་ reduced from 40,000 words to 26,000, a reduction of 14,000 words. . Two thousand words were also taken from his manuscript, in the article on "Mine Timbering." The manuscript of Mr. Preston was correspondingly condensed. It is proper to state that Messrs. Fairbanks, Watts, Storms, and Preston all cheerfully rendered me assistance with their respective manuscripts in the work of condensation. Messrs. Wiltsee and Hobson were out of the State. There are several minor chapters which may be omitted without great detriment. These are the North Fork District of Fresno County, the chapter on San Benito County, and that on Salton Lake. It is to be regretted that in the case of some of the articles which are recommended to be omitted, the engravings belonging to them have all been made, but these were finished when the report was originally transmitted and there was no thought of cutting down its proportions. It may be stated that the manuscript shows no signs of having been edited, aside from the mere paging of the leaves and arranging in order. A large amount of material had been left in which had already appeared in the last report or those of previous years. Where two assistants had worked in the same county at different times no attempt had been made to compare their reports and erase one of the duplicated portions. In some instances engravings had been made of the same thing to go in separate chapters written by different Assistants, and these engravings are ready for use. The Assistants, performing their individual work under general instructions, had written out their observations without knowing the details of the reports of others in the same field. It is apparent that most of the manuscript had been recopied in the office from the original reports handed in by the authors. Part of this copying was evidently done by persons entirely unfamiliar with mining affairs, and the result was there were many absurd errors. These mistakes could not have been made by the original writers, for many were ridiculous in the extreme. This was not the case in all the copying, but in parts of it; there had been no revision after this copying. No instructions had been given, apparently, for the Field Assistants to be concise in their reports. On the contrary, in many instances the work had been elaborated with the evident intention of making a very voluminous report. The system of tabulating the details of operation of individual mines immediately after each description, leads in every instance to useless repetition. Sending two men to the same county or district and then not comparing the results of their work or their reports, leads to confusion and expense, for which the Assistants are not to be blamed. There has been little if any system in this regard, judging by the results as shown by this manuscript. The original manuscript handed to me for revision consisted of 2,307 pages, largely type-written. The paging now reaches 1,144, from which must be deducted about 300 pages for erasures in the paged manuscript. None of the entirely erased pages are left in. This will make the report comprise about 844 pages of manuscript. In this I have not included the article on "Mining Law," by Mr. Ricketts, which is 110 pages of foolscap, type-written. If the Board decides to publish this, then there will be 954 pages of manuscript. The article on "Mine Timbering," by W. H. Storms, with nineteen engravings, is a good one, carefully prepared. It deals, however, largely with Nevada and Dakota methods, adapted to more extensive operations than are general in this State, where there are few, if any, large chambers requiring the class of timbering mainly considered in this article. If considered too extended for this report, this article might be separately published at another time as a bulletin of the Mining Bureau, for the benefit of those who are interested in the subject. The report as now submitted to you is almost exclusively confined to mining in the counties of California. Of course many of the engravings and lithographs which have been made will be useless. The engravings prepared for this report have been made at a great expense. There are now printed, ready for use, 10,000 copies of each of the maps and lithographs, yet comparatively few of them will be made use of by the State. Very respectfully, CHARLES G. YALE. R To his Excellency H. H. MARKHAM, Governor of California: SIR: The Trustees of the State Mining Bureau herewith submit their report, in pursuance of the Act of the Legislature entitled "An Act supplementary to an Act entitled 'An Act to provide for the establishment and maintenance of a Mining Bureau,' approved April 16, 1880," approved March 21, 1885. SAN FRANCISCO, September, 1892. J. Z. DAVIS. W. S. KEYES. THOS. B. BISHOP. W. S. LYLE. W. S. WOOD. REPORT OF TRUSTEES OF STATE MINING BUREAU. The last Legislature of the State directed that the reports of the Mining Bureau be issued biennially instead of annually, as heretofore. Further, and as the Trustees respectfully suggest, in the exercise of a mistaken economy, the appropriation for the support of the Survey and Museum was reduced to the sum of $25,000 per annum. Of this amount three fifths was assigned for the work in the field, and two fifths for the exhibition rooms, the laboratory, and the working staff in the city of San Francisco. The State Mineralogist has, owing to the smallness of the funds at his disposal, been obliged to greatly curtail the range of his investigations, but has, in our opinion, used due discretion in the selection of his expert assistants in the field of labor assigned to each of them. Full details of their work will be found in the report of the Mineralogist. MUSEUM. By the exercise of the very closest economy, Mr. H. S. Durden, the efficient Custodian of the Museum, has been enabled to keep within the appropriation, and not noticeably diminish the well-earned prestige of the State's exhibit of its precious and useful ores and minerals and its economically valuable oils, earths, waters, and building stones. There have been catalogued up to date a grand total of 13,164 different specimens and groups of specimens. In this list is included 1,164 exhibits, which represent the additions since August 20, 1890. These consist mainly of ores, minerals, clays, and fossils, collected by the Field Assistants. Many of these fossils are new to science, and are now placed in the hands of competent specialists. Donations to the Museum have been up to the usual average, but no large loan collection has been offered, nor in fact could any considerable loan exhibit be received, as the rooms are now so fully occupied that many interesting specimens are hidden from view in boxes, awaiting available space. Some room has been gained, so to speak, by altering and rearranging a portion of the shelving, and by returning to the owners certain loan collections of birds and curios, interesting enough of themselves, but not strictly in line with the purpose of a State economic and mining exhibit. VISITORS TO THE MUSEUM. The attendance at the rooms, as shown by the register, shows a gratifying increase. From October 1st, the date of the last report, up to the month of August, 1892, 77,605 different persons have registered their names, and of these 3,528 were pupils from the public schools of the city. In view of the manifest popularity of the State's exhibit, the Trustees respectfully repeat that the usefulness of the Bureau would be enhanced were more commodious quarters obtainable through a somewhat increased appropriation. LABORATORY. Much useful work has been done in the laboratory, and much useful information has been gratuitously given to citizens in all parts of the State. There have been received and answered 9,311 letters of inquiry, touching all manner of technical subjects, earth, ores, etc.; 2,814 specimens have been examined, and replies given either in person or by letter. Many of these answers have been the means of developing new enterprises, such as quarries, oil fields, borax and magnesite works, manganese, slates, etc. Mayflower Gravel Mining Co. Saba, B. A. de Saisset, Pedro de Sanders, Edward McKillican, D. R. McNaughten, Wm. A. McPherson, H. P. Means, W. A. Meteor G. & S. Mining Co. Montell, Geo. A. Horticultural Society of Co- Neal, David Hoyt, Geo. F. Hutchinson & Montgomery Iber, W. E. Jansen, Maria Keeney, F. W. Lackey, Albert Leland, G. A. Lerch, Reuben Leschinske, Robert L'Hommedieu, R. R. Look, R. C. Malone, M. Sanders, T. B. San Diego Chamber of Com Murdock, Mrs. M. H. Nettleton, Geo. 0. Neuschwander, A. Newbert, T. A. Newcomb, B. M. New Liverpool Salt Co. New York Mining Co. Simmons, T. H. Smith, S. W. Sontag, H. Sprague, Geo. E. Strode & Bauder Summers, A. B. Sunset Company of Bakersfield Swan, A. B. Swan, Judge Jas. G. Taylor, C. J. E. Taylor, M. C. Taylor, S. S. Taylor, Thos. G. Threlfall, W. A. Tibley, B. Tip Top G. & S. Mining Co. Todd, Mrs. F. H. Tolman, D. C. Towle, R. E. Traphagen, F. W. Tregidgo, Alfred Tripp, Henry Tucker, B. Tuohy, A. V. Turner, W. L. Turner, W. T. Van Wert Mining Co. Ventura Brownstone Co. Voy, C. D. Vulcanized Fiber Co. As permitted by the Act creating the Board, the Trustees, with the assistance of the Mineralogist and Custodian of the Museum, prepared an exhibit for the State Fair held at Sacramento in September of 1892. They are still further making ready for a large exhibit at the Columbian Fair to be held at Chicago, Illinois, in 1893. No effort will be spared to do credit to the State and to the Bureau. We are greatly obliged to the editors and publishers of the following newspapers and periodicals which have been regularly received at the Bureau, free of charge, during the past year: Calaveras Prospect, San Andreas, California. Daily Tidings, Grass Valley, California. Downieville Messenger, Downieville, California. Fresno Expositor, Fresno, California. Humboldt Daily Standard, Eureka, California. Oakland Daily Tribune, Oakland, California. Placer Herald, Auburn, California. San Leandro Reporter, San Leandro, California. Santa Ynez Argus, Santa Ynez, California. Siskiyou Telegram, Yreka, California. Visalia Delta, Visalia, California. Wallace Press, Wallace, Idaho. Weekly Star, San Francisco, California. West American Scientist, San Diego, California. Wood River Times, Hailey, Idaho. FINANCIAL ACCOUNT. FROM OCTOBER 1, 1890, TO JULY 1, 1891. Salary of State Mineralogist Salaries of geological assistants Traveling expenses of geological assistants Freight and expressage.. Sundries.. Rent of Bureau Salaries of Bureau employés.. Library.. Laboratory Freight and expressage- Clerical assistance. Balance 8,050 00 247 67 148 39 367 16 135 25 105 75 638 06 125 00 $30,903 71 $6,803 26 |