California as it is, and as it may be

by Felix Paul Wierzbicki

On the outset we wish it to be understood that we speak advisedly; we have surveyed, so to speak, the length and breadth of the mines by personal inspection and observation, at a great expense of our time, money and labor, and besides we claim the right to presume somewhat upon the authority of science.

The region which here is known as the gold mines, is closed on the east by the Sierra Nevada, or Snowy Mountains, running nearly north and south. Two large streams descend from the Sierra Nevada, one at the north called the Sacramento river, the other on the south known as San Joaquin. These two streams run, as if purposely to the apex of the triangle they enclose, there to meet and make a common and united irruption upon the waters of San Francisco Bay. In this triangle thus formed by these two rivers with the Snowy Mountains are numerous streams; but they all are tributaries either of one or the other of these two rivers; the largest of them are at the north and empty themselves into the Sacramento. The surface of the country, looking westward from the ridge of the Snowy Mountains, which are more than seven thousand feet above the level of the sea, is broken up into ridges, giving direction to the streams that separate, some west by north, others west by south, and gradually growing smaller, they get confused into hills, till finally soften into the plains enclosed by the two above mentioned rivers. The plains, generally speaking, are covered with luxuriant grass skirted along the rivers with the oak.

As these hills rise, vegetation becomes scantier. The range of mountains in which gold is found is distinguished by a uniformity of its vegetable kingdom, which is neither meagre nor very abundant. The oak predominates here, only now and then relieved by several varieties of the pine family. As the gold disappears, the reign of the pine and the granite extends. The depositories of gold look universally more smiling to the beholder than their barren neighbors; the former always have the figure described by the line of beauty, viz: the curved line, be they ever so precipitous as they frequently are; a distinction never to be lost sight of. The extent of these auriferous hills is greater than the public know or imagine, but not in the direction it is supposed. They extend beyond the Sacramento and even San Joaquin, northwest of the former and southwest of the latter, bending round the sea coast. Nay, the same formation, with more or less difference, runs along the whole Pacific shores, till it is lost in the southern portion of the Chilean republic, but gold has not been, nor probably will be found anywhere in equal abundance, as in Upper California. This abundance is much, however, exaggerated by the heated imagination of the public. It is not in the nature of placer gold to be durable long. A very few years when there will be many arms at work, will exhaust it; its origin will be the guarantee of this fact. The breadth of this auriferous region limits itself within the lines running north and south from forty to sixty miles from the ridge of the Sierra Nevada; and on the west, as the hills begin to soften into the plains.

At some remote period in the history of the globe, the same internal convulsions that heaved up the Sierra Nevada, have also upheaved the auriferous hills, which at first presented a naked surface to the atmospheric changes, by the influences of which, the quartz constantly breaking up, left free the precious metal on its surface. In the progress of time, the same atmospheric influences caused to accumulate on these hills soil which grew deeper with every decay of vegetation till it grew strong enough to support the majestic oak. The freed particles of gold thus became covered by the soil and mixed up with it, and the process of the separation of the metal from the stone was arrested. How gold was injected into the veins of quartz is more than we can say, but the fact that it was so in a liquid state, is beyond question, as we see it adapt itself to the sides of the stone in all imaginable forms, from the finest filament to the largest lump ever found, with a most varied indented surface, filling up, completely, the crack of the stone, always tending to a rounded tear-like appearance, as is the case with all melting substances. When freed, external friction of course modifies its appearance more or less; hence we find it in rivers particularly, in fine flakes, but when it is in larger bulk, it puts on plate-like appearance as if it were hammered out by the hands of an artisan—as really it is by the frequently enormous weight of stones under which it is deposited. Water, that universal carrier, washing the sides of the hills, brought the gold from their surface into the ravines and rivers, to which its own weight facilitated the process.

According to the strength of the current of water, the weight of the particles of gold, and the obstacles in the way, it is deposited in one or another spot, the lighter particles of course floating away the farthest from their original bed. As this process of gold deposition has taken place in some remote period of the earth’s existence, hence we find all these deposites, generally speaking, covered with greater or smaller depth of soil, sand, gravel and stones. Strictly speaking, gold does not belong to the rivers—it was washed into them from the hills; hence it is useless to look for gold at the head of these streams, when the neighboring hills are not of the auriferous nature; and we find this fact corroborated by our personal examination of the heads of the streams of the gold region. The same rule holds good, for the same reasons, in regard to the lower portion of a gold carrying stream, except that it is limited by the fact that light particles of gold may be deposited a considerable distance below their original source.

The mode of deposit being made clear, it will be equally clear that it is not on every spot in this very auriferous region that we must look for gold, which fact experience proves to be true; or at least it is not on every spot that we can find enough of it to make it an object to bestow our labor on it. Hence it equally follows, the limitation of the quantity of gold to be expected from the mines as a general aggregate, however rich they may prove. The first comers had the best chances to hit upon rich deposits; but as diggers multiply, the chances of falling upon virgin deposits grow smaller, and they will have to be content with what the others, through imperfection of their labor have left; consequently the work becomes more heavy and less profitable, although it may be yet sufficiently compensatory if the expenses of living be not excessive. This is precisely already the case, the labor is much harder this year than it was last. At present there are not so many of those happy hits as formerly, although we yet hear now and then of a lucky haul, which however, when it reaches the ears of the public, becomes extremely distorted, and particularly so when companies that have dammed some spots of some of the rivers wish to dispose advantageously of their shares; these easily find ready letter-writers who communicate the lucky event to the public through the press. The accounts of successful digging in gold that went abroad never have been accompanied with statements of hardships attending the process; yet we are free to confess that there is no harder labor than that of gold digging and washing; this species of labor requires the strongest sinews enured to fatigue. Peculiar localities, together with general discomfort attending upon the life in the mines, may make gold digging particularly irksome. Yet all this can be borne, and one’s labor may sometimes be crowned with a brilliant success. We have made the above statement with the view of laying the subject before those who may yet be novices in the matter, that they may understand their own case; we are far from discouraging the new aspirants after the favors of the dame fortune; we tell them, take your chance, it may be a very good one, but such and such circumstances are attending this courtship. Those from distant parts who on mere sound of the discovery of gold in California, rush head-long, sometimes leaving very good business and comfortable living, cannot but rue the day, if they put their sole dependence upon their success in the mines. If they would come here with an intention of following some patient calling, they could not but grow rich with time. We have already plenty of miners; a larger number of them only diminishes the profits of all. However, come they must, for they are bent on it, be the consequences what they may.

When this gold mania ceases to rage, individuals will abandon the mines; and then there will be a good opportunity for companies with heavy capital to step in; there will be enough of profitable work for them; and it is then that the country will enter on a career of real progress, and not till then. Such companies, with superior mechanical facilities to do much labor, in a short space, will be enabled to go over the whole mineral field, although already dug over by individuals, and reap yet a rich reward of their efforts. And when there will be no more gold washing to be done, then a new era in the mining of the country will commence—we mean a regular system of mining by sinking shafts into the very bowels of the rocks will be entered upon. Spots for this system of mining are to be found in the auriferous region. (Since our return from the mountains our statement already is farther corroborated, as we learn that Col. Fremont, who just arrived from Stockton, has also found a regular vein of gold in the rock on the river Mariposa, which he proposes to work in the regular mining fashion, as it is a very promising one we understand.)

If we had a voice in the Legislative Halls of the Union, with the knowledge of the whole country in general, and the mineral region in particular, we have—seeking to gratify no men nor set of men—we would say, divide the whole elevated portion of the land enclosed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin into a set of lots to be sold to mining companies at a very moderate price. The low lands or the plains of the same region should be divided into a separate set of lots, to be sold to those only who wish to establish themselves as farmers. To avoid all difficulty and confusion in giving boundaries to these lots, we would adopt the following plan: In the mining district proper, the elevated portion of the land, every lot should have for its centre the whole extent of one of the streams that fall either into the Sacramento or San Joaquin; the lateral boundaries of these lots would be the ridges on both the north and south side, that turn the minor streams and ravines into the principal ones selected as centres of the lots. These lots, unless they are as large as this division would make them, would not be worth the having; the land is worthless for any other purpose, except mining; and if this even should fail, then the only means left for the unfortunate buyers to save themselves, would be to turn their attention to the making of turpentine, for which they would find an extensive field. The other set of lots, comprising the low lands, should have for their bases the banks of the streams that run through the plains. There should be but two lots between two neighboring streams, so that they would have the same line for their common boundary while their respective bases, would rest on their respective streams. The reason for such a division is, that the central portion of the plain lying between two streams, generally is destitute of timber and water; is exposed to the constant burning sun and scorching wind, and consequently offering no spot for a farm house. For the same reason this portion of the country admits only of a spare population, whose principal occupation must be raising of livestock, as there is plenty of grazing ground; each farmer, however, must have a bank of a river to put his residence upon. In view of these circumstances these lots should be made sufficiently large to enable the farmer to devote his attention particularly to the raising of the livestock. By this arrangement the whole country will be benefited; for the raising of livestock will be daily less attended to in the country south of San Francisco Bay, as the land there admits of smaller subdivisions for agricultural purposes. And it is there that farmers will crowd, as its climate and fertility of the soil are favorable to the maintenance of a dense population.

By the above disposition of the mineral region, we conceive the country will be greatly benefitted. The mineral region being under the sole control of mining companies will exclude all private adventurers; thus first benefiting the commerce by checking the now unavoidable desertion of the crews of its shipping, which at this very moment amounts to more than sixty thousand tons, of the finest ships in the world lying in the harbor, and nearly all of them unable to proceed on an outward voyage for want of hands on board—and secondly, preventing an influx of all sorts of adventurers into the country, whose presence is more of a nuisance than benefit to any country. Then a farming population, cured of the gold mania, will seek to enrich itself by more sure means, the product of the soil, and will crowd to the Pacific shores. The arts will take a start—every species of industry will be called into existence; the surplus capital of the commerce will be devoted to the developement of internal resources of the country; nay, even capital from abroad may find an employment here; the commerce of the country will be put on a firm footing and will grow daily and steadily. Even the government itself, thus rid of this bother of California gold, will find more leisure to do its duty to this newly acquired territory. In fine, the country will grow steadily in a permanent population, in strength of order and law; and the business of life will unavoidably fall into its natural and proper channels.

We flatter ourselves we have said enough upon the subject in hand to clear up a little, the vision of the public that suffered itself to be blinded by the brilliancy of the California gold.