twenty-five large furnaces, which were kept in constant operation, at the commencement of the present year it has been found necessary to increase the number and enlarge the capacity by making costly additions to the establishment. There are four fifty-vara lots to be filled in up to deep water, and these will be covered completely with the requisite buildings, the work being already under active headway. A large coffer-dam is to be sunk at the outer extremity of the works in deep water, and excavations will be made until the bed-rock of the bay is reached, when a huge chimney will be erected on it, and uprear its lofty, smoking top from out the waters far above all surrounding objects. The works are already the most extensive in the United States, but with the additions will probably equal any known. At present something like 25,000 tons of pig-lead are annually imported into the United States; but during the current year the Selby Works will supply nearly one-third of the whole amount, and it is confidently expected that in five years more they will furnish enough to stop all requirement from abroad. No less than 350 tons are under constant treatment, and this large amount will be increased to 500 tons before the close of the present year. The lead product of these works is admitted to be equal to any other in the Union; and large orders have been received from New York, for the purpose of converting the metal into white-lead superior to any now made. The working force consists of 130 men, divided into two gangs, 65 being employed all day and 65 all night. These people receive liberal wages, and have steady employment the year round. The difference in freight between Nevada and Newark and Nevada and San Francisco is something like $34 per ton in favor of the last-named place, while considerable gain is realized in the greater quickness with which returns are made, involving a saving of interest and insurance. Apart from the general benefit conferred by the existence of so great an industry and the home development of domestic resources, a direct advantage is obtained by our mercantile and trading community, which reflects upon all other classes.

Some of the hydraulic workings in this State, though carried on mostly by single individuals or small companies, are really enterprises of great magnitude, apart from the costly ditches built for conducting water upon them. Our system of water-works, with their extensive canals, high reservoirs, dams, flumes, and iron aqueducts, has long constituted a leading feature in the internal improvements of California.

Principal hydraulic enterprises.-Standing at the head of this category we have the gigantic scheme of Colonel J. W. Von Schmidt, proposing to take the water from Lake Tahoe, and, carrying it through the Sierra Nevada by a tunnel nearly four miles in length, conduct it thence into the mining regions lying adjacent to Bear River and the north and middle forks of the American and their several tributaries, bringing a portion of it on to San Francisco, distant nearly three hundred miles from the point of diversion on the Truckee River, the outlet of Lake Tahoe. Sacramento, Vallejo, Oakland, and other cities along the route of the main aqueduct, are also to be supplied with water. The construction of this work, with its many proposed ramifications, will require two or three years, and involve an expenditure of several million dollars. That portion of the scheme looking to the gathering up of the waters west of the Sierra has already been actively entered upon, the locating surveys have been finished, the dam across the Truckee is in process of erection, and nearly all other preliminary labor completed. The projector of this enterprise has himself invented an ingenious and what promises to prove an effective drilling machine, described briefly in the report for 1871. One of these is now being built with a view to its early employment on the great tunnel through the Sierra. From his wellknown skill and energy, and his fertility of resource, it is believed that Colonel Von Schmidt will soon commence the work of penetrating the mountain, and that he will push the whole to a speedy and successful conclusion.

Next in order, and second only in importance to the great work of Colonel Von Schmidt, is the enterprise now being carried forward by the California Water Company, an association lately organized in San Francisco, with a capital of $10,000,000, for the purpose of engaging in the

business of mining, dealing in agricultural and timber lands, and of furnishing water for mining and domestic uses at such points as it may be required along the route of their canals. The following extract from the Quarterly Mining Review, contained in a late issue of the San Francisco Commercial Herald, describes the operations, the character of the property secured, and the objects proposed to be accomplished by this company.

"They have," says the Herald, "located, by right of discovery, obtained by purchase and grant, and taken possession of twenty-four lakes, varying in extent from one hundred to two thousand acres each, situated in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in El Dorado County, at an elevation of from three to five thousand feet above the sea. These lakes are fed by streams from mountain peaks and gorges of perpetual snow, and are capable of furnishing a constant stream of 40,000 inches of water of the purest kind. From these lakes run the Big and Little Rubicon Rivers and other streams tributary to the Middle Fork of the American River, which have also been claimed and taken possession of, according to law. These are all very favorably situated in the high Sierras, and constitute one of the most convenient, perfect, and valuable water-rights in California. The facilities for constructing dams at the outlets of these lakes and on the streams are great, admitting of these natural reservoirs being increased to an unlimited extent, while the reservoirs that are to be constructed in connection with the work, and which are to be filled with the waste water of winter, will furnish an ample supply for an entire year.

"The company has also obtained possession of several thousand acres of valuable mining ground in the region to be supplied by water, and of a large area of timber and agricultural lands in the same section, being the choice selections of near two hundred thousand acres of Government and railroad lands within the limits of the field of operations; and all of which can be purchased at from $1 to $2.50 per acre. The country is heavily timbered with pine, spruce, cedar, oak, &c. The soil is generally fertile, and is well adapted to cultivation of the various products suited to the different stages of elevation, the lower portion embracing some of the best fruit and wine-producing country in the State.

"The region to be supplied with water comprises an area of from five to twenty miles in width and fifty in length, containing numerous towns and mining camps, creating a demand for from ten to twenty thousand inches, at a price of ten cents per inch for ten hours' use, independent of the large amount needed by the company in working its own mines. "Aside from the amount used in the mines, a vast quantity would be required for irrigation. Nearly all the cities mentioned would, it is calculated, take more or less water, Sacramento alone being counted upon for a net annual revenue of $50,000.

"The distance from the lakes in the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento is about seventy-five miles, and the total ditch and length of pipe to conduct the water to the various mining camps and the city would cost, probably, $250,000. With it no further extended the sale of water would return the whole outlay in a very few years, with the chances of constantly increasing sales in the future. But the great amount of water owned by the company will justify far more extended works. It is sufficient in quantity, and in such commanding position, as to supply the greater portion of the mining and agricultural wants of El Dorado, Amador, and Sacramento Counties, and, crossing the Sacramento River, can, if necessary, be carried to the cities of Vallejo, Oakland, San José, and San Francisco."

Apart from these more extensive and costly projects, a number of works of less magnitude have been commenced, and some of them well advanced for supplying the mines with water in different parts of the State. A ditch of considerable magnitude was completed last summer on the Klamath, carrying water upon a number of high bars along that stream, and giving profitable employment to several hundred men who were before idle. A San Francisco company are pushing forward a large ditch in Tuolumne County, designed to furnish water to the extensive gravel deposits about La Grange, very little of which could heretofore be worked for want of water. Several important enterprises of this kind are also in progress in Yuba, Butte, and adjoining counties, besides numerous works, some of them of immense capacity, intended to carry water upon the great plains of the interior for irrigating purposes.

Already most of the large sources of water supply, of which there are many in the lakes and in the streams having their spring in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, have been utilized and it will not be long before all of them will be made practically available. When this shall come to pass there will be presented such a system of aqueducts leading down the slopes of the Great Snowy Range and across the foot-hills and the broad valleys at its base, as will have no parallel elsewhere in the world. Even now our hydraulic works are a credit to our young State, many millions of dollars having been expended and some masterly engineering displayed in their construction. As forming a part of this system, it will ultimately become necessary to build many large reservoirs, at points naturally adapted to the purpose, for collecting the surplus waters afforded at high stages of the mountain streams, and thence distributing them as required by the wants of the miners during the dry season. These artificial repositories can, in many localities where there are already small lakes and natural basins, be easily constructed, nothing more being required than building a dam at their outlets. In this manner an immense body of water can, in many cases, be easily retained during the season of floods, equalizing the supply and keeping it up throughout the entire year. In view of future demands for water these franchises must come in time to yield large revenues and rank among the most desirable properties in the State.

Encouraging developments, new discoveries, &c.—During the past year, work has been recommenced on many of the mines in this State upon which it had, for various reasons, been discontinued. In nearly all these cases the results since obtained have been satisfactory, showing that the former stoppage was not caused by want of merit in the mines. All through the interior counties old and often-abandoned claims have been re-opened and idle mills started up and operated with success, raising the presumption that many others now neglected would, in like manner, warrant a resumption of operations upon them.

A large class of mining claims, too, that had for years struggled along, barely able to sustain themselves, are now, with cheapened material, more reliable labor, and improved modes of working, yielding fair and often munificent returns. Among other properties that have long been slumbering, but are soon to be resuscitated, is the famous Union copper mine, in Calaveras County, which, with the advantages of railroad trausportation, it is believed can now be worked with profit.

Among what may justly be ranked as new discoveries is a description of gold-bearing deposits denominated "Seam Diggings," and which, according to a statement recently published in the Commercial Herald, have been brought into notice through the late explorations prosecuted in the

service of the California Water Company, a considerable extent of them having been found along the line of their new works on the divide between the South and Middle Forks of the American River, in El Dorado County. The formation, here covering a large portion of two entire townships traversed by the company's canal, consists of a soft, easily disintegrated slate, permeated by innumerable small seams of quartz. Many of these seams are rich in free gold, and having become thoroughly decomposed through chemical and elemental action, the metal has been liberated from its matrix, and they, together with the inclosing slates, can now be readily torn down and washed away by the hydraulic process. Some of these slates have already been successfully worked in this manner, the only hinderance to their extensive development having been the want of water. With the quantity that the California Company's ditch will be able to supply, they will hereafter be worked on an extensive scale, and, no doubt, with large profit; and as similar deposits are known to exist in other portions of the State, and so many new water projects are now under way, there is little question but they will add materially to the future product of our California placers.

In the course of the explorations recently carried on in our old riverbeds and other of our deep-lying placers, it has, in many places, been found that, beneath what was generally mistaken for the bed-rock, there is another, and sometimes more than one rich, gold-bearing layer of gravel, adding a novel and valuable feature to these deposits. So important have these lower strata proved that they will cause more careful examinations to be made of the apparent bottoms of these auriferous channels hereafter.

Large yields, strikes, nuggets, etc.-In the month of August, 1871, a piece of nearly pure gold, weighing 64 pounds, was reported by the local press to have been taken from a claim on St. Charles Hill, near the head of Fiddle Creek, Sierra County. This report lacks confirmation, and the story is generally considered exaggerated if not apocryphal.

In September a nugget worth $6,000 was taken from the claim of Bunker & Co., in the State of Oregon.

A man named Fields in October last took from his claim on Kanaka Creek, Nevada County, a piece of quartz gold, weighing 96 ounces, and valued at $1,500. The same man took from his claim in one day 18

ounces.

A party of Chinamen mining in Placer County, in dealing with a trader near their camp the past summer, frequently paid for goods obtained of him with chunks of pure gold, evidently cut off from a larger piece, concerning the size of which or the locality where it was obtained nothing could be learned; though from the reticence of the parties having it in possession it was generally supposed they had pilfered it from some white man's claim.

Occasionally some exceedingly rich strikes have been made during the past year both in vein and placer mining, the clean-ups in the mills and hydraulic washings having in some instances never been surpassed. At several points chispas of large value have been picked up in supposed worked out claims and heaps of tailings.

Have we diamonds in California ?-The question of the existence of precious stones in California in paying quantities is one which is still in doubt. In various parts of the State agates, carnelian, and the stones of lesser value abound. Near Mokelumne Hill, in Calaveras County, in a strata of an ancient channel, opals are found in large quantities, but of inferior quality. In El Dorado County diamonds have

been found at intervals, but no systematic search has been made for them. Mr. W. A. Goodyear, one of the assistants of the State Geological Survey, thus writes to the Placerville Democrat concerning the existence of diamonds in the gravel beds of El Dorado County:

One other point which may be noted as being of some little interest to the miners, as a matter of curiosity if nothing more, although it is no new thing, is the occasional finding of diamonds in the auriferous gravel. From all that I have been able to learn, it appears that not less than ten or twelve diamonds have probably been found within four or five miles of this town. And I have no doubt that many more have been picked up and looked at and thrown away, the finders not knowing what they were. During my stay in El Dorado County I have seen and recognized two of these diamonds, both of which were in the hands of people who did not know what they were, but who had simply saved them as little curiosities on account of their appearance and peculiar shape. For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the stone, it may be stated here that this peculiar shape of the diamond is one of the easiest and most characteristic features by which it may be recognized. The commonest shape of the diamond in this country is that of a solid or crystal having twenty-four triangular faces. And another remarkable and easily distinguished peculiarity is that these faces, instead of being perfectly flat, as is generally the case with the faces of quartz and other crystals, are very often curved, the center of each face being a little higher than the surface toward the edges. The diamond, moreover, is extremely hard, and scratches quartz with the greatest ease. If, therefore, any one finds a little white or yellowish white crystal with twenty-four of these curved triangular faces, and if on trying it carefully with a crystal of pure quartz, he finds that it easily scratches the quartz without showing the least abrasion itself, he may be tolerably sure that he has a diamond. I would not recommend any one to institute a special hunt for diamonds, since at best they are not remarkably plenty. But it does no harm and takes no time to keep one eye upon the contents of the pan while engaged in cleaning up sluices, batteries, &c., in working the gravel, and though it may not pay to hunt for diamonds, yet it always pays to pick them up when you do happen to see them.

The State Geological Survey.-The legislature of 1860 passed an act appointing Prof. J. D. Whitney State geologist, and authorizing him to make an accurate and complete geological survey of the State. Prof. Whitney was engaged at the time his commission reached him in making a survey of the lead and copper region of the northwestern States under authority of the legislature of Wisconsin. Having accomplished this duty he departed for the new scenes of his labor and arrived in California during the latter part of the year 1860, since which time he has been engaged, with the aid of accomplished and energetic assistants, in making a thorough geological examination of the State, interrupted, however, from time to time, by reason of the failure of the legislature to continue the necessary appropriations for the work.

The result of his labors up to the present time has been the publication of a volume on general geology embodying the results of a preliminary reconnaissance of the State, published in 1865; two volumes on paleontology; and several maps illustrating the geology and topography of the central portions of the State, showing the area and extent of the auriferous deposit, the course of the pliocene rivers, and the course and flow of the lava streams which in the higher Sierra have filled the ancient rivers. Two more volumes on economical geology and mining are now prepared and ready for press, and their early issue will depend on the action of the legislature of 1871-72, which will be called upon to make the necessary appropriations for their publication.

The following extracts are from the biennial report of Prof. Whitney to the legislature of 1871-72:

Immediately after being placed in possession of means for continuing the survey, I began to make preparations for a more detailed survey and examination of the most important mining region of the State, namely, the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, between Mariposa and Plumas Counties. There seems to be abundant reason why this part of the State should be worked up with great care, both from a geological and a topographical point of view; and, as it is impossible to have a detailed knowledge