SILVER. This metal has been found in several of the mines that have been opened in this State, all of them, thus far, situated in the southern district. It was first met with in a distinct vein, running parallel with a vein of gold in the southern mine, at Carson Hill. At this place I obtained a fine specimen. I was informed of its being found in the Old Dominion mine, beside the above, and north of it, and also in the Relief mine, south of it. The New-York Mining Company, on the opposite side of the river at Eagle Hill, was the next in which it made its appearance. At the Chilean mine, two miles north of Columbia, it occurs, associated with copper and gold in quartz, in the form of sulphuret; also Frazer's mine, twelve miles east of Sonora, with galena and zinc-blende in the same rock. At these localities it is generally disseminated through the quartz.

At the Washington and Georgia mine, Quartzburg, in Mariposa county, I observed this metal in the form of ruby-blende in the vein-stone containing the gold, and when the metallic gold appeared it was a little lighter in the color than common, evidently from a slight alloy of the two metals.

This metal in other countries has proved an important source of wealth. From its casual occurrence in our mines, and its evident tendency of increase, as you advance south from the Stanislaus, there is just reason to hope that it may in this country become the source of wealth and profit.

COPPER. This metal is much more widely distributed than silver, through the western flank of the range. Commencing on the extreme north, it is found on the North Fork of the Trinity, a short distance from its confluence with the main stream, in a metallic state, in crystals and masses. The vein cuts both sides of the river, but its entire extent is not known. Vitreous copper is found adjoining, and also malachite. It occurs on both the Middle and South forks of Feather River, in the form of carbonate; also between Nevada and Grass Valley, near the Half-way House, and in many parts of the southern mines. I cannot speak with certainty in respect to the ores of this metal in the coast range, having never seen them; but judging from the character of the ores which have been brought from there, I feel warranted in believing that it exists in large quantities, but subsequent explorations must alone determine this point. The varieties of ore which I have seen from these sections, are of that character that would make their reduction easy, if they exist in sufficient quantities to warrant investment.

CHROMIUM.-I would invite your attention particularly to the ores of this metal, inasmuch as from its appearance in large quantities in some sections of the State, and the extensive distribution of the serpentine rocks, to which it is also incident, we

may expect, with a great degree of confidence, that it will be largely developed within our borders. It is an article of great commercial importance throughout the civilized world. Its principal use in the arts is for the coloring of porcelain, dyeing, and as a pigment. The fine chrome yellow so highly prized, is manufactured from this mineral. Nearly all the chrome used in the world, is produced from the mines of the United States; the Shetland Isles producing the next largest amount. The principal locality, and we might say nearly the only one on the Atlantic border from which this mineral is derived, is at the Bare Hills, near Baltimore, and this affords the supply of the world.

The greatest amount that can be obtained from all sources at present known, is about 2000 tons, though the market would consume a much larger amount could it be obtained. From the limited supply in the market, the public will, at no distant day, be directed to its development in this State. So soon as cheap and rapid means of communication are obtained with the interior of the State, this ore will probably become an article of export to a large extent, to China, and the Atlantic States, and England. It would be unnecessary to make it an article of export even, unless its reduction would prove too expensive in this State, on account of the high price of labor, for ample material usually exists in its vicinity for this purpose.

The high prices of the various manufactures from this mineral cannot fail to attract attention to its further development; and I feel that the value of the mineral will be sustained, when we say that its market price in the state of rough ore, will equal the product of our best ores of gold in their average, being about $80 per ton. It has maintained this price

very uniformly for a number of years.

This mineral is found in veins and masses running through serpentine rocks. These masses are often large, weighing from sixty to eighty pounds, and smaller, and generally disseminated through the rock and upon its surface.

The finest specimens the author has ever seen, have been found in this country, and in some localities in large quantities. A striking feature in the country that abounds in this mineral, among the serpentine formations, is the peculiar barrenness of the immediate district compared to other surrounding sections, and an individual once observing it, would scarcely fail to recognize its characteristics even at a considerable distance.

The principal localities that have been observed as abounding in this mineral, are upon Nelson Creek, near its junction with Feather River, in fragmentary masses. On the ridge, between the North and Middle Forks of the American, in small fragments; on Bear River, four miles above Anson's Ferry in the

Cayota Diggings, near Nevada; and on Deer Creek, two miles below the city of Nevada.

It is at this last-named locality that its attendant peculiarities may be most conveniently studied. It occurs here in large amorphous masses of twenty to sixty pounds weight, scattered over a low range of hills of some four to six miles in extent. The mineral would be easily mistaken by the passing traveller, for large fragments of some of the darker trap rocks, or dark porphyries.

It is very dense, and possesses a semi-metallic lustre. Rolled fragments are often found of considerable weight on the banks of the creek in the vicinity. My attention was first directed to this mineral by Mr. Henry Pratten, who is at the present time connected with the Geological State Survey of Illinois, and formerly of the Minnesota Survey by the United States.

In what follows, relating to other minerals observed in my tour through the country, I shall confine myself to the principal ores only, and their localities, unassociated with their different varieties, as the limits of this report will not permit of more elaborate detail.

Commencing with the AURIFEROUS GROUP. Among the auriferous rocks we find Talc, at Central Company Mine, Marthenas Creek; Chlorite-Volcano Mine, Middle Fork, American, Talc-Dry Creek, El Dorado county; Chlorite-Angels; Peroxide Iron-Coyote Mountains, Sonora ; Heavy Spar-Armagosa Mines, Desert; Arsenical Pyrites-head of Bear River.

SILVER-Argentiferous Galena, Zinc-Blende, and ArsenicFrazer's; Sulphuret Silver and Malachite-Columbia.

MISCELLANEOUS.-White, Clouded, Variegated and Jet Marble-Ringgold; White do.-Volcano; Oxide of Iron and Gold-Frazer's; Arsenical Pyrites-Frazer's; Foliated Graphite -Amidor; Marble-Deer Creek; Arsenical Pyrites in Argillite -Eagle Hill; Vitreous and Silicate Copper-Carson's Hill; Carbonate do.-Columbia; Franklinite-Stanislaus River; Jasper-Volcano and Talbot's Hill; Carbonate Copper-Round Tent and Grass Valley; Sienitic Granite-Grass Valley; Augite do.-Anson's, Bear River, and Auburn Creek; ScoriaSugar Loaf, Nevada; Sienite-Half-way House; Peroxide Iron -Deer Creek; Peroxide Manganese-Deer Creek; Cinnabar― Deer Creek and Yuba River; Petrifactions-Talbot's Hill, Nevada, American River, and West Hill, Nevada; Lignite, Molybdenum, and Fossil Leaves-Nevada; Fossil Lichens-Wade's Creek; Pitch Stone-Sugar Loaf, Nevada, and Double Springs; Mammalian Fossils, teeth-Sonora, Douglas's Flat, Murphy's, and Vine Springs; Fossil Shells, Miocene,-Butte Creek and Chico; Magnetic Iron-El Dorado and Placer counties; Obsi

dian and Peperino-Butte County; Emerald-Vallicita; Rock Salt-near Sonora.

Ossiferous Cavern on Wade's Creek, containing human bones, teeth of the Wild Boar, and other animals. There are other caverns of considerable extent in the calcareous formation of the State, but nothing peculiar was observed in them. Those visited were Martin's Cave, Middle Fork, American River; McKinney's, and Volcano, in Calaveras county.

MINERAL SPRINGS.

There are several mineral springs scattered through the country, consisting mostly of Chalybeate and Sulphur; they are widely dispersed; but a few of them will be noticed ;-Chalybeate Springs, upon Destruction, North Feather, Yuba, and English Bar Rivers; Sulphur Spring, at Jackson, Calaveras county.

This last is the most important of all, and to be found in any quantity; it will probably become a place of resort for invalids in the future, as its waters are powerfully medicinal.

[The closing pages of this report, referring chiefly to agricultural indications, are omitted. Ed. Mining Mag.]

ART. III. THE MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF AMERICA. To W. J. TENNEY, Editor of the Mining Magazine.

SIR,-The subject I have selected for your valuable magazine, would seem to indicate great confidence in my own knowledge of the subject, or a vast amount of assurance withal. I am conscious of a great deficiency in both, and it is the necessities of the case alone, which impel me to take the lead in awakening the attention of the people of the United States to the importance of the subject under consideration. Mining and mines are subjects that every child is familiar with in the United States, and it is very generally believed that we have competent geologists, and chemists, and mining engineers.

I am not prepared to endorse the opinions of some, that they themselves are the only competent persons in the world; yet we are in our infancy in every thing appertaining to mines and the mineral resources of our country, as compared with Europe; and particularly so with the people on the continent, where minerals are less abundant, and where they exist in an impure and conglomerate state. Yet, in the opinion of one of the United States Geologists, we are a nation destitute of men, professors, and mining engineers, competent to judge in such matters, as he expressed himself, when his services were sought to make an exploration. He himself declined, on account of previous engagements. He was

requested to name some competent person, and stated that he knew of no one who was competent, but thought Mr. Blake would be, with study and experience. I suggested Professors Silliman, Dana, Avery, Percival, Jackson, or Hays, but he was afraid of hazarding his reputation by recommending any of them. An impression has taken deep root in the minds of the American people, that to secure success in a mining enterprise, it is essential that a Cornish miner be hired to take charge of the mine, and all the rules and traditions be observed, connected with Cornwall and Cornish mines, thereby securing to the miner as much pay and as little labor as possible, and to the proprietors, or stockholders the smallest possible results; instead of employing Americans, or Irish laborers, and instructing them in the art of mining, or even adopting the more feasible plan of importing emigrants from the Hartz or Ural mountains,―men who are happy in the receipt of three dollars per week for their labor, and who were born and educated in the mines,-men temperate and industrious from necessity, and as intelligent as the safety of the sovereign, the king, and his kingdom will permit them to be. It is a mistaken idea that the subject of a king can be as intelligent, as active, and as useful, as a man who is educated to feel that upon his judgment, his character and efforts, the permanency of the institutions of his country depends; who feels and sees in himself the sovereign, and is governed in all his actions by the responsibility he holds, and the influence he exercises.

But I find myself digressing from the subject of "The Mines and Mineral Resources of America." I had proposed, in beginning this article, to confine myself to the results of my own personal observation, but from want of time, I shall depart from my original plan, and pass respectively from one State to another, commencing with the northeastern, and, in order, glancing at their resources and mineral wealth.

MAINE.

As early as 1834, I visited the State of Maine on business connected with its mineral resources. The State abounds in iron, lead, zinc, antimony, copper, molybdena, graphite, manganese, titanium, and bismuth, in great abundance and variety; also in precious stones, consisting of jasper, beryl, garnet, amethyst, emerald, chalcedony, ruby (amethyst). It also abounds in the finest granite, remarkable for the purity of its quality, and in boulders upon the surface, large enough for statuary purposes; some are from forty to fifty or sixty feet in height, and without a seam or an imperfection. There is an abundance of marble, some of which is of a good quality, also slate and limestone. In