mento, in California, and the resemblance to other gold districts was remarked, but there was no opportunity of exploring the country at the time." Again, on pages 251-2, describing the localities in which gold has been found, he says: "In the Rocky Mountains, near Salt Lake, in California, between the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers." He also says:"The California mines are mostly alluvial; the gold is found in the gravel and sands of the valleys and beds of streams leading from the Sierra Nevada into the adjoining valley of the Sacramento and San Joaquin."

3d. During the month of October or November, 1845, in a house or groggery on Pacific street, San Francisco (as it is now called), a Mexican, who was called "Salvador," was shot, because he had a bag of gold dust, described as about 1,000 to 1,200 dollars, and would not tell where he got it. At last, when dying, he pointed in the direction of the San Jose Mountains, and said, "lejos, lejos" (beyond, beyond).

4th. On the 16th of September, 1846, a party, mostly Mormons, went up the San Joaquin, partly to join Lieutenant Gillespie's party of United States marines and volunteers, in search of warlike Indians, and principally to form a settlement at the junction of the Stanislaus and San Joaquin rivers. On returning, this party stopped to cook dinner on the sand point (S. E. by E. point) of the small island, opposite to what is called the entrance to Stockton, then called Lindsay's Lake. After dinner, one George M. Evans and John Sirrene, now in New York city, commenced to pick yellow specks out of the bank, done them up in paper, took them to San Francisco (then Yerba Buena), tested them with acids, and found it was gold; but not having any idea of the gold being in such quantity as was afterwards proved, put the specimens by, and afterwards part, with other minerals, was sent to Peale's Museum as a present. The reason of my looking for minerals was in consequence of Salvador's death.

5th. The following August (1847), Major Reading and T. W. Perkins and myself, went south from San Francisco, and, being in search of asbestos, we explored the mountains near San Diego and near the River Gila, where we found gold more abundantly than has since been found on the north fork of the American. This is the same place from which the present excitement of "new discoveries of gold in California" has arisen. We could do nothing, in consequence of the Indians being hostile in the neighborhood. The Major lost the chief use of his left arm, while I have yet the marks on my right arm of arrow wounds received at the time. To prove the truth of this assertion, persons in this town can prove that fourteen months since, April, 1853, I told of that same place.

6th. When the Mormon battalion was disbanded in 1847, a number of the Mormons came to San Francisco, and amongst them was one Henderson Cox and one Beardsley, who boarded in the same house with me. They having worked in the Georgia mines, told me, in conversation on the subject, that as they were about prospecting for a road (since called the Mormon Pass) for the Mormons to return to Salt Lake, and in so doing, would prospect the streams in their route (this was in the end of September or first of August, 1847.) I then described the death of Salvador, and where I found the gold, and gave them a chart of the country from memory. In the following January I returned to San Francisco, from the journey above referred to, when I received an invitation to go to Mormon Island, so named afterwards by Henderson Cox. On the 19th of January, 1848, I went there, and with the bounty they gave me, and what I worked out myself, I had $19,000 on the 8th of February, 1848.

7th. On the 9th of February, I, with Henderson Cox, Beardsley, Beers, two Shepards, and a number more, were in the lower end of the mill race, when Marshall, the overseer, and his little girl came in, and the child picked up a pretty stone as she called it, and showed it to her father, who pronounced it gold. He was so excited about it, that he saddled his horse and that day VOL. IIL-29

rode to Sutter's Fort to tell Captain Sutter; but he did not believe it worth notice, and for a while the idea died away. The Mormons, wishing to keep their discoveries a secret from people not Mormons, worked out the gold and said nothing more.

8th. On the 1st of April, 1848, the first mail from San Francisco to Salt Lake was started, and a number of the California Star was printed purposely for that mail, containing a special article, written by Dr. Fourgend and myself, concerning the minerals and metals of California, and among other mentioned metals was gold; but, as the printer and publishers were Mormons, the full facts were not stated.

It was not until the 12th of May, 1848, that the existence of gold in quantity in California was publicly made known in San Francisco by Samuel Brannan, High Bishop of the Mormons, and of Vigilance Committee notoriety.

Beardsley and Henderson Cox were killed at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in September, 1848.

Marshall died either four days before he arrived home in the Eastern States with a barrel of gold, or four days from the coast.

As for myself, I still live, but debilitated from the effects of the fever and

ague.

To enable persons to test quartz rock who are not mineralogists, I subjoin the rule laid down by James D. Dana, in his "System of Mineralogy." He says:"It is a simple process. The rock is first pounded up fine and sifted, a quantity of the sand so obtained is washed in a shallow iron or tin pan, and as the gold sinks, the material above is allowed to pass off into some receptacle. The gold is thus left in the angle of the pan by a repetition of the process; a further portion is obtained, and when all the gold has sunk and the sand reduced to a manageable quantity, the gold is amalgamated with clean mercury (quicksilver); the amalgam is next strained to separate any excess of mercury, and finally is heated, and the mercury expelled, leaving the gold."

In conclusion, I have only to say that Johnny Bull, with all his bad qualities, granted a handsome donation to the discoverer of the Australian gold fields; while Uncle Sam has forgot to do the "amende honorable" to the rediscoverers or discoverer of a tenfold value-the California gold.

OREGON GOLD MINES.

A correspondent of the Portland Times, writing from Port Orford, under date of July 24th, says:-Various are the opinions respecting the mines on the Coquille, which have attracted the public mind for some weeks past. Many have gone to the mines, and some have returned very much discouraged. All agree that there is gold there-that the diggings are very heavy-some excellent strikes are made, and others entirely fail. From what I hear, I would advise our people to hold on until their wheat crops are taken care of; for, if the mines are really as rich as have been represented, they cannot be soon exhausted, and our bread is more necessary than gold. What I wrote you was from the most reliable persons, and those I deemed the best judges in this place. It may turn out yet to be almost a failure. I hope not; but, at any rate, advise the citizens in the Willamette to hold on awhile. Some of the men now returning bring very flattering reports; others that there is no gold, or but very little. When this difference of opinion will be settled I cannot tell; but, at any rate, I hope the people will hold on a little, so that those so near the mines may have time to settle the matter to their own satisfaction, whether there is or is not gold. Some, I have heard, have already found fault with me for writing; but, I confess, that if the mines are not rich, I am disappointed by those in whom I had confided. From the best information I now have, it requires capital to begin with; and many come almost destitute, and are discouraged at once.

AUSTRALIAN GOLD FIELDS.

The latest reports from these fields are only general in their nature, and represent the yield as very favorable. In the absence of interesting details, it is hardly necessary at present to notice them more at length.

The following paper, read before the London Geological Society, by G. M. Stephen, F. G. S., on "Gems and Gold Crystals from Victoria," is of considerable interest:

Mr. Stephen gave a detailed catalogue of precious stones and specimens of crystallized gold, obtained by himself in the colony of Victoria, and now laid before the society. In this catalogue, the localities from which the specimens were obtained are given, and the characters of each specimen are described. These gems and crystals were collected by the author in the course of several years' residence in Australia; and the history of each specimen was rigorously investigated. Most of them were sent to Mr. Stephen for examination, or brought direct from the various "diggings," amidst parcels of quartz-crystals (mistaken for diamonds) and other shining minerals, having been found in the "tin dishes" of the gold-diggers whilst washing the soil in quest of gold. The specimens are water-worn, and were generally associated with the following minerals:-quartz, felspar, garnets, tourmaline, augite, olivine, titaniferous iron, oxide of iron, iron pyrites, and, in the case of the specimens from the River Ovens, with oxide of tin, both in crystals, small lumps, and sand. The gems are:-blue and white sapphire, from Ballarat; sapphire, spinel ruby, ruby, and small chrysolites, from Peel River; zircons, spinel ruby, topaz, garnet, and tourmaline, from Ovens River. Mr. Stephen quotes also the following as recorded or stated localities:-garnets, Peel River; garnets and pyropes, Mount Alexander; diamond, New South Wales; white topazes, New South Wales and Cape Barren Island, Bass's Straits; large beryls, Mount Crawford, South Australia; large tourmalines, Encounter Bay, South Australia, and D'Entrecasteaux's Channel, Van Diemen's Land; emerald, Mount Remarkable, South Australia; and opals, South Australia. The author observed, that the conditions under which all these gems were found are similar in Australia and in the countries now supplying them; and hence he infers that the gems of Australia will soon be sought for as articles of commerce.

Mr. Stephen stated, that gold in Victoria was found under the most interesting forms of crystallization, and he exhibited some extraordinary crystals of this metal, both in groups and single, found at the River M'Ivor and at Ballarat. In one group there is a crystal (a cube, with ascending planes, as if passing into the octahedron) which has reached the enormous size of seveneighths of an inch in diameter. There is also a large crystal, which Mr. Brook, the crystallographer, considers to be a dodecahedron, extravagantly distorted: this is five-eighths of an inch in diameter. Of the several other crys tals, some are highly perfect dodecahedrons and octahedrons, with plain and cavernous sides, cubes in different stages of formation, and interlacing (when in groups) hexagonal crystals of transparent quartz.

Attention was also drawn to an interesting macle-crystal of gold, having one pentagon face, with a mammal of gold resting upon it; and to some delicate dendritic gold, which, from its similarity to moss-copper, the author designates "moss-gold." The author stated, that the gold of Australia was often found inclosed in, and inclosing quartz and ironstone, but never, that he had heard of, in granite. The highest standard gold has been found at Ballarat, the M'Ivor River, and the Ovens River; whilst the gold of Louisa Creek, and other localities in New South Wales, was apparently the most alloyed with silver. A sample of gold, coated with a black substance, which resists the acids, and is not acted upon by the magnet, was also exhibited. Other interesting specimens were a conglomerate of chlorite, quartz, ironstone, and steatite, inclosing gold, and taken, in the author's presence, from

the bottom of a "gold lode," between nearly perpendicular walls of quartz, at a depth of ninety feet, near Mount Alexander; also gold resting upon galena in quartz.

GOLD IN CANADA.

In a letter from Quebec, under date of June 16th, Mr. W. L. McKenzie briefly and summarily states the result of his investigation in official quarters respecting the gold district of Canada:

When on my way to the Legislature last Monday, I called at the bureau of the Provincial Geologist, Wm. E. Logan, Esq., at Montreal, to inquire of him as to the reality there was in the assertions recently made through the newspapers that there was in Canada East an extensive gold field.

He told me that the gold field extended over ten thousand square miles of country-that a company was working it to some extent-that probably a search for gold there might not reward unskilled labor—and that it is met with, as in Russia, occasionally, along with platina.

I asked to see specimens, and was shown several lumps of the solid metal, weighing over half a pound, avoirdupois, each; also many smaller samples. Mr. L. next showed me a glass jar, with eight or nine pounds of the gold, in little pieces, such as we see in the hands of California miners. I think he stated that there is usually about 12 per cent. of silver incorporated with this gold.

Since I have been here, a friend has told me that Mr. Drummond, AttorneyGeneral of Lower Canada, is one of a company now working these golden treasures, and that his brother-in-law, Mr. De Rottermun, is the manager.

As these gentlemen have the best means of information, Mr. Drummond being a Lower Canada Seignior, I infer that the 10,000 square miles are worth looking at by some of our scientific and practical men-though I advise no one to leave any employment or avocation, in order to dig here.

Mr.

Lord Sydenham, after getting rid of "the troubles," brought the matter up, and Mr. Logan was employed, with Mr. T. J. Hunt as chemist. Logan surveyed several counties in Britain before he came to Canada; has long sustained a deservedly high reputation; and any statement from him, in important matters, immediately within his official sphere, would seem to deserve a careful consideration.

The gold-field now worked is on the river Du Loup, a tributary of the Chaudiere, in the Eastern Townships, and about 60 miles from this city, in a south-easterly direction, not far from the main boundary; and I desire the unskilful laborer to remember Mr. Logan's remark, that, in his opinion, such persons would not earn good wages gold-hunting.

The existence of this gold formation has long been known; it is a part and continuation of the same formation in Vermont, which is described by Mr. Z. Thompson, in his work on the "Natural, Civil, and Statistical History of Vermont," and which, in order to present a more complete view of the subject, we here insert:

It has been known for a great number of years, that we have, in Vermont, a formation agreeing, in almost all respects, with the gold formation in the Southern States, and in many other parts of the world; and it is a well-known fact, that native gold was found here more than twenty-five years ago. The statement, which we published in a note on page 127, Part III., respecting a lump of gold picked up in Newfane, and weighing 8 ounces, was extensively circulated in the newspapers soon after it was found. Our statement was derived from Gen. Martin Field, who had the lump in his possession. It was a fact well known to us, when our History and Gazetteer were published, that gold had been found in small quantities in the township of Somerset, by wash

ing the alluvial gravel; but believing then, as we do now, that the success of Vermonters, in digging for gold, will be best secured by observing the Quaker's directions, never to dig for it more than plough deep, we took no pains to give prominence to these facts.

What we here call the Gold Formation constitutes a part of what we have been describing under the name of the Talcose Division. It forms a narrow and irregular belt, extending along near the eastern margin of the great division, above mentioned, and reaching through the entire length of the state. Beginning at the line of Massachusetts, in Whitingham, it extends northward, through the western part of Windham county, through Ludlow, Bridgewater, and Rochester, in Windsor county; through Roxbury, Moretown, and Waterbury, in Washington county, and thence through Morristown, Eden, Lowell, and Troy, to the north line of the State. The rocks, which mark the line of this formation, are talcose slate, steatite and serpentine, accompanied by magnetic, specular, chromic and titaniferous iron, also sulphuret and hydrous peroxide of iron. At some places, beautiful specimens of rock crystal occur, many of which are traversed in various directions by hair-like crystals of rutile, rendering them exceedingly interesting to mineralogists. The fine specimens of this kind, which have been found in the drift in the valley of the Connecticut, probably had their origin in this formation. Although, long since, aware of the fact that the formation, in which gold was found, in Windham county, extended through the whole length of the State, we had no knowledge that gold existed in Vermont to the northward of that county, previous to the fall of 1852, when gold was discovered in Bridgewater, Windsor county, by a Mr. Kennedy, and the discovery made known to the public by Prof. O. P. Hubbard, of Dartmouth College. The gold is found there in seams of quartz, and also in alluvial gravel. Sufficient time and opportunity for examination have not yet been had, since the discovery was made, to determine its value. Some specimens of the gold, which we have seen in the quartz, though small, were exceedingly fine and beautiful.

In the neighborhood of the gold in Bridgewater, very fine specimens of galena, or sulphuret of lead, are also found, but we are not informed with regard to its extent; but as Bridgewater is our native town, we hope ere long to have ocular view of the revelations which are being made there.

Although the formation (in which gold is found) may be traced through the entire length of the State, it is not to be expected that gold will be found through its whole extent; nor is it, at present, at all certain that the placers, where gold has already been found, will yield gold enough to pay for working. This same gold formation, which passes through Vermont, has been traced from the north line of the State at Troy, nearly 200 miles into Canada. It passes along a little to the westward of Memphremagog lake to Orford, near Sherbrooke, and thence takes a more north-easterly course to the neighborhood of Quebec. Gold was found, in this formation, along the river Chaudiere, as early as 1834, and the discovery was announced in Silliman's Journal in April, 1835. From that time gold was collected there, in small quantities, up to the time of the discovery of gold in California; amounting in the whole to only a few hundred dollars. Since the geological survey of Canada has been in progress, more attention has been given to the subject, and it is found that the auriferous district is quite extensive. During the last three or four years the search for gold has been prosecuted more extensively, and the yield has amounted to several thousand dollars. In Ascot, near Sherbrooke, gold has been found in veins, associated with copper pyrites in a quartz gangue; and it is reported that a lump of gold, weighing 14 oz., was obtained in that vicinity in the fall of 1852.

The steatite, or soapstone, and the serpentine, which we have mentioned, as indicating the line of the gold formation, are, probably, destined to be of quite as much economical value to the State, as the gold itself. The steatite is abundant, and is, in many places, of a very good quality. It has been quar