search of silver mines supposed to exist to the northeast of Black Rock that the brave old pioneer, Peter Lassen, was killed by the Indians, in the spring of 1859. None of the explorations prosecuted in that quarter appear, however, to have resulted in any discoveries of value until the Black Rock mines, lying some fifty miles northeast of Honey lake, were found, about two years ago. Two quartz mills have since been erected at that place both of which have been running on the silver ores obtained from the mines with varying success. That the ores are rich, and very abundant, seems pretty well established, though they are doubtless of a very obstinate and intractable character. The district is but poorly supplied with wood and water, adding further to the difficulties in the way of a successful and economical treatment of the ores, which, should they really prove what is claimed for them, will have to be transported to points where there are better facilities for their reduction than exist at these mines, before they can be worked on an extensive scale. The Central Pacific Railroad, when built up the Humboldt, will run within less than a hundred miles of Black Rock, whereby much cheaper transportation of the ores being insured than is now practicable, there is a prospect that these mines will be largely and profitably worked in the course of a year or two more.

A good many claims were located, and considerable work done, on silver bearing lodes situated in the Sierra, west of Honey lake valley, as early as 1859, but as no extensive crushings have ever been made of the ores, nor enough work performed to prove the mines, their value remains undetermined-nothing having been done upon them since that early period. It is not known that any vein mines, or placers of importance, exist elsewhere in the county, though a good deal of prospecting for deposits of the precious metals has at different times been done.

MOUNTAIN COUNTIES,

PLUMAS COUNTY.

Plumas county, so designated from the Rio de las Plumas, the Spanish name of Feather river, which stream, and its affluents, ramify it in every direction, is bounded on the north by Shasta and Lassen counties, on the east by Lassen, on the south by Sierra and Yuba counties, and on the west by Butte and Tehama counties. Its greatest longitudinal axis extends southeast and northwest a distance of eighty-five miles, its transverse axis being about forty-five miles in length, giving

to the county an area of about two thousand square miles. Being deeply furrowed by the Feather river and its numerous tributaries, nearly the whole of the central and southwestern part of the county is divided into narrow cañons separated by high ridges, the northeastern portions rising into the lofty Sierra which borders it in that direction. These cañons vary in depth from five hundred to three thousand feet— the gorge cut by the middle fork of Feather river, which, rising east of the main Sierra, has worn a passage through that range, being one of the deepest and wildest in the State. The Middle Yuba has also eroded for itself an exceedingly deep channel-that stream, at Nelson's Point, being nearly four thousand feet below the top of Pilot peak, an isolated mountain in the neighborhood. This peak, situated in the southern part of the county, and which reaches an altitude of over six thousand feet, is of volcanic origin, its northern slope being walled with columnar basalt, and its summit capped with a bed of lava six hundred and fifty feet thick. The view from its top is extensive and grand. Spanish peak, an isolated knob of similar origin, lies about twenty miles to the northwest, there being several other mountain peaks of lesser elevation in different parts of the county.

The surface of Plumas is covered everywhere with a heavy growth of coniferous forests, consisting of sugar and yellow pine, red spruce, the white or balsam fir, cedar, etc., there being scarcely a better timbered region along the slope of the Sierra. These forests are more open and scattered in the western part of the county, growing more dense as the mountain is ascended, even to its very summit. The county contains no lakes, or even considerable ponds of water, though hot and mineral springs are met with in several localities. The low altitude of Beckworth's pass, lying in the southeastern part of the county, has encouraged the citizens of Plumas to take preliminary steps towards forming a company for the construction of a railroad through it. This road is to be carried up the middle fork of Feather river, and thence over the Sierra, through this pass, a route on which but little snow will be encountered in the winter, though somewhat circuitous and leading through a broken and mountainous country.

Notwithstanding its great elevation and the extremely rugged surface of the country, Plumas county contains many fertile, well sheltered valleys and mountain meadows, admirably suited for agricultural and grazing purposes. The principal of these localities are American, Indian and Humbug valleys, Mountain Meadow and Big Meadow, Genesee, Long, Mohawk, Beckworth, Sierra, Red Clover and Round valleys, nearly all lying in the northern and eastern part of the county and

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on the upper tributaries of the Feather river. These valleys and meadows embrace in the aggregate nearly two hundred and fifty thousand acres of good land, and although the more tender fruits and vegetables are sometimes cut off by unseasonable frosts, good crops of the hardier kinds are generally secured, while the cereals yield with certainty and abundance. Most of the valleys are covered with a luxuriant growth of natural grasses, the adjacent mountains in some places also affording much pasturage. For hay, timothy grass is cultivated, few depending on the wild varieties for this article. In some instances irrigation is resorted to for securing a crop, though not generally. As a usual thing but little snow falls in these valleys, though it reaches a great depth every winter on the mountains. Cattle are the better for being housed and fed for a few weeks in the winter, though some seasons they scarcely require it. It is estimated that there are now over one hundred thousand acres of land under fence in this county, more than one half of which is planted to grain and vegetables. The principal cereals raised are wheat and oats, more than twenty thousand bushels of the former and one hundred thousand of the latter having been produced in 1867, a still larger yield being counted upon for the following year. The grain grown here is remarkably plump and heavy, the oats weighing forty and the wheat over sixty pounds to the bushel. Small quantities of rye, buckwheat, Indian corn and barley are also successfully cultivated--only enough of the latter, however, being sown for brewing purposes. A considerable amount of stock is kept in the county, over two thousand cows-enough butter and cheese being made for local consumption. Dairymen and stockgrowers in the lower counties are in the habit of driving their herds into the meadows that exist in the upper Sierra, and pasturing them there during the summer, returning them to the lower valleys when winter comes on. There are but few swine and no sheep, except such as are kept for the shambles, raised in the county.

Owing to the abrupt character of the country, Plumas has heretofore been but illy supplied with wagon roads. A project recently set on foot is now being vigorously prosecuted for constructing a first-class toll road from Oroville to Quincy, the county seat, with branches to Indian and to American valley. The entire length of this road will be one hundred and thirty miles, and it is to be built with the low gradient, for a mountain district, of four inches to the rod. Being confined mostly to the valley of Feather river, it lies below the deep snow line, securing it against serious impediment from the winter snows. The cost of this work is estimated at nearly three hundred thousand dollars,

towards which the county contributes eighty thousand dollars. When completed, it is expected that this improvement will, by cheapening transportation and travel, rapidly increase the population of the county and greatly promote the development of its mineral wealth, which, as regards both the precious and useful metals, is undoubtedly great.

From an early day, placer mining, which is still extensively and profitably carried on, has been a lucrative pursuit in this county. For many years immense quantities of gold were taken out on the bars of Feather river and its tributaries, some of which continue to yield well, though the most of the dust now gathered comes from the hydraulic and tunnel claims, of which there are a large number being worked with good average, and, occasionally, with very large results. In its quartz veins Plumas has also a wide and prolific field of wealth, the average yield of these lodes, so far as tested, having been higher than in almost any other part of the State. The leading quartz districts, so far as active developments and the erection of mills are concerned, consist of Indian, Mohawk, and Genesee valleys-Greenville, Dixie, and Jamison creek. The Whitney lode, in Indian valley, is twenty feet wide, the vein matter, from wall to wall, composed of pay ore--not a pound being rejected—that yields by ordinary process fourteen dollars to the ton, besides a considerable percentage of rich sulphurets, saved for future treatment. The Crescent mine, in the same locality, worked since 1862, embraces a system of four ledges, which, by extensive explorations are shown to carry large quantities of ore-the results of five years' workings having ranged from fifteen to forty dollars per ton. The average yield for the year ending with June, 1867, was sixteen dollars per ton, the net earnings of the mine having been fifty thousand dollars during that year. The dividends to stockholders since the opening of the mine have been over one hundred thousand dollars, besides earnings applied to defray current expenses and the erection of two first-class mills, carrying an aggregate of fifty-six stamps. The lode of the Indian Valley Mining Company, like that last mentioned, has been worked steadily and profitably for a series of years; and although other and even more notable examples of success might be cited, the foregoing will serve to illustrate the general character of the veins and grades of ore found in this county, which offers inducements second to no other in the State for the investment of capital in this branch of mining. There are now twenty-six quartz mills in this county, carrying a total of three hundred stamps, and erected at an aggregate expense of $400,000, the individual cost ranging from $3,000 to $100,000, according to location and capacity, the earliest built being more expensive, owing to higher prices of

labor and material, than those of recent date. There are one hundred and forty miles of water ditches in the county, constructed at a cost of not less than $350,000, the Spanish Creek ditch, alone, having cost $150,000. There are twenty saw mills and two grist mills, the most of them of moderate capacity.

Besides its placers and veins of gold bearing quartz, Plumas contains many lodes rich in cupriferous ores, several of which had been extensively opened and were being worked with fair prospects of success, when the extreme depreciation of copper ores checked further proceedings, though there is no doubt but with an improved market for this metal these lodes will be again worked more largely than ever before, and with remunerative results, as the ores are abundant, easily obtained, and many of them of an unusually high grade. Marble of fine quality, being beautifully variegated, and susceptible of high polish, abounds on the middle fork of Feather river, and a vein of coal has been found in Indian valley, the croppings of which have proved to be of a quality sufficiently good at least for domestic uses and the blacksmith's forge. The population of this county, estimated in 1866 at three thousand six hundred and seventy, on the basis that the school children under fifteen years of age constitute thirty per cent. of the inhabitants, is now believed to be at least four thousand.

SIERRA COUNTY.

This county, which derives its name from the Sierra Nevada mountains that cross its eastern border, is bounded as follows: Plumas county on the north, the State of Nevada on the east, the county of Nevada on the south, and the counties of Yuba and Plumas on the west. The description already given of Plumas county will, in nearly all that relates to soil, climate, topography, timber, and other natural productions, apply equally well to Sierra. There are, however, in the latter, a number of small lakes, with a scattering of scrubby oaks on the lower foothills, while the mountains here are scarcely so high, or the cañons so deep, as in Plumas.

The principal streams flowing through Sierra consist of the north and middle forks of the Yuba, the former running centrally through, and the latter forming the southern boundary of the county. In length, Sierra extends about fifty miles, east and west, by twenty miles, north and south-its area being not quite half that of Plumas-it also containing much less agricultural land than the latter. Situated on top of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where this range spreads out into broad flats and basin-like depressions, are a number of ponds and small lakes,