Volume 35 (1877) (426 pages)

MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. {July 14, 1877. W, B. EWER. SENIOR EDITOR. DEWEY & CO., Publishers, A. T. DEWEY, OO. N. STRONO. W. B. EWER, JNO. L. BOONE. fice, No. 224 Sansome Street, S. E. Coruae of California Street, San Francisco. Subscription and Advertising Rates: Apvertisivo Rates. 1 week. I month. 3mos. 12 mos. Per ling..+.+006 25 -80 $ 2.00 $ 5.00 Half inch (I square). $1.00 $3.00 7.60 24.00 One inclhi...-.1.50 4.00 12.00 40.00 Large advertiscments at favorable rates. Special or reading notices, legal advertisements, notices appearing jn extraordinary type or in particular parts of the paper, inserted at special rates. Four insertions are rated in a month. . Supscriptios 1x ADVANCE—Postage paid—one year, $4; slx hs, $2.25; three ths, $1.25. Remittances by registered letters or P. O. orders at our risk. Write for the Mimixo anp Sciuxmiric Press. We invite not unly professional men, but practical miners and mechanics to contribute to our columns. All commuuicatlons will be kindly treated. Authors, as wellas readers, will be benefited by corresponding. Our latest forms go to press on Thursday evening. SAN FRANCISCO: Saturday Morning, July 14, 1877. TABLE OF CONTENTS. GENERAL EDITORIALS.—The National Duplex Air Compressor; Quicksilver; Mining Pateuts, 17. The Week; Working Dry Placers; Dike on the Yuba, 24. Best & elecher and Chollar; Delinquent Taxes on Mines; Kod Uoupling for Boring Wells, Eastern Miues, Items of Interest from the Mines, 25. ‘Iransportation of Fruic; Vistiuguished Kotanists Coming; Unemployed Miners, 23. Mung suits, 29. . ILLUs f£eaATiONS.—he Nationat Duplex Air Compressor, 1'7. Holly und Magoon’s improved Uultivator, Coupler ror Artesian Well itods, 245. : MSBUdANICAL PROGAHSS.—Steel Locomotive Boilers: ‘ne Protection or Cars Against Lightuing; Olu Rails ror Nail Manutacture; Russian Ship Raismg; 4 Railway Pile Driver; lron Ship Building 10 the Uniteu States; hk Furnace; Keducing the Productiou o. Tin Plate, 1. SCLSNTLF.C PROGRESS.—The Shell Mounds, Tne Aualysis of the Uiamond; Klectric Plant; Curiou. Phenomeuvn of Heat; Weather aud Magnetism; Discovery of Native Mercury, 19. MiNiING STOCK MARKET.—Sules at the San Francisco, Pacitic aud Culitorta stuck Boards; Notices nf Assessments, Meetings and Dividends; Review of the Stock Market for the Week, 20. is . MINING SUMMARY—From the Various Counties ot Usliornia, Nevada, Arizoua and Colorado, 21-2. USEFUL INFORMATION.—How Coffee is Adu teruted; Creosuted Timber; Disinfectants, A Warning, 23. GOOD HEALTH.—Treatmeut for Lead and Mercur3 Poisoning; Sun-stroke; Fashionable Dinner; Near Sightedness from study, 23. GENERAL NEWS ITEMS on page 28 and other pages. M.sUELLANEOUS.—Hydrocarbon as Fuel; Pitts burg Mine; American Locomotives Abroad, Puddling with Culm; ‘ests for Beeswax; Fatal Flume Accident, Gold in Australia; Usiug Sparks, 18. Sebastin—A New Safety Dynamite; Kentucky Ridge Mine; “‘slickens” a Great fit; Profits of Jtiny in Utah; Extensive Developmeut of tbe Yorkshire Coalfield; The World’: Fair of 1878, 22. Aurora and Bodie Districts; Colorado and Poor Men, 23. Krupp’s Works at Essen, 26. i and #£lections; New Incorp i 29. NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. Drill Press, H. Bickford, Cincinnati, Ohio; Baker’s Portable Pressure Blower, J. C. Senderling, S. F.; Mining Claims in Montana, D. B. Noble, Sheridan, M. T.; John Wiley & Sons, 15 Astor Place, N. Y¥.; Tarrant’s Seltzer Aperient; Delinquent Sale—Con. Bonanza Gold and Silver Mining Co.; Assessments—Washington Blue Gravel Co.; Excelsior Silver Mining Co. The Week. The week has hrought news of no important developments in the mining regions or decisive fluctuations in the stock market. Since our last issue the largest single shipment of hullion ever made from the Comstock has heen received. It weighed nearly eight tons, and was valued at $699,344. Of this amount, $405,847 came from the California mine and $263,911 from the Con. Virginia. In view of this evidence of prosperity, it certainly seems that the cry ahout hard times and the unproductiveness of mines is thoroughly unwarranted. Stock speculators are yearning for ‘fa new honanza,’’ when sums like $699,344 are sent down in a single shipment from an old one. However, that helongs to one set of people, and the new ones would prohahly enrich others. : The state of affairs on the Comstock is not very encouraging, to say the least,and the lahoring class particularly feel the lack of employment. In another column we give an accouut of this matter and the generous way in which some of the difficulties are overcome. Our ‘‘Mining Summary” gives all the latest news from the mines on different parts of the coast. The gravel mines are gradually closing down for the season and cleaning np. Quartz mines of course are heing worked ahead with varying degrees of success. We hope soon to hear of more activity on the Comstock, so that the many unemployed miners may once again have all the work they want. Tue Krom concentrator at the Manhattan works will shortly he started up. Tue water in the Carson river is very low. Working Dry Placers. For many years most experiments have been made with a view to economically work the numerous dry placers which ahound in Arizona, New Mexico, and the States of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico, hut until the recent introduction of George Ginn’s machine, which suhstitntes air for water, the thousands of acres of arid gulch, mesa and gravel hill deposits have remained unworked, save during the rainy season, which occurs during the months of July and Angust. The machine referred to is ahout six feetloug, six feet high, and two feet wide, and hasa vibrator frame consisting of three screens and three tahles, suspended from the heams, which unite the four posts which form the corner hraces. The screens or sieves, whose meshes vary in degrees of fineness, are placed directly and obliquely ahove each other in the upper half of the machine, while immediately heneath are placed the rawhide tahles, each of which has aseries of riffles, on which the gold and ironsand lodge. The sand, gravel, and clay which carries the gold is fed on the upper and coarsest sereen, and passes thence to the second and third screens in succession, and while falling from the last mentioned, the auriferous earth encounters a hlast of air from a No. 2 Sturtevant hlower, run at at speed of 800 revolutions per minute. This hlows out the sand and permits the iron-sand and gold to settle on the riffies, from whence it is taken and washed. This machine, the result of two and a half years’ thorough and numerous experiments, was tounded upon the fact that a hody is acted upou by air in proportion to the surface which it presents, and the additional fact that the gold, heing from eight to twenty times as heavy as che gangue in which it is found, will fall against the riffles, while the lighter material will he blown away. In fine, it is resolved into a quesion of specific gravity. This appliance has heen thoroughly tried, and4 is now daily at work at the Jacarilla placers, in New Mexico, and has created quite an excitenent there. A correspondent writes us from shere and says he has seen $8.50 in gold taken ‘rom it after a run of 16 minutes from dirt which washed 10 cents to the pan, and the machine will handle from 30 to 40 cuhic feet of earth per lay of 10 hours. Mr. Ginn, the patentee of the nachine, was formerly a resident of Belmont, Nevada, and ‘‘the hoys” will he glad to hear shat he has at last achieved a triumph which bids fair to make the fortunes of others as well is himself, for it will enahle the owners of placers destitute of water to work them with profit. Mr. Ginn is still at Jacarilla, and his partner, Mr. Hatch, will soon visit Prescott, Arizona, so that the miners there can witness she working of the machine. It is necessary, in using this appliance, that the earth must he perfectly dry before it can he worked, hut in the countries where these rich dry placers occur the dampest earth can he dried in a few minutes in the sun, when it is properly spread out. It seems prohahle that this machine will revolutionize the present method of working the dry placers, and render availahle for mining large tracts of land known to he valuahle, hut heretofore unworked for want of proper appliances, It is claimed that the machine is perfectly satistory in its working in every respect, and that the miners are well pleased with it. As there are many of our readers who are interested in an appliance of this kind, it may he well to mention the names of a few prominent persons who have seen it work, and who may he applied to. Among them are Hon. H. M. Atkinson, Surveyor-General of New Mexico, Capt. Purington, 15th U. S. infantry, Fort Stanton, and Mr. Markley, editor Trinidad Chronicle and Enterprise, Colorado. The machine will he of great value to New Mexico, where there are so many dry placers; and there are many other localities where 1t might he introduced to advantage. Mecuantcs’ Fatr.—Those who intend making exhihits at the Mechanics’ Institute fair, which opens on the 7th of August, have no time to lose in making their preparations. We urge upon our mechanics and manufacturers the advisahility of making as good a show as possihle, so as to hring our home manufactures hefore the puhlic in a practical shape. These exhihitions are of great valne to our industrial interests and should be encouraged in every possible way. ADMITTED To THE SUPREME CouRT.—A class of four, after undergoing a satisfactory examination, have heen admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of this State. ‘The class consisted of Chas. F, Hanlon, Wm. Thomas, John L. Boone (of the Mintnc ann Screnriric PREss Patent Agency), and J. A. Cooper. THE Daily Stock Report, which has recently moved its office down among the hrokers on Leidesdorff street, has made its appearance in a hrand new suit of type. The paper has been enlarged and presents 2 much improved typographical appearance. Tue Baker rotary pressure hlower is a very useful appliance for furnishing hlasts to furnaces, etc., and may he used to great advantage in ventilating mines. The agents in this city are prepared to furnish these hlowers of any eize to euit requirements. Dike on the Yuba, -Rescuing the Alluvial Bottoms from the Hydraulic Tailings. An important work has lately heen completed in Linda township, Yuha county, consisting of an extensive and costly levee or dike, designed to secure a large scope of valnahle farming land from threatened inundation hy hydraulic tailings. This dike commences at the Yuha station, on the California and Oregon railroad, heing a little south of and nearly opposite the city of Marysville, and extends thence east along the south hank of the Yuha river to the foothills, a distance of eight miles, The country protected hy it lies south of the Yuha, hetween it and Bear river, and comprises some 30,000 acres of rich alluvial hottoms. In no part of the State has the damage to the agricultural lands, resulting from this cause, heen so great as along the Yuha, the hottoms here heing low-lying and extensive, while the quantity of debris hrought down hy this stream has heen very great. Poured out from the hydraulic mines in enormous quantity, these tailings had soaccumulated in the channel of the main Yuha as to raise it many feet ahove its original level. Being so filled up, the muddy water during floods, or even moderately high stages, escaping from the river hed, overflowed the adjacent flats and deposited thereon the comminuted sand and particles of clay held in solution; a process that heing repeated year after year had covered upto a depth varying from a few inches to several feet, some 15,000 or 16,000 acres of good land, the most of it lying on the north side of the river. Only a Temporary Harm. This dehris hrought down from the mines heing rich in plant-feeding properties, would have henefited instead of injuring this land, could it have heen applied in suitahle quantities,and inthe proper manner. Pourimg in, however, as it did, at unseasonable times and in excessive quantities, it not only interfered with farming operations here, but rendered them, at last, wholly impracticahle. These sedimentary deposits do uot, however, prove irretrievahly hurtful to the soil. When they shall have so accumulated as to raise the surface of this laud ahove their further reach, it will again he susceptible of cultivation; these hottoms having in the first place been made up of this sane sort of material, hrought down and left hy former floods. As some, and perhaps many, years will be required to eo reclaim these lands, and thus restore them to usefulness, the owners, through their non-enjoyment, must meantime suffer luss; and it is of this they complain, alleging that for every injury the law ought to afford a sure and sufficient remedy. Hence the numerous suits hrought hy the farmers owning land along Bear river and elsewhere in the State, seeking to recover damages for this sort of injury. : The Farmers Move in the Matter. Having hurizd np most of the flats lying north of the river, these tailings were about to invade this tract of alluvial country on the opposite side, the site of many fine farms, the most of which had, up till last summer, escaped inundation. With another flood, however, such as frequently happens on these mountain streams, and as there was reason to expect would occur the past winter, this large area of valuable land would, in all prohahility, have heen covered up and temporarily ruined. The owners, alarmed at this prospect, proceeded during the summer to organize the same into a levee district, after which they procured a survey for the line of a dike, with estimates of its prohahle cost to be made. This doue, the cost of the contemplated work would, it was found, greatly exceed their means, necessitating the ahandonment of the project or the procuring of assistance from some other quarter. The Miners Come to Their Relief. In this emergency, recourse was had to Messrs. Pierce, O’Brien and McGanney, owners in the Smartsville and other hydraulic properties, and who, from their hheral views, wellknown energy and large experience, it was though, might with their counsel, if not with more suhstantial aid, he of service to these parties, application having meantime heen made to the county authorities for such assistance as they might see fit torender, The above gentlemen, though not more interested in the scheme than many other mine and ditch owners, perceiving the strait the farmers were in and the importance of the proposed improvement, concluded to take hold and put the work though on their own responsibility, trusting to such assistance as might he obtained from the county, the farmers themselves and their fellow miners to help them out; it heing now too late in the season for them to stop and ascertain exactly how much these several parties would contrihute towards defraying the entire cost, which it was estimated would amount to ahout $30,000. James O’Brien, One of the three gentlemen mentioned, havin; arranged with his associates, Messrs. Pierce an McGanney, to execute the job, commenced active operations in the month of Septemher, and putting on a large force of men andteams, would have finiched the emhankment hefore the advent of winter had not the heavy and wholly unexpected rains of Octoher interfered with the progress of the work, the cost of which was at the same time largely increased. Mr. O’Brien, who even among the hydraulic miners is noted for push and pluck, kept his force in the field, losing scarcely a day during all this inclement weather, therehy finishing the structure in the early part of the year. The Dimensions of this Levee Are as follows: Length, eight miles; hreadth on top, 12 feet for ahout three-fourths of the length and 20 feet for the halance, with a slope of two to one ou the inner and three to one on the water side; hight, five feet ahove extreme floodline. Through the embankment six large iron pipes with gates have heen laid, to admit the escape of any water that may accumulate on the inner side. The outer face of the dike for a distance of two miles has been covered with a lining of willows, to prevent its heiug washed away at high stages of water, another mile having for the same reason been protected hy asuhstantial hrush fence. This dike contains ahout 200,000 cuhic yards of emhankment, the greater portion of it composed of the red soil common to the country, and which, when thrown up, as the most of this has heen, in a wet state, hardens almost to the consistence of a brick, enahing it to well withstand the action of water. Such sections of the dike as are composed largely of mining dehris, a sandy material, have heen protected hy the facing and fence of willows mentioned. Many of these willows will, it is expected, take root and thus very effectually guard the emhankment against wash or other cause of ahrasion. The Good Already Done. Notwithstanding the past winter proved a dry one, this levee has already effected much good. The farmers feeling that their land was through its protection secured against the further inroads of the mud-laden waters, went on and planted a considerahle portion of it to grain, fine crops having heen gathered this summer from fields hefore neglected, either through fear of overflow or hecause they were too wet for tillage. Hereafter the whole of the land defended hy this dike will no doubt be kept under the plow and made to yield good crops, as the soil is everywhere rich and susceptible of culture. As this levee stands hack some distance from the hank of the river, a large area has here heen provided for the reception of the hydraulic tailings, it being calculated that it will require many years to fill it up. When these tailings, accumulating, shall have nearly reached the top of the emhankment, it will he an easy matter to raise it somewhat higher, increasing in like ratio the capacity of this receptacle. A Plan Worth Considering, A numter of experienced civil engineers, practical miners, and other competent judgee have examined this levee, and, hesides speaking approvingly of the manner in which it has heen coustructed, express the opinion that it will fully meet the requirements expected of it, This heing the case, we do not see why recourse might not he had to similar structures for the protection of farm lands elsewhere exposed to the invasion of this troublesome material. The injury caused to the hottoms along Bear, Feather and some other rivers in the State is already quite serious, and unless checked muet go on increasing,every year. To suffer thie cause to continue in active operation must eventually lead to very grave consequences. How it shall he stopped is a prohlem, the solution of which has for some time exercised the ingenuity of our hest mining engineers, the most of whom we helieve consider this method of diking the river hanks the most feasible. A Bad Way. The farmers, in some instances, have sought relief against these grievances in the courts, there heing now a large nnmher of suits of this kind pending agaiust the hydraulic miners throughout the scope of’ country drained hy Bear river. How these suits will terminate cannot, of course, he predicted; though, judging from the rulings of the court in some of the cases now on and the results in others already tried, the outlook is rather ominous for the farmers. Litigation is at hest, however, a poor way of settling these disputes, and we cannot help thinking the plan that has heen adopted in the instance under consideration is by far the hest, and, as such, wé commend it to the attention of parties interested in this suhject. The course taken hy the minere ia this case has, it is helieved, had the effect to estop many lawsuits that would otherwise have heen commenced ugainst them, and the cost and hother of which would have greatly exceeded the money donated by them for this beneficent improvement. It is to these men a saving of money and a monument of honor. The miners on the Yuha have acted nohly in this matter, having already paid in or made themselves answerahle for more than $30,000 towards the cost of this improvement, Yuba county having contributed $10,000, and the owners of the land henefited $7,000 towards making up the amount expended upon it, the total having reached nearly $50,000. There are stilla numher of hydraulic miners interested in this enterprise, who have not as yet eontrihuted anything towarde defraying its cost. To their credit he it said, however, they are all willing to stand in and hear a fair share of the expense when called upon to do so; at least this is what we gather from the reports that reach us from the mines and from conver! gations had with eome of these parties.

MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. {July 14, 1877. W, B. EWER. SENIOR EDITOR. DEWEY & CO., Publishers, A. T. DEWEY, OO. N. STRONO. W. B. EWER, JNO. L. BOONE. fice, No. 224 Sansome Street, S. E. Coruae of California Street, San Francisco. Subscription and Advertising Rates: Apvertisivo Rates. 1 week. I month. 3mos. 12 mos. Per ling...+..+006 25 -80 $ 2.00 $ 5.00 Half inch (I square). $1.00 $3.00 7.60 24.00 One inclhi.....-.1.50 4.00 12.00 40.00 Large advertiscments at favorable rates. Special or reading notices, legal advertisements, notices appearing jn extraordinary type or in particular parts of the paper, inserted at special rates. Four insertions are rated in a month. . Supscriptios 1x ADVANCE—Postage paid—one year, $4; slx hs, $2.25; three ths, $1.25. Remittances by registered letters or P. O. orders at our risk. Write for the Mimixo anp Sciuxmiric Press. We invite not unly professional men, but practical miners and mechanics to contribute to our columns. All commuuicatlons will be kindly treated. Authors, as wellas readers, will be benefited by corresponding. Our latest forms go to press on Thursday evening. SAN FRANCISCO: Saturday Morning, July 14, 1877. TABLE OF CONTENTS. GENERAL EDITORIALS.—The National Duplex Air Compressor; Quicksilver; Mining Pateuts, 17. The Week; Working Dry Placers; Dike on the Yuba, 24. Best & elecher and Chollar; Delinquent Taxes on Mines; Kod Uoupling for Boring Wells, Eastern Miues, Items of Interest from the Mines, 25. ‘Iransportation of Fruic; Vistiuguished Kotanists Coming; Unemployed Miners, 23. Mung suits, 29. . ILLUs f£eaATiONS.—he Nationat Duplex Air Compressor, 1'7. Holly und Magoon’s improved Uultivator, Coupler ror Artesian Well itods, 245. : MSBUdANICAL PROGAHSS.—Steel Locomotive Boilers: ‘ne Protection or Cars Against Lightuing; Olu Rails ror Nail Manutacture; Russian Ship Raismg; 4 Railway Pile Driver; lron Ship Building 10 the Uniteu States; hk Furnace; Keducing the Productiou o. Tin Plate, 1. SCLSNTLF.C PROGRESS.—The Shell Mounds, Tne Aualysis of the Uiamond; Klectric Plant; Curiou. Phenomeuvn of Heat; Weather aud Magnetism; Discovery of Native Mercury, 19. MiNiING STOCK MARKET.—Sules at the San Francisco, Pacitic aud Culitorta stuck Boards; Notices nf Assessments, Meetings and Dividends; Review of the Stock Market for the Week, 20. is . MINING SUMMARY—From the Various Counties ot Usliornia, Nevada, Arizoua and Colorado, 21-2. USEFUL INFORMATION.—How Coffee is Adu teruted; Creosuted Timber; Disinfectants, A Warning, 23. GOOD HEALTH.—Treatmeut for Lead and Mercur3 Poisoning; Sun-stroke; Fashionable Dinner; Near Sightedness from study, 23. GENERAL NEWS ITEMS on page 28 and other pages. M.sUELLANEOUS.—Hydrocarbon as Fuel; Pitts burg Mine; American Locomotives Abroad, Puddling with Culm; ‘ests for Beeswax; Fatal Flume Accident, Gold in Australia; Usiug Sparks, 18. Sebastin—A New Safety Dynamite; Kentucky Ridge Mine; “‘slickens” a Great fit; Profits of Jtiny in Utah; Extensive Developmeut of tbe Yorkshire Coalfield; The World’: Fair of 1878, 22. Aurora and Bodie Districts; Colorado and Poor Men, 23. Krupp’s Works at Essen, 26. i and #£lections; New Incorp i 29. NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. Drill Press, H. Bickford, Cincinnati, Ohio; Baker’s Portable Pressure Blower, J. C. Senderling, S. F.; Mining Claims in Montana, D. B. Noble, Sheridan, M. T.; John Wiley & Sons, 15 Astor Place, N. Y¥.; Tarrant’s Seltzer Aperient; Delinquent Sale—Con. Bonanza Gold and Silver Mining Co.; Assessments—Washington Blue Gravel Co.; Excelsior Silver Mining Co. The Week. The week has hrought news of no important developments in the mining regions or decisive fluctuations in the stock market. Since our last issue the largest single shipment of hullion ever made from the Comstock has heen received. It weighed nearly eight tons, and was valued at $699,344. Of this amount, $405,847 came from the California mine and $263,911 from the Con. Virginia. In view of this evidence of prosperity, it certainly seems that the cry ahout hard times and the unproductiveness of mines is thoroughly unwarranted. Stock speculators are yearning for ‘fa new honanza,’’ when sums like $699,344 are sent down in a single shipment from an old one. However, that helongs to one set of people, and the new ones would prohahly enrich others. : The state of affairs on the Comstock is not very encouraging, to say the least,and the lahoring class particularly feel the lack of employment. In another column we give an accouut of this matter and the generous way in which some of the difficulties are overcome. Our ‘‘Mining Summary” gives all the latest news from the mines on different parts of the coast. The gravel mines are gradually closing down for the season and cleaning np. Quartz mines of course are heing worked ahead with varying degrees of success. We hope soon to hear of more activity on the Comstock, so that the many unemployed miners may once again have all the work they want. Tue Krom concentrator at the Manhattan works will shortly he started up. Tue water in the Carson river is very low. Working Dry Placers. For many years most experiments have been made with a view to economically work the numerous dry placers which ahound in Arizona, New Mexico, and the States of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico, hut until the recent introduction of George Ginn’s machine, which suhstitntes air for water, the thousands of acres of arid gulch, mesa and gravel hill deposits have remained unworked, save during the rainy season, which occurs during the months of July and Angust. The machine referred to is ahout six feetloug, six feet high, and two feet wide, and hasa vibrator frame consisting of three screens and three tahles, suspended from the heams, which unite the four posts which form the corner hraces. The screens or sieves, whose meshes vary in degrees of fineness, are placed directly and obliquely ahove each other in the upper half of the machine, while immediately heneath are placed the rawhide tahles, each of which has aseries of riffles, on which the gold and ironsand lodge. The sand, gravel, and clay which carries the gold is fed on the upper and coarsest sereen, and passes thence to the second and third screens in succession, and while falling from the last mentioned, the auriferous earth encounters a hlast of air from a No. 2 Sturtevant hlower, run at at speed of 800 revolutions per minute. This hlows out the sand and permits the iron-sand and gold to settle on the riffies, from whence it is taken and washed. This machine, the result of two and a half years’ thorough and numerous experiments, was tounded upon the fact that a hody is acted upou by air in proportion to the surface which it presents, and the additional fact that the gold, heing from eight to twenty times as heavy as che gangue in which it is found, will fall against the riffles, while the lighter material will he blown away. In fine, it is resolved into a quesion of specific gravity. This appliance has heen thoroughly tried, and4 is now daily at work at the Jacarilla placers, in New Mexico, and has created quite an excitenent there. A correspondent writes us from shere and says he has seen $8.50 in gold taken ‘rom it after a run of 16 minutes from dirt which washed 10 cents to the pan, and the machine will handle from 30 to 40 cuhic feet of earth per lay of 10 hours. Mr. Ginn, the patentee of the nachine, was formerly a resident of Belmont, Nevada, and ‘‘the hoys” will he glad to hear shat he has at last achieved a triumph which bids fair to make the fortunes of others as well is himself, for it will enahle the owners of placers destitute of water to work them with profit. Mr. Ginn is still at Jacarilla, and his partner, Mr. Hatch, will soon visit Prescott, Arizona, so that the miners there can witness she working of the machine. It is necessary, in using this appliance, that the earth must he perfectly dry before it can he worked, hut in the countries where these rich dry placers occur the dampest earth can he dried in a few minutes in the sun, when it is properly spread out. It seems prohahle that this machine will revolutionize the present method of working the dry placers, and render availahle for mining large tracts of land known to he valuahle, hut heretofore unworked for want of proper appliances, It is claimed that the machine is perfectly satistory in its working in every respect, and that the miners are well pleased with it. As there are many of our readers who are interested in an appliance of this kind, it may he well to mention the names of a few prominent persons who have seen it work, and who may he applied to. Among them are Hon. H. M. Atkinson, Surveyor-General of New Mexico, Capt. Purington, 15th U. S. infantry, Fort Stanton, and Mr. Markley, editor Trinidad Chronicle and Enterprise, Colorado. The machine will he of great value to New Mexico, where there are so many dry placers; and there are many other localities where 1t might he introduced to advantage. Mecuantcs’ Fatr.—Those who intend making exhihits at the Mechanics’ Institute fair, which opens on the 7th of August, have no time to lose in making their preparations. We urge upon our mechanics and manufacturers the advisahility of making as good a show as possihle, so as to hring our home manufactures hefore the puhlic in a practical shape. These exhihitions are of great valne to our industrial interests and should be encouraged in every possible way. ADMITTED To THE SUPREME CouRT.—A class of four, after undergoing a satisfactory examination, have heen admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of this State. ‘The class consisted of Chas. F, Hanlon, Wm. Thomas, John L. Boone (of the Mintnc ann Screnriric PREss Patent Agency), and J. A. Cooper. THE Daily Stock Report, which has recently moved its office down among the hrokers on Leidesdorff street, has made its appearance in a hrand new suit of type. The paper has been enlarged and presents 2 much improved typographical appearance. Tue Baker rotary pressure hlower is a very useful appliance for furnishing hlasts to furnaces, etc., and may he used to great advantage in ventilating mines. The agents in this city are prepared to furnish these hlowers of any eize to euit requirements.

Dike on the Yuba, -Rescuing the Alluvial Bottoms from the Hydraulic Tailings. An important work has lately heen completed in Linda township, Yuha county, consisting of an extensive and costly levee or dike, designed to secure a large scope of valnahle farming land from threatened inundation hy hydraulic tailings. This dike commences at the Yuha station, on the California and Oregon railroad, heing a little south of and nearly opposite the city of Marysville, and extends thence east along the south hank of the Yuha river to the foothills, a distance of eight miles, The country protected hy it lies south of the Yuha, hetween it and Bear river, and comprises some 30,000 acres of rich alluvial hottoms. In no part of the State has the damage to the agricultural lands, resulting from this cause, heen so great as along the Yuha, the hottoms here heing low-lying and extensive, while the quantity of debris hrought down hy this stream has heen very great. Poured out from the hydraulic mines in enormous quantity, these tailings had soaccumulated in the channel of the main Yuha as to raise it many feet ahove its original level. Being so filled up, the muddy water during floods, or even moderately high stages, escaping from the river hed, overflowed the adjacent flats and deposited thereon the comminuted sand and particles of clay held in solution; a process that heing repeated year after year had covered upto a depth varying from a few inches to several feet, some 15,000 or 16,000 acres of good land, the most of it lying on the north side of the river. Only a Temporary Harm. This dehris hrought down from the mines heing rich in plant-feeding properties, would have henefited instead of injuring this land, could it have heen applied in suitahle quantities,and inthe proper manner. Pourimg in, however, as it did, at unseasonable times and in excessive quantities, it not only interfered with farming operations here, but rendered them, at last, wholly impracticahle. These sedimentary deposits do uot, however, prove irretrievahly hurtful to the soil. When they shall have so accumulated as to raise the surface of this laud ahove their further reach, it will again he susceptible of cultivation; these hottoms having in the first place been made up of this sane sort of material, hrought down and left hy former floods. As some, and perhaps many, years will be required to eo reclaim these lands, and thus restore them to usefulness, the owners, through their non-enjoyment, must meantime suffer luss; and it is of this they complain, alleging that for every injury the law ought to afford a sure and sufficient remedy. Hence the numerous suits hrought hy the farmers owning land along Bear river and elsewhere in the State, seeking to recover damages for this sort of injury. : The Farmers Move in the Matter. Having hurizd np most of the flats lying north of the river, these tailings were about to invade this tract of alluvial country on the opposite side, the site of many fine farms, the most of which had, up till last summer, escaped inundation. With another flood, however, such as frequently happens on these mountain streams, and as there was reason to expect would occur the past winter, this large area of valuable land would, in all prohahility, have heen covered up and temporarily ruined. The owners, alarmed at this prospect, proceeded during the summer to organize the same into a levee district, after which they procured a survey for the line of a dike, with estimates of its prohahle cost to be made. This doue, the cost of the contemplated work would, it was found, greatly exceed their means, necessitating the ahandonment of the project or the procuring of assistance from some other quarter. The Miners Come to Their Relief. In this emergency, recourse was had to Messrs. Pierce, O’Brien and McGanney, owners in the Smartsville and other hydraulic properties, and who, from their hheral views, wellknown energy and large experience, it was though, might with their counsel, if not with more suhstantial aid, he of service to these parties, application having meantime heen made to the county authorities for such assistance as they might see fit torender, The above gentlemen, though not more interested in the scheme than many other mine and ditch owners, perceiving the strait the farmers were in and the importance of the proposed improvement, concluded to take hold and put the work though on their own responsibility, trusting to such assistance as might he obtained from the county, the farmers themselves and their fellow miners to help them out; it heing now too late in the season for them to stop and ascertain exactly how much these several parties would contrihute towards defraying the entire cost, which it was estimated would amount to ahout $30,000. James O’Brien, One of the three gentlemen mentioned, havin; arranged with his associates, Messrs. Pierce an McGanney, to execute the job, commenced active operations in the month of Septemher, and putting on a large force of men andteams, would have finiched the emhankment hefore the advent of winter had not the heavy and wholly unexpected rains of Octoher interfered with the progress of the work, the cost of which was at the same time largely increased. Mr. O’Brien, who even among the hydraulic miners is noted for push and pluck, kept his force in the field, losing scarcely a day during all this inclement weather, therehy finishing the structure in the early part of the year. The Dimensions of this Levee Are as follows: Length, eight miles; hreadth on top, 12 feet for ahout three-fourths of the length and 20 feet for the halance, with a slope of two to one ou the inner and three to one on the water side; hight, five feet ahove extreme floodline. Through the embankment six large iron pipes with gates have heen laid, to admit the escape of any water that may accumulate on the inner side. The outer face of the dike for a distance of two miles has been covered with a lining of willows, to prevent its heiug washed away at high stages of water, another mile having for the same reason been protected hy asuhstantial hrush fence. This dike contains ahout 200,000 cuhic yards of emhankment, the greater portion of it composed of the red soil common to the country, and which, when thrown up, as the most of this has heen, in a wet state, hardens almost to the consistence of a brick, enahing it to well withstand the action of water. Such sections of the dike as are composed largely of mining dehris, a sandy material, have heen protected hy the facing and fence of willows mentioned. Many of these willows will, it is expected, take root and thus very effectually guard the emhankment against wash or other cause of ahrasion. The Good Already Done. Notwithstanding the past winter proved a dry one, this levee has already effected much good. The farmers feeling that their land was through its protection secured against the further inroads of the mud-laden waters, went on and planted a considerahle portion of it to grain, fine crops having heen gathered this summer from fields hefore neglected, either through fear of overflow or hecause they were too wet for tillage. Hereafter the whole of the land defended hy this dike will no doubt be kept under the plow and made to yield good crops, as the soil is everywhere rich and susceptible of culture. As this levee stands hack some distance from the hank of the river, a large area has here heen provided for the reception of the hydraulic tailings, it being calculated that it will require many years to fill it up. When these tailings, accumulating, shall have nearly reached the top of the emhankment, it will he an easy matter to raise it somewhat higher, increasing in like ratio the capacity of this receptacle. A Plan Worth Considering, A numter of experienced civil engineers, practical miners, and other competent judgee have examined this levee, and, hesides speaking approvingly of the manner in which it has heen coustructed, express the opinion that it will fully meet the requirements expected of it, This heing the case, we do not see why recourse might not he had to similar structures for the protection of farm lands elsewhere exposed to the invasion of this troublesome material. The injury caused to the hottoms along Bear, Feather and some other rivers in the State is already quite serious, and unless checked muet go on increasing,every year. To suffer thie cause to continue in active operation must eventually lead to very grave consequences. How it shall he stopped is a prohlem, the solution of which has for some time exercised the ingenuity of our hest mining engineers, the most of whom we helieve consider this method of diking the river hanks the most feasible. A Bad Way. The farmers, in some instances, have sought relief against these grievances in the courts, there heing now a large nnmher of suits of this kind pending agaiust the hydraulic miners throughout the scope of’ country drained hy Bear river. How these suits will terminate cannot, of course, he predicted; though, judging from the rulings of the court in some of the cases now on and the results in others already tried, the outlook is rather ominous for the farmers. Litigation is at hest, however, a poor way of settling these disputes, and we cannot help thinking the plan that has heen adopted in the instance under consideration is by far the hest, and, as such, wé commend it to the attention of parties interested in this suhject. The course taken hy the minere ia this case has, it is helieved, had the effect to estop many lawsuits that would otherwise have heen commenced ugainst them, and the cost and hother of which would have greatly exceeded the money donated by them for this beneficent improvement. It is to these men a saving of money and a monument of honor. The miners on the Yuha have acted nohly in this matter, having already paid in or made themselves answerahle for more than $30,000 towards the cost of this improvement, Yuba county having contributed $10,000, and the owners of the land henefited $7,000 towards making up the amount expended upon it, the total having reached nearly $50,000. There are stilla numher of hydraulic miners interested in this enterprise, who have not as yet eontrihuted anything towarde defraying its cost. To their credit he it said, however, they are all willing to stand in and hear a fair share of the expense when called upon to do so; at least this is what we gather from the reports that reach us from the mines and from conver! gations had with eome of these parties.