USA > California > Tuolumne County > A history of Tuolumne County, California : compiled from the most authentic records > Part 32
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The Olsen Lode, lying nearly down to the San Joaquin Valley, possesses perhaps more points of interest than any other claim in this county It is not, by any means, a type of a class, as are the Soulsby, the Spring Gulch, and other mines, for it stands alone in its peculiarities.
The lode proper is over one hundred feet wide, composed of quartz, talc, mica slate, and other matters. It contains both gold and silver. At a considerable depth a deposit of silver glance has been found. Numerous specimens of metallic silver in the form of wire, or leaf, are to be seen. Its existence has been a subject of wondor and of study. The processes in use at the mill, which is four miles from the mine, are, preliminary crushing, then working in pans, following closely the Comstock system. The mine had for a time the advantage of the scientific attainments and highly practical supervision of S. O. Brown, Esq., who acted as Superintendent, while Mr. J. Neale was Mine Foreman. Latterly the works have come under different management and not much is doing.
The above short resume of the leading mines of Tuol- umne will serve to give an approximate idea of their
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present standing. It may be said that the outlook at present is not flattering. The fact is that, though present production is small, nearly extinguished, in fact, still there are strong indications of a prospective revival in mining affairs. The speculative age having partly gone by, and mining settled down to the situation demanded by prac- tical experience, the future may, and doubtless will, show increased production. The cheapened cost of labor and supplies will have something to do with the new order of things; new inventions and processes of working will have more. Many leads and veins might be named in this con- nection upon which great expectations for the coming time may be based; but the subject may be dismissed with the remark, that Tuolumne's future interests in quartz mining are sure to be of as great importance as are those of any similar locality in the State.
Pocket, or Deposit Mining.
In the early days of mining, some fortunate adventurers, in the course of their prospecting, came at various times upon gold deposits in the hard quartz, which seemed so much at variance with their preconceived ideas, and with the general experience of gravel miners, that the matter was regarded as remarkable. These discoveries, with their workings, were the earliest quartz mines, properly so called, that this section of the country knew. Of course, with the rude machinery then in use, only the very richest quartz- that whose contained gold was estimated by hundreds of dollars per ton-could be extracted and crushed at a profit. Time elapsed, too, before the existence of perfectly barren streaks was recognized, often adjoining the greatest golden
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deposits. Other veins, it was remarked, were not so rich in any one spot, but the wealth was ascertained to be more thoroughly disseminated therein. After a series of years had elapsed, and after a great expenditure of toil, capital and perseverance had been made, it was clearly seen that the territory possessed two distinct classes of gold-bearing lodes, essentially different in many ways, and remarkably so in their disposition of their auriferous chutes and bodies. These diametrical features at once gave rise to the expres- sive classification into Milling and Pocket Lodes; the latter of which, from their present prominence and probable permanency, merit and demand description and comment.
Their geographical location is embraced entirely within the so-called Eastern and Western Mineral Zones, and, therefore, extends from and beyond the Stanislaus River on the north, to and beyond the Tuolumne River on the south, and from the bisecting reef of limestone running northerly and southerly throughout the county, about a dozen miles east and west.
The representative districts are the neighborhoods of Jamestown, Raw-hide Ranch, Tuttletown, Jackass Hill and Robinson's Ferry, on the west, and Sonora, Bald Mountain, Yankee Hill, Five Mile Creek and the Stanislaus River, on the east. As a rule, they oblique across the country rock, which runs northerly and southerly; appear on the crests or ridges of mountains; dip to the northwest, at angles varying from 10° to 80°; are from 4 inches to 3 feet in thickness; have a variable specific gravity, tenacity, opacity and color, and are horizontally attended on either or both walls by a hard or soft material, of a white, yellow or red color, locally termed " dyke," which, in the ab- sence of quartz, fills in the fissures, and thus preserves their forms and dimensions. The ore bodies do not possess
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regular line or extent, but appear and disappear along the fissures in the form of chimneys or chutes.
The gold is flat, cubical and sometimes crystalline, and exceedingly free from refractory associations, which ac- counts for its superior fineness. Mining in its embryotic state was conducted simply as an occupacion, without the benefit of experience. The gold on float rock, which, by the agency of the elements, had been deposited in ravines or gulches, was traced to its source, and a pocket was dis- covered. This was then extracted with zeal, the location abandoned with reluctance, and its conditions, in conjunc- tion with the surroundings, dismissed from the mind. Rarely was the idea of its continuance or reproduction the subject of extended thought.
It has been customary for the miners during the period of the existence of pocket mining to meet in conference, exchange experience, invite discussion, and ascend the higher planes of reason. And now the license of great re- sults permits a submission of the following truths and visible causes of pockets. A pocket lode in its linear course has many distinct chutes, closely grouped or widely apart, the grand one showing it in its greatest strength and purity. The longer the intermediate space the larger the deposit, because of the superior formative resources. The various causes of deposits seem to be crossings, horses, elbows and splits. A crossing is a fissure filled with clay, dyke or quartz, having a perpendicular, or oblique direc- tion across the lead. A horse is a short subdivision of the lead into alternate parallel strata of quartz and slate. An elbow is an angle, or arc of the lead, tending downward. A split is a complete and wide division of the lead into its matrix and quartz. Of these the first one is the most reli- able and valuable, as the line of intersection is supposed by some to make a complete insulation of the electric currents,
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and, consequently, the deposits recur. This line is the general line of the prospect, and absolutely the one of de- velopment. Its direction depends on the dip and trend of the lead and crossing. The pockets form on the main lead at or near the crossing, on either or both sides. But in the latter instance only when the lead is intersected by the crossing. They commence on or near the surface of the lode with a precursory prospect of fine or coarse gold, con- tinuing to or ceasing entirely before reaching them. They are four, eight, sixteen and forty feet apart, a greater depth between denoting a larger find.
Besides the mineral character of the concomitants, the class of slates is all important. A fine-grained, light-blue slate accompanies a primary cause and a medium deposit, and a heavy, dark blue, metallic slate attends great bo- nanzas. The indications in the lead are a hardening and softening of the quartz, with a perceptible change of color, and a similar change of the ordinary prospects of the dyke, added to the presence of a vermillion streak of clay, or granulated material. Crystals are also evidence.
Having done with the cardinal facts concerning cross- ings, it is well to state that a horse makes gold at one of the three points of its solidification, two of which are on the surface and the third one below. A split makes a pocket on the line of separation. An elbow throws gold below or after the angle or arc. A mine is worked from a shaft or tunnel. The shaft is sunk on and follows the line of prospect, and the tunnel answers a double purpose, in discovery and the hastening of work. A wide diversity of opinion exists respecting the continuance of a pocket or chute, but experience has proven that they depend solely on the continued strength and preservation of the crossing. Of the different crossings, superiority must be accorded that of quartz. Numerous instances could be cited in both
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zones, where the chutes continued to considerable depth and gave evidence of permanency, and, therefore, the con- clusion is reached that they will become identical with milling chutes. The most intelligent men are perfectly astounded at a view of the internal works of an old mine, so numerous and irregular are the galleries and shafts, and so closely do they fringe the location of the gold. Often has the dispirited and disconsolate miner, after bemoaning his fate, been directed to the pocket by a cave in the wall or roof, or by development of the only virgin ground.
Nowhere in this State, at the present time, is this kind of mining so fully appreciated as in this county. Nearly all of the old pocket mines thought to be of value are the scenes of vigorous operation. Some of the most prominent mines merit especial mention. The Watts Mine, at Robin- son's Ferry, is composed of stringers dipping westward towards the mother lode, and cutting the slate, and has yielded largely. On Jackass Hill is located the Boyer, Watts & Madison Mine, which has been worked to a depth of 200 feet, and for ten years contributed handsomely. The Carrington Mine, owned by James Gillis and William Waters, in the same locality, was worked for fifteen years to a depth of 100 feet. It is from 4 to 6 inches in width, and has yielded $100,000. The Means Mine, adjacent thereto, is a vein from 4 inches to 1 foot in width, has been worked to a depth of 70 feet, and has aggregated $50,000. At Tuttletown, the Cardinal Mine runs with the slate, is crossed by threads of quartz accompanied by the indicative slate, is developed to a depth of 80 feet, and is from 6 to 24 inches in thickness. Its pockets on the same chute were from 4 to 8 feet from each other, and produced a total of $175,000. The Valparaiso Mine, one mile and a half from Tuttletown, on Jackson's Flat, was operated for a series of years, successfully. Large deposits were taken out, and it
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still ranks well. The Neubaumer is a branch of the above mine, and has been very rich in free gold and arsenical sulphurets. The Brown & Preston Mine, below Jamestown, , has yielded immensely. John H. Neale's mine, at Woods Crossing, was discovered in 1862, by Mexicans. One pocket amounted to $30,000. It is now being worked. Saratoga Hill, near Shaw's Flat, contains a number of valu- able lodes. Three of these, comprised in a transverse space of 300 feet, and running parallel, in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction, crossed by red and blue clays, are owned by M. B. Harriman, and are now being operated. The deposits have ranged from $3,000 to $30,000. The Carpenter lode, adjoining, owned by F. P. Williams and W. J. Van Ausdall, stands nearly vertical, is being re- opened, and has credited large accounts to the Hill.
Excepting the mines on this hill, the crossings consisted of black metallic slate, quartz and dyke. The Bonanza Mine, owned by Messrs. Divoll and Bray, is located on Piety Hill, in the City of Sonora. It cuts the slate, and runs northeasterly and southwesterly. It was located in the year 1851, by Chilians, and worked by them in company with Van Praag. Since then it has been worked by various parties, until purchased by the present owners for the sum of $50, in the year 1878. This mine, by virtue of its bold features and sterling merit, justly stands alone in the world, the grandest representative of its class. It has yielded upwards of a half million dollars, and seems to defy exhaustion, but the company, for prudential reasons, decline to make any statement of its production.
On the same lode, and also within the city limits, is located the Big Nugget claim, discovered in 1868, by Sex- ton, and subsequently worked by an English company with great profit. It was relocated in 1871, by Messrs. Divoll and Bray, and in '78 changed hands and became the prop-
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erty of Alonzo Colby. A year ago an enormous pocket was found, and in order to expedite the work, a tunnel was run in from a point below Main street, in Sonora, which now taps the lode at a depth from the surface of 300 feet. The crossings are dyke. It has been operated day and night for over a year, by a large force of men, and its owner an- ticipates splendid results. The deposits taken out amount to about $13,000. The Keizer Mine, owned by Messrs. Harriman & Keil, on Bald Mountain Range, is a half mile north of Sonora, and east of Wood's Creek. It was dis- covered in 1854, by Mexicans; was worked to a depth of 90 feet, and the last flour-sack of material taken from the bot- tom turned out $200. It is from 6 inches to 24 inches in width, has a northerly and southerly course, has large re- serves of undeveloped ground, has yielded wonderfully, and promises future great results. In close proximity to this is the Sell Mine, running two points east of north, and cutting the ridge diagonally. It is the property of William Sell, and since its location, in 1850, up to this date, has given forth $200,000. A tunnel taps the mine about 255 feet from the surface, and extends into the hill and along the lead nearly 265 feet, and has exposed 8 different chutes, whose respective pockets have been from $10,000 to $15,000. Its crossings consist of dyke, from 3 feet to 5 feet across, and having a southerly trend. The pockets are found on the north side of these. The quartz contains small quanti- ties of sulphurets of lead and iron. This is a fine property, and is being constantly worked. The Suckerman Lode, & little north and east of these mines, was located in the year 1851. It was worked by Peruvians, on the north side of the ridge, with great success, but was abandoned for a while, and relocated in '63, with Charles Sell as the Super- intendent, under the name of "The Sophia." A tunnel strikes it 300 feet under ground, but lacks considerable of
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being reached by the shafts above. The prospects are good, but the linear exploration has been very meager. It has granite and dyke crossings, and is thought to have yielded $150,000. It is being worked by J. H. Neale, the present owner. On Bald Mountain proper, 3 miles north- east of Sonora, are situated the Paterson and Turner, Austrian, and Ford lodes. The Paterson and Turner, which is a flat lead, is located and owned by Messrs. E. A. Gar- rett, Paul Bauli, Antone Violitch and Blass Radovich. These locations yielded collectively about $100,000. The Austrian has a number of chutes, has been worked ex- tensively, and has footed up $80,000. The Ford has two chutes, is opened by shafts to a depth of 150 feet, and has yielded $150,000. Still further northward we find the Fox, Ham and Jersey, Nathaniel Arnold, and Reed mines, all of which are working, and are properties of the first order. In both zones there are hundreds of mines which have thrown pockets of from $200 to $4,000.
Gravel, or Placer Mining.
The history of gravel mining in Tuolumne is, for its earlier years, the history of the county. Almost the only pursuit of the early inhabitants, all the interest necessarily attaches to that pursuit. Nearly every individual who came into the Southern Mines during the first decade after the discovery of gold came to mine with pan and rocker; each one, whatever may have been his previous condition in life, entering upon the work with the same advantages and chances of success. Nearly every man in this State who came prior to 1860, and many who arrived later, have
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delved in the placer mines, and many individuals of promi- nence point back with unmistakeable pride to their share in the labors which gave to California her proud pre-emi- nence as a land of gold mines, and the celebrity that reaches the world over.
The placers gave to California a population and a his- tory. Directly upon the dissemination of the welcome news of the finding of gold at Sutter's Fort, the tide of im- migration set at once to the foothills of the Sierra, and Tuolumne, among other regions, was entered and pros- pected.
It has been seen in the body of this work how scantily these first comers were provided with the means of subsist- ence; and they were not less ill provided with the means for carrying on even the simple work of separating the gold from the dirt. All such articles as shovels, pans, pick- axes, etc., from an excessive demand, reached an exorbi- tant price. Many men, unable to procure tools, extempo- rized the necessary articles from such materials as came to their hands. Milk pans and other dishes were made to serve in place of the present gold pan of pressed iron, seamless and durable. Knives were made to serve instead of picks and shovels, and the ex-soldiers of a mounted regiment who discovered Dragoon Gulch used, it is said, their sabres for the purpose of digging.
Nevertheless, such was the abundance of the gold, that men, without any of the apparatus which is now considered essential for gravel mining, extracted with ease sums amounting to thousands of dollars in short spaces of time. A discovery of a fortune in a day or a week was of not un- common occurrence, and innumerable instances are on record where fortunate men took out enough in a few months to make their future lives free from care.
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It would be useless to multiply examples of this sort. The fact seems certain that early in the " fifties " fortunes were at the command of those who would work steadily for them, while it is equally as certain that success de- pended a great deal on knowing where to work.
Placer mining has never required the exercise of great skill or previous knowledge, nor the introduction of costly machinery; hence, as a pursuit it has been within the reach of everybody. Still, there is room for the exercise of judgment and the teachings of experience. Much time was spent before the existence of placers, in ground other than the beds of watercourses, was suspected, and when gold was found in elevated places, even the tops of lofty hills, its occurrence could not be accounted for, though subsequent researches have settled that and similar ques- tions.
It was mentioned that rudely extemporized tools were at first in use in gravel mining. Of course, the inventive genius of the American people could not rest until labor- saving devices had been introduced by means of which a much greater quantity of dirt could be washed. The first efforts of ingenuity gave rise to the cradle, or rocker, a machine which still survives, finding limited use in pros- pecting, etc. By means of the rocker two men, one shovel- ing the auriferous dirt, the other sitting beside it and giving it motion with one hand while he poured water upon the fresh dirt from a dipper held in the other, could wash out as much gold as a score of men could do with the former device, the pan. As might be expected from the scarcity of lumber and all other materials, the earliest con- , structed rockers were somewhat costly objects. Accord- ingly, we find a certain miner paying one hundred and fifty dollars for one which a Mexican had constructed by hollow- ing out a section of a tree, and which weighed as many
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pounds as the purchaser gave dollars for it. Later, when whip-saws were introduced, and a little lumber was pro- duced, these indispensable articles became less costly and difficult to procure.
The next prominent invention for washing the dirt was the Tom, which consists essentially of a box for the recep- tion of the dirt, from which a short sluice leads away. The necessary water being introduced from a running stream obviates the labor of pouring it upon the dirt from a dipper, and the motion sideways is obviated by providing the sluice down which the gravel is carried, and which admits of the gold settling to the bottom in its passage, where it is retained by riffles, made by inserting strips of wood crosswise of the current.
Here again was a great saving in labor, the scope of a man's energies, by the aid of the new apparatus, being en- larged several fold. Toms, representing the second great step in gravel mining, remained in use until the great in- vention of sluices. Until the ditches brought large and constant streams of water, sluices were not practicable, and we have seen at a previous page how and when the great ditches to which the country owes so much, came to be con- structed.
Simultaneously with the introduction of improved labor- saving devices for working placer ground, came the ex- tinction of these rich placers from which the fabulous early yields had been obtained. The rich creek bottoms had been first worked out and then abandoned, to be again and again worked over, until with each succeeding re-working the returns became so scanty as to not repay the labor ex- pended, even at the diminished prices that prevailed. Mormon Creek, whose dirt paid at an average rate of one thousand dollars to each claim of ten feet square, the size fixed upon by the Miners' Union of these diggings, paid
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nearly half that amount at its second working. And this, in consequence not only of the improved methods of work- ing, was also partly due to the more careful examination of the seams and crevices in the bedrock. Succeeding years have made such examinations of the underlying stratum more and more necessary, until now, when the process of exploring the upper surface of the slate or other rock upon which the gravels rest is carried to the most extreme nicety, and a spot of ground is not now supposed to be exhausted of its store of wealth until every means short of microscop- ical examinations is brought into use for discovering the infinitesimal remains of the precious metal. But more and more careful working has not kept up the production of gold to its original hight. The permanent falling off of the gold production began, by 1859, to be an assured fact. The placers of Tuolumne had begun to be exhausted, and with the exhaustion of the known beds no new discoveries, extensive enough to replace the worn out placers, were made. None of the known placers have been of great depth; the deepest workings of which mention has been made do not much exceed one hundred feet. Lying ex- posed to the surface, it is no wonder that their extinction was a matter of a short time. Now the process of placer mining has passed away from Tuolumne. Only a few, mostly Chinese and others content with the meagre results that keep body and soul together, remain laboring in the gravel beds.
The history of the rich strikes of the past years reads like an Arabian fairy tale. In every issue of the early papers the columns teem with accounts of sudden wealth achieved in this way. Thus we read that a claim at Pine Log paid four hundred dollars to the pan, but, as might be expected, the golden stream did not flow long. In 1853 twenty-eight pounds of gold, mainly in one chunk, were
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taken out of a claim in Sonora, in one day. This claim, which was owned by eight partners, was situated on Sonora Creek, opposite the printing office. A month later a lucky Mexican found a specimen of the value of two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars, at Martinez. H. A. Stearns and partner, near Columbia, tried to sell their claim for thirty dollars, but failing, they continued to work it, taking out, next day, fifty-five ounces of gold. As late as 1854, Messrs. Hopkins and Meek took out from fifty to seventy- five dollars daily to each hand employed, and this con- tinued for months. Their claim was at Campbell's Flat. The " Maine Boys," at Columbia, took out from their claim from ten to twenty ounces each, daily. An Italian at Pine Gulch labored for weeks without making anything, at the end of that time securing a lump of memorable size and value, the largest, perhaps, that was found during that year (1854). It weighed twenty-three pounds eight ounces, and sold for four thousand eight hundred dollars. Nearly at the same time Captain Bradford found a three-pound chunk in his claim at Bensonville. A twenty-five pound lump, of which fourteen pounds were gold, was taken out in Sonora shortly after; value, about three thousand dol- lars. At Caldwell's Garden, near Shaw's Flat, four men took out of the Table Mountain lead twenty ounces daily, for a long time. A cart-load of their dirt was worth twenty-five ounces. In December, 1855, some Frenchmen near Garrote secured in one day three thousand five hun- dred dollars, from two hundred pans of dirt taken from the bed of the river. In the same month an immense nugget was taken from the ground directly in front of the present County Hospital in Sonora. It was described as being fourteen inches long and eight or nine inches wide and thick, and its value was set at about thirteen hundred dol- lars. It was evidently not entirely composed of gold. About
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