USA > California > Nevada County > Bean's history and directory of Nevada County, California. Containing a complete history of the county, with sketches of the various towns and mining camps also, full statistics of mining and all other industrial resources > Part 15
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WILLOW VALLEY MINE,
This ledge was discovered by A. Burrington, in May, 1865, and located by A. and D. Burrington, McCowen, Barton, Pierce and Mohler. It is situated near Willow Valley, in the immediate vicinity of where mining operations had been carried on for years, the rock cropping out boldly and showing free gold. Prospectors had walked over it time and again, sup- posing it to be a ledge of granite bowlders, and never taking the trouble to knock off a piece of the rock, which would at once have shown it to be quartz. The first crushing yielded large returns, but the water being troublesome, a tunnel was projected and run at great expense, which, how ever, tapped the ledge at a depth of only fifty or sixty feet. Hoisting works were erected in 1866, at a cost of some $8,000, the engine and machinery, with the exception of the boiler, being manufactured at the Nevada Foundry. An incline has been sunk to the depth of 180 feet, and rock to the amount of 800 tons was taken out and worked last year, which yielded an average of $22 a ton. The mine, however, has never paid ex- penses, and operations were suspended last fall in consequence of the failure of some of the owners to pay assessments. The ledge dips at an angle of
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THE REASON IS, HIE KEEPS THE FINEST AND BEST
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forty-five degrees, and its average size is from twelve to fourteen inches. The present owners are Messrs. Tallman, Welch, Marsellus, Cronise, Eddy and Barton. It is probable that operations will be resumed on the mine this summer.
OTHER LEDGES.
We have gone through the list of the more prominent quartz mines now being worked in Nevada township, including three or four in which opera- tions are temporarily suspended. But there are numerous other ledges in the township, which are considered valuable, and some of which have yielded large amounts of gold, and been extensively worked.
The Mattingly ledge is situated on the ridge a mile and a half southeast of Nevada. It was first located in 1852, considerable rock crushed, some of which paid $18 a ton. It was finally abandoned, but re-located in 1861, and several crushings taken out, the yield ranging from four to ten dollars. In 1866, steam hoisting works were erected under the supervision of Major Murdock, and an incline shaft is now being sunk on the ledge.
The Grant mine is situated on the ridge, between the Mattingly and Canada Hill. Steam hoisting works were erected in 1865, and an incline sunk to the depth of eighty feet. But the owners became involved, the property was attached and sold by the Sheriff in 1866, Crawford & Co. being the purchasers.
The Best Chance ledge is situated on the ridge near Canada Hill, and the location includes 1,600 feet. Steam hoisting works have been erected at the ledge, and an incline sunk to the depth of eighty feet-the vein being three feet in width. It is owned by Barnett, Thompson, Taft, and others.
The North Star ledge adjoins the Best Chance, and is also a large vein. It is owned by Gentry, Allison, Power, and others.
The ledge of Robinson and McCutchan lies west of Canada Hill. An engine for hoisting and pumping was put up in 1865, and an incline started on the vein, but the work was suspended for want of means.
The Potosi mine is near the Wigham, and has yielded considerable rich ore. It is owned by Thomas, Byrnes and others, who erected steam hoist- ing works in 1865. Work will probably be resumed this season.
The Union No. 2 is on the ridge a mile east of Nevada, and is an old location. Steam hoisting works were put up last year and an incline com- menced ; but the work was suspended on account of the owners lacking the means to carry it on successfully. It is owned by Ferre and Phillips.
The Eagle ledge is half a mile east of town, and was worked in different places, at an early day, and by two or three different companies. In that part of the ledge running through Gallows Flat rock was taken that yielded
READ SPENCE'S ADVERTISEMENT, ON PAGE IV.
ASSORTED STOCK OF DRY GOODS IN THE COUNTY;
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over a hundred dollars a ton. The owners failed from bad management. A tunnel, commencing at Deer creek, has since been run a distance of 500 or 600 feet, but it cuts the vein only a few feet below the old works. The ledge is now owned by S. B. Davenport.
The first north extension of the Banner is a location of 300 feet, owned by Tisdale and Stiles. It has been opened by a shaft to the depth of sev- enty or eighty feet, and the rock yielded some $18 and $20 a ton. The owners intend to put up first-class hoisting works this season.
The second extension north of the Banner is owned by Niles, Halladie, Tilton, Bean, Graves, Sherman and Gilleland. The company run a tunnel last fall and struck the vein at a depth of eighty feet, but took out no rock. They will resume operations this season.
The extension of the Banner south has never been traced, unless it may be the Belle Oro, a promising claim, situated 2,000 feet south of the Banner works, and owned by Mattingly and others.
The Railroad ledge, on Gold Flat, has furnished considerable very rich ore, but has never been worked systematically, and the owners are unable to put on pumping and hoisting machinery, the only way by which it can be worked.
The Mammoth is a large ledge, owned by Hirschman, Nicholson and others, situated on Deer creek, about a mile above the Oriental mill. The ore is of the sulphuret character, and if the vein was opened and worked on a large scale would probably yield good profits.
The Magnolia, owned by Carr and Doud, near Willow Valley, has furn- ished considerable good ore but has never been worked below the water level.
The Slate Creek ledge, above Willow Valley, has also turned out very rich ore, though not a very large amount. The vein can not be opened except by expensive machinery.
The Harvey ledge, near Wood's ravine, has been worked at different times, and generally with good results. The ledge is of good size, and the different lots of rock crushed have yielded from twelve to twenty-five dollars a ton.
The Home mine, at the mouth of Wood's Ravine, has furnished many fine specimens, and one or two crushings made at the Cornish mill have yielded excellent returns. It is owned by Thomas Findley and others, who intend to erect steam hoisting works this summer.
In the foregoing hastily written and imperfect sketches of the quartz mines of Nevada township, the writer has endeavored to give the leading incidents connected with the location and first attempts to develop the prin- cipal mines. Being compelled to rely mostly upon memory, it is very
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AND HIS LOW PRICES WILL SUIT EVERY ONE.
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likely that some of the statements are inaccurate, and that many facts of interest have been left unnoticed. Every mine has its history, and tradi- tions which become more interesting with the lapse of time. It is quite probable that some of our quartz veins will be yielding their treasures cen- turies hence, and no greater boon can be conferred on those who succeed us than the preservation of authentic records of the carly workings of the several mines. The most the writer can hope is, that the meager details related above may induce mine owners and superintendents to gather up and preserve such records.
SULPHURET REDUCTION WORKS.
The sulphurct reduction works of Oscar Maltman are situated a mile from Nevada, on the Grass Valley road, and were erected in the latter part of 1858. It was the first practical attempt on the coast to reduce auriferous sulphurets by the chlorinizing process, and to Maltman and G. F. Deetken is due the credit of its success. It was known that the sulphurets concen- trated from the quartz pulp, as crushed in the mills, contained gold in con- siderable quantities, and Maltman and Deetken had been experimenting with the view of extracting the metal by a process cheaper than smelting. Their first experiments were not successful, and after repeated failures they went to Washoe and engaged in silver mining. Here they gained new ideas in relation to the working of metals, and in 1860 they returned to resume their experiments, and the first attempt was a success .. From that time all the various kinds of sulphurets from the quartz and cement mines of the county have been reduced at the works, and no serious difficulty has been encountered. In 1862, Deetken sold out his interest in the business and reduction works to Maltman, who has since continued to enlarge the works and improve himself in the art of reducing the refractory ores. Since the business was commenced, 1,400 tons of sulphurets have been reduced at the works, producing an average of $140 a ton, making an aggre- gate of near $200,000. The average working of the sulphurets has come up to ninety-five per cent. of the fire assay. The charges for working sul- phurets varies from $40 to $50 a ton, some being more difficult to reduce than others. Maltman at present has facilities for working fourteen tons a week, his establishment being the most extensive in the State, and the amount saved by our quartz miners has been steadily increasing for several years. The profits derived from the sulphurets has materially contributed to the success of quartz mining in this county. After Deetken sold out his interest in the Nevada establishment, he erected works on a similar plan in San Francisco, regarding that as the most central point for procuring
FAMILY MEDICINES CAREFULLY PREPARED BY E. F. SPENCE.
GOLDSMITH SELLS DRY GOODS TWENTY-FIVE PER CENT. CHEAPER THAN ANY BODY ELSE.
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sulphurets from different parts of the State. There is no especial secret in the process; but to beneficiate the ores successfully requires practice and skill, the same as in any mechanical occupation or art. In Kustel's work on the processes of gold and silver extraction, he describes the chlorinizing process, as employed by Maltman and Deetken :
The tailings are subjected first to calcination in a roasting furnace, without being sifted. No salt is used, as it sometimes causes a loss of gold. The roasting is performed in the usual way by stirring the mass at a low temperature till all the sulphurets or arseniurets are decomposed. An addition of charcoal powder favors the roasting. After six or eight hours, when no odor of sulphurous acid is observed, the ore is discharged, spread on a proper place and cooled. The tailings or ore is then sprinkled with water and shoveled over several times. A little too dry or too wet has a great influence on the result of chlorination.
When moistened, the stuff is introduced into wooden tubs about seven feet in diameter and twenty-five or thirty inches deep. These tubs have a prepared bot- tom, which allows the entrance of chlorine gas from bencath into the mass of tail- ings. Near the bottom are two holes, one for the discharge of the solution, the other communicates by a lead pipe with a leaden gas generator. The generator is filled to a certain height with peroxyd of manganese and salt. Sulphuric acid is introduced by a lead pipe. As soon as the mixture becomes hot, by the fire under- neath the generator, the chlorine gas commences to be evolved and enters the tub through the connecting lead pipe.
After some hours the whole mas is strongly penetrated and the greenish gas lies heavy on the tailings. The tub is closed by a wooden cover. In this condition it remains for ten or fifteen hours, when the cover is removed and clean water intro- duced. As soon as the water reaches the surface of the tailings, the discharge pipe is opened, and the water, containing the dissolved chloride of gold, is led into glass vessels. An addition of sulphuret of iron, precipitates the gold in metallic condi- tion as a black-brown powder. If there are silver sulphurets in the ore, they, by roasting without salt, are converted mostly into sulphates, and in subsequent con- tact with chlorine, into chlorides which are not soluble in water, and remain in the tailings. The gold is therefore 995 fine.
PLACER MINES.
The placer mines of Nevada township, though not yielding as much gold as in former years, are still worked quite extensively, and are the main re- liance of a large proportion of the population. There are a few companies conducting operations on a large scale, and generally with success, besides numerous independent miners working the gulches and ravines in a small way, and with varied success.
The Brush Creek diggings are perhaps the most extensive and productive of any now being worked in the township. The ground in the locality was originally located in claims of sixty feet square, in 1851, each owner work- ing his own claim. Sixty-one of these claims are now consolidated in one
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body, and owned by Hall & Peabody ; and a gentleman who has long re- sided in the vicinity, and had the best means of knowing, estimates that the claims have yielded an aggregate of three million dollars. Lones & Co., who owned part of the ground, took out of their claims $300,000, and in 1863 sold out to Hall & Peabody for $28,000. The yield of the claims in 1866 was $32,000, the profits to the owners being $12,000, and it is ex- pected that the yield will be much larger in 1867. The work is carried on entirely by ground-sluicing, the diggings being shallow, and sixteen men are employed the most of the year.
The Shively diggings extend from Selby Hill to Brush creek, and include about a section of ground. It was taken up in 1851, in claims of sixty fect square, and the yield of the ground is estimated at about a million dollars. The richest of the ground was worked out many years ago, the original locators selling out the portions of their claims that would not pay for working by the methods adopted in carly days. But by consolidating the claims, and working by the hydraulic hose, the present owners have been deriving regular incomes from the diggings for some years. The yield of these claims in 1865 was $30,000. In 1866 the yield was only $13,000, the decrease being occasioned by a failure to obtain water a portion of the season ; but the claims have always yielded a profit. It is calculated that the ground owned by the company will not be worked out under ten years. The claims are owned by Henry Shively, Niles, Dunn, and some others.
The Lost Hill diggings are situated in the corporation limits of Nevada, on the westerly side of the town proper, and were located carly in the spring of 1853, by Amos T. Laird, I. Williamson, I. N. Dawley, Ferguson, and others. The gold was found on the surface, among the grass roots, but the ground had not been located on account of the supposed difficulty of getting water on the hill. The locators overcome this difficulty by constructing, at a trifling cost, a small aqueduct to convey the water across a depression in the ground. Some forty or fifty men were employed the first season, and the work was carried on that year by ground-sluicing. The next season, Laird, who was superintendent of the work, attempted to use the hydraulic, but from some defect in the apparatus it was a failure, and he threw it aside, declaring the hydraulic a humbug. A deep cut having been made in the hill, the work was carried on in 1854 by what was known as " bench- ing," and at one time a hundred miners were employed in the claims. The claims paid remarkably well the first two scasons, worked in the primitive style of mining. In 1855, Laird was compelled by his partners to put up a hydraulic apparatus, by which means the claims yielded a much larger profit to the owners. The work was continued that season and until the middle of the summer of 1856, when operations were suspended, and in
E. F. SPENCE, BROAD STREET, NEVADA, KEEPS THE BEST AND PUREST OF DRUGS.
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ALL ORDERS FROM THE COUNTRY WILL BE PROMPTLY FILLED AT GOLDSMITH'S,
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consequence of the claims being in litigation, and the high price of water, the work was not resumed until 1865. In the spring of the latter year, Williamson made arrangements to resume the work, which has been con- tinued ever since when water could be had. The water is now conducted to the diggings through thirteen-inch iron pipes, for a distance of 4,000 feet, and having a fall of 160 feet. Some twenty-five or thirty acres of ground has been sluiced off, the hill in some places being a hundred feet deep. The claims have paid a profit every year, with the exception, per- haps, of 1865, when the outlay for pipes and other preliminary expenses had been unusually heavy. The diggings have yielded about $150,000 in all. The claims now belong to William B. Ferguson, who was one of the original owners, and is working them successfully this season.
The claims on American and Wet Hills were located at a very early day, and worked by means of shafts sunk to the bed rock. In this manner large amounts were taken out, though the work was difficult and expensive on account of the superabundance of water. Subsequently tunnels were run and outlets made to Deer creek, and the ground was sluiced off from the surface down by the hydraulic. The most of the ground at length fell into the hands of a single company, and finally became the property of Josiah Rogers. He worked the claims some years with varying success ; and an- other company are now running a tunnel from the upper part of the dig- gings, with the view of striking the channel in Oustomah Hill. We have no reliable information as to the yield of the claims on American and Wet Hills, as the most of the workers and former owners have left, but a gen- tleman who was interested in some claims on Wet Hill at an early day, says it will count up in the millions.
The claims of R. R. Craig & Co., and of the One-Horse Company, on Oustomah Hill, have recently been opened into the channel. The One- Horse claims were taken up in 1853, John T. Crenshaw and W. B. Ewer being among the locators. The company sunk a shaft to the gravel, by means of a hand windlass, and by hard bailing were able to get out a bucket or two of the gravel, which prospected rich, and encouraged the owners to go to a heavy expense in draining the ground. The company was not able, or at least thought they were not, to put up a steam engine for pumping, and so adopted the far more expensive project of running a tunnel. This was done in partnership with the Craig Company, the tunnel being intended to drain both diggings. It has been run a distance of 700 or 800 feet, mostly through blasting rock, and at an immense cost-the One-Horse claims changing owners over and over again. Last fall the Craig claims were drained, and that company are now reaping the reward of their perse- verance. The drain has recently been extended to the One-Horse claims,
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and both companies have splendid prospects. It is probable an effort will be made during the present season to trace the channel eastwardly from the ground of the One-Horse Company. Its course is supposed to be not far from the west gap of Sugar Loaf and through Selby Flat.
The ground at present comprised in the Manzanita diggings, and owned by Marsellus & Maltman, was located in 1852 by four different companies -Eversall & Womack, Tuett, Craddock & Co., the Mountain Summit, and the Pacific Company. Shafts were sunk to the bed rock by the different companies, and the gravel drifted out and raised to the surface by hand windlasses and whims. The claims were worked in this manner for some years, and at length were consolidated and known as the Tomlinson dig- gings, when a bed-rock tunnel was run for draining, and the ground sluiced off by the hydraulic from the surface down. Previous to the consolidation, it is estimated that the four companies had taken out gold to the amount of $750,000. How much the ground yielded subsequent to the consolida- tion, we have no knowledge, but it must have been up in the hundred thousands, as the working was expensive and a number of the owners real- ized snug fortunes. Further up the ridge, and on the same channel, were the celebrated Young America, Live Oak and Nebraska claims. The Young America ground yielded in all $110,000, and that of the Live Oak Company $475,000. The gross yield of the Nebraska ground can not now be ascertained with exactness, but from November, 1858, to June, 1860, while the work was conducted under the efficient superintendence of C. H. Seymour, the yield was $353,000, and $30,000 was taken out subsequently. It was estimated, at the time the work was suspended, that the diggings had yielded, previous to the time Seymour took charge, not less than $250,000, making $633,000 in all, and the total of the three companies $1,218,000. Add to this the yield of the other four companies, and we have within a fraction of two million dollars, without counting that taken out by the Tomlinson Company, and by the Bourbon, United States, Irish, Nevada, Keystone, and other companies, which were mostly working on the outwashes of the main lead, and which must have amounted to another million. Here we have a yield of three million dollars from one channel, within a distance of but little over 3,000 feet, and some four hundred feet of this ground, between the Pacific and Live Oak diggings, yielded no pay, there being a break in the channel. There is the best reason to believe that the Nebraska channel extends far up the ridge, perhaps ten or fifteen miles. The Harmony Company got into the same channel a mile and a quarter above the upper workings of the Nebraska Company, and took out some $60,000, but having started in on the wrong side of the ridge they could not work the ground profitably. There are two or three locations
E. F. SPENCE, DRUGGIST AND APOTIIECARY, BROAD STREET, NEVADA CITY.
THIE ONLY PLACE TO GET THE BEST GOODS IS AT GOLDSMITHI'S.
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between the Nebraska and Harmony, and the ground of the Cold Spring Company adjoins the Harmony above. It is expected that some of these companies will commence operations, under favorable auspices, this season.
Considerable mining was carried on at Scotch Flat, seven miles above Nevada, at an early day. The work was mostly done by sluicing, and so far as known no very rich strikes were made, though the claims are under- stood to have yielded fair returns. In the course of the mining operations, it was ascertained that there was a deep channel, having its course under the flat, and repeated efforts were made to reach the bottom, but without success. Several shafts were sunk-one to the depth of 150 feet-but they were unable to go to the bed rock on account of the water, and inad- equate pumping machinery. Gravel, containing fair prospects of gold, extended as deep as they went. The owners of the claims, however, had not the means to erect powerful machinery, and the locality was pretty much abandoned by the miners for some years. In 1865, a number of the old claims having been purchased, and additional ground located, arrange- ments were made by several companies to work into the hills by hydraulic process. The companies had some difficulty last year in procuring water, but this we understand has now been overcome. The principal companies are Baker & Ashmun, Merrow & Cobb., Jacobs & Sargent, and Holmes, Osborn & Co. Merrow & Cobb made considerable money last year, which enabled them to purchase additional ground, and greatly increase their facilities. The prospect is favorable for all the companies this season.
At Sailor Flat, a mile and a half above Scotch Flat, there is also a deep channel, the bottom of which has never been reached, and is believed to be a continuation of that at Scotch Flat. This was undoubtedly the bed of an ancient stream, which had cut a deep gorge in the mountains, and so far as our knowledge extends, is the only ancient channel in the township which is deeper than the channels of the present running streams. .
There are numerous other placer mining companies carrying on operations in the township, some of which are yielding largely, and others only mode- rate returns ; but we have not space to enter further into details. Two or three companies are still working on Gold Flat, and the diggings of H. McCormick, on Hitchcock ravine, have been yielding a fair profit for many years. The owners of the flumes in Little Deer creek and Coyote ravine, which conduct the tailings from the diggings above into Deer creek, have derived steady incomes therefrom, the cleaning up of the flumes once or twice a year being the principal labor. The Mammoth Company, further up Deer creek, are working their claims quite extensively this season, and with good prospects. The general supposition that the surface diggings are worked out, though it has had the effect to deter miners from pros-
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