The resources of California: comprising agriculture, mining, geography, climate, &c., and the past and future development of the state

Front matter

^9§

THE

RESOURCES OF CALIFOMIA:

Introduction

TO

THE FOURTH EDITION. 18G

^ 1. Preliminary. — Since the first edition of this book was prepared for the press six years have elapsed, and in that time some progress has been made by the industry of California, and some new light has been thrown upon the resources and physical geography of the State. In this introductory chapter, I shall try to state briefly the main points of tlie additional information obtained since 1862.

§ 2. The Caliform'an Alps. — The State Geological Survey discovered, in the summer of 1864, that the Sierra Nevada, between latitudes 35° and 38°, has the wonderful mountain region of California. Shasta, which towers in solitary grandeur 7,000 feet above every thing in its vicinity, and shows its mantle of eternal snow to a wide area in three States, is no longer our highest peak. Mt. Whitney, in latitude 36° 30', which is surrounded by so many other peaks of nearly equal height as to attract no special attention from a distance, rises to about 15,000 feet, while Shasta is only 14,440. •

Not only is Shasta dethroned, but also Switzerland. The Helvetian Republic has, for hundreds of years, had the fame of possessing the greatest area of elevated land, and the largest number of great peaks within the limit of high civilization, but the newly discovered mountain region surpasses that of Sv/itzerland. That country has only four peaks above 13,000 feet, and not more than 150 square miles above 8,000 feet, while we have LOG peaks above 13,000 feet and 300 or more square miles above 8,000 feet.

X INTRODUCTION.

This Alpine region of California occupies the upper part of the Sierra Nevada, from Castle Peak to Kern Eiver, a distance of 200 miles ; and throughout that distance all the main peaks rise to 13,000 feet or more. The exact height of Mt. Whitney is not known. The surveying party made two trials to get to the summit, but failed. C. R. King reached an elevation of 14,730 feet, and was there arrested by a precipice. He thought there were 300 or 400 feet of elevation above him. The main Fork and the north Fork of Kern River rise on the southern and western slopes of this mountain, and King's River on its northwestern slope. The main Fork of Kern River runs southward for thirty miles through a tremendous canon, in the upper part of which the river falls 10,000 feet within six miles. A mountain whose summit is six miles east of Mono Lake, and 7,000 feet above it — a pretty steep ascent — is called Mt. Dana. A peak further south, with an elevation of 13,700 feet, is called Mt. Grant ; another of 14,500 feet is called Mt. Tyndall; a third is styled Mt. Brewer. From Castle Peak, in latitude 38°, for a distance of 200 miles along the summit of the Sierra, there is no pass known that can be traversed by a wagon, or less than 11,000 feet in altitude. It would not be safe to assert, however, that no lower pass will be discovered. Much of the range has not yet been examined. Throughout all this Alpine region the views are very extensive, and the scenery grand beyond that of Switzerland, though not so picturesque; that is, not sd beautiful in little places. At some future time it will become a place of great resort for tourists and travelers.

§ 3. The Great DrougJit— The winters of 1862-63 and 1864-65 proved to be unusually dry, the former bringing only 15|- and the latter only 8^ inches of rain at San Francisco, instead of the average of 21 inches. Two such dry seasons coming together proved very disastrous, and there was a general failure of crops, and a great mortality among cattle. It was estimated that out of 3,000,000 horses, neat-cattle, and sheep that were in the State in 1862, 800,000 perished by starvation within two years, and most of those which survived had a very narrow escape. The southern coast couniies suffered most severely, some of them losing two-thirds of their cattle, which were the main stock of their wealth. The year 1865 is known as the year of the great drought, and the native Californians say that at no time within forty years had two consecutive seasons passed with so Httle rain.

§ 4. The EarthquaJce o/ 1865. —On the Sth October, 1865, San Francisco was visited by an earthquake that surpassed in violence any shock felt here within the recollection of the oldest inhabitants. It occurred on

INTRODUCTION. XI

Sunday at 12:45, P. M., just about the time when the morning services were being closed in the churches. Two-thirds of the front of a new four-story brick building on the corner of Third and Mission Streets (the mortar of which had not had time to dry) was tlxrown down. Parts of the fire-walls and chimneys of two dozen brick buildings were thrown down. The walls of the City Hall, of the old Merchants' Exchange on Battery Street, of California Engine House on Market Street, the Pennsylvania Engine House on Jackson Street, the Market building at the corner of Pine and Market Streets, besides a multitude of others, were badly cracked. Several wooden buildings which were being raised, and were supported on temporary scaffolding or blocks, were thrown down and demohshed. The falling cornices and fire-walls filled some of the streets with dust, and fell on four or five persons, some of whom were seriously hurt, though the injuries did not prove fatal in any case. In those churches where the services were not closed, the people rushed for the doors in a very disorderly, manner.

§ 5. Geological Survey. — A geological survey of the State was commenced in November, 1860, and continued until 1868, under charge of Prof. J. D. Whitney. He has been assisted by "Wm. M. Gabb, in paleontology, W. H. Brewer and H. X. Bolander in botany, J. G. Cooper in zoology, A. Eemond and Clarence King in general geology, "Wm. Ashburner in economical geology, C. F. Hoffman, V. "Wackenreuder, and J. T. Gardner in topography. The expense of the work has so far been about $140,000. Only two volumes of the report have been published, but others are ready for the press. The following are some of the results of the survey.

The coast mountains rose from the sea before the Sierra Nevada, and the latter range was for long after much lower than now ; and a vegetation, different from that which now flourishes here, covered the land. Afterward came a series of great volcanic convulsions ; the Sierra Nevada was lifted up on three successive occasions, separated by long intervals A hundred volcanoes poured- out vast floods of liquid fire and of water mixed with ashes. Mounts Shasta and Lassen, Pilot Peak, Spanish Peak, Old Man Mountain, and Castle Peak, and a multitude of others for which we have no names, were all ablaze at once. There were intervals of rest between their periods of activity, and alternate beds of lava and of alluvial gravel or soil exist on the hills as deposited in what were then valleys or the beds of rivers. An area of not less than 20,000 square miles is now covered with lava. The three periods of upheaval were first at the close of the cretaceous era ; second after the deposition of the raiocene tertiary ;

xii INTRODUCTION. .

and third after the later pliocene. This last upheaval is supposed to be still in progress.

After the volcanic epoch came the glacial epoch, in which glaciers, far grander than any that now exist in the Alps, were found in all the large ravines on the high mountains, where their marks still remain, though the rivers of ice gradually disappeared before the gradually increasing warmth of the climate. The auriferous gravel in the ancient river-oeds was deposited in the later pliocene, and it was followed by a great outbreak of volcanic energy, which covered the gravel with beds of lava and other eruptive material.

The gold deposits of the State lie not in the silurian rocks, which were previou"sly considered to be the basis of all rich auriferous regions, but in the Jurassic or triassic lithological formations of later date.

The coal region of California lies not in the tertiary rocks, as was previously supposed, but in the cretaceous, the highest portion of the secondary era.

The limits of the Jurassic and cretaceous have been traced with tolerable accuracy over most of the area of the State.

All the principal high points of the State, long known, have been ascended, their geological character examined, and their precise altitude ascertained.

A large district, previously unheard of by the public, has been found to rise to a height of eleven thousand feet or more, with a hundred peaks that rise about thirteen thousand feet, and a general elevation, extent, and grandeur of scenery, that surpass those of Switzerland.

The Big Tree has been found to exist, not merely in a few isolated groves, as was supposed, but in extensive forests, with tens of thousands of trees, along a considerable portion of the Sierra Nevada.

Large bodies of excellent pasturage were found in places previously unknown to the whites.

An extensive collection of minerals, vegetables, and preserved or stuffed animals, has been obtained, and will be prepared for exhibition so soon as the State prepares a proper place for it.

§ 6. Wheat — Within the last three years much larger crops of wheat have been grown than ever before, and during 1867, San Francisco exported wheat and flour equivalent to 600,000,000 pounds of grain, the sale price here being $12,600,000. The production of barley is about the same as it was seven years ago, while tlie area sown in wheat has increased

INTRODUCTION. xiii

considerably. Of late, many hills which were before untouched by the plow, have been sown in wheat.

§ 7. Fruit. — There has been a very slight increase in the number "of apple, pear, and peach orchards since 1862, Gherries have been very profitable near San Francisco, and a multitude of trees have been planted in the vicinity of the bay. It has been found that some trees which thrive in the coast valleys do not thrive in the Sierra Nevada. Mr. "Weatherwax, an orchardist at Mud Springs, El Dorado County, has ascertained, by trial, that the Benick is the most profitable apple there, and after it come the Red Romanite, the Red Cheek Pippin, Prior's Red, the BeUeflower and Esopus Spitzenberg. The most profitable pears are the Bartlett, Easter Beurre, Yicar of Wakefield and Winter Nellis. Mr. Nickerson, of Placer County, obtained, as gross receipts from a year's crop on his best trees, eiglit years old, the following prices, viz. : figs, $75 ; pear, peach, apple and plum, each, $60; apricot, $50, and nectarine, $45.

§ 8. The Grape. — The number of vineyards has increased greatly within five years, especially in the counties north of the bay and in the Sierra Nevada. According to the Report of the Surveyor-General of the State, for 1866, in that year 1,312,730 gallons of wine were made, and there were 15,410,077 grape-vines in vineyard. It is not determined yet, by common consent among wine-growers, what are the best wine grapes, but many of the most intelligent viniculturists think that for light white wines, the best grapes are the Golden Chasselas, the Burger, the White Rhenish Muscatella, the Riessliug, the Chasselas Fontainebleau, and the White Green ; and for red wine, the Zenfenthal, the Black Malvoisie, the Black Burgundy, the Running Burgundy, Black Cabrunet and the Traminer. For the table, the White Muscat of Alexandria bears the best price ; and for raisins, the White Malaga, called also the Fiherzagos, is preferred.

In the first and second editions of The Resources, the largest grape-vine of the State was inadvertently passed over without notice. In 1795 Senora Dorainguez, a native of Mexico, and a resident of Santa Barbara County, rode from Monterey to her home, and before starting she picked up a grape-cutting for a switch. When she had ridden twenty miles she saw that her switch was budding, so she took care of it, and after getting to her house at Montecito, she planted it in the garden. The vine grew, and now its trunk is 15 inches in diameter, and its branches are supported by an arbor 114 feet long and 78 feet wide. Its annual yield of grapes is three or four tons. Senora Dominguez, who planted it, died on the 9th Vfay, 1865, at the age of 105 years, after having given more than 300

XiV INTRODUCTION.

children, grand-children, great-grand-children, and great-great-grand-ehildren to the State. The vine was watered from a mineral spring, and the old lady said the grapes and the wine from it were better than any others in the neighborhood, and that the superior excellence was due to the mineral water.

E. M. Smith, in Coloma, has an Isabella vine which is now in its fifth year, and in 1866 it bore 1,500 bunches of grapes, which weighed 420 pounds. He estimated the yield for 186*7 at 2,500 bunches and 1,000 pounds. I visited the vine and started to count the bunches, but gave it up in despair, and determined to accept Mr. Smith's estimate.

§ 9. Hop. — The cultivation of the hop on a large scale has been established with profit. Several fields of cotton, of several hundred acres each, were cultivated for two or three years during the war, but now the business is less profitable, and most of those who engaged in it have abandoned it. In 1866, 198 bales of Californian cotton were brought to San Francisco, from Tulare and Los Angeles Counties. Flax-seed and the castor-oil are both grown in the State now.

§ 10. Silk - Worjns. — Extensive fields have been planted with the w-hite mulberry, and the breeding of silk-worms has been commenced on an extensive scale, and a silk factory has been erected at San Jose. It is found that the worms thrive wonderfully well in our climate, and are so heavy that it is sufficient to feed them once a day, by giving them a big supply in the morning.

§ 11. Quartz Mining. — Quartz mining in California is in a very satisfactory and progressive condition. The number of mines being opened and mills being built is much larger than at any previous time ; and, what is more important, the enterprises now in progress are in the hands of men who, as a class, have more learning, more experience, and more prudence, than those who erected quartz mills before the discovery of the Washoe Mines. All the energy and capital of California were concentrated in silver for four or five years, and we are now just getting to study goldquartz mining as a regular business.

Among the principal quartz mines of the State are the following : — The Princeton Mine, which has produced $4,000,000 ; the Pine Tree and Josephine, which together produced $350,000 from the 1st May, 1860, to the 1st May, 1863; the Mariposa Mine produced $84,948 in 18G4. Those four

INTRODUCTION. xT

mines are in the Mariposa grant, and have all been idle since 1865, because of mismanagement. The New Britain has yielded $52,000; the Sherman, $200,000; the Hite's Cove yields $150 per ton; and the Potts' Mine, $50,000 annually.

In Tuolumne County, the Soulsby yields $100,000 annually; the Piatt has paid $40,000 profit ; the Grizzly has produced $125,000; the Excelsior, $300,000 ; the Sell & Martin, $150,000 ; the Tennessee, $60,000; the Austrian, $100,000 ; and the Sophia, $45,000 ; the total yield of the App, the Rcist, the Ileslep, and the Golden Rule have not been reported, but they are doing a large amount of work, and are all valuable.

The Morgan Mine, on Carson Hill, in Calaveras County (according to the statement of Thomas Dear, who is reputed to have better opportunities of knowing than anybody else), produced $2,800,000 from February, 1850, to December, 1851. Mr. Stevenot, however, who claimed an interest in the mine, though he did not succeed in the courts, says the sum was $1,500,000. At any rate, immense masses of gold were found, and the town of Melones, at the foot of the hill, was the largest mining camp in the State for a time. For sixteen years the title was in litigation and the mine in idleness. Work has been resumed lately. The South Carolina has yielded $400,000; the Reserve, $100,000; the Bovee, $600,000; Hil"s Mine, $250,000; and the Cherokee, $100,000.

The Hayward Mine, in Amador County, has been reported to be the most profitable mine in the State. About 24,000 tons are crushed in a year, and there are 120,000 tons in sight. The present supply of ore is obtained 1,200 feet below the surface, and 300 feet below the level of the sea. The total yield, according to rumor, which no doubt exaggerates greatly, has been $6,000,000, The Keystone, a mile and a half distant, pays $80,000 a year in dividends. The Oneida, a mile and a half distant in the other direction, has produced very large sums, and has in sight 90,000 tons of rock, expected to yield about $17 per ton. The total expense is about $5 per ton. The Seaton Mine has yielded $100,000.

In El Dorado County, the richest mines have been the Pacific, which has yielded $500,000; the TVoodside, which yielded $12,000, in specimens; the Danes and the Shepard.

In Placer County, the Harpending, the Green Emigrant, and the Schnable, are the most notable.

In Nevada County, the Eureka, reputed to be the best worked mine in the State, has yield $1,500,000; the North Star, $500,000 profit; the Allison, $2,300,000; the Massachusetts Hill, $5,600,000 ; New York Hill, ivi INTRODUCTION.

The Sierra Buttes yielded $224,000 gross, and $154,000 net, in 1866; and has three years' supply of ore in sight. This mine has paid more regularly than any other in the State, and if the milling capacity were increased, could be made to surpass any other mine in the State in yield. The Independence, on the same vein, yielded $100,000, in 1866, and has ore in sight to last three years. The Primrose, two miles distant, has yielded $226,000— idle. The Union, one mile from Alleghany, yielded $75,000 in a pocket.

In Plumas County, the Eureka has yielded $1,600,000; the Mammoth, $1,000,000; the Crescent, $500,000; and the Whitney, $68,000.

In Yuba County, at Brown's Valley, twelve miles from Marysville, and not more than 300 feet above the level of the sea, are the Pennsylvania, which yields 1,000 tons and $10,000 net per month ; the Jefferson, which has paid $250,000 of dividends ; and the Dannebroge, which has yielded $250,000.

§ 12. Sulphurets. — Most of the quartz mines, and especially the richer ones, have in the rock from one to five per cent, of sulphurets of iron, which contain from $20 to $1,000 per ton of gold. This can not be obtained by amalgamation ; and the only resource is to separate the sulphurets (the specific gravity of which is 5,) from the pulverized quartz, (the specific gravity of which is 2^). This separation, called concentration, must be done with the assistance of water. The long sluice is now considered the best machine for concentration. The sluice has a grade of 2 or 3 inches to 12 feet; and riffles half an inch thick are introduced gradually as the boxes fill up, the sand being occasionally stirred with a hoe. "When the sand is eight inches deep, the riffles are gradually removed one by one, and the sand again stirred up ; and in this way the sulphurets are obtained in a very clean state. The sulphurets are then roasted and put into a chlorine bath. The chlorine unites with the gold ; the chloride of gold is dissolved in water; and the gold is precipitated by sulphate of iron. This process costs usually about $20 per ton, although one superintendent says the expense, exclusive of his own supervision, is only $9. The cost of concentration is $10 per ton of sulphurets where the rock contains one per cent.

INTRODUCTION. xvii

§ 13. Cement Mills. — Cement mills have been brought into use since 1862. At the bottom of some of the ancient channels, the richest pay is found in a stratum of clay and gravel, so cemented together that it will not dissolve in the sluice ; and the only mode of separating the gold from the dirt, heretofore, has been crushing in a stamp mill. Many of these mills are now in use, and their number is increasing rapidly. The gold is usually coarse in the cement. The material is not so hard as quartz, nor is it crushed so fine ; so the crushing does not usually cost over 50 cents per ton. A pan has lately been invented for reducing cement. It is an iron pan, six feet in diameter, and eighteen inches deep, in which four iron rakes, radiating from the center, each with three strong teeth, revolve rapidly. A large stream of water pours in, and the pulverized stuff is carried off through small holes in the bottom. The large stones are discharged through a gate. There are two sluices, one to carry off the stones, and the other to carry off the dissolved clay.

§ 14. Copper Mining. — Copper mining in California began in 1861, and was very profitable for a time, but the price of the metal has fallen greatly within the last year or two, and copper mining in this State has declined. The amount of ore exported in 1862 was 3,660 tons ; in 1863, -5,553 tons ; in 1864, 10,234 tons; in 1865, lt,78t tons; in 1866, 19,813 tons; and in the first half of 1867, 3,542 tons. Besides this ore, about 200 tons of metallic copper have been shipped. The ore exported contained on an average about 14 per cent, of metal.

§ 15. Coal Mining. — Coal mining, at Monte Diablo, in California, commenced in 1861, and advanced very rapidly. In 1862, 23,000 tons were produced, and in 1866, 84,000 tons. It was at first supposed that the coal was of very poor quality, and that the supply would soon give out ; but these suppositions have proved to be erroneous.

§ 16. Borax. — The production of borax was commenced in California in 1865, in which year 1,707 cases, worth $22 per case, were exported; in the next year, 3,171 cases were exported; and in the first half of 1867, 3,671 cases.

The borax is obtained from Borax Lake, which covers an area of 200 acres, one mile from the eastern end of Clear Lake, in Lake County. The water of the lake is strong with borate of soda, and the mud at the bottom of the lake is full of crystals of borax, nearly pure.

§ 17. Other Minerals.— In 1866, 5,000 barrels of California petroleum were produced. Several tons of sulphur were refined near Clear Lake; and several tons of plumbago were refined at Sonora. An opal mine was

XVm INTRODUCTION.

opened at Mokelumne Hill in 18G5, but proved unprofitable, and the work has ceased. The stones are abundant, but common in quality.

§ IS. Treasure Trade. — Up to the end of 1S61, the total amount of treasure manifested at the San Francisco Custom House for exportation, as giv^en in section 177, was $551,603,904. Since '61 the following sums have been shipped, viz.: in 1862, $45,561,761; in '63, $46,071,920. in '64, $55,707,201; in '65, $44,984,546; in '66, $56,146,577; in '67,' $48,069,236. Adding these sums to the total of 12 years before, we have $845,346,245. It is well known, however, that large sums were exported in early years without entry at the Custom House, and my estimate of $700,000,000 for the total exportation previous to the 1st January, 1862, has been considered, by business men and bankers, in San Francisco, to be as near correct as any estimate could be, and we may assume that in the last six years and a half the production has been greater by $35,000,000 tlian the exportation; we have a total production of $1,030,000,000 for the coast, up to the 1st January, 1868.

This production, however. Las not been exclusively from California. In 1866, "Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, which carries all the treasure, the transportation of which is published, received at San Francisco, $24,055,381 from the Northern mines of Cahfornia, $5,415,711 from the Southern mines, $15,215,218 from Nevada, $6,551,284 from the Northern Coast, including Victoria, and $2,369,994 from foreign parts. During 1867 the Northern mines sent us $22,927,309, the Southern mines $4,477,462, Nevada $18,000,000, and the Northern Coast, $5,829,522.

The yield of Nevada is rapidly increasing ; that of Idaho,, which supplies most of the gold from the "Northern Coast," is either decreasing since 1864, or else the treasure is sent eastward overland. California supplies about three-fifths of the treasure exported from San Francisco. One of the main causes of the decrease in the gold production of this State is the tax of $4 per month levied on Chinese miners. Not less than ten thousand have left the placers of California within the last two years, either for Idaho, Montana, or Nevada.

§ 19. Shipping. — Previous to 1860 our imports exceeded our exports, and ships came heavily laden, and went away in baUast. The tables are now turned, and ships come in ballast to load with our grain, copper ores, wines, wool, hides, horns, quicksilver, borax, and plumbago. In the first half of 1867, 1,144 vessels, registering 391,000 tons, entered the port of San Francisco, making the annual tonnage of the port about 800,000.

I 20. Population. — The population of the State has gained considera-

INTRODTJCTION. XIX

bly during the last live years, but there is no method of ascertaining the precise increase. The gain by excess of arrivals over departures seaward, was 3,232 in 1853 ; 23,023 in '54; 6,300 in '55; 5,372 in '56; 6,088 in '57; 12,745 in '58 ; 13,402 in '59 ; 16,185 in 'GO ; 16,864 in '61 ; 16,150 in '62; 15,882 in '63 ; 9,773 in '64; 4,759 in '66; and 14,470 in 1867 ; malting a total gain of 165,245 in fourteen years. In 1865 there was a decrease of 3,780, leaving a net gain of 161,405. The increase, by birth has more than counterbalanced the loss by death and by emigration overland to Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. In section 252 I estimated the population at 400,000 ; and if that figure was correct for the 1st July, 1860, and I am inclined to think it was, then the present population of <>alifornia is not far from 500,000.

§ 21. Manufactures. — Since 1862, there has been a very rapid development of the manufacturing industry of the country. Mills and factories have been estabhshed, and are now in operation, making cotton goods, powder, linseed and castor oils, ropes of iron and hemp, glass, shot, lead pipe, boots and shoes, and brushes. Additional paper and woolen mills have been buUt. A rolling mill is now in the course of erection. - These manufactures are nearly all at San Francisco, which is likely to become one of the chief manufacturing cities of the Union. Large quantities of turpentine and rosin are made in Butte and Yuba Counties. In 1866, 18 vessels left San Francisco for the codfish banks of the North Pacific, and they brought back fish which when dried weighed 900 tons. Tiiis fishery began in 1864. The production of soap in San Francisco in 1866 was 13,000,000 pounds.

§ 22. -San Francisco. — The growth of San Francisco has been steady and rapid since 1862. Every year has witnessed great changes and vast additions to the number of buildings. The city is truly metropolitan in its appearance. Montgomery Street, as a fashionable retail street and promenade, has no superior on the continent, save Broadway ; and Kearny Street, which is now being widened, is rapidly advancing to rival Montgomery. There are three hotels, which in size and style deserve to take rank with the finest of New York. Five street railroads are ready to take passengers to every part of the city. One of the largest and finest stone dry-docks of the world is nearly completed, at Hunter's Point. The construction of a sea-wall, to protect the harbor, has been commenced. Splendid buildings have been erected by the Merchants' Exchange Association, the Mercantile Library Association, and the Mechanics' Institute. The silver mines of AYashoe, and the principal quartz mines of California,

XX INTRODUCTION.

are mostly owned here, and their wealth has contributed to beautify and enrich the city. The establishment of a regular line of monthly steamers to China and Japan, and the rapid progress of the Pacific Railway, with the certainty of its speedy completion, have given confidence, attracted population, and induced the investment of capital. Numerous branches of manufacturing industry have been established. The commerce of the city has continued to advance. The average number of houses erected annually, during the last five years, has been about 1,500. It may safely be said that no city shows greater signs of prosperity. San Francisco," in proportion to size, is the busiest seaport in the world. The annual exports are about $70,000,000 and the imports nearly as much; the manufactures are worth nearly $20,000,000; the real estate sales amount to about $12,000,000, and the cash value of land, building, and movable property, is about $200,000,000, although assessed for taxation at only $80,000,000. It sends away about forty tons of silver and six tons of gold every month — the former metal in bars fifteen inches long and five inches square, the latter in small bars about six inches long, three inches wide, and two inches thick. Wagons loaded with the precious metals are seen in the streets nearly every day.