Don Jose Rafael Gonzales, there are coal beds; and at St. Pablo, on the Bay of San Francisco, there are others. At the mission of St. John's, twenty-five miles north of Monterey, there are large beds or mines of sulphur. Other mines have also been discov. ered near the town of Sanoma-at the northern extremity of the Bay of San Francisco-where, I am informed, pieces of about a pound in weight have been found, perfectly pure, and without any admixture of extraneous matter. Fifty to eighty miles north of Monterey, there are said to be several silver mines. Twenty miles east of the same place, there are mines of silver and lead, which have been gotten out, but not separated. On the southeast end of the Island of Catalina is a mine from which some silver has been successfully extracted. There are several places throughout California where asphaltum is obtained, and is used for roofing and flooring houses, first mixing it with sand. 66 "I have in these places," says my informant, "seen many rab. bits, squirrels and birds, half buried in the pitch (asphaltum.) where they soon die." A few miles north of Santa Barbara, the sea, for four or five miles, is colored by the asphaltum oozing from the banks and running several miles upon the coast. Five or six miles from the Pueblo de San Jose, and near the mission of Santa Clara, there are mines of red and yellow cinnabar (quicksilver ore,) discovered in 1845, by Don Andreas Castellero, of Mexico. The place had been known for eighteen years, and was supposed, by the Californians, to be a silver mine. In 1845, Don Andreas Castellero being in the vicinity, heard that the mountain contained rock different from any other in that region-went to examine it-immediately denounced it before the nearest alcalde, and then made known what it contained. This ore has produced from 25 to 30 per cent of pure metal, from very imperfect experiments. The result was obtained by pounding the red ore to about the size of a large pea and putting it into an old gun-barrel, the muzzle end of which was immersed in a pot of water, and the other part submitted to the action of a strong fire-a plate in the bottom of the pot receiving the mercury, which was afterwards strained through a silk handkerchief. The red ore produces far better results than the yellow. A much more indifferent method produces about 15 per cent. The process is as follows:-Upon a shallow wooden tank, containing water, is piled sufficient of the ore to fill a whaler's try-pot, which is covered over the heap and cemented well around what is now the bottom, with clay-a large quantity of wood is put upon the pot-fired, and at the expiration of from fourteen to sixteen hours, the quicksilver is found in the tank. Much of this ore, however, is but little affected by the process, and if subjected to a proper analysis would yet yield largely. The mine is situated upon the top of a steep mountain, a mile or more from the plain, to which the ore is brought down on mules. Near the town of Sanoma, about sixty miles from the entrance of the Bay of San Francisco, there are other mines, the rock or ore of which is of a greyish cast. I am informed that its yield, with the same imperfect experiments, is fully equal to the San Jose mines, which are represented to be inexhaustible. The Indians have brought to the mission of St. John's lead ore by the blanket full-refusing to tell from whence they brought it. On the rancho of Captain Richardson, the north side of the entrance of the Bay of San Francisco, there is lead. My informant writes:-"I have seen a piece of some two or three pounds, said to be from the rancho of Captain Richardson, at San Francisco; this piece was full of pebble stones, which, when taken out by a nail or knife, left the lead entirely pure, and indented like honey-comb." On the Sacramento River there is much slate of the best quality. At San Fernando, near San Pedro, by washing the sand in a plate, any person can obtain from one to five dollars per day of gold, which brings, in the United States, seventeen dollars per ounce. The gold has been gathered for two or three years, although but few (at least of the native Californians) have the patience to look for it. There is not the least doubt in my mind, from all the information I was enabled to obtain during my short stay in California, that gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, lead, sulphur, asphaltum and coal, are to be found in all that region; and I am confident that when it becomes settled (as it soon will be) by Americans, that its mineral developments will greatly exceed, in richness and variety, the most sanguine expectations. The Indians have always said there were mines, but refused to give their locality, and the Californians did not choose, or have been too lazy, to look for them. Indolence and poverty have prevented the working of those already discovered. Art. VII.-PLANK ROADS-NEW IMPROVEMENT. NOTHING is more essential to the prosperity of a city than good roads. They form a system of arteries and veins, drawing all to the great centre. Their importance was well understood by the ancients. Athens, Lacedæmonia, Thebes and other States of Greece, bestowed much attention upon them. The Carthagenians are said to have originated paved roads, and Rome followed and extended the process of their construction. Under Julius Cæsar, the seat of government was connected with all the chief towns, with paved roads. During the African war, a paved road was made from Spain, through Gaul, to the Alps. This was followed up afterwards, by lines of communication to every important point, even to the mouths of the Danube. Seas did not daunt the enterprise of these people. Good roads were made on the shores of the continent of Europe. England was intersected, and penetrated at important points. The first road constructed there, was made by Roman hands. This glorious example was neglected by the Britons. Roads were allowed to go to decay, and no new ones to take their place. For centuries following, mere paths over the natural surface of the earth were used, similar to those usually found at the new settlements of the West, called Indian trails. It so remained until the sixteenth century, when, under Charles II., the first turnpike road was established in England, and tolls allowed to be received. One hundred years ago, most of the goods were conveyed on pack-horses. As late as 1770, Arthur Young, in his Travels, over the road where the Manchester and Liverpool Railway is now constructed, wrote the following. He said: - "I have not, in the whole range of language, terms sufficiently expressive to describe this infernal road. Let me most seriously caution all travellers, who may accidentally propose to travel this way, to avoid it as they would the devil. For a thousand to one they break their necks, or their limbs, by overthrows or breaking-down. They will here meet with ruts, which I actually could not fathom, floating with mud. The only mending it receives, is tumbling in some loose stones, which serves no other purpose than jolting a carriage in the most intolerable manner. These are not merely opinions, but facts; for I actually passed three carts broken down in these eighteen miles of execrable memory." The last fifty years have changed the character of all the principal roads in England. A revolution has commenced, which is still progressing, in road-making, and every improvement made, is immediately fostered by government. What has been said of England's neglect of roads, will apply equally to the United States. Previous to 1790, roads were neglected throughout the country, and but little attention to scientific principle was given in their construction. Some thirty years back, they began to be laid out under special acts of the various States, and, in many instances, charters were given for the erection of toll-gates. The greatest improvements in roads have taken place since McAdam's method of using broken stone has been introduced. The building of the national road by government, on this plan, contributed to its general introduction among us. This has proved too expensive on common country roads. None but great public thoroughfares can support their cost. Even this has been superseded by railroads, and they are fast becoming neglected except in cities. The dust in summer and mud in winter, produced by broken stone, being objectionable in streets, a resort to wooden blocks was made, as an experiment, in 1839, by many city corporations; among others, New York, Boston and Rochester. They apparently worked well for a few months, and all were delighted with the move; no dust, no mud, and no noise. Time, however, has too truly proved their unfitness. The great want of some cheap method to construct roads in the country, where the McAdam plan would be too expensive, has been long felt, and many minds have given it deep reflection. The plank road system originated in Canada, in 1835. The Commissioner of Highways, in repairing a road, found it difficult to devise any way to better the condition of a few rods of quick-sand. He tried various experiments without much success. Finally, he conceived the idea of sinking heavy timber and planking it, similar to bridging, except he filled the vacancy between the sleepers or sills with stone and earth, in order to let the plank lay solid upon it. He watched the operation of it with interest, and found he had overcome the quick-sand trouble. At the end of two years, the plank still remained solid. He then tried the same experiment over a marshy soil. It worked well. From this, he was convinced of the efficacy of a common road made of plank. A company was formed soon after, for the construction of a plank road from Toronto to the river Rouse, which was finished in 1839. It met public expectation. Another was built from Whitly to Lake Ontario; one from London to Godrick; another from Coburg to Rice Lake; one finished from the Rapids, on the St. Lawrence, from Coto de Lac to about 16 miles long; and one from Longuile to Chambly, commencing three miles below Montreal, which is 15 miles long. They have been sufficiently tested to the satisfaction of all, as being the best roads ever made for ordinary passage, and capable of being used next to railroad, in expedition of travel. In the United States, but little has ever been known of them, until three years ago, except by visiters to Canada, who always spoke of them in high commendation. The Rochester Democrat, in 1843, contained several letters in reference to them, written by a gentleman of that city, who was travelling through Canada. The letters were extensively copied by the press, and the adoption of them into this country urged. Since then, charters have been obtained for the construction of three roads in the State of New York, viz.: one from Buffalo to Aurora; another from Buffalo to Lancaster; the third from Salina to Brewerton. The last mentioned is the only one now constructed in the United States. It is 12 miles long. George Geddes, of Onondaga county, was the engineer. As the subject is becoming a topic of much interest throughout this State, the mode of con struction is of interest. We extract from a letter of Mr. Geddes to a friend : "In case it is expected that a very great amount of travel is to pass over the road, two tracks, each eight feet wide, will be required; but it is not probable that any road coming into your town will require more than one track; at any rate for more than a few miles out of town. It is difficult to persuade a man, who has not seen the thing tried, that one track is entirely sufficient, except in cases of an extraordinary amount of travel; but it is so, and the road out of Salina has but one track, except over places where proper earth could not be obtained with which to make a road alongside of the plank. Over the light sand plains, where, in dry weather, a wagon would cut into the sand, we laid two tracks; but over clay or common earth, we laid but one; and during the very rainy autumn just past, our road has constantly been in good order for teams to turn out. "In case there is so much travel that common earth cannot be kept in good order for turning out-then the tolls paid by that travel will compensate for the cost of the second track; so that the interests of the public and the owners meet, and the thing will regulate itself. If the second track is required, then its cost will be a good investment. "There is another particular in which the public interests and the interests of the owners go together-the tolls. The charter of the Salina road allows the Directors to regulate the tolls within certain limits; in summer we exact threefourths, and in winter, one-half the sum allowed us from vehicles drawn by two animals. It is our interest to encourage such an amount of travel as to insure the wearing out, rather than the rotting out of our timber, and by taxing the travel lightly, we increase the amount. "The track is laid on one side of the road, so that teams coming into town keep it, and teams going out yield it, in passing. The tonnage being chiefly in one direction, it is generally the unloaded teams that have to do all the turning out. "The plank are of hemlock, eight feet long and four inches thick, laid crosswise of the road, on sills four inches square. The earth is broken up and made fine, the sills are bedded into it, and the surface graded smooth; the plank are then laid on the sills, care being taken that the earth is up to and touches the plank at every point. This is important, for if any space be left for air under the plank, or alongside the sills, dry rot follows. I saw, in Canada, a road that had been worn out, and was being rebuilt. The sills were good and the plank were sound on the under side, save where air had supplied the place of earth, and there they were destroyed by rot. The plank having been laid, the next thing is to grade a road some ten or twelve feet wide on one side, and two or three on the other, by taking earth from the ditches on each side, and bringing it, by a ditchscraper, just up to and even with the upper side of the plank, so that if a wheel runs off the track, it passes upon a smooth surface of earth. The ends of the plank should not be laid even, but a part should project from two to four inches by the general line, to prevent a rut being cut just along the ends of the plank. If the ends of the plank are even, and a small rut is made, the wheel of a loaded wagon will scrape along the ends for some distance before it will rise up to the top of the plank, unless the wagon moves in a direction nearly across the road; but if the wheel cannot move two feet forward without coming square against the edge of a projecting plank, the difficulty of getting on the road is avoided. It is not necessary to pin or spike the plank to the sill. "Perfect drainage must be secured, and to that end the ditches must be deep and wide, and good sluices wherever water crosses the road. This is the important point-drain perfectly. "As to the cost of such a road, I will answer you by giving you a copy of my estimate for the Salina road, which very considerably exceeded the actual cost. It is proper to inform you this road was made upon the bed of an old road. filled in many places with stone and logs. The right of way cost us nothing. The esti mate was for plank three or four inches thick. Where we laid two tracks, we laid one of them with three inch plank, but the main track was four inches thick. It is economy to use thick plank if the travel is sufficient to wear out the road, but if it is to rot before it is worn out, then, of course, thin plank should be used. The Canada roads are generally three inches thick, and are made of pine, and last about eight years. ESTIMATE OF THE COST OF A SINGLE TRACK PLANK ROAD, EIGHT FEET WIDE, FOR ONE MILE: "We did not let out to contractors the construction of our road, for the reason that we were very desirous of securing the bedding of the timber perfectly, a thing that my observation in Canada satisfied me was not always done, when the work was made by the rod; and as plank road making was a new business, no person was willing to undertake the work at the price estimated. By doing our work by the day, we not only secured its perfect construction in this particular, but we saved some thousands of dollars in the cost. After we had acquired experience and skill, we reduced the cost of grading and laying the road to from thirty to fifty cents a rod, including construction of sluices and bridges, and grubbing, and in short, everything but materials and superintendence. "If you make plank roads, I advise you by all means to do the work by the day, and put at the head of the business, a man who is fully competent to engineer and direct the whole matter. The variation of a few inches in the line of a road, may tell largely in the cost of construction. The lumber you can best obtain by dividing the road into eighty-rod sections, staking them out and letting them to the most favorable proposers-the lumber to be distributed along the line equally as near as may be, as it is delivered. "As to the value of plank roads to the public and to the owners, I can best answer you by saying that I have seen a McAdamized road taken up, eight feet in width, to make room for a plank track-and by informing you that men who have travelled over the best roads in England, say that there is not in Great Britain as good a road as the Salina Plank Road." The Longuil and Chambly plank road in Canada, was relaid the past season, after a wear of eight years. The income of the road paid a divi |