QUALITY CONTROL MARK GENTLEMEN: In accordance with your instructions of March 18, 1893, I have edited the manuscript of the Biennial Report of the State Mineralogist under the provisions of the Act approved March 11, 1893. It will be remembered that when this manuscript was originally submitted, the Board of Examiners declined to publish it entire, and printed only the brief report of the Trustees of the State Mining Bureau and the introduction to the report by the State Mineralogist. This report also called forth from the Governor the following expression, printed in his message to the Legislature: I have carefully read the biennial reports of the various State officers and public institutions, with the exception of those of the State Mineralogist as originally prepared, the State Agricultural Society, the Railroad Commissioners, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the State Board of Horticulture, and possibly one or two others, which are so voluminous that none but the unemployed and those directly interested and expecting to derive personal benefit from them can have time to read. While it is the duty of those who prepare these reports to inform the public fully in regard to the conduct of their institutions, very often too little time is devoted by their authors to condensing their statements. Intelligent people do not require arguments, but simply facts, from which they draw their own conclusions. The enormous cost of printing some of these volumes seems to have escaped attention in many cases; notably in that of the State Mineralogist, the cost of printing which, as presented, would have been over $10,000. I have no doubt that this is a valuable contribution, but I believe that $2,000 worth of intelligent editorial work bestowed upon the manuscript would have saved four times that amount in the cost of printing, and the volume would have been of greater value to those interested. People will not read long, tedious reports, and if it were not for the condensed statements given out through the press the people of the State generally would have very little information in regard to our public institutions. The Legislature then passed an Act, which was approved March 11, 1893, making an appropriation for editing the manuscript of the report of the State Mineralogist for the two years ending September 15, 1892. This Act is as follows: AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR EDITING THE MANUSCRIPT OF THE REPORT OF THE STATE MINERALOGIST FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDING SEPTEMBER 15, 1892. The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. There is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, the same to be expended under the supervision of the State Board of Examiners, to pay for editing the manuscript of the biennial report of the State Mineralogist, for the two years ending September fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, said manuscript having been filed with the Governor on said date. SEC. 2. This Act shall take effect immediately. There were in all 2,307 pages of this manuscript, largely type-written. I have condensed all that relates to the counties of the State very materially, as in some instances I found much duplication of former reports. By comparing the reports previously published, with the man script, the duplicated matter was eliminated. In other cases, where there was no duplication, there was still room for condensation, by leaving out the less important matter, in order to reduce the volume of the report. In editing this manuscript I have endeavored to retain only what will be of use to the practical miners of this State, so as to confine the report within reasonable dimensions, as suggested by the Governor in his message to the Legislature. Several of the special articles prepared for this report can well be omitted altogether, since they do not relate directly to the mining interests of California, though they may be of scientific value. These, so far as I am able to judge, have been carefully prepared, and are doubtless valuable for publication through other channels. I do not recommend their omission because they may be unworthy of publication, but simply because, in my opinion, they are out of place in the report of the State Mineralogist, as not being of practical utility to the mining public. Among these are the following: "Catalogue of California Fossils. Part II, Bibliography and References; Part III, Additions to the Tertiary and Quaternary Fossils; Part IV, Remarks on Fossils collected in Orange County by Dr. S. Bowers; Part V, Descriptions and Figures of New Cretaceous and Cret. B (or Eocene) Fossils of California, with Notes and Figures of Tertiary Species." By J. G. Cooper. This is partly a continuation of an article in the Mining Bureau report of 1888, and was omitted from the report of 1890, though prepared for that. There are 116 pages of manuscript. There are also six full-page plates, figuring sixty-seven species of Cretaceous and Tertiary fossil shells. "Aboriginal Pipes of California," by Dr. Lorenzo Yates. Of this manuscript there are 35 pages, with five plates containing fifty-two engravings. This article is mainly interesting to the student of American history and ethnology. It gives the forms, uses, and history of the tobacco pipe among the native American races. It refers to and describes the pipes made by the aborigines of South and Central California; and there are many quotations from other authors describing the pipes of other Indian tribes. The ceremonial uses of pipes are also described; as also the methods of manufacture. "Aboriginal Shell Money of California," by Lorenzo G. Yates. In this manuscript there are 57 pages and seven full-page plates, with seventy-nine cuts in all. The paper covers a description of the ancient media of exchange among the sea-coast tribes; different kinds of shells used; scientific names of shells used by the aborigines of this State; also beads; quotations from reports of Bureau of Ethnology; wampum, etc. All three of these papers would be better adapted for publication by an academy of sciences or an ethnological society. "Santa Rosa Island," by C. D. Voy; 48 pages of manuscript and five full-page plates. There is nothing in this which relates to mines or minerals. It refers to the discovery of the island, shape, climate, contour, points, anchorage (no harbor), volcanic material, bluffs and ridges, sand drifts, mountains, fossils, mammoth remains, topography, ethnology, zoology, and flora. "San Miguel Island," by C. D. Voy; 34 pages and eleven full-page plates. There is nothing in this chapter about minerals or mines. It gives a history of discovery, geographical location and dimensions, harbors, shape of island, soil, shells, volcanic material, Quaternary fossils, Pliocene fossils, surface of island, bluffs, ethnology of aboriginal population, shell heaps or kitchen middens, ancient stone implements, stone disks, zoology, flora, etc. Both of these papers of Mr. Voy show research and would be useful for a geographical or ethnological society. The lithographs for these papers mentioned have been made and printed. An article by the late Henry De Groot on "Hydraulic Mining" covers 90 pages of manuscript and has numerous engravings. It covers practically the same ground as the article by John Hays Hammond on the "Auriferous Gravels of California," published in the report of the State Mineralogist for 1889. One of the chapters written by Mr. Fairbanks, entitled "Notes on the Geology of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Monterey Counties," covering 54 pages of type-written manuscript, I have omitted. The work done there was purely scientific in its nature, and no attempt had been made to connect it with the mining resources of the region. As the field would have to be again visited, in order to bring out the economic and industrial relations of the geology, the present State Mineralogist retains this manuscript and Mr. Fairbanks was put in the same field to complete his investigations. An article to which your attention is directed is the excellent one by Mr. A. H. Ricketts, entitled "A Dissertation upon the Origin, Development, and Establishment of American Mining Law." This covers 110 type-written foolscap pages. It is a first-class article, and of practical use to miners everywhere. It does not, however, relate exclusively to California, but from the nature of the subject, is of application all over the United States. Should the appropriation for public printing warrant, this article should be published. As to the condensation of the work of the Assistants in the Field, more or less has been done on most of the chapters. Much of the information gathered had already appeared in the reports of the Bureau. From the two chapters on Nevada and Sierra Counties, 311 pages of manuscript were taken out. In Sierra County some of the same field had been covered by Mr. Preston and Mr. Wiltsee. In some other instances the Assistants had gone over the same ground; that is, two had visited the same region at different times and some of the work was duplicated, each having worked independently. To give you an idea of the rest of the condensation, it may be stated that from Mr. Fairbanks' chapter on "Geology and Mineralogy of Shasta County," 24 pages were eliminated from the 90 pages, a reduction of about 5,600 words. From his chapter on "Geology and Mineralogy of Tehama, Lake, Colusa, and Napa Counties," from 73 pages 19 were taken out, a reduction of about 1,900 words. From his chapter on "Geology and Mineralogy of San Diego and Orange Counties," 13 pages were taken from 108. As previously stated, his chapter on Los Angeles, Ventura, etc., amounting to 56 pages, has been entirely left out, that more complete work may be done upon it. All this manuscript of Mr. Fairbanks was type-written and had been carefully prepared. Mr. Watts did work in twenty-six counties, and from the total of 100,000 words 73,440 words were left, a reduction of about 26,560 words. In the work in three counties by Mr. Storms, the manuscript was |