2655

Report of the Ruby Drift Gravel Mine, Sierra County, 1879

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 600.00 USD
Report of the Ruby Drift Gravel Mine, Sierra County, 1879
SHIPPING & HANDLING: Shipping and Handling cannot be estimated prior to invoicing, based on the size and weight of your purchase. All shipping is subject to a minimum charge of $19.00. If additional shipping and handling costs are required, the buyer will be reinvoiced for the balance due. Items are not shipped until the invoice is completely paid. Many buyers purchase a number of lots. Every effort will be made to include all lots in a single shipping charge calculated to cover the weight and size of the package(s). NOTE: Some shipments (of unusual size, dimension, or weight) may require sp...
Very rare. By Henry C. Perkins. 8vo, 24pp., with inserted descriptive leaflet: “This property is located on the well-known Blue Lead, in Sierra County, California. It is immediately North of the Bald Mountain claim, which was opened in the year 1872, and has since yielded from the workings of say 3,000 feet of channel, $1,510,809.33, gross, and dividends, being at the rate of $500 gross, and $220 net for each linear channel worked….the Blue Lead passes through the Ruby Ground for its entire length.” By fall of 1849 the miners working Hangtown Creek had discovered a stratum of ancient river gravel laying exposed on both sides of Spanish Hill which separates Hangtown and Weber creeks. They observed a distinctive blue color to these gravels which they soon discovered paid well, especially where the Blue Lead rested on bedrock. The leaflet, dated Jan. 1880, is signed by the President, Hamilton Smith Jr. and the Secretary. The leaflet describes location, planned developments and costs, expected profits and title. The report reviews a great deal on the Blue Lead and the adjacent Bald Mountain mining operations. On page 12 a list of other mines on the Blue Lead include: Alleghany, Pacific, Knickerbocker, Bay State, New York, Eureka and the Live Yankee along with number of feet on the channel, number of shares and price per share. “The Bald Mountain and Ruby mines were noted for the great amount of coarse gold contained in their gravels. This feature of the channel which flowed through them did not cease when the Bald Mountain was passed; but the channel continued to yield large rough nuggets in the claims lying south of the Bald Mountain and even as far south as Alleghany and beyond. In the Ruby mine the ancient channels followed this contact, and on the old company maps may be seen the words "Line of coarse gold," indicating the approximate line along which the large slugs were found. Pieces ranging from 10 to 45 oz. were commonly found here and one nugget was found which weighed 201.56 oz. A model of this nugget is in the museum of the California State Mining Bureau. These nuggets did not all come from the Bald Mountain and Ruby claims, by any means, but were liberated from the ledges followed and crossed by the channel”. Ref. Transactions of the AIME Vol. XLIX 1915, p. 256. Date: Location: Sierra County, California HWAC# 572033