USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 64
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THE GOLD MINES OF LA PANZA.
The San José Range of mountains is mentioned in the geological survey as extending from near Monterey southeastward, crossing the Salinas, or cut by the Salinas, and in its southeastern part rising as a formidable mount- ain, joining the Santa Lucia. To the casual observer, however, it is only in its southeastern part, between the head-waters of the Salinas and the San Juan, would it appear as a mountain range worthy of a distinctive name. In this portion are the gold mines of La Panza, the stream of that name flowing northeastward toward, and sometimes to, the San Juan. These mines have at- tracted attention at different times, and an aggregate exceeding $100,000 of gold has been taken from them.
In 1878 increased attention was drawn to them by the unusual success of some miners, and there ensued quite a "rush" to that region. Among those swelling the throng was Mr. Frank H. Reynolds, who spent two years mining for gold on the various streams of the range. He reports that he found there a few Americans and 230 Spanish people engaged in mining, chiefly in De la Guerra Gulch. He prospected in a great many gulches throughout the country, and found gold in nearly all flowing from the big black mountain (San José Range) toward the San Juan River. De la Guerra Gulch is where the most mining was done, and is where John
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Mason and others are now mining, 1882. Reynolds worked and prospected eleven or twelve weeks, and thinks he averaged about two dollars and a half a day. One day he packed dirt on a jackass three miles to water, and washed out $9.00 from it. He worked mostly on Navajo Creek, which is a stream of constantly flowing water, and in rainy weather is a torrent too strong to manage, flowing through a narrow cañon, sometimes between perpendicular walls of great height. He turned the stream in several places and used sluices, sometimes made $4.00 a day. The gold was coarse, he finding pieces-one worth eighty cents, some worth fifty, thirty, twenty cents, and less. The gold sold for $20.00 an ounce. Large granite bowlders are in the stream.
Haystock Cañon has running water and gold. Near the head are beautiful falls of twenty feet perpendicular, where the water falls into a basin near twenty feet across and ten or twelve feet deep, where the water is so clear as to show the bottom through it. These streams reach the channel of the San Juan only during very wet weather.
He visited the "Painted Rock" in the Carrisa Plain. In the rock forming the ridge west of the Painted Rock he found gold in dirt he creviced out and carried several miles to water. Found colors of gold. There are in the range bordering the plain on the west small deposits of quartz gravel indicating gold.
Cabins were built by digging into the bank and con- structing a roof of poles and brush and covering it with dirt. While digging in the rock, which was a soft gran- ite, live scorpions were exhumed. These died soon after being brought to light. They were small, colorless, and blind, giving evidence of having been encased a long time in the rock.
In a mountain of soft sandstone west of La Panza he found scalloped shells nine inches in diameter; shells bivalve, perfect, and filled with sand; also sharks' teeth, bones, etc.
OUR PLACER MINES.
The following letter, published in the South Coast, February 5, 1879, from an "Old Prospector," gives his views and the condition of the La Panza mines at that date:
Like nearly all '49ers who explored, prospected, and worked the great "Placer Belt" of the Pacific slope, from the Columbia River, in the North, to Arizona and Sonora, in the South, and from the sands of the beach to Utah in the East, I was prejudiced to the belief that gold existed in paying quantities in the Coast Range. Unlike most ancient miners, I was open to conviction, for I discovered gold and silver in paying quantities, but of small extent, when working mines in the quicksilver belt of Sonoma and Lake Counties, and when prospect- ing for coal in the coal belt of Santa Clara County.
The recent discoveries and developments in "Bodie," which is off the heretofore-known placer belt, demon- strates to a certainty that gold may exist in paying quan- tities, and having a large area in outside localities, other things being equal, such as the presence and blending of the strata of mineral rock, which produces, and which contributes to the production of gold and silver. Ac- counts of rich finds, or, rather, the indications of the existence of extensive and rich deposits of gold on the
eastern slope of the Coast Range of mountains, in this county, induced me to once more seek relief in that poor man's friend, the gold placers, and recuperate finances, which had become very much demoralized by that glittering destroyer-rock mining-in eastern Ne- vada.
On my arrival at La Panza District, I found some 200 men actively employed, four-fifths of whom are native Californians; some men digging, some packing pay dirt to water, some rocking, some panning, many walking over the country prospecting; all sanguine, all concurring in the wish for more rain.
The main encampment is in La Panza Cañon, in which, and its tributaries, ravines and gulches is done all the present mining; prospects of fine gold are found nearly everywhere in the water-course; coarse gold is found in the ravines and gulches. The great scarcity of water at present in this locality, and the lack of skilled labor, are the cause of the placer not yielding a larger amount to the operators. Evidences are that "pockets " or rich deposits of gold exist in the lower hills and flats which wash into the ravines and gulches, which are trib- utaries to the La Panza. The find in the present work- ings is indicative of what ought to exist in other parts of the district which is more favored, having a large area of water-shed, and an immense deposit of cement gravel. The belt of cement gravel has a length of six miles. The topography of the county to the south and east, on the line of the cement gravel, shows it to be much broken. The belt lies in a deep basin or channel; the cement gravel has the color and character of the gravel belt of Forest Hill and Yankee Jim, in Placer County; of You Bet and Little York, in Nevada County; of Monte Christo, in Sierra County; although the water- shed is larger in area, there never is water enough to work by hydraulic process.
A prospect of fine gold is found in all the gravel wher- ever prospected; water is sufficient at Camanche Cañon, the estuary of the water-shed, for washing the drift dirt of the channels of the cement gravel belt.
All the indications warrant the belief that extensive and rich deposits of gold exist in the channels of the cement gravel belt.
Camanche Cañon, the estuary of the water-shed, in which lays the cement gravel belt, is a deep, rocky gorge, cut through the eastern wall which encases the belt. It is a distance from La Panza Cañon of five miles, and from San Luis Obispo fifty miles. The geological forma- tion of the country is mainly gray granites, porphyritic granite, feldspathic granite, and some lime.
Quartz ledges are not numerous, owing, perhaps, to their being covered by the deep soil on the range which encases the belt on the east.
In the lime belt is a lead of rich-looking silver ore; tests of croppings show some thirty-six dollars in silver and gold per ton. In the Camanche ledge, which lays in feldspathic granite, and which runs along on the sum- mit of the ridge which encases the gravel belt, are several locations, prominent amongst which are the "Camanche," and the "Wild Buck." Several pan tests of pulverized quartz from croppings of Camanche Claim have been made which show a yield of thirty dollars per ton in gold and silver, silver predominating. This ledge has a width between walls of four feet, and seems to be a true fissure and well defined. The Wild Buck and the Camanche Claims can be developed cheaply, and worked to great advantage. Water for milling, and wood for mining and milling purposes are convenient. The continuous severe weather, while I was in the dis- trict, prevented my examining and prospecting the high chain of mountains, which encase the cement gravel belt on the west.
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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
Of late years these mines have not been actively worked, chiefly because of the scarcity of water. Mr. John Mason, and Mr. T. C. Still, and a few others, with their employes, continue mining whenever water flows, and the product is estimated to aggregate about $10,000 per annum. Upon this subject the San Luis Obispo Tribune of February 23, 1883, published the following :-
GOLD MINES OF SAN LUIS OBISPO.
On Monday last we were shown by Mr. Cerf, of Blochman & Co., a fine lot of several hundred dollars' worth of gold-dust from the mines of La Panza, in this county. In the receipts of bullion at San Francisco, as reported annually by various statisticians, the name of San Luis Obispo never appears, and thus in the reports sent abroad, one-as many others are-of our important interests is neglected. Our people have been content in having our great butter and cheese interests reported, and our beans and corn, and wheat and wool, and that this shall be classed simply as a good "cow county;" but we will now protest against the further ignoring of so impor- tant an interest as our gold mining is and may become. Throughout the San José Mountains, between the Salinas and the San Juan Rivers, gold is found, and, where water is obtainable, can be mined with profit. On La Panza, Navajo, Montezuma, and other streams of that region, mining has been carried on quite extensively; and during the gold excitement of 1878-79 several hundred were engaged in washing for the precious metal. Numerous quartz veins have been found, showing gold, but no ma- chinery has been erected for crushing the ore. The gold is altogether obtained from the placers by cradle and sluice washing. The want of water is the chief obstacle to successful mining. The annual product, unless the drought prevents work, is about $10,000. During the excitement above referred to, the product reached $50,- 000 to $60,000 per annum. With such a bullion prod- uct we claim the attention of the San Francisco statisti- cians for a place in their reports. Put the county down as producing $10,000 of gold-dust annually; also some $60,000 worth of chrome iron ore, and possessing im- mense deposits of quicksilver, copper ore, gypsum, onyx, alabaster, and asphaltum. If San Luis Obispo is a first- class "cow county," so is it able to take high rank in mining, as its mineral resources are of a wonderfully rich and varied character.
GOLD ON THE BEACH.
In the southern part of San Luis Obispo, in the sands of the ocean beach, gold is found in considerable quanti- ties, and a company has been formed, of which Dr. G. B. Nichols is the principal, for their exploitation. Under skillful management these placers are reported as yield- ing from $1.50 to $3.00 per day to the miner, and as the gold-dust appears to be renewed by the washing of the sea, they are deemed inexhaustible and of great prospect- ive value.
MINING HISTORY, BY P. A. FORRESTER.
P. A. Forrester, Esq., who has borne a prominent part in the mining, as well as political affairs of San Luis Obispo, and probably more familiar with the subject than any other person in the county, prepared a historical and descriptive sketch of the mining interest, for the Tribune, and published January 1, 1882, from which the following extracts are made :-
The mineral interest of San Luis Obispo County is, as yet, undeveloped, but sufficient has been done to indi- cate that it is not a secondary factor in the sum of our county's wealth. Quicksilver, chrome, silica, asphaltum, gold, lime, silver, and iron-and these we mention in the order of their supposed importance-are found within our limits.
QUICKSILVER.
Cinnabar has been long known to exist in the county, for the early Indians used it for paint, and were in the habit of visiting the Santa Lucia Range of mountains to procure it for that purpose. It is found here in geolog- ical formations of almost all ages, and particularly in tal- cose, sandstone, hornblendic, schistose, and argillaceous slates, and in the shales of the silurian period, and, in fact, in nearly all of the tertiary and postertiary forma- tions.
Cinnabar, according to Pliny, is an Indian name for the mixture of the blood of the dragon and the elephant, and to the other substances which produce a similar color. It was applied to the common ore of mercury- the sulphuret-on account of its blood-red color. Mer- cury, when extracted from the rock, is of the color and luster of silver, and is fluid at ordinary temperature. The equivalent of the metal is 100, and its specific gravity, which varies according to temperature, is given at 13.557 at 620 degrees Fahrenheit. At about 35 degrees below zero it becomes solid and crystallizes; its boiling point is 662 degrees, at which point it becomes and forms an invisible, transparent vapor. Mercury has the peculiar property of uniting with various metals, as gold, silver, tin, lead, zinc, and bismuth, and forming a compound known as amalgam. The first and most important cin- nabar mines of which we have notice are the Almaden Mines, of La Mancha, Spain; Idria Mines, of Carnalia, Austria; Hungary, Transylvania, Palatine, Tuscany, Peru, France, Chili, and Mexico. These mines, particularly the first two, have been extensively worked, and have produced, up to 1845, all the quicksilver sold and con- sumed throughout the world. Of these old mines, there are now worked the Almaden, Idria, and Huancavilica, of Peru.
In 1845 the famous New Almaden Mine, of Califor- nia, was first opened and worked by Captain Castillero, the same mine having been worked in 1824 by Spaniards, for silver.
CINNABAR IN SAN LUIS OBISPO.
The first practical working of cinnabar in San Luis Obispo was in 1862, at which time a party of Mexicans located the Josephine Mine, situated on the summit of the Santa Lucia Range, about midway between San Sim- eon Bay and the Paso Robles, and on the head-waters of the Santa Rosa Creek. The croppings of this claim were of remarkable richness, and gave promise of a valu- able mine. The claim was soon after sold to Barron & Co., of San Francisco, the former owners of the New Almaden, who erected an old style intermittent furnace, and worked the mine some three years, and produced about $280,000 worth of quicksilver therefrom. The claim proved to be a chamber or deposit of ore, without regular walls; and for the reason that the ore was ex- tremely hard to work and reduce, and no indications to guide the further prospecting of the mine, it was virtu- ally abandoned. We learn, however, that the owners still claim it, and intend at some future day to recommence work thereon-probably when quicksilver regains its former price. Several claims in the vicinity of the Jo- sephine were worked about the same time, but not suffi- ciently to develop any valuable ore deposits.
Over 150 cinnabar claims were located and recorded in that mining district. This gives an idea of the great
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extent of the quicksilver belt in that locality, the crop- pings averaging from two to eight per cent. of quicksilver.
PINE MOUNTAIN MINES.
The next effort to work cinnabar mines was made in the same range of mountains, eight miles fur- ther north, near the northeast corner of the Piedra Blanca Rancho, and near the site of the present Key- stone Mine. Some Mexicans discovered and worked a claim without opening any body of metal, but this effort led to others, which resulted in the discovery of the Pine Mountain Lode, on or near the summit of the range, in 1871. On this lode-which is a well-defined fissure vein-eight claims were located, all of which showed well on the outside, and from which a large quantity of fair ore was extracted. The original Pine Mountain claim was first bonded to Land & Brewster, of San Francisco, for $40,000, on which $3,000 was paid, and subsequently to Senator J. P. Jones, of Nevada, for $30,000, on which bond $1,500 was paid. About $8,000 was expended in "unprospecting" the claim under the mismanagement of incompetent superintendents, and the bonds were surrendered. This claim is very promis- ing, and no doubt with skillful direction of work, could be made a valuable mine. The ore averages two and a half per cent., and like the ore along the entire lode, is feldspathic and argillaceous. The Gibson & Phillips claim on the extreme northwest end of the lode, was purchased by the Ocean View Mining Company, of San Francisco, and some $200,000 expended thereon in machinery, furnaces, and prospecting the claim. This company, through its "theoretical" superintendents, nearly bankrupted in construction of roads, furnaces, saw-mills, and other outside extravagances, before the mine was sufficiently prospected to justify these enor- mous expenditures. These causes, together with the great fall in the price of quicksilver, led to the suspen- sion of work. This claim has valuable improve- ments, finely constructed tunnels and shafts, with rich veins of cinnabar permeating it in every point; and the time will come when it will prove a veritable bonanza. The adjoining claims of Santa Maria, Buckeye, and Jeff Davis all give promise of containing the mercurial wealth shown at both ends of the lode. In December, 1871, the Keystone Mine was located, and for a time was worked by, the original claimants. In May, 1872, it was bonded to Cross & Co., of San Francisco, for $36,000, but was subsequently sold to them for $20,000. On this mine a small furnace was built, and the claim extensively prospected by tunnels and inclines, and a large body of ore was extracted and reduced; but it was fully demonstrated to be a slide from the main lode on the summit of the mountain, and supposed to be part of the Pine Mountain Lode. The claim has been abandoned.
THE SAN JOSÉ MINES
Were located in 1872, and show very favorably; they are located on the eastern slope of the Santa Lucia Range, and comprise some seven claims. A great deal of labor has been expended in prospecting the claims, but, unfortunately, from incompetent direction of work, and construction of an experimental furnace, the claims have received a black eye which time alone will cure. The ore is of a very rich character, and the veins well defined; the matrix is multiform in composition, varying from a schistose to calcareous conglomerate; the wall rocks are highly impregnated with metal, and we have no hesitancy in asserting that good returns will be made from a proper working of these claims. The present owners, Messrs. A. Blochman & Co., have great faith in the future of this property, which is evidenced by the
great watchfulness observed over it by them. We now come to
THE CHIEF OF QUICKSILVER MINES
In our county-the Oceanic. The original claims, three in number, were located by residents of Cambria and vicinity, in 1874. They are situate on the north side of and about three-quarters of a mile from the Santa Rosa Creek, and five miles from Cambria. The ledge runs east and west, dipping to the north at an angle of about seventeen degrees. The matrix is a friable sandstone, interstratified with conglomerate, and what is very singu- lar, the country rock is highly metamorphosed, while the vein matter remains unchanged. The cap-rock is a hard shale and sandstone, and in many places fused with cin- nabar to the distance of eight or ten feet from the lode. The hanging wall is talc and schist, and the vein matter varies from eight to thirty-two feet in width, of unbroken length, and a uniformity of richness seldom found in cin- nabar mines. These claims were sold in 1872, to a company of San Francisco capitalists, among whom were A. C. Peachy, Lafayette Maynard, Titus F. Cro- nise, M. Zellerback, and others, who formed the incorpo- ration known as
THE OCEANIC MINING COMPANY.
The capital stock was fixed at $6,000,000, 60,000 shares, and for a time the stock sold readily at $25.00 per share. We have in our possession 150 shares for which $30.00 per share was offered and refused. These claims were purchased for $36,000, and energetic work at once commenced to capture this mercurial stronghold. The company purchased some 600 acres of adjacent lands for timber and elbow room. At times over 300 men were employed in diversified labor. Three furnaces of the most improved " Janninic" pattern were erected at a cost of nearly $90,000, and no expense spared to open up what was supposed to be the richest quicksilver mine on the continent. Seven tunnels, cutting the ledge at different levels, were run in after the most approved form of timbered thoroughfares. Quicksilver was produced with little labor, owing to the character of the ore, and everything bade fair for the grandest returns on capital invested-this was on the basis of $1.50 per pound for quicksilver. But a change came over the spirit of the profit dream. Prices commenced tumbling, and reached a bottom at forty cents per pound, which rendered these claims comparatively worthless. Although possessing an abundance of ore, which would give a good profit at seventy-five cents, they could not be worked in competi- tion with the richer and more accessible quicksilver deposits of the State. Prospecting work is still contin- ued on these claims, and new bodies of ore are being opened up, preparatory to the almost certain rise in the price of quicksilver, which will reinstate this property to its former status, and give new life and vigor to our sister town-Cambria. To give a full description of these mines, furnaces, and detail of working, would require a much greater space than our columns can afford; but we will add this, that the singular formation of the Oceanic claims has a parallel only in the famous Huancavilica Mines of Peru, the latter being in a secondary formation, and the former in a post-tertiary. This latter fact is attested by the large amount of shell formations abound- ing in the vicinity of the mines. About halfway between the mines and the furnaces a deposit or ledge of shells averages twelve feet in thickness, and comprises fossil clams over twelve inches in length. In addition to the cinnabar claims mentioned, the Polar Star Mine, on the northern boundary of this county, is spoken of as being extremely rich. A small retort has been con- structed, which yields a fair profit on the labor expended,
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and aids in the further development of the claim. As yet the main ore body has not been reached, but the owners are sanguine of opening up a valuable property. The grade of ore is very high.
CHROMIUM.
Next to quicksilver the chromium deposits of the county are proving of great extent and value. It is an article of great commercial importance throughout the world. Its principal use is in the arts, as for the coloring of porcelain, dying, and as a pigment. The substance known in commerce as the sesquioxide of potassium, is produced from this ore. Nearly all the chrome used is procured from the United States, Shetland Isles, Turkey, and Russia, the United States yielding the greater por- tion. Heretofore the district known as the " Bare Hills," near Baltimore, afforded the greatest supply in the United States, and fully supplied the local demands. But with an increased demand for the purposes named, and others which are supposed to be kept secret by the purchasers and workers of this metal, the old fields are giving out, and California is called upon to supply the deficit. The Tyson Manufacturing Works of Baltimore, has heretofore enjoyed a monopoly in this line, and has generally controlled the markets, paying for the ore such prices as the company fixed.
CHROME REDUCTION WORKS.
Lately a new " Richmond" has sprung into the arena, known as the Chrome Reduction Works of Philadelphia, and has given an increased value to the ore. San Luis Obispo County has the best showing of any district now known, and at no distant day the development of chrome in this State will be directed exclusively to this county. The price, so far, has averaged about $8.00 per ton, delivered at the railroad depot in San Luis Obispo; but the high prices of the various productions from this min- eral cannot fail to attract attention to its further develop- ment, and in addition to the decrease of the supply in other places, will ultimately tend to a great increase in price. This mineral is generally found in masses and veins running through serpentine; these masses are often large, weighing as high as 1,000 pounds, and is dissemi- nated through the rock and upon the surface.
The finest grade-assaying up to seventy per cent .- is found in the belt commencing on the Santa Lucia Range near the city of San Luis Obispo, and extending north- westerly about twelve miles. The richest deposits are on or in the vicinity of the head-waters of the Chorro Creek, about five miles from this place. Over 20,000 tons have been sold and shipped, and some 8,000 tons are now lying at the railroad depot awaiting shipment.
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