The
production of gold in California continues to show a decrease. The
production in 1870, according to the estimates of the Director of the
Mint, was $25,000,000 and in 1877 only $15,000,000. It increased in the
next four years to $18,200,000 in 1881, and then decreased somewhat
irregularly to $12,586,722 in 1889, according to the census returns,
and to $12,500,000 in 1890, as estimated by the Director of the Mint.
The prohibition of hydraulic mining in California is the chief cause of
the decrease in recent years. California still, however, produces more
than three times as much gold as any other State and about two-fifths
of the total production of the country. The four other leading
gold-producing States, Colorado, Nevada, South Dakota, and Montana,
have remained in approximately the same relative positions during the
past ten years, each producing between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 in the
census year. Idaho comes next in the order of producing States, with
nearly $2,000,000 in the census year. No other State produced in that
year as much as $1,000,000.
As
to silver, remarkable variations in the production of the several
States have taken place in the past ten years. Nevada, which in 1878,
according to the Director of the Mint, produced over $28,000,000 worth
of silver, now produces less than $6,000,000 (United States coining
value), while Montana, which produced $2,500,000 in 1880, produced over
$17,000,000 in 1889, according to the census, and over $20,000,000 in
1890, according to the mint report. Colorado, whose production in.
creased from $4,500,000 in 1877 to $17,000,000 in 1880, has still
further increased its production to $23,757,751 in the census year, and
over $24,000,000 in 1890, thus retaining the first place in silver
production, which it has held since 1880. Utah has about doubled its
production since 1880 reaching $9,000,000 in 1889, according to the
census, and over $10,000,000 in 1890, according to the mint report.
Idaho is fifth in the list of silver States, having increased in
production from $450,000 in 1880 to $4,783,000 in 1890. Arizona appears
to be rapidly decreasing in importance as a silver-producing State,
its product being reported in 1882 as $7,500,000 (which, however, is
probably a gross exaggeration),
