Part 47

Fifteen miles north of Spring Creek, following the Deadwood road from Custer, we reach Rapid Creek, just half way between Deadwood City and Custer, and in the very center of the Black Hills gold region. It is one of the most beautiful of the mountain streams, its water being as clear as crystal and delightfully cool in the hottest weather. It has an average width of about twelve feet, an average depth of fifteen inches, and is the only stream in the eastern part of the Hills which flows continuously the year through. It was on this stream, as credibly reported, that the Indians found and presented to Father De Smet many years ago a gold nugget worth several dollars, the Father being camped there with the Indians at the time. Here we have what the old miner would call “the regular old-fashioned gold wash.” In the pebbly bed of Rapid a great deal of water-worn quartz is found, and the contiguous hills, gulches, and bars prospect richly, as a rule. It is generally believed that Rapid Creek will prove the most productive portion of the Black Hills. When the necessary fluming shall have been made to cover this rich, high ground with water, so that a system of hydraulics can be carried, the yield must be enormous.

The Rapid diggings are many miles in extent, and will give employment, when fully developed, to many miners. Some very promising gold-bearing quartz veins have been discovered in Rapid Creek district, and silver discoveries have lately been reported from there.

I am indebted for much of my information concerning the Black Hills to Mr. H. N. Maguire, who has made a careful examination of the country. He is very enthusiastic about its future prospects, and in summing up the resources of the region, he says:

“I may be over-sanguine, but I believe all those vast regions drained by the southern tributaries of the Yellowstone, or the major portion of them, comprise the richest mineral fields on the continent—gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal; and perhaps platinum, quicksilver, and other metals. They have all the other natural elements of imperial wealth and expansion: good soil, illimitable pasturage, health-giving climate, and a temperature delightful in summer, and very endurable in winter. Now that the Indians are about whipped into submission, I have no doubt emigration will pour thither in unprecedented numbers, soon resulting in an unbroken chain of industries, from the corn fields of Dakota to the stock ranges of the Yellowstone. The farmer and miner will sustain each other, while both will need and will be able to generously remunerate the artisan and tradesman. Honest industry in every field can not fail to be crowned with success.”

When perusing the estimates of the gold-yield of the Black Hills, we come to the conclusion that the total yield has been, for the year 1876, about $2,000,000.

[Sidenote: YIELD OF GOLD-PRODUCING COUNTRIES.]

Let us compare this with the yield of the other gold-producing countries:

California produced in 1848 (estimated), $3,826,230 In 1849 (returns manifested), 4,921,250 In 1850 (returns manifested), 27,676,346

These are the first three years of the California gold fever. It is difficult, at this late date, to calculate the exact amount of gold kept in the hands of miners, as specimens, and as a circulating medium, during the first year (1848), but suppose we place the amount at $173,770 (which is a liberal estimate), we have then $4,000,000 as the yield of gold in 1848. Taking into account all the amounts which usually escape the official returns, and also the amounts buried by the miners until their return to the states, the most liberal estimates of these, added to the official returns, can hardly place the yield of gold from this state in 1848 over $10,000,000.

Nevada produced from her placer mines from 1849, the year of the discovery, to 1859, when they ceased working them, both years inclusive, only $400,000. This was produced, however, mostly by Chinese miners, of whom there were only about 200 in the mines. It will be remembered, also, that the placers of Nevada were never very remunerative, and that they decreased in the amount of yield as we approach the final year, 1859.

Oregon, in 1866, only produced, $2,000,000 Montana, with an area of 146,689 square miles, produced, in 1862, from her placers, 300,000 In 1863, 8,000,000

It is impossible to give a correct estimate of the yield from Colorado for the year 1859, her first year, but the most liberal estimate would hardly place it above $800,000; the entire yield, including the quartz-mills, for nine years, from 1859 to 1868, as only $30,000,000. Of course there are several causes which it is not necessary to enumerate here, which operated fatally against any large yield from Colorado during these years.

The Black Hills proper has a superficial area of about 6,000 square miles. The bulk—we might almost say all—of the gold produced thus far from the Hills is from placer mines; the quartz interest has as yet hardly begun to be developed. By referring to the comparative figures, it will be seen that, considering her area, and the disadvantages which have surrounded her, the new El Dorado has done remarkably well this year, even if we confine her to the $2,000,000 which I have accounted for. She stands upon a very favorable footing with any of the auriferous districts during their early days. The quartz interest will give a large increase in the yield of bullion this year (1877), both in gold and silver and we may safely place the yield for 1877 at $7,000,000.

MINING UNDER LAKE SUPERIOR.

[Sidenote: MINING UNDER LAKE SUPERIOR.]

One of the most remarkable mines in America is the one known as Silver Islet in Lake Superior. It once was a small barren rock; its greatest width was seventy feet and its length eighty feet. It was only eight feet above the water, its position being about three-quarters of a mile from the main-land and exposed to a sweep of 200 miles of Lake Superior.

[Sidenote: SILVET ISLET.]

Operations were begun there on the first of September, 1870. On that date a party began the erection of cribs, and in thirty days there were put in place 460 feet of cribbing, thoroughly bolted together, filled with rock, and having an average depth of thirteen feet. Such an enormous extent of work was only accomplished by the force working unitedly, as one man, eighteen hours out of twenty-four. Inside of the crib-work a coffer-dam was constructed, enclosing seventy feet in length of the out-crop or back of the vein.

The water in the enclosed space was thrown out by steam siphons, and mining was commenced on October 5th. Everything worked successfully until October 26th, when 200 feet of breakwater was carried away by a heavy southeast gale. The coffer-dam also suffered considerable damage, and the pit excavated on the vein was completely filled with rock from the cribs. This breach was filled more substantially than at first by a double line of crib-work, having a base of twenty-six feet; the coffer-dam was repaired, the pit cleaned out, and mining resumed on November 18th, which was continued until November 26th, when the last shipment of ore was made for the season.

All through that season and the next the work was constantly interrupted by accidents. Whenever a severe storm arose the sea rolled in heavily and broke down portions of the dam, or crib-work, so that the mine would be flooded and the miners driven from their posts. But in spite of these delays, coupled with the small space in which the men could work, more than a million dollars worth of ore was taken out.

The mine is one of the richest ever opened in the country. The great deposit of ore occurs in a fissure vein having a bearing of N. 32° W., the dip or inclination being to the N. E. The vein is well defined at points, having good walls or clearages, but not uniform in width, opening out at points to 12 or 15 feet, and again closing up to a string of not more than six inches. The average width, however, might be put down from four to five feet. Still, aside from the vein proper, there are several strings or feeders, some of them at a distance of 30 feet, carrying rich packing ore.

The vein substance generally consists of calcareous spar and dolomitic spar, with quartz, in which are enclosed occasional masses of dioritic wall rock, slate, and plumbago. The contained minerals are galena, zinc, blende, iron pyrites, kupfer, nickel, cobalt ore, with small quantities of antimony, native silver, and silver glauce, or sulphuret of silver.

The deposit of silver is found at the intersection of the vein with an immense belt of diorite and plumbago. This diorite is an intrusive mass, cutting nearly perpendicularly through the original more or less horizontal formation of slates and sedimentary or silicious sandstone. The ore varies in value from $400 to $7,000 per ton, the general average being not far from $1,500 per ton. This is known as packing ore, for the reason that it is packed in barrels for shipment. In addition to it there is a broad vein of stamp rock, valued at from $45 to $50 per ton.

The vein, taking a northwesterly and southwesterly direction, crosses Silver Islet, where it was discovered. On its course north from the Islet the vein goes out of sight, being covered by the lake for about 3,000 feet, and then makes its appearance on Burnt Island; submerged again by water for a distance of 350 to 400 feet, it reaches the mainland, on which it can be traced for a long distance.

[Sidenote: ISLE ROYALE.]

Going south from Silver Islet, the vein passes under Lake Superior, and is said to cross Isle Royale, some twenty miles off. Tesels have been run out from the shafts, so that the miners work far under the lake, and during heavy storms they can distinctly hear the roar of the waters. But although the vein is placed below the lake, its position, so far, has not put it at a great disadvantage, compared with other mines producing silver.

[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF THE MINE.]

There are features about this mine which actually make it a favorite as regards cost of working. The two great causes which increase so rapidly the cost, and delay the progress of mining everywhere, are influx of water and the meeting with what is termed soft ground. This mine, so far, has been opened nearly 700 feet. The longest level opens up the vein about 730 feet, and yet by pumping some 155 gallons per minute, the mine is kept dry. Most of this water enters from above, and is therefore not expected to increase in proportion to the depth obtained in the future. Many mines, although situated on high and dry land, have to pump far more water than this. The rock here being less pervious to water than elsewhere, can only be accounted for by the fact that a longer time has elapsed since this region has undergone any serious volcanic disturbance. Some narrow belts of slaty shale lying next to the vein are identical, except in age, with the clay found next the true veins in other places.

The vein rock itself is of a hard and firm nature, needing but little timbering for support. Three samples, taken from the vein yet remaining in the roof of the mine, showed, from concentrations and assays, as follows:

1. South end of vein, silver per ton, 7,346 ozs. 2. Middle of vein, 2,886 “ 3. North end of veins, 5-4/5 “

The concentrations of No. 1 had hardly more than a trace of galena in them, being native silver, etc.

No. 2 was mixed, consisting of galena and native silver.

No. 3 was pure galena.

The mineral is called McFarlanite, from the man who first brought it into notice, it being unlike any other silver ore, a mingling of nickel giving it a peculiar tinge and a beautiful arborescence.

The mine has ten levels or adits running north and south, besides several cross-cuts east and west. They have lately been boring with a diamond drill west of the main vein, thinking to find another feeder similar to the east vein, or to ascertain if the streak that is seen in the water west may be a deflection in the main vein.

They descend by ladders only, the shaft being used solely for hoisting rock. They have Burleigh compressors and all modern appliances. Occasionally they strike gas, which throws out a jet of great power—at one time of forty feet—and burns for a long time when lighted. A miner once came upon a natural cavity, where he felt sure he was to touch the bonanza; so he inserted his head with the candle in his hat. It came out quicker than it went in, but without hair, whiskers, eye-brows, and almost without scalp. Holes are encountered discharging water, or water and gas combined. Some of the miners are apprehensive that they will by and by reach the bottom of the lake and fall into an enormous cavity, which will take them, perhaps, to the center of the earth.

XLIII.

CALIFORNIA AND HER TERRESTRIAL TREASURES.

WONDERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST—CALIFORNIA IN 1835—CAUSE OF HER RAPID PROGRESS—THE HONEST MINER OF THE OLDEN TIME—FATE OF THE FORTY-NINERS—EFFORTS OF A NOVICE—RUSHES TO NEW PLACERS—CHANGE FROM PLACER TO QUARTZ MINING—GRASS VALLEY—EXTENT OF THE GOLD-BEARING RIDGE—AMALGAMATING PROCESSES—SPECULATIONS IN MINING STOCKS—HOW A SHARP NEW YORKER WAS SOLD—A LUCKY HIT—COPPER MINES IN CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA—NEW ALMADEN AND ITS QUICKSILVER—BENEFITS OF AN EARTHQUAKE.

For a few years after the discovery of gold in California, little attention was given by her inhabitants to any other pursuit than mining. But in course of time the agricultural resources of the State were developed, and California soon made herself one of the grain-supplying regions of the world. The mines do not hold such a prominent place as they did fifteen years ago, but they are still an important source of wealth to the Pacific coast, and will so continue for a long time to come. Had there been no discovery of gold or other precious metal west of the Rocky Mountains up to the present time, California would to-day be but little advanced beyond the condition in which she was found by the author of “Two Years Before the Mast,” when he landed on her shores in 1835. The cities along the coast would have grown larger, and the number of ships trading to San Diego, San Francisco, and other parts would have steadily increased, but the traffic would be mainly in hides from California cattle, or in the very few articles that were then the produce of this region. San Francisco could not have become in a few years a great city, without the discovery of gold in the streams and on the hill-sides of California.

[Sidenote: THE MINERS OF CALIFORNIA]

The first rush of gold-seekers in 1849, and for two or three years, subsequent to that date, was to the diggings along the various rivers and their tributaries. Men came, with pick and shovel, to gather up a fortune by separating gold from the earth along the valleys. The honest miner, with the tools of his profession, with his bronzed and unshaven face, his hair unkempt and matted like locks of wool, his clothing of the roughest character, and utterly innocent of whisk-broom or cologne water, was a figure well known on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coast. In California he existed in reality, but in the East he was drawn in caricature as something that all California emigrants must become. He toiled in the sands of the Sacramento and its tributaries, now with a run of good luck that sent him rejoicing to his home in the East, or furnished the material for a “high old time,” and again, with ill fortune that left him, after long exertion, with very little of the valuable metal in his own right.

The race of miners has not become extinct, as any one who has visited the interior of California can testify, but it is by no means as numerous as of yore. A large number of men who now stand high in the business world, began their California life by working in the mines. Many of the former miners have gone to their homes in the East, or to those undiscovered regions where gold is said to be of no particular use. Many long since drifted to other gold-mining countries, and many others have taken to agriculture, or to some business more certain—though less seductive—than gold-hunting. Most of the placers have been washed out and abandoned to the Mexicans or Chinese. Localities that formerly supported a large mining population are now deserted, while others can still count a goodly number of inhabitants. Whenever a new region is opened up there are many persons ready to rush to it, in the belief that they will find the fortune they have so long sought. Fraser River, Washoe, Kern River, and other regions have all stood high in the bill of attractions, and all proved more or less delusive. Hardly a year passes without a new discovery somewhere, and a consequent rush of emigration. Human nature remains the same, and there is no probability of the arrival of a time when men will no longer be tempted by extravagant stories to go in quest of a fortune.

[Sidenote: THE FIRST MINERS.]

In the early days, thousands of persons landed at San Francisco with no definite knowledge of the country, and with the impression that the gold mines were within a few hours’ walk of the city, and possibly inside its corporate limits. The story is told of a party of emigrants who came ashore from a steamer, breakfasted at a cheap hotel, and then, with their mining tools, proceeded to the beach at the foot of Telegraph Hill, and began washing for gold. The Sacramento was the deposit of a greater wealth than that of the Indies; they argued that all the water in the bay of San Francisco had come from that river, and therefore all the earth that it touched must be auriferous. Only a day’s toil in that locality could convince them that their theories were incorrect.

There was very little geological or other science applied to the early mining, as very few of the miners had any knowledge in that direction beyond what they acquired by practice. Men dug where they could find pay-dirt, and abandoned places that did not pay for their labor, but they could not often give any reason why one spot in a valley was richer than another. Mining was almost wholly a matter of experiment, and to this day the theories of the school of mines are of comparatively little value in the eyes of many miners. Many of the ordinary rules of geology are overthrown in the formation of the Pacific coast, so that the scientific geologists who have gone to California, find themselves involved in perplexities at almost every step.

The revelations of General Sutter’s mill-race established the existence of gold in California, and the news spreading rapidly throughout the world, brought a large migration. The first miners were nearly all adventurers without capital, and though the bulk of the immigration continued of this character, the second and subsequent years saw men of capital and intelligence going there to give a better direction to the interest of the country. The pick and pan, the primitive rocker, the long tom, the sluice, the tunnel, and other accessories of placer mining, marked the successive development of means for robbing the earth of its treasures. These operations culminated in hydraulic mining, which may be fairly considered as the perfection of this branch of work.

Of course it was but a single step from the discovery of gold in the dirt of the valleys, to its discovery in the veins of rock that formed the hill-sides and mountains. The rock from these veins was carefully assayed, and its richness established. Mere hand work was of no avail, or would be unprofitable in reducing these ores and extracting the metal. Heavy machinery must be erected, deep mines must be opened; shafts and wheels and pits would be expensive, and so would be the erection and management of machinery. Hence the necessity for capital and intelligence in this kind of labor. Individuals and companies led off in this work, and so quartz mining followed upon placer mining, and became a business of magnitude.

[Sidenote: QUARTZ MINING.]

The best established gold mines in California are at Grass Valley, a neat little city in Nevada County, twelve miles from the Central Pacific Railway, and for some time the home of the once noted and notorious Lola Montez. The other quartz mining districts are scattered through the mountainous region of the State, but the localities where the mines are profitable are not very numerous. Further explorations will of course increase their number, but it is not very probable that the development will be rapid.

In placer mining, the object is to separate the gold from the dirt where it has been deposited, and to accomplish this, water and labor are the only necessities. The dirt or earth is to be carried away while the gold remains. This is the whole process, whether we employ the simple pan and rocker or some more elaborate means of working. But in quartz mining the process is more complicated. The rocks must be taken from the veins and brought to the surface. There it lies, solid rock, with the gold mixed into its whole mass, while in a fluid state, just as salt or soda are mixed with flour in making bread. It must be reduced to powder, and for this purpose heavy machinery is employed. When reduced to a powder, the gold must be extracted, and this work requires more care and causes more perplexities than other labor connected with quartz mining. Besides the gold, there are various chemical compounds, some of which remain, while others may be washed away. Many men must be employed about a quartz mill; the monthly disbursements, provided the owners are honorable, are very large. Hence, while a man without capital may become a miner in the gulches and placers, the beginner in quartz mining requires both brains and capital.

The quartz district, which is from fifteen to a hundred miles in width, commences in Mariposa County, and extends along the western foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada for four or five hundred miles, disappearing somewhere in Oregon. The ledges of rocks lie at various angles, being in some places almost horizontal, while in others they vary little from the perpendicular. There are various theories touching the formation of the quartz ledges and their impregnation with gold, but none of them will apply to all cases. The mines that have been opened are along this ridge, and many shafts have been sunk for the purpose of reaching this rich rock. A considerable proportion of these shafts have been abandoned because they did not reach the ledge, while others have been forced to quit, because the ledge, though containing gold, was unprofitable. As before stated, those most generally successful are at Grass Valley, where the rock does not vary much in value, and where the profits of a year’s labor can be estimated beforehand with considerable accuracy. Year after year the work has gone on, and the town of Grass Valley has a more thrifty appearance than the majority of the mining centers of California.