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The total output, showing amount and value of this product since the inception of this branch of the mineral industry in California is given in the table which follows:

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CHAPTER SEVEN.

MINERAL PRODUCTION OF CALIFORNIA BY

Introductory.

COUNTIES.

The state of California includes an area of 155,652 square miles and is divided into fifty-eight counties. Some mineral of commercial value exists in every county, and during 1915 active production was reported to the State Mining Bureau from fifty-six counties of the fifty-eight. In the mountainous portions of the state are found the vein-forming minerals, largely. In the vast desert regions of southeastern California ancient lake beds afford an unlimited supply of saline deposits. Underlying the interior valleys of the central and southern portion of the state are the largest pools of crude oil in the world. Building stones and mineral earths of all descriptions are widely distributed throughout the length and breadth of the state.

Of the first seven counties in point of total output, all but two (Shasta and Amador) owe their position mainly to petroleum. Kern, due to its oil, leads all the others by more than three times the total of Shasta, its nearest competitor. Shasta owes its rank to copper, gold, and zinc; Amador, its place on account of gold. Nineteen counties have each a total in excess of a million dollars.

The counties with their mineral resources, production for 1915, etc., will be considered in detail in this chapter.

Value of California Mineral Production, by County, for 1915, Arranged in the Order of Their Importance.

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Alameda County, while in no sense one of the "mining counties" of the state, comes twenty-third on the list with a value of mineral products for 1915 of $861,683, a decrease from the 1914 total, which was $870,427. The mineral resources of this county include asbestos, brick, chromite, clay, coal, lime, magnesite, manganese, pyrite, salt, soapstone, and miscellaneous stone.

Commercial production for 1915 was as follows:

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ALPINE.

Alpine has usually shown a small production of gold and silver, but dropped out of the list of producing counties for 1914 and 1915.

This county lies just south of Lake Tahoe, in the high Sierra Nevada range of mountains. Its area is 776 square miles, containing a population of but 309 persons. Transportation is by wagon or mule back, and facilities in general are lacking to promote development work of any kind.

The mineral resources of this section are varied and the country has not yet been thoroughly prospected. Barium, copper, gold, gypsum, lead, limestone, pyrite, rose quartz, silver, tourmaline, and zinc have been found here to some extent.

Area: 601 square miles.

AMADOR.

Population: 9,086 (1910 census).

The value of Amador County's mineral production increased from $3,211,109 in 1914, to $4,063,762, thus taking sixth place on the list of counties in the state as regards total value of mineral substances marketed. The most notable feature of the increase was the wonderful jump made in the gold yield.

Although having an output consisting of 10 different minerals, the leading product, gold, makes up nearly 98 per cent of the entire total. Amador led the state in gold production, in 1915.

The mineral resources of this county are, in the main, as follows: Asbestos, brick, chromite, clay, coal, copper, gold, lime, quartz crystals, glass-sand, sandstone, silver, soapstone, and miscellaneous stone. Commercial production for 1915 was as follows:

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BUTTE.

Area: 1,722 square miles.

Population: 27,301 (1910 census).

Location: North central portion of state.

Butte, fourteenth county in California in regard to the value of its mineral output, reported a commercial production of nine mineral substances, having a total value of $1,622,245, as compared with $1,755,315 for 1914. As will be noted in the following tabulation, gold is by far the most important item. Butte stands fifth among the goldproducing counties of the state. Among the mineral resources of this section are asbestos, barytes, chromite, gems, gold, limestone, marble, mineral water, platinum minerals, silver, and miscellaneous stone. Commercial production for 1915 was as follows:

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Location: East central portion of state-Mother Lode district. Calaveras County reported production of 11 different minerals, valued at $2,161,893, during the year 1915, as compared with the 1914 output, worth $2,068,343. Gold, copper and silver are the chief mineral substances produced. In regard to total value of mineral output Calaveras stands thirteenth among the counties of the state; it is sixth in gold, second in copper, and fourth in silver.

The principal mineral resources developed and undeveloped are: Asbestos, barytes, chromite, clay, copper, fuller's earth, gold, graphite, limestone, magnesite, marble, mineral paint, mineral water, platinum minerals, pyrite, quartz crystals, silver, soapstone, and miscellaneous stone.

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