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MINERAL RESOURCES.
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chiefly
from the quartz mines at Grass Valley and Nevada City; Yuba County
produced $2,034,486, almost all of which came from dredging operations;
Amador County, $1,876,174; Calaveras County, $1,378,-511; Eldorado,
Tuolumne, and Mariposa together, $1,580,647; the latter five divisions
are generally known as the Mother Lode counties, and the product is
mainly derived from gold quartz mines. Shasta County produced
$1,131,832 from mixed sources. The siliceous gold ores of the State
yielded $10,050,853, the copper ores $473,092, both figures showing a
fair increase. The placer gold amounted to $8,231,-187; the increase of
about $1,400,000 over the corresponding figures for 1907 was due to
still greater activitv in dredging operations, which in 1908 yielded
$6,536,189.
The
production of silver was 1,647,278 ounces, an increase of 508,420
ounces for 1908 as compared with 1907. The larger part of this out-
p
ut, 909,947 ounces,
was derived from the copper ores of Shasta ounty and was obtained
during the electrolytic refining of the blister copper. Calaveras
County produced 107,657 ounces from the same kind of ores. Kern County
added 181,657 ounces from siliceous ores. The remainder came mainly as
a by-product from placer and gold quartz mines. A small output of pure
silver ores is still mined in San Bernardino County.
Colorado.—Colorado
produced $22,300,627 in gold in 1908, an increase of $1,474,433 as
compared with the yield of 1907. Although the silver and lead mining
industry suffered severely from the financial conditions and the
decline in metal prices which followed the monetary disturbances of
1907, the gold-mining industry was not similarly affected. On the
contrary, it was stimulated by the great extension of leasing and
prospecting operations in the gold-mining camps. This applied
particularly to Cripple Creek, which furnishes over one-half of the
gold production of the State. Better milling facilities were also
available, and progress was made in the treatment of low-grade ores.
The gold production of Cripple Creek, equivalent to that of Teller
County, was increased in 1908 by $1,826,600 to a total of $12,740,287,
and the tonnage was increased by 150,091 tons to a total of 601,173.
The average value of the ore in gold was, however, reduced from $24.28
per ton in 1907 to $20.51 per ton in 1908. The rates of transportation
are now lowered, so that an ore containing only $8 per ton might be
shipped with some profit.
The
counties ranking after Teller in yield of gold were San Miguel, Ouray,
Lake, and Gilpin, in the order named. The two first named produced over
$2,000,000 each, and Lake and Gilpin over $1,000,000 each. San Juan
County came very near to the last-mentioned figure. Clear Creek County
yielded over $600,000, and Park County over $400,000. The "San Juan
country," including San Miguel, Ouray, San Juan, Dolores, Hinsdale,
Montezuma, and La Plata counties, produced $5,486,823, against
$6,270,216 in 1907. The three counties of Gilpin, Clear Creek, and
Boulder produced together $1,882,158, against $1,623,042 in 1907. The
two principal sources of the increase in the gold production of
Colorado were thus the Cripple Creek district and the Clear Creek
mining region. In contrast to a greatly decreased silver yield, Lake
County (Leadville) increased its gold production somewhat. Siliceous or
dry ores furnished 82 per cent of the tonnage mined in the State, and
yielded $21,051,280, or 94 per cent of the production. A little over 2
per cent came from
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