lofty range of mountains which divide the valley of the Illinois river from the



154 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES

Pacific ocean. These mountains run through, the northern portion of California
and the south of Oregon, for more than one hundred miles, and cross the western
branch of the Sierra Nevadas at nearly right angles.

Altaville, the centre of this district, is about fifteen miles northeast from
Crescent City, Del Norte county. There are a great number of mines in the
district ; many of them have been extensively worked, and probably one thou-
sand tons of good ore has been shipped from them since their discovery, in 1'860.
Among those which have shipped ore are the Alta, Union, Pacific, Lady Belle,
Chrysopolis, Comstock, Diamond, Express, Pearl, Copper Hill, Excelsior, and
a number of others. The Alta was the first mine worked in the district, and is
the only one worked at present.

The mines in this district are not connected with the great copper belt so fre-
quently alluded to in this report. This runs several miles to the east, where
the Siskiyou mountains connect the counties of Yreka, in California, with Jose-
phine, in Oregon. The ores in the Alta district are quite distinct in deposition,
appearance, and character from those found in the mines on the great belt.
The deposits are separate and distinct ; of probably the same age and origin, as
they are similar in other respects t^ those found around the base of Mount
Diablo, and in the coast range further south. The first forty-two tons of ore
shipped by the Alta company averaged forty-five per cent., and sold in San Fran-
cisco for $7,000 cash, the cost of their extraction and delivery not exceeding
$2,000. They were red oxides, chiefly, of which there was a large body nearly
three feet wide and fifty feet long, near the surface, but this was soon exhausted,
as there is no well defined lode on the ground. In fact it is doubtful whether
there is a consecutive body of ore of fifty feet in length in the whole district.
The croppings of what are supposed to be lodes nearly a dozen of them are
seen ranging nearly north and south for many miles, but the body of ore beneath
these croppings is so irregular in position, owing to the distortion of the serpen-
tine in which they are contained, that it is almost impossible to tell in what
direction the average of them do lie.

The Alta Company have sunk a shaft on their mine to the depth of nearly
four hundred feet without finding a regularly defined lode. They meet with
bunches of ore, chiefly yellow sulphurets of a very low grade, varying in size
from a mere film to ten feet thick, but not sufficiently connected to make the
mine profitable to work under the existing state of the copper market. This
mine is exceedingly well situated for obtaining its ore cheap, if a large body of
it should be found, as drifts could be run into the hill at a great depth at com-
paratively little cost.

The Rockland district is located about fifteen miles east of the Alta district,
above described, and about thirty miles from Crescent City, Del Norte county,
California. The mines in this district are located on the great copper belt,
which may easily be traced in the vicinity for nearly -twenty miles, in the direc-
tion of N. 28 W., the general trend of this belt, by which it may be followed
from where first noticed, north of Los Angeles, to about twenty-five miles west
of this district, which is a few miles within the limits of the State of Oregon.
There are several other districts within this State in which important copper
mines have been located on this belt ; but time will not admit of any reference
being made to them. The Queen of Bronze, near Waldo, Josephine county,
the most valuable copper mine in Oregon, is located on this belt, about sixteen
miles west from this point. Extensive smelting works have been erected on
this latter mine, and thousands of tons of ore have been exported from these
mines, which, as has been already stated, have been discovered since 1860.

There are some peculiarly interesting features connected with the copper
mines of this district, which have a tendency to throw considerable light upon
the subject of the action of volcanic forces on metallic ores, because in this
vicinity an enormous volcanic dyke, nearly one hundred feet wide, approaches



WEST OF THE ROCEY MOUNTAINS. 155

the copper belt at an obtuse angle, witliin a hundred feet, and it is within this
point of proximity that the large masses of metallic copper mentioned above
were discovered. Another point in the same connection may be here mentioned.
The age of the rocks containing the copper, throughout the whole extent of the
great belt, has been tolerably well ascertained to be between the triassic and
tertiary eras, and as this volcanic force, which has caused the conversion of the
ores into metals from one end of it to the other, must ha^e been exerted sub-
sequently, the opportunity here afforded to examine the largest and most clearly
denned dyke on the coast is very important.

Mount Diablo district. The principal copper mines in the Mount Diablo
district are .located about the northern base, and up the side of a spur of Mount
Diablo, called Mount Zion, and along the north side of Mitchell's canon, near
the town of Clayton, Contra Costa county. The first discovery of these mines
was made in 1860, and considerable work was done on several of them for about
two years, in efforts to discover the lode, but without success, as there is no
lode in the mountain. The copper found here is not connected with the great
cupriferous belt, but exists in detached bunches and masses, as is the case in
tlie Alta district, in Del Norte county, described above. The croppings of the
patches of ore here run north and south, as they do at Del Norte. Some
metallic' copper has been found on' the north side of Mitchell's canon, but in
every case, after reaching a few feet below the surface, the ore, when found in
bodies sufficiently large to take out, has been found of a very low grade ; ten
tons of selected ore shipped by the Keokuk company did not yield more
than eight per cent. It is doubtful whether the mines in this district will
ever pay to work.

Pcavine district. The Peavine district was discovered in 1864. It is located
a few miles east of the Henness pass, in Washoe county, Nevada, one portion
of it being within three miles of the line of the Central Pacific railroad. The
district embraces an era of ten miles square, in which there are a great number
of claims of considerable importance. The ores in all these mines are entirely
distinct from those found in California, as well as the containing rocks. They
are usually much contaminated with quartz, but they contain a large per cent,
of gold and silver. The completion of the Central Pacific railroad to within a
few miles of'nie district has given considerable impetus to prospecting, and a
great number of companies are preparing to take out ore, the railroad com-
pany having informed those interested that it would carry ores to Sacramento,
from any point in the Henness pass, for $9 per ton. The ores of most of these
mines being silicates, carbonates, and oxides, are very easily concentrated, a
fact which the owners of the Bay State mine appear to be aware of, as they are
putting up a small furnace, on Haskell's plan, to operate on all the ores they
can purchase,, as well as what they can obtain from their own mine. No ores
of any consequence have been shipped from this district, in consequence of the
distance to a market ; but in 1864 a, Doctor Landszwertmade a number of large
bars of fine copper from them, which were exhibited at the State fair, at Carson
City, in that year. These bars contained $150 per ton in gold, and about $250
per ton in silver, according to the doctor's assay.

Lower California mines Of the copper mines in Lower California but lit-
tle of an authentic character is known. The Sance mine, as described by Mr.
W. Thompson, an old Cornish miner, who was superintendent of it for three or
four years, is located near Loretto, a place in the province of Comondu, about
thirty miles from the coast, where there is a good harbor. The lode is de-
scribed as being from eight to ten feet wide, enclosed between walls of slate and
granite. It has been extensively explored by shafts and levels, and about five
hundred tons of ore have been shipped to Europe, where it sold for about five
hundred dollars per ton. This ore, specimens of which have been brought to
San Francisco, is of a very peculiar character, being a sort of talcose gangue,



156 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES

containing flattened scales of metal of various sizes, from several feet in length
and breadth, to small specks like fine gold dust. Many of the larger masses of
this copper are covered with an incrustation of metallic silver, the only simi-
lar combination of these two metals found on this coast, though the combination
of metallic copper and silver is quite common at the Lake Superior copper mines.
This mine has not been worked for nearly two years.

Arizona mines.jjpke mines in Arizona, from which ores have been sent to
San Francisco, are located on both banks of Williams's Fork of the Colorado
river, where, there is but little doubt, will very soon be one of the most im-
portant copper mining districts on this coast. The existence of the deposits of
ore now in course of development at this point was well known for several
years before the discovery of the mines in California. A quantity of the ore
from some of the mines about Mineral Hill was sent to Boston, as early as 1858,
and examined by Doctor Jackson, the distinguished mineralogist of that city,
who pronounced them of extraordinary richness. But a variety of causes,
among which the want of means for transporting the ore was the chief, pre-
vented any advantage being gained by the discovery till 1862 when the owners
of the Planet mine shipped about one hundred tons of their ore to San Fran-
cisco, where it sold for a price that left a profit of upwards of $1 00 per ton over
and above all expenses for its extraction and transportation, the land carriage
from the mine to the river, about twenty miles, having been done by pack-mules.
A good road has been cut to connect the mines with the river since that time.

There are nearly fifty good mines in this district on both banks of the river.
The Planet is the most important on the south, and the Mineral Hill on the
north. The greatest activity has prevailed among these mines during the past
year, and about 1,500 tons of ore have been shipped from them all collectively ;
the principal shippers being the Planet, Great Central, Mineral Hill, Philadel-
phia, Mountaineer, Mammoth, Copper Hill, and Occidental. Ten times the quan-
tity shipped might have been sent had there been means for taking it away. Gen-
tlemen just returned from fehese mines state that there are upwards of 1,000
tons of ore that will average 40 per cent., now lying on the river bank ready
for shipment. The steamers and two or three schooners employed in the trade
are wholly inadequate for the purpose.

Some of the mines in this district have been extensively exp%redjby means
of shafts, tunnels and drifts, and in nearly every case the body of ore has in-
creased in importance in proportion to the extent to which it has been devel-
oped. The Mineral Hill company have run "a tunnel on their mine for the
length of 350 feet, out of which, while cutting, they took nearly 1,000 tons of
ore of an average of 30 per cent., the whole work from the surface being in
a body of ore. The ore in none of the mines in the district is found in a regu-
lar lode, as in the mines in California, but the whole country appears to be
formed of the ores of iron and copper, the hills for miles around being col-
ored red by the iron, or green and blue in patches where waters containing car-
bonate of lime in solution have percolated through the copper.

In running the tunnels and drifts through this extraordinary material, the
miners run considerable risk of injury by being crushed by heavy masses of
ore, which, having been held in place by large quantities of powdery oxide of
iron, drop out when they are undermined in cutting the drifts. When such
blocks fall out, in some cases hundreds of tons of this dry powder, which is
nothing more nor less than iron rust, will come rushing down and block all fur-
ther work till the opening can be timbered up.

The great body of ores found in the district being black and red oxides, sil-
icates and carbonates, all of a character that admit of conversion into regulus
by the application of heat alone, and by a single process, several of the compa-
nies have erected extensive smelting works. Martin & Greenman, who are



WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 157

largely interested in the Mineral Hill mines, are putting up works that will cost
nearly $100,000 when completed.

Some of the ore taken from this extraordinary hill are so exceedingly rich in
gold, that a 10-stamp battery is being erected to crush the ore and work it for
the gold, by the ordinary processes adopted for saving gold from quartz ; the tail-
ings will be afterwards smelted for the copper they contain, nearly 40 per cent.
. The gangue rock of nearly all these Arizona ores is composed of spathic
iron, heavy spar and quartz ; the ores found in California "being free from gangue
rock, though they are generally mixed with the containing slate or serpentine.

Knowles & Lightner, another firm, extensively engaged in these Arizona
mines, are also putting up smelting works on their ground. The Great Central
company have a set of such works in active operation, and turning out large
quantities of good regulus of about 80 per cent.

Most of the labor done about these mines is performed by natives, Mexicans
and Chinamen. Not more than one-fourth ef the workmen are Americans or
Europeans.

Aubery City is located on the north side of .the fork, and would soon become
quite an important place of business if sufficient tonnage could be obtained to
carry away the ore that could be furnished by the mines in its neighborhood.

3. THE GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS IN WHICH COPPER IS FOUND.

Peculiarities of formations. There are peculiarities about the geological for-
mations in which the copper ores are found on this coast, which derive an inter-
est from the great extent of country over which they can be traced. "For in
stance : Not a single important body of such ore has been found on this coast,
either among the coast range, the foot-hills, or among the Sierra Nevadas, ex-
cept in the immediate vicinity, if not actually in serpentine or other magnesian
rocks or matamorphised slates. This is the case in all the districts above de-
scribed, the only exception being at Hope valley, Amador county. For the
hundreds of miles over which the great belt of copper ores can be traced, it is
never found except in one or the other of these rocks, and invariably without
any gangue rock, except this containing slate or serpentine. This great belt of
copper ore is never formed except in the immediate vicinity of the auriferous
slates and quartz. As has already been mentioned, all the copper found on this
coast contains a large per cent, of gold, and many of the most important aurif-
erous quartz lodes contain a considerable per cent, of copper ore. In some sec-
tions of the State the gold itself is so much alloyed with copper that it is not
more than half as valuable as that obtained from other sections. The numerous
fossils that have been discovered in both the auriferous slates and in the vicinity
of the great copper belt, prove that both formations belong to the same geologi-
cal era. It may therefore be reasonable to suppose that the same causes which
produced the one, at the same time produced the other. The nature of these
causes has not been sufficiently studied to be of any practical use ; though the
subject involves many important practical and scientific points, such as the
compilation of facts and the observations of practical men in the department
you have just inaugurated may throw .much light upon.

The costs of working tlie copper mines. The cost of working the copper
mines on this coast is, under the present system, a great impediment to the
development of this source of national wealth. Expenses of. copper mining are
much influenced by three conditions : the convenience of the mine to the market
for its product, the kind of labor employed, and the position of the mine in
reference to facilities for working it.

The mines at Copperopolis, which are most favorably located with reference
to the convenience for sending their ores to market, pay, on an average, about
$8 per ton to carry their ore from the mine to the ship which carries it to the



158 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES

furnaces, about $15 per ton as freight charges by these ships, and about $4 per
ton for bags in which to carry it; or $27 per ton for carrying the ore to the
nearest market, a sum riearly equal to the average value of all the copper ores
obtained from the mines in England and the continent of Europe. Such mines
as are located further inland, or in localities removed from main travelled thorough-
fares, have to meet additional costs for transportation.

This expensive transportation compels a closer examination of the ore than
would otherwise be necessary, and this work has all to be done by hand, in
order to select only such of it as may be sufficiently rich to warrant the expense,
requiring considerable skill on the part of the laborers employed. This opera-
tion costs, at a very low estimate, $1 per ton for such ore as may be selected,
and causes a waste, in some classes of ore, amounting to ten per cent, by mixing
the crumbled rich ore among the slate and refuse, which is thrown on the dump
pile, for want of already means for its separation.

The costs for bags alone, unavoidable under the present system, has been the
cause of the stoppage of the work on several good mines. These bags are aii
enormous tax on the copper resources of this coast. There are no means, under
this system, of avoiding this expense, as shipowners will not carry the ore to
New York or Boston unless it is in bags. Occasionally, a cargo of one grade
ore has been shipped to Swansea in bulk ; but as it is very rarely that an entire
cargo belongs to one party, or is of one grade, it is very rarely that this method
of shipment is adopted. These bags are scarcely ever returned, and conse-
quently are nearly a total loss. Meader & Co., who are largely connected with
the shipping busiuess, secure the return of a small portion of their bags, but as
they have undergone the wear and tear of a six months' voyage round the Horn
in a damp hold of a ship, and been subjected to the rough handling in scores of
movings, they are of comparatively small value when returned.

The class of laborers employed, and the wages paid for their services, are
another material condition greatly influencing the costs of copper mining on this
coast. The average wages of copper miners, American or European, in Cali-
fornia, except at Copperopolis, is about $3 per day. The Keystone and Union,
the two largest companies at that place, pay $2 60 per day to all their laborers,
whether they work above or below ground. Other companies in the valley pay
$3 per day for drifters, and $2 50 per day for all other laborers. Many of the com-
panies in other portions of the State employ Chinamen almost exclusively for
all work done above ground, who work for $1 per diem. As these Chinamen,
under proper supervision, do as much work, and as well as any other class of
laborers, it follows that those companies that employ them effect an important
saving of expense. The owners of the Copperopolis mines have not introduced
this class of labor in that locality lest it might create disturbances among the
miners, of whom there are about eight hundred in the valley. These men, as is
usual with their class, have an intense hatred to the Chinese, a feeling which is
not by any means allayed by the knowledge that their presence and employment
would insure a reduction in the rate of wages. It is quite probable the intro-
duction of Chinamen to work on these mines would create considerable disturb-
ance. But it is scarcely to be expected that proprietors of mines costing mil-
lions of dollars, the returns on which depend on the economy with which they
are worked, will be deterred from availing themselves of the services of the
cheapest labor in the market, through fear of the acts of any class of citizens.
It being so much to the interest of the State that every facility should be
afforded to those engaged in developing its mineral resources, any interference
on the part of individuals or combinations to prevent the introduction of cheap
labor for that purpose would be severely punished.

The mines in Oregon and in the northern portion of California pay from $2
to 83 per day for laborers.

At the mines in Arizona most of the work is done by Mexicans, who are



WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 159

satisfied with about $30 per month and a certain quantity of provisions There
are a good many Chinese employed at these mines, who are paid $30 per month
and board themselves. The Americans and Europeans employed are paid from
$50 to 60 per month in addition to their board.

The position of the mine, the facilities it possesses for working, is another im-
portant condition connected with the costs. Mines located in the lower level of
broad valleys, such as those at Copperopolis, where they have to hoist every-
thing taken out of the mine and to lower everything put into it by machinery,
and to pump the seepage water of an extensive district from a sump-'hole five hun-
dred feet in depth, labor under the greatest possible disadvantage. The costs of
engines, their wear and tear, and the expense of their superintendence and re-
pair, imposes a cost of more than $5 per ton on all the ores extracted from these
mines. It is a fair estimate to calculate that every ton of ore taken from the
Union and Keystone mines costs $16 per ton as it reaches J p surface. This
calculation includes the division of all the expenses attending the conduct of
the business of the mine by the quantity of ore actually shipped. These figures,
explaining the costs of working the copper mines when compared with those
showing the value of their products, show why so many good mines have stopped
work during the past year.

The present price of fifteen per cent, ore at Swansea and New York is less
than $50 per ton. To obtain this it costs the mines at Copperopolis

For extraction from the mine , $16

Freight to San Francisco .' 8

Freight to Swansea or New York 15

Bags 4

Sorting 1

Total.. 44



This does not include any allowance for loss by broken bags or carelessness
in handling after shipment, or expenses for commissions, &c. It must also be
remembered that not one-half of the ore extracted from these mines will average
fifteen per cent. It is known that Meader, Lalor & Co. have shipped thousands
of tons of ore which did not exceed twelve per cant. These Copperopolis mines,
exporting nearly three-fourths of the ore, furnisn unmistakable data on which to
base a calculation of the very slight margin of profits that arise from copper
mining on this coast as at present conducted.

There are some mines, such as La Victoire, in Mariposa county, and those in
some of the northern counties and in Oregon, in which the costs of extraction
of the ore does not exceed $4 per ton, as they are worked by tunnels and re-
quire no hoisting or pumping. But the cost of transportation is much greater
from all these mines than it is from Copperopolis, and the quantity of fifteen-per-
cent, ore costs more for selecting. The quantity of carbonates, silicates, and
oxides obtainable in any locality in California and Oregon is so unimportant
as not to come within range of calculations concerning the costs of regular
mining.

It cannot be possible that this present condition of affairs connected with the
copper resources of the Pacific v coast is without remedy, as the annexed table
will show. The mines on this coast within five years of their discovery, in spite
of every disadvantage of inexperience in the work of. their development and
want of knowledge of the nature of their ores, have exported nearly eighty thou-
sand tons of ore, valued at the very lowest estimate at upwards of $5,000,000 A
national source of wealth so productive in its infancy will not be left to die of