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 de velopment 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

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, bnt 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.

These

"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. 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 pur poses.

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 transportation, 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