USA > California > Placer County > History of Placer county, California > Part 45
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MINING.
PIONEER QUARTZ MINING-EMPIRE MILL.
In 1856 the Empire Mill was built at Opbir, by Messrs. Choate, Huston & Co., and commenced oper. ations in September of that year. This was worked by steam-power, and consisted of two batteries of four square, wooden-stem stamps each, but success attending the first workings, the mill was, in 1857, enlarged to eighteen stamps, capable of' crushing fifty tons of quartz in each day of twenty four hours. From the wooden-stem stamps, the change was made to iron-stem stamps each weighing 860 pounds. The mill was run night and day, employing ten men, five working each twelve hours. The full comple- ment of men working the mine and mill and bauling ore was sixty. The poorest rock yielded 88.00 per ton. and the work was reported as profitable. The cost of quarrying the rock, or mining it, and laying it down at the mill was 83.25 per ton, and the cost of crushing was $2.00 per ton. Several veins were owned and worked by the company, some of which yielded at the rate of ยง16.00 per ton. The methods of saving the gold were amalgamation in the battery, and saving the sulpburets in blankets to be after- wards ground in arastras, of which there were sev- eral attached to the mill. The amalgamation was very defective, as much of the tailings were trans- ported to Sacramento to be more scientifically bene- ficiated.
PIONEER MILL.
The Pioneer Mill at Opbir was built early in 1856, by Naylor & Livingtson, as a prospecting mill. The battery consisted of six square stamps, driven by a water-wheel twenty-four feet in diameter. which was turned by a stream of fifty inches of water from the Auburn and Bear River Ditch. This mill was chiefly engaged in custom work, some of the rock brought to it yielding at the rate of $200 per ton.
This mill -till continues its work on the old -ite of over a quarter a century ago. Many changes of proprietorship and manner of working ore have been made, but it is still the old Pioneer Mill. The proprietors in 1851 were Messrs. Frank X. Lavallee and Hans Peder Hansen. The present mill has five stamps of the modern pattern, and reduces six tons of ore per day. The driving power is a water-wheel of thirty feet diameter, and the building is 20x40 feet in dimen-ions. the proprietor, having a United States patent for twenty-four acres of land compris- ing the site. The rates of wages in early times was 84.00 per day, but the wages at the present time are only 82.00. and charges for working ore $3 00 per ton.
UNION MILL.
The Union Mill was on Bald Hill. one and a half miles from Ophir. This contained eight round or revolving stamps. and was driven by a water-wheel forty-eight feet in diameter. This mill wa- the property of a German company. built in 1:56, and very successfully operated. The company worked a
mine of their own, which was opened by a tunnel near the mill, and rock was transported direct from the mine to the battery in the cars. The rock from the mine yielded from $8.00 to $28.00 per ton. The gold saving was done in blankets and grinding of tail- ings in arastra- The concentrated tailings after leaving the ara-tras were sold at $16 per ton to par- ties in Sacramento.
PLACER MILL.
Tbe Placer Mill was situated on Shipley's Ravine; built in 1857; had eight round stamps. and was driven by steam. The gold-saving apparatus was the usual style of the day; the crushed quartz flow ing from the battery over blanket-, the matter thus saved being afterwards worked over in arastras. Round stamps were used, then a recent inven tion, and were called revolvers, as they partly turn at each lift by the action of the cam.
HEATH & HENDERSON MILL.
Messrs. Heath & Henderson built a quartz-mill early in 1958, about one and a balf miles below Gold Hill, on a quartz ledge owned by themselves. This mill contained four stamp- of 500 pounds each, and wa- driven by water from the Auburn and Bear River Diteb. This was considered remarkable because of its proximity to the Sacramento Valley. the open plain being but three miles di-taut
MAY & CO.'S MILL.
Messrs. May & Co .. early in 1858. also built and successfully operated an eight-stamp mill at Ophir. making some improvements. but generally working in the methods practiced by other-
BAY STATE MILL.
The Bay State Mill, at American Bar, on the American River. was one of the most complete of the mill- of les -. In this was first introduced new methods of amalgamating and saving gold. Pre- viously used processes were almost as crude a- could bave been conceived and practiced only in the first development- of mining knowledge among a semi-civilized people. No metallurgical studies were deemed requisite, and -cience was ignored, yet -ome people mined and miled with surce --. and loftily classed them-elves as experts The innovation- made at the Bay State Mil was the adoption of the . C'hambers' Process, ' introduced by Judge Cham- ber -. late of the banking house of Pare. Bacon & C'o. In this the quartz after being oru-bed under the stamp- wa- ground still finer by mil stones. then through amalgamating pans. in connection with chemicals and quick-ilver. The chemical- u-ed were a secret to the inventor. and a large royalty was demanded for the use of the process. as it was pat ented. This was reported as saving from 8su to $130 per ton from the rock of a vein where only from 810.00 to $15 00 had been obtained by the former methods of working
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HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
PRESTON & WORRELL MILL.
Preston & Worrell's quartz-mnill at Stewart's Flat, five miles below Auburn, was a busy and successful institution in 1857-58. In the latter year the firm was mining the Jenny Lind and Elizabeth Ledges, some of the rock yielding at the rate of two ounces of gold per ton.
The Jenny Lind was subsequently better known as the Schnabel Mine, from the name of the owner, and lies near Newcastle. During the first ten years of its working the roek paid an average of $6.00 per ton, but in the second decade, when a depth of 450 feet had been reached, the value rose to $9.00 and $10.00 per ton.
HENSON & CO'S. MILL.
Henson & Co's. quartz-mill was also at Stewart's Flat at the same time, and working quartz from a claim on the Elizabeth Lode. This mill used a new invention called the " Russ Amalgamator," an inven- tion of Colonel Russ, of California, and was intended to save the fine gold existing free in the quartz. Subsequently the Chambers' process was added, and the tailings reworked with good results.
TOM SEYMOUR MILL.
The Tom Seymour Mill was built in 1862 at Stew- art's Flat, by Messrs. Rogers & Barter. The mine bore the name of the mill, and yielded quartz worth from 840.00 to $60.00 per ton, the latter being obtained at a depth of ninety feet.
SILVER EXCITEMENT.
In 1865 quite an excitement prevailed upon the discovery of silver in what was presumed to be a paying mine near Rock Spring, in the southwestern part of the county. This was the Layne Mine, from which considerable ore was extraeted, which, upon heating in a blacksmith's forge, would become cov- ered with tiny globules of silver. Some of the ore, taken to Sacramento, was assayed, and declared chloride of silver, and containing that metal at the rate of $300 per ton.
Prospecting for silver became quite a rage during the fall of 1865 and winter of 1866, and other ledges rich in that metal were reported near Newcastle, at Ophir, and other localities, and much work done in developing the mines. Ore was found ranging in value from $100 to $500 per ton. The silver ledges at Newcastle were discovered by miners who were working at night in the Kearsarge Mine, and pros- pecting in the day time on their own account. The principal veins found were named the " Comanche," the " Ad Valorem." and the " Pacific." These were mines of' " great expectations," and some future his- torian may write of the large fortunes made in silver mining in western Placer.
GEORGE W. REAMER
Was born in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey, September 11, 1827. The first years of
his life were passed in his native State, but soon after reaching manhood's estate we find him a member of the New Brunswick and California Mining and Trad- ing Company, which sailed from New York on the 7th of February, 1849, and after a voyage of 180 days landed in San Francisco. Upon bis arrival in the land of promise, Mr. Reamer engaged in business in Sacramento, in company with J. R. Hardenburgh, but the climate of that city proving detrimental to his health, he sought both health and riches in the inines. Thus we find him a miner as early as the spring of '50. His first venture was in river mining on the American River, in which he was successful. Conceiving the idea that to strike at the fountain head was the surest, if not the quickest, way to ascertain what dame fortune had in store for him, he repaired to the deep hill diggings upon the Forest Hill Divide, and was instrumental in sinking sixteen shafts between the present towns of Todd's Valley and Forest Hill. On the 3d day of August, 1852, he started the bed-rock tunnel in the New Jersey claim at Forest Hill, and for six years and six months worked in solid rock, with no trace of the precious metal of which he was in search. His only incentive for persevering was the fact that the Jenny Lind, adjoining his claim, had " struck it rich." During these years shares had been sold in this enterprise to parties who would soon become discouraged and withdraw. Finally, after years of patient toil, it was decided by the owners that some other plan must be adopted, and at a meeting they decided to raise a chute np through the rock and if no pay dirt was found to abandon the claim. Soon after adopt- ing this latter plan they found a bed of very rich gravel, entirely different from the " blue lead " they had been in search of, and in less than six weeks had the satisfaction of paying off the indebtedness on the claim, amounting to about 840,000. This upper lead was worked steadily for some years, and during the first seven years over one million dollars worth of the precious metal was taken out.
In 1862 he visited his home in the East, and during his stay was married, in February, to Miss Sara E. Macdonald, a native of New York City, and the fol- lowing month returned with his bride to California. Three children have been born to them, two sons and a daughter.
In 1872 Mr. Reamer, with his family, removed to Auburn, he having become the owner of the Bear River. Auburn and Gold Hill Ditch and Mining prop- erty. and for seven years devoted his time and ener- gies to enlarging and improving the ditch property. To avoid litigation, he purchased the North Fork Ditch property, which proved a financial disaster. The floods swept away the dams that had been erected at an enormous expense-some $200,000- and thus the old '49er saw his riches take wings and disappear in a short time. With the characteristic energy of the old pioneer, Mr. Reamer returned to bis mines at Forest Hill, and is again searching for
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MINING LAWS.
the " back channel" he started after in the " New Jersey " nearly thirty years ago. Mr. Reamer is a man of unblemished character, quiet and refined, and is a rarity among the '49ers, having never been a frequenter of the saloons or card tables, and is still a miner as in the " days of old."
CHAPTER XXIX.
MINING LAWS.
Quartz Miners' Convention and Laws-Auburn Quartz Mining District -- Laws of Auburn District-Recommendation- Placer Mining Laws-Laws of Concert Hill Distriet-State Convention of Miners-Proceedings of Miners' Convention -United States Mining Laws-Act of July 26, 1866-Act of July 9, 1870-Act of May 11, 1872-Subsequent Amend- ments-Forms-Proof of Labor-Notice of Location-Rules and Decisions-Obtaining Patents for Mines-Adverse Claims-Agricultural or Mineral Land-Atiens-Cross Lodes-Tunnels.
SO GREAT had the quartz mining interest grown in 1865, and so great was the interest felt in the bright prospects and growing business in the vicinity of Auburn, that it was deemed necessary to organize a quartz mining district, and to adopt a code of laws and regulations after the manner of other localities throughout the mining region. This was the custom- ary method, and miners' laws were recognized in the United States and State courts, when not inconsis- tent with statute laws.
AUBURN QUARTZ MINING DISTRICT.
For this purpose a Convention of quartz miners was called, to be held at Auburn, October 28, 1865, when the following proceedings were held, which were published in the Placer Herald and Stars and Stripes of November 4th of that year:
William E. Miller was elected to the Chair, and Horace Baldwin elected Secretary.
It was moved and adopted that a committee of three be appointed to frame a code of laws, and define the boundaries of the distriet.
The Chair appointed as said Committee, James E. Hale, Charles II. Mitchell and W. A. Selkirk.
On motion the Convention adjourned for half an hour, to give the Committee time to report. On re-assembling the Committee reported on the bound- aries of the district, which, on motion, was adopted, when the Convention adjourned until the next Mon- day evening.
MONDAY, October 30th.
The Convention convened pursuant to adjourn- ment, Wm. E. Miller in the chair. The minutes of of last meeting were read and approved. The Com- mittee then made the balance of their report which was unanimously adopted, and the Committee dis- charged. On motion the Convention, under the laws adopted, proceeded to the election of Recorder for the district, and that the polls be kept open for one hour.
The Chair appointed as Tellers, John R. Gwynn, J. W. Dickenson, and Thomas Jamison, when the names of Tabb Mitchell and Mack Webber were placed in nomination.
One hour having elapsed, the polls were declared closed. The Tellers proceeded to count the vote, and declared the result as follows: Tabb Mitchell received sixty-three votes and Mack Webber, fifty-seven, when, on motion, Mitchell was declared elected, and the Convention adjourned, subject to a call under the laws of the District.
W.M. E. MILLER, Chairman. HORACE BALDWIN, Secretary.
LAWS OF AUBURN DISTRICT.
ARTICLE 1. This district shall be called the Auburn Quartz Mining District, and shall be bounded as follows: Commencing at a point on the North Fork of the American River, where the dividing line between Congressional Townships 12 and 13 north, and east of Mount Diablo base and meridian, strikes said river: thence due west along said line to the northwest corner of Section 3, in Congressional Township 12 (the west line of said section being the dividing line between Townships 2 and 3 of Placer County); thence south on said section line to the American River below Rattlesnake Bar; thence up said river and the North Fork of the same to the place of beginning.
ART. 2. All quartz claims in this district for gold, silver, copper, or other metals, shall be 200 feet in length, measured horizontally in a direct line upon the general course of the ledge, and shall include all the dips, angles, and spurs of the ledge, and the width of 150 feet of ground on each side of the ledge shall be allowed for the convenience and facility of working the claim; provided, that the said right to the use of said 150 feet on each side of the ledge, shall not be so constructed as to confer a right to any cross ledge as against the rights of any subse- quent location thereof, except to the extent of ten feet, horizontal measurement, of such eross ledge, on each side of said first located ledge; Pro- vided, also, that such subsequent locators shall be entitled to the right of way and drainage through first ledge, when the same can be done without material interference with the enjoyment of the rights of the said first locators. Provided, further, that the said right of way and drainage last afore- said shall not be so constructed as to impair the right of' said first locators to the full and free use of the surface ground, to the extent of 150 feet on each side of said first located ledge.
ART. 3. Every location shall be made by posting on some prominent natural object. or on a post firmly set in the earth, at some point on or near the ledge or ledges intended to be located, a notice legibly written or printed in the English language, containing the true date of the posting of the notice, the name of the location or company, the name or names of each locator, the number of claims located, the general course and direction of the ledge or ledges located. the length or lengths and distance or distances claimed on each ledge or ledges, measuring from said notice posted as aforesaid. Also an intelligible description of the locality of the ledge or ledges, and the particular part or parts thereof located. so that the same may be found and traced from the contents of such notice. There shall also be placed upon each end of the location of a claim or claims, a stake.
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HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
upon which shall be the name of the company or locator, and the direction of said stakes from the written or printed notices above provided for.
ART. 4. Every location may be for one or more claims of the dimensions stated in Article 2d, and cach location shall be made on one ledge or on cross ledges, and when on cross ledges the location shall embrace the junction of the cross ledges; or a loca- tion may be made on two or more ledges not cross- ing or intersecting each other, but when so made, the ledges so located shall not be more than 300 feet apart in their general course and direction. Every location of one or more claims shall be designated in the notice by some particular name, except that when locations are made of one claim only, or less. the name or designation may be only the name of the locator.
ART. 5. No person shall hold more than one claim by location on the same ledge or ledges, when embraced in the same location.
ART. 6. No claim shall be recognized as valid, unless a true copy of the principal notice. as required in Article 3d, is filed for record with the Recorder. within five days after the date of location.
ART. 7. Work to the value of ten dollars on or for each claim of 200 feet, shall be done within thirty days after posting notices of locations; Provided, that any company may do an equivalent amount of work at any one or more points on their ledge, which shall hold their claims good for three months next after posting said notices, at the expiration of which time and within the next three months, the person or company shall expend a like sum, to hold said claim or claims good for said last-named period, and a like expenditure shall be made within each succeeding three months for the like purpose. until such company shall have expended in the aggregate for each claim of 200 feet, the sum of $100, when such person or company shall be deemed to have a vested right to such claim or claims, and the same shall not be deemed jumpable; Provided, however. if within any one of the above specified periods, such person or company sball expend, in addition to the above required sum to hold good such claim or claims, to the further sum of one or more ten dollars for each claim, then such claim or claims shall be held good thereafter for a period corresponding at said rate of three months for each ten dollars expended for each claim.
ART. 8. The Recorder shall keep two well-bound books, each of which shall be provided with an ample index. In one of said books the Recorder shall immediately, upon the filing of any and every notice of location of a mining claim for gold, silver, copper or other metal, record the same, and shall at time of said filing index such location by the name or designation of such company or claim. He shall also indorse on the back of each of said notices, the date and hour of the day when the same shall be filed for record and subscribe the same. He shall also, when recording said notices, append to each record to be subscribed by him, a certificate of the Naid date and hour of filing, and the name of the person presenting the same for record, and shall at the same time carry out in said index the page or pages of said book when said record is made. In the other of said books, the Recorder shall in like manner index, and record and certify the record of every affidavit of labor and expenditure made by any company or person, taking special care to index the same by the same name by which the same is
indexed and recorded in the said first described book. And he shall, in the manner first above deseribed, as to notices, file each of affidavits. On the filing of said notiees and affidavits, the Recorder shall carefully file the same away alphabetically, and the same shall thereafter be thus carefully preserved in the office for reference, and shall be by him delivered over to his successor in office for the like purpose. Ile shall also on demand, and on the payment of his fees therefor, make and certify to any person, a certificate of any notice or affidavit on file in his office, or of these laws or those hereby repeated. The Recorder shall in no case be required to file for record any of said notices of claims, or affidavits of labor as herein provided, except upon the payment in coin of the fees in full for such filing, recording and certificate prescribed by these laws; Provided, That the rights intended by the laws to be acquired or secured by such record of such notice or affidavit shall be deemed to relate to the date of said filing thereof. Provided further, It shall be the imperative duty of said Recorder to immediately file and record said notices and affidavits on presenta- tion to him for those purposes, whether he shall or shall not have received his fees therefor, unless at the time of said presentation he shall have demanded said fees in advance. The fees of the Recorder for the services required of him by these laws shall be fifty cents for the recording of each folio or less for the body of every instrument to be recorded, ten cents for each indexing, ten cents for each filing, and ten cents for each certificate of record. He shall also be entitled to receive for each certified copy of any recorded or filed instrument fifty cents for each folio or less, and ten cents for his certiti- cate thereto.
ART. 9. There shall be elected for said distriet a Recorder annually, on the first Saturday of January, except that the first Recorder elected under these laws shall hold his office until the first Saturday of January, 1867. and he and his successors shail keep the books, papers and office in the town of Auburn. It shall be his duty annually to give at least one week's notice, before the first of January, by pub- lication in the newspapers published in the town of Auburn. of an election (stating the time and place) to be held to elect his successor. And on said election the Recorder shall deliver to his successor all books and papers pertaining to his office. In the case of the Recorder's death, or his removal from the district, any twenty-five quartz miners of the district, who have signed these laws, may call a meeting at Auburn, by giving one week's notice by publication. for the purpose of electing a Recorder to tifi the unexpired term. Provided, That from any cause the Recorder shall not have given the said required notice, and said election has not been adver- tised to be held, as last herein provided, it shall be the duty of the Recorder to immediately give the required notice of such election for the unexpired terin being held over.
ART. 10. When at any time twenty-five or more bona fide quartz miners, within this district, and who own not less than one gold, silver, or copper min- ing claim therein, shalt sign and present to the Recorder a written request for the convocation of a meeting of the quartz miners of said district, for the purpose of changing any of these laws, or add- ing thereto, or both, it shall be the duty of the Recorder (on payment of the necessary cost of pub- lieation) to cause to be published in the newspapers in the town of Auburn, for the period of two weeks,
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MINING LAWS.
a notice, signed by him, setting forth in substance said written request (and the time, which shall not be less than two days after the last publication), and the place of a general meeting of the miners having claims within said district, for the purpose of amend- ing or adding to the laws regulating said mining within the district; and except as the same may be amended, or added to, as in this Article provided, these laws shall be and remain in full force; Pro- vided, that in case of the refusal or failure of the Recorder to cause such publication of notice of such meeting within a reasonable time after the said request, and payment of cost, etc., said miners sign- ing the same may cause said publication of notice to be made, signed by themselves, and said meeting may be held, and exercise the powers aforesaid.
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