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APPENDIX.

THE BULLION PRODUCT.

Estimates of the bullion product of the country are as vague and variable as ever. In my last report I discussed at length the different methods by which it has been attempted to ascertain our production of gold and silver, and vindicated the estimates at which I had arrived by laborious and careful comparisons. I shall not here repeat the argument, but merely recall the fact that I showed the insufficiency of the data obtained by adding together the amount of domestic gold and silver deposited for coinage at the Mint and branches, and the reported amount of uncoined gold and silver bullion exported through the custom-house.

I shall give these figures for the year 1871 presently; but first I will quote a statement courteously furnished me by Mr. John J. Valentine, general superintendent at San Francisco, of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express. Mr. Valentine says:

With a view to ascertaining as accurately as possible the product of precious metals for 1871, in the States and Territories west of the Missouri River, I have caused statements to be carefully prepared at each of the company's offices showing the amount shipped monthly during the year named, viz, 1871. The results are :

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I submit the following as an approximately correct statement and estimate combined of the total yield of precious metals for the States and Territories of the United States west of the Missouri River, excepting New Mexico, for which I have no data,. viz:

Arizona shipments.

Estimate like amount forwarded by other routes and conveyances...

British Columbia shipments....

Estimate 20 per cent. by other conveyances

Colorado-excessive if any variation...

California...

Estimate 20 per cent. for undervaluation and by other conveyances..
Idaho...

Estimate 20 per cent. by other conveyances.

Montana..

Estimate 20 per cent. by other conveyances..

$163,739 03

163,739 93 1,349,580 83

269,916 16 3,046, 917 32 16, 399, 354 89 3,279,870 77 2,408,001 58 481,600 31 4,060, 929 00 812, 185 80

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I am confident that the allowance of 20 per cent. for, we may say, undervaluation and other conveyances, is a liberal concession, and that the total product did not exceed the above amount.

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I take leave to differ widely in many points from these estimates, and for most of my corrections of them I have positive evidence. Mr. Valentine's addition of 20 per cent. for undervaluations and private shipments may be sufficient for California, but it seems far too little for Idaho and Montana, while for Colorado he makes no such allowance at all, but transfers the exact amount of the express shipments from his first to his second table, with the enigmatical comment, "excessive, if any variation." If this means anything, it means that the Colorado shipments of bullion are overvalued, and that the amounts upon which express charges are paid exceed the total amount produced! By comparing his figures with those given in my chapter on Colorado it will be seen that he ignores $923,000 shipped in matte, $500,000 shipped in ores, and $100,000 used by manufacturers, and that the product of the Territory is consequently about $1,523,000 more than he calculates.

With regard to Utah this statement is equally imperfect. He estimates the shipments of ores and base bullion at $1,000,000. This is a mere guess, and not a successful one. The shipments of ore from Salt Lake City in 1871 amounted to 10,806 tons, averaging at least $150 silver per ton, and the shipments of base bullion amounted to 2,378 tons, averaging $175 silver per ton. This gives us $1,620,900 as the value of the ores and $316,150 as the value of the base bullion, to which should be added $500,000 for the lead contained in ores and bars. The total of these items is $2,437,050, against $1,000,000 in Mr. Valentine's estimate. Considering that he makes apparently but $6,000 allowance for undervaluations and private shipments, it is quite within bounds to say that the product of Utah for 1871 was about $2,800,000, instead of $1,357,437, as he has it.

The express shipments from Arizona he doubles to obtain the total yield. I have direct evidence that this result is too small, and though I cannot say precisely how much too small it is, I believe my estimate is near the truth.

The British Columbia shipments are omitted from my table.

The product of New Mexico, omitted by Mr. Valentine, was about $500,000, and the product of Wyoming, also omitted by him, was about $100,000.

In calculating for the whole country, east and west, I add, under the head of "other sources," $200,000 to cover the product of the southern States, and the extraction of silver from lead-ores not otherwise taken into the calculation.

My estimate of the gold and silver production of the United States for the year 1871 is as follows, compared with former years:

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I exclude from the statement for 1871 the product of the smeltingworks at Wyandotte, Michigan, which is believed to amount to $800,000, because the ores there reduced are obtained from Silver Islet, on the north coast of Lake Superior, and outside of the United States. Further comment upon the above figures is unnecessary. It is evident that the product from placer-mining has continued to fall off, and that there has been a great advance in those districts which are chiefly occupied with quartz mining. In California the placer and hydraulic mines have continued to suffer from lack of water; and the reduced product of that State is probably not to be taken as a measure of actual decline in these branches of mining.

The amount of gold and silver coined at the mints of the United States during the year ended December 31, 1871, is shown by the following tables furnished by the chief coiner:

Statement of deposits and coinage at the Mint of the United States, and branches, during the year ended December 31, 1871.

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I have not been able to obtain the exact figures of the domestic gold and silver deposited for coinage. The following is the amount, as given by the Alta California, of refined gold and silver deposited in the United States branch mint during 1871 by the San Francisco Assaying and Refining Works:

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This gives the large amount of $19,120,397.57 refined, and $783,222.37 was sold for Japan, China, and else

where.

The following, from the Commercial Herald of San Francisco, gives a comparative view of the coinage at the branch mint in that city for the years 1868, 1869, 1870, and 1871, as follows:

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The coinage of the mints is undoubtedly in excess of the domestic deposits of bullion for coinage, since deposits of United States coin, &c., are also recoined.

From the reports of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department I have compiled the following statement of the imports, exports, and re-exports of the precious metals during the year ending December 31, 1871:

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