THE PROFITS OF CALIFORNIA GOLD MINING.

Dr. Charles T. Jackson, a geologist in Massachusetts of some celebrity, lately delivered a course of lectures; in one of which he thus speaks of gold mining, and the products of different mines:

"The mines of California are estimated to have produced thirty millions of dollars in gold to the United States, and fifty to all other countries. Although these mines are worked with all the energy and prudence of New Englanders, and although some have made fortunes, in the end the whole California mania will prove a most unfortu nate speculation. The delusion that gold mines will grow richer, as you descend into the earth, will prove fatal to many. The soil, in the first place, has been washed by the rains, which, in a great degree exposed the gold. The rocks of California may be auriferous, but it can derive no profit from these, since it is without roads or machinery, and is dependent upon other countries for supplies, even though the rocks of Virginia have been profitably worked, which contain only 123 cents of gold to one hundred weight of ore. It will be a long time before mining can be carried on successfully there. Before the gold mines of California were discovered, it has been estimated that gold diggers, as a class, never had averaged more than 374 cents per day, to each in dividual since, not more than $1 25. One may make a fortune at mining, but the chance is extremely hazardous. An experience in mining of a thousand years Europe, has shown that only one mine in twenty proves profitable, but this one may pay enormously.

THE MINERS OF CALIFORNIA.

The San Francisco Transcript thus portrays the character of the people of that "wonder of the world," California :--

"Full justice is not, and cannot be meted out to the bold and enterprising miner, as well as the more quiet but not less useful agriculturist, by those who are separated from us by towering mountains, which seem placed as barriers to the dissemination of intelligence. No one who has not visited the mountains can appreciate the toil the miners undergo, or the powers of endurance they possess. The magnitude of their labors must first be viewed before they can be appreciated. There is no class of men more deserving of the favors of Dame Fortune than they-for nowhere do we find a people so strongly possessed of energy and indomitable perseverance. A country peopled with such men cannot fail of becoming a great, wealthy, powerful, prosperous and happy State. With such a people residing permanently on her soil, Californis will soon outstrip her older sisters in the race for distinction. In the ordinary elements of wealth, prosperity, greatness, power, she is not behind the older States, while she far surpasses the most favored of the glorious sisterhood, in her inexhaustible supplies of the precious metals, and her population comprises the very flower of the enterprise intelligence, and active business talent, not only of our own, but also of other countries."

QUICKSILVER MINES OF CALIFORNIA.

The richest mine yet discovered, as we learn from the Pacific News, is located in the Santa Clara Valley, about twelve miles from San Jose, which is worked by an individual company, who hold possession under the old Mexican title of " denouncement" At this mine a large number of furnaces are in operation. These furnaces resemble in appearance a long steam boiler, set in bricks, with fires underneath. The cinnabar, or quicksilver ore, is thrown into the boiler, where it is left from thirty to forty hours, by which time it is smelted, and the quicksilver, in a fluid state, is drawn off in vessels, afte the manner observed in iron foundries. The ore does not require to be crushed, except to a convenient size for the boilers.

The color of the ore is vermillion, resembling red chalk, immense piles of which are constantly on hand, prepared for the smelting process, and which not unfreqently yields fifty per cent-sometimes the net profits yielding as high as $1,000 per day. The mine is worked by Mexicans and Chileans, who carry the ore in raw hide sacks, upon their shoulders, from the bottom of the vein to the opening above, a distance of betwee three and four hundred feet. The mine is probably the richest in the world, and with the same facilities and machinery used elsewhere, would yield most enormously far beyond even what is now produced.

At one time during the past season, there were 8,000 cargas, or mule loads, of the

ore laying at the mouth of the mine, each carga being three hundred pounds, or an ag gregate of 2,400,000 pounds. At an average yield of fifty per cent the product would be 1,200,000 pounds of pure quicksilver, which, at a market value of $1 per pound, would yield the enormous sum of $1,200,000. This finds its way to market in one direction and another, but its value is enhanced by the fact that California itself affords a good market, large quantities being used in separating fine particles of gold from the sand and dirt, and which cannot be procured in the ordinary process of washing.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO WHALEMEN.

We are indebted to Lieutenant M. F. MAURY for the following official papers, em bracing much valuable information in relation to the latitude and longitude of the whaling ground in the different oceans, &c. They were received just after the number of our journal was made up for the month of May; but their permanent value and interest entitle them to an enduring record in the pages of the Merchants' Magazine. NATIONAL OBSERVATORY, Washington, April 16, 1851.

SIR-I have the honor to enclose, for your official action, the accompanying “Notice to Whalemen," which is derived from the investigations that have been carried on at this office, with regard to the migratory habits and places of resort of the whale— sperm and right.

I have reason to believe that the right whale of the southern hemisphere is quite a different animal from that of the northern; that the two are separated by (to them) an impassable barrier. I have also reason to suspect, from results that have been elicited in the course of these investigations, that the same whale which is taken in Behring's Straits, is taken in Baffin's Bay also; and if this be so, these investigations prove, beyond question, that this animal cannot pass from the one region to the other, except through the Artic Ocean; and hence we are entitled to infer that there is, at times at least, an open water communication between these straits and bay-in other words, that there is a north-west passage.

This interesting piece of circumstantial evidence, in favor of a passage there, was called to the notice of Lieutenant De Haven, when he left this office to take command of the expedition in search of Sir John Franklin and his companions. So much was that enterprising officer impressed with the importance of this suggestion, and the considerations growing out of it, that he expressed the intention, after reaching the Artic sea, to observe closely the habits of the whale, and should these fish be observed to take a westwardly course to use them as pilots by the way.

The wind and current charts give me reason to conjecture that the whalemen who attempt to cruise in high southern latitudes will find it a region of heavy weather, for though our researches have not yet been extended to that quarter, the results attained with regard to the trade winds, indicate, that in the general system of atmospherical circulation the prevailing winds are less liable to interruption, and that the general system of circulation is more active in the southern than in the northern hemisphere; and, therefore, it may be suggested, by way of precaution, that none but staunch, wellfitted, and sound vessels, should undertake the high southern cruise.

(Signed,)

Respectfully, &c.,

M. F. MAURY, Lieut. U. S. Navy. Com. L. WARINGTON, Chief of Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography.

NOTICE TO WHALEMEN.

Captain Daniel McKenzie, of New Bedford, and George Manning, of New York, have been engaged, for a year or two, in procuring for this office information from whalers, and others, concerning navigation and the industrial pursuits of the sea.

The log books containing this information have been used here by Lieutenants Herndon, Leigh, and Fleming, of the Navy, in making a chart to show when and where our whalemen have searched for whales; when and where they have found them; with what abundance; and whether in schools or alone.

This chart divides the ocean into districts of 5° latitude, by 5° longitude-perpendicularly through each of which districts are twelve colums, for the twelve months; and horizontally through each of which districts are three lines, one to show the num

to show the number of days in which whales, sperm or right, have been seen. ber of days that have been spent, in each month, in every district; and the two others

A.

85° W.

Dec.

Jan.

Feb. March. April. May. June.

July.

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

11

No. of days (Sperm....

18

0

whales seen

Right..

0

0

200

111

9

881

70

56

56

2

1

0

P.

50

080

New York, Capt. D. McKenzie, New Bedford, who will supply them with copies of this notice. Whalemen are, therefore, requested not to use the newspaper accounts; but to apply to G. Manning, N. B.-There are some mistakes in the "Notice to Whalemen," as published by the newspapers.

10° S.

B.

600

1922

400

600

0

000

Ο

0

600

25

No. of days (Sperm

3

....

whales seen Right..

27

...

7

1

00

16

The above is an extract from the chart, which, not being ready for publication, nevertheless affords information that I have thought might prove of some value to the great national interest which attaches to the American whaling business.

It will appear from the above sample that I have examined the log books of whalers, who, altogether have spent 1,131 days in the district (N,) between the equator and 5° N. 80°, and 85° W., without ever having seen a right whale.

In the district (M.) that joins it on the south, sperm whales have been seen in every month of the year; but less frequently in April, May, August, and October. This too is a place to which right whales never come, and it appears that the district (P.) which joins this one immediately on the south, is much frequented by the sperm whale, all the year round, but only now and then by a straggling right, in January.

If the information afforded by the great number of vessels, whose logs have chanced to be examined for these districts, be a fair sample of what the whole would show, as it is supposed to be, then it would appear altogether useless to look here for right whales; or in the first mentioned district (N,) either for right or sperm.

In the sample marked B, off the west coast of South America, between 40° and 50° S., 75° and 80° W., it appears that the upper district, (Q,) is not much frequented by the whalers in May, June, and July, nor by the whales in January, February, and March, except sperm, which are most abundant in March, April, and August. Whether it be a place of much resort for either kind in May, June, and July, we have not found log-books enough to show.

It is almost of as much importance for whalemen to know where whales are not to be found, as to know where they are; for this is a case in which negative information is almost as valuable as that which is positive.

I have, therefore, selected from the whale chart those districts of the ocean in which most whales have been found in former years; whether they have changed their place of resort, my information does not enable me to say.

But according to the chart, which is constructed for the whole ocean, in the manner already explained, these are places in which most whales have been found, and which it may be supposed now afford the best whaling grounds.

As to whether the right whales are to be found in the high northern latitudes in our winter, or in high southern latitudes in our summer, when the whalemen do not visit such latitudes, of course the chart does not show. Thus, between 50° and 60°, X, and 155° W., we only know that whales are abundant from May to September, inclusive. We know not as to the other months, because the night and cold then drive the whalemen from this part of the ocean, and we cannot say anything as to the numbers in which the fish resort there then. The charts are, therefore, silent on the subject.

It is the same at the south, in its seasons; that is, when it is winter there the whalemen abandon the high latitudes; and seek their game in a more genial climate. But, seeing the abundance of whales in the Greenland and Arctic seas, in our summer season, and seeing that they have not been sought for in similar latitudes south, I invite the attention of whalemen to the subject of southern whaling, in south summer time.

Below the parallel of 50° S.-indeed, with here and there an exception—I might say that, below the parellel of 48°, S., the whale chart is a blank; consequently few vessels go beyond that parallel. The indications to the chart are, that somewhere to the south of these parallels, and between these meridians, as given below, whales are probably to be found in considerable numbers, if not in greater quantities, namely:

Below 48° S. from 25° W. to 10° E. A.
Below 50 S. from 45 E. to 60 E. B.
Below 45 S. from 120 E. to 140 E. C.
Below 50 S. from 160 E. to 150 W. D.

In view of all the information before me, I would suggest the following, as a very inviting route, or cruise, for a vessel that finds herself on the whaling ground of the South Atlantic, in our fall months:--

She can cruise in the region A, of the last mentioned table; and from that, but still keeping well down to the south, pass rapidly on, unless she finds whales by the way, to the region B.

A week or two here will satisfy her as to the prospect for whales.

Entering the region C, more time might be spent in it, crossing different parallels, taking care to keep well to the south.

After having cruised, and tried sufficiently in region C, the favorite region, the vessel may then "crack on" for region D, and when this region is explored the season at the south will probably be over.

* And in Behring's Straits.

+ This region is particularly attractive.