of crushing twenty tuns of ore daily, which yields on an average, two hundred dollars per tun. The richness of the quartz is very uniform, and the gold appears to exist throughout the entire claim, which is twelve hundred feet in length. The yield of this mine since October, 1856, is estimated at one and a half millions of dollars. About eight thousand tuns of quartz have been crushed, that have averaged two hundred dollars per tun. What the value of this mine is no one can estimate; from present appearances, millions of gold will be taken from it. The operations so far, have scarcely broken its crust, and years of labor will be required to exhaust the quartz, which appears to be almost inexhaustible. PLACER COUNTY.-The number of mills in operation, 17; aggregate of stamps, 144, with 34 arastras; cost of machinery, $170,000. Several new and extensive mills have been erected during the past season, nearly every one of which paid the proprietors well. PLUMAS COUNTY.-The County Assessor, in his returns for 1858, says: "There are 8 quartz mills in this county, 4 of which are in active operation, propelling 18 stamps and 10 sets of Chile rollers, all driven by water power, and are capable of crushing 10,000 tuns of quartz annually; average yield, $20 per tun. The cost of machinery is $100,000. There is in process of erection one which is designed to have 16 stamps. This branch of industry is gradually increasing in importance, and will eventually be one of the best paying interests in the county. When we consider the great disadvantages under which our pioneer quartz miners have labored, without capital or adequate machinery, it is due them to state that they have contributed largely to the mineral wealth of our county.". TUOLUMNE COUNTY.-The number of mills in operation is 30, with an aggregate of 260 stamps, erected at a cost of $280,000. There are also 20 arastras, of from 6 to 18 feet in diameter, erected at a cost of $400 each. The late discoveries made in Tuolumne County, in the mountains east and north of Sonora, show that the mineral wealth of this region is as yet but partially developed. Since the discovery of the Platt or Soulsby Vein by Mr. Platt of this county, the mountains have been covered by parties prospecting for gold veins or quartz bearing gold; and up to this date there has not been a vein of auriferous quartz found in the granite, but what bears gold. The belt above referred to is about 25 miles in width from north-west to southeast. A wide field for the industrious miner is still open, which presents facilities that few counties in the State possess. There is water in abundance for the use of the mills, and those in this portion of the county use it (from ditches or canals) as a motive power, and then run it back into the canal again. By this means miners are able to control 25 or 30 horse-power, for the sum of $1 to $2 per day, thus offering great advantages to those engaged in this branch of mining. Street & Soulsby's Claim.-This remarkable claim, the richness of which is said to equal that of the Allison Ranch, is situated in the vicinity of Sonora. It extends a distance of 2,400 feet, and is estimated to contain 20,000 tuns of quartz, that will yield on an average $200 per tun, equal to $4,000,000. The mill now in operation on the vein has 20 stamps, and is crushing 150 tuns per week. There are several other valuable leads in the vicinity, that are yielding extraordinary amounts of gold, upon which new and extensive mills have been erected. YUBA COUNTY.-Number of mills in operation, 9; aggregate number of stamps, 80; number of arastras, 20; cost of erection, $80,000. There are several valuable leads in this county, that have yielded large returns during the past season. Recent discoveries have developed an extensive quartz region in the vicinity of Sand Hill, which is reported to be one of the richest in the State. THE GOLD PRODUCT OF CALIFORNIA AND AUSTRALIA. The amount of treasure manifested at the port of San Francisco from April 1849, to December 31, 1857, amounts to $370,986,599. The shipments previous to that date, were estimated at $3,200,000, making an aggregate of $374,186,599. This amount does not include the sums taken by private hands, the aggregate of which cannot be ascertained. The following table has been compiled from reliable sources for the purpose of ascertaining the probable yield of the mines of this State and Australia, up to the close of 1857: Table exhibiting the Shipments of Treasure, the Receipts of Gold at the U. S. Mint and Branches, and the estimated Yield of the Mines of California and Australia to December 31st, 1857. The yield of the gold mines of this State up to December 31, 1857, is estimated by an experienced writer in Hunt's Magazine, (June 1858,) at $468,358,500. The same valuable authority, during the years 1854 and 1855, placed the amount up to the close of the year 1854, at $411,162,061, which is $145,353,561, more than the sum included in the estimate of the present year for the same period of time. The data upon which these figures are made, does not appear, and it is therefore difficult to determine which should be regarded as the more correct amount. From an examination, however, of the following, it will be seen that the estimates of 1854-5 are a nearer approximation to the actual yield, than those of the present year: *Amount of California gold received at Mint and branches, up to June, 30th 1857, $383,873,099 60. -[Director of the Mint, 1857. Amount received at the U. S. Mint and Branches to December 31, 1857, not including the yield of December, 1857, in transitu.. Yield of December, 1857. Amount received at Bank of England* (estimated).. Amount (estimated) shipped to foreign countries, other than to Total yield to December 31, 1857.... Estimated product for 1858, (amount shipped to November 5, $41,284,028).. Total yield to December 31, 1858.. $410,623,297 5,000,000 65,000,000 20,000,000 10,000,000 $510,623,297 70,000,000 $580,623,297 A careful examination of these figures indicates an aggregate yield of gold from the mines of this State, up to the close of the year 1858, of nearly $600,000,000. The yield of the gold mines of Australia up to December, 1857, is estimated by Hunt's Magazine, (June 1858,) at $330,677,420. "This metal has been found in several of the mines that have been opened in this State, all of them, thus far, situated in the southern district. It was first met with in a distinct vein, running parallel with a vein of gold, in the South Carolina Mine, at Carson Hill. At this place I obtained a fine specimen. I was informed of its being found in the Old Dominion Mine, beside the above, and north of it, and also in the Relief Mine, south of it. The New York Mining Company, on the opposite side of the river at Eagle Hill, was the next in which it made its appearance. At the Chilean Mine, two miles north of Columbia, it occurs, associated with copper and gold in quartz in the form of sulphuret; also Frazer's Mine, twelve miles east of Sonora, with galena and zinc-blende in the same rock. At these localities it is generally disseminated through the quartz."-Dr. Trask, 1853. "In the county of Monterey this metal occurs in the form of argentiferous galena (or lead and silver); this mineral is found in the primitive and transition limestone abounding in this section."-Dr. Trask, 1854. Numerous veins of silver ore have been developed, during the past few years, in different portions of this State, and several are at the present time being worked with considerable profit to their owners. The Quartzburg, (Mariposa,) Vein is said to be very rich, and, from present appearances, it will yield a large income. The vein at San Diego, near the coast, has prospected so favorably that a company has been formed to work it on an extensive scale. Indications of the existence of silver ore, in considerable quantities, have been found in the counties of El Dorado, Mariposa, Santa Barbara and Santa Clara. The mines of Santa Barbara were worked many years ago, but of late have received but little attention. * Amount shipped to England by a single house in San Francisco, up to Nov. 1858, $40,000,000. "This metal is much more widely distributed than the silver, through the western flank of the range. Commencing on the extreme north, it is found on the North Fork of the Trinity, a short distance from its confluence with the main stream, in a metallic state, in crystals and masses. The vein cuts both sides of the river, but its entire extent is not known. Vitreous copper is found, and also malachite. It occurs on both the Middle and South Forks of Feather River, in the form of carbonate; also between Nevada and Grass Valley, near the Halfway House, and in many parts of the southern mines. The ores of copper are found in the form of carbonate, sulphuret and silicate, among the Santa Cruz Mountains; in the vicinity of Rincon Point, south of San Francisco, it is found sparingly disseminated among the trap and metamorphosed rocks of that section. In the mountains, south of Monterey, it is also found over a limited area, and again in the lower hills on the east side of the Salinas Valley, near the Rancho Alisal. At this locality it occurs in an extensive quartz dike that has forced its way through all the other rocks, both igneous and sedimentary; the forms in which it appears are the blue and green carbonate, in crystals, the sulphuret, the latter found in small masses detached from the gangue. In the same rocks are to be found considerable quantities of iron pyrites, generally disseminated and containing a small quantity of gold. The above ores of copper are often met with in these mountains, their occurrence over so wide a range, and the trapean rocks with which they are so often associated, lead to the belief that at a future day they may be found in sufficient quantity to be profitably worked." Dr. Trask, 1854. A vein of copper, strongly impregnated with silver, has been recently discovered at Hope Valley, El Dorado County; and in Green Valley, Placer County, the ore in great abundance may be found scattered on the sides of the hills. The ore from the vicinity of the Pitt and McCloud Rivers, Shasta County, is said to excel in richness the celebrated Arizona mines, and to contain in addition a considerable quantity of gold. Ore of exceeding richness has been also found in different localities in El Dorado County, and a vein on the Cosumnes has yielded over seventy per cent. of pure metal. There is a vein of copper on the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes River, Mountain Township, El Dorado County, now being worked by machinery propelled by water; the mill has three stamps attached, and has so far yielded a handsome return to the proprietors. "This metal is found in almost every variety of form, from one end of the Coast Mountains to the other-the prevailing mineral, however, is the peroxide and protoxide of this metal; the latter is often found in the form of hydrate, and when occurring in proximity to serpentine rocks, often found to be more or less auriferous. This mineral is largely developed in some parts of the auriferous district of Mariposa County, and from one of the most valuable receptacles of gold among the gold-bearing rocks of that section."—Dr. Trask, 1854. Large quantities of iron ore have been found in Placer County, which, it is said, has yielded over eighty per cent. of pure metal. Considerable quantities of iron from this vein have been manufactured in San Francisco. 5. SULPHATE OF IRON. "This article, known in commerce under the name of 'Copperas,' is found native in large quantities near the town of Santa Cruz. Its principle had occurred a short distance west of the house of Mr. Medor, in a gulch running from the mountains through the low hills to the coast. I followed the course of the ravine from where it enters the high hill near the crossing of the road north-west of the town to near the sea; the average depth of its bank varies from fifteen to thirty feet; its length, from the hill to the coast, being about two miles. The copperas formed an efflorescence on the sides and bottom of the ravine, covering entirely the earth and stones, on which a great quantity had crystalized; it was not difficult to scoop up a pound or more, at any one of these places; the banks of the ravine above the water were covered with the effloresced salt to such thickness that a white and green color was given for several yards in length, the ground being entirely obscured. The depth of the earth that was thoroughly impregnated with the salt would average ten feet for the whole length of the ravine. The depth to which this descends below the surface is unknown, but it is probably considerable; the rocks at the bottom are a micaceous schist, and were broken into for two or three feet, and at that depth seemed as strongly charged with the ferruginous salt as at the surface. A small stream of water runs through the gulch which is permanent throughout the year, and carries a sufficient quantity to answer all the purposes of an extensive manufacture of this article for commerce. It would be difficult to find a locality that combines the same advantages that this does for the manufacture of sulphate of iron; all that is necessary to be done has been performed by nature, and to extract the salt it is only necessary to erect vats upon the coast and shovel the earth, to be leached, directly into them. An area of several square miles is highly charged with the mineral, and the day is not far distant when Santa Cruz will become as celebrated for the manufacture of this article as it has been heretofore for its vegetable productions."-Dr. Trask, 1854. "At the distance of two miles north-west of the above locality an extensive bed of magnetic iron occurs, running down to the coast, at which point it crops out and exhibits a depth of several feet. Towards the mountains I have been informed that it again shows itself above the surface in several places; there is every reason to believe that it underlies an extensive district, as much difficulty has been experienced in obtaining correct courses by the compass-in one instance the needle was deflected to thirty-one degrees on approaching its southern edge."-Dr. Trask, 1854. "This metal appears as widely distributed as gold; there is scarcely a section of country, in which gold has been found, but that this metal also has been discovered. This fact would lead us to suppose, that from the commercial value of the metal in its crude state, being about one-half that of gold, that it may at some future day be sought for, as an article of commercial export, among the exhausted placers of the country. It is to be regretted that a more intimate acquaintance with this metal, among those engaged in the mining districts, does not exist, as I feel fully confident that the value of our mines would be enhanced nearly twenty-five per cent. by its collection. A description of the metal would not lead to its detection, as it is so frequently combined with other minerals that closely resemble it, and would be |