pipe furnished 2,210 inches of water every 24 hours for about 8 months of the year. Three years later, to secure a yearly supply of water, additional reservoirs and ditches were constructed, and a pipe, 30 inches in diameter, 3,780 feet in length, with a vertical depression of 630 feet, was laid. The blue gravel, from 10 to 50 feet in depth, lying on the bedrock, carries the greater quantity of gold; thence comes a layer of bowlders, apparently a separate flow, from 3 to 15 feet deep, the most valuable stratum in the mine, yielding from $1 to $8 per cubic yard, and can be removed by hydraulic streams solely; above, intermingled with layers of pipe-clay, is a deposit of fine white quartz gravel and sand, from 20 feet to 400 feet thick. In some parts of the mine the banks have a perpendicular face of 450 feet in height, and it is not an unusual occurrence in the caving for the debris to bury pipes, throwing a 7-inch stream, in position 400 feet distant. The portion of the ground containing the greater amount of gold to the cubic yard was exhausted prior to 1870, and although there are no data to approximate the yield, it is estimated at an excess of $5,000,000. The value of the gold recovered from 1870 to July, 1886, amounted to the sum of $5,008,208 62; for the same period the expenditures were as follows:

Mining expenses, including care and repair of ditches, $1,759,953 77. The company's water is drawn from nine reservoirs occupying an area of 522 acres, passed through 94 miles of water ditches and 20,940 feet of 30-inch wrought-iron pipe. Among the items enumerated under expenditures, the amounts $461,435 87 for land purchased, and $270,811 48, cost of debris canal, is the actual expense of impounding the tailings. Much of the land originally purchased has since been sold, and about one half its cost has been recovered, yet there is still enough swamp land in possession of the company on which to convey the debris to outlast the mine. The slickens flow through a canal 32 miles long, to two restraining dams 1,800 feet wide, and 12,000 acres of tule land. The mine is worked day and night, 240 men being employed, the after dark illumination being furnished by two 8,000 candle power electric lights.

THE BIG BEND TUNNEL.

This undertaking is without a parallel among the mining ventures of the State. The bend from which the water is to be diverted has a trend not very unlike a horseshoe, with a length, following the meanderings of the water flow, of 13 miles. The purpose for which the tunnel was constructed is to convey the waters of the North Fork of Feather River from their natural course to the tributary of the river's west branch, thereby leaving bare the channel of that portion known as the Big Bend.

At the time the water flow was measured, and almost to the period of the tunnel's completion, the quantity was less than for several years previous; consequently the tunnel has not the capacity to accommodate the present body of water confined within the river's banks, and it must, therefore, necessarily be enlarged to add success to the undertaking. The stockholders, however, feel in nowise low-spirited over the present condition of affairs, but look hopefully forward to the expiration of the few months necessary for the required enlargement, when they expect the river bed to yield its auriferous treasure. It is impossible, on account of the steep banks and their rocky formation, to divert the stream in any other way, that will promise a reasonable recompense, than the method adopted. The amount of precious metal concealed by this watery blanket is as yet an unknown quantity, but it is to be hoped that an enterprise so unique and so unwaveringly carried out should receive the reward it so meritoriously deserves.

On account of the formation through which the tunnel passed, slates, granite, quartz, and diorite, there were but few places necessary to secure by masonry. The mouth of the tunnel is in Dark Cañon, near the southeast corner of section eleven, township twenty-one north, range four east. From this point the tunnel runs north, 29° 30′ east, 12,007 feet, to where it taps the North Fork of Feather River. The tunnel, as it is, is 16 feet wide by 9 feet high, with a grade of 30 feet per mile, with the exception of at the head, where for 200 feet, to insure the filling, there is an increased grade. The company will at once commence the work of enlargement, to increase

the carrying capacity to 120,000 miner's inches of water. At the inlet, for the purpose of preventing or admitting the water flow, are 6 ponderous iron gates, worked by screws and wheels. A permanent dam, 200 feet long and 16 feet high, is in course of construction across the river just below the inlet. The dam is being built of large timbers, securely fastened to the bedrock and bolted together, after which it will be filled with rocks and covered with heavy planks. A flume for carrying the present surplus of water, not taken by the tunnel, is built from the dam down the river to a distance of 1,007 feet. This flume, 3 feet deep and 18 feet wide, carries a body of water 18 inches in depth with a flow of 10 feet per second. Along this flume the channel is bared sufficiently to allow prospecting of the river bed. Work on the tunnel began in July, 1882, and the water was turned therein in July, 1886. The cost thus far, as near as can be approximated, is $750,000.

CALAVERAS COUNTY.

The county is bounded on the northwest by Amador, on the northeast by Alpine, on the southeast by Tuolumne, and on the southwest by Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties. Bear Mountain Ridge, a belt of metamorphic rocks, strikes northerly across the central portion of the county, reaching from the Stanislaus River to the vicinity of Calaveras River, separating the copper belt from the auriferous slates. The limestone belt

enters the southwestern part of the county, from Tuolumne, and is more extensively exposed at Murphy's.

At Angels the exploitation is on the auriferous belt about 200 feet to the east of the mother lode; it is a large vein, in talcose slates, but low grade.

THE STICKLES GOLD QUARTZ MINE

Is located in Angels' Mining District, at the north end of Angels' Camp, at an altitude of 1,800 feet above sea level. The dimension of the claim is 300 feet by 600 feet; the course of the vein is northwest and southeast, having a dip of 90° to the east and an average width of 12 feet.

The mine is worked through a three-compartment shaft 400 feet deep, the vein showing at all points. Upon the property is a wet crushing mill of 20 stamps, each stamp weighing 900 pounds, having a 7-inch fall, a drop of 80 times per minute, and crushing 3 tons of ore every 24 hours. Seventy per cent of the yield is recovered by amalgamation in the battery, and 30 per cent is collected on the outside plates. The sulphurets, averaging 2 per cent of the ore, are saved by Cornish buddles, and have an assay value of $120 per ton. Hoisting and pumping are done by steam power. The sluice plates, silver plated, are 4 feet wide, 11 feet long, and have an inclination of 1 inches to the foot. Developments in the mine consist of four levels at 60, 200, 250, and 400 feet deep, respectively. The level at the depth of 60 feet runs north and south from the shaft, in each direction 30 feet; at 200 feet the level runs south 150 feet, north 200 feet; the 250-foot level has the same course and a corresponding distance, north and south of the shaft, as the 200-foot level; the 400-foot level runs 200 feet north from the bottom of the shaft; all of these levels are on the vein, which has not been stoped out anywhere more than 30 feet above the levels.

Angels, Angels Mining District. The claim is 300 feet wide by a length of 634 feet. The course of the vein is northwest and south, dipping 85 degrees to the east, and averaging in width 20 feet. The 20-stamp mill has both water and steam power. Each stamp weighs 950 pounds, drops 8 to 9 inches at the rate of 80 times a minute, and crushes 3 tons of ore every 24 hours. The plates, with an inclination of 14 inches to the foot, are 52 inches wide and 10 feet in length to each battery.