from Portland. We trust our Senators and Representatives may induce Congress to pass a bill for a railroad to connect the Columbia River and Central Pacific or Union Railroads, such as to insure its early building. Such a road would naturally and necessarily run very near the center of both counties, and would, by giving means of transportation for our products, lead to the settlement of millions of acres of land valuable for farming and grazing purposes. With such road completed, we do not know of any part of the Pacific coast that would offer better inducements to the emigrant for permanent homes than in these two counties. Nor do we believe that, with railroad facilities, any two counties in the great basin from the Rocky Mountains to the Sierras or Cascades offer to the capitalist mining investments of a more permanent character, on which certain, safe, and speedy returns can be expected. From 1862 to 1871 our imports have been paid in gold from our mines; with increased facilities for transportation we could pay in wool, flour, bacon, butter, cheese, beef, and many other articles of produce that now depend solely on the mines for a market. The gold yield should not be one million, but from three to five million dollars yearly from these two counties, and from agricultural and grazing products a like sum. The same may be said of Umatilla and Wasco Counties as to health, grazing, and farming, but their mineral resources are limited. These five counties-Baker, Union, Grant, Umatilla, and Wasco— embrace what is known as Eastern Oregon, an area of country equal in extent to many of our largest States. CHAPTER IV. IDAHO. This Territory manifests a considerable decrease in its product of gold and silver, as may be seen from the following detailed estimate for the calendar year 1870, kindly prepared for me by Mr. W. A. Atlee, agent of Wells, Fargo & Co., at Boise City. Mr. Atlee has taken great pains in the preparation of this table, corresponding with all the express agents of the Territory, and perfecting his estimates slowly and laboriously. His position, experience, and intimate acquaintance with the field entitle his work to confidence.* In this list, the production is arranged according to points of shipment. Placerville.. Centerville Pioneer City. Idaho City. Owyhee... Lemhi County Lewiston Wallula.. Walla Walla. Umatilla... Loon Creek, Dead Wood, Snake River, and other diggings Total... Walla Walla, Wallula, and Umatilla are outside the boundaries of the Territory; but a great portion of the Idaho treasure finds an outlet through these places to Portland. The bullion from these points, together with that from Lewiston, making altogether some $1,790,000, is included in the express and private shipments from Portland. The decline in the production of Idaho is due to the exhaustion of the creek and gulch claims of the older placer-mining districts of the Boise Basin. The greater portion of these claims have been turned over to Chinamen, who are content with small earnings, and who will maintain, no doubt, for many years to come, a moderately productive industry in these abandoned fields. Many experienced miners express the opinion that the ground in creeks and gulches which has been worked over already has since accumulated a second crop, as it were, of gold. This is doubtless true of certain peculiarly situated localities; but such a rapid regeneration of mining ground cannot be predicated on a large scale. As Mr. Atlee remarks, however, in a letter to me on this subject, many patches of auriferous earth and gravel, rich in gold, were passed over undisturbed by the early miners; millions of cubic yards of sur # It will be observed that the estimate of $8,000,000 for 1869, credited to Mr. Atlee, on page 234 of my last report, was reduced by me to $7,000,000. Certain items in that estimate were assumed, and I therefore took the liberty of altering the total. The present estimate is carried out in greater detail; and I accept it as the best possible, face material have been "stripped off" in search of the best "pay dirt;" vast amounts of auriferous earth have been sluiced from hill-sides and side-gulches into the main streams, and the accumulations of débris from all these sources have been exposed to disintegration and concentration under the action of the elements and the flowing water, constituting new deposits, which can only be exploited by means of bed-rock tunnels and flumes. The quartz-mining industry has made little progress outside of the Owyhee district. Unwise and sometimes dishonest speculations have led, in Boise and Alturas Counties, to a distrust on the part of capitalists; and to this evil influence must be added the disadvantage of geographical position with reference to the railway communication, which has added so many facilities for the development of districts more favorably situated. When the difficulty and cost of obtaining communications, machinery, supplies, and labor were felt in common by all the mining regions of the interior, they operated with less discrimination against particular localities. Now that a portion of the country has been relieved from this burden, the crying necessity is everywhere realized. "What we require," says Mr. Atlee, "is railroad facilities." Brief notices of such districts in the Territory as seem to require particular mention will suffice to complete this general statement of its condition and prospects. OWYHEE COUNTY. The placer mines of this county have been diligently worked during the past two years by the Chinese, who have operated hydraulic claims as well as ordinary placers. Four hydraulic mines are reported as worked by white men. Three of these were old claims. The fourth is a claim about half-way up the side of Florida Mountain, near Silver City. Water has been brought by a ditch, four and a half miles long, constructed in the autumn of 1869, from the head of Jordan Creek. The product of one hydraulic claim was nearly $20,000. The product of the mines of Owyhee district for the year ending July 1, 1870, was as follows: Average from quartz, (principally silver,) $44 59. Average, omitting slimes and tailings, $48 64. The item of "prospecting" in the foregoing table includes the operations of many parties with little capital, who bring in from time to time small lots of ore to the mills. Under this head is ranked also the product from Flint district, where, perhaps, twenty men have been at work slowly developing some of the lodes of "fahl-ore." The results have been highly encouraging, considering the scale of operations. Some of the rock crushed has yielded $200 per ton. The slimes and tailings reported in the table were worked at the mill of the Owyhee Mining Company, which treated more than half of the aggregate amount of ore reported, or 7,129 tons out of 13,982. The tailings, however, were from a pile some four years old. The slimes or slums are collected from the battery-waters in separate reservoirs, and subsequently are mixed with dry tailings to give them the necessary consistency for reworking. This is the only mill in the district having reservoirs for slimes alone. The cost of working the slimes is $5 per ton. The amount of ore worked during the year referred to is nearly 1,000 tons in excess of that reported for the previous year ending July 1, 1869, while the bullion product is about $375,000 less. This falling off is due to the decrease in bullion from the Golden Chariot, Ida Elmore, and Poorman mines, amounting to $373,000. On the other hand, the closing of the Rising Star mine, in Flint district, and the cessation of bullion from that source, is almost made up by the increase in placergold and the yield of other lodes. The Ida Elmore looked badly during the first part of 1870, and in the autumn an assessment of $50,000 was levied. At the close of the year, however, a considerable improvement was manifest. The product of the mine during the calendar year 1870 was $238,532. In the Golden Chariot mine, work has been pushed with vigor. About the 1st of July, 1869, the ore began to depreciate in value, and for the months of August, September, October, and November of that year showed an average yield of only $40 per ton. Then a new level being opened, much richer ore was exposed, and this good quality has been maintained ever since. The lowest level in December, 1870, was 470 feet below the surface, and showed a splendid vein, three feet in width, of very good ore. Mr. Cassell, formerly in charge of the Oaks and Reese mine, in Mariposa County, California, is now superintendent of the Golden Chariot and Ida Elmore. He has introduced Giant powder and the single-hand drill, on the system described in my report of 1869, page 33. Without repeating the account there given, and the estimates of advantage attached to the system, it is sufficient to say, on Mr. Cassell's authority, that he has taken out from the Golden Chariot and Ida Elmore twice as much ore for the same amount of openings as was formerly done with common powder and large drills, while the cost of mining has been reduced at least one-third. All the leading mines of the district, following this wise example, now employ single-hand drills. The secretary's report for the year ending February 1, 1870, gives the following information in regard to the business of the Golden Chariot: Receipts from bullion Bills payable Other items.. Cash on hand February 1, 1869. Expenditures. $279, 381 24, 044 34, 716 34, 716 372, 857 339, 559 including $109,503 for labor; $17,334 for supplies; $61,286 for milling; 814,895 for hauling. The quantity of ore milled was 3,767 tons, the yield of which was $71 50 per ton. The supplies consumed during the year cost $12,006. A balance of $33,000 was paid on a mortgage for an adverse title. There were three dividends paid during the year, aggregating $80,000. The bullion receipts of the Golden Chariot for the calendar year 1870, as compiled by Mr. R. Wheeler of the San Francisco Stock Report, have been as follows: Of the less productive mines the Red Jacket and the Mahogany have furnished excellent ore. The vein of the former is said to be small and very hard, but rich. The Mahogany vein is reported to be both wide and of good quality, but for some reason the company has been forced to lay an assessment. The Red Mountain, Chipmunk, Corduroy, Peck and Porter, Blue Jacket, and Belle Peck have produced ore. The Poorman mine has been closed; probably for good, as all available ore has been extracted, and there is little apparent encouragement for further prospecting. The Owyhee Company, owning this mine, has been for some years occupying itself largely with custom-milling, and looking about meanwhile for a mining property. The company worked the Allison mine for a while on lease, and it turned out some very good ores, resembling those of Reese River, in Nevada, more nearly than any other Owyhee ores which I have seen; but their occurrence in spots necessitated the extraction of much barren rock, and the mine was closed, as the expenses exceeded the receipts. The Owyhee Company subsequently purchased the Oro Fino mine, and work has been commenced upon it. This mine, under its former owners, was highly productive and profitable. The Oro Fino is probably the strongest vein in the district, and carries large amounts of fair mill-rock. Litigation only has prevented its working for several years past; but it has now fallen into skillful and energetic hands, and will be again an important producer of bullion. At the close of 1870, seven mills were running with tolerable regularity in Owyhee County, as follows: Owyhee, 30 stamps; Ida Elmore, 20 stamps; Cosmos, 10 stamps; Webfoot, -; Shoenbar, 5 stamps; Minear, 3 stamps; Black's, (in Flint,) 5 stamps. There were also two arrastras constantly running, and a mill nearly completed at Fairview. The milling capacity of Owyhee district, leaving out the Rising Star, Black's, and Iowa Mills, in Flint, is about 3,500 tons per month, and this production will probably be maintained by the mines through the summer of 1871. The product of the latter half of 1870 was much in advance of the previous half year, amounting to more than 9,000 tons; and the bullion production has increased in proportion. The exact figures have not come to hand, but I learn that the bullion shipments during the last six months of the year 1870 were more than twothirds of the whole product of the preceding twelve months. Reckoning for the calendar year 1870, the product of Owyhee County, according to the figures of Mr. Atlee, given on a foregoing page, was $842,935. |