Gold mining, under favorable conditions is of a pleasing and exciting nature, and for this reason has great attraction for many; but such is the great uncertainty of success of this method of acquiring wealth, that although fully $50,000,000 of gold was being annually extracted from the mines and put into circulation, yet, strange and paradoxical as it may seem, a few years demonstrated the fact that the class who extracted the gold from the soil in the dry diggings, from tunnels in the old, ancient river beds, as well as from the present water courses, were the very ones who had, or who retained in their possession, the least amount. It would be natural to suppose, from the nature of things, that those who dug the gold should hold or retain in their possession by far the greater portion of it; the reverse, however, was the case, and in a short time the miners, as a class, were the poorest persons in the State. A few, of course, had acquired fortunes, but thousands who had, but a short time previously been in possession, of good paying claims were now barely able to make a living. It is a mooted question as to why this was, and in what respects the business of gold mining differed from any other occupation.
The true explanation of this paradox, in my opinion, can be traced to the great expense attendant upon the business, and to the fact that the outgo continues at all times, while little or nothing is coming in; an important factor being also an excessive freedom in the use of gold, for a miner who has a paying mine does not practice habits of economy; he does not know how, and if he ever did it has slipped his memory.
As the ravines, gulches and small creeks were now worked out, or at that point when they ceased to pay sufficient to warrant working, they were entirely abandoned. This gave to the mining regions a very desolate appearance; for in certain locations or districts where but a short time previous all was life and animation, and the clatter of the shovels upon the tom iron, the rush of water and gravel through the long sluices, and the laughter and jollity of the miners at work, evidencing the fact that fair wages were being made, could be heard, now the scene was changed and all was desolate and deserted. The numerous old cabins scattered around among the hills were silent, and tenantless, too; the old chimneys in some places were falling to the ground, and young pine trees were showing themselves among the ruins.
But again the scene changes; for now the Asiatic hordes, who had learned of the great wealth to be acquired here in so easy a manner, were on their way to honor the State with their company, and they soon flocked into the mining regions in swarms, well satisfied to work over the old abandoned claims left and deserted by others. They were welcomed by the mining community with open arms, as it was soon discovered that the Chinese would not preempt, or locate any new mining grounds, desiring only to buy at a fair price the old worked-out claims which had been abandoned. Here was the grand opportunity of the miner to re-locate and sell to the Mongolian emigrant these old mining claims; and well did these disciples of Confucius merit the title of scavengers of the mining regions, for many of the old claims which had been abandoned as worthless, were not so in fact, as it was soon discovered that from many of them the Chinese miners were taking out large amounts of gold.
The Chinese method of working a mining claim differed very materially from our own, being of a more systematic character. It was their practice to commence and take everything clean as they went, leaving not an inch of ground behind them unworked. They are very slow workers as compared with other races, but sure and steady, illustrating by their success in working these old claims the truth of the old adage that it is the steady mill that grinds the corn. So thorough was their work, that it would be entirely useless and a waste of time to work over any mining grounds that have been previously worked by a Chinese company, for they got it all.
Some attempts to prevent the ingress of the Chinese into the mining regions by levying or enforcing the previously adopted “Foreign Miners’ Tax,” were made; but this they paid without a murmur, and in many cases two or three times over, for it was often the custom of some to go among them with fictitious papers, and collect their taxes in advance of the regularly licensed collector.
In the summers of ’53-’54, those who still continued in the occupation of mining, turned their attention chiefly to river and hill mining, returning to the rivers in the dry season and to their hill claims in the fall, after the rivers had risen, and rendered such mining impracticable. Tunnels were run into the old river channels in all directions; with varying success, however, some being a perfect failure, whilst from others fortunes were realized. Among the richest of these were the forest hill claims, where was found the celebrated blue gravel lead, this being discovered principally amid the ancient river beds, in the central and northern mining regions of the State, but small sections of it ever having been found through the southern portions. These hill claims were very extensive, and many throughout the mining regions, upon which work was commenced nearly thirty-eight years ago, are yet being worked with success. The same manner of working as originally, by drifting, is still in vogue, although the gravel, instead of being washed as it was at that time, is now crushed in mills in the same manner as quartz, and with greater profit. Many of these old abandoned hill claims, from which the gravel had been previously drifted, were afterwards washed away by the hydraulic process, with good success.
This process of mining commenced, I think, in some of the mines in the spring of ’52, and such was found to be the great advantage of the method, and the facility with which whole hills could be removed from their foundations and carefully and evenly deposited among the farms in the low counties, leaving, of course, the gold behind, that it came into general use throughout the mining regions wherever sufficient fall and water could be obtained. Old abandoned mines were by this process made very remunerative, as was the case also with many ravines and flats which could be washed to advantage, without regard to the rights of those who had fenced in and improved their garden spots with fruit trees, vines and flower-beds.
It was the general opinion of the great majority of the mining classes, from about the year ’51, that this was exclusively a mining country; that it was fit for nothing else, and that no man had a right to question this opinion, or to build upon, or to fence in, any portion of the soil for any other purpose whatsoever for his own individual use, that a miner was bound to respect. This idea yet exists in the minds of many, or at least of that portion who are engaged in hydraulic mining, for in their opinion the business of mining, being the first and original industry of the country, must have precedence over all other kinds of business, and of course this priority gives them the right to fill up, cover up, and destroy the property of the farmers below who were foolish enough to get in the way.
It was some time during the early spring of ’52, that mining men and geologists turned their attention to the various quartz ledges which were found projecting above the surface of the ground among the hills, many of which, upon examination, proved to be very rich in gold. The opinion soon became general, and a well-demonstrated fact, that all gold found among the ravines, flats, hills and river beds, came originally from these same quartz ledges, and that locked within the solid quartz, in the finest of particles, was its original condition. In consequence of volcanic eruptions and glacial action the hills and ledges had, in course of ages, been broken up and worn away to their present elevation, the gold therefrom having been scattered by the force of the rushing waters among the ravines and river beds, where it is now found.