USA > California > Nevada County > History of Nevada County, California; with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and manufactories > Part 50
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RED DOG, CHALK BLUFF AND YOU BET.
The discoveries made at Red Dog Hill in 1851 drew many miners to this region. The hills were worked here by drifting and hydraulic methods, and a large number of cement mills were used to crush the cement of the "blue lead," none of which are now being worked. The hills in this vicinity have been extensively worked in the past, and are now being mined on a large scale by companies that have acquired consolidated claims of large dimensions. Of the oldl miners who worked here for years were Niece & West and G. S. Brown. The work at present is being done by the following companies :-
The Birdseye Creek Company, known as the English Com- lany, is operating at You Bet on two claims, Brown's Hill and Walloupa. Some twenty white inen and as many Chinamen are employed. This company has been operating for about nine years, and uses 1,600 inches of water, from a ditch owned by it. Jerry Goodwin is the Superintendent. The Nevada Slining Co., known as the Hayward claim, at Chalk Bluff, owns 700 acres of ground, and two bed rock tunnels 1,400 and 500 feet long. The tunnels cost about $50,000. This season the company will work in four claims, and will also work the lead of blne cement that has been uncovered by its former operations, either by hydraulie power or with a cement mill. John Spaulding is the Superintendent. John Hussey has extensive claims at Chalk Bluff, which he is working by the hydraulic process. He has four tunnels, 900, 700, 250 and 450 feet long respectively, and 3,500 feet of pipe, He employs sixteen men, and owns 500 acres. G. S. Brown has mined for years in this vicinity, and is at present the owner of wane valuable miving ground which is not being worked.
LITTLE YORK.
The first mining in the township was done on Bear river at Little York hy emigrants in 1849. Union Bar on the river was the first point to be worked, and then the mniners worked along Nigger ravine, and by following their lead into the bank, discovered the gravel channel. In the fall of 1851 a great many claims were staked off on the hill and the next year work commenced in earnest. Council Hill was the first located, fol- lowed by Missouri Hill, Empire Hill, Manzanita Hill and Christ- mas Hill. The leading miners for the first few years were Cur- ren & Garrison, Gill & Co., and Peters & Co. The mines were for a long time worked by drifting, but were afterwards con- solidated and hydraulic power used. The first consolidated company was the Little York Mining and Water Co., who sold in 1873 to the Little York Gold Washing and Water Co., an English company. Four years later the claims were purchased hy D. W. Balch, of San Francisco, and in 1879 they became the property of the Liberty Hill Consolidated Miuing Co. This company owns 400 acres on Empire Hill and Man- zanita Hill, known as the Little York claims. Here they have a tunnel 1,300 feet in length and employ twenty-five men. They use two pipes, one six and the other nine inches in diameter. On Christinas Hill they have two six inch pipes, and are extending their tunnel to a length of 2,000 fect. Twenty men are employed at this point. At Liherty Hill, they have a tunnel 1,800 feet long, and use two eight inch pipes. At this point twenty-five men are employed. In all the company's claims amount to 900 acres. The company owns three ditches, Lower Bear River Ditch, eighteen miles long; Steep Hollow, twenty miles long ; Doolittle, ten miles long; total capacity 4,500 inches. There are six supply reservoirs and 35,000 feet of iron pipc. The headquarters of the company at Little York consist of house, office, stables, shops, etc. The company also owns a saw mill four iniles above the town. Along the gravel rauge from Dutch Flat, through Little York, Liberty Hill and Lowell Hill is a telephone line, fifteen miles in length. At Little York Dr. William D. Aplin owns about one hundred acres of mining ground that has been worked considerably in the past, but has lain idle the Jast four years.
LOWELL HILL AND REMINGTON HILL.
At these points the mining is nearly all being done by drift- ing on account of the depth of the bank and the lack of suffi- cient fall to use hydraulic power. The Swamp Angel Gold .Mining Company, at Lowell Hill, owns 226 acres, in which from forty to sixty men are employed in drifting. These claims have been worked siuce 1869. The tunnel is 1,000 feet long, and some five acres have been drifted. The Morgan Gold Min- ing Company, formerly the Goklen Ball, owns 300 acres at
Lowell Hill, which are being worked both by drifting and hydraulic. The tunnel is 350 feet long, and has two branches into the channel. Seventy-five or one hundred men will be employed here as soon as the drifts are opened. The Planet Mine is on the Bear river side of the hill, and is being worked hy drifting. The Steep Hollow Company, Wilkinson, Wildcat, Dewy and East New York are all drift mines in the vicinity of Lowell Hill.
Across Steep Hollow from Lowell Hill is Remington Hill, where the Wide West Company is working the old McCann, Miami and Rhode Island claims hy drifting. They are also opening a hydraulic claim by means of a deep ent into Steep Hollow. About forty men are employed hy this company. Several claims lie above the Wide West, the chief of which is the Great Eastern, an extensive drift mine. At Democrat Hill, just above, Wick Brothers are working a small hydraulic claim. The Mammoth Blue Gravel Company owns 1,600 acres of patented ground here, not yet developed, and Rose & Duryea are working two claims in the vicinity.
Considerable prospecting is being done along the gravel range, and a few years will see a great many new mining enterprises undertaken.
CHAPTER LVI.
THE MINES OF MEADOW LAKE.
Excelsior Ledges-California-Pittsburg-Wiscousin-Pacific-Empire-Sunny Sonth - Keystone-Potosi -Sacramento-Justice-Mohawk-Gold Run Phoenix - Pullman -New York - U. S. Grant - Kentuck-Enterprise- Nature of the Quartz-Processes-A New Method of Working.
THE discovery of the Meadow Lake ledges and the wild rush of prospectors, the locating of ledges of quartz and ledges of everything else that bore the slightest resemblance to them, the growth and death of the " mushroom city " of Meadow Lake, so aptly called "The City of a Day," have all been related in the history of that township. It remains now but to give a description of the actual mining enterprises that were and are being prosecuted, to complete the history of this most wonder- ful region.
The first ledge was discovered in June, 1863, by H. H. Hartley (a native of Pennsylvania, and not an Englishiuan, as is stated in the history of the township), who, with John Simons and Henry Feutel, muade the first locations in the following September. These were Union, or Excelsior, No. 1 and 2. and the company was called Excelsior, as was also the wining dis- triet. These lie side by side, but seventy-five feet apart, and the surface croppings can be traced northwesterly and south- easterly for a distance of a mile, having a width of fifteen feet. The quartz on the surface is stained a dark reddish
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HISTORY OF NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
brown by the action of oxide of iron, derived from the gold- bearing pyrites which it contains in great abundance. In many cases the decomposed sulphurets of the ledge show fine gold. Assays were made that showed the quartz to be exceedingly rich, but when an attempt was made to work the ore, it was found very rebellious and that it would not amalgamate well. A tunnel has been run in about one hundred feet, and the end of it is about sixty feet below the surface, showing a solid ledge of fourteen feet, which assays $60 to the ton. Mr. Hartley still owns these claims.
In 1864 the California Co. located seventeen hundred feet on each of the California, Knickerbocker, Indian Queen and Indian Boy ledges. A mill was built and a shaft sunk, but work was stopped a few years later. The Pittsburg Mine lies alongside of the Excelsior locations and assays better than they. It was located early, but was not worked until the fall of 1878. Hartley, Campbell & Whipple, the owners, have a shaft sixty-nine feet deep, disclosing a vein five feet wide, that assays $80 to the ton. Near. the Pittsburg is the Wisconsin, owned by Leonard & Whipple. It has a shaft down thirty feet and a vein eight feet wide. In 1865, Mr. Leonard, by a horse power arastra, took out considerable gold from rock that paid over $100 to the ton. This is the richest ledge in the dis- triet, and the only one from which gold was shipped. The Pacifie lies in the town of Meadow Lake, and was located in 1865. It has two shafts down one hundred feet each, on a vein four feet wide. Some five hundred tons of rock have been milled, running about $16 to the ton. The owners are W. H. and Silas Ware. The Empire lies near the Excelsior, and was located in 1865. The shaft is down eighty feet, on a ledge five feet in width. W. H. & Silas Ware are the owners. The Sunny South is one-half mile south of the Excelsior, and was first worked in 1866. A shaft is down thirty feet, and a tunnel has been driven eighty feet to the ledge. Considerable ore has been milled from the Sunny South, yielding about $12 per ton. It is thought that if the gold could be saved the rock would pay $100 per ton. The mine is owned by John Timn- mons, of San Francisco. The above mines are all those of any consequence in the immediate vicinity of the once magnificent city of Meadow Lake.
Near the old town of Baltimore, which once had five or six buildings, but whose site is now marked by one lonely and «leserted house, there are several partially developed mines. The Keystone was first worked in 1865, by H. H. Hartley, who still owns it. There is a shaft down sixty feet, and an open eut has been made about sixty feet, from which a tunnel is being run. The vein is nine feet wide, and the ore is expected to run $40 to the ton. Near by is the Potosi, worked first in 1865, by Hartley, and still his property. The ledge is five feet wide, and a shaft is down seventy feet. $30 to the ton are
expected. The Sacramento was located and worked in 1867. The ledge is fourteen feet wide, and is reached by an open cut and tunnel sixty feet long. The owner is R. A. Campbell. Near this mine is the Justice, first worked in 1867. The seven foot ledge is reacheil by a cut and tunnel forty feet in length. Johnson Leonard is the owner.
On Old Man Mountain are a number of mines that have met with great difficulty from the rebellious nature of the ores. The Mohawk was one of the prominent miines of 1865, and was worked by the Mohawk and Montreal Co. The ledge crops out a long distance, and is six feet in width. A steam quartz mill was erected, which has sinee gone to ruin. Two shafts were sunk, one hundred and fifty feet each, and a tunnel run in the same distance. Considerable ore was milled, yiekl- ing about $30 to the ton. Mr. Hill is the owner, Gold Run Phoenix is another mine on the mountain, worked first in 1865. A tuunel has been run two hundred feet on the ledge, which is four feet wide. The mine is owned by Davis & Gregory, of Sacramento. Another is the Pullman, located in 1867, with a ledge twenty feet wide, cropping out at the surface. The mine has been opened by a cut and tunnel about fifty feet long. It is in a very inaccessible location, and ore has been carried down the mountain and milled, giving $20 to the ton. It is owned by John Timmons. Between the Mohawk and Phoenix is the New York ledge, a discovery of 1865. The ledge erops out and is twelve feet wide. No work has been done on the ledge, but some of the croppings have been milled, yielding $8 to $10, where the assay was $80. There are two locations on the ledge, one by John Timmons and one by John- son Leonard.
Near the town of Carlyle, which once had a store, boarding house, saloon, saw mill, quartz mill and some two hundred inhabitants, and whose echoes are now awakened by the voices of' but four men, are a number of mines that great things were expected of. The most prominent is the U. S. Grant, a elaim that was located in 1866, on the Ohio ledge, by Thomas Car- lyle and others. The ledge crops out on the surface and is four feet wide. A main tunnel was driven two hundred and fifty feet and then a T drift run, being one hundred feet one way and sixty the other. A shaft is down from the surface, strik- ing the main tunnel at a depth of one hundred and fifty feet. Considerable inside work has been done and ore milled at vari- ous times that averaged $30 to the ton. The mine is now being worked by Lewison & Harris, of Truckee. A mill was built with five stamps, that has been run occasionally by vari- ous parties. It was increased to ten stamps in 1870, and in the recent storm was demolished by an avalanche. The Kentuck is on the same ledge, and was first worked in 1866. Ilas two shafts, one hundred feet and forty feet deep respectively. A tunnel is in about two hundred feet. Some one hundred tons
of ore have been milled, giving $8 to the ton. The owner is Frank Panson, of San Francisco. There are a number of other mines at Carlyle, but the above are the most prominent ones.
The towns of Mendoza and Enterprise lie within half a mile of each other. The former had in 1866, a hotel, two restau- rants, two stores, and a population of five hundred. Enterprise at the same time consisted of a number of houses and fifty or sixty people. Not a house is standing on the old town sites. In this vieinity are a number of mines, the only one of any im- portanee whatever being the Enterprise, at the town of that name. It was discovered in 1865, and was worked that year and for a few seasons thereafter. A shaft is down ninety feet, with several drifts.
Considerable ore was taken out and shipped to Swansea, some of it selling for $2.50 per pound on the dump. The mine is still being worked on a small scale, but is not paying any- thing to its owner, F. Mckay. A number of locations were made in 1878, on Red Mountain near Cisco. Some of the ore from these claims sold in San Francisco for $40 per ton, but their value is not known.
The ore of Meadow Lake district is extremely rebellious and hard to work, on account of the mixture of sulphur, arse- nie, antimony and other minerals, which neutralize the effect of the quieksilver, and prevent amalgamation. Every year some new process has been tried upon these ores, but with no favorable result. In 1869 Robert Burns made an attempt with the celebrated Burns' process, but after raising the hopes of miners in this distriet to the highest piteh. he failed to accom- plish anything. H. H. Hartley then tried a process of his own. but with little better suceess. Dolan and Churchill then intro- dueed another method, but had to abandon it on account of its utter failure to do the work. The next attempt was made by a man named C'real, with a like result. Shively. Rabb & Co. then made an effort, but withdrew defeated. In 1579 Harri- and Gould commeuced operations at Carlyle, and have met with very encouraging results. Their method of operation is to dry crush the quartz, then roast and thoroughly oxidize it. grind it in a common mill pan, and then put it into a settler and amal- gamate it. The secret seems to lie in the thorough oxidation o" the ore. On t'e first run of ore by this process from the Grant mine the yield was $60 per ton. The second lot of thirteen tons produced $1,284, nearly $100 to the ton. Thus far the results are satisfactory, and if the working of the ore from this mine on a more extensive scale this season shall demonstrate the value of this process, the ledges of Meadow Lake, so rich and yet so intractible, will take a front rank again. & many failures have been made by methods that have at first promise good results, that it would be folly to predicate an opinion cu the above results, but as soon as a successful process is found Meadow Lake will be a region of no small importance
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HISTORY OF NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
CHAPTER LVII.
THE MINES OF NEVADA.
Placer Mines-"Coyoteing"-Hirschuman Gravel Claim-Manzanita Claim- Blue Tent Mining and Water Company-Adalante, Merrimac and Round Mountain-Emma and Ashburn & Baker-Quartz Mines-The Excite- ment and Failures of 1851-Present Condition-Character of the Quartz- The Leading Quartz Mines-Providence, Merrifield, Murchie, Gold Tunnel, Pittsburg, Thomas, Etc .- Pioneer Reduction Works-Sulphuret Reduction Works.
PLACER MINES.
THE first mining in Nevada township was done in 1849 on Deer creek aud its tributaries. River and ravine mining in those days was the only kind carried on, as gold bearing quartz had not yet been discovered, aud the great gravel hills were as yet an umrevealed book. The fame of Deer creek was spread far and wide, and thousands were attracted here by the stories of its wonderful richness, to find that the value of the claims had not been exaggerated. Early in 1850 the miners followed what they supposed to be a ravine lcad into a hill, and dis- covered the immense gravel beds that have added millions of dollars to the wealth of the country. Here they commenced work by burrowing in the ground and throwing out the dirt and gravel in heaps about the mouths of their shafts. The resemblance of these holes, with their burrows of dirt, was so strong to those made by the coyote, that the system of miuing was at once called " coyoteing," and the hill was named Coyote Hill. This was the first working of the great coyote range that was so famous in the early days. The gravel range that was opened north of Nevada City has been traced east until it unites with the great channel running south from Blue Teut.
The first hydraulic work ever done was by E. E. Matteson, on American Hill, in 1853. The hill was first located in 1857, and a company ran a tunnel on the south side, but were above the channel, and abandoned the work. A little later another company drove a tunnel into the hill from the southeast, but finding that they were too low, also abandoned the claim. In 1853, John Bar sank a shaft on the east tunnel, and found a very rich channel of gravel, using the tunnel for a drain. In 1857, Amos T. Laird bought American Hill as far as Wood's ravine, and worked it successfully. He sold to Joshua Rogers & Co. in 1861, and in 1866 Gentry, Hirschman &, Grover pur- chased the ground. As there was not then sufficient fall to work the ground, they occupied four years in driving a tunnel, at an expense of $25,000. Since 1872 the claim has been worked by Hirschman, Grover & Co. The original American Hill has all been worked out, and they are now working on (Justomalı Hill adjoining. There is a four-foot flume in the claim, 4,000 feet in length, and 800 inches of water are being usedl. This spring the claim was sold to Theodore W. Sterling, of New York, for $25,000, and work is being vigorously prose-
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cuted with water from the Suow Mountain ditch of the South Yuba Canal Company.
The Manzanita claims are the only other that are being worked at Nevada City at the present time. These were loea- ted by four companies in 1852, Eversall & Womack, Huett, Craddock & Co., the Mountain Summit and the Pacific. Shafts were sunk to the bed rock, and the gravel was elevated by means of windlass and whim. Thic claims were afterwards consolidated and known as the Tomlinson claims. A bed rock tunnel was run, and the ground worked off by hydraulic process. Other companies were located near by on the channel, such as the Live Oak, Nebraska, Young America, Bourbon, United States, Irish, Nevada and Keystone. These claims are now owned and worked by the Manzanita Gravel Mining Co. It is estimated that they have already yielded more than $3,000,000. The Manzanita Company was recently formed in New York, with a capital of $250,000, and commenced work on these claims last year. The claim embraces 400 acres of ground, and 1,400 inches of water are used.
Phelps Hill, Thomas Flat, Oregon Hill, Coyote Hill, Lost Hill and Wet Hill have all been worked out, yielding large returns to the companies engaged there. One of the scenes of extensive mining operations was Brush Creek. The ground was originally located in 1851, in claims sixty feet square. The claims were afterwards consolidated and worked by Lones & Co. and Hall & Peabody. The diggings were shallow, and ground sluicing was the method adopted for working them. It is estimated that these claims have yielded an aggregate of $3,000,000. From Brush creek to Selby Hill the ground was also shallow, and yielded over $1,000,000.
The gravel channel was opened northeast of Nevada City by the Harmony Company and the Cold Spring Company, the latter of which is now being worked by drifting. Above these are the Fountain Head claims. Selby Flat, just north of Sugar Loaf, has yielded largely. Gokl Flat and Gold Run were also very rich. It was here that the first mining in this vicinity was donc, in 1849. Work was done on the ravine, and then surface work on the flat. The flat was finally all worked over by the hydraulic process.
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J. C. Murchie, Sr., owns one hundred acres of patented and eighty acres of unpatented ground on the Dutch Flat road, which have been worked each winter siuce 1851. There are now three ditches and pipes on the claim. The ground is now being drifted.
Canada Hill has also been the scene of considerable gravel mining, and there is still much deep ground unworked, that will no doubt soon be yielding largely.
At Blue Tent, on the main gravel channel, the Blue Tent Mining and Water Company is operating on a large scale, in the South Yuba, Bluo Lead and Enterprise claims, embracing
600 acres. They own a ditch thirty miles long, that was com -. pleted in 1876, at a cost of $160,000. At this time the com- pany had expended over $250,000 in improvements, and have since been working the claims with good results. In 1876 a monster blast of 1,000 kegs of powder was fired here in a tunnel 120 feet long, with side drifts 101 and 59 feet in length. This blast cost $4,243.07, and loosened 200,000 cubic yards of carth.
To the west of Blue Tent are the Adalante, Merrimack and Round Mountain drift claims. The Adalante Company was incorporated in 1878, and owns 616 acres of ground. Thus far only prospecting has been done on this claim. The Merrimack Company has also been engaged in prospecting for the channel by means of a shaft and a tunnel, with success, and will pro- ceed to open the claim by the means of shaft or tunnel at a convenient locality. The Round Mountain Company began operations ou their claim of 160 acres in 1876. They ran a tunnel 600 feet, and sank a shaft 96 feet to bed rock, finding the channel. A new tunuel 400 feet long was then run to the shaft, and cross cutting and drifting commenced. The gravel is taken out of the tunnel on cars, and then washed by a monitor. The company's flume is 600 feet in length, and the " tailings " are run into a ravine owned by the company. By this means the company "corrals the tailings " and will work them again at some future time. There are eight men employed in taking out the gravel, which yields about four dollars to the car, a car holding a little more than a ton of gravel. The Sailor Flat Placer Mining Co. owns eight loca- tions at Blue Tent, containing 425 acres, not yet being worked. Adjoining this company is the New York Blue Canon Co. with 800 acres. The Sharp claims here, also, will soon be worked.
At Scott's Flat, below Blue Tent, and on the channel, the Emma Company has been working five years, during which time $80,000 have been taken out and $50,000 paid in divi- dends. The claimn contains 120 acres, and is worked by hydraulic power, using 500 inches of water. South of this claim is one owned by the South Yuba Canal Co., and north are the claims of Cobb & Baxter. In this district also is the Gold Slide Placer Mine, embracing 357 acres, not yet being worked. The Ashburn & Baker claim embraces 117 acres, and has been worked constantly since 1853, and by the present owners since 1866. They employ a dozen men and own a water right of 800 inches on Deer creek, including four miles of ditch and a reservoir 425x375 feet, 16 feet deep.
QUARTZ MINES.
The discovery of gold quartz near Nevada City soon followed the original locations at Grass Valley, and in October, 1850, the Gold Tunnel ledge was located by four young men from Bos- ton, having been discovered by them while engaged in their
198
HISTORY OF NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
first day of mining. In 1851 there was great excitement in quartz mining, and nearly all the sinee well known quartz lodges that cropped out on the surface were located then. The placer mines in some places had begun to show signs of exhaustion, and the known good ground was all claimed, so tlw people turned their attention to prospecting for and work- ing quartz ledges with great zeal. Writing in 1856, A. A. Sargent gave the following graphic description of the excite- ment and its disastrous results.
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