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 6
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Since it has been demonstrated that wines of good quality can be made in the mountains of the county, an interest has been awakened in the
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VINES AND WINES.
business of vine planting, and ere long the Assessor will report a million vines instead of the number given in his communication of last year to the' Surveyor General. All that is required is the planting of the right kinds of grapes upon the proper soil for them, and crops will come that would astonish any country in Europe. Four tons on an acre of vines five years old is not an uncommon yield. And grapes are produced liere with far less expense than in the best grape growing regions of France and Italy. The land can be had for nothing, and the country being the home of the grape no extreme artificial system is needed calling for constant labor to mature a crop. Land being plenty, the vines can be planted far enough apart for horse cultivation, and the soil being dry in the Summer no exertion is required to keep down weeds as in countries having a moister climate. The vines need irrigation the first year, but after that on most soils they will take care of themselves. It has been found that working the gound in Summer with a plow or cultivator renders it moist and supersedes irrigation in many localities.
The vineyards of the county arc yet small. Probably there is not one of more than 10,000 vines. Generally they are but experimental patches of from one to three thousand vines. The French have tried the cultivation of the grape about French Corral, and with good success. Their wines of last year's vintage are already disposed of and at fair rates. Mr. Ponce has 4,000 bearing vines ; Mr. H. Poulinier 3,000 ; Mr. Monier 2,500, and Mr. Freschot 1,500, at that place. The wine produced was a sort of claret, 2,000 gallons of which found a ready market. The grape cultivated is the Mission and Black Hamburg. General Evens has 3,500 vines of the Mission variety at Sweetland, and Mr. Strahline 1,100, of the same sort. Eight hundred gallons of white wine were produced from these vines.
At North San Juan, Louis Buhring, to whom I am greatly indebted for information concerning the grape culture and wine making in Bridgeport township, and who is a successful experimentalist in the business, has 2,000 vines-half Mission, and the other half of Hamburg, Catawba and white Muscat of Alexandria. George D. Dornin has 1,000 vines, and P. Bush 500. Buhring has made several varieties of wine, some of which I have sampled, that promise well. The grape in that section of the county developes a great deal of sacharine matter, which by fermentation is trans- formed into alcohol. The wines are, therefore, of considerable strength- too much, perhaps, for table wines. However, the introduction of grapes of other varieties may enable that part of the county to produce the light wines for dinner use, which is the great desideratum, since Los Angeles can produce the strong wines in excess, and the counties north of the Bay of San Francisco, the Hocks and sparkling kinds.
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VINES AND WINES.
At Nevada, Josiah Rogers has 10,000 vines, mostly of the Los Angeles or Mission variety. His is probably the largest bearing vineyard in the county. R. R. Craig has 5,000 vines, of many varieties, but mostly Mis- sion. Mr. Seibert has a vineyard of 2,000 vines, of forty varietics. E. G. Waite has a thousand vines, all foreign, with the exception of a few Catawbas and Isabellas. The wines produced by Craig have been sold at two dollars per gallon by the cask. Scibert's wines are sold readily at fine prices; his brandy has, also, commanded a ready sale. He has attempted several varieties of winc, and generally with good success. Good judges pronounce some of his wines equal to any produced on the coast. Waite has made wine which is said to be the only approach to a good article of French claret yet produced in the State. The late Wilson Flint, whose judgment in such matters will not be disputed, said it was the best wine of its age he ever sampled. [This is not an advertisement ; there is not a bottle of it left for sale.] It sold readily at good prices, and gave universal satisfaction. All the wines above mentioned have been thrown into market young, but such is their character that it is confidently predicted they will develop splendidly.
P. Bergantz has a vineyard of 3,500 Mission grapes, three miles below Grass Valley, which yields a white wine unlike any I have tested that came from that variety of grape. It resembles some of the Rhine wines strongly. The yield for 1866 was 1,800 gallons. This wine seems to be a favorite with many persons of various nationalities.
There are quite a number of vineyards in Grass Valley township and, also, several in the vicinity of the Anthony House, in Rough and Ready township, which produce wines; but we have no knowledge of their quality or character. The grape culture has begun in Little York township. The few vines in bearing in that part of the county are said to give promise of good results from enterprises on a larger scale. Vines are also grown in small numbers, by way of experiment, in Bloomfield and Washington townships. The hardier sorts will flourish in those sections of the county.
Probably, estimating the quantity of land in Nevada county at the lowest figure, there are not less than sixty thousand acres, about one-twelfth of the whole surface, capable of producing grapes, for the market, for wine, for brandy and for raisins. The soil fit for the growth of the grape is of vol- canic ash or sedimentary lava, or is of decomposed granite enriched with the potash and soda set free by the decomposition of feldspar, and impreg- nated with oxide of iron. The tops of the ridges coming down from the high Sierra is of the volcanic character, pretty generally, and the volcanic materials have been washed down and mixed with the soil of granitic origin in some localities, forming a combination favorable for grape cultivation.
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VINES AND WINES.
But the soils of granitic or volcanic origin, are not objectionable to the vine grower. - Of ground proper for grape cultivation, the county is not deficient.
It has been demonstrated that in a climate where the grape grows so naturally, the highly artificial system of pruning and training vines which is in vogue in some parts of Europe, will not do. In a country of cloudy skies, and where the high price of land induces the crowding of as many vines as possible upon an acre, there must be considerable Summer pruning required to give the grape the requisite amount of heat and light from the sun. But, under our brazen skies, that labor had better be spared. There are none too many lungs to the vine to condense moisture and gather from the atmosphere the elements to perfect the fruit. The more foliage the better, provided it be not so dense as to prevent the free circulation of air among the vines and around the fruit. The grapes grown upon vines let alone by the pruner during the Summer, have been found to be the largest and best, and the more lungs to the plant the greater its capacity to bring to perfection a large crop. After the vines have been cut back, the " let alone " practice is best, till the cutting back process is again required for another year.
The theory of low pruning will not do for all localities. If the vineyard has a northern exposure and the soil retains moisture, the clusters of grapes near the ground and subject to its humid influence, after the rains in the Autumn, will be liable to mold and rot, while those on the same vine higher up exposed to the warm currents of air, will soon dry and remain sound. The practice of heading the vine low in vineyards with northern exposures is therefore pernicious, particularly when the clusters of grapes are large and compact. Small or open clusters may dry when near the damp ground, but large and close ones may not.
The French and Germans have brought with them from the vineyards of Europe the mode of pruning the vine very short, that is, leaving but few spurs of two or three buds each. I think my experiments demonstrate that a vine in California should not be pruned as closely as in Europe, and should be treated according to its vigor, age and variety. To cut back a vine without reference to its strength and its variety is absurd. Why should not an Isabella five years old produce as many pounds of grapes as a Black Hamburg, both being of equal vigor and the same age ? Yet if both be pruned alike, they will produce about an equal number of clusters. But the Hamburg, with its large bunches, will either overbear or the Isabella, with its small ones, will not bear according to its capacity.
Our vines are so thrifty in California that the short pruning system is destructive. If too few buds are left there is not room for the ascending
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VINES AND WINES.
sap in the Spring, and it breaks out along the body of the vine, destroying its vitality. Better leave more wood and cut away a portion of the ineipi- ent clusters of grapes afterward, than ruin the vines with short pruning.
In the way of wine making, there is little new to be said. Most of the white wine of the country is made as near as possible after the process of making cider in the older States of the Union. Red wine is made from fermenting the pulp of mashed grapes. The color comes from the skins. Sometimes the pulp is partly fermented when the wine is pressed out and finisbes its fermentation in a clean cask. Sweet wine is made by boiling the must to one-half its original quantity, and afterward treating it as white wine. I have adopted the mode of fermenting wine by the use of iron tubes, like a syphon. One end is inserted in the barrel of must; the other in a bucket of water. Fermentation is by this mode retarded, and com- pensation is found for the deep, cool cellars of Europe.
But, I am not writing a guide to vine growers and wine makers. The object of the above observations is, to notice some facts which experiments have shown to be useful in this region in connection with a few others which are known but which could not well be passed in silence.
I cannot well express in language the prospect I see spread out in the future-a county teeming with agricultural life ; hillsides clothed in vine- yards opulent with purple clusters ; happy, vine-embowered homes and the joys of the vintage; leaping rivulets of wine and cellars stored with liquid ingots, more valuable to the nation than mines of gold, because the source is inexhaustible and perpetual. This is the aspect of our county to be. It is not a vision, but a coming reality. The time is not far distant when as a people we shall look no longer to France, Spain and Italy for our wines, and silks, and raisins, and figs, and olives, but will resort to Hesperian gardens for them all, and Nevada will supply the American Chambertins, Burgundys and clarets for American palates and American commerce.
MINES AND MINING.
QUARTZ MINING.
It was not until the spring of 1850, when the placer mines of California had been worked two seasons, that attention began to be directed to quartz veins as the matrix in which the gold was originally formed, and the sources from which that found in the surface diggings was derived. The early settlers, and those who first flocked to this coast on the announcement of the discovery of gold, had no knowledge of vein mining, and were too much absorbed in collecting the precious particles which were found mixed with the gravel on the bars and in the beds of the streams to give any attention to the sources whence they came. The discovery of gold imbeded in quartz pebbles led to an examination of the ledges, and the first quartz location in the State, probably, was made in Butte county, not far from the present site of Oroville.
At that early date there had been no excitement about quartz in Nevada county. The first quartz location in the county, of which we now have any information, was at Gold Hill, near Grass Valley. This was early in the summer of 1850. Quartz was discovered on Massachusetts Hill soon after, and in October of the same year the Gold Tunnel ledge was located at Nevada. The latter was struck by four young men from Boston, while engaged in their first day's work at mining. Other locations were made the same season, both at Grass Valley and Nevada, but the three above mentioned have become especially famous for their immense yield of gold, amounting in the aggregate to nearly, if not quite, double the present prop- erty valuation of the county. The first mill erected in the county, and probably in the State, was built by two Germans, the following winter, at Boston Ravine. This was a poor affair, and of course was a failure.
In 1851, we date the first quartz excitement. The shallow surface dig- gings were beginning to show signs of exhaustion, or at least were not so readily found as in the preceding years, and prospectors were running over the hills in every direction in search of ledges. Numerous mills were
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QUARTZ MINING.
projected, and during the fall and winter eight or ten were erected in Ne- vada and vicinity, and as many more at Grass Valley. All the Nevada mills, with the exception of the Gold Tunnel, and the most of those built at Grass Valley, proved disastrous failures, and in 1853 the quartz interest had fallen to its lowest ebb. With our present experience in quartz mining, we can readily perceive thie causes of the carly failures in the business. The mills were erected at enormous expense, in many cases the projectors paying an extortionate interest for money ; they had been deceived by pro- fessed assayers, or deceived themselves, as to the amount of gold the quartz would yield, had no knowledge of amalgamating, and there were no miners in the country who knew how to open or work a quartz ledge.
The disappointments and ruin occasioned by the quartz failures led to some deplorable results. Captain Peck had located a ledge, and in connec- tion with other parties erected a mill, at the place now known as Peck's Ravine. With other quartz operators he failed, having expended his own fortune, and become deeply involved. Driven to distraction, and aggravated beyond endurance by the complaints of his partners, he put a pistol to his head and discharged it. The unfortunate man lived twelve hours, though the ball had passed through his brain. A still more shocking tragedy was enacted at Grass Valley some years later. Michael Brenan, the superin- tendent and part owner of the Mount Hope Company, on Massachusetts Hill, had involved the company beyond redemption, and the property was levied upon by creditors. Of a sensitive disposition, and lacking the courage and fortitude to face poverty and endure the reverse of fortune, the unhappy man poisoned his wife and three children, and then himself. Prussic acid was the poison used, but by what means he succeeded in administering the fatal drug to his victims could not be ascertained.
In Grass Valley, where some Eastern and English capital had been in- vested, a number of companies continued operations on their ledges, several mills were kept running, and the quartz interest slowly revived. But in Nevada, where the failure was more decided, the business was almost entirely abandoned, and miners turned their attention to the hill diggings, then just beginning to be prospected. The Gold Tunnel mill was kept running, and the Wigham and Canada Hill mills were run at intervals, the former yielding good returns, though the amount produced by all was quite insignificant compared with the yield of the placer mines. Still, at the period of lowest depression, the pioneer quartz miners had faith in the speedy revival of the business, and predicted that the veins would be worked successfully, long after the placer mines were exhausted. The present gen- eration will not live to verify the truth or falsity of the prediction, for late developments indicate an extent of placer mining ground that will require F
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QUARTZ MINING.
centuries to exhaust, and of which the miners at that carly day had no knowledge.
By 1857, the Grass Valley mines were in a flourishing condition, and the business was beginning to revive in Nevada. The Allison Ranch and other mines in the former district had begun to pour forth their treasures, and the Soggs and Oriental mills were erected in the vicinity of Nevada, both of which proved successful. The former mill has been in operation with little interruption nearly ten years, yielding in that time some $600,000 in gold ; and although the yield of the rock probably has not averaged over ten dollars a ton, at times it has afforded the owners large profits. In the succeeding two or three years, the business continued to prosper in Grass Valley, becoming the leading interest of the town, while it steadily im- proved at Nevada.
The development of the quartz interest, however, was destined to expe- rience another period of depression, though by no means so disastrous and discouraging as that of 1852. The discovery of silver in Washoe was first made public in this county in the summer of 1859, and quite a number of our most energetic quartz operators hastened to the new mining field. The wonderful richness of the Comstock lode was fully determined that fall, and the next spring witnessed the exodus of many of our best working miners, who abandoned their claims here for what appeared to be the more promis- ing field of enterprise east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. For three years there was a constant drain of population and capital from the county -the capital, especially, being much needed in the development of our own mines. Added to this drain upon our resources, the most of the best paying mines of Grass Valley were flooded during the severe winter of 1861-62, requiring many months to place them again in working condition, during which time the expenditures were heavy and no returns. From these causes, business of all kinds was depressed, and for two or three years Grass Valley and Nevada were among the dullest of the mining towns of the State.
In 1863, the population of the county had decreased nearly one- third, and in the fall of that year, when Nevada, for the fourth time, was destroyed by fire, many were of the opinion that the town would never recover. But, in 1864, the adventurers who had left for distant mining regions began to return, satisfied that this county presented the best field for mining enter- prise on the coast, and the tide of emigration has since been in our favor. At the present time, Grass Valley is the largest and most prosperous mining town in the State-probably on the coast-and her prosperity is due entirely to the surrounding quartz mines. Nevada stands second to Grass Valley, depending about equally on the quartz and placer mines of the vicinity.
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QUARTZ MINING.
We have now in Nevada township, including one cement mill and another recently completed, seventeen mills, running an aggregate of 184 stamps, yielding about a million dollars annually, and giving direct employment to some six hundred men. In Grass Valley township there were, in October last, some thirty mills, with 284 stamps, and sixteen or eighteen hundred men were employed in the mills and mines. The annual gold yield of the township is estimated as high as four million dollars. While Nevada is behind Grass Valley in the development of the quartz interest, it is far ahead of any other town in the State.
In reviewing the progress of quartz mining in the county, we have thus far confined our remarks to Grass Valley and Nevada, for the reason that but little attention has been given until recently to the development of the quartz veins in other parts of the county. The discoveries in the vicinity of Meadow Lake, in the spring and summer of 1865, created considerable excitement throughout California and .in Nevada State, causing a rush of adventurers to that locality. Numerous ledges were discovered and located, in some of which ore of extraordinary richness was found.
The real work of developing the Meadow Lake mines was commenced in the summer of 1866, and considering the many drawbacks, including the deep snows of winter, has progressed as rapidly as could have been antici- pated. The ledges are inclosed in a belt of syenite, are of large size as compared with those at Grass Valley and Nevada, but much of the gold is contained in sulphurcts, which will require practical experience before it can be economically reduced. The U. S. Grant Company have kept a five- stamp mill running since September, 1866, and are making rapid progress in the development of their property. Some other companies have also been working their mines during the past winter, but operations on the most of the claims were suspended last fall. The history of Meadow Lake, and the progress made in the development of the mines of the district, will be given more fully in another part of this work.
Lying half-way between Nevada and Meadow Lake, is another belt of gold-bearing veins, extending through Eureka and Washington townships. The veins are numerous and of good size, run nearly north and south, cor- responding with the range of the mountains, and the country rock is a compact granite, which greatly enhances the cost of prospecting and opening mines. The ledges, or at least many of them, are "spotted," containing large amounts of gold in places, while the most of the quartz is barren. Some years ago a ledge was discovered on Gaston ridge, the owners of which made enough money, by crushing the rock in a hand mortar, to erect a mill. But the mill was a failure, the rich pocket having been exhausted. In 1863, a mill was erected on the Tecumseh ledge, in Washington
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QUARTZ MINING.
township, by a company organized in Nevada. Wonderful reports were circulated of the richness of this ledge; but the ore, by mill process, yielded only about twenty dollars a ton, and in consequence of the great cost of mining the rock, and perhaps bad management, the enterprise was not successful. The mill was kept running for a year or more on rock from the Fidelity ledge, near by, but is now idle. The mill of the Star Company, in the same township, was built a little later. This company have seven ledges in the vicinity of their mill, two of which have been prospected and found to contain gold in paying quantities, and are still carrying on opera- tions, with a fair prospect of developing a good mining property.
Within the past year or two, considerable interest has been taken in the development of the quartz mines of Eureka township. The mill of the Jeffersonian Company was erected near Bowman's, in 1864, on a ledge supposed at the time to be remarkably rich, but either from bad manage- ment, or some other cause, the enterprise has not been successful, though the company are still carrying on operations. A mill was erected last fall by R. C. Black on the Young ledge, and another by James M. Pattee, superintendent of the Eagle Company, on the Grizzly ledge, three miles below the town of Eureka. These mills have been in operation only a short time, but the first crushings were favorable. The Eagle Company have several ledges in the vicinity of their mill, one or two of which, if they hold out equal to the anticipations of experienced miners, will take rank among the most valuable mines of the county. Two other mills; one on the Jim ledge and the other intended as a custom mill, have also been erected in the township within the past year, and there is every indication that Eureka will soon become an important quartz mining district.
Last summer, the Hawley Brothers crected a mill at Grizzly Ridge, in Bloomfield township, where they have, beyond question, a remarkably rich mine. The ore, however, is refractory, and they have not yet been able to work it successfully. There is but one quartz mill in Rough and Ready township, which is now idle. No progress has been made in developing quartz mines in Bridgeport or Little York townships.
The quartz business, notwithstanding the many failures and drawbacks, has been gradually improving since 1853, and the yield of gold from that source has steadily increased. The operations have generally been con- ducted by practical men, who have successively discovered and brought into use all the improved methods of reducing the ore, and amalgamating and collecting the gold. Very little foreign capital has been invested in the development of our mines, although there is not a mining district in the world that offers better inducements for judicious investment. The comparatively small amount that has been invested by capitalists in our
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QUARTZ MINING.
county has generally been in dividend-paying mines, and which of course was no assistance in developing our resources.
At no period in the history of our county, since the wild speculations of 1852, has quartz mining been in more favor than at present, or the pros- pects more flattering. A number of new mills will be erected during the present season ; many of the ledges formerly abandoned will be re-opened, and new discoveries are of almost daily occurrence. There are now in the county over sixty quartz mills, having an aggregate of about five hundred and fifty stamps. The most of these are kept steadily in operation.
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