 300 feet, on one of which a drift has been run 100 feet, showing a continuous vein of low grsde ore that can now be msde to pay by the improved methods of reduction. Oue of the veins, which gives the greatest promisc, has not heen touched further than running through it with the main tunnel. Th Imperial Compsny is an English organization which commeuced at a point on Carsou river, just above Bullions, to drive a douhle track tunnel from the river under the summit of Mt. America, and thus cut all thst vast belt of ledges lying between Monitor and the river. They persevered until 1,300 feet of tunnel hsd heen made, when they succumhed from impecuniosity. This isa most msgnificent property, and it is hoped that work will he resumed on it at no distant day. The Pig Iron Market of San Francisco. The cireular of William Jeffray, coal, metal and merchandise broker, gives the following information about the state ofthe iron market in this city, during 1873: The monthly quotations given helow will show that the market has heen of au unusually steady character during the year; consumptiou and importstions footing up considerably less than 1872. Glengarnock has realized from $2.00 to $2.50 per ton over Eglinton, Clyde and other hrands, its importation being hardly equal to the demand, whereas the latter named brands constitute the major portion of soft irou on hand. Several extensive purchases of soft iron were made here at,from $52.00 to $54.00 Zper ton, “to arrive; shipmeuts to be made during the months of April and May. The light consumption this year, as compared with the two former years—3,387 tons less than 1871 and 1,112 tons less than 1872—has been occasioned hy the decreased amount of building, and light orders for mining machinery, hoth of which are anticipated to be very largely increased this year. The following will give the monthly quotatious for the;past year: ScorcH Sorr. January . Februai September. 50 to 5245 October. .60 to 523g November . -47 to 52 DecOMbr eve esereesecserseerseseee AD to 62 ENGLISE AND AMERICAN WHITE. PER TON, TODWALY ois. cousers scene er nanrorece February. arch. April. I find the stock of pig iron on hand January 1st, 1874, in all 7,786 tons, consisting of 6,246 tons soft and grey, and 1,540 tous white, as per statement helow, being 785 tons less then the stock on hand January Ist, 1873. Shipments at present in transit from England are comparatively light, but considerable shipments have been, and are heing made from New York, from which source we have had hut small shipments for a number of years. TONS. Stock of Pig Iron on hand Jan. 1st, 1873.8,571 Importations of Pig Iron fur the year 1873—Soit, 6,982 tons; White, 1,355 TONG. 16,908 In Importers’ hands, Scotch Soft..+.te oo White.. . Iu Foundrymen’ sand Jobbers’ hands +0. In Foundrymen’s te 1,786 Consumption of 1873—White, 923; Soft, 8,199.. 9,122 The ubove synopsis shows the consumption of 1873 to he 1,112 tous less than 1872, and the importatious of the year to he 4,831 tons less than 1872, Amador County Mines. The Amador Ledger, of the 27th, contains a letter from Butte City, from which the followiug is extracted: Betweeu’ Butte City and the Mokelumie river, in Joe’s gulch, a newly discovered quartz ledge is being opened hy Adam Smith & Co., which promises to become oue of the best-paying mines in the county. Theshsftis at a depth of tweuty-five feet, the lode is four feet in width, and six inches of the ledge, just adjoining hoth the foot and the hanging walls, shows free gold in considerable quantities, and it is estimated thst much of the rock tsken out will psy at least $60 to the ton. * * * In a direct range, and not far.from where the prospecting of this ledge is being done, is located whst is known as the Wiley mine, now owned hy 8. W. Bright aud J. W. Browu, and has, with the exception of a few mouths’ prospecting, remsined. unworked for the past fourteen years. As fsr as worked it has proved to be be what is usnally termed a ‘‘ pocket mine,” though nearly all the rock tsken from the lode paid extraordinarily well for crushing, At the time it was being mined, hetween the years 1855-58, the lead yielded enormously, paying from the very surfsce, with increasing plentifulness, till fifty feet in depth was reached. The ‘‘chimney”’ of the ledge is about 100 feet in length, and has been pretty thoroughly worked to the lower level, and the most of the gold came from pockeis in the decomposed quartz. It was not unusual to find from $100fto $500 to the nan. One nugget of $700 in value was found on the very surface. The want of sufficient capital has long prevented the further development of this extraordinary mine; hut work on it will he resumed the coming spring. A few years ago a pocket was found a short distance helow the Wiley lead, ou the northern slope of the hill, from which $1,000 was pauned out in two days hy a couple of boys, who had discovered the gold where it cropped out of the surface of the hed-rock in a race where. water had heen run in miniug off the surface earth. This rich mass of decomposed quartz had every indication of being a slide from the main Wiley lead. Ou Murphy’s Ridge we fiud for nearly a mile in length hy three-fourths of a mile in width, one uniform mass of gold bearing quartz veins, interwoven in slate and granite, and all dipping towards the center of the ridge, thue unmistakahly indicating a concentration in the direction of the “mother lode’ which is rationally supposed to he not very remotely suuken beneath the surface of its almost numherless tributaries, of which so many have heretofore afforded atreasure to fortune seekers, while those which are now heing worked still continue their remunerative yields. The principal composition of the shallow earth capping the ridge seems to be decomposed quartz, aud all contaius more or less gold. The hest pay thus far has usually heen found in pockets, commeucing immediately underneath the gurface dirt and extendiug to various distances of not very great depth. Several years agoa company of three Germansto>k out in a pan, in less than half a day, $5,000, all the gold being nealy free from undecayed quartz. The section of the ridge at present bearing the moat favorable indications is in the immediate locality known as the Sylvester claim which has heen almost continuously worked for the last fifteen years, and considering the limited manner in which the lahor on the mine has beeh prosecuted, it has paid astonishingly well. The slate, with which the quartz is profusely intermingled, is much broken and decayed, and has gold entirely through it. The style of working the claim has been, and at present is, todig and pulverize the slate and rotten quartz during the dry portion of the year, panning or rocking the pockets found iu the meantime, and then wash the remaining part during the winter season. Much of the decomposed quartz and slate are thickly studded with sulphurets which are richly and visibly impreguated with gold. For a mile distant from the lower end of the ridge toward the Mokelumné river the same singular formation continues, and though not as thoroughly worked as Murphy’s ridge has been, many rich depossts ou the range haye been found, .among them the noted Spanish mine, located near the head of Spanish Gulch. Like the ridge of which Ihave been speaking, this whole section remains undeveloped, solely for the want of necessary prospecting means. The Amador Canal and Mining Company have completed three miles of their canal in Amador county, since November Ist. Have six miles to huild to complete their whole work. Their canal will be forty-six miles loug. It is the largest running ditch in the State, being ten feet on top, six feet on the bottom, and three feet deep. Will supply the Amador, Oneida, Kennedy and other quartz mines in Amador county, with motive power for machinery of mills and shafts. Will supply water to extensive placer diggings, and for irrigation. St. Hetzna Gorn Mrne.—Five tons of ore from the St. Helena (Napa) miue have heen shipped to this city. An assay of the ore, made Decemher 20th, by Leopold Kuh, gives the following result: Silver, $93.57; gold, $20.17. Total, $113.74 per 2,000 lbs. Work is going on now very rapidly. Three hundred tons have been taken out, ready for working. The miue was opened as a gold miue, hut has developed after the mauner of theGould & Curry, into a first-class silver mine.— Alia. The Big San Bernardino Ledge. Of Captain 8. T. Curtis, one of the present owners, we have some interesting particulars in regard to the recently discovered mammoth gold-hearing qusrtz lode in Ssn Bernardino county, California. The great vein is situated on a ridge composed wholly of qusrzite. This ridge lies between Holeomh and Besr Valleys, on the eastern slope of the Sierras, and ahout twenty-five miles north of Mount San Bernardino, one of the highest peaks in Southetu California. Holcomb Valley is 8,240 feet above the level of the sea and the mine is some hundreds of feet ahove the valley. The great ledge cuts through the ridge of quartzite we have meutioned, and has been traced about two miles. Through this distsnce it crops out at lutervals, sometimes just above the surface, and again to a considerable hight. On the claim of the Gold Mountain Mining Company, purchased by Captain Curtis snd others, and whtch comprises 4,500 feet on the summit of the quartzite hill, the lesd is about fifty feet wide, and crops out the full lengthof the claim to the hight of from thirty to sixty feet. In these croppings gold is to he seen iu almost very part with the naked eye, even where the rock is sixty feet sbove the surfsce. The lowest assay ever obtained—which was from a piece of what seemed to he almost wholly quartzite—yielded at the rate of $18.71 per ton. From this the asaays run far up into the thousands. A piece of the rock iu which not a particle of gold was visihle, assayed in San Francisco, showed over $3,700 per ton in gold. Wherever the lead orops out, gold is to be seen with the naked eye, and much that ie quite coarse. Mr, Curtis estimates that there are in the croppings and that can be quarried out, no less than 600,000 tons of quartz. In other places along the lode at least the same quantity may he quarried. Mr. Curtis set some men at work on a drift which is to he run lengthwise iuto the lead, a distance of 160 feet, when a depth under the croppings of 160 fect will be attained. It is then the intention to make cross-cuts. This is being done for the reason that as yet nothing is knowu of the iuterior of the vein, it having only heen prospected by breaking rock off the? croppings. The principal locations on the lead are the Littlefield, the Hub and the Mojave Chief. Besides the 4,500 feet of ground purchased by them, Curtis and party have bouded another claim of 3,000 feet. They have also secured large tracts of timber land and an abundance of water. Wood is ahundant and can he had, delivered at the mine, for $2.25 per cord. Lumber, likewise delivered; cau he had atfrom $13 to $15 per thousand. Lahor is also cheap, and with a proper 50-stamp mill ore can be reduced at a cost of $2 per ton. Ahout two miles from the miues of Curtis & Co., some Mexicans have heen at work about two years with arastras, and have taken out a large amount of money. They are on the same lead which is now creating so much stir. The big lead was discovered by a Mr. Carter, who had been engaged in prospecting for his brother in the neighborhood at $40 per month. He had met with hut little luck, and one evening, while going home from work, resolved that he would quit. He etopped iu a ravine and stood leaning against a huge boulder ruminating upon his hard luck. The sun was setting and as its rays fell upon the rock upon which he was leaning, he saw particles of gold glittering all over it. The uext morning he went up tothe top of the hill and found the huge rich croppings mentioned ahove. The reasou that the lead was not sooner discovered, was Owing to the fact that the whole foot of the hill being quartzite, no one thought of there heing anything else at its summit. A mau said to Mr. Cnrtis: ‘‘I have heen in this regiou fifteen years, and have walked ahout this hill a thousand times; when IJ think of it I feel like taking a pistol and blowing my brains out.’ Even though there should he nothing but what is to he found on the surface, the lead is one of the higgest fiuds of the age.— Virginia Enterprise. Hurexa ann Pavisang Rartzoap.—Dispatches from Palisade, dated the 30th ult., say: A gold spike was presented to-day to the Eureka and Palisade Railroad Company by Hollaud, of the Pioche Record. Notwithstanding the extreme cold weather which has prevailed in this section of the country for the past four weeks, work on the Eureka and Palisade Railroad has been pushed forward rapidly, and hy the last of this week eleven miles of the ground hed will he ready for the ties and rails, Work on the bridge crossing the Humboldt at this place is progressing favorably. They have about half the piles driven, and it will be completed by the fifth or sixth of January. The offices of the company are in course of construotion, aud from present appearances it will be but a short time before the iron horse will replace the stage-coach and freight-teams between this poiut and Eureka. M. Salshury, E. Woodruff and W. H. Ennorare here, looking after the work, and there is no doubt of the early completion of the enterprise. Ahout one hundred and fifty men are employed atthe present time, and more willhe added as soon as the weather is more favorable. Azourn Grass Valley, fuel for the quartz Iines is getting scarcer and higher every year, and as the mines must not he ‘“‘shut down,’’ a railroad will have to be seut out atter fuel. -

26 MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. [January 10, 1874 Alpine County Mines. Monitor District. The Alpine Miner in its geners] mining review, hss the following sbout the mineg in Monitor district: Monitor, although unlike any other district in the county, is second in importance and interest to none of them. When a long distance away the curiosity of the gszer is aroused by the many tinted pesks of this region. There isthe General Shields, of a bright buff color, Red Mountain, of a deep vermillion, aud Monitor Pesk, with all the intermediate shades between huffand vermillion. The vast outcrop of the ledges cutting across the fsces uf these lofty mountains, some peering out from among, while othera overtop the tsll pines thst are scattered over their sides, form such a picture as is seldom seenin a mining region. Upon a near approach to these vast repositories of the precious metals, persons at all excitable become enthusiastic in their helief in the riches of the mines of that section. This, like Alpine district, hss the advantage of an unlimited water power with its five miles of frontage on the Carson river. From Bulliona to the town of Monitor, a distsnce of two miles, following the windings of Monitor creek, the traveler crosses one of the most extensive belts of mineral-hearing ledges in the whole country. We will mention a few of them: Florence, Manchester, Three Sisters, Mountain, Constitution, Ahe Lincoln, Hercules, Blind, Detroit, Chicago, Esmeralda, Ohio, Tarshish, Sunshine, Wild Yankee and American. These are buta few of the many that were located and worked upon in the early days of the district. In the fall of 1862 John D. Marks, Jacob Brandehury and Warren Burright were working away on the Esmeralda lode, situated about half a mile helow the town, when Mr. Burright suggested to his partners that they put a blast into a point of rock jutting out into the creek just helow where they were working, The suggestion was acted upon, and a hlast put in which blew off perhaps half aton of ore that assayed all the way from $65 to $3,000 to the ton. Ina short time the good news spread and hegau to attract the attention of parties from the outside, who visited the locality during the wiuter, and by spring agreat rush ensued. It is safe to say that one blast in the Esmeralda orcppiug, laid the foundation of the mining operations that have heen carried on so extensively, forupto that time nothing more than fair indications had heen met with. The history of the Marion—i. e. the name of the incorporation that undertook the developmeut of the Esmeralda lode—suhsequent to ’63 is hut a repetition of those heretofore giveu in Silver Mountain and Alpine districts—inadequate capital, discouragement, and final suspension. It isa firm and settled conviction in the minds of all the old settlers that in the Marion there is the making of one of the richest mines on the coast. The discovery of the Florence lode was the next great sensation. A man hy the name of George Prohasco came into camp early in the spring and speut afew days in looking around. On one of his excursions down the creek, in following along its bed, he found under the top of a fallen tree a mass of blue clayey matter that excited his curiosity. Upon closer iuspection with pick and shovel, it proved to he the top of a ledge which had hecome decomposed by the action of the water of the creek. In this mass of clay he found specimens of ore that had every appearance of native silver, hut which in reality wae nothing hut a rich galena. Prohasco went nearly crazy over his discovery, and when at a later day Dr. Hughes of Oarson offered him $12,000 coin for a controlling interest in his mine, he quite indignantly refused the offer. The result is that his mine remains to-dayin much the same condition it was when discovered. The Manchester mine, owned and worked by a San Francisco company, made some important developments, clearly proving the value of their property, hut on the death of Mr. Henry Dreschfeld, the leading spirit of the organizatiou, work was suspended in the early part of *65, and though frequently spoken of since by members of the company, has never been resumed. On the adjoining claim on the Manchester lode, known as the Merrimac Company, a tunnel was driven a distance of nearly two hundred feet, showing ore of a good quality of the same general character as that in the first mentioned mine. This ore is of the class knowu as argentiferous grey copper, some of it carrying as high a percentage of silver as $700 to the ton. Vhe depth on either miue was comparatively slight, but sufficient to demontrate the oontinuity of the vein, both the vertical and horizontal. To cut this ledge, the Forence, and some half a dozen others in the same helt, a location fora deep long tunnel was made by J. P. Ray, 8. G. Lewis, and others, and called the Winchester. For three years Ry vigorously pushed work on this tunnel and drove into the mountain 1,065 feet, cutting in that distance the Florence lode some 400 feet in, and atadepth of 150 feet. The lode was well defined, 15 feet thick, with a vein of ore 5 feet, At 648 feet the Manchester lode was cut, showing alarge ledge with clay casings on both sides. This ledge gave good assays, hut nothing was done towards opening itupf rther thauthe running through it. At the extreme point reached hy the tunnel another ledge was struck into, but never cut tnroagh. This last ledge is supposed to be the Oonstitution, which crosses the road and’ creek ahout one mile below town. The Winchester is a valuahle property, and at no distant day may be extensively worked. ’ The Constitution, just helow the Globe mill, owned hy the (in) Active Compsny, of New York, is a master yein, heing 20 feet between the walls, and csrrying sn argentiferous copper ore with fiskes of native copper liberally intcrspersed through the gangue. But little work has heen done upon thia mine. It was one time bonded to the Globe Company for the sum of $3,000, which was cheap as dirt. The Chicago and Detroit is located ou the Esmeralda belt of ledges, and has as good a prospect for a rich mine as any reasonsble company ought to desire. They havs cut three veins ina distance of 300 feet, on one of which a drift has been run 100 feet, showing a continuous vein of low grsde ore that can now be msde to pay by the improved methods of reduction. Oue of the veins, which gives the greatest promisc, has not heen touched further than running through it with the main tunnel. Th Imperial Compsny is an English organization which commeuced at a point on Carsou river, just above Bullions, to drive a douhle track tunnel from the river under the summit of Mt. America, and thus cut all thst vast belt of ledges lying between Monitor and the river. They persevered until 1,300 feet of tunnel hsd heen made, when they succumhed from impecuniosity. This isa most msgnificent property, and it is hoped that work will he resumed on it at no distant day. The Pig Iron Market of San Francisco. The cireular of William Jeffray, coal, metal and merchandise broker, gives the following information about the state ofthe iron market in this city, during 1873: The monthly quotations given helow will show that the market has heen of au unusually steady character during the year; consumptiou and importstions footing up considerably less than 1872. Glengarnock has realized from $2.00 to $2.50 per ton over Eglinton, Clyde and other hrands, its importation being hardly equal to the demand, whereas the latter named brands constitute the major portion of soft irou on hand. Several extensive purchases of soft iron were made here at,from $52.00 to $54.00 Zper ton, “to arrive; shipmeuts to be made during the months of April and May. The light consumption this year, as compared with the two former years—3,387 tons less than 1871 and 1,112 tons less than 1872—has been occasioned hy the decreased amount of building, and light orders for mining machinery, hoth of which are anticipated to be very largely increased this year. The following will give the monthly quotatious for the;past year: ScorcH Sorr. January . Februai September. 50 to 5245 October.. .60 to 523g November . -47 to 52 DecOMbr eve esereesecserseerseseee AD to 62 ENGLISE AND AMERICAN WHITE. PER TON, TODWALY ois. cousers scene er nanrorece February. arch.. April. I find the stock of pig iron on hand January 1st, 1874, in all 7,786 tons, consisting of 6,246 tons soft and grey, and 1,540 tous white, as per statement helow, being 785 tons less then the stock on hand January Ist, 1873. Shipments at present in transit from England are comparatively light, but considerable shipments have been, and are heing made from New York, from which source we have had hut small shipments for a number of years. TONS. Stock of Pig Iron on hand Jan. 1st, 1873..8,571 Importations of Pig Iron fur the year 1873—Soit, 6,982 tons; White, 1,355 TONG. 16,908 In Importers’ hands, Scotch Soft....+.te oo White.... . Iu Foundrymen’ sand Jobbers’ hands +0. In Foundrymen’s te 1,786 Consumption of 1873—White, 923; Soft, 8,199... 9,122 The ubove synopsis shows the consumption of 1873 to he 1,112 tous less than 1872, and the importatious of the year to he 4,831 tons less than 1872, Amador County Mines. The Amador Ledger, of the 27th, contains a letter from Butte City, from which the followiug is extracted: Betweeu’ Butte City and the Mokelumie river, in Joe’s gulch, a newly discovered quartz ledge is being opened hy Adam Smith & Co., which promises to become oue of the best-paying mines in the county. Theshsftis at a depth of tweuty-five feet, the lode is four feet in width, and six inches of the ledge, just adjoining hoth the foot and the hanging walls, shows free gold in considerable quantities,

and it is estimated thst much of the rock tsken out will psy at least $60 to the ton. * * * In a direct range, and not far.from where the prospecting of this ledge is being done, is located whst is known as the Wiley mine, now owned hy 8. W. Bright aud J. W. Browu, and has, with the exception of a few mouths’ prospecting, remsined. unworked for the past fourteen years. As fsr as worked it has proved to be be what is usnally termed a ‘‘ pocket mine,” though nearly all the rock tsken from the lode paid extraordinarily well for crushing, At the time it was being mined, hetween the years 1855-58, the lead yielded enormously, paying from the very surfsce, with increasing plentifulness, till fifty feet in depth was reached. The ‘‘chimney”’ of the ledge is about 100 feet in length, and has been pretty thoroughly worked to the lower level, and the most of the gold came from pockeis in the decomposed quartz. It was not unusual to find from $100fto $500 to the nan. One nugget of $700 in value was found on the very surface. The want of sufficient capital has long prevented the further development of this extraordinary mine; hut work on it will he resumed the coming spring. A few years ago a pocket was found a short distance helow the Wiley lead, ou the northern slope of the hill, from which $1,000 was pauned out in two days hy a couple of boys, who had discovered the gold where it cropped out of the surface of the hed-rock in a race where. water had heen run in miniug off the surface earth. This rich mass of decomposed quartz had every indication of being a slide from the main Wiley lead. Ou Murphy’s Ridge we fiud for nearly a mile in length hy three-fourths of a mile in width, one uniform mass of gold bearing quartz veins, interwoven in slate and granite, and all dipping towards the center of the ridge, thue unmistakahly indicating a concentration in the direction of the “mother lode’ which is rationally supposed to he not very remotely suuken beneath the surface of its almost numherless tributaries, of which so many have heretofore afforded atreasure to fortune seekers, while those which are now heing worked still continue their remunerative yields. The principal composition of the shallow earth capping the ridge seems to be decomposed quartz, aud all contaius more or less gold. The hest pay thus far has usually heen found in pockets, commeucing immediately underneath the gurface dirt and extendiug to various distances of not very great depth. Several years agoa company of three Germansto>k out in a pan, in less than half a day, $5,000, all the gold being nealy free from undecayed quartz. The section of the ridge at present bearing the moat favorable indications is in the immediate locality known as the Sylvester claim which has heen almost continuously worked for the last fifteen years, and considering the limited manner in which the lahor on the mine has beeh prosecuted, it has paid astonishingly well. The slate, with which the quartz is profusely intermingled, is much broken and decayed, and has gold entirely through it. The style of working the claim has been, and at present is, todig and pulverize the slate and rotten quartz during the dry portion of the year, panning or rocking the pockets found iu the meantime, and then wash the remaining part during the winter season. Much of the decomposed quartz and slate are thickly studded with sulphurets which are richly and visibly impreguated with gold. For a mile distant from the lower end of the ridge toward the Mokelumné river the same singular formation continues, and though not as thoroughly worked as Murphy’s ridge has been, many rich depossts ou the range haye been found, .among them the noted Spanish mine, located near the head of Spanish Gulch. Like the ridge of which Ihave been speaking, this whole section remains undeveloped, solely for the want of necessary prospecting means. The Amador Canal and Mining Company have completed three miles of their canal in Amador county, since November Ist. Have six miles to huild to complete their whole work. Their canal will be forty-six miles loug. It is the largest running ditch in the State, being ten feet on top, six feet on the bottom, and three feet deep. Will supply the Amador, Oneida, Kennedy and other quartz mines in Amador county, with motive power for machinery of mills and shafts. Will supply water to extensive placer diggings, and for irrigation. St. Hetzna Gorn Mrne.—Five tons of ore from the St. Helena (Napa) miue have heen shipped to this city. An assay of the ore, made Decemher 20th, by Leopold Kuh, gives the following result: Silver, $93.57; gold, $20.17. Total, $113.74 per 2,000 lbs. Work is going on now very rapidly. Three hundred tons have been taken out, ready for working. The miue was opened as a gold miue, hut has developed after the mauner of theGould & Curry, into a first-class silver mine.— Alia. The Big San Bernardino Ledge. Of Captain 8. T. Curtis, one of the present owners, we have some interesting particulars in regard to the recently discovered mammoth gold-hearing qusrtz lode in Ssn Bernardino county, California. The great vein is situated on a ridge composed wholly of qusrzite. This ridge lies between Holeomh and Besr Valleys, on the eastern slope of the Sierras, and ahout twenty-five miles north of Mount San Bernardino, one of the highest peaks in Southetu California. Holcomb Valley is 8,240 feet above the level of the sea and the mine is some hundreds of feet ahove the valley. The great ledge cuts through the ridge of quartzite we have meutioned, and has been traced about two miles. Through this distsnce it crops out at lutervals, sometimes just above the surface, and again to a considerable hight. On the claim of the Gold Mountain Mining Company, purchased by Captain Curtis snd others, and whtch comprises 4,500 feet on the summit of the quartzite hill, the lesd is about fifty feet wide, and crops out the full lengthof the claim to the hight of from thirty to sixty feet. In these croppings gold is to he seen iu almost very part with the naked eye, even where the rock is sixty feet sbove the surfsce. The lowest assay ever obtained—which was from a piece of what seemed to he almost wholly quartzite—yielded at the rate of $18.71 per ton. From this the asaays run far up into the thousands. A piece of the rock iu which not a particle of gold was visihle, assayed in San Francisco, showed over $3,700 per ton in gold. Wherever the lead orops out, gold is to be seen with the naked eye, and much that ie quite coarse. Mr, Curtis estimates that there are in the croppings and that can be quarried out, no less than 600,000 tons of quartz. In other places along the lode at least the same quantity may he quarried. Mr. Curtis set some men at work on a drift which is to he run lengthwise iuto the lead, a distance of 160 feet, when a depth under the croppings of 160 fect will be attained. It is then the intention to make cross-cuts. This is being done for the reason that as yet nothing is knowu of the iuterior of the vein, it having only heen prospected by breaking rock off the? croppings. The principal locations on the lead are the Littlefield, the Hub and the Mojave Chief. Besides the 4,500 feet of ground purchased by them, Curtis and party have bouded another claim of 3,000 feet. They have also secured large tracts of timber land and an abundance of water. Wood is ahundant and can he had, delivered at the mine, for $2.25 per cord. Lumber, likewise delivered; cau he had atfrom $13 to $15 per thousand. Lahor is also cheap, and with a proper 50-stamp mill ore can be reduced at a cost of $2 per ton. Ahout two miles from the miues of Curtis & Co., some Mexicans have heen at work about two years with arastras, and have taken out a large amount of money. They are on the same lead which is now creating so much stir. The big lead was discovered by a Mr. Carter, who had been engaged in prospecting for his brother in the neighborhood at $40 per month. He had met with hut little luck, and one evening, while going home from work, resolved that he would quit. He etopped iu a ravine and stood leaning against a huge boulder ruminating upon his hard luck. The sun was setting and as its rays fell upon the rock upon which he was leaning, he saw particles of gold glittering all over it. The uext morning he went up tothe top of the hill and found the huge rich croppings mentioned ahove. The reasou that the lead was not sooner discovered, was Owing to the fact that the whole foot of the hill being quartzite, no one thought of there heing anything else at its summit. A mau said to Mr. Cnrtis: ‘‘I have heen in this regiou fifteen years, and have walked ahout this hill a thousand times; when IJ think of it I feel like taking a pistol and blowing my brains out.’ Even though there should he nothing but what is to he found on the surface, the lead is one of the higgest fiuds of the age.— Virginia Enterprise. Hurexa ann Pavisang Rartzoap.—Dispatches from Palisade, dated the 30th ult., say: A gold spike was presented to-day to the Eureka and Palisade Railroad Company by Hollaud, of the Pioche Record. Notwithstanding the extreme cold weather which has prevailed in this section of the country for the past four weeks, work on the Eureka and Palisade Railroad has been pushed forward rapidly, and hy the last of this week eleven miles of the ground hed will he ready for the ties and rails, Work on the bridge crossing the Humboldt at this place is progressing favorably. They have about half the piles driven, and it will be completed by the fifth or sixth of January. The offices of the company are in course of construotion, aud from present appearances it will be but a short time before the iron horse will replace the stage-coach and freight-teams between this poiut and Eureka. M. Salshury, E. Woodruff and W. H. Ennorare here, looking after the work, and there is no doubt of the early completion of the enterprise. Ahout one hundred and fifty men are employed atthe present time, and more willhe added as soon as the weather is more favorable. Azourn Grass Valley, fuel for the quartz Iines is getting scarcer and higher every year, and as the mines must not he ‘“‘shut down,’’ a railroad will have to be seut out atter fuel. -