into two classes, and I shall therefore describe one belonging to the so-called "lead mines," and two belonging to the " copper or silver mines," which will suffice to impart an intelligent idea of all the mines of the district.

San Ignacio, (Copper and silver mine.)—The vein has a general direction of east 100 south, dipping southwest. It is embedded in compact limestone, has crystalline limestone predominating as vein-matter, and some quartz is found subordinately. The surface workings show a very irregular vein; the walls are disturbed, and no definite line of contact can be established, which makes the vein appear 50 to 60 feet wide. Work was at first commenced on the outcrop by a cut on the side of the hill, following the vein nearly 100 feet on its course, and for 60 to 70 feet in depth. An incline of 40 feet has been sunk, and a tunnel of 270 feet length cuts the vein 65 feet below the surface work, or 175 feet below the outcroppings. The incline and tunnel show the vein improving in depth; its width in tunnel is 20 feet from the hanging wall (siliceous slate) to the foot wall, (compact bluish limestone,) and both are plainly discernible; the dip is 600 southwest. The ore in the surface workings occurred in irregular masses, seams, and pockets, varying from to 10 tons in bulk, divided by slate and limestone; while in depth in the incline, it is found in more regular seams, and partakes of a more uniform character, ranging in width from 3 to 8 feet.

The ores from the mine belong to the second class, (copper ores,) although nearly all the described ores of the district occur in the vein; galena appears in the southern portion of the mine, but not in sufficient quantity for smelting operations without further addition of lead ores. Fifty feet below the mouth of the incline an assay of $178 32 in silver per ton, from an ore seam of 14 feet in width, was obtained. At the time of Mr. Luckhardt's visit nine men were employed by the company, raising, daily, from 3 to 4 tons of ore to the surface, of an average value of $280 per ton. The capacity of the company's reduction works being 2 tons, daily, the product of the mine was limited to 4 tons. The appearance of the work done so far allows a daily extraction of 12 tons, and the opened ground shows about 1,200 tons of ore in sight of the above value. Local circumstances have thus far prevented the beneficiation of second-class ores, (from $80 to $50 ore,) of which there are over 2,000 tons now lying on the waste-dump.

Capital is only very lately finding its way to the district, and very sparingly. All operations done so far on the San Ignacio, and, in fact, on all the veins, have been only on a small scale, the district being but in its infancy, a state when all kinds of work are seldom carried on without great obstacles. But it has so far rewarded the owners handsomely for their outlay; and wherever it has been persevered in it has generally proven that great wealth is actually in the mines. In the vicinity of the San Ignacio are located the Bandera, La Primera, San Francisco, Alpha, Franklin, Asteroid, San Thomas, Coronel, &c., and other smaller veins, which bear not only in their formation but also in their ores much resemblance to the San Ignacio; but none of them have been explored sufficiently to reveal their absolute merit. All have yielded rich ores in small quantities.

San Lucas mine.-This nine is situated 6 miles north of the San Ignacio, and belongs also to the second class, namely, copper and silver mines. The croppings (quartz) dip 65° north, in limestone, and run east 50 south. Near the surface the vein shows 6 feet in width, containing several narrow and poor seams and spots of ore, and does not look promising. An incline of 94 feet has been sunk on the footwall,

and the vein followed 80 feet on its course, where ore has been found and extracted in bodies from 3 to 7 feet in width and 10 to 25 feet deep-the vein having widened to 13 feet from wall to wall. The lower workings show a decided improvement in the quality and quantity of the ore. The average of an eastern drift, in ore 5 feet wide, at 69 feet depth, was $58 83 in silver. The ore contains from 7 to 10 per cent. of galena, and some antimonial ores; gray copper and silver-copper glance predominate. I met with nests and bunches of ore assaying $300 per ton; and the ore lying on the company's dump, as it is being sent to the smelting-works, now averages $115 30 per ton. The mine has been very irregularly worked thus far. It is, like many others, very favorably situated for tunneling. A tunnel of 600 feet in length would meet the vein 350 feet below the outcrop; and I believe that with judicious management the mine could be made to yield 25 tons of $100 ore daily, with an outlay of $5,000, while the present yield does not exceed 6 tons daily.

In the vicinity are, among many smaller veins, the Wittekind, Belmont, Abundancia, Candelaria, San Miguel, Enterprise, Abellino, Virginia, Guadalupe, Guaymas, and others, some of which carry so little galena ores that they can be beneficiated by wet amalgamation. They all resemble the two veins above described, both in gangue and ores, yielding from $45 to $150 in silver per-ton. Their widths vary from 5 to 40 feet, and thus far but little work has been done on them-just sufficient, in many cases, to comply with the laws of the district in order to hold possession, and I am of the opinion that, in all probability some of those mines, when once worked, will yield abundantly in ores, and will by far exceed the Ignacio and St. Lucas, which are already proven good mining property and looked upon as among the best in the district. One of my reasons for this opinion is that actual work has, in most instances, shown an improvement in depth both in quality and quantity. Another is the fact that the ore exists in bunches and pockets, which are detached from one another by barren vein-matter, or by intrusions of masses foreign to the vein itself. This leads me to expect more ore and larger bodies where less irregularities exist, which will be the case the deeper work progresses on the veins. These ore bodies are always found to be larger where much bulk of vein-matter exists than where a vein is narrow, and some of the above-named veins are very wide.

None of the described mines carry sufficient galena in their ores to fit them for smelting alone, neither can the majority of the ores be amalgamated; and as much attention has therefore to be paid to the lead as to the silver-copper mines.

The greater number of the veins located near the center of the district are so-called "galena ledges," as, for instance, the Union, San Felipe, Freiburgh, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, Santa Maria, Buena Vista, Knickerbocker, and others, some of which seem to be located on one and the same vein. I found three distinctly separated veins of very large dimensions, besides several smaller ones of little importance, on the hillside where all the above named claims are situated. With very few exceptions they are of a very uniform character, and in describing one all will be described.

The Union vein has a general north and south course, is imbedded in a compact grayish limestone, dips west 620 with the horizon, and carries calespar as predominating vein-matter. Near the surface its width cannot be well established; it resembles a mass of ore thrown together with boulders of country rock to a width of 50 to 60 feet; only the foot-wall is visible in a few places. Several mining companies have located claims on this vein, and have attacked it from the surface to a depth of 130

feet in some places. The Santa Maria tunnel has cut the vein 200 feet below the surface. The lower workings show more regularity in the vein; its width can be called 23 feet, but in one place I saw it 40 feet; the foot-wall can be well seen, the hanging-wall can only be found well defined in places. It carries the ore in bodies of various sizes and dimensions, but they all have an inclination from north to south, and seem to improve southward. The ores are chiefly argentiferous galena; copper occurs only in very small quantities, and only near the surface. Iron pyrites, in various stages of decomposition, is a steady companion of the ores; it only exists where ore is found, and it is only where it is completely converted into peroxides that it has penetrated the vein-matter so as to hide the original texture and form entirely. This vein has shown thus far three separate ore bodies, which have yielded to the various companies at work on them probably over 21,000 tons of ore, of an average value of $120 per ton. It has been attacked by two shafts and three tunnels, and is at present yielding all the necessary ore to supply three reduction works. Forty feet below the outcrop an average sample of the vein, here 30 feet wide, was taken regardless of waste, and $36 23 in silver per ton was obtained, and 87 feet below the outcrop the vein, 20 feet wide, assayed $58 11 per ton.

There are two phenomena which speak well for the future of the vein. The supposition is, that all veins change in depth, and especially when nearing the so-called water level. This change first shows itself in those ores which are easily decomposed, and requires the attention of the miner, as it influences the percentage of precious metals which the vein may carry in the croppings or surface workings. In the vein in question here we have argentiferous galena ores, accompanied principally by iron, and we find that a change has made itself already apparent at a depth of about 150 feet below the outcrop, namely, the ga lena has changed from a fine crystalline structure to coarse crystals, and the hydrated oxide of iron of the upper workings begins to resume its original state, i. e., that of sulphuret of iron. The percentage of silver in the ore has, however, remained the same, and from this we may infer that it will probably remain so to a considerable depth.

On the surface the vein shows much irregularity. The intrusions of barren rock, foreign to the vein, which divide the ores in bodies, are very frequent. As depth is attained on the vein these intrusions still exist, but not in such multitude. The ore lies more regular, and we may expect to find more regularity in the occurrence of the ores as these intrusions decrease in depth.

A careful examination of the entire hill and nearly all the galena mines situated on it did not detect anything of sufficient import to destroy the opinion formed, namely, that a vast amount of argentiferous galena may be expected from them when they are fairly opened.

General remarks on mining and reduction.

A. Mining. The larger portion of the mine owners at Cerro Gordo are in want of sufficient capital to open and explore their mines and to fit them for the extraction of large quantities of ores. This has been the main cause that mining has been carried on without a system. Many mines have only the necessary work done on them to make their titles good. Some of the mine owners seem to have worked solely with the object to extract a few tons of rich ore for sale, in order to produce the necessities of living, while others extract larger amounts of ore and try to smelt them under great disadvantages at or near the mine.

It is true they produce bullion, but they do not obtain such results as they ought to. This is partially caused by ignorance of the process of beneficiation by fire, partly by local circumstances. The actual product of the mines is nevertheless far in advance of the capital which has been invested in them.

The cost of mining the ores is from $3 to $3 60 per ton, but they are carefully assorted by hand at present, making the total cost of production when ready for the furnace from $5 to $12 per ton. The character of most of the mines and their situations are such that the mining cost ought not to exceed $2 50 per ton, as nearly all of them can be worked to a depth of 200 to 500 and even 600 feet by tunnels, obviating the cost of hoisting. The ores, except in the immediate vicinity of the surface, are surrounded by hard compact rocks, and their dip is such that but very little timbering will be required.

Labor at the mines ranges from $250 to $3 50 per day at present. These prices will probably maintain themselves for some time, but the cost of producing the ore will be greatly reduced as soon as the mines are opened in a systematic manner. Where two or three hands are needed now, a single miner will then be sufficient to perform the same work.

Α

Most of the ores require blasting, and the final assorting ought to be carried on in the open air on the dump and not in the mines, as it is now done. The latter causes unnecessary expense and also loss in ore. good illustration of this is, that in 1866 the ores in the Chollar Potosi mine, Virginia, Nevada, were assorted in the mine at and above the Potosi tunnel level, and a loss in ore occurred thereby; that in 1868 and 1869 the same ground was reopened and produced 23,000 tons of ore, which were assorted overhead and yielded an aggregate of $600,000. B. Reduction.-At Cerro Gordo district three reduction works exist at present, none of which exceeds 10 tons working capacity. The one of Mr. Belshaw is the largest, and contains three furnaces. The other two are of 6 to 8 tons capacity. All of them work under great disadvantages from scarcity of water, which in winter has to be obtained by melting snow and ice to supply the steam-boilers, causing frequent stoppages. Besides these, several Mexicans own furnaces. They smelt their ores and refine their bullion on a small scale. In Lone Pine Valley exist three more establishments. The Cervantes Company reduction works of 20 tons capacity, driven by water power, is the best constructed. The Stevenson, of 10 tons, is situated at the east shore of Owen's Lake, and the works of a new company are being built of a capacity of 30 tons, on the lake, across which they will have a steamer crossing. Lone Pine Valley is certainly the place for smelting works, as sweet water and fuel are abundant, and ores from Cerro Gordo can be brought there at a cost of $7 50 per ton. It is only lately that the district has begun to yield regularly from $30,000 to $60,000 per month, except during one month when all the reduction works were producing, and $130,000 were shipped through to Los Angeles at 33 cents per pound.

Cupelling is not practiced, and all the bullion varying from $270 to $540 in silver per ton is shipped by land to Los Angeles.

The smelting done at Cerro Gordo and Lone Pine is carried out on the old Mexican method. The ores are assorted and freed from gangue matter as much as possible by hand at too high a cost at present. The galena ores are thrown into a "galemador," (a reverberatory furnace on an inclined plane,) where some of the sulphur and antimony is driven off and the greater portion of the ore is converted into a stiff slag highly impregnated with metallic lead. This is mixed with crude silver ores,

the above-named copper ores, carrying copper and iron,) and smelted in a blast-furnace where the lead is reduced to its metallic state, carrying the greater portion of the precious metal with it. This is run into bars of 150 to 250 pounds. The Cervantes Company is the only one which has cupelling-furnaces.

These "galemadores" are generally 10 feet long, 5 feet wide, have from 22 to 36 inches between the bed and arch, and can slag from 6 to 8 tons of galena ores in twenty-four hours. They are heated with wood, and work without blast, and consume 23 cords of wood per twenty-four hours. The "stack-furnaces" are of various shapes, round and square, from 10 to 15 feet high; their boshes vary from 18 to 25 inches in the clear. They are fed with wood, charcoal, and ore, in alternate layers, and require about 20 bushels of charcoal and cord of wood to reduce 1 ton of ore. They reduce, according to their size and blast and the character of the charges, from 5 to 10 tons of ore per day. The cost of wood is from $6 to $8 per cord, that of charcoal 35 cents per bushel, in Lone Pine Valley. The price of both is much lower at Cerro Gordo. The smelting of silver ores, when lead ores are plenty, as is the case in Cerro Gordo, is a very simple operation, and at least 90 per cent. of the fire assay of the precious metal ought to be got from the ores, but at Many here present only 50 to 55 per cent. are obtained in Cerro Gordo. adopt the principle to produce their lead with as high a percentage in silver as possible in the stack-furnace, which is not judicious, and the low yield in percentage of the assay is, in part, directly attributable to this. But the bad proportion of the blast, and the very shape of the furnaces, exert also considerable influence in this direction.

Cerro Gordo is a new district, the actual merit of which has not been made apparent for want of capital and energetic explorations. There are a great many mines, among which is a comparatively large number of excellent ones, and little as they have been opened the developments already made promise a bright future. The character of their ores is such as to render the extraction of silver comparatively easy; moreover, Lone Pine offers every facility for profitable smelting, and there is no. apparent reason why in time the district should not stand as high in rank as many others who had the advantage of capital.

The product of this district during the last year does not fall short of $300,000, and there is every prospect that it will rapidly increase. Indeed, in August, 1870, the production of the Balshaw furnace alone was 2,774 bars, or 238,728 pounds of lead bullion; mining, especially tunneling, was going ahead rapidly, and the prospect was that a large amount of stoping-ground would be ready to be attacked in a short time.

The Caso district, also situated in Inyo County, should be briefly mentioned here. This locality is fifty-five miles from Lone Pine. It was abandoned in 1866 on account of the Indians. In 1863 a party of Mexicans settled there, and have now twenty arrastras at work. The ledges are small, and mostly lie flat, but are very rich. The greatest abundance of ore is found in the Mina Grande, formerly the Josephine. The gold bullion produced is worth $15 per ounce, and the product between April and October is estimated at between $30,000 and $40,000. The Golconda Mine, two miles from Owen's River, was located twenty years ago, but little work was done. A thousand tons could easily be taken out in a short time, if a small amount of capital would be invested. As yet none has found its way to this district. The total population of the county, according to the late census, is 1,956; Chinese, 29.