USA > California > El Dorado County > Historical souvenir of El Dorado County, California : with illustrations and biographical setches of its prominent men & pioneers > Part 20
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To accelerate the work of the hydraulic, in some of these mines tunnels were run in from the base of the bank, with cross-drifts and chambers, in which powder is placed and fuse or wires laid ; the opening from the outside is then again tilled and the powder exploded, which has the effect of jarring and loosening the gravel or rock, to facilitate the attack of the water. From a few hundred pounds up to fifty tons of powder have been used sometimes in a single blast. The miners call this method "powder-drifting," or " bank blasting," and made quite an extensive use of it in the Excelsior mine at Coon Hollow, and in the great hy- draulic claims on the Georgetown divide ; at Georgia Slide, Jones Hill, etc.
Georgia Slide, located on Canyon creek, with its oper. bank of slate-rock standing perpendicular for about two hundred and fifty feet, makes the most gro- tesque appearance. It became a mining camp in 1851, when the canyons and ravines were found to be rich placers. The first store in the place was owned by B. Spencer, a brother to Pat. Spencer, of George- town, in 1851 and '52 ; this afterwards became the property of Thomas Boarman, and in 1859 came into the possession of G. F. Barkelage, whose close atten- tion to business and investment in mines has rewarded him with quite a fortune. The mine is owned and worked by a stock company. Beattie & Co.'s Seam Mine is just above Georgia Slide; the face of the claim is about 150 feet in height and nearly perpendicular. The work is going on about half way up, and at that point the seams extend about twenty feet in width running in every direction ; they are from a half inch to three or four inches in thickness, and most of them very rich. The seams are cracks and crevices on the solid rock composed or filled with decomposed quartz, and appear to be "oxydized;" a black oxyde covers some of the pieces of gold and quartz so thoroughly that but for the weight would be passed by. There is some white quartz in some few of the seams, containing bright gold ; the black character, however, is most prevalent. The Nagler or French Claim, at Greenwood Valley is another seam mine that has been worked on the hydraulic system for a number of years, to a depth of from fifty to eighty feet from the origi- nal surface, opening the ground for a space of about five acres ; more than $2,000,000 have been extracted from this mine, and it is still estimated as one of the
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HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
most valuable mines in the State. The rock, a kind of porphyrious formation, almost to the whole extent of the mine is one mass of quartz seams, all abounding with gold, and their limits are yet unknown. Indeed, they appear to increase in richness as they go deeper down, as a shaft sunk down 150 feet on one of the seams shows a widening of the lode. The company are going to put up a thirty-stamp mill on the ground, to crush the rock and tailings piled up at the end of the sluices ; there are about 200,000 tons of rock, after a rough estimate, on hand, and the assay of some five tons of the latter kind averaged a yield of $200 per ton. A trial to break this rock and tailings with a rock-breaker and Huntington Batteries was made some time ago, but abandoned on account of insufficient satisfaction. A view of this mine may be found some other place in this book.
The California Water Company are the owners of several hydraulic mines in the northern part of El Do- rado county. A good deal of expensive work has been done at Volcanoville; the ground there con- tains many large bowlders, the flumes on that account were constructed with special reference to their dispo. sition, four feet wide, with an incline of 18 inches to each twelve feet. Bowlders the full size of the flume are easily washed down this steep incline and through a bed-rock tunnel of 325 feet length, and dumped over a steel grizzly into the canyon below, discharging toward the Midde fork of the American river, 1500 feet nearly perpendicular down. The Pilot Hill mine, better known as the Bowlder Claim, deriving the name from the number of large quartz bowlders found in this claim, from which gold, well into the thousands has been extracted. The formation is cement gravel, round and water-worn, from the size of small pebbles to large bowlders; this mass has to be worked up by powder, previous to the hydraulic operation, and the amount of rock to be removed and piled away after every run of water adds much to the expense of work- ing the claim, which varies in depth from the rim rock to thirty and forty feet in depth.
Of the smaller but none the less valuable hydraulic mining claims on the Georgetown divide we have to mention still, the Gold Deposit mine, located on Irish creek, near Columbia Flat, owned by Messrs. Voll, Anderson and Sweet, and can be called a very valuable property. An even richer one is situated about half ways between Georgetown and Volcanoville at Kentucky Flat, it is the property of Messrs A. J. Wilton and sons, apparently this claim is located in the former bed of some changed off stream, probably the Middle Fork of the American river or still another fork, as may be proved by the many big bowlders which cover quite an area of the washed out claim;
their appearance is smooth and shining like polished, resembling very much the moraines, wandering down from the mountains with the living glaciers. This how- ever, is a question for the geologlist to give a more positive answer.
A great many large or otherwise highly valuable nug- gets have been taken out of these different mines; we may record here a few of thein. At Dead man's ravine, near Poverty Point, in March 1856, a miner found a nugget worth $130. Only a short time previous two German miners were lucky enough to discover a nug- get of 4272 ounces in weight in Weber creek, op- posite Newtown. The large and beautiful nugget of gold taken from the Grit claini, at Spanish Dry Dig- gings, in 1865, was 16 pounds in weight, it was broken into small pieces and presented a beautiful specimen in each and every part. Many good sized nuggets were found in early days in Hise's ravine, Sugar Loaf moun- tain region, by Mr. John Hise; one was valued at over $800. Mr. C. W. Brewster, banker at Placerville, had in his posession one of the handsomest specimens of quartz that a person could lay his eyes on, its weight was 5114 oz. and was estimated to contain from $250 to $400 of gold, the upper side of it being literally ribbed with gold, but it had to be tied up, on account to prevent it from falling to pieces, being considerably shattered. This specimen was found in Mosquito can- yon on the Carpenter & Co's claim. In May, 1872, a nugget was found in one of the ravines of Diamond Springs mining district, tributary to the Cosumnes river, which weighed sixteen pounds, carrying some quartz, its value was about $2000. A nugget of 92 ounces equal to $1656, in the spring of 1872, was taken out of a claim owned by Rumondo, located about a quarter of a mile south of Hogg's Diggings, adjoining the Hunt quartz ledge to the north. A nug- get of pure gold, weighing about ten ounces was found in the Cooley claim, near Volcanoville on Feb- ruary 13th, 1874. Mr. Rumondo living at Pilot Hill, since the earliest days, has been the 'finder of a good number of large nuggets, during that time, in Pilot Hill mining district.
CHAPTER XX.
QUARTZ MINES AND MINING.
It is more than a general belief that the central lode, which passes through Placerville, is a continuation of the so-called mother lode in the adjoining counties further south. It is also believed that it is as exten- sive here as where it is now so successfully mined in Amador, Calaveras and Mariposa counties. Yet, for some reason, quartz mining in this county is yet in its
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QUARTZ MINES AND MINING.
infancy. Capital has never taken hold vigorously, and until it does so, the real extent and value of the ledges must remain a matter of conjecture. With a very few exceptions, operations have been confined to mere surface scratching : a pay chute is discovered, worked out in the crudest manner, and the mine unceremo- niously abandoned. Another mistake with owners of mines consists in the misdirection of capital and en- ergy, in erecting machinery and expending a large amount of money before they know anything about the extent of their ledges, thus wasting much capital; and, therefore, it is to be wished that a change may take place in the minds of capitalists, but just as much with those who own mining claims, to the fur- therance of the development of mines in El Dorado county.
The number of discovered and prospected ledges in this county is almost innumerable, and the same may be said of the quartz mining companies organized. Still, the actual results, so far as they go to determine the depth and permanence of their lodes, are compar- atively small. It is the opinion of experts that true fissure veins are certainly found in the greenstone belt only, but they may exist in slate and granite also.
THE PLACERVILLE GOLD QUARTZ COMPANY,
Working the " Old Pacific mine," which is located in the greenstone, is one of the earliest known quartz ledges, and is connected with the history of Placer- ville to such an extent that it might just as well form part of the history of that burgh. As early as 1852, the man who did the first prospecting on the ledge, "struck it rich " in the out-cropping, and was in the habit of sending as high as four or five ounces, quilted in a buckskin bag, by mail, to his wife in the States, and as our informant assures us, in every instance it went through and arrived safely In 1854, a two-stamp mill was started in connection with Predmore's saw- mill, below Placerville, and in seven years, (from 1854 to 1861,) the amount of $480,000 was taken out of this mine. The mill during that time had been in- creased to four stamps; the location was afterwards changed to a point south of town, and the mill in- creased to ten stamps, run by an overshot water- wheel. The next change introduced steam-power and a twenty-stamp mill at a cost of $54,000. While the mill stood under the hill, the ore was run out through the water tunnel, and hauled around the point with horse-cars. Notwithstanding all this clumsy work, it is a well approved fact that the product approximated closely on to $1,000,000, while the dividends amounted to over $200,000. Then it had its reverses, due par- tially to mismanagement and timid backing, and it lay idle for years. Experts declared it worked out, but the belief in the permanance of the ledge did not die out,
and those satisfied of the value of the mine did not give up their efforts to organize capital for its further development. Then it fell into the hands of an English company under the chairmanship of John Henry Courtney, Esq., of London, and the manage- ment of Prof. Thomas Price, of San Francisco. Im- mediately the work of prospecting and developing the mine began, and has continued steadily and vigor- ously ever since. The shaft, built in two compart- ments, has been carried down vertically to the depth of 600 feet, with stations at 200, 300, 400 and 500 foot levels ; from all of which drifts have been driven far out in the ledge, which may be estimated as thor- oughly opened up. It is designed to use water-power exclusively, except at the hoisting-works where steam may be substituted in case the former should fail. For this purpose an immense iron pipe takes the water from the E. D. W. & D. G. M. Co.'s ditch, from a point near the city reservoir to near the hoisting works; this pipe is 1700 feet in length by 30 inches in diam- eter; an arrangement is made that, by means of sey- eral forks, it may supply the Brewster mill, the Rose mine and the Chester mine. The building of the hoisting works is 36 by 76 feet, and an additional boiler-shed 36 by 10 feet ; a car track runs out to the ore-bin, and from there a trestle 400 feet in length, with a double track for cars, down to the mill; the mill building is 48 by 48 feet with an additional shed of 48 by 20 feet, and there is a battery of 20 stamps, worked by means of an eight-foot hurdy-gurdy wheel.
West of the Pacific or mother lode, is a rich quartz vein in the slate belt, which at several points has been quite extensively prospected. On this are located the Church Union, the Epley, Rose, Keegan, Old and Young Harmon, Hallock, Gross and St. Lawrence, reaching over a distance of about ten miles of ground. Of these, the Church Union, or Springfield, is located on the Cosumnes slope of El Dorado (Mud Springs). Work on this mine was started early in 1851 or '52, and has been run all the time continuously, never paying ex- ceedingly rich, but averaging $20 to $25 per ton; thus having proved quite a profitable investment for the stockholders. A ten stamp mill has been erected for crushing the rock-mill and hoisting-works are to be run by steam or water-power, either. The shaft is the deepest sunk in this county. In early times it was known as the " Hermitage " ledge, and was owned by Messrs. Hoover, Crow & Co., who worked it in 1853 and '54, with the regular old Mexican machinery, and with good result. In 1855 and '56 it was owned and worked by Dr. Frost & Bro., always yielding hand- somely. The present owners are Messrs. Smith & Adams. The St. Lawrence is another one of the more developed mines on the same lode. On December
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HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
12th, 1865, Messrs. William Newell and Robert Do- ran, on a prospecting trip, found some gold-bearing quartz, and on another visit to the place discovered- to their surprise-a large ledge. They ran a tunnel 400 feet and sunk a shaft 130 feet deep, and the rock taken out paid so well that, wishing to sell out, a bar- gain was easily made satisfying both parties. The mine was sold for $15,000 to McNewins, Bateman and Buel, who erected a 20-stamp mill and opened the mine so well that in 1871 or '72, the controlling inter- est of the mine was sold to an English company for $300,000 ; then ten more stamps were added and the shaft sunk to a depth of 800 feet. But the ledge hav- ing apparently pinched out, it was abandoned, and by sheriff's sale came into the possession of Mr. Mier- son. A new company was organized in which Messrs. Mierson and Alderson had a leading interest. Under Superintendent Rosewarn's management the shaft was sunk 300 feet deeper, striking as they went down a rich chute from which a handsome clean-up was real- ized; but after a while the ledge was lost entirely, the work abandoned and the machinery sold to the Placer- ville Gold Quartz Co., and the mine still awaits the re- sumption of work in the future. How large the amount is that has been taken out of this mine, we are unable to say; in three years, from 1872 to 1875. the product of the mine counted up to $450,000. The Gross mine, located in Big canyon, sold by Peter Gross to Robinson & Co., and is now owned by J. E. Lyons. It has two ledges, the Pacific and the Rose ledges, and had been profitably but not extensively worked ; the ledges are not very wide, but the rock assays up to $16 per ton. The rock is crushed in a five-stamp mill, right on the ground. The Hallock, formerly the True mine, in the same canyon, though not enough opened, presents every evidence of a great value. There are several ledges, apparently pitching towards each other, fan-shaped-good rock has been found in all of them. The Rose mine, south of Placerville, owned by Mr. C. W. Brewster, is located on the same ledge with the Old Pacific, but differs in nature and character from the latter. It has proved very rich in the past, the average yield being $46 per ton ; the quartz is heavily sulphurated. The Griffith Consolidated, south of Diamond Springs, is believed to be located on the mother lode also, but is still too much of an infant to say more than that the first pros- pects have been very rich. In the Kelsey district, in addition to the St. Lawrence, before referred to, nu- merous ledges have been discovered, and from some of them rich results have been obtained. We men- tion the Chapparel mine, the Gopher mine, and the Bowlder mine. The first named one, together with the Champion and Excelsior claims, are located a
short distance below Chili Bar, and have been worked quite extensively for a time preceding the last few years, employing a ten-stamp mill run by a water-power wheel, but only lately mill and machinery has been sold and removed to the Driesbach mine, four miles north of Grizzly Flat. The Montezuma mine is lo- cated in the Nashville mining district, near the Cosum- nes river, and the southern county line toward Ama- dor. On the surface, in early days, a number of Spaniards gouged into seams of the out-cropping quartz, bore the pieces of the latter thus extracted on their heads down to an arrastra near the creek, and re- alized big wages by crushing and washing it. Out of a cut from twelve to fifteen feet wide, and not more than one hundred feet long, several thousand dollars were taken. But little or no work was done toward the development of it for years ; then Mr. Hart took hold of it, and hoping to become able to open it, worked away for years, and Mr. Griffith entered into partnership. They put up a ten-stamp mill run by water, but the re-building of their broken dam and other necessary repairs exhausted their means, and mill and mine stand idle and the water runs to waste. From 1853 to 1856 the mine had been worked by the Harvey brothers, of Placerville. Its shaft is sunk now about 200 feet deep. The Highville mine, in the same district, is about as old as the last named, neighbor- ing mine; it was worked as early as 1850, its shaft is sunk 400 feet.
The central figure in the Grizzly Flat district is the Mount Pleasant mine. This magnificent property - one of the finest in the State-was for a long time in- volved in legal quibbles, but is now free from all ques- tions of that kind. It lies in the granite, both walls being of that character; the eastern, a hanging-wall, presents a perfectly smooth surface, while the western or foot wall is covered with crystals. The ledge is from six to ten and twelve feet wide, and the rock worth from $20 to $25 per ton. The mine only lately changed hands, going out of the possession of Mr. O. D. Lambard into that of a company of eastern capi- talists, who will work it for all that it is worth. For this purpose they have put up a large and substantial new mill, hoisting works, etc., the mill building being 38 by 45 feet, with boiler house in addition 2912 by 45 feet, the hoisting works being 20 by 22 feet, with a boiler house addition 16 by 40 feet ; below the mill a building of 16 by 48 feet has been put up to cover the sluices and protect them from snow during the winter.
The Eagle mine, north of Mount Pleasant, is be- lieved to be on a similarly good ledge as the former, but only little work has been done to the present time ; it is owned principally in Sacramento city. As early as the spring 1852, Dr. J. W. Steely, commenced loca-
Gus.H. FOWLER
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QUARTZ MINES AND MINING.
ing one of the many quartz ledges of this district, and in the progress of his work erected two mills at differ- ent points upon that branch of the Cosumnes river that bears his name, and connected them by means of wooden railroads with his mine, which was located about three-quarters of a mile south-west of Grizzly Flat. Away to the south-east, between Grizzly Flat and Brownsville, another rich be't of mines is in existence, the Stillwagon, the Mountain Quail and the Crystal, between the South Fork of the Middle Fork and the main Middle Fork of the Cosumnes river, were operated for years with success. . These ledges, run east and west, are the Crystal, the Mountain Quail and the Creole, a north and south running ledge, cutting the two former at nearly right- angles are in the possession of a corporation, known as the Crystal Mining Company ; the company's mill has been located on the Middle Fork, and a ditch built for that purpose furnishes the water for the running of the machinery.
At the present time, although the faith of claimants continues strong, no extensive work is being done in the way of quartz mining on the Georgetown divide. Upon many of them, we only instance the Taylor, the Isabel, Blue Ledge, Doncaster, the Woodside, Keefer and McKusick a great amount of labor has been expended in times past, in sinking shafts driving tun- nels etc, often enough with very flattering results, but no sooner more expensive machinery became necessary, and the want of capital brought them to a standstill.
The Pilot Hill mining district, once as noted as the far seen Beacon Hill, from which it takes its name, situated between the North and South forks of the American river, seems to be one of those lost mining camps; and why so, we are unable to give an answer. Hasn't it an unquestionable right to a fair share of consideration by reason of its quartz deposits? Havn't the alluvial deposits in its ravincs, flats and gulches been immen- sely rich and plentifully diversified with large nuggets and rich specimens of golden quartz ? Near the top of the hill-from which in clear weather a magnificent view is presented of Sacramento with the Capitol and the whole Sacramento valley, with the river like a silver ribbon running through, the Marysville Buttes and the Coast range in the back ground, forming a beautiful panarama-is situated the Pilot Hill mine. A number of auriferous quartz seams run through the location, and several shafts have been sunk, which brought the owners several thousand dollars in return for their work, but these shafts are not yet deep enough sunk to approve of the supposition that all these various seams converge into a solid ledge at no great depth ; the mine is owned by Mendes, Raimondo and Warner.
The Hunt mine, near Hoggs Diggings, about four miles north of Pilot Hill, is the oldest quartz mine in this section. In early days, up to 1850, a small and very imperfect stamp mill on Hoggs Diggings was operating the culled croppings from the ledge, the ore being taken out of some of the shafts, varying from 26 to 40 feet in depth, with an average return of about $15, per ton. But nothing has been done on this property since, except keeping off trespassers; it is chiefly owned by Sacramento people. Ore from the Josephine mine hauled to the Ophir mine in Placer county for the purpose of testing the mine, returned upwards of $25 per ton.
Previous to the Ist of January, 1858, there were to be found the following quartz mills in Logtown mining district. We are able to give a full description from a contemporary statement.
THE LAMOILLE MILL,
Owned by J. B. Beard, propelled by a steam engine of sixty horse power, running eight stamps and two arrastras, crushes fifteen tons of rock in twelve hours, and nets a weekly profit of from two to eight thousand dollars. This is the richest vein of quartz in ElDorado county ; it was opened about the end of 1856, at great expense, by the proprietor, who owed his success to untiring energy and perseverance.
THE POCAHONTAS MILL,
Propelled by a steam engine of sixteen horse power, driving five stamps and four arrastras, lately erected at a cost of twenty thousand dollars, is probably the best mill in the county, and work having been done under the supervision of Mr. D. Stoddard of San Francisco. The mill commenced work under the most favorable auspices, it is capable of crushing twelve tons of rock per day, averaging $25 per ton; the vein is of great extent, and rock enough is exposed to keep the mill working for about one year.
THE EMPIRE MILL,
Also propelled by a steam engine of twelve horse power, running three stamps and four arrastras, built by Messrs. Fiske & Deihl, at a cost of eight thousand dollars; the rock, of which a large supply was on hand, averaged always $30 per ton, there being crushed twelve tons of rock daily.
BRYANT'S MILL,
Situated on Cosumnes river. The motive of this mill is water taken from the river about a mile above, and conveyed by means of a canal to the mill. The mill has been erected at a cost of twelve thousand dollars; is capable of crushing ten tons of rock daily; the rock paying an average of $25 per ton. The vein from which the rock is obtained is near the Lamoille mill, but, owing to the scarcity of wood, Mr. Bryant
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HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
considered it the cheapest to haul his rock to the river, than to erect a steam mill ; an op ation which in the course of time will save a vast amount of money.
THE UNION MILL (CHURCH UNION),
Is capable of crushing fifteen tons daily, the rock yielding $20 per ton, is probably the oldest mill in El Dorado county, erected in 1851, was always a pay- ing institution. The motive power up to 1857, was exclusively steam, but thereafter a water-wheel had been added, the water was obtained from the Diamond Springs ditch, by which means the mill was run for half the expense for which wood could be procured. The quartz of this mine is inexhaustible and increases in size and quality the deeper the vein becomes opened.
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