spar, which usually occur together in sheets or strings, and in Veins or plates of white massive magnesian rock and shee The cinnabar occurs chiefly in two forms, a massive, and The first is fine granular, or pulverulent, soft, and easily red tion of vermillion; the other is hard, more distinctly crysta difficult to break; but in neither of these forms does it sho develop well-formed crystals. It is occasionally seen veinin greenish white or brown compact steatite or serpentine. The ores are extracted by contract, the miners receiving upon the greater or less facility with which the ore can be br larger portion of the work-people in the mines are Mexica to be more adventurous than Cornishmen, and willing oftenti jobs which the latter have abandoned. The price paid for the poorer portions of the mine is from three to five dollars hundred pounds. This weight is obtained after the ore is b face and freed by hand breaking from the superfluous or unpr this arrangement, the company are secured from paying for ductive mineral. All the small stuff and dirt formed by t "labors," are also sent to the surface to form the adobes use furnaces. It has often happened in the history of this mine, during years, that the mine for a time has appeared to be completely Such a condition of things has, however, always proved to and may always be avoided by well-directed and energetic ex projecting, by a careful survey, irregular and apparently disco of the mine in its former workings in a section, there is eas general conformity in the line of direction and mode of occu ductive ore-masses. These are found to dip in a direction tow a plain parallel, for the most part, to the pitch of the hill, bu higher angle. An intelligent comprehension of this general n has always served hitherto in guiding the mining superintendent of new deposits of ore. Since the settlement of the famous lawsuit, which has so lon pany in a condition of doubt, the new parties, into whose ha has now passed, have commenced a series of energetic and plorations at various points upon the hill, with a view to the ditional deposits of ore. At one of these new openings, dis hundred feet from the limit of the old workings, and not more t feet from the summit of the hill, a deposit of the richest descript kind of cinnabar has been discovered, which, so far as hitherto linear extent of at least seventy or eighty feet, and in poin never been surpassed by any similar discovery in the past hist A charge of one hundred and one thousand pounds, of which s were composed of this rich ore, thirty-one thousand pounds ordinary ore, and forty-eight thousand pounds of adobes, worth making a total charge of one hundred and five thousand eight yielded, on the day of our visit, four hundred and sixty flask seventy-six and a half pounds to the flask. This yield is parallel in the history of the mine. The only preparation wh dergo, preparatory to reduction, consists of hand breaking or "cobbing" for the removal of the unproductive rock. The small ores and dirt hoisted from the mine are made into "adobes" or sun-dried bricks, sufficient clay for the purpose being associated with the ore. The object of these "adobes" is to build up the mouths of the furnaces to sustain the load of richer ores. No flux is employed, there being sufficient lime associated with the ores to aid the decomposition of the sulphurets. The furnaces are built entirely of brick, in dimensions capable of holding from sixty thousand to one hundred and ten thousand pounds, according to the character of the ores employed. The chambers are fired from a lateral furnace, fed with wood, and separated from the ore by a wall pierced with numerous openings by the omission of bricks for that purpose. Connected with the furnace is a series of lofty and capacious chambers, also of masonry, through which the whole product of combustion is compelled to pass alternately above and below from chamber to chamber, until all the available mercury is condensed. The draught from these furnaces is carried by inclined stacks up to the top of a lofty hill several hundred feet distant; and here the sulphurous acid and other effete products of the furnace are discharged. Formerly no precautions were taken to prevent the escape of mercury through the foundations of the furnace to the earth beneath; now the furnaces stand upon double arches of brickwork, and plates of iron are built into the foundations, so as to cut off entirely all descending particles of the metal and turn them inward. To be convinced of the importance of this precaution, it is sufficient to watch the operation of the furnace for a few moments, when an intermittent stream may be seen to flow into a reservoir provided for it, and which by the former process was completely lost in the earth. On taking up the foundations of some of the old furnaces, within the last two years, the metal was found to have penetrated, or rather permeated, completely through the foundation and clay of the substructure down to the bed-rock beneath, a depth of not less than twenty-five or thirty feet. Over two thousand flasks of mercury were thus recovered in a single year from the foundations of the two furnaces. This loss is entirely avoided by the improved construction which has been adopted. The whole process of reduction is extremely simple, the time occupied from one charge to another being usually about seven days. The metal begins to run in from four to six hours after the fires are lighted, and in about sixty hours the process is completed. The metal is conducted through various condensing chambers, by means of pipes of iron, to a "crane neck," which discharges into capacious kettles. It undergoes no further preparation for market, being quite clean from all dross. Property of the company. The landed estate of the Quicksilver Mining Company consists, therefore, of seven thousand eight hundred acres, or a fraction over twelve square miles, of which more than one-third is mineral ground, traversed by veins of cinnabar which have been traced for miles and tested in more than a dozen places, and of which the celebrated New Almaden mine, which has produced, prior to its possession by this company, more than fifty thousand tons of ore, yielding about twenty-four million pounds of quicksilver, is but a single development. The permanent improvements upon the property of the company consist of— Dwelling-houses, workshops, and stores at the hacienda... Dwelling houses, workshops, and stores at New Almaden mine. Dwelling houses, workshops, and stores at Enriqueta mine... Dwelling houses on the farms... Total... 61 276 55 13 405 The buildings cost over $160,000. There are six furnaces at the Hacienda, costing about $10 The railway from the mouth of the New Almaden mine to and one-quarter mile in length, was completed in December 1 $12.000. The population located upon the lands of the company, ar employ, are as follows: The inventory of personal property at the several mines, e hand, amounts to the sum of $113,876. 2.-PRODUCTS AND EXPORTS. Produce of quicksilver at New Almaden, from July 1, 1850, to General average from furnaces 22.20 per cent. Produce of quicksilver NOTE.-By the terms of the compromise with Messrs. Barron & C the New Almaden mine was to be held and worked by them for the bene silver Company, during the months of September and October, and the sume the entire control on the 1st of November. During these two months the product was as follows: September, 2,3 3,149; total product, 5,520, or 422,280 pounds. Tabular statement showing the product of all the furnaces from November, 1863, to December, 1864, inclusive. Total quantity of ore reduced. Tierras. Flasks. Pounds. Totals.... 332 1,314, 200 20,326,000 4,005,900 25, 646, 100 46,216 3,566, 200 Tabular statement showing the gross product monthly for 1865. [From official report of Mr. Bond, the vice-president, for 1865.] "The quantity of ore mined and reduced was 31,948,400 pounds, or about 16,000 tons, and the general average of all the ore reduced, allowing 3 per cent. for tierras, was 12.43 per cent. "It will be noticed that while the production of quicksilver during 1865 has been in excess of any previous year, yet it has not increased in proportion to Comparative statement of quicksilver exported from Californ 1859. 1860. 1861. 1862 Flask 600 2,26 2,500 1,50 12,061 14,77 13,788 8,72 750 2,804 3,43 2,059 1,74 80 42 9,448 35, 995 33,74 At the commencement of the year 1865, the company had u and on hand 20,396 flasks of quicksilver, in addition to th flasks, consigned through Messrs. Alsop & Co., which was lows: |