the carrying capacity to 120,000 miner's inches of water. At the inlet, for the purpose of preventing or admitting the water flow, are 6 ponderous iron gates, worked by screws and wheels. A permanent dam, 200 feet long and 16 feet high, is in course of construction across the river just below the inlet. The dam is being built of large timbers, securely fastened to the bedrock and bolted together, after which it will be filled with rocks and covered with heavy planks. A flume for carrying the present surplus of water, not taken by the tunnel, is built from the dam down the river to a distance of 1,007 feet. This flume, 3 feet deep and 18 feet wide, carries a body of water 18 inches in depth with a flow of 10 feet per second. Along this flume the channel is bared sufficiently to allow prospecting of the river bed. Work on the tunnel began in July, 1882, and the water was turned therein in July, 1886. The cost thus far, as near as can be approximated, is $750,000.

CALAVERAS COUNTY.

The county is bounded on the northwest by Amador, on the northeast. by Alpine, on the southeast by Tuolumne, and on the southwest by Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties. Bear Mountain Ridge, a belt of metamorphic rocks, strikes northerly across the central portion of the county, reaching from the Stanislaus River to the vicinity of Calaveras River, separating the copper belt from the auriferous slates. The limestone belt

enters the southwestern part of the county, from Tuolumne, and is more extensively exposed at Murphy's.

At Angels the exploitation is on the auriferous belt about 200 feet to the east of the mother lode; it is a large vein, in talcose slates, but low grade.

THE STICKLES GOLD QUARTZ MINE

Is located in Angels' Mining District, at the north end of Angels' Camp, at an altitude of 1,800 feet above sea level. The dimension of the claim is 300 feet by 600 feet; the course of the vein is northwest and southeast, having a dip of 90° to the east and an average width of 12 feet.

The mine is worked through a three-compartment shaft 400 feet deep, the vein showing at all points. Upon the property is a wet crushing mill of 20 stamps, each stamp weighing 900 pounds, having a 7-inch fall, a drop of 80 times per minute, and crushing 3 tons of ore every 24 hours. Seventy per cent of the yield is recovered by amalgamation in the battery, and 30 per cent is collected on the outside plates. The sulphurets, averaging 2 per cent of the ore, are saved by Cornish buddles, and have an assay value of $120 per ton. Hoisting and pumping are done by steam power. The sluice plates, silver plated, are 4 feet wide, 11 feet long, and have an inclination of 13 inches to the foot. Developments in the mine consist of four levels at 60, 200, 250, and 400 feet deep, respectively. The level at the depth of 60 feet runs north and south from the shaft, in each direction 30 feet; at 200 feet the level runs south 150 feet, north 200 feet; the 250-foot level has the same course and a corresponding distance, north and south of the shaft, as the 200-foot level; the 400-foot level runs 200 feet north from the bottom of the shaft; all of these levels are on the vein, which has not been stoped out anywhere more than 30 feet above the levels.

Angels, Angels Mining District. The claim is 300 feet wide by a length of 634 feet. The course of the vein is northwest and south, dipping 85 degrees to the east, and averaging in width 20 feet. The 20-stamp mill has both water and steam power. Each stamp weighs 950 pounds, drops 8 to 9 inches at the rate of 80 times a minute, and crushes 3 tons of ore every 24 hours. The plates, with an inclination of 14 inches to the foot, are 52 inches wide and 10 feet in length to each battery.

Number of stamps.
Weight of stamp, pounds
Drop of stamps, in inches.
Drop of stamps, per minute..

20

950

8-9

80

This mine, in Angel's Mining District, has not been worked for the past. few months, but will shortly be again in active operation; in fact, preparatory steps have already been taken to commence work. The claim is 1,354 feet in length, by a width of 600 feet. The vein, with a north and south course, is 20 feet wide, and has an easterly dip of 15 degrees. The developments consist of two shafts 100 feet, each, in depth and 300 feet apart, connected by a level. The improvements are, two J. B. Low mills, each having a capacity of 20 tons in 24 hours, two hoisting plants, pump, air-compresser, and four Frue vanners.

DEEP LEAD PLACER MINE,

In Mokelumne Hill Mining District, was located in 1880, and has been worked continuously ever since. During the first year an incline was sunk 380 feet, to the channel, which is vertically 130 feet from the surface. Since then the developments are 2,600 feet along the channel, besides sixteen crosscuts, of an average length of 50 feet each. The perpendicular depth from the surface to the face of the present workings is about 425 feet. The course of the channel is north and south, having a width varying from 40 to 60 feet, and in length about one and a half miles. The improvements consist of an 8-stamp water-power mill, three hurdy-gurdy wheels, one being 4 feet and two being 6 feet in diameter; one water-power hoist, and one 6-inch by 5-foot stroke plunger pump. Of the water, which has 225 feet pressure, there is used for the mill 20 miner's inches, and 12 miner's inches each for the hoist and pump every 24 hours. Five per cent of the gold recovered is by the batteries and ninety-five per cent on the outside plates. Each stamp weighs 750 pounds, falls 9 inches, at the rate of from 85 to 87 times per minute, and crushes five carloads of gravel every 24 hours. Developments during the year are 700 feet of tunnel and four crosscuts of 5 feet each.

SHEEP RANCH MINE.

This, the principal mine in the Washington Mining District, is situated on San Antonio Creek, a tributary of the Calaveras River, at an altitude of 2,200 feet above sea level, in a slate formation. The claim is 1,600 feet in length by 200 in width; course of the vein northwesterly and southeasterly; dip easterly, and average width 12 inches. Hanging-wall is a grayish slate and foot-wall a hard black slate; the ore is a ribboned, free milling quartz. All the ore has been taken out down to the 800-foot level; the mill is at present crushing rock from the above and the 900-foot levels. During the year the shaft has been continued down 100 feet and 1,000 feet of levels have been run. The mill, wet crusher, 30 stamps, is run by steam power: each stamp weighs 800 pounds, falls 8 inches 85 times per minute, and crushes 24 tons of ore every 24 hours. Eighty per cent of the recovery is obtained from the batteries and 20 per cent is collected from the outside plates. The sulphurets are so low in value that it is not worth the while to save them. The apron plates having an inclination of 2 inches per foot, are 4 by 10 feet, and the sluice plates inclining 14 inches to the foot are 15 inches wide, with a total length of 100 feet.

The following description is contributed by D. Ernest Melliss, Ph.D., Mining and Civil Engineer, as a record of deep mining on the gold belt of California:

The mine is situated in the Mokelumne Hill or Middle Bar Mining District, six miles north of Valley Springs, Calaveras County, at an altitude of 1,300 feet above the sea. The property comprises two United States patent claims, contiguous to each other, as shown in the accompanying map. These claims cover 4,989 feet, lineal, on the mother lode, with a total surface area of 69.61 acres. The mine was taken up by the late Senator, Wm. M. Gwin, in 1867; he purchased the Alexander Mine in 1872, and the Smith Mine in 1881; the property was incorporated under the name of the Gwin Mining Company.