History of Placer county, California, Part 49

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 558

USA > California > Placer County > History of Placer county, California > Part 49

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The company made a fine exhibit of its products at the Mechanie's Institute Fair in San Francisco,

212

HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

in August and September, 1881, consisting of iron ore, limestone used in fluxing, iron in pigs, bars, rods, wires and various articles of castings. The quality of the product was found to be superior to any iron ever offered to the manufacturers of the Pacific Coast. Experiments were made upon car- wheels, proving it better than the Salisbury (Conn.) iron, regarded as the best. This inspired the hope that it would be used instead of that, particularly as it could be furnished cheaper. The cost of the Salisbury iron ranges from $45.00 to $60.00 per ton, while the iron of the California Iron Company was made at a profit at $33.00 per ton for Nos. 3 and 4 grades. Nos. 1 and 2 are a soft iron especially adapted to puddling, and No. 5 being hard, makes excellent shoes and dies for quartz mills.

In the fall of 1881, the works were closed, the company announcing the intention of resuming operation in an improved manner, in the spring of 1882. While in operation from April to September, the product aggregated 4,414 tons of pig-iron. The company owns 7,620 acres of woodland near Hotal- ing, from which to draw its supply of charcoal. This, next to the railroad is the largest single enter- prise in the county, and its success will give rise to numerous industries and manufactures in Placer, and at other points in the State.

THE HOLLAND MINE.

In 1874 a valuable deposit, or body, of iron ore was discovered near McDonald's Mills, on Bear River, and a company was formed in Sacramento, called the Bear River Iron Company, to develop it. In 1875 a commencement was made on the works, with the intention of using Lincoln coal in smelting. The works, however, were not carried to completion. At a later date the property was owed by C. Holland, and known as the Holland Mine.

IRON PRODUCT.

The general report of the iron industry in 1876 showed the product of that year in the United States of 2,093,236 tons of pig-iron. The industry at that time was much depressed through the financial revulsion of 1873, particularly affecting railroads and iron mining, and from which it had not recovered in 1876. The iron product in 1873 was 2,868,278 tons. Iron was then produced in twenty-three States and one Territory, the latter being Utah. Pennsylvania produced 48.2 per cent .. nearly half of the whole, or 1,009,313 net tons.

COAL MINING.

In 1873 the indisputable fact of the existence of coal in Placer County was established, adding that important mineral to the list of gold, silver, copper and iron. Veins of bituminous shale had been observed in the canons of the American River, and reported as coal as early as 1856, which led to con- sideral prospecting, but no coal was found con- neeted with them. In 1862, while boring for water at Lincoln, the auger passed through a substance

which some thought to be coal; but the search was for water, the well was finished, and no more attention was paid to the coal. No one expected to find coal there, it not being in the mining region, and the substance not coming to the notice of any intelligent or investigating mind it was allowed to remain for more than ten years, only sixty feet beneath the surface, before any person of sufficient dis- cernment or enterprise to develop it happened to know of the discovery, although it had been proven combustible. At a later date others boring for water brought to the surface the black mineral, which attracted the attention of Col. Charles L. Wilson, who had built the railroad, and in whose honor, after his middle name, the town had been named, and he, in 1873, began a thorough investigation. He first bored down on the coal bed with an eight-inch auger, with which pieces were brought to the surface sufficiently large to test the mineral thoroughly and satisfactorily. The fact of its being coal could no longer he doubted, and in October, 1873, Colonel Wilson proceeded to sink an open shaft to the stratum, which was about sixty feet below the sur- face. lloisting works were crected over the shaft, and in December following shipments of the coal were made to Sacramento and other places for trial. An experiment was made at Sacramento in January, 1874, at the City Water Works, when it was found that one ton of the Lincoln coal made as much steam as two cords of pine slabs, which cost $6.00 a cord. This result aroused the brightest hopes of advancing manufactures in that city, as it was estimated that the coal could be delivered there at about $4.00 per ton.

A trial was also made in smelting iron, which was related in the Sacramento Bee by one signing him- self " Mechanic " as follows :-

I witnessed a trial of Lincoln coal at Guttenberg's Foundry, on Front Street. The result was as fine a lot of castings as I ever saw. This coal gave a most intense heat under the blast, and after the metal was drawn off no residue was left, and I found the metal was much softer and of a finer texture than in cast- ings made of other coal. This Lincoln coal I con- sider superior to charcoal for this purpose, for the reason that it is petrified wood, retaining all its res- inous qualities, and under the blast it will give out a more intense heat than charcoal and at much less cost.

These results created great interest in the coal mines, and explorations were set on foot which proved them very extensive. In March, 1874, Messrs. Alford, Stoddard and Richardson found coal on the ranch of O. P. Richardson, near Bear River, about six miles from Sheridan, and opened a mine on their discovery. The coal was found to be similar to that at Lincoln, a lignite, burning without coking and consuming to a white ash.

Small pieces of hard coal resembling anthracite were found in August, 1874, near the Hotaling Iron Mine, but no ledge has been developed.

213

MINING LAWS.

POTTERS' CLAY.

The demand for the Lincoln coal increased so rap- idly, being about 200 tons per week, that in April, 1874, a new and large shaft was sunk, ten feet eight inches by nine feet nine inches in dimensions, ena- bling the extraetion of 100 tons daily. Other shafts were sunk, and other valuable minerals brought to notice. In August Mr. I. M. Scott, of San Francisco, purchased an area of land of J. D. B. Cook, about three-fourths of a mile north of the Lincoln Coal Mine, and sunk a shaft for the purpose of develop- ing its value. He found a bed of lignite fifty-five feet below the surface, and penetrated it to a depth of twenty feet. In addition to the eoal he found two beds of potters' elay, of the very finest quality. The first was but three feet below the surface and was twelve feet in thickness, and the other lying on the coal and of the same thickness.

CALIFORNIA OLAY MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

Shortly thereafter the California Clay manufact- uring Company was organized, and purchased the property, and in the spring of 1875 commenced the development. The company consists of Charles Gladding, P. McG. MeBean and George Chambers. Their land embraced about 200 acres of clay and eoal beds, and works were erected about one mile north of Lincoln.

An examination of the clay was made by Prof. HI. G. Hanks, of San Francisco, who was mueh impressed with its value, finding its character to be the very best for pottery work of all elasses, and one quality excellent for fire-brick.

Its elements are as follows: Water, 4.70; coarse sand, 5.30; fine sand, 3.17; pure porcelain clay, 86.23, and is plastic and tenaeions and infusible when baked. The sand is silica, and for coarse work, or the manufacture of fire-briek, this is an advantage. The layers are as follows: Four feet of soil, six feet of white clay, sixteen inches of fine white sand with a little water, five feet of eream-colored clay mixed with coarse white sand, twelve feet of pure kaolin, twelve feet of elay and coal alternating, eight feet of eoal, and below this clay and sand to a depth as yet unknown. The coal is similar to that now being worked at Lincoln, but somewhat heavier and denser.

The poreelain clay is free from oxide of iron, and the silica, which is in large quantities, is of a quality suitable for making plate glass. The kaolin, better known as China clay, is said to be of as pure a quality as that now shipped largely from China to Europe, and better than that found at Haddam, Connecticut, and equal to that of Bavaria and Sax- ony, and is used for the manufacture of the best qualities of porcelain ware.

IMPORTANCE OF CLAY DEPOSITS.

These beds of clay, represented as equal to any known in the world, are practically inexhaustible, and open for the region in which they lie, varied industries of incalculable importance and great

artistic and scientific interest when the workmen have become skilled in its manipulation, and science has lain bare its properties and qualities. In the hands of a master, clay is one of the most obedient servants. There is no form too light and spirit- like for it to assume, none to grand and majestic for it to take on, and it is so plastie under the touch that the artist in marble always realizes his ideal in elay before he immortalizes it in the snowy stone. At the same time the working of clay for the finer varieties of poreelain, and, for that matter, in the making of even the commonest of pottery and fire- brick, is an art of no low order. And it is probable that of all the arts and sciences, more money has been spent in experimental investigation of this subjeet than in any other. The art is one of the oldest which man has known. Fragments of rude vessels are found among the ruins of the oldest civilizations. Frequently these fragments show a knowledge of the art which is now lost to us. There is a sort of fascination about the potter's furnace, and there is no one, perhaps, who cannot understand the weird spell that hung over Palissay when he fed into it even the food and furniture of his own household.

In Scotland, England, Germany, and France, are manufactured fire-brick, china, porcelain, and terra- cotta ware, which, with that of China and Japan, supplies the markets of the world. In Europe these industries have grown to such dimensions that the labor employed is numbered by the thousands, and the capital invested, by the millions.

The great industries built up in other quarters of the globe, through the potters' clay, may yet be realized in California; and the potteries, and elegant ware of Placer County, become as celebrated as Dresden or China. Singularly fortunate is the cir- eumstance, and so wonderfully exemplifying the seemingly illimitable resources of the county, is the presence of the elay and fuel, necessary to its utili- zation, in such close proximity. These mines and beds of clay, capable of furnishing employment to an unlimited number of men, are surrounded by a fertile, agricultural and fruit-growing country, erossed by a railroad connecting with the great cities and channels of commerce, thus combining every advan- tage for the most successful enterprise.

CHROMIUM MINING.

No limit appears possible to Placer's mineral wealth. The long detail of exceedingly valuable mines and minerals extends with investigation, mak- ing its soil, its rocks and waters one vast laboratory, where is stored all that is required for the uses and luxuries of man. As the miners acquire knowledge and extend their researches new sourees of wealth are continually developed, and the end is not yet. To the list already long the rare and peculiar min- eral commonly called "chrome" is added. The properties of this mineral are given in Chapter XXVII. of this book.

214

HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

Chromium was first observed in Placer County in 1876, when discoveries were made on the Iowa Hill Divide, near the Sugar Pine Mills, but it was not until 1881 that any systematic attempt was made to utilize the ore, when one hundred tons were sent to San Francisco. The ore is found in irregular, disconnected masses imbedded in the country rock, and varying in weight from a few pounds to several tons. On the largest mass yet found a shaft twenty feet in depth, in the fall of 1881. had not passed through the deposit. Developments have proven that chromium exists in many parts of the State. and is purchased of the miners by agents, who forward it to San Francisco, whence it is shipped to eastern markets. The usual destination is Baltimore, but much is sent to New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Of this industry the Herald of December 3, 1881, says :-

We learn from Major Heaston, who bas charge of the chrome mining, now being carried on in this county, that they find the chrome iron-ore belt very extensive. He has already shipped eighty tons from Auburn depot to Boston, and has over thirty tons ready to be forwarded. At the mines near Michigan Bluff about 100 tons are out waiting for wagons to haul it down. The Major hopes to send off at least 500 tons before the winter rains shall render the roads impassable for loaded teams. He has been shipping around Cape Horn. but tointercept the sup- ply from England, which country has heretofore con- trolled the trade in this commodity, will ship by way of the Isthmus. The indications are that chrome mining in this county will soon become a very im- portant industry.

CHAPTER XXXI.

MINING. [CONTINUED. ]

The Iowa Hill Divide -- The Gravel Formation-Altitudes on the Divide-Mines on the Divide-lowa Hill Mines-Independ- ence Hill Mines-Roach Hill Mines-Morning Star Hill Mines-Bird's Flat Mines-Strawberry Flat Mines-Succor Flat Mines-Wisconsin Hill Mines-Grizzly Flat Mines- Elizabeth Hill Mines-Stevens' Hill Mines-Main Ridge Mines-Canada Hill Mines-Quartz Mines-Near Succor Flat-Humbug Canon Quartz Mines-Canada Hill Quartz Mines-Mines Having Stamp Mills-Water Ditches-Shirt- tail C'añon Quartz Mines-Humbug Canon Mines Described -Canada Hill Quartz Mines Described-Report on Min's- Monntain Gate Mine-Hidden Treasure Mine-Michael Harold Power-Varions Formations and Theories -- A Hy- draulic Mine.

MR. JOHN B. HOBSON, an experienced, painstaking, and skillful mining engineer, has made a topograph- ical and geological map of that portion of Placer County extending from the mouth of Indian Canon and Rice's Bridge, on the North Fork, eastward to Bald Mountain and Duncan Canon, near the summit of the Sierra Nevada, and north of Shirt-tail Canon, embracing an area of about 1ff square miles; being that region commonly designated as the "Iowa Hill Divide." In addition to the map Mr. Hobson has taken notes of every feature pertaining to the most

accurate and comprehensive survey with the idea of recording all facts relating to the geological structure and formation of the mineral region; its area, condi- tion, past and prospective value. No Government employed engincers, scientists or explorers have ever made such full and accurate measurements and obser- vations of the formations classed variously as glacial drift, auriferous gravel, ancient channels, or "Dead Blue River." These observations have extended through many years, accompanying the practical labor of a miner, and the performance of the scien- tific duties of a mining engineer. The results of his labors Mr. Hobson bas furnished for the readers of this history, but cannot be fully represented without elaborate maps and engravings beyond the scope of this work.

THE GRAVEL FORMATION.

Many theories have been advanced relating to the formation of the gravel deposits dotting the mount- ain side from the verge of the great subjacent valley to the summit ridges, lying in mountain basins, bang- ing to a cañon's side, perched on some lofty ridge, or buried deep beneath the congealed lava of unknown, unlocated, wonderful volcanoes. With the theories of formation have come elucidations of the problem of the gold occurrence with the garvel, the eroding of the basins and channels, the polishing of the bed-rock, and the coloring of the strata. The most popular theories have emanated from literary gentlemen, of the cities, who attribute the gravel deposits of the Sierra to one great "Blue" river, to one cause and one period or age of time, but to those who have studied the question on the ground, after years of mining labor, careful thought and acute observation, the subject grows more mysterious and unaccount- able. The poet has said "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform," and in contemplating the gravel formation and golden in- termixture of the Sierra Nevada, the mysterious and wonderful works of nature appall the student. The grandenr of the scale, the mighty power, the incon- ceivable time, the quietness of some periods and the violence of others, the periods of ice, and cold, and floods, the periods of raging torrents and quiet waters in the same and almost every locality, the periods of the glacier, when ice embraced the high- land and the lowland, and the period when volcanoes through a thousand miles of mountain range belched untold volumes of ash and molten rock over the icy domain, all impress the beholder as he contemplates the creation of these most singular deposits. No theory yet promulgated can bear the critical presen- tation of facts. The formation of gravel is attributed to the action of ice in the form of the grinding gla- cier, which fastens upon projecting rocks on mount- ain height and through the action of the varying seasons grinds while it carries its load to a place of deposit. Many of the gravel hills and successions of them throughout the gold-bearing region exhibit for- mations uot inconsistent with the glacial power in an

215

MINING LAWS.

age of cold, and the Sierra in its present general position, while there are other localities and condi- tions that refuse to be accredited to such a cause. The difference of levels, the varying directions of flow, the accumulations of drift-wood, the horizontal layers of sand, the beds of pipe-clay, the large bowl- ders in and on the clay, the fine gravel, the great width of the channels, and the depth of gravel, are all inconsistent with the theory of one great'river of sixty or seventy miles in length, flowing at a fall of thirty or forty feet per mile, or any river flowing con- tinuously in any direction. That the channels and basins of the gravel hills arelice and water worn, and the gravel, sand and clay, ice and water made is unquestioned, but whence came the material, whence came the abundance of free gold in large nuggets and flattened scales, so dissimilar to that now found in quartz in place, though similar in purity and alloy to that in neighboring veins; and whence came the incalculable masses of barren quartz, gravel and bowlders which fill the channels and compose the hills, are the puzzling, unanswered questions. Since the deposition no violent changes have occurred in the position of the Sierra. The bed-rock and the strata of drift are unbroken, the sand and clay lie level as when formed in quiet waters, and the covering of volcanic matter rests as when it first flowed over the channel.

While the bed-rock has evidently remained station- ary, the surveys and examinations by Mr. Hobson show formations of different eras, volcanic eruptions of different times, ice and water currents in different directions, and channels eroded at different dates with different courses.

ALTITUDES ON THE DIVIDE.

By barometrical observations of his own and by Prof. Goodyear, he has ascertained the altitude above the sea of the following localities on the Iowa Hill Divide :-

FEET.

Rice's Bridge on the north fork of American

River 1,147

Month of Canon Creek 1,467

Bed of North Fork of American in Giant Gap Gorge. 1,595

Ridge south side of Giant Gap Gorge 4,139

Town of Iowa Hill, at post-office 2,850

Summit of Sugar Loaf Mountain

.3,064

Town of Wisconsin Hill 2,920

Summit of Independence Hill 3,110

Mononatown. 3,194

Summit of Roach Hill 3,554

Town of Grizzly Flat. 3,150

Town of Succor Flat. 3,460

Hill's Reservoir, on Shirt-tail Canon 3,492

Iowa IIill Canal Company's Reservoir. 3,990

West Damascus Hoisting Works, in north

branch of Shirt-tail Canon .3,840

Top of ridge north of West Damascus shaft. 4,320 Town of Damascus 4,016

Town of Sunny South 3,805

Surface at Centennial Shaft 3,860

Forks House. 4,789

Indian Springs (Alameda Consolidated), top of ridge. . . 5,468

Secret House. 5,486

New Basel Consolidated Hoisting Works, in Black Canon . 5,186

Town of Last Chance 4,545

Town of Deadwood. .3,943

Summit of Secret Hill.

6,229

Summit of Canada Hill 6,229

Head of Iowa Hill Canal in Tadpole Canon 5,540

Summit of Bald Mountain. 7,197

Soda Spring Valley, near head of North Fork of American 6,002

Elevation of bed-rock of ancient channels where exposed by drift miners or prospeetors :-

FEET.

Jameson Mine, Iowa Hill, lowest rock at out- let on the northwest. 2,642

North Star, highest rock at south near Indian Cañon 2,668

Morning Star, fronting Indian Canon 2,687

Columbia Mine, at Wisconsin Hill. 2,740

Grizzly Flat mines, lowest rock near front 3,020

China Point .. 2,748

Homeward Bonnd, rock where drifted in

front. 2,805

Golden Gate, rock where drifted in front .. 2,945

Trio. 2,980

Dutch Claim

.3,012

White Pine, near back line. 3,024

Wolverine, near north line 3,041

Glencoe 3,090

Shelby. 3,188

Watt's Mine, at breast

. 3,224

Succor Flat Mine 3,329

Bottom of Mohawk Slope, rock pitching .3,462

Bottom of Surprise Slope, rock pitching. 3,480

Giant Gap Mine, uprise No. 1, rock pitching. 3,540

West Damascus, in gravel on rock pitching from north uprise No. 1 .3,700

Colfax Tunnel, roek pitching. 3,796

Centennial Mine, bottom of shaft, rock pitching 3,780 Mountain Gate Mine, blue gravel channel. ... 3,764

Mountain Gate Mine, white quartz channel, front of north end. 3,914

Mountain Gate Mine, white quartz channel, where cut away by blue gravel channel. . . 3,844 Hidden Treasure Mine, white quartz channel, south end .3,674

Bob Lewis, blue gravel. 3,769

Dam claim, rock pitching. 3,840

Cape Horn Tunnel, rock pitching at angle of 42° 4,156

Alameda Consolidated, proposed new tunnel. . . 4,040

Alameda Consolidated, bottom of shaft north front. 4.615

Bear Hunter Tunnel.

4.470

New Basel Consolidated, bottom of shaft, rock pitching .5,106

Whisky Hill Mine, rock pitehing west 5,210

Uncle Sam and Spartan shaft, roek pitching west. 3,450

Union shaft, roek pitching east.

5,380

Union Tunnel

5,275

Canada IIill mines, channel of angular quartz gravel :-

Oriental, bed-rock at bottom of shaft. 6,205

Reed Claim 6,090

Hill Bros.' Claim Tunnel 5,930

Sterret Gravel Mine, head of Sailor C'añon 5,640

216

HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

MINES ON THE DIVIDE.

The following are the mines of the region sur- veyed, with name of mine, class, name of owners, and amount of gold produced.

NAME OF MINE.

CLANS.

NAME OF OWNERS.

GOLD PROC'D

STEVENS HILL MINES.

Barber

Idrift

[J L Woods

2,500 00

IOWA HILL MINES.

Poverty

J Charpiott

Jameson

(d'ft & hydr'e Wm Weisler

$1,200,000 00

North Star

North S'ar Co.

800,000 00

Big Union

A L Lighton.

22,000 00

Orion

hydraulic

Orion Mining Co.

51,000 00

North Point.

G Booth

4,500 01

Alta

CF Mary & Co

China Point.

Chinese d'o

40,000 00

State of Maine.

drift

W'm Tyner & Co. ...

7,500 00

INDEPENDENCE HILL MINES.

Independence Hill ...

hydraulic . Mitchler & Hobson .

101,300 0 1

Union.

J W Chinn & Co

14,000 00

Blue Wing.

Mitchler & Hobson

9,000 00

Barber

N Barber ..

12,200 00

Entwistle.

Entwistle & Worsley.

21,000 00

Giant Gap

Giant Gap Co (struck pay gravel Nov., 1881)

ROACH HILL MINES.

Live Oak.

hydraulic

Mrs Hill.

6,400 00

Yellow Jacket .. ..

d'ft & hydr'e J M smith & Co.

Jeffries

Mrs Hill. .

4,500 00

Pioncer

Odgers & Pascoe

Star United

l', tand hyd John Mill ..

Dutch

hydraulic

Jos Byrne ..

l'oker & Burgess

lowa Hill ('anal Co

lowa Hill Canal Co .

Dayton

Idrift

P Sloan

156,000 00

Michigan Lluff.

Michigan Bluff Co

Shelby

John Henry & Co.

('entennial

Centennial Co

Columbus

Joseph Byrne

Mountain Chief

( J Spencer & Co.

Stockton & S F

Williams & Co

41,000 00

Mt Gate of Damasens drift

Mountain Gate Co.

Glencoe

.Jos Fritzer & Co.

Wolverine

d'ft & hydr'e

Wolverine Mining Co.

9,000 00

Boh Lewis

Griffith & Lewis

Borealis

|hydraulic ... Iowa Hill Canal Co

Red Point

Gilespie & Co

Forks House Con

G W Soyler & Co

MORNING STAR HILL MINES.

250,000 00

Alameda Consolidated d'ft & hydr'e Mitchler & Co

Evening Star & Comet

Longstaff & Harper ..

Typhoon

BIRD'S FLAT MINES,

Morning Light

d'ft & hydr'e Rodoni Bros.

8,750 00

Homeward Bound

drift.

.J Gleeson & Co ...

90,000 00

Golden Gate

d'ft & hydr'e Bowley & Co

141,000 00)

Trio . .

.. hydraulic. .

J W Kinder

Anglo-American

Worsley & Watts

27,640 00

Hill Bros

Fernandos

Jos Dias & Co

9,000 00

Medical Point.

hydraulic . A Rossi

6,230 00

Oriental

drift .

Barret & Charpiot (struck

STRAWBERRY FLAT MINES.

Kohinoor

Idrift

P Sloan

103,000 00

Strawberry .

...

Woods, Smith & Co.

47,000 09

Empire & Union

4.4

Willis Gould.

2,300 00

Gonld

SUCUOR FLAT MINES.

Snecor Flat

drift .

A Weske & Co

31,400 00

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History of Placer county, California, Part 49

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West Number of Pages: 558

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 558