where the Chowchilla river strikes the plain. The only permanent stream in the county is the Merced; the so-called Mariposa river is a little brook which can readily be stepped across in the summer season.

The distance of the town of Mariposa from Stockton is 90 miles, and the ordinary charge for freight in the summer is $25 per ton of 2,000 pounds. A stage runs to Bear Valley in a day from Stockton, and the fare is $10. Another stage line runs to Coulterville, and the fare there is $10, and the distance is made in one day. The county tax for the current fiscal year is $3 19 per $100 of taxable property. Coulterville lies north and Bear Valley south of the Mercede river, the banks of which, in that vicinity, are so steep and high that no wagon road has been made across it; and although the distance from one town to the other by the horse trail is only 10 miles, it is 45 by the wagon road.

Sectional area of Mariposa county, 1,884 square miles. Population in 1860, 6,243; estimated in 1866, 4,170. Assessed valuation of property in 1865, $1,237,370. Mr. Wm. S. Watson, constructing engineer of the projected Copperopolis and Stockton railroad says: "From the nature of the country and the pursuits of the inhabitants, Mariposa imports of merchandise 4,240 tons per annum, which, with an increase of population to the standard of Nevada county, and the consequent development of her vast resources, would be quadrupled in a very short time. The down freights from this county, consisting of copper ores, wool, hides, &c., amount to 920 tons annually. The principal points of shipping are Hornitas, Princetown, Agua Frie, Mariposa, Coulterville and Bear Valley. Total up and down freights, 5,160 tons."

The shipment of gold dust from Coulterville was $13,285 in July, 1866; $13,500 in August; $17,000 in September; $24,900 in October; $14,790 in November; $7,280 in December, $4,950 quartz and $9,484 placer in January, 1867; $11,050 placer and $14,800 in March; and $8,080 quartz and $3,660 placer in April.

The average monthly shipment of treasure from the town of Mariposa is $17,000 or $18,000.

There are two small ditches south of the Mercede river, and a branch of the Golden Rock ditch extending to Peñon Blanco, and these are the only ditches in the county. In proportion to the yield of gold, Mariposa has fewer ditches than any other county in the State.

PLACER MINING.-Many of the placer districts in the county have been very rich, but the diggings have in no place been deep, and they would long ago have been exhausted if there had been large ditches to supply water; but these were lacking, so washing has been conducted on a small scale, and for only a brief period each year. The richness of the ground and the coarseness of the gold has enabled the miners to make a profit sometimes by dry digging or scratching the gravel over with a butcher-knife. Maxwell's Creek, Blue Gulch, Bear Creek, White's Gulch, Peñon Blanco, the north fork of the Mercede, the banks of the main Mercede, and the vicinities of the towns of Mariposa and Hornitas were especially rich. In Maxwell's Creek, about 1852, the common yield was $15 or $20 per day to the man, and in 1863 two miners in two months washed out $16,000 at Peñon Blanco. In 1850 Horse Shoe Bend, on the Mercede, had a population of 400 miners. There are now a dozen small and shallow hydraulic claims there, which pay about $4 per day to the man. The population of the bend numbers 100, of whom half are Chinamen. On the top of Buckhorn mountain, cast of Coulterville, at an elevation 1,500 feet above the Mercede river, there is a placer which pays well while it rains, but cannot be worked at any other time for want of water. Flyaway, in a gully by the side of Buckhorn mountain, is also rich, but there, too, no water can be got save during rains.

AGRICULTURE.-There is no agriculture in Mariposa county worthy of note. There is not one large orchard, vineyard, or grain farm. Only a small quantity of rain falls, and the soil appears to be of a very dry nature. A large portion

of the surface is occupied by steep hills, which prove their thirsty character by sustaining no vegetation save the chemisal. There are no ditches to sustain irrigation, and as the most populous part of the county was the Mariposa grant, the residents there having no title had no sufficient inducement to invest money in planting trees and vines. The western part of the county is made up chiefly of chemisal hills, with occasionally small dales with scattered oak trees. In the eastern part of the county there are some plains about 3,000 feet high, and these have a rich and moist soil and may some day become far more valuable than they are now. Still farther east, at an elevation of 5,000 feet or more, we come to large forests of good pine timber, with occasional groves of the big tree.

YOSEMITE. One of the resources of the county is the possession of the Yosemite valley, which is destined to be a favorite place of resort when access is cheaper and more comfortable than at present. The trip can now be made from San Francisco to the valley and back in eight days for $75, staying only a day in the valley, but the average amount spent on the trip by visitors is not less than $150. On the Coulterville trail there is a stretch of 39 miles to be made on horseback, with no house on the way; and on the Mariposa trail the nearest house to the valley is 25 miles off. Thus there is no mode of reaching the place except a hard 'ride over a very rugged road, and it is a severe trial to persons unaccustomed to riding horseback. A wagon road might be made, but some of the people on the route think it their policy to prevent the construction of a road. Near the Mariposa trail is a fine grove of the big trees. The number of visitors to Yosemite in 1864 was 240; in 1865, 360; and in 1866, 620. THE MARIPOSA ESTATE.-The Mariposa Estate, or Frémont Grant, as it is sometimes called, contains 44,380 acres, or about 70 square miles. It reaches 12 miles from east to west, and 12 miles from north to south. Its greatest length, from northwest to southeast, is about 17 miles, and its average width nearly 5 miles. Its northern line touches the Mercer river, the southern the town of Bridgeport. It includes the towns of Mariposa, Bridgeport, Guadalupe, Arkansas Flat, Lower Agua Fria, Upper Agua Fria, Princeton, Mount Ophir, and Bear Valley. The grant was made while California was under the dominion of Mexico, to Juan B. Alvarado, and it was purchased in 1847 by J. C. Frémont, who presented his claim for the land to the United States land commission, and it was finally confirmed to him, and the patent was issued February, 1856. The original grant was of land suitable for grazing purposes in the basin of the Mariposa river, but the boundaries were not fixed, and the grantee had the right of locating the claim on any land within a large area. When the grant was to be surveyed Frémont said he wanted a long strip of land in the low-land on both banks of the Mariposa river; but the United States surveyor told him the survey must be in a compact form. Then, instead of taking a compact area of grazing land and worthless mountain, he swung his grant round and covered the valuable Pine Tree and Josephine mines, near the Mercede river, besides a number of others which had been in the undisputed possession of miners, who had long been familiar with Fremont, and had never heard the least intimation from him that he would in any event lay claim to their works. Personal indignation thus came in to embitter a quarrel involving large pecuniary interests; but the patent did not necessarily give the gold of the grant to Frémont. Under the Mexican law the grantee had no right to the minerals, and the American law spoke of a confirmation, not an enlargement, of the Mexican title. Here then was another subject for litigation, and at last, in 1859, that matter was settled by a decision that an American patent for land carries the minerals with it. The adverse claimants defied the officers of the law; the mines were converted into fortifications; the mouths of the tunnels were barricaded; there were besiegers and besieged; several men were killed; but at last, in 1859, Frémont triumphed, and under his Mexican grant obtained land which the Mexican government did not intend to grant, and minerals which it systematically reserved.

In a short time after the title was satisfactorily settled the yield of gold from the quartz mines of the estate became very large. The monthly production in 1860 averaged $39,500; in 1861, $53,500; in 1862, the year of the great flood, which injured the mills, flooded mines, and broke up roads, $43,500; and in the first five months of 1863, $77,000. In March, 1863, the yield was $94,000; in April, $92,000; and in May, $101,000. The production seemed to have reached the figure of $100,000 per month, with a fair prospect of still further increase. It was at this time that the estate was sold to an incorporated company in New York city, and the stock put upon the market in the midst of the San Francisco mining stock fever, which extended its influence across the continent. The prospectus of the company presented a very attractive picture to speculators. The average monthly yield for three years and a half had been $50,000, and for half a year the net profits had equalled that sum. The reports of various mining engineers indicated that the results of future workings would be still better. Messrs. Wakelee and Garnett, who spoke with great caution, and expressed doubts about the value of the Mariposa, the Pine Tree, and Josephine mines, still thought that the monthly productions of the estate could soon be raised to $220,000, at an expense of not more than $50,000, leaving $170,000 net monthly income. Dr. J. Adelberg, speaking of the Pine Tree and Josephine mines, said: . In regard to the value of the veins, I can say no more than that their yield in precious metal is limited only by the amount of work done in them; but I recollect Mr. Frémont once commissioning me to make an estimate as to their endurance in the limits of the longitudinal extent now opened. I found by calculation that they would yield for 388 years 100 tous daily, without the requisition of pumps. I mean down to the water level.

Mr. Timothy C. Allyn made a report on the property in December, 1862, and expressed the opinion that the yield could be increased $100,000 per month, gross, and $50,000 net. A report equally favorable by Mr. Claudet was also published. Professor Whitney, a most careful, conscientious, and competent authority, had said:

The quantity of material which can be mined may, without exaggeration, be termed inexhaustible. I can hardly see a limit to the amount of gold which the property is capable of producing, except in the time, space, and capital required to erect the necessary mills, build roads to them, and open mines, so as to keep them supplied with ore.

With these opinions and facts, large quantities of the stock were purchased, and there were large quantities of it to be purchased, for the paper capital of the company was $10,000,000.

The company was organized by Frémont's creditors, who had become owners of the property; but instead of cancelling the debt and taking stock for it, they took a mortgage for $15,000,000, payable in gold, and issued the stock subject to that debt, which was supposed to be the only incumbrance on the property; at least that was the supposition of many who bought the stock. It soon appeared, however, that there were $480,000 in gold due, besides $300,000 on the garrison lien, $50,000 on the Clark mortgage, and $130,000 to workmen and others in California. The new company selected Mr. F. L. Olmsted for their manager, and he took charge of the estate on the 14th November, 1864. He found everything in confusion. The production had fallen off very suddenly after the sale. It seemed as if every nerve had been strained to make the yield of May as large as possible, and that as soon as the sale was made the production decreased more than 50 per cent. The yield for the first five months of 1863 before the sale was $385,000, and during the last six after the sale was $186,993. In the former period there was a net profit of $50,000 per month; in the latter a net loss of $80,000.

In May, 1864, Professor Silliman made a report on the estate, in which he said:

A person accustomed to view mines must be deeply impressed on the first view of this estate, not more with the great extent and vigor of the former workings-evidence of which

is seen equally in the underground extraction and in the surface works, railroads, mills, trails, wagon roads, warehouses, and workshops-than with the equally conspicuous fact that the former owners had no regard for their successors, inasmuch as they have in every instance violated in the most remarkable manner that fundamental maxim of all successful mining, namely, to keep works of exploration well in advance of works of extraction. The neglect of this maxim, in ordinary cases, is never of doubtful issue. In your case the result has been peculiarly unfortunate, since your estate is not a mine, but a vast collection of mineral veins, on many of which valuable mines may be developed, and on some of which such developments were made of an encouraging character, but the neglect to apply the principle in question has resulted in the complete suspension of three of the mills, the partial suspension of a fourth, and the supply of the fifth for a time with an inferior quality of ore, all because the veins on which these mills depended for ore were worked on the improvident plan of taking all the ore in sight as far and as fast as it could be found, but never anticipating the evil day, sinking shafts and driving levels long enough in advance of the calls of the present hour to foresee disaster, much less to prevent it.

A mine is a storehouse in which are garnered certain treasures of large, it may be, but not inexhaustible supply. Certain it is, the ore which has been mined will never recur. Hence, it is the fate of all mines at some period to become exhausted. The only compensation to this circumstance is in the possession by one company of a considerable number of mines which may be brought, in succession, into activity, so as to supplement each other. Your position in this respect is one of immense strength; not only do you hold on the Mariposa estate a vast plexus of veins, of most of which very little is known at present, but you also own a great length of country on several veins, the character of which is already proved. It follows from this state of facts that, with the frugal and timely application of capital, you ought never to be in a position where the partial or complete exhaustion of a particular mine, or of several mines, should be severely felt on your general production, nor would it be so to-day had it been the interest of those who preceded you to apply the simple maxim already quoted. But the reckless disregard of this sound principle has resulted, not only in a partial suspension of your production of gold-amounting to a serious disappointment of well-founded hopes-but, still worse, in the almost destruction of certain parts of the mines, where the usual piers of vein have been removed for milling, leaving the mines to crush in, endangering not human life only, but the very existence of the mines themselves. The simple result of all this has been, that your manager found himself, at the outset of your occupancy, face to face with a most embarrassing and painful state of facts, with the alternative before him of throwing off the duty he had undertaken or of grappling with the difficulties and, by a series of judicious measures, extricating this noble estate from its disastrous position. Fortunately for all concerned, he elected the latter alternative; and it will give me pleasure to point out in what manner he has, with great good judgment, proposed to meet the difficulties he has found.

It is quite obvious, from the facts and statements already detailed in this report, that you hold an estate of very great value, but also in a great degree undeveloped, and demanding a large amount of active capital for its proper management. That the judicious use of money will be rewarded, and that speedily, by exploring the undeveloped quartz veins of the estate, is too obvious, I trust, after the arguments and facts already set forth, to require further illustration. All explorations will not be fruitful certainly, but those which are so will become so largely remunerative that they will cancel the others. By no other plan can you hope to manage the estate with honor or profit. By this method you will be sure to develop a vast value, which will render your stock desirable as a permanent and safe investment. By any other system you may attain a spasmodic vitality-to be followed soon by a total collapse. Your manager fully appreciates these views, and his plans now in progress of development will not fail to secure the carly and permanent prosperity of the Mariposa estate.

In 1864 the yield was $465,000, and the expenditure of the mines and mills $760,000. With a debt of $3,000,000, (that was about the figure on the 1st January, 1865,) and a monthly loss of $20,000, the company was evidently not in a prosperous condition. On the 23d January, 1865, a committee of stockholders, appointed to investigate the condition of the company, made a report, and recommended that money be raised by assessment or loan to pay the most pressing debts, so that the work might be continued. They gave it as their opinion that the property was "worth preserving to the stockholders," and that the embarrassments were "owing to defective organization and want of working capital." The company did not succeed in raising the money to pay their most pressing debts, and the estate was placed in the hands of Dodge Brothers, creditors, for the purpose of enabling them to work it and pay their own and others'

debts.

The trustees found, according to their own statement, that they had spent

more at the end of a year than they had received; and the company being dissatisfied, brought suit and obtained the appointment of a receiver, who is now (May, 1867,) in possession.*

Mr. Mark Brumagin, president of the company, under date of September 6, 1867, gives the following statement of the present condition of the Mariposa estate:

After a period of legal and financial difficulties which have weighed heavily upon the Mariposa estate, the company have succeeded in successfully terminating the long pending law suit with the lessees. A final settlement has been made with the Messrs. Dodge Brothers, (the lessees,) by which they relinquish to the company all their rights under the Olmstead lease for the possession of the whole property.

The floating debt has been reduced from about $200,000 to less than $60,000, which has been concentrated into holders who are interested in the success of the company, and the greater portion of which is made payable in instalments running through the next twelve months.

The Mariposa estate consists of upwards of 44,000 acres of gold-bearing land, in the heart of the mineral region of California. It contains more than 1,000 auriferous quartz veins, of which some 30 have been partially opened, and proved to be paying veins when provided with proper reduction works. Of these mines only five have been supplied with machinery, and that of a primitive kind, and very inefficient for saving gold. Where thousands have been taken from the estate, millions of dollars have been lost by bad management and worthless machinery.

The working of the Josephine and Pine Tree mines for the year 1860, and to the date of the incorporation of the company, shows an average gross yield of $3 534 to the ton. From that time the yield for the above two mines has been respectively, as follows:

The Pine Tree mine, under the succeeding management, yielded, in gross, an average of $6 per ton; the lower run having been $4 21, and the highest, $9 97 per ton.

The books kept by the Olmsted management also exhibit the following in regard to the Josephine mine: The lowest run for any one clean up was $2 42 per ton; the highest, $7 05 per ton, making an average gross yield for this period of $4 52 per ton. In brief, the average yield of this mine was at that time so low that it was partially abandoned as worthless by their method of saving gold.

Under the next management, (that of the lessees of the company who succeeded Olmsted,) the books show that the quartz from these two mines was worked together with an average gross yield of $9 01 per ton, the ore having been more or less selected.

The Pine Tree vein is in some places over 30 feet wide, and runs parallel with the Josephine, which has a width of some 12 feet, both mines cropping out on the summit of Mount Bullion, 1,500 feet above the Mercer river, at which the Benton mills are located.

The Josephine contains considerable sulphurets, while the Pine Tree has rather the character of a "free gold" vein. Both have more or less of oily substances in the seams of the veins. The ore contains largely of "float gold," so fine that it floats for hours on the surface of the water.

Quartz from these mines is now supplied to the mills from the tunnels penetrating the veins near the top of the hill, but it is designed to open them by a tunnel at the base, some thousand feet below the present workings, which will insure an unfailing supply of ore.

Under the company's, or present management, since we obtained full possession, we have changed the Bear Valley mill into the "eureka process" for saving gold. This mode of disintegration produces a fine, almost impalpable powder, like superfine flour. Half a ton of this is enclosed dry in an iron receiver. Superheated steam or gas is admitted, which, in the course of a few minutes desulphurizes and drives off all base metals and oily substances. Quicksilver is then introduced, and a portion evaporized, and is afterwards condensed by common steam and cold water. An ingeniously constructed shaking table, of copper, about 20 feet long, on a wooden frame, with riffles of a peculiar formation, gives to the water and pulverized substance, with the amalgam, the same action as that of the ocean surf, an undertow. As the mass descends on the table, the amalgam, from its metallic weight, gradually clears itself from the quartz substances, and the gold is easily and quickly collected in the troughs of the riffles; and so effectually that the residue contains scarcely a trace of gold. With this mill the company have recently worked some 800 tons of quartz from the Josephine mine. The lowest yield at any clean up was $31 per ton; the highest was $173 per ton; giving an average of $40 53 per ton. In the greater portion of this quartz not a particle of gold could be discerned before crushing. From these facts it will readily appear why the property has hitherto paid no dividends.

Captain Henry J. Hall, a practical and experienced quartz miner, has now charge of the mines and mills of the company, and is adapting the eureka gold-saving process to all the mills of the estate. The aggregate capacity of these mills under former management was 292 tons daily, or about 7,500 tons per month, a capacity which still exists. The mills are located near the Josephine, Pine Tree, Mariposa, Mount Ophir, and Princeton mines, all proved to be large, well defined, and inexhaustible veins. There may be easily taken out from these five mines, at the present time, 200 tons of gold ore per day, and increased on the present