earth, or the reaching of the more deeply seated deposits with the smallest possible expenditure of time and money.

The various gold washing implements and methods now in use do not by any means embrace all the styles and contrivances that have at different times marked the history of mining invention in California. The present perfection, as exhibited in these appliances and machines, was not reached, as some may suppose, by regular and direct advances from the use of the pan and batea to that of the cradle, tom, and sluice, culminating in the employment of the hydraulic apparatus and the cement mill, without any other modes having been meantime devised and tested. Many different plans were essayed, and scores of machines were invented and tried, to result almost wholly in failure and rejection; the period most prolific in these experiments being that which marked the transition from the use of the pan to the introduction of the hydraulic mode of washing. During its continuance a multitude of gold saving machines were invented and proved; some of them being costly, ingenious, and more or less serviceable, while a much larger proportion were not only useless, but absurdly defective, many wholly failing to separate the precious metal from the gravel and sand, while a few possessed the still less desirable property of saving the refuse and rejecting the gold.

For several years after the discovery of gold, the banks of the rivers, and even the roads leading to the mines, were lined with the remains of these crude and worthless machines; while in San Francisco the warehouses and wharves, and often even the vacant lots, were encumbered with them to a vexatious extent; their more speedy disappearance from these localities being due to the fact that the erection of forges and foundries created there an earlier demand for old iron. To even enumerate, much less describe all these inventions, would now be impossible, there being scarcely a model of any of them left, while but few persons remain who could at this distant day accurately describe them in all their details. It may be said of them, however, in a general way, that they consisted of washers of almost every conceivable size, shape and material, involving in their workings every known principle of mechanics, and every movement recognised by dynamical science. Some were propelled by hand, and others by steam or water power. One variety employed riffles, and another sieves or screens as separators. Some were simple, and others complex; some large and ponderous, while others were reduced to the smallest compass, being easily portable in the hand. The effective principle in one kind consisted of a vibratory; in another of a centri

fugal, or vertical action. In one case it was proposed to dredge the bottoms of the rivers with a series of endless buckets revolving on a cylinder, while again attempts were made to explore the deep still holes with sub-marine armor. Ingenious, eccentric and diversified, however, as were these contrivances, the fact that none of them ever attained to more than a temporary popularity—a few being too manifestly absurd to secure even a trial, sufficiently attests their general inutility.

The sums of money spent upon these vagaries, during the earlier days of placer mining, amounted to millions of dollars, or their equivalent in time, a great deal of which was wasted in fruitless endeavors to render these new methods and machines available. And yet it cannot, perhaps, be said that this money was all foolishly spent, or this time vainly wasted. Aided by the lights of present experience, it is easy to detect the practical errors then committed, and to point out the fallacious theories entertained; but it should be remembered that little was known at that day in regard to the origin of placer gold, the agencies by which its deposits were formed, or even the places where it was most likely to make lodgment; while the business of seeking after and gathering it was wholly new to our people, very few of whom had ever seen even the simplest gold washing implement, or knew anything about the manner of using them.

All these were problems to be solved and things to be learned; and to the extent of that, these efforts were undertaken in the furtherance of these objects; they were entirely legitimate and even commendable. Many of these theories were, no doubt, chimerical enough, and the most of these inventions abundantly absurd: still, as all this could only be verified by actual examination and trial, these endeavors, however abortive, fairly challenge not only respect, but sympathy and approval. Though so generally disastrous to those undertaking them, and of little value in their immediate results, they undoubtedly formed a necessary part of that extended system of experiments from which the present highly effective means and modes of operating have been eliminated.

These disappointments and losses, though numerous and severe, were but the sacrifices usually exacted of every great industry at the outset the crucial trials that many important interests in California, including those of quartz mining, manufacturing, and even farming, have been forced to go through; but which, like the pursuit we are considering, having survived these early trials, are now established on a permanent and prosperous basis.

RAPID EXPLORATION OF THE PLACERS-OVER ESTIMATE OF THE

EARNINGS.

The exploration of the placer mines, which, during the year of their discovery had been extended to all the more central portions of the great metalliferous range, was pushed so vigorously on the arrival of the heavy immigration in 1849-50, that by the end of the latter year nearly every auriferous gulch and stream of importance in the State, except a few in its more northerly parts, had been discovered and partially worked. The adventurous miner, during this short interval, had, despite the want of trails, the hostility of Indians, and the many difficulties to be encountered, pushed up all the principal rivers and their branches; and there, constructing his rude camp, had worked over in a superficial and hasty manner, the bars of the streams and the beds of the gulches; some of their number taking out large, and a few, immense quantities of gold dust in a very short time. Still, the success of these pioneers was very unequal. If the miner happened to strike a rich deposit, he made large wages-sometimes, quite a fortune, in the course of a few weeks or months at the furthest. Failing in this, it was often as much as the most industrious and frugal could do to earn a livelihood, owing to the enormous cost of subsistence.

Still, these will ever be looked back to as the halcyon days of placer mining, during the earlier portion of which the traditionary ounce, being about a fair average of the miner's daily earnings, continued to be the standard of a day's wages. The current rate of wages was not, to be sure, the exact measure of what could be earned in the diggings, inasmuch as the self-employed miners were, as a class, more robust and energetic than those who hired out their labor; yet they indicate with sufficient accuracy the average earnings of the miner at different periods, showing their rapid decline at first and more gradual depreciation thereafter until they finally reached present rates. From twenty dollars per day in '48, and sixteen in '49, daily wages had fallen to eight dollars two years thereafter, and to less than four dollars by the end of 1858, since which time they have undergone a further decline of about thirty per cent.

From the above it will be seen that the average reward of the miner was comparatively moderate, even while the placers were virgin and uncrowded; it being doubtful if their individual earnings ranged at any time above twenty or twenty-five dollars per day at the utmost. As usually happens, however, in every pursuit where a few meet with marked success, these exceptional cases, often exaggerated far beyond

reality, were blazoned through the press and widely published by the busy tongue of rumor, whereby they attained to an immense notoriety; while the hundredfold more numerous examples of failure, being wholly overlooked, often sedulously concealed, were rarely heard of; or, if made known, were disregarded, as being prompted by sinister motives, or were derided as the apologetic devices of the idle and irresolute. And thus it has happened, that a very erroneous impression as to the general productiveness of the California placers at the outset, having, through these means first obtained, is still widely prevalent; many, ignorant of the real facts, deploring their ill luck in not having been among the first to arrive in the mines.

CHANCES STILL GOOD-IMPROVED CONDITIONS.

If, however, we compare the past with the present, and carefully canvass the advantages and disadvantages incident to both, it will be found that the chances for success do not preponderate so greatly in favor of the former as this class of persons are apt to suppose. In the first place, the cost of living, as above stated, was then enormous; the price of every article, whether of luxury or necessity, being out of all proportion to those now prevailing. Owing to a lack of wholesome food, medical attendance, comfortable dwellings, and other causes incident to the times, the miner was exposed to a variety of diseases—such as scurvy, chronic diarrhoea, rheumatism, etc.-none of which are now prevalent, some of them being almost wholly unknown. Formerly much time was lost to this class in consequence of sickness-deaths, also, being proportionately more numerous than at present. Then, also, the lives of citizens were exposed to constant danger from acts of violence, the whole country being filled with vicious and reckless men, against whose attacks none were secure in either their persons or property. The most audacious murders were perpetrated daily, and often with impunity; while thefts, robberies and similar outrages were things of too frequent occurrence to elicit attention, unless the public, in an ebullition of passion, seizing the culprits, inflicted upon them summary punishment. Then, too, the prospector in pushing out into new regions, had to encounter numerous hardships and dangers arising from the want of roads and trails, from scanty fare, exposure to Indian attacks, and many other evils, from which the explorer is at this day happily exempt.

Much time was also uselessly wasted in searching after gold in localities where with present experience none would think of looking

for it; while, as we have seen, a great deal of both time and money was spent in vain endeavors to wash the auriferous earth by means and methods wholly impracticable. With incredible toil the early miner pushed his researches high up into the Sierra, far beyond what is now known to be the furthest limit of the gold-bearing belt, seeking after the illusory sources whence had issued the deposits strewn along the rivers below. Long and wearisome journeys were made away into the depths of the gloomy wilderness over the crests of the snowy mountains, and sometimes out on the hot and arid deserts beyond, in search of mythical mountains composed mainly of the precious metals, or lakes, along the shores of which the sands glittered with virgin gold.

Taught by the mistakes of his predecessors, the modern prospector, avoiding these errors, is enabled to insure for his expenditure of labor and means, if not always more remunerative, at least more certain returns; while, as regards comfort and health, the mining community of California enjoy these blessings in as full measure as almost any other, whether we seek for them in this country or elsewhere.

It cannot, indeed, be said that the opportunities for making "big strikes," as they are termed, or even large wages, are as good now in the placers of this State as they were at first. This is especially true in the case of the man of small means, more particularly if he propose to spend but a short time, as, for example, a year or two only, in the country. But where the new-comer is content to remain a series of years, if necessary, and, proceeding to purchase or otherwise procure an interest in a productive claim, labors diligently, observing sobriety and economy, the chances for his amassing a moderate fortune, in the course of a few years, are fully as good now as ever before. To persons animated with these purposes, the placers of California are scarcely less inviting now than they were fifteen or twenty years ago; while, it may safely be affirmed, that to this class they offer inducements unequalled by any other country or field of labor in the world. Whoever can feel that, in the present altered conditions, he is amply compensated for the somewhat diminished chances for the speedy accumulation of riches, and the excitements incident to an early sojourn in California, may repair to this country with the full assurance that things, considered as a whole, have scarcely changed for the worse; there being still vast tracts of almost virgin mines, in certain parts of the State, open to occupation, while in the earlier settled and more populous mineral districts it is still an easy matter for good workers, or men with small means, to acquire ownership of valuable claims either by location or purchase.