said that our gold mining enterprises, as a whole, may be set down as a failure, when the question of profit in all is considered.

One step in advance would be, taking more care. There is too much slashing about in our gold mining. There is enough in silver, but no comparison between the working of the two metals. This plan of seeing how much can be pounded up and rushed through every 24 hours, is a false, wasteful, and ruinous system.

The profit will be found in how well and how cheap it can be done. It is in the right direction, certainly, to reduce ores expeditiously and cheaply, but not to as expeditiously wash everything away, having an eye more to pounding up the rock than to taking up the metal.

That our gold ores are so readily amalgamated, is one of the ruinous ideas extant. The majority of California miners are, in fact, but little experienced in all the troublesome accompaniments of even gold ores, considering that if the rock does not pay, it cannot certainly contain it. All, however, admit it to be difficult to extract the gold from iron sulphurets, forgetting that even a small percentage of lead, copper, arsenic, or antimony, which is to be found in nearly all the gold ores of California, vitiates the mercury in a little while, rendering it quite inefficient in collecting even the gold that otherwise from gravity might be taken up. It is too universal to consider that it is only necessary to rig up a set of stamps, apply the power, and let them rip away, smashing rocks, to wash over blankets and copper plates; and all is done with a stream of water to wash the sands off, forgetting that it is equally as potent to wash off the smaller particles of gold.

Some will say, it is all well to talk about loss of metal, but how can we prove it, and where is the remedy?

I will tell you how to prove it, but each must work out his own remedy. For my part, I have worked out the loss by what I consider the remedy-dry amalgamation; but our subject now is loss, not remedy. To awaken the mind for improvements, and be interested in a remedy, miners must first realize their loss. I contend there are several ways of working our gold ores better than the one now universally used in California. If you want to get a clear comprehension of your loss, take, say, 5 tons or more, not less. Reduce the ore dry through say No. 20 wire-cloth screens; mix all thoroughly, then spread it out upon a floor about two inches thick. Lay it out in 12-inch squares, take a smaller quantity from each square, take samples thus obtained, and again mix them. Again spread out, say, one inch thick, laid out into 4-inch squares, taking a smaller portion from each. Reduce this sample to powder; if too much for average assays, sample again as before. Get 3 or 5 assays from reliable assayers, average the assays. Work your ore by your mill process; compare the results with assays; and in nine cases out of ten every one will find he possesses more riches than he thought he had. Any other system of testing is unreliable. Pieces of rock can be had to assay more or less, as you want. To get at the value of your mine, the testing of tons by this mode is the only safe one.

Mr. Paul further calls the attention of our miners to the existence of a large percentage of silver associated with the gold-bearing quartz:

That there has been still too great a wastage of precious metal, all admit; not only is this in our gold in gold mining, but in the silver associated with the gold. This fact is not generally understood, as California miners are not accustomed to getting silver with the gold, a thing precluded by their present mode of working. An investigation will disclose the fact that nearly all the gold ores of California contain no meager percentage of silver. The same may be said of the "gold ores" of other States and Territories. By way of illustration the following assays are given:

The yield of Quartz Mountain ran 9 per cent. silver. The ores of all the counties of California carry silver, and my experiments show they run from 3 to 50 per cent. of the yield.

The closer the concentration from batteries, the higher is the percentage of silver. It is time we were investigating more closely, and outgrowing this rushing system of mining, and, instead of sluicing our silver and gold down streams, seeking modes of working that will produce less wastage. As far as California is concerned, I am satisfied that not more than 40 per cent. of her gold is extracted. The fact is, as before expressed, we are not working for gold or silver, but to crush rock.

Mr. Paul's opinions on the condition of the gold are given in the following extracts:

Our present general system of gold mining is based upon the idea that gold is mainly coarse, while examination will show that the high percentage is in atoms finer than flour itself. In my experiments gold has been taken up so fine that in distilled water it would not precipitate in less than from five to ten minutes. Can you save gold of this kind by running water down stream? Again, can you obtain the gold of this fineness, without minute reduction? Therein lies the secret of high assays before working, and small returns after.

Gold in its matrix, according to the highest authorities, is in a metallic condition. Such being the case, the first requisite is minute reduction, to the fineness of the gold itself, in order to release it. Gold in quarte of gravity enough to resist the pressure of any stream of water is the exception, and this is the aggregating of finer particles, the primary simple condition, in my opinion, being flour or powder of gold. It is the flour of gold we must seek to obtain, to get the wealth of our ores.

In commenting on the disasters that have so often overtaken mining enterprises on this coast, too much stress has sometimes been laid upon a presumed gross mismanagement, or a willful purpose to defraud. To these much of the failure and loss heretofore sustained is undoubtedly due; yet it should be recollected that mining for the precious metals was a business with which our people were wholly unacquainted at the outset. When we embarked in this pursuit, one naturally beset with obstacles and full of inherent difficulty, we had everything to prepare and everything to learn. Not only so, but we had to make our first trials under circumstances that rendered the mining and metallurgical knowledge gained elsewhere of little avail. The experience obtained in the Old World and the rules laid down in the books could not be applied here to advantage. The high prices of labor, the want of material, the character of the ores, the climate, and, in short, all the conditions, were so unlike those to which the experts of other countries had been accustomed, that they, of all others, proved the most inefficient and helpless. In attempting to adapt themselves to surroundings so new and strange, none found themselves at so great a loss or blundered more widely than they. Of all failures, those of our scientific men from abroad were at the first the most signal. Our sins were, therefore, at first, mostly the sins of ignorance, and our errors, the errors of judg ment. If, in a few instances, deliberate frauds have been committed, it is no more than has happened in the conduct of many other kinds of business not accounted specially difficult or hazardous. Or if it should appear that there has been some extravagant and even culpable expendi ture incurred on mining account, it may yet be claimed that we have introduced many valuable improvements into this business, and advanced it with an energy that more than atones for these wasteful and unwarranted outlays. It is now generally conceded that we have, in the matter of mechanical contrivance, if not also in metallurgical skill, advanced this industry in all its branches far beyond the point where we found it, and even beyond its present status in almost any other country. In the adaptation of means for washing auriferous earth, in the use of hydraulic power, in our ore-crushing machinery, our roasting-furnaces, our concentrators and amalgamators, and in much of our other milling-apparatus and appliances, we can point to improvements that leave us without a rival elsewhere. Both as regards the exploitation of the mines and the beneficiating of the ores, we can justly claim to have reached as great perfection as any other nation in the world, having contributed our full quota towards the wonderful advancement that this branch of mining has undergone during the past quarter of a century.

Present and prospective production.-With so much progress made and

so large an aggregate of improvements effected, a large and profitable production of bullion has ensued, leading to heavy investments in mining properties on both home and foreign account, and to an unwonted activity in every department of this industry. The yield of the precious metals for the entire coast has, of course, been greatly curtailed in consequence of the restricted amount of rain that has fallen for the past two years; the effect of which has proved more disastrous to the mining interest of California than of any other portion of the Pacific slope, as we have here many quartz mills dependent on water for their propulsive power, while placer washing constitutes, in favorable seasons, our most prolific source of gold production. But despite this serious interference the California yield for the current year is probably $20,000,000, a sum that would, with the ordinary supply of water, have been increased fully one-fourth. Owing to the introduction of improved machinery and modes of washing, as well as to the employment of more efficient metallurgical processes and labor-saving contrivances, the profit margin is being steadily enlarged in mining operations even while working a lower grade of material; much auriferous gravel being now washed and ore milled with satisfactory gains that would not a few years ago have paid working expenses. Hence the maintenance of such a high rate of production in the face of a drought almost unexampled for its long continuance and severity. During the prevalence of the drought our hydraulic and placer miners have been engaged in the extraction and accumulation of dirt, and in running deep-drainage tunnels, until they have now large quantities on hand, ready for washing as soon as the rainy season will permit. As we have now had three dry years in succession, we may safely count on the incoming winter being a wet one, affording the waiting miner all the water that his needs require. Should this prove to be the case, a heavy yield of gold will be speedily gathered, insuring for next year a larger product than has been realized in California for several years past.* Indeed, a heavy annual increase of bullion in this State may be calculated upon for an indefinite period to come, in view of the impulse lately given to mining enterprise through the liberal investments of capital and other assistance brought to its aid. In the construction of capacious hydraulic works, looking to vastly increased supplies of water, in the extensive opening up of the old river-channels and gravel-banks and in the erection of many large mills and reduction works, to say nothing of the favorable developments being everywhere made in our mines, we have ample assurance of the largely augmented production that awaits us in the future. There is good authority for believing that with the usual supply of water the yield of the California mines alone would be increased $500,000 per month. With all the water available for that purpose introduced into the mines at the head of the State Creek Basin, Sierra County, it is computed that two million dollars could be annually taken from that locality more than it affords at present. With the Von Schmidt ditch completed according to the original plan referred to elsewhere in this report, the gold-producing capacity of the country to be supplied by it, already one of the most prolific in the State, would at once be more than doubled. In El Dorado County the California Water Company are constructing a system of ditches and reservoirs which will furnish from 30,000 to 45,000 inches of water, miners' measurement, and open a large section of gravel country hitherto untouched or worked only on a small scale; while at Parks Bar in

*Since writing the above my anticipations have been more than realized, as the rainfall for December has been almost unprecedented, giving promise of a year of abundance to both the miner and the agriculturist.

Yuba County, and at Indian Bar, (La Grange,) Stanislaus County, extensive water-ditches will supply large tracts of undeveloped ground of great promise. In like manner, many other great hydraulic works projected will, when they come to be finished, contribute, more or less, towards swelling the aggregate bullion product of the State; and as several of them are already well advanced, with the prospect of being carried to an early completion, we may hope to soon enjoy the benefits of their co-operation in stimulating our mines to a more free production.

Investments of capital.-During the past two or three years investments on mining account have been liberal beyond precedent, a great number of valuable properties having been purchased, the most of them with a view to the early inauguration of practical operations upon them. Much of this capital has been drawn from abroad, the English public having been very active in promoting mining enterprises throughout all parts of our Pacific States and Territories. California, Nevada, and Utah have come in for the greater share of these investments, though some of limited extent have been made in Idaho and Montana. The aggregate amount of foreign investments made during this time is variously estimated as ranging between fifteen and twenty millions of dollars. Many of these investments have been made with care, and are likely to prove both safe and profitable. In purchasing properties of this kind much circumspection has latterly been observed, only such being negotiated for as have been somewhat developed, and these being accepted only on the approval of competent experts, based on thorough and careful examination. It has occasionally happened that shares in these mines have been forced up in the market abroad to figures that there was nothing in their condition or prospects to justify. It cannot reasonably be expected that the stocks of mines, however good, should appreciate three or four hundred per cent. in the course of a few months and be able to maintain themselves permanently at this advance. English promoters have made the further mistake of exacting an inordinate commission for their services, necessitating the holders of mines to stock them at extravagant figures. But with all these errors and mishaps, many of the investments made in our mines on foreign account cannot be considered otherwise than fortunate, encouraging the hope that they will be continued and even largely increased in the future.

Our mines have also of late grown much in favor with home investors, it having become evident to all that we cannot longer neglect their development if we expect to enjoy a rapid increase of material wealth hereafter. The experience of the past two years has demonstrated the fallacy of relying upon our agricultural resources alone if we hope to insure for our people an uninterrupted prosperity; while the fact that able-bodied men can at all times command from $2.50 to $3.50 per day in the mines, shows the impossibility of our being able to build up for the present any very extended mechanical or manufacturing industries on this coast. With these wages prevailing, it is obvious that we cannot successfully compete with the low-priced labor of the Eastern States, except in making a few bulky articles, into the manufacture of which our own raw material largely enters. Satisfied of this, there is a growing disposition on the part of the working classes to engage in mining pursuits, causing domestic capital to incline strongly in the same direction.

Recent operations and improvements.-The great extent and the costly character of many of the projects undertaken constitute a notable feature in the late history of mining enterprise on this side the continent.

Nearly all operations and improvements are now planned and carried forward on a large scale, it having become apparent that by this method great gains and economies could be effected. In fact, the altered conditions under which the business of mining must now be prosecuted, have made this necessary. The superficial placers in which men without capital could once earn fair wages, have now become in most places so much impoverished that they can no longer be worked with profit, without a large expenditure first incurred in fitting them up with the requisite apparatus and supplying them with water. With these furnished, they can still be worked with remunerative results, and very often with large gains. There also remains a great extent of rich deposits deeply buried in the beds of the pliocene rivers, with vast banks of auriferous gravel, some of them several hundred feet deep, all of which, though useless to the man without means, can, with the aid of capital, be made to yield up their treasures with profit. To work this class of mines to advantage it becomes necessary that a large area of ground should be secured; to which end the titles to individual claims are first extinguished when they are aggregated in large masses, for which a United States patent is, in most cases, afterward procured. Some of these mining estates now cover an area of several hundred, and occasionally as much as a thousand acres, (in one case, at North Bloomfield, Nevada County, 1,535 acres,) insuring a sufficiency of ground for carrying on extended operations for many years to come. In like manner, where vein-mining is to be engaged in, it has become the custom, at least with the more sagacious and provident class of operators, to make sure of several different lodes, or of a larger portion of some one lode than was formerly the practice. So, too, in the erection of quartz-mills and reduction-works, in the projection of ditches and reservoirs, in rigging up hydraulic apparatus, and in exploring the ancient river-channels, everything is conducted on a scale that causes most former works of the kind to sink into seemingly dwarfish proportions. These formidable and expensive undertakings, while they give promise of early additions to the product of our mines, indicate, at the same time, the confidence reposed in their permanency by a class of men distinguished for practical wisdom. Of the quartz-crushing mills lately built, the majority have been of large capacity, many of them carrying from twenty to forty, and in a few cases as high as sixty stamps. The erection of several sixtystamp mills is now in contemplation, and it seems probable that those hereafter constructed will generally be of large size. In the districts where the ores require reduction by smelting, larger furnaces will be substituted for the rude and limited works used for pioneer purposes, these having in some instances already been replaced by others of more perfect patterns and increased capacity. We have already in San Francisco one of the most complete and capacious smelting establishments in the United States, and this is now undergoing extensive enlargement and improvement. A recent number of the California Mail Bag says of this enterprise:

Very few persons in our midst have any correct idea of the magnitude of the Selby Smelting Works, the extent of their capacity, or the positive benefit they are to this State and city. For some time large quantities of certain ores were shipped from Nevada and other interior mines to Newark, New Jersey, for reduction; and the bullion so obtained never again found its way back to our markets, being exchanged for various articles of merchandise which interfered with the transactions of our own business community. It was soon discovered, however, that such shipments of ore were unprofitable, and that infinitely greater facilities existed in the immediate neighborhood of the mines, with a corresponding economy of expense for freight, interest, and insurance, and much quicker returns of extracted bullion. So rapid has been the development of this comparatively new industry, that although the Selby Smelting Works contained