th greater expense in obtaining, will
nevertheless pay well for working, when the same shall be worked by a
permanent settled population, aided by mechanical science. It is folly
in my opinion for a man to leave home and family, with all his home
interests, to go to California for a mere temporary sojourn for one or
two years. A man should take his family and household goods with him,
and make a permanent settlement, which would aid him very materially in
his business prospects. He would then remain in one location, and would
consequently save both time and money. And there is another gain in
locating more permanently, that is in acquiring a better knowledge of
his location. Every section of the mines has its distinct
characteristic, and a person having learnt the location and features of
gold deposits in one section, in removing to another will have to learn
this anew. When this fact is taken into consideration it will be quite
evident that a man will always succeed best when permanently located.
Any man of sober, industrious habits, who may make his home in
California, will in 10 years, with ordinary luck and health, and the
vicissitudes of life, acquire a fortune sufficiently ample to maintain
himself for the balance of his life in the old states, but many who
have resided for that length of time in California will be unwilling to
leave its beautiful climate to go back to the old states to live in
their variable climates.

Many conjectures have been put forth as to the cause of the deposits of
native gold on the surface, and many have asserted that it came there
by being thrown out of the craters of volcanoes. This idea is now
pretty much exploded amongst intelligent miners. It is evident that the
gold originally lay in the quartz mines, and has been loosened by the
action of fire decomposing the quartz, and by abrasion of the
atmosphere and water. In evidence of this it will be observed that in
those sections richest in melted or deposit gold, there are but few
gold bearing quartz veins, and those bearing evidence of great heat,
while in those locations rich in quartz veins, there is but little
surface gold, and that very fine, and generally found on the bars of
the rivers, and along their banks. The whole country has at some day
been in a state of fusion, as the quantity of cinders found in the
gulches bear ample testimony, and in those sections where the heat was
greatest, the quartz became intirely decomposed, al