B. Cost of beneficiation: Extra assorting at the smelting works, (if necessary,) at $1 per ton .. $12 00 Labor, four hands, at $5.. Crushing the ore in a Blake's crusher, at $2 per ton. Three cords fuel, at $4.. Stack furnace, 12 tons capacity: 264 bushels of coal, at 16 cents. 24 00 36 00 $20 00 12 00 32 00 24 00 42 24 66 24 Extra labor at smelting works, four hands, at $4.......... 16 00 186 24 Total Cost of beneficiation, therefore, $15 52 per ton. If smelting is carried on properly, at least 80 per cent. of the assay value of the lead and 90 per cent. of the silver value ought to be obtained, representing, therefore, 43.4 per cent. lead and $43 29 silver value. We would have, therefore, from 12 tons— At pres Therefore, a profit at the mine of $560 64 from 12 tons of ore. Freight to Los Angeles, at 3 cents per pound.. Assay charges on bullion, tax, etc., 24 per cent., (of 790.35 dol against value of 5 tons 416 pounds bullion, total, $831 96; leaving a profit of $79 77 from mining and smelting 12 tons of ore. The above description and estimates show that with economy and energy lucrative mining operations can be carried on in the district, not perhaps at first with such magnificent results as many not acquainted with the facts which now exist in favor of and against the district would at first suppose, but with sufficient profit to justify investment of capital. It is quite probable that actual practical demonstration in future may prove my estimate in regard to the representation of the quality and quantity of the ores too low, but I have purposely abstained from all flattery, and, on the contrary, underrated the facts. The wealth is there; the district is new; transportation is very high, but this will be reduced in time; and when smelting is once taken up with only half the energy with which amalgamation was taken in hand by the western people, such districts as Yellow Pine will stand among the foremost in rank. Tem Piute district is about one hundred miles almost due south of Hamilton; by the road now traveled it is one hundred and forty miles. This road passes by the Current Creek and Blue Eagle Ranch. The general prospect of mines in this district is very fair, and great confidence in them is felt by the owners. The McKenzie claim, worked by Judge Thompson, has about 150 tons of first-class ore on the dump, and work is still progressing in good earnest. The opening from which ore has been taken during the past season is an open cut nearly 40 feet wide, and now in about 50 feet. The ore on the dump is reported to assay from $100 to $300. A tunnel will be started in from this open cut and then work can go on without hinderance by the weather. The Monroe is sinking an incline; the ledge is 12 to 15 feet wide, with a paystreak of 3 feet. Twenty tons of ore of a quality similar to that of the McKenzie are out. The Amazon is being tested from an open cut. The ore is about the same as in the above-mentioned. It is easily worked, two men taking out a ton and a half in a day. The Rattler shows a high grade of ore, and Judge Thompson intends soon to open it. McMurry is working the Incas and Santa Cruz. All owners of mines are satisfied that at an early day they will be able to make a showing of ore on the dumps sufficient to encourage the erection of a mill to work the supply of ore believed to exist in the mountain. At present, no mill can be reached conveniently. The Crescent Mill is expected to be ready to start up about the 1st of February, 1871. It is a ten-stamp mill situated fifteen miles from the Tem Piute mines, in the direction of Pahranagat. At Ticapoo Springs, eight miles from the mines, there is enough flowing water to drive a twenty-stamp mill, and in the vicinity is plenty of wood-cedar and nut-pine. Besides the aboved-named, the Savage, Silver Peak, Blue Eagle, Demerara, and several other mines have been opened to a small extent, principally for the purpose of getting enough rich rock out to ship for a test. A vast number of ledges lie entirely idle for want of facilities for reducing the ores. I have no information as yet in regard to the operations of the Hyko Company, at Pahranagat, during the year, but my impression is that no work of any consequence has been done. The following are the returns of the mines in Lincoln County during the year ending June 30, 1870. They were kindly furnished me by Mr. N. H. Carlow, the county assessor: * Shipped to San Francisco by Meadow Valley Mining Company; estimated. The census reports 2,985 inhabitants, 23 of whom are Chinese, in Lincoln County. In this is included the Mormon farming population of the Rio Virgin, Los Vegas, Overton, St. Joseph, St Thomas, West Point, and smaller places, which numbers 762 souls, leaving a population of 2,223 for the mining districts. ESMERALDA COUNTY. Attempts have been made during the year to revive operations in this county, a number of San Francisco capitalists having interested themselves in the district. No reports of their success have been received. The Red Mountain gold mines have produced a considerable amount of bullion, but their condition is substantially as described in my last report. The company's mill will be, it is said, still further enlarged, and some further improvements for cheapening the transportation of ores are required, as the cost of keeping mules in that desolate region is very burdensome. The mill, which now contains forty stamps, produced about $100,000 during the year ending June 1, 1870. The total product of the county for the same period was reported to the Census Bureau as $595,000, in which the following sums from different mills are included: Keene, $50,000; Tombs, $60,000; Pioneer, $40,000; Willson, $100,000; Wide West, $20,000; Young, $40,000; Johnson, $35,000; Wheeler, $50,000; Greenback, $50,000; and Bourse, $50,000. The principal mines worked besides those already mentioned were the Gold Mountain, Morgan, Del Monte, Snow Squall, Pocahontas, McCormick, Black Sulphuret, and Black Jack, of which the latter produced $30,000 worth of ore, and the rest from $5,000 to $10,000 each. CHAPTER III. OREGON. The reports from the mining districts of Southwestern Oregon are extremely meager. In Jackson County there were many placer-claims operated during the year, but they paid but poorly, the average yield from some fifty of the principal claims being but $3 per day per hand. Wages are $50 per month, and other expenses absorb the remaining margin. The industry is falling mainly into the hands of Chinamen, who conceal as far as possible both their expenses and their profits. In Coos County there has been some successful placer-mining. The Pioneer Company, Colonel John Lane, superintendent, produced some $12,000 during the year ending July 1, 1870. Placer-mining along the beaches of Northern California and Oregon has also been continued, and the yield is reported at $10 per day per hand for a small number of men and for a precarious season. Stoppages and other expenses reduce profits to a low figure. It is found, moreover, that these beach deposits, though apparently renewed after storms, high tides, &c., are not inexhaustible, but may be gradually worked out like any others. This naturally follows from their origin, which is undoubtedly the quartz veins of the Coast Range. Of quartz-mining in this part of the State I have nothing to report this year. A few enterprises, alluded to in a former report, have been feebly pushed, but the extent of operations has not been such as to warrant me in causing a special examination to be made. I am under obligations to Mr. Samuel C. Mills, agent of Wells, Fargo & Co. at Portland, for the following figures of express shipments of bullion for 1870: The treasure shipments of Wells, Fargo & Co. in previous years have been as follows: The reduction in the product of gold is not so great as here appears, since the diversion of the bullion from Eastern Oregon to other routes, and the transmission of considerable quantities in private hands or through bankers, (in 1868 $640,850, and in 1869 $419,657, by a single house in Portland,) account for much of the diminution. I estimate the production of Oregon and Washington (very little gold, however, having come during 1870 from the latter Territory) at $3,000,000, the same as last year, according to the latest statement in my report, on page 205, which corrects the estimate of $4,000,000 in my introductory letter. The reason of this and other similar discrepancies is explained elsewhere. As I have indicated, the principal mining industry of the precious metals in Oregon is now to be found in the eastern part of the State, on both sides of the Blue Range. Meager returns from Cañon City and neighboring districts indicate a somewhat increased production, though mainly by reason of the influx of Chinese, who succeed, by purchase in most cases, to the claims formerly worked by the whites, and who, by their superior patience and economy, continue the production of gold in many localities where it would otherwise cease. It is very difficult, however, to ascertain the amount of production from such sources. Thus the reports from sixty. four placer-claims in Grant County, eleven of which are worked by white men with paid labor, and the remainder by Chinese owners, show for the former a yield of $4 per day per hand, and for the latter only $1 30. There is no doubt that the Chinese have in this case concealed the actual amount of their production, reporting an aggregate of about $126,000, when the true amount must have been at least twice as great. Some of the claims worked by whites yield during the season $10,000 or $12,000. I have not heard of any cases during last year in which single claims have exceeded the latter figure. Hydraulic mining has been carried on to some extent in Upper Cañon, Maryville, Olive Creek, and Quartz Gulch districts, and especially at Granite Creek, where six claims were reported in June, 1870. The average season is between four and five months; the average wages, $4 per day for white labor; and the average yield, $8 per day per hand. Among the larger operations are those of Thompson & Co., near Maryville, producing about $10,000 in nine months with four men; Dick Eagan & Co., Granite Creek, ten men, three months, $16,000; W. H. Clark, Upper Cañon, three men, two months, $8,000. Quartz-mining has made but little progress since my last report. The Prairie Diggings mine, therein described, has been worked somewhat, and reports a product of about $10,000 for the year ending June, 1870. The quartz is of low grade, but very abundant and cheaply mined and milled. Quartz-mining operations by the John Day Company and others in Elk district are spoken of as highly promising, but have not yet attained to a regular production. This part of Oregon suffers from imperfect and costly communication with commercial centers. There is a good road from Cañon City to the Dalles, and another (now, I believe, disused) to Boise; but the transportation of the mails exclusively by way of Umatilla has left the settlements on the John Day and its tributaries stranded, as it were. The discontinuance, since the Indian war, of the military posts in this region has deprived the farmers of the fertile bottom-lands of their best market, and checked to some extent the further development of agriculture. A greater activity and progress may be observed on the east of the Blue Range, in Baker and Union Counties. I am indebted to Mr. E. W. Reynolds, agent of Wells, Fargo & Co. at Baker City, for much of the following information concerning the operations of 1870 in that part of Oregon: The shipments of Wells, Fargo & Co. from Baker City for nine months. of 1870 averaged $50,000 per month of gold dust and bullion, and the amount carried out of the country in private hands may safely be put at H. Ex. 10———12 |
