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collected and arranged by Mr. Boalt; Messrs. C. A. Luckhardt and Alexis Janin, of Virginia City; Messrs. E. F. Dunne, C. B. Dahlgren, W. S. Keyes, George H. Willard, and others, of White Pine.

Oregon.-Messrs. S. G. Reed, J. C. Ainsworth, S. C. Mills, Mark King, of Portland; Rev. T. Condon, and Mr. A. Edgar, of Dalles City; Silas Day, Jacksonville; W. V. Rinehart, J. L. Miller, Dr. Horsley, Cañon City; E. W. Reynolds, Baker City; J. B. Griffin, Ruckel mine.

Idaho.-W. A. Atlee, P. S. Buckminster, and others, Boise City; H. Walbridge, J. M. Adams, and others, Silver City; R. Hurley, Warren's Camp.

Montana.-Mr. Augustus Steitz, of Helena, prepared the greater part of the report on this Territory, but is not wholly responsible for its present form. In addition to him, thanks are due to Messrs. Granville Stuart, S. F. Dunlap, Charles Besserer, Judge Lovell, and General Wilson, for valuable statistics of their respective counties; to Mr. George Weare, of Helena, for an excellent paper on the country east of the Bell Range; and to Messrs. Hendrie, Irwine, Town, Metcalf, Rollwitt, and many others, for courteous assistance.

Colorado.-Among many who received me with cordiality and assisted me with zeal, I would mention particularly Messrs. Byers, Thomas, and Jones, of Denver; Messrs. Clark, Bradley, and Von Schulze, of Central City; and Messrs. Cushman, Huepeden, Wolters, Brückner, Stölting, and Kurtz, of Georgetown.

New Mexico.-Mr. William Brückner, whose investigations furnished the notes for these chapters, desires acknowledgments to be made to Captain N. S. Davis, M. Bloomfield, Mr. Stürnberg, J. A. Miller, Charles Keerl, R. B. Willison, (United States mineral surveyor of New Mexico,) Dr. H. Hilgert and Dr. A. Blatchley, for assistance rendered him.

Wyoming.-Notes from this Territory, also, were collected by Mr. Brückner, who received valuable aid from Dr. H. Hahn, Mr. Erwin, A. Steck, Judge Rockwell, J. W. Anthony, J. Morin, S. Ettlinger, Charles J. Hazard, (editor of the Sweetwater Mines,) and Messrs. Taylor, Roberts and Eddy.

The part devoted to mechanical appliances of mining is the work of Professor W. P. Blake, and I believe it could not have been in better hands. Limited as to time, space, and means, Professor Blake has nevertheless succeeded in presenting a general view of the subject intrusted to him, which shows his great familiarity with the whole field, and will be, I trust, very serviceable to the country. I would acknowledge further the assistance of Dr. P. H. Van der Weyde, of New York, in the preparation of a chapter upon wind as a motor; and the very intelligent co-operation of Mr. A. Eilers, mining engineer, in the labor of editing and arranging the whole report.

During my annual journeys of 1868 and 1869, amounting in all to some 23,000 miles, and embracing portions of California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado, I was officially the

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recipient of courtesies from the various transportation companies, by means of which several thousand dollars of expeuse were saved to the government in the preparation of these reports. Foremost among these I would name the house of Wells, Fargo & Co., which put at my disposal not only the facilities of travel, but the services, in the collection of information, of its numerous agents throughout the mining districts. Free transportation was officially furnished, also, by the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, California Pacific, Napa Valley and Oregon railroad companies, the Oregon Stage Company, Edgar's Cañon City stage line, John Hailey's overland line from Umatilla to Salt Lake, and Wilson's White Pine and Austin line.

In bringing to a close the arduous work of preparing this volume, I desire to thank the department for the enlightened sympathy with which the subjects intrusted to me have hitherto been regarded, and to express the hope that the accompanying report will be found worthy of the confidence reposed in its author.

I have the honor to be yours, respectfully,

R. W. RAYMOND,

U. S. Commissioner of Mining Statistics.

Hon. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL,

Secretary of the Treasury.

PART I.

CONDITION OF MINING INDUSTRY.

SECTION I.-CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER I.

METHOD OF COLLECTING STATISTICS.

Desirous of obtaining as much information as possible with the limited appropriation at my disposal, and also of having this information arranged according to a uniform plan, so that it might be introduced in my report in a comprehensible and intelligible manner without being too voluminous, I had deemed it best, after mature deliberation, to make the attempt to collect certain statistics by issuing blanks. Five different blanks were prepared: No. 1, to contain the production of gold and silver during the year; No. 2, the producing mines; No. 3, the mining claims; No. 4, the costs of mining and reducing ores; and No. 5, the mills running in a certain district. These blanks were sent to one or more principal agents in each State or Territory, with instructions to distribute the same in the following manner:

1. To send sets to county assessors, district assessors, and county surveyors.

2. To the editors of newspapers in each county, with request of calling attention to the importance of gathering statistics editorially. 3. To superintendents of leading mines.

4. To the owners or superintendents of all mills contained in the list published in Langley's Pacific Coast Directory for 1867.

5. To agents of Wells, Fargo & Co. in the principal mining towns. 6. To prominent individuals in the various counties known to be interested in mining.

7. To proprietors of smelting furnaces and "process" men.

8. To procure information in relation to new mills, &c., from foundries and iron works, and to send blanks to owners and superintendents of such mills.

9. To call personally on such mine owners and superintendents as might be located in the immediate vicinity of any agent's place of residence.

The result has been, on the whole, a great disappointment to me as far as the use of the blanks is concerned. In fact, none were received. properly filled, except from California, and even those very scattering.. In that State it was remarked, as a general rule, that the superintendents declined giving any information whatever, except after consultation with owners. The best and fullest returns were from owners who superintended their own mines and mills. Many of the owners of mines residing. in San Francisco have not been willing to give any information what

ever.

The following statement will show forcibly the indifference with which requests for information have been treated in most cases.

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