of the stratification at this point: a is the basaltic lava rising in precipitous cliffs from the surrounding country; b a stratum of compact sand nearly hard enough to be designated as sandstone; underneath this is a layer of gravel, represented by c; and o shows the position of the auriferous gravel. The auriferous gravel is extracted by means of inclines running respectively from A and B to the bottom of the channel. Mining in Table Mountain.-The ground of the "Table Mountain Tunnel Company" is situated on Humbug Flat, about one mile north of Jamestown on the east slope of Table Mountain. The company own 4,500 feet of ground, north and south on channel, and claim from base. to base of the mountain. Their gravel deposit is partly under the lava capping, but a large portion of the best ground lay to the east of the lava flow and seemed to owe its origin to a deflection of the ancient river channel, which here took a slight bend, followed by the lava stream, leaving exposed a large portion of the old river bed. The ground was first worked in 1852 by a tunnel running from Peppermint Creek, an insignificant stream on the east side of Table Mountain. This tunnel was run 1,000 feet in slate bed-rock, and on rising twentyfive feet pay gravel was struck near the rim of the channel. This tunnel cost $60,000, and ruined its projectors, only four of them holding a small interest when pay was struck. Subsequently the ground was opened by inclines higher up the slope and near the edge of the lava capping of the mountain, and is still worked by this method, the Peppermint Creek tunnel being used for drainage. Drifts are run from these inclines by means of which the ground has been breasted out for a length of 2,500 feet, and 2,000 feet yet remain to be opened. The channel of the old river proved to be from 100 to 150 feet in width, and the breasts were opened to a width of 30 to 80 feet according to the yield of the gravel. The thickness of the pay gravel varies from four to six feet the richest being on the bed-rock, which is "picked" down to a depth of ten or twelve inches. The main incline, through which the mine is now worked, is 320 feet in length, the perpendicular depth from the bottom of the incline to the surface being eighty-seven feet. The strata passed through in running this incline were compacted sand alternated with thin layers of "pipe-clay." Underneath this was found the pay gravel-four to six feet in thickness, then a soft slate bed-rock. The main north drift is now 1,600 feet in length on the channel, but 66 breasting" has not been made on more than half this distance. The gravel is brought from the "head" or "breasts" of the drifts by a car drawn by a mule to the foot of the incline, whence it is raised to the surface and emptied in a large dump-box. The method of treatment here is by the "Cox pan," a process which is fully described in another part of this report. The hoisting-works and mill are run by eighty inches of water, by means of an overshot wheel thirty feet in diameter. A test of several hundred car-loads of gravel at this mine showed a yield of five to six dollars per car-load, equivalent to $10 per cubic yard; but this "run" was on very rich ground. The average yield for a run of several successive months would probably not exceed half the amount obtained when the test was made, and with this yield a large profit accrues to the owners. The gravel of this part of the channel of Table Mountain is soft and easily extracted with the pick. In using the "pan" the gravel is fed continuously from a "hopper," the feeding being interrupted only long enough to discharge the bowlders from the mill or pan. The dirt released by the action of the pan passes through the apertures in the bottom, whence it runs through three hundred feet of sluice-boxes, and the proprietors are confident from experimental tests that they save as much of the gold as by any process in use. They speak highly of the "Cox pan" after two years of constant use. The Hughes mine, comprising the ground formerly known as the Maine Boys' tunnel, one of the earliest locations on Table Mountain, is situated north of, and next adjoining the claim above described, but is opened from the western instead of the eastern face of the mountain, which is here nearly 2,000 feet in width. The main drifts of the two companies are now approaching each other, one running north and the other south on the channel, and before the close of the present year the communication will be opened through the mountain under the lava crust which filled the ancient channel of Table Mountain. This will afford complete ventilation for both mines, and greatly facilitate future explorations. Barometrical observations taken on a line across Table Mountain at this point give the following results: Altitude above sea level. Mouth of Table Mountain Company's incline, east side Table Mountain..... 1,680 feet. 1,736 feet. 1,882 feet. It will be observed that the rim rock of the old river bed is thirtythree feet higher on the western than on the eastern side, showing that the river wore its deeper channel on the western side. The bottom of the river (bed-rock) seems to be about 300 feet below the plane of the mountain. It is an interesting question which we submit to the consideration of the State geological survey, whether these facts have any bearing on the great distribution of gold on the eastern side of the mountain as manifested on the limestone belt from Columbia at Kincaid Flat, and in the bed of Wood's Creek. The Maine Boys' ground, after many vicissitudes of good and bad fortune for nearly twenty years, passed into the hands of its present energetic owner, Mr. David Hughes, who has demonstrated that this class of mining can be carried on with uniform profit when managed with economy and skill. Mr. Hughes owns 1,900 feet on the channel, and his ground is opened by an incline four hundred and ninety-six feet in length, and 110 feet in perpendicular depth. The width of the channel varies from 150 to 300 feet, while the pay-dirt varies from thirty feet to the entire width of the channel. The gravel is about twenty feet in thickness, but the paying portion seldom exceeds four feet on the bottom. The stratification is the same as on the other side of the mountain. Several "channels" are supposed to exist in the claim, but they are probably the results of the changing of the river bed from east to west as demonstrated by the barometrical observations above noted. The claim is worked through two tunnels, the drifts in one (the old Maine Boys') being 2,600 feet in length, in the other 1,500 feet. The gravel is taken out and hoisted in the same manner as in the claim last described. Mr. Hughes uses two "Cox pans," run with fifty inches of water by an overshot wheel thirty feet in diameter. Each pan will treat forty car-loads of gravel per day-one ton to the car-load. The gravel is fed continuously as at the Table Mountain Co.'s mill, about ten inches of gravel being kept constantly in the bottom of the pan, but it • is here charged with a small quantity of quicksilver. From one hundred to two hundred feet of sluices are used below the pans. The yield is from $250 to $3 per car-load, and is considered good pay. The gravel sometimes yields much higher, rarely lower. This is a little less than $5 per cubic yard. Mr. Hughes has used these pans for several years in succession, and has made several improvements in their construction and manipulation, particularly in the distribution of the water in the pulp while in motion. He says they will successfully work any gravel soft enough to yield to the pick, and work it closer than any other process, though he admits the loss of a considerable percentage of the finer gold. Sonora. The country between Jamestown and Sonora, a distance of four miles, is more hilly, and mining has been confined to the bed of Wood's Creek. The town of Sonora, the largest town in the southern mines, was settled in the summer of 1848 by a party of Mexican miners from the province of Sonora, and was originally known as the "Sonoranian Camp," to distinguish it from Jamestown, which was settled at about the same time and known as the "American Camp." In the fall of 1849, with the discovery of the great wealth of the placers on the limestone belt, the population of Sonora increased with great rapidity and was estimated to be at least five thousand persons. This population, however, was much diminished in the succeeding year by the enforcement of the foreign miners' tax, which was then thirty dollars per month, but revived in 1852, and stood at about three thousand for many years, until the gradual decay of the placers, when it settled down to its present population, about twelve hundred souls. With the exhaustion of the placers the town underwent a period of decay nearly as rapid as its growth, but is now recovering its prosperity on a more stable basis. This town, like all mining towns in California, has suffered severely from repeated and destructive conflagrations. The losses by fire from 1849 to 1853, during which period four great fires devastated the town, were estimated at one million of dollars. The first newspaper published in the mines of California was the Sonora Herald, the first number being issued on July 4, 1850. Nos. 1 to 7 of the Herald were printed on foolscap; single copies sold at fifty cents. The state of society during the flush times-from 1849 to 1853-was of the worst description, and crime and lawlessness were much increased by the ill-feeling engendered between the Mexican and American population. Murder and robbery were crimes of frequent occurrence, and these were punished by the stern discipline of lynch law. In 1855 a vigilance committee was organized, in consequence of the murder of some Americans by Mexican desperadoes, and after several summary trials and executions the entire Mexican population was banished, and the guilty and innocent suffered alike. The winter of 1852 was remarkable for its severity, the rain-fall exceeding that of any year since the occupation of the country by the white races. The streams rose and swept away the few ferries, the roads were destroyed, and great sickness, destitution, and suffering resulted. Some idea of the price of living in Sonora at that time may be formed from the following extract translated from a work on California, published in the city of Mexico in 1866, by l'Abbé Alric, who was the parish priest of Sonora from 1851 to 1855. "During the months of November and December, 1852," says the abbé, "rain and snow fell in great abundance, and the roads were rendered impassable for several months. The consequence was that the price of living advanced to exorbitant rates. Eggs were worth $1 each; bear's meat, $1 per pound; bread, $2 per pound; chickens, $10 to $12 each; and a turkey sold for $20. Everything else was sold in proportion." I quote a few more extracts from this work to show the social condition of Sonora at this period: "On the 8th of June, 1851," says the abbé, "I was compelled to witness a terrible spectacle at a neighboring camp where I was called to H. Ex. 211- -5 administer the last consolations of religion to two Mexicans who had been condemned to death by the Yankee miners on the bare suspicion of having been implicated in the murder of two Americans whose dead bodies had been discovered near the tents of the Mexicans. After these miserable meu had received the rites of the church, a noose was placed around their necks, the end of the rope was thrown over a limb, and they were placed on the back of a mule which was driven from under them, the men remaining suspended until life was extinct. "On the same day several Americans discharged their revolvers into a gambling-house where seven Mexicans were seated at play, on the pretense that the Mexicans had cheated at cards. On arriving, I found three dead and the others wounded. These died the next day, and a common grave received the remains of all. The murderers escaped unpunished. "These scenes were repeated daily. In fact, on the next day I was sent for from Melones (now Carson Hill) to confess two miners accused of robbing a sluice-box. It was necessary to cross the Stanislaus River, where I was detained for some time, and on my arrival found I was too late; the only thing to be seen was two corpses swinging from a limb projecting over a precipice. "One night I was called to visit two sick men, one a Frenchman, the other a Mexican, who lived in a tent some distance from the town. They did not seem in immediate danger of death, and I left them at 11 p. m., promising to return early in the morning. Soon after. my departure they were robbed and murdered for the gold dust in their possession, and their bodies disposed of, and on my return in the morning I found neither tent, sick men, nor corpses. "Such," remarks the abbé, "is life in California." This journal, extending over a period of four years, is a constant record of such scenes as the above. Finally a vigilance committee was organized, whose first proceeding was the banishment of all the Mexican population who refused to surrender their arms. The flock being dispersed, the abbé sought new fields of labor. The Sonora of to-day; with its churches, schools, stores, and pleasant residences surrounded by gardens and orchards, presents a striking contrast to the rude collection of tents and brush houses described by l'Abbé Alric, and the rude and lawless population of 1849-'50 has been succeeded by a thrifty and energetic population engaged principally in the development of the wonderful resources of this locality, in fruit-raising and vine-culture, the orchards and vineyards here producing fruit in a profusion and with size and flavor unequaled in any other part of the State. Quartz-mining near Sonora.-To the east of Sonora, high up in the Sierras, is found a belt of quartz mines, inclosed in the granite formation, which are rapidly assuming an importance second to none in the State in point of extent and productiveness, and but little known outside of the boundaries of the county. We will briefly notice a few of these claims. The Confidence mine has been opened for more than ten years, during which period work had not been prosecuted with any degree of regularity until it passed into the hands of the present owners, Ben Holladay & Co., who purchased it for the sum of $15,000 on the recommendation of Mr. L. Gilson, a miner of experience and skill. The claim is 1,050 feet in length; its course northwest and southeast, with a dip to the west of twenty-eight to thirty degrees. Both walls are granite, and the fissure varies in width. At the north end of the drifts the vein mat ter is about eight feet wide and yields an average of nearly $75 per ton. The south drifts are wider, sometimes attaining a width of sixteen feet, and the yield from this part of the mine is from $12 to $15 per ton. The pay-chute, or chimney, as far as developed, has a length of 200 feet. The rock is a hard, white, sulphureted quartz, presenting no indication of its richness, and "specimen rock" is rarely found. The mine is opened by an incline, 500 feet in length, running on the vein-the perpendicular depth from surface to bottom of incline being about 240 feet. Three levels have been opened, each running 100 feet north and 100 feet south from the incline. The present owners took the mine with a ten-stamp mill. They now have a first-class forty-stamp mill and three arrastras, capable of reducing fifty tons per day. The mine is kept developed in advance of the capacity of the mill, and it is estimated that the reserves in sight will run the mill six months, without opening another level, and that these reserves will yield $200,000. About sixty men are employed. This company own 2,100 feet of a similar ledge, and as far as opened the ledge has gold visible in every part. Under its present management it looks as if it would last for years to come. The extraordinary fineness of the gold in this mine makes it the more valuable, the gold running from 900 to 920'fine. For the past two years the mine has been yielding at the rate of from $25,000 to $30,000 per month, sometimes as high as $40,000. The mill and hoisting-works are run by powerful steam machinery. The Excelsior mine is situated a short distance to the northeast of the Confidence, and the geological and mineralogical features are similar. This mine produced $525,000 in twenty months with a ten-stamp mill. The mine is now closed and has been for the past five years, on account of a personal difficulty among its owners. Miners in the vicinity, who formerly worked in the mine, think it among the richest in the State. Explorations have reached a depth of 175 feet, the mine being opened laterally about 400 feet. Mr. G. F. Wright, who has been absent from the State for several years past, has returned from the East, and it is thought the mine will be re-opened early in 1872. During the working of this mine, the company's little ten-stamp mill made several runs ranging from $14,000 to $25,000 per week. One lot resulted in a clean-up of $25,800 from fifty tons of rock. At Big Basin several ledges are worked, by means of arrastras, by Lewis & Brother. These ledges are found in talcose slate. Besides these claims, numerous veins are being opened on the same belt, which is believed to extend northerly into Calaveras County, where it outcrops at the Sheep Ranch claims, Washington district. Near Sonora and Columbia, on the slopes of Bald Mountain, numerous "pocket" veins of great richness, but limited in extent, occurring in slate, are found and worked by the adventurous class of prospectors who depend on this precarious method of mining for a subsistence. On the west side of Table Mountain we find the Mother lode, with the small mining villages of Rawhide Ranch and Tuttletown. Numerous claims at these points on which work has been suspended for several years will soon be re-opened. Among this class we may mention the Rawhide, possessing one of the finest mills in the State, closed for several years in consequence of mismanagement and litigation, and the Waters mine, near Tuttletown, which is said to contain a large amount of low-grade ore in sight, but operations have been suspended for want of machinery. Columbia and vicinity.-Four miles north of Sonora we find the towns of Columbia, Shaw's Flat, and Springfield. The first-named was once an important place, second only to Sonora in population and wealth. All |