MINERALS OF THE PACIFIC COAST.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 208, 31 March 1868, Page 3

MINERALS OF THE PACIFIC COAST.

{From the Scientific American.') One of our California exchanges thus speaks of the unexampled richness of the mineral resources of the American States on the Pacific: —

The variety" as well as the richness of the mineral resources of the American States on the Pacific appear to be without example. No other district of equal extent can boast the possession of such an abundance and multitude of valuable metals. The colony of Victoria, in Australia, for a short time surpassed California in the production of gold, but our State has resumed its supremacy. As a gold mining country we are in advance of any other State of either the past or the present. Brazil and Spain may have had places of equal richness and extent, but the laborers were not so skilful, nor the production so large ; and their diggings are apparently ! exhausted, while ours are still turning out millions every month.

In silver, Nevada is not the equal of Mexico, but it is siiperior to any State of Mexico, and the Virginia district produces annually more silver than any other district does now, or ever did produce. Neither Guanajuato, Zacateeas, Cerro Pasco, Potosi, nor Chanarcillo can show a yield of twelve million dollars a year; and in their best days that figure wasnever reached by any of them. All those districts had a wealth equal to that of the Comstock lode, perhaps greater, but they had not the steam power to hoist, and crush, and amalgamate the ore, and to pump out the water. Many of our silver districts are yet unopened. Kearsage, Owen River Valley, Co-so, Cortez, Toyabe, White Mountain, Montgomery, Excelsior, and dozens of other argentiferous regions have only been seen near the surface. The expense of cutting roads, fighting Indians, proving the extent of the veins, and erecting mills, is too much for the prospectors, and years may pass before the necessary capital is obtained. The silver exists in the rocks, and in time it must come out.

In quicksilver, California is richer than Spain, and our production now considerably exceeds that of any other : country. The New Almaden is now yielding, according to published reports at the rate of 400,000 pounds annually, surpassing old Almaden considerably. Discoveries of ore have been made lately at various points, promising a large addition to the production. It is the opinion of many miners that in five years California will be at the head of the copper producing States. Our copper mines are rich, extensive, and numerous. Large lodes, containing ore varying from ten to twenty per cent., are found in not less than a dozen counties, from del Norte to San Diego—lodes that in England would be worth millions, but now lying idle and almost worthless, simply because of the high cost of freight, the dearness of fuel, or the lack of skilled labor. The Union, which ships about a hundred tons per day, is one of the best copper mines in the world. If our ores could now be sent from our mines to Swansea for 10 dollars per ton, we could ship 500 tons every day. Railroads must be built through the copper

regions, and they will have a vast influence to stimulate the production. Gold, silver, quicksilver, and copper, are the only metals which the coast now,yields in any considerable quantity. A little platinum is obtained, and there are rich veins of iron, lead, antimony and tin, in the State; but they are not worked. Of the non-metallic minerals, coal is the most important, and of that the annual production is about 80,000 tons, all of it from Monte Diablo. The borax lakes, in Lake county, are the richest sources of that mineral known, and the production of refined borax is becoming important. The porcelain clay, of Michigan Ear, is of a very fine and valuable quality. The felspar of Calaveras is considered equal to any for fine ceramic uses. The plumbago, of Columbia, according to the report-of experts, is as good as that of the best English mine, which is opened for only a few days in the year, and is a source of vast profit to its owners. The steatite, or soapstone, of El Dorado, is 'excellent in quality. Rumor says that marble, as white as that of Carrara, is found in Tuolhome and Chasta counties, and the variegated gray marble of Indian diggings is unsurpassed in beauty-of color and susceptibility of polish. Beautiful alabaster is found in Placer, El Dorado, Los Angeles, and Solano counties. There is a manganese mine on Red Rock. Vast beds of sulphur are found in various parts of the State, and the business of refining it has been -established in Lake county. Our deposits of asphaltum are extensive, and large quantities of it are sent to market. Petroleum exists in the rocks from Humboldt to San Diego, and the production is slowly but steadily increasing. An opal mine, near Mokelumne Hill, is regularly worked ; and rubies have been obtained in the placers. There is alum in Santa Clara county, sulphate of magnesia in Lake county, and crude soda, in vast quantities, in the Colerado and Mohave deserts. Common salt is made from sea water in considerable quantities in Almeda and Santa Barbara counties. Yellow ochre, sienna, and umber, and an iron ore that can readily be made into Venetian red, are among the resources of California. Numerous other minerals might be added, but they are either found in very small quantities, or little importance is attached to them. The list, however, as we have given it, is surely remarkable for its variety, and mineralogists will seek in vain for its like in any other country of equal^area.