LINCOLN POTTERY.

This pottery was established in 1875, when one English down-draught kiln was put in operation. The present company, which was incorporated in 1886, is represented by Messrs. Gladding, McBean & Co., of San Francisco. Since their incorporation the business has increased until, when visited by the writer in December, 1891, the plant consisted of eighteen improved English down-draught kilns. This company manufactures sewer and chimney pipe, and all kinds of terra cotta goods; also fire-brick and drain tiling.

For the year ending Christmas, 1891, the product of these works was upwards of 700 carloads of manufactured goods. Within the last few years a great demand has arisen for "hollow arch tiling" to form fireproof floors between the "eyebeams" of buildings. This precaution is now insisted on by most architects in the construction of large city buildings. The demand for enameled terra cotta ware for “light shafts” in large buildings has also been met by this company, who have added the manufacture of this class of goods to their products. Previous to 1891 no enameled terra cotta goods were manufactured on this coast. The clay used by this company is obtained from the coal measures about 1 mile north of Lincoln, and a description of the clay bank and experimental borings there may be seen under the head of "Wells," etc., in this report.

PLUMAS COUNTY.

By E. B. PRESTON, E.M., Assistant in the Field.

According to Professor Whitney's estimate, the catchment area of the Feather River is 3,393 square miles. Its three great branches, known as the North, Middle, and South Forks, run in their upper stretches through Plumas County, uniting in one stream lower down in Butte County. The North Fork traverses the northwest; the Middle Fork, starting from the southeast corner, passes through the middle; while the South Fork, taking its rise at the foot of Pilot Peak, on the border of Sierra County, follows near the southern boundary of the county. All of these streams have yielded largely in gold.

Through certain portions of the county that are traversed by heavy, low-grade quartz veins, there is a noticeable parallelism, following the general trend of these formations; their outcrop is bold, carrying occasional shoots of pay ore, and they have, no doubt, furnished largely the material for the white quartz gravel found in such abundance in the old channels of this and adjoining counties through which the Feather River passes. One of these prominent quartz veins can be seen near where Rush Creek enters the East Branch, and can be followed east across the river for several miles; another one passes through American Valley, and others cross the country between American and Indian Valleys, as also through the latter.

The mining interests that have been retrograding ever since the cessation of hydraulic mining seem to have passed their lowest ebb, and a little activity is once more evinced, some of the former hydraulic mines being drifted on where possible, and a few new quartz enterprises being inaugurated.

THE GRANITE BASIN MINES.

These mines at the time of the former report were straightening up and rebuilding after the previous hard winter. They are actively engaged at present in running their mills with paying results; some properties have changed hands, but no new enterprises have been inaugurated. The Homestake Mine is using a small prospecting mill, with a five-stamp Hammond battery, with 350-pound stamps, single cams, making one hundred and fifty drops a minute, 4-inch drop, run by a 24-foot overshot waterwheel, with a 2-foot breast.

THE EDMAN MINE.

Since the previous report of the State Mineralogist, the mine at Mumford's Hill has been partly retimbered, and the owners have carried an upraise through from the second crosscut. During this work Mr. Edman ascertained the presence of telluride ores in small quantities in his vein. The motive power in the mill has been increased by the erection of a

4-foot Pelton wheel with 115 feet of effective head. For the better working of the concentrates, a "spitzkasten" (pointed box) has been placed below the aprons, leading the pulp over blankets and through 90 feet of sluices with cross riffles. The owner has given very close observation to the working of the Huntington roller mill, which he employs for the reduction of his ores; he finds one objection to them in the manner that the rollers are hung and lubricated, occasioning the pumping of oil, which, if not closely watched, runs down into the pulp, and may be the cause of the complaint so frequently made, that "they do not save the gold."

The Diadem ledge of the Edman Mine can be traced along the flank of Spanish Peak range to near the head of Burton's Ravine, which has been worked as a placer and was extremely rich in quartz gold; thence to the Shenandoah Mine at the head of French Ravine, which was also extremely rich in quartz gold. From there it crosses the river, continues to, and flanks Mount Ben Lomond, near Lotts' Diggings.

THE M'GOWAN MINE

Is situated between the Edman and Shenandoah Mines, on the contact between the slate that flanks Spanish Peak range and the belt of diabase that is adjacent. This slate belt has a strike to the northwest of 25° to 40°, dipping to the northeast 60°. The lateral extent is about 1 mile. Next to the syenite of Spanish Peak the slates on the contact are somewhat changed; also the diabase belt, which is nearly 1 mile in width, has been greatly decomposed, being easily worked; it forms the bedrock in many of the rich surface claims that have been worked in this neighborhood. This belt runs to the Middle Fork and beyond in a southeasterly direction, also to the North Fork. On the east side of the diabase another slate belt, about one fourth of a mile wide, passes through the country, consisting of clay slate in the main, with some chloritic and talcose schists.

THE SHENANDOAH MINE,

A

At the head of French Ravine, has started more active operations. ten-stamp mill has been erected about 1 miles from the mine; the mill is run by water power. A road has been constructed from the mine to the mill, also a road out of the cañon to connect with the road to Spanish Ranch. The old tunnels have been cleaned out and a crew put to work to develop the property.

Since writing the above, the winter storms have uncovered a rich pocket below the tunnel on the hillside, the extent of which is now being proved.

Across the East Branch is a high hill of serpentine rock, called the Red Hill, and from there to the southeast the serpentine trends across the county into Sierra; near the East Branch it is over 4 miles wide. A large part of this formation in the neighborhood of Meadow Valley and Spanish Ranch is covered with alluvial and volcanic deposits.

In taking the trail from Spanish Ranch north to Kingsbury the road crosses where the serpentine intrudes wedge-shaped for 1 mile into the slate adjoining it on the east, and passes down the Kingsbury Ravine, which terminates in the slate. On this gulch is the Summit Drift Mine, with a tunnel running north 150 feet to where it strikes the gravel,

which is of a dark color, very tight; at a distance of 106 feet from the mouth pipe clay was encountered.

THE CENTENNIAL AND TOPAZ DRIFT MINE

Is also on this range, but more to the southeast. The company controls 204 acres. A drift has been run in on gravel 1,100 feet, at the end of which a 13-foot shaft was sunk to bedrock. A second tunnel, started 30 feet below, runs in bedrock a distance of 400 feet, at which point an upraise is being made to strike the bottom of the channel. From the bottom of the shaft below the upper tunnel drifts have been run both ways across the channel on the bedrock; on the one side the bedrock commenced to raise within 4 feet, on the other side the crosscut has penetrated 45 feet without reaching the rim rock. The cap of the channel consists of 10 feet of coarse, cemented sand, beneath which the gravel averages 10 feet, the lower 3 feet containing the pay. The gold is of the size of wheat grains and less. The channel, which is self-draining, has a grade of 14 inches to the rod. The bottom gravel is pure quartz, the upper is quartz mixed with lava; the percentage of large bowlders is very small. About 6 miner's inches of water drains out of the tunnel, which is collected in a reservoir for prospecting the gravel. Sixteenfoot boxes are used on a 9-inch grade, with slat riffles. A water blast is used to ventilate the mine. The bedrock is clay slate, the channel coursing nearly with the slate. Six men are employed in the mine, at $50 a month and board, working two shifts.

PINE LEAF DRIFT CLAIM

Controls 40 acres. It adjoins the previous claim on the southwest, but has a channel that lies 150 feet higher. The ground was first prospected with a shaft, after which a tunnel was run in 700 feet. At 550 feet gravel was struck, which paid a little all through, but better near the rim. The channel has not been bottomed yet. The gravel is chiefly fine quartz. This company's tunnel was started at right angles with the direction of the previous company's tunnel, but turning later to the northwest, the gravel was first struck on the left side of the tunnel. The capping consists of 42 feet of pipe clay and 3 feet of sand. The gravel, though tight, is not cemented. The course of the tunnel for 623 feet is nearly north; then it turns to the northwest. At the end is an upraise of 14 feet, which connects with the shaft. The grade of the tunnel is 1 inches in 12 feet; the bedrock is slate, and the back end of the tunnel runs with the strike of the slate.

A reservoir at the mouth of the tunnel furnishes water for washing the gravel. The boxes are set on a 9-inch pitch, and are supplied with slat riffles. At Kingsbury Ferry a bridge crosses the east branch of the North Fork, at an altitude of 2,830 feet. A short distance back from the bank of the river is the Hallsted hydraulic claim, no longer working. Following the trail down the right bank toward Rush Creek, some calcareous schist is crossed, having the same general course as the slates through this country. The same rock is met with again on the road from Spanish Ranch to Quincy, but the two occurrences, though nearly in line, do not appear to be continuous. At the mouth of Rush Creek, which is about 12 miles above Rich Bar (hence the name, TwelveMile Bar), is the

This extremely large vein has a course 35° west of north, and dips northeast. The ledge, which will average 20 feet, is in places as wide as 75 feet. It is incased in slate, and presents a bold bluff on the river side, affording excellent facilities for tunneling. Several tunnels have been run in to the vein. One of these, 250 feet long, strikes the ledge at a depth of 300 feet, from whence drifts were run on the ledge east 125 feet and west between 30 and 40 feet.

The average of the quartz is low grade, containing quite an amount of fine-grained sulphurets, with occasional pockets of specimen quartz. A small four-stamp prospecting mill is on the property, run by water power, under 140 feet of pressure, with 40 miner's inches of water acting on an 8-foot Pelton wheel. Battery amalgamation, with a silvered apron 42 inches by 8 feet, and 12 feet of 20-inch sluices, are the methods On account of the breaking away of applied for beneficiating the ore. the dam of the Long Valley reservoir at the head of Rush Creek during the previous spring, the ditches, flumes, etc., of the company had been washed away and were being replaced under contract, previous to the company resuming operations.

Beyond this claim, immediately on the river, is the mining property of Messrs. Duncan & Patten, an extension of the Hallsted, which reaches across the river; the slate walls here are nearly perpendicular. The different rocks that are found at and in the river here, at the head of the Twelve-Mile Bar, are very interesting, comprising chrome iron, hornblende schist, clay schist, serpentine, diabase, lime, and quartz, A very fine specimen of tremolite was found here, which is now in the museum connected with the State Mining Bureau. In this claim the ledge, where it crosses the river, shows a breadth of 75 feet; it is heavily sulphuretted, galena, iron, and copper sulphurets predominating, with a rich sprinkling of free gold in places. These same parties own gravel ground on the bar. Like the previous company, these parties are repairing damages to ditches and flumes caused by the breaking of the aforesaid dam. Beyond these works is the Fred. Lewis claim, opened with a 60-foot tunnel. Two men are driving this tunnel ahead. On the opposite side of Rush Creek the granite approaches the river.

South of Meadow Valley an intrusion of syenitic granite breaks through the slates, which is overlaid partly by alluvial and volcanic matter; the slate formation continues to the Middle Fork, forming the The watershed between Meadow bank of that branch for over 6 miles. Valley and the Middle Fork has an altitude of 5,250 feet, being 1,640 feet above the level of the valley.

Near the junction of Onion Valley Creek with the Middle Fork, at Butte Bar, the river cut through a quartz ledge 5 feet thick, exposing it on the banks for a depth of several hundred feet; the ledge is known as the Nelson ledge, and yielded in former days, near the water's edge, rich specimen quartz. At present a company is working it under the name of the Butte Bar Mine. The title to the property is in dispute. It comprises two claims of 1,500 feet on each side of the river; although averaging 5 feet in width, the ledge spreads in places to over 12 feet. It has been opened by a tunnel starting on the ledge on the right bank and running in 90 feet. Next to the vein is a casing of chloritic slate thoroughly mineralized; the country rock is an arenaceous slate, with

a hard dike running along the foot wall. Next to the foot wall for a thickness of 2 feet, the ledge is heavily sulphuretted with iron, copper, and lead sulphides, and probably tellurides. In the horn-spoon test little or no gold is found, notwithstanding the test by fire reveals a value of several hundred dollars a ton. In early days a mill was, with great difficulty, placed on the banks of the river, which are abrupt and rocky, but it has disappeared long ago. For present purposes a mill site, a little back from the river, has been selected, to which water can be brought from Bear Creek. Eight men work here in two shifts.

In approaching Quincy from Spanish Ranch, the road follows on the right hand of Spanish Creek for quite a distance in front of the former hydraulic mines of the Plumas Mining and Water Company, now idle. Hungarian Hill, one of the oldest placer and hydraulic camps in the county, situated on a ridge that runs out from Claremont Hill to the northwest, has a drift mine in operation, worked by P. Hallsted, of Oroville, at an altitude of 4,900 feet. A tunnel running 22° east of north for a distance of 840 feet has cut through a channel filled with lava bowlders, and is being continued to strike a supposed back channel. The channel where crossed is 90 feet wide, running southeast and northwest. The water used for washing is taken from Slate Creek (near which the mine is situated), and caught in a reservoir; the gravel is run out of the tunnel immediately over the boxes. The gold found so far is fine, but most of it is rusty. Quicksilver is used in the boxes. No drifting has been done on the channel.

THE BONANZA PLACER AND DRIFT MINE.

Following the ridge to the foot of the main ascent on to Claremont Hill we find the Bonanza Placer and Drift Mine, which claims 70 acres. The two owners are driving a bedrock tunnel through the clay slate to tap a channel supposed to be running northwest and southeast. It is lava-capped, with 4 feet of pipe clay over 9 feet of gravel, and where it has been prospected by shafts down to the rim rock shows gold in the 3 feet of gravel next to the bedrock. The tunnel is in 350 feet, and it is thought that 100 feet farther will reach the channel. The slate bedrock crosses the channel, dipping at an angle of about 75°. Quite a heavy stream of water comes out of the breast of the tunnel. On the highest point of this ridge a heavy quartz vein crosses the divide, from the croppings of which, on a clear day, Mount Lassen, Mount Elwell, and Spanish Peak are in plain view.

This ridge, in conjunction with Claremont Hill, forms a divide between Spanish Creek and the Middle Fork of Feather River. On the south side of the ridge, parties are prospecting for a gravel channel that is thought to follow down on that side in the general direction of the Middle Fork. In ascending Mount Claremont, after crossing the lava flow above the last described mine, the clay and quartz schists appear on the surface with their old course, until a point is reached a little below the principal bluff of the main peak, where a part of the slate belt changes its course to nearly north and south. The bluff of the main peak has a lava capping and towers about 2,500 feet above American Valley.

Mill Creek heads at Claremont Peak, the east branch near the lowest peak facing American Valley, the west branch at the main peak. The

altitudes of the three peaks are 6,825 feet, 6,900 feet, and 6,975 feet. They form a triangle; from the middle, a bedrock ridge runs to Crescent Hill, southeast toward the Middle Fork of the Feather, which is covered with black lava. On the eastern side some of the blocks were furrowed, as if from glacial action, and blocks of lava were found with inclosures of quartz. On the side facing the Middle Fork of the Feather are the remains of the houses and tracks and tunnels erected by an English company, to work the Claremont channel, which is supposed to be a continuation of that worked in former years with such grand results on Hungarian Hill.

The presence of gold-bearing gravel on this peak has been demonstrated on the interior slopes of the southern rim, but nothing definite has been established. One tunnel has been driven about 1,000 feet and shafts sunk below it; another lower tunnel has penetrated over 200 feet. North of American Valley, in the old Newtown Flat Mines, renewed Messrs. Thomson & activity has been displayed the past season. Thomas have driven a long bedrock cut to operate on a channel running through the divide, between Elizabethtown Ravine and Newtown Flat; during this work they have met with encouraging results, having found coarse channel gold, one of the pieces weighing $96, with several weighing over $20.

The bedrock cut, which is in Tate's Ravine, is 8 feet wide, and will tap the channel in 400 feet at right angles to its course; the latter part will have to be tunneled, and will attain a depth of about 60 feet below the surface and about 10 feet below the channel. The capping of the channel consists of 15 or 20 feet of soil, and from 4 to 15 feet of pipe clay, covering from 3 to 9 feet of free gravel; the bedrock is clay slate. Two qualities of gold are found-heavy wash channel gold and quartz gold, the latter supposed to come from a ledge that flanks the hillside and crosses the track of the cut. The company have leased the water privileges of the Plumas Mining and Water Company for their use, and during the last season have cleaned out and put in repair this large system, which comprises altogether about 35 miles of ditch. Six hundred and fifty feet of 36-inch flume, lined with blocks, will be used in washing the gravel; they will have the use of 500 inches of water under a pressure of 175 feet. At present seven men are employed. The flats below the present cut are gold-bearing, and would pay well if worked by hydraulic process. The conformation of the ground below offers good opportunity for putting in a restraining dam.

Cutting across the Blackhawk Ravine is a quartz ledge with several locations on it. The first, on the eastern end, is the Wormley claim, where a tunnel is being run into the hillside to intersect the vein. Adjoining, on the opposite side of Blackhawk Ravine, is

THE BUSHMAN & ORR MINE,

Where a tunnel has been run on the vein 350 feet, reaching about 75 feet under ground; no stoping had been done. A 4-foot Huntington rotary mill, with self-feeder and Dodge rock-breaker, to be run by a 14-foot overshot wheel, form the reduction plant. A new tunnel is to be started 20 feet lower.

A patent rock-crusher and amalgamator was seen here, the invention of Mr. Bushman, a short description of which is given as a mining curios

ity. It consists of a solid wheel, about 4 to 6 inches wide, and from 2 to 3 feet in diameter, to which on the circumference four shoes of hard chilled iron are hinged in succession in such a manner that the uppermost one lies snugly on the face of the wheel, with the hinged edge to the direction of the motion; while the opposite one is dragging over the die in the bottom. The wheel is hung in a cast-iron, closed box, a little wider than the wheel, having a rectangular iron die, about 3 inches thick, fitted on the bottom, extending under and in front of the wheel, which hangs nearer to the back of the box. On the sides of the box in front screens are placed, while above is a feed-hopper; at the back is a plug to admit water. As the wheel revolves toward the feed, the hinged shoes fly out by centrifugal force and strike on the quartz lying on the die. After the blow is delivered, the shoe drags some of the quartz under with it until the hinged end commences to ascend. In the model at the mine the shoe drags over the die a distance of 4 feet.

A part of the ravine at the mine was being worked as a placer by Mr. Bushman.

THE THOMSON & KELLOGG MINE.

To the west of this claim and adjoining it is the Thomson & Kellogg Mine, situated on Eliza's Fork of Little Blackhawk. Three tunnels are run in the sidehill from the ravine to cut the ledge; the lowest is 150 feet long, but has not yet reached the vein; the second is about 60 feet long, and the upper one, which is on the vein, has a shaft sunk below it to a depth of 100 feet, which is in good ore at the bottom.

The quartz in this claim carries a larger percentage of sulphurets and black oxide of manganese, also larger cubes of iron pyrites, than the adjoining claim below. The sulphurets assay up to a very profitable figure.

The Eliza's Fork Ravine has furnished exceedingly rich placers, from where this vein crossed, down to its mouth, pieces of quartz gold several hundred dollars in weight having been found. Little Blackhawk Ravine, below where this ledge crosses, has likewise been very productive. As the owners of this mine have large and varied agricultural and mercantile interests, which require all their personal attention, this mine has not received the development its apparent merits deserve.

THE GOLDEN GATE QUARTZ MINE

Is an old claim that has started into renewed activity the past season with apparent success; it is in the Butterfly Mining District. The vein lies very flat, at an angle of about 20%, and varies in width from 14 to 15 feet; the rock shows free gold, and is said to pay about $20 per ton. A five-stamp steam mill has been moved to within one half mile of the property, the necessary water being obtained near the head of Little Butterfly Creek. The walls of the vein are slate. The vein dips with the slope of the hill, a large area of it being exposed.

A revival of mining interests is to be noted in the Crescent Mills neighborhood, in Indian Valley. The Green Mountain Mine, which was shut down by attachments several years ago, has so far arranged matters as to be able to appear on the list of bullion producers for Plumas County once more. A crew of forty men has been set to work, the lower tunnels have been cleared and retimbered where necessary,

and one half of the fine sixty-stamp mill put to crushing quartz. The mine and mill have been thoroughly reported on in previous reports of the State Mineralogist.

THE CRESCENT MINE.

During the past season the management have continued their working shaft down 200 feet farther, and are now preparing to drift off to the ledge.

Mill Creek, that comes down from Claremont Peak into American Valley, has three companies at work near the junction of the west and middle branch. The gold is coarse and the gravel free.

Following the road from American Valley up the Middle Fork of the Feather River, the tunnel of the Consignee Mine is crossed, now in over 2,000 feet and still pushing ahead for a channel supposed to run in front of them.

THE PLUMAS EUREKA.

Around Johnstown the Plumas Eureka still maintains her position as preeminently the foremost mine in Plumas County. During the past year some changes in the management have occurred, but no retrograding in the active working of the mine is discernible.

THE LITTLE JAMIESON

Is actively driving her tunnel ahead and otherwise preparing to open the mine in shape; this is a very promising mine.

In passing from American Valley over into the most southerly part of the county, the road ascends Thompson's grade, and beyond that to Nelson Point. To the northeast from the store at Nelson Point are high bluffs of lava extending through the divide to the other side near the sawmill, before reaching which some granite bowlders are encountered, although no granite is in place here. The road winds along over steep grades, ever ascending, flanking the ravines of Onion Valley Creek. After passing Onion Valley, it enters a serpentine belt, in which it continues until on the south side of Pilot Peak, where basalt and lava overlie the formation. All this section of country, and from here on to La Porte, has proved one of the richest old river channel grounds in the State. It has been worked in different parts along the La Porte road, and is known as the Gibsonville channel. The altitude of the summit on the road passed over is 6,430 feet.

The Gibsonville channel is supposed to come down southwest, nearly parallel with the general course of the present Slate Creek, along the east branch course of Rabbit Creek; thence crossing Rabbit Creek and Slate Creek in the neighborhood of Smith's Diggings, unites with the Portwine channel about Poverty Hill. The principal operations on this channel at present are the Thistle shaft-and the Claybank tunnel running under Bald Mountain.

THE FEATHER FORK MINING COMPANY.

Their ground, on the Gibsonville channel, has been crossed by a tunnel to date, a distance of 625 feet, but only 100 feet is truly channel. The bedrock is slate and strikes across the channel.

The property is held by a Scotch company, who have bought up about 4 miles of the channel; it is better known as The Thistle Shaft Company. The channel has a capping of 380 feet of pipe clay, overlying 90 feet of sand and gravel. Its general course is north 26° east. The top of the deposit has an altitude of 6,000 feet above sea-level; the elevation of the underlying blue slate is 5,403 feet. The present works are carried on through a three-compartment shaft 475 feet deep, thoroughly timbered and planked throughout, costing $30 a foot to sink.

From the shaft a bedrock tunnel runs in 300 feet to the channel, which was struck on the rim rock; the tunnel is to be continued through the gravel to the west rim. A prospect hole sunk from the bottom of the tunnel 11 feet was drifted a short distance on the bedrock, but was discontinued on account of water. The mine is ventilated by steam suction through a 7-inch pipe. The water pumped from the mine fur