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Preface 3 The Country and Its Resources 5 The Gold Region 24 Advice to the Miner 33 Towns of California, and What Relates to Them 49 The Harbor of San Francisco 55 Directions for Entering the Harbor of San Francisco 55 Regulations for the Harbor and Port of San Francisco 56 The Towns of California 57 Errata 61

CALIFORNIA

AS IT IS, AND AS IT MAY BE,

OR,

A GUIDE TO THE GOLD REGION.

BY F. P. WIERZBICKI, M. D. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

FIRST EDITION.

SAN FRANCISCO: PRINTED BY WASHINGTON BARTLETT, NO. 8, CLAY STREET. 1849.

COPY RIGHT SECURED.

PREFACE

The residence of several years in the country together with his familiarity with its whole extent, not excluding the Gold Region in which he passed more than four months rambling over its mountains, and even crossing the Sierra Nevada to the verge of the great Western Desert, give the writer of these pages a degree of confidence in the belief that by presenting this work to the public, notwithstanding the numerous books that have already appeared upon the subject, he supplies the desideratum so much needed at this moment, and renders justice to California that of late suffered a little in her reputation by the indiscretion of some of her friends.

SAN FRANCISCO, SEPT. 30, 1849.

CALIFORNIA.

THE COUNTRY AND ITS RESOURCES.

Before California can answer all those expectations, the realization of which the world with good reason looks for, an increase of population must be secured for her. To effect which it will not be very difficult, if to its natural advantages, the government of the Union will add its efforts to promote by every legislative and administrative measure the influx of new settlers. But in all its proceedings, liberality should be its motto, and none of that miserly policy that is afraid of losing an acre from its lands or a dollar from its treasury.

California holds in its bosom resources that no other country can boast of comprised in so small a territory--its mineral wealth, its agricultural capacity, its geographical position, conspire to make it in time one of the most favored lands. And it will lie in the power of the government either to accelerate or retard the unfolding of its future importance. When considered in point of mineral productions, if allowed to be developed by capitalists, California is capable of becoming an important centre of the commerce of the Pacific. Here we find in the neighborhood of the Clear Lake, about a hundred and twenty-five miles north of Sonoma, Lead, Copper, Sulpher and Saltpetre; on the South side of San Francisco Bay, Silver-mines have been found in the vicinity of Pueblo de San Jose; Quicksilver mines which are pronounced to be richer than those of Spain, are already being worked to a great profit in the same region; Coal strata have been also found in the coast range of mountains near Santa Cruz, in the neighborhood of the Mission of San Luis Obispo, and near San Diego. California Coal seems to be in the intermediate state between the anthracite and the bituminous; it is not as hard as the former nor so soft as the latter; it burns more easily than the first, and does not give out so smoky and unpleasant a flame as the second; it ignites easily and burns with a very pleasant flame without much smoke. Iron is scattered through the mountains of the country, and we have no doubt that a workable mine of it will before long be discovered. We mention not the gold washings that are being worked so successfully at present, for as respects their duration and the developement of the industry of the country, they scarcely deserve the attention of the economist be they ever so rich; as all other mines are more beneficent in their influence to the progress of a country than gold mines. These will become the means of advancing the prosperity of the country only when a regular system of mining by sinking shafts into the rocks shall commence, which it is to be hoped will be done ere long.

There is yet another branch of industry at which we have not heretofore so much as hinted, but which would prove for California one of the richest mines of which she could boast; we mean the raising of sheep. The climate of the country and much of its surface are admirably adapted for the purpose; in fact, as it proved a source of wealth to New South Wales, it would be equally so to California; a great similarity of climate of the two countries guarantees the result. In this way every portion of the country would be turned to advantage; the mountains now lying barren would be a grazing ground for the sheep; and the valleys now trodden exclusively by cattle and horses would be given up to the plough, and there would be no more livestock raised than the actual wants of the country require. Merino rams could be easily procured from Oregon, Peru, or even New South Wales, to improve the native breed of the sheep. He who enters upon this business the first will lay the foundation for a colossal fortune which he can realize in a few years.

We may observe here in regard to the climate of California in general, that for the sake of health, summer dress should be entirely dispensed with; the nights throughout the coast are cold, and every new comer is more liable to suffer through neglect of this precaution than even the natives. Woolen dress is never oppressive here, but always beneficial. Strangers, if they suffer, owe their illness to the oversight of this fact, together with the excesses that some of them commit.

The agriculture of a country should be made the basis of every branch of industry and trade; these latter should, so to say, feed the springs of the former. In California every facility is offered to the farmer. The working of the various mines will guarantee him a profitable sale of all his productions. The exterior commerce naturally following the working of mines, will equally contribute its share in favor of the agriculturalist. The American whalers scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean to the number of nearly 700, will come to California for fresh provisions if they have the security that they will run no risk of losing their crews on their arrival there. It will be the duty of the Federal Government, as well as of the local authorities, to devise measures that will give this security to all shipping. The government squadron that will be constantly stationed in the Pacific, will also draw its provisions from California as soon as she shall be able to furnish them, since it will be less expensive to the Government, and more beneficial for the service; for much of the stores that are now shipped round Cape Horn at considerable expense, become unfit for use by the time they are wanted by the Navy.

In connexion with the farming interest we cannot overlook the excellent state of natural roads throughout the country. A good road enables the farmer to dispose of his produce and greatly diminishes his rural labors. There are but a few, if any, countries that can boast of so good natural roads as California. From San Francisco down to San Diego, a carriage may pass along the valleys almost upon a beaten track, although everything in relation to roads is at present completely neglected. In Spanish times they were in a better state, for the Priests then used to make their journeys to San Diego in carriages all along the coast. A very little labor would make them even now all that roads need be.

Once before we have indicated the route for such a railroad, and we will take this opportunity to enforce it upon the public still more, as farther reflection and information upon the subject enables us to do even with more reason than before.

The military roads thus disposed would give a security to the settlements from horse thieving Indians, who now frequently make incursions upon them, carrying away herds of horses and mules, and sometimes even pick up an unaware traveller on his journey. The present disposition of the troops is of no real service to the country. They are stationed in comfortable and quiet quarters in towns where they are the least wanted, and the thieving Indians are allowed to make nightly excursions into the settlements, and to infest the roads. Under the Spanish government there were different military posts established in the country, and the troops in detachments were made constantly to traverse the country in different directions from post to post, thus keeping always on the road, they kept in check the predatory Indians, who, by the way, are neither very brave nor formidable in numbers. According to our notions, soldiers are not kept for the purpose of meddling with politics and living always in towns; they should perform the service that the country may need at their hands, although that service may lead them into camp life.

It is of no small importance to those who wish to settle in California to know the state of landed property in the country; it will be but following their wishes if we offer a few pertinent remarks upon the subject, which we will do after a few preliminaries. A line drawn from the coast eastward that would pass at the southern edge of the Clear-lake valley; then another that would go north and south, intersecting the former, touching the western side of the auriferous region, and following it down to the frontier line south of San Diego, may be considered as enclosing the inhabited portions of the country. There is very little public land within the above described lines, as it is almost entirely occupied by proprietors or covered by titles.

Judging from the specimens of the laws proposed in Congress for the benefit of California, and which, thanks to the knowledge, wisdom and eloquence of Hon. T. H. Benton, Senator from Missouri, failed to go into effect, we fear that that honorable body is in danger of running on shoals in its legislative measures relating to this country, and particularly in laws affecting landed property. The gentlemen in Congress apply their American ideas of the value of landed property to a country that has been, so to say, born and raised under Spanish system of laws, and is totally different from any of the States in its domestic and civil arrangements. It would be impossible by any legislative act to change suddenly the character of former civil institutions of the country without committing outrageous injustice to its inhabitants, and even running the risk of raising their opposition. California, as well as New Mexico, comes into the Union as a full-grown man, whose habits are already formed, connects himself by ties of matrimony with another family; his new relations, if they be wise, do not wish him to be like themselves in every particular, but gradually by gentle influences, try to assimilate him to themselves, in which, in the long run, they will succeed. This is precisely the position of the government of the Union in regard to these newly acquired territories. To assimilate them by degrees without doing violence or injustice to their habits and possessions, should be the rule of a wise legislation. They are not to be punished for what, in the eyes of American legislators, appears to be defective in the Spanish or Mexican laws; if so, it would be doing violence to justice, to the laws of nations, and to the very late treaty by which the American government bound itself to respect their rights of property precisely as the Mexican government would have done or did do. The plain meaning of this is that the government of the United States is bound to recognize and legalize after its fashion to suit its system of laws, the present possessions of the Californians as it finds them, and has no right to go behind the fact of actual possession and scrutinize and invalidate them. The Mexican government has left them so, as we find them, and if it had continued its sway in these countries, there is no possible doubt but it would not have disturbed them. These people who were brought up to tend their cattle on a large surface of land, as their grazing farms are, without any knowledge of any other mode of getting a living, if cut down to the American idea of a farm, of a hundred and eighty acres, or supposing even a section of 640 acres, would be reduced to beggary, nay, worse, to servitude. Would such a step be creditable to an enlightened, Christian nation like the United States? Tending cattle is their only occupation and only knowledge; it will take some time before they be trained to a different mode of life. The Spanish and Mexican law does not know a fee-simple title,--in the meaning of the U. S. laws it is a grant of perpetual lease, on some conditions. To suit its own practice, the American government should recognize the titles as it finds them in the country by giving the proprietors a fee-simple title, after its own fashion, on the top of the former one by which the land was held.

The Spanish and Mexican governments were liberal in giving facilities to acquire land, particularly in California. It was a common practice of the Mexican government that when a foreigner married a native he was recognized as a citizen, and by applying, could obtain a grant of land for a grazing farm of from a league to four leagues, or sometimes even more. As a general rule, the largest grazing farm that could have been granted under Mexican government, consisted of eleven leagues; there are, however, individuals that possess as many as thirty and forty leagues of land. Such large possessions are open to suspicion in regard to their being legal possessions, and into such the American government may inquire with more justice, as they are larger than even the necessities of California farmer's life could require. But small proprietors cannot have more than is absolutely necessary to their maintenance.

In our view of the subject, we think the interest of the whole country would induce the government to use all means at its disposal to favor a prompt settlement of California, since the sooner it will be densely settled the sooner its vast resources will be developed, and the sooner the whole Union will reap advantages resulting from such a developement.

THE GOLD REGION.

It is now nearly two years since the discovery of the gold mines in the country, and yet it is for the first time, we can say, that we are able to give a correct account of them, an account that can be relied upon. Heretofore we have heard nothing but Arabian Nights stories about the gold region, drawn, if possible, with more vivid colors than even the Asiatic fancy could conjure up. The whole civilized world became electrified with these surprising stories and set in motion, and every day brings strangers to our shore from the most distant regions of the earth. So far so good; but it may not be so, much longer, when crowds from Europe will begin to pour upon these shores. We feel it our duty, in view of bad consequences that all exaggerations do produce, to contribute our share towards rectifying the impressions that went abroad upon the subject of the mines of this country. Even our government at home had not received an official account from its subordinates here, that represent the truth in its simple garb. In a word, there has been no thorough investigations of the subject; but people on all sides, simple citizens as well as government officers, were content to seize upon a few remarkable cases, that were made more so by passing through many lips, and represent them abroad as of common occurrence. Hence much disappointment followed to hundreds who came here to shovel in, as they thought, the precious dust and be off for their respective homes in the twinkling of an eye.

It is not to be understood that we are going to decry the prunes; no, far from it; we mean to divest them of the mantle which heated fancy cast about them; and represent the simple truth without any poetic ornaments.

On the outset we wish it to be understood that we speak advisedly; we have surveyed, so to speak, the length and breadth of the mines by personal inspection and observation, at a great expense of our time, money and labor, and besides we claim the right to presume somewhat upon the authority of science.

As these hills rise, vegetation becomes scantier. The range of mountains in which gold is found is distinguished by a uniformity of its vegetable kingdom, which is neither meagre nor very abundant. The oak predominates here, only now and then relieved by several varieties of the pine family. As the gold disappears, the reign of the pine and the granite extends. The depositories of gold look universally more smiling to the beholder than their barren neighbors; the former always have the figure described by the line of beauty, viz: the curved line, be they ever so precipitous as they frequently are; a distinction never to be lost sight of. The extent of these auriferous hills is greater than the public know or imagine, but not in the direction it is supposed. They extend beyond the Sacramento and even San Joaquin, northwest of the former and southwest of the latter, bending round the sea coast. Nay, the same formation, with more or less difference, runs along the whole Pacific shores, till it is lost in the southern portion of the Chilean republic, but gold has not been, nor probably will be found anywhere in equal abundance, as in Upper California. This abundance is much, however, exaggerated by the heated imagination of the public. It is not in the nature of placer gold to be durable long. A very few years when there will be many arms at work, will exhaust it; its origin will be the guarantee of this fact. The breadth of this auriferous region limits itself within the lines running north and south from forty to sixty miles from the ridge of the Sierra Nevada; and on the west, as the hills begin to soften into the plains.

At some remote period in the history of the globe, the same internal convulsions that heaved up the Sierra Nevada, have also upheaved the auriferous hills, which at first presented a naked surface to the atmospheric changes, by the influences of which, the quartz constantly breaking up, left free the precious metal on its surface. In the progress of time, the same atmospheric influences caused to accumulate on these hills soil which grew deeper with every decay of vegetation till it grew strong enough to support the majestic oak. The freed particles of gold thus became covered by the soil and mixed up with it, and the process of the separation of the metal from the stone was arrested. How gold was injected into the veins of quartz is more than we can say, but the fact that it was so in a liquid state, is beyond question, as we see it adapt itself to the sides of the stone in all imaginable forms, from the finest filament to the largest lump ever found, with a most varied indented surface, filling up, completely, the crack of the stone, always tending to a rounded tear-like appearance, as is the case with all melting substances. When freed, external friction of course modifies its appearance more or less; hence we find it in rivers particularly, in fine flakes, but when it is in larger bulk, it puts on plate-like appearance as if it were hammered out by the hands of an artisan--as really it is by the frequently enormous weight of stones under which it is deposited. Water, that universal carrier, washing the sides of the hills, brought the gold from their surface into the ravines and rivers, to which its own weight facilitated the process.

According to the strength of the current of water, the weight of the particles of gold, and the obstacles in the way, it is deposited in one or another spot, the lighter particles of course floating away the farthest from their original bed. As this process of gold deposition has taken place in some remote period of the earth's existence, hence we find all these deposites, generally speaking, covered with greater or smaller depth of soil, sand, gravel and stones. Strictly speaking, gold does not belong to the rivers--it was washed into them from the hills; hence it is useless to look for gold at the head of these streams, when the neighboring hills are not of the auriferous nature; and we find this fact corroborated by our personal examination of the heads of the streams of the gold region. The same rule holds good, for the same reasons, in regard to the lower portion of a gold carrying stream, except that it is limited by the fact that light particles of gold may be deposited a considerable distance below their original source.

The mode of deposit being made clear, it will be equally clear that it is not on every spot in this very auriferous region that we must look for gold, which fact experience proves to be true; or at least it is not on every spot that we can find enough of it to make it an object to bestow our labor on it. Hence it equally follows, the limitation of the quantity of gold to be expected from the mines as a general aggregate, however rich they may prove. The first comers had the best chances to hit upon rich deposits; but as diggers multiply, the chances of falling upon virgin deposits grow smaller, and they will have to be content with what the others, through imperfection of their labor have left; consequently the work becomes more heavy and less profitable, although it may be yet sufficiently compensatory if the expenses of living be not excessive. This is precisely already the case, the labor is much harder this year than it was last. At present there are not so many of those happy hits as formerly, although we yet hear now and then of a lucky haul, which however, when it reaches the ears of the public, becomes extremely distorted, and particularly so when companies that have dammed some spots of some of the rivers wish to dispose advantageously of their shares; these easily find ready letter-writers who communicate the lucky event to the public through the press. The accounts of successful digging in gold that went abroad never have been accompanied with statements of hardships attending the process; yet we are free to confess that there is no harder labor than that of gold digging and washing; this species of labor requires the strongest sinews enured to fatigue. Peculiar localities, together with general discomfort attending upon the life in the mines, may make gold digging particularly irksome. Yet all this can be borne, and one's labor may sometimes be crowned with a brilliant success. We have made the above statement with the view of laying the subject before those who may yet be novices in the matter, that they may understand their own case; we are far from discouraging the new aspirants after the favors of the dame fortune; we tell them, take your chance, it may be a very good one, but such and such circumstances are attending this courtship. Those from distant parts who on mere sound of the discovery of gold in California, rush head-long, sometimes leaving very good business and comfortable living, cannot but rue the day, if they put their sole dependence upon their success in the mines. If they would come here with an intention of following some patient calling, they could not but grow rich with time. We have already plenty of miners; a larger number of them only diminishes the profits of all. However, come they must, for they are bent on it, be the consequences what they may.

When this gold mania ceases to rage, individuals will abandon the mines; and then there will be a good opportunity for companies with heavy capital to step in; there will be enough of profitable work for them; and it is then that the country will enter on a career of real progress, and not till then. Such companies, with superior mechanical facilities to do much labor, in a short space, will be enabled to go over the whole mineral field, although already dug over by individuals, and reap yet a rich reward of their efforts. And when there will be no more gold washing to be done, then a new era in the mining of the country will commence--we mean a regular system of mining by sinking shafts into the very bowels of the rocks will be entered upon. Spots for this system of mining are to be found in the auriferous region.

We flatter ourselves we have said enough upon the subject in hand to clear up a little, the vision of the public that suffered itself to be blinded by the brilliancy of the California gold.

As we have above referred to Mr. T. H. BENTON'S speech, delivered in the Senate of the United States, January 15, 1849, on the subject of land titles and sale of gold mines in New Mexico and California, we give a place here to his substitute for the bill then before the Senate, supposing it may be interesting to those who have not seen it. It is fortunate for California to have such a defender of her rights as the gifted Senator from Missouri. This is the substitute that defeated the bill in question:

"To recommit the bill to the Committee on Public Lands, with instruction to inquire into the expediency of reporting a bill for ascertaining the public and unappropriated lands in the territory of California, and for surveying and selling the same, and for granting donations to actual settlers, and permits to work the gold mines; and for that purpose to provide--

"FIRST. For the appointment of a recorder of land titles, who shall have the custody of all the public archives in relation to the disposition of the public lands, and shall record all the grants and all claims that shall be discovered, made known to him, and shall make two abstracts of the same, one to be sent to the General Land Office in Washington city, the other to be delivered to the Surveyor General of California, that he may lay down the grants and claims on a map to be retained in his office, and of which map a copy to be transmitted to the General Land Office, and another to be filed with the recorder of land titles in California.

"THIRD. To provide for the appointment of a surveyor general, and for the establishment of three land offices.

"FOURTH. To provide for donations of land to actual settlers, heads of families, widows, and single men over eighteen years of age, and an allowance of land for children under eighteen years of age, and for the wife in her own right, according to the provisions of the bill proposing donations to the settles in Oregon, which passed the Senate January 3, 1843.

It is not necessary for us to offer here any comments upon this substitute for the bill above alluded to, as we have already in anticipation expressed our opinion in relation to the measures to be adopted by the Government of the Union respecting land titles and gold mines in California.

ADVICE TO THE MINER.

The new comer, on preparing himself to start for the mines, first should know what he wants for his expedition. Many start lumbered with baggage, imagining that they cannot and must not forego the indispensable comforts of life. All baggage is a burden and heavy expense to the miner; the cost and sometimes the difficulty of transportation forbid any such commodities; and besides, it will always impede his free movement, if he should want to go from place to place. He should have absolutely nothing more than what he can carry on a beast, if he be able to have one; or if not, what he can shoulder himself. The less one brings to the mines, the better prospects of success he may have, and the more he is loaded with goods, the more probably he will lose. This is the secret why all hard working men who are inured to hard labor and strangers to enervating comforts, such as sailors and mechanics, generally do very well. The miner needs good, stout and warm clothing, just enough in quantity for a change for the sake of cleanliness--a pair of stout boots or shoes, or both, two good blankets to sleep comfortable, warm and dry; his mining tools consisting of a pick-axe, spade, spade, crowbar, a tin pan to wash gold in, a good sheath knife, iron spoon and a trowel. The pick-axe and crowbar should be of a convenient size for handling, and well steeled on the ends. A washing machine is used when there are two or more working in partnership. All the machines that have been brought here from the States are absolutely useless; they have proved profitable only to the venders there. The simple machine which here is in common use consists of three light boards three feet long and about ten inches high, put together in the shape of a cradle with two rockers underneath; the bottom board is made a little narrower; the sides on the upper edge from the middle backwards, are bevelled off two or three inches, and the same is done forwards so that the board, when looked upon from the side, presents an irregular hexagon; at the head part of the machine, on the upper edges of the boards, rests a box of boards, called a sieve or riddle, from three to five inches high, with a tin or sheet-iron perforated bottom; it is fixed, sometimes, in a manner to be taken out when necessary, sometimes on hinges to be thrown backwards when it is necessary to throw away the washed stones. The head part of the machine is well boarded; at the opposite extremity a board is likewise placed, the upper half of which is cut out in the shape of a cresent, leaving about three or four inches at the bottom of it; this opening serves for a passage of dirt, stones and water that are thrown in at the head into the sieve. It has also one or two bars or cleets across the bottom board at the distance of a foot each, and about three inches high. The perforations of the sieve or riddle are sometimes triangular, whose base and sides are about an inch, sometimes they are circular, of the diameter of about three-quarters of an inch. Under the riddle, in the interior of the machine, a board inclined diagonally and backwards is fixed, leaving however a sufficient space at the lower edge of it for the passage of the stones, dirt and water; it is called by the miners an apron or screen; the object of it is to throw back the water that it may cover the whole bottom equally and run an even current. In the bottom board, about the centre of it, there is a hole an inch in diameter, made back and close to the first and second cleet, if there be but two of them, which is well stopped and opened only when it becomes necessary to take out the residue, dirt and gold, to separate the latter from the former by washing it in a tin pan, which should be of the size of milk pans used in the States. The tin pans are to be got at San Francisco at from three to four dollars, or in the mines at the trading posts for the double amount. The machines can be got at these posts by paying from two to four ounces; but it is so easily made that any one himself can make it and save the money. If put together by means of screws rather than nails, it could be taken apart and conveniently carried about when necessary. The machine requires also a piece of strong wood of from two to three feet long, to be firmly fixed to both sides across the box to be used as a handle for rocking. To work these machines, in some places, as on the banks of rivers, two persons only are required; while in dry diggings where water and gold dirt are not so conveniently situated, it requires three or four persons to do the same work; one to work the machine, another to dip and throw water on it, a third to carry dirt, and the fourth to dig it; or two to dig and carry, and two to wash dirt. However, according to circumstances these partnerships are formed, it can only be said that there is no occasion for more than four persons in a company, and frequently three or two do better than four. For protection and occasional service that one may require from another, it is always better to be in partnership with a suitable person or persons: in messing, for instance, it is better to have several in a mess for the sake of occupying the same tent, and having less cooking to do, as in such cases this is done by turns. The small machines have thus far been the best machines in use, and under the circumstances of pressing necessities of miners, in which they had their origin, nothing better or more convenient could have been got up; but they cannot be said to be the result of a scientific investigation and extensive experience. Recently, a very great improvement has been introduced into the method of washing placer gold. This improvement is the "Burke Rocker," as improved by Jackson, and which is now generally used in Virginia for washing gold in similar deposites to those of California; it is there no longer an experiment as it has been used in those mines for thirty years past, after an examination of all the processes for washing gold both in Europe and America. This rocker has been found to be perfectly applicable to the soil here, as two of them have been in a successful operation on Mormon Island for some time past under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Jackson himself. It is destined to effect great changes in the process of washing gold in this country, and particularly when the miner that now works independently and alone will find his labor very hard and not paying him sufficiently, since this machine being worked with mercury, saves the most minute particles of gold that escape the eye, and thus gives in aggregate a greater result than can be sometimes obtained by washing large pieces alone. It requires five persons only to work one of these rockers; their great excellence can be summed up in a very few words: by the use of one about four times the quantity of earth may be washed by each man daily, and probably from two-fifths to three-fifths more gold is obtained from any given quantity washed. They will be doubtless ere long used with great success in going over the field already washed by the present imperfect method; as the bars and banks of rivers and the earth in "dry diggings," for certain it is that the amount of fine gold dust inevitably lost by the smaller machines is greater than all that is saved ordinarily.

This machine is a simple trough about nine feet long with a bottom made of cast iron plates perforated throughout, the size of the holes increasing gradually as they descend towards the lower end; beneath these plates there are draws in which mercury is put; the dirt, as the machine keeps rocking slowly, is carried along the plates by the water thrown from above by a pump and washed down, gold together with finer particles of dirt descend into the draws to be amalgamated with mercury. The produce of such a washing is then put into a retort to separate the gold from the mercury. In the process of separation of the former from the latter, about two per cent. only of mercury is lost. These two kinds of machines are the only ones which we can recommend from our own observation; they are well adapted for these mines at least, and they can be easily procured here. Numerous inventions for this purpose were brought from the States, and none of them answered the sanguine expectations of their owners; they are not worth here even the cost of the materials they are made of.

The provisions used by the miners consist of mess pork, bacon, hams, jerked beef, flour, sugar, tea, coffee, chocolate, beans, rice and dried apples, fresh beef and mutton whenever they can get it, which is sometimes the case, and deer meat when they can kill it. As much as one can, for the sake of his health, he should abstain from using much salted provisions in the mines, and to counteract their bad effect on the system, it is advisable to use vegetable acids, like lemon juice, which in the mines is sold bottled up; citric acid, which is more easy to carry, or even tartaric acid, dried apples, and other dried fruit serve the same purpose. In using these acids it is better to use them with water alone without sugar; just making it acid enough to suit the individual taste. Dried apples made into apple sauce with sugar are agreeable to take, and are calculated to keep the bowels open, an important consideration for the miner. If one should be attacked with diarrhoea or dysentery of course he should abstain from them. One of the articles equally important as others we have not yet mentioned; we mean saleratus. In making camp bread it is necessary to use it to make the bread lighter. The prices at which provisions can be bought at present in San Francisco are the following:

Mess Pork, per bbl. .00 Bacon, per lb. 28 Hams, do. 35 Sausages, do. 40 Flour, per bbl. 12.00 Sugar, per lb. 15 Tea, do. 1.00 Coffee, do. 12 1-2 Chocolate, do. 40 Beans, per bu. 1.50 Rice, per lb. 10 Dried Apples, do. 25 Jerked Beef, do. 25 Lemon Juice, per bottle, 1,00 Salaeratus, per lb. 1,00 Vinegar, per gal. 1,00

As the miner proceeds on his route and farther from San Francisco, he will find, as a general rule, that traders expect to make each a hundred per cent. profit upon the original price they paid. In this way it happens that in the remotest points of the mines he will have to pay three or even four hundred per cent. upon San Francisco prices. One of the chief reasons for this is the high charges for transportation of goods. However, competition has already effected some changes in these matters, and ere long may effect more. Notwithstanding these high prices, it may be sometimes more convenient for the miner to buy his provisions at the nearest point where he intends to work, or is working, than to carry them along with him all the way; here we cannot give him any advice as to what would be the best course; he must determine himself according to the circumstances he may be in, and the means he may command.

The last, although not of the least important articles for a miner, are arms. One need not be armed cap-a-pie in the mines, but a good rifle may be frequently useful to keep the evil minded at a respectable distance; or when in the woods, or far away in the mountains, an Indian may be in his way, or the grisly bear, and then a fire-arm may be sometimes necessary. Colt's pistols are very convenient weapons. It is hardly necessary to say that he needs a few cooking utensils, with which he should be provided. A small hatchet may be equally necessary. In conclusion, we would say to the miner in one word, take no more with you than you absolutely need, that you may move lightly; as it may be sometimes necessary for you to go on foot. Thus equipped in all the necessaries, the miner will start on board of a lanch, where he has to pay from 14 to 16 dollars passage money, and if he have much baggage, from 2 to 3 dollars per hundred weight freight, bound to the city of Sacramento, or to Stockton, according to his fancy. He is to provide himself with provisions for the trip, which may last from three to seven or eight days. Taking the Mokelamy river as dividing the gold region into the northern and southern portion, the miner is to start accordingly--for the Sacramento city when he wishes to go northward, or for Stockton on the San Joaquin, if he go southward. It may be expected from us that we should give particular advice to the miner where it is best for him to go to dig. Now, it is impossible so to do conscienciously; the whole extent of the mining district is crowded with people, consequently for the very crowd, those spots that were good for a few, now are not so when there are many, as the subdivisions of the produce must be greater, and less must fall to the share of each. We may say in general terms, that farther south from the Touolomy to the San Joaquin, the diggers were not so numerous as elsewhere, consequently there is yet a better chance there than on other points. West of the Sacramento, some two hundred miles from the city of Sacramento, about the Trinity river, there are yet virgin ravines and streams, as very few have ventured so far.

On the Feather river and the Yuba, there were very good diggings; crowds of people, whites and Indians, have worked there for these two seasons; however, by going farther up these rivers some untouched spots may be found. We will remark here once for all, that the higher you go up the rivers the greater difficulties you will meet in getting over the ground, as they are more inaccessible; at the same time mules and horses are needed to carry you and your provisions, and you may also lack grass for your animals. But to know how far one may go up the rivers of the gold region, he must exercise his judgment, and he may depend on this fact, that there is no gold at the heads of these rivers, as we have examined them, and they all spring in the Sierra Nevada; as soon as you see the oak and red soil disappear from the hills surrounding them, you need not go beyond this line farther than from five to ten miles to convince yourself there is no gold there.

The Bear Creek was not very rich in the precious metal, and now may be less so as it has been worked. On these rivers people generally were making an ounce per day, some much more; but how long it may continue so we are not able to say. These rivers being accessible for a considerable distance to waggons, diggers crowded there, as provisions were cheaper there than anywhere else. These rivers have their forks, or in other words, tributaries of more or less importance. Below the mouth of these forks it is well to look for deposits of gold in the main streams. The Bear Creek has a tributary called the North Fork, in extent probably from forty to fifty miles. The Yuba has two forks on the north bank of some importance. The distance from the Bear Creek to the Yuba in some places hardly can be more than ten miles. The general course of the Bear Creek is West by North nearly; it meets the Feather river about ten miles below the Yuba, which likewise mingles its waters with the latter. The Feather river, which heads far at the North, taking almost a parallel course with the Sacramento, runs on in a South-Westerly direction, and having thus accumulated its waters is lost in the last mentioned majestic stream some distance below.

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