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MINING IN CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA. 51
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The
actual practical results of the new treatment for this extremely poor
copper ore, which would not pay otherwise, and which would therefore be
cast aside, consists in the daily production of over 1,000 lbs. of pure
cement copper (of a higher price than refined copper metal) from about
18 tons of ore.
B. Asbestos in its uses.—This fibrous mineral, which occurs so abundantly in Australia and Tasmania, has been utilized in California in a very remarkable manner, specially as a preventative
of boilers, steampipes, and cylinders losing their temperature in cold
air, whereby their steam would be condensed and more fuel used than is
necessary. The mineral itself is mined for in several places, and
cleansed in simple machines ; it is then crushed so as to retain its
fibrous character previous to calcination in furnaces, and when at a
red heat the mineral is plunged into a bath. After drying, it is again
milled with traganth or other pure mucilage, when it is ready for immediate use or shipment. In California all the steam generators, pipes, and cylinders were coated with this substance for a thickness from 1 to 2 inches, and in consequence
nearly 20 per cent, of fuel of any kind is saved. As it does not crack,
on getting heated, engines, boilers, &c, have a much cleaner
marble-like appearance with asbestos coating, and do not rust, as
otherwise is nearly always the case.
C. Wages.—In
California miners receive from 2J to 3 dollars per diem, six days in
the week, for either eight or ten hours' shifts. In some mountainous
districts miners are hoarded and
lodged at the mines, and the amount (never exceeding 7 dollars per week
in California) is deducted from their wages. Amalgamators receive from
4 to 5 dollars per day of twelve hours' shifts, and laborers from 1J to
2 dollars ditto. Mine superintendents are salaried very high, and they
receive from 30 dollars per week to 300 dollars per month. As regards
miners' and other employes' habitations, it was generally observed that
their cottages were built of red pine, and that neat American stoves
took the place of open bricked fireplaces and chimneys.
D. Mine Timber.—At
Grass Valley the round mine timber is delivered at one cent per inch,
and the rule is :—To multiply the length in feet by the diameter at the
small end in inches, which gives the result desired; for example : a
piece 20 feet long by 8 inches in diameter at the small end = 160 = 1
dollar 60 cents for the piece ; sawn timber or lumber costs at the
mines 18 dollars per 1,000 feet; firewood, 4 dollars SO cents per cord.
Owing to the mining regions being extremely well watered, public or
incorporated companies undertake the carriage of all kinds of fuel,
mining and sawn timber, by means of extensive channels or flumes, built
of timber, along the contour lines of the mountains; these channels are
in section of a V form, the outer diagonal ribs being driven into the
surface, or let into solid wooden foundations when the former is
impracticable, strongly stayed, bolted, and lined inside with 2-inch
tongued and grooved floorings. With an average fall of 7 feet per mile
it has been found that all kinds of timber can be floated in these
channels on water, and delivered at certain depots at fully 30 per
cent. less than by teams ; at the same time the water, though getting
slightly resinous, is still suitable for mining purposes, and in some
cases for domestic use.
E. Mining Laws, frc.—Under the United States Act of May the 18th 1872, yet in force, the cost of obtaining a. patent on
a mining claim of the following dimensions, viz., 1,500 feet by 600
feet, "with all the dips and angles to any depth," are as follows:—
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