recipient of courtesies from the various transportation companies, by means of which several thousand dollars of expense were saved to the government in the preparation of these reports. Foremost among these I would name the house of Wells, Fargo & Co., which put at my disposal not only the facilities of travel, but the services, in the collection of information, of its numerous agents throughout the mining districts. Free transportation was officially furnished, also, by the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, California Pacific, Napa Valley and Oregon railroad companies, the Oregon Stage Company, Edgar's Cañon City stage line, John Hailey's overland line from Umatilla to Salt Lake, and Wilson's White Pine and Austin line.

In bringing to a close the arduous work of preparing this volume, I desire to thank the department for the enlightened sympathy with which the subjects intrusted to me have hitherto been regarded, and to express the hope that the accompanying report will be found worthy of the confidence reposed in its author.

I have the honor to be yours, respectfully,

R. W. RAYMOND,

U. S. Commissioner of Mining Statistics.

Hon. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL,

Secretary of the Treasury.

PART I.

CONDITION OF MINING INDUSTRY.

SECTION I.-CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER I.

METHOD OF COLLECTING STATISTICS.

Desirous of obtaining as much information as possible with the limited appropriation at my disposal, and also of having this information arranged according to a uniform plan, so that it might be introduced in my report in a comprehensible and intelligible manner without being too voluminous, I had deemed it best, after mature deliberation, to make the attempt to collect certain statistics by issuing blanks. Five different blanks were prepared: No. 1, to contain the production of gold and silver during the year; No. 2, the producing mines; No. 3, the mining claims; No. 4, the costs of mining and reducing ores; and No. 5, the mills running in a certain district. These blanks were sent to one or more principal agents in each State or Territory, with instructions to distribute the same in the following manner:

1. To send sets to county assessors, district assessors, and county surveyors.

2. To the editors of newspapers in each county, with request of calling attention to the importance of gathering statistics editorially. 3. To superintendents of leading mines.

4. To the owners or superintendents of all mills contained in the list published in Langley's Pacific Coast Directory for 1867.

5. To agents of Wells, Fargo & Co. in the principal mining towns. 6. To prominent individuals in the various counties known to be interested in mining.

7. To proprietors of smelting furnaces and "process" men.

8. To procure information in relation to new mills, &c., from foundries and iron works, and to send blanks to owners and superintendents of such mills.

9. To call personally on such mine owners and superintendents as might be located in the immediate vicinity of any agent's place of residence.

The result has been, on the whole, a great disappointment to me as far as the use of the blanks is concerned. In fact, none were received properly filled, except from California, and even those very scattering. In that State it was remarked, as a general rule, that the superintendents declined giving any information whatever, except after consultation with owners. The best and fullest returns were from owners who superintended their own mines and mills. Many of the owners of mines residing in San Francisco have not been willing to give any information what

ever.

The following statement will show forcibly the indifference with which requests for information have been treated in most cases.

Statement showing number of blanks sent and answers received for California.

Blank No. 1.-Only two or three of this class were returned filled, the quartz miners declining as a rule to give the information required under the heads "No. of tons of ore," "average yield," "total product," &c. Other information required on this blank was sometimes given on blanks Nos. 2 and 5.

Blank No. 2.-This blank has received more attention and has been weli filled, in a number of cases, except the last column-"Product of the year."

Blank No. 3.-Few of these were returned at all, probably because there are but few "live" claims which would not come under the head of "producing mines" in blank No. 2.

Blank No. 4.-This blank has been well filled from every county wherever there was a disposition shown to give any information.

Blank No. 5.-Has received prompt attention and contains a large proportion of the mills running in the various districts.

The cement and placer miners have, with very few exceptions, refused to furnish any information whatever.

A striking instance of the imperfection of returns in blanks is furnished by the following table, taken from the report of the surveyor general of the State. This table does not give the number of stamps, which affords the true measure of capacity. But a simple examination is sufficient to show that the returns are wanting in uniformity, and sometimes quite absurd. The table is copied from the printed report, and the totals of 1867-'8 are mostly erroneous by reason of clerical or typographical errors. As the figures stand, the totals should be: number of mills, 361; tons crushed, 393,480; number of ditches, 874; miles in length, 11,9494; inches of water per day, 211,896. Yet this year is in some respects better reported than the last. In the latter case clerical accuracy has been blindly maintained by correctly adding the figures from the different counties, but without any censorship. Thus we have 22 mills in Placer County crushing 702,760 tons of quartz, or more than one hundred tons daily for each mill, whereas 12 of the same mills the year before crushed only 2,760 tons, or less than one ton daily per mill. At the same time, Nevada County, known to be the foremost quartz-mining district in the State, is reported as crushing, with 73 mills, but 125,000 tons, or between six and seven tons daily per mill. It is not probable that 50,000 tons were crushed in Placer County during the year, and this return should have been altered or discarded. In this case, the total of tons crushed in the State would be reduced to nearly what it was the year before.