1,800 feet on the same lode. It is owned by an incorporated company, the majority of the stockholders in which are capitalists who reside at New York. This company have expended a very large amount of money in developing their mine. The greater portion of this expenditure, as has been the case with the Keystone company, has been wasted through incompetent management. Great improvements in this respect have been made recently, and the prospects of the company are promising. The explorations now in process show considerable good ore, and there are indications of an increase in the dimensions of the lode. The ore in this is similar to that in all the other mines on the lode; but in the croppings on this claim there was considerably more quartz than there was upon any other claim on the lode. In this quartz, which was of a milky whiteness, there was metallic copper, crystallized in leaf and fern-like forms, which were exceedingly brilliant and beautiful when first taken out of their stony matrix.

The Calaveras is located next south of the Empire, on the same lode, of which it contains 3,000 feet. The croppings on this claim were exceedingly rich, but the lode has not proven to be so below the surface. Several shafts have been sunk and many drifts and cuttings made without finding any body of ore of importance. The company are not working this mine at present.

The Consolidated is located on the same lode, north of the Keystone. It contains 3,600 feet.

The Webster is the name of another important mine in this valley. It is located about one and a half mile east of Copperopolis, on a massive body of ore nearly twenty-eight feet wide. This ore is of a different character to that in the main lode, and is much less valuable; for, though quite solid and compact, it does not average more than eight per cent., in consequence of the larger percentage of iron it contains.

The Inimitable is another important mine in this valley, located on a different lode altogether. This mine is situated parallel with the Union, and but a few feet apart from it, on the east side. So close are these two mines together that the owners of the Inimitable had some intentions of suing the Union company for damages for taking out some of their ore on some of the lower levels, which they claimed was on the Inimitable's ground. The Napoleon mine, which is located four miles south from Copperopolis, is on the eastern end of a lode which runs through this valley, parallel with the main lode, but about six miles apart from it, which has been located upon for nearly fifteen miles. The Scorpion, Swansea, Massachusetts, Pacific, and other valuable mines, are located on this parallel lode. These lodes are easily traced to near the banks of the river, where they all disappear, and are not again visible till near the town of Montezuma, in Tuolumne county, six miles from the other side of the river. Gopher Hill, where the first discovery of copper was made, is supposed to be the extreme west of the main lode.

The above is not by any means a complete list of the mines in Salt Spring valley. There are scores of others, but these are the most important.

At present about one thousand men are employed in various capacities among the mines in this district, the larger proportion of whom are foreigners, chiefly English and Irish. No Chinese are employed about the mines except as cooks, washermen, and servants.

The Table Mountain mine is located about five miles southeast from Copperopolis, and about one mile from the Stanislaus river. It is the last claim on the main lode on this side of that river. It contains 2,150 feet on the lode, which is here about six feet wide, and much divided by the containing slate. This mine is owned by a joint-stock company of twenty-one shareholders. It has been considerably developed, and about one thousand tons of ore have been shipped from it.

The Campo Seco, Lancha Plana, and Copper Hill mines are located on a

continuation of the main Copperopolis lode, where it makes its appearance between the Calaveras and Mokelumne rivers. All these mines were discovered in 1861, shortly after the discovery of the Union and Keystone mines. They have been extensively developed, and the lode has been well tested by shafts and drifts. It presents the same peculiarities as were noticed at Copperopolis. It is quite large on the Campo Seco claim, being twenty feet wide at one hundred feet deep. It is scarcely as large in the Lancha Plana, and in the Copper Hill it is only about six feet. The character and composition of the ores are identical with those at Copperopolis, and they are contained in the same description of rock, and present many other features of similarity. Large quantities of ore have been shipped from these mines; but the present low price of ores, which is lower than it has previously been for the past fifteen years, leaves so small a profit after paying expenses that the companies are storing most of their ores in anticipation of an improvement in the market. About one hundred and fifty men are employed among these mines, about forty of whom are Chinese, who perform much of the labor above ground, such as separating and bagging the ores, &c.

Quite extensive concentrating works are being put up on the Campo Seco mine. The company intend to concentrate most of their ores into about fifty per cent. matte or regulus.

The Napoleon mine is located about four miles south of Copperopolis, in what are called the Gopher hills, a range of low, broken hills, very irregular in form and direction, on the east of the San Joaquin valley. They are the first hills met with after leaving Stockton and travelling east. As has already been mentioned, this was the first copper mine opened in California. As such, Mr. Hughes, who discovered both the Napoleon and the Quail Hill mines, claimed the latter as a silver or gold mine.

The Napoleon contains 2,700 feet on two well-defined lodes of ore, similar in composition to those at Copperopolis. It was located in November, 1860, and in October, 1862, was owned by an incorporated company; each foot in the mine representing a share of stock. In 1863 these one-foot shares were selling at $100 each.

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In consequence of the country through which the Napoleon lode traverses having been much disturbed by subterranean forces, it is extensively dislocated. The faults," as the miners call these dislocations, are so numerous that all the other mines on this lode had to cease operations because they could not trace it far enough consecutively to obtain any extensive body of ore. This misfortune has happened to the Napoleon. At the depth of about 400 feet the lode, after narrowing from twenty to less than six feet, finally was lost altogether by a shift in the containing rock. The company have been engaged for more than a year in attempting to rediscover it. They have sunk a new shaft nearly 400 feet deep, some distance to the south of the old one. The prospects are that they will meet with a large body of good ore in this new shaft.

The Napoleon is located on the eastern extremity of a lode which has been traced to San Domingo gulch, twenty-five miles distant, where the Noble mine,. owned by Pioche & Beyergue, French merchants of San Francisco, is located on it. The Napoleon commenced shipping ores in May, 1863.

The following statement, compiled from the books of the company, furnishes full particulars of the product of the mine:

Seven million seven hundred and sixty-four thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven pounds altogether, or nearly four thousand tons.

In September, 1865, the company sold the mine to Martin & Co., dealers in ores, of San Francisco. Since it has been in the hands of this firm, for reasons explained above, the yield of ore has nearly ceased. The total shipments from the mine since the purchase have not exceeded 150 tons, of which about onehalf has been second class, and the other concentrated ore.

With reference to the classification of the ores in the above table, as the same method for that purpose is followed in all mines producing the same description of ores, it may be as well to explain that method in this part of the report.

The heavy costs for labor, bags, transportation, commissions, &c., causing all ores below 10 per cent. to be valueless on this coast, none are shipped below that grade; but as there is a considerable advantage gained by separating the ores which vary more than 5 per cent. in richness, the plan generally followed is to class all above 15 per cent. as first, and from 10 per cent. to 15 per cent. as second. There is some difference in the grade of the ores from the various mines. The Union ores are the lowest. The owners of that mine, being extensive shipping agents, have facilities for shipping ores of less value than will

pay to ship from any other mine. The average of all the ores shipped from the Union does not exceed 15 per cent. From the Napoleon they were above 16 per cent., causing a difference in value of nearly $5 per ton. The Keystone ores are about 1 per cent. higher than the Union.

The concentrated ores above referred to were prepared by the following very economical process: A pit of about two feet deep was cut in the soft soil, about twenty feet square, in which was laid as evenly as possible about four cords of dry pine wood; over this was piled, in the form of a truncated cone, one hundred tons of ore. There was nothing more done, except to ignite the wood, which soon set the sulphur in the ore on fire, and it continued to burn for six or seven weeks, when the greater portion of the sulphur having been evaporated, the fire went out and the ore was concentrated about 6 per cent, or 10 per cent.; poor second class was converted into 16 per cent., or first class.

The machinery used on this mine consists of a small six-horse power steamengine, for hoisting and pumping. There are usually about thirty hands employed on this mine, about one-third of whom are Chinese.

Quail Hill, No. 1, where Hughes made the first discovery of copper, is about three miles east from the Napoleon mine, and about seven miles west from Copperopolis. Quite a town, called Telegraph City, has sprang up between these two discoveries of Hughes's.

2.-VARIOUS COPPER DISTRICTS.

Forest Hill district.-The most important mines in Amador county are the Cosumnes, in the Forest Hill district, near Jackson, the county seat, and the Newton, on the same lode, about three miles to the west, near Ione valley, a beautiful and fertile valley, separated from the great valley of the Sacramento by low, irregular hills, as Salt Spring valley is divided from the valley of the San Joaquin. The Cosumnes was located in January, 1862. A company to work it was incorporated in February, 1863. It contains 5,000 feet on the main lode and the same quantity on the Oriental lode, which runs parallel and close to it. This Oriental lode, which is quite extensive, was discovered by the Rev. J. B. Fish, in January, 1863. It appears that the reverend gentleman was returning from a trip to Copperopolis, when he observed the croppings of the lode as he was riding past, the location being near the road. Getting off his horse, he satisfied himself that what he saw was copper ore, and located the claim for himself and friends. The parson's mine has produced nearly one hundred tons of good ore.

The Newton was located early in 1863, by Dr. J. Newton, of Jackson, in the names of himself and six members of his own family, who at present control it. Dr. Newton was the first person in this county who worked a copper mine in it. Quite a town, called Copper Centre, has sprung up between these two districts. Two years ago it was one of the most active copper mining camps in the State-hundreds of claims having been located on the two copper belts, which can be traced for miles on both sides of the original claims. One of these belts is about six miles northeast of the other, and follows the same course as the parallel lodes at Copperopolis-north about 50° east. These lodes also dip from 10 to 20 to the east, as do those at Copperopolis; are in the same geological formation, and the ores are so much alike in appearance and composition that the best judges cannot tell one from the other. There is no doubt but that the Amador county mines are located on the same lodes as the mines at Copperopolis. There are many valuable copper mines in this vicinity, but though the great distance from a market, and the want of capital and experience of those who own them, work on all except the Cosumnes and Newton has ceased. Probably these would also have remained undeveloped had not Meader & Co., copper merchants of San Francisco, become interested in them..

A great deal of work has been done on the Newton, which has been sufficiently tested by shafts and drifts to prove that it is of great value, and this value would be fourfold greater if there were proper means for bringing the ore to tide-water. The lode on this mine is not so large as it is at Copperopolis, but the ore is less divided by the containing slate than it is in the Keystone. At one hundred feet deep the lode here was only three and half feet wide. It increased considerably as the depth of the shafts increased. Most of the ore from this mine will average 15 per cent. In 1864 it shipped about one hundred tons per month, averaging 16 per cent.

On the Cosumnes ground the lode is about ten feet wide at one hundred and twenty-five feet deep, and averages about 16 per cent. This company shipped about two hundred and fifty tons per month during 1864, averaging 12 per cent.

Hope valley. The Rodger's mine, in Hope valley in this county, is located a few miles west of Carson cañon, on the borders of the State of Nevada, only a few miles from some of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevadas. It was discovered in 1855, but has never been worked to any extent, though the ore is very valuable and of great beauty. It is not a regular lode, but a sort of chimney, which makes its appearance, about two feet wide and nearly perpendicular, in the face of a lofty bluff of solid, hard, white granite, at the eastern end of the valley. The only sign of this body of ore is confined to its exposure in the face of the bluff, and for about thirty feet on the top of it. A great deal of prospecting has been done in the vicinity, in the hope of finding a continuation of it, but in vain. The ore is accompanied on the south side by a body of hard, grayish, crystaline limestone, the only sign of that mineral for many miles around the whole country being composed of bare, rugged cliffs and peaks of felspathic granite. On the north side of the ore there is a seam, of about a foot wide, of dark brown quartz, of a peculiar cellular structure. There is a great abundance of brilliant lime garnets in this ore, which, together with the peculiar combination of sulphurets, oxides, and carbonates of which it is formed, render it exceedingly interesting for cabinet specimens; though it is very doubtful whether it will ever pay to extract it for commercial purposes.

Mariposa county mines.-The existence of important lodes or deposits of copper ores of considerable commercial value in Mariposa county was known for several years before any attempt was made to turn them to profitable account. The croppings of a series of large bodies of the ore are seen protruding through the surface all through the county, from where it unites to Merced county on the one side to where it joins Fresno county on the other. It was not until the summer of 1863 that any attention was paid to copper mining in this county. The distance from a market and want of roads, as well as the broken and disturbed condition of the geological formation in which the ore is contained, prevented men of experience and capital investing time or money in their development.

There are two extensive districts in which copper mining is carried on in this county. On is on the south side of it, on the Chowchilla river, near the dividing line betwet is county and Merced. This is called the Hamilton district. It embraces mines in both these counties. The other is the Hunters' Valley district. This is located west of the Bear Valley mountains and south of the Merced river. The La Victoire, the most important copper mine in Mariposa county, is in this district.

A good many companies are working in the Hamilton district; but thus far the developments have not been of much importance, as no shaft of any considerable depth has been sunk, and no permanent lode has been discovered. There is but little doubt that the mines in this county are located on portions of the great cupriferous belt referred to in the introductory remarks to this report as passing through the State; but the shifting and dislocation to which it has been subjected since its formation have so broken it up that it is exceedingly