of the mine, who showed me about-showed me the excavation from whence he had taken the ore-and gave me two or three specimens of the ore, some of which I brought away.

Before visiting the mine, Capt. Leidesdorff and myself had had some conversation together with regard to purchasing the mine. When there, I spoke slightly with Castillero on the subject, and Mr. Hinckley also said something to him at greater length, tending to the same end, but Castillero was not at all disposed to converse about selling.

At this time, I think, Castillero was engaged in building a house below in the valley, to be used for the occupation of himself or workmen. He also went through the process, roughly, of extracting the quicksilver from the ore, by putting some on red-hot iron and collecting the fumes in a cup. We remained there perhaps some two hours.

Ques. 9.-As I presume about that time you were a stranger to the Spanish laws on the subject of mining, perhaps your curiosity was excited to learn something on that subject: you will please to state whether you received any information as to the mode in which titles to mines were then acquired, and what, if any, steps had been taken by Castillero in acquiring the ownership of his mine.

Ans.-I learned from Castillero that he held the mine under a denouncement. I then, for the first time, became acquainted with the Spanish system of acquiring mines by denouncement. Whether I learned this in answer to questions propounded by me to Castillero, or whether he volunteered the statement, I do not now remember. The impression distinctly and strongly remained upon my mind, as a piece of knowledge acquired at that time, and which I afterwards made use of in this State during my operations in 1849.

The discovery of gold in the rock was first made in 1849, on my Mariposa tract; it was considered that that discovery was the first of the kind in California. In the uncertainty respecting titles in California which then existed, I denounced the mine before Judge Geary in San Francisco; before Alcalde May in San José, and before the Alcalde in Stockton, whose name I do not remember. That vein is now known as the Old Mariposa, or Fremont vein, near the town of Mariposa. I made these denouncements entirely upon the information which I derived, at the time spoken of, from Castillero. When I left California, in 1847, the gold placers had not been discovered; I heard of it as I was leaving the western frontier of the United States, in 1848, to return to California, where I arrived in the spring of 1849.

Ques. 10.-When did you return from the mine to Yerba Buena; how long did you remain, and where go to from there?

Ans.-I returned directly from the mine to Yerba Buena, which place I left about sundown of the 24th of January, 1846, in company with Capt. Leidesdorff and Capt. Hinckley, remained that night at Sanchez Ranch. In the morning Capt. Hinckley returned to Yerba Buena, and Capt. Leidesdorff and myself continued our journey to San José, where we stopped for the night at Suñol's house. The next night we spent with Mr. Gomez, in the Cañada San Juan; and the day following, the 27th, we reached Mr. Larkin's house, at Monterey. I there called on Gen. Castro, and the Prefect Manuel Castro.

Ques. 11.-After your visit to the mine, did you converse with Capt. Leidesdorff respecting the purchase of the mine? Ans. I did. On the journey to Monterey I talked the subject over with him, but the amount required was larger than At that time the mine was exceptional to any my means. other kind of property; everything else-such as land, cattle, etc.-being very low, and of little exchangeable value; while the mine was considered as something of immense value, compared with other property. Thirty thousand dollars, which was the sum for which Leidesdorff supposed the mine might be purchased, was considered an immense sum of money in California in those days. This circumstance gave great prominence to the mine.

Ques. 12.-Since January, 1846, have you ever been to the mine?

Ans. I think not. I have been in its neighborhood.

Ques. 13.-What was the name of the mine in January, 1846; do you remember?

Ans.-I do not remember that I heard it designated other than the quicksilver mine. I never at that time heard it called the Almaden, so far as I can recollect. This latter designation stands, in my mind, as one subsequently given.

[Trans. 2678.]

We now resume Mr. Chard's testimony. This witness remained in the employment of the owners of the mine from the time he first went to open it, in November or December, 1845, until August or September, 1846. He was first employed at the mine itself, which is some thousand or twelve hundred feet above what he calls the creek. He went there to open the mine. He superintended the labors of the Indians. While so engaged, the possession of the mine was given. Three or four weeks after that event he went down on the creek, where he constructed a simple reducing establishment.

During his stay there, he says, "I was building houses; I built a furnace and smelted the ore; got out some quicksilver, I should judge three or four tons of quicksilver in the pot; it was one of a whaler's try-pots. We burnt it out under trypots; that is, we first made a well, and put at the bottom of it a trough full of water; then we had part of a copper still, which went down into the water in the trough, and there were bars of iron laid across the mouth of the well, and the ore piled on top of them; made the pile the size of the pot, and covered it with the pot turned upside down; we then piled the wood on the top of and around the pot, set fire to the wood, and in that way we got out from three to four tons. The top of the copper still was attached and came up to the iron bars over the top of the well, and the vapor was forced through the pipe into the water by heat."-Trans. 1070.

He testifies that, according to the best of his recollection, while he was at the mine and reducing establishment, that is to say, from December, 1845, to August, 1846, there were employed on an average, at both places, about ten or twelve men, principally Indians. Only one white man, besides himself, was employed,—a blacksmith, whom they used to call "Old Billy."-Direct Exam. Trans. 1069.

We have been thus far particular in citing the testimony of Mr. Chard, because he is a witness upon whose statements perfect reliance may be placed; and for the further reason, that he gives us a history of the operations at the mine, from a period anterior to the act of possession, down to and beyond the military occupation of the northern part of California by the Americans.

IV. Castillero having thus discovered, registered and opened the mine, obtained juridical possession of it, and started its operations (on a simple and small scale, it is true, yet in the only manner that the resources of California in those days would permit,) embraced the first opportunity of making known his discovery to the Mexican Government. This occurred in the departure of the brig Hannah, on the 7th March, 1846, from the port of Monterey for Mazatlan. She arrived in Monterey about the middle of February, 1846, as

we may infer from Castillero's letter to General Vallejo, of the 21st of that month, by which the latter is informed that a brigantine-schooner had arrived, bringing communications from the Government to Castillero and General Castro. "This vessel," Castillero adds, "will sail shortly, and will carry communications of what has occurred lately. Myself or Piña will leave in it, or both together. I am only detained waiting the arrival of the division, which may reach here in a day or two. Tell me what commands you have for the capital, and I shall execute them faithfully in person, or order Piña to do so, as the circumstances may be."-Vallejo's Dep. ans. 5, Trans. 2605.

In this letter Castillero informs Vallejo that the Republic is in perfect peace. In his letter of the 11th March, 1846, to General Vallejo, Castillero informs him that "Piña embarked on the 4th of this month, in Monterey, and was dispatched in perfect order. He will travel post to Mexico" [Trans. 2605]. Castillero wrote this letter in Santa Clara. The vessel (Hannah) had not, as he supposed, sailed on the 4th of March. Her departure was delayed at the instance of the American Consul at Monterey, Thomas O. Larkin, Esq., for several days, to enable Captain Fremont to send home his dispatches. The Hannah sailed from Monterey for Mazatlan on the 7th March, 1846. [See Vallejo's Dep. Trans. 2605, Exh. No. 4; Swasey's Dep. Trans. 2659, Exh. No. 1; F. Larkin's Dep. Trans. 3018]. She arrived at Mazatlan April 1st, 1846.-See Castillo y Lanzas' Dep. ans. 687, Trans. 2353.

Concerning the person named Piña, of whom Castillero speaks, General Vallejo says: "He was Lieutenant (Alferez) of the Permanent Cavalry. He was for a long time adjutant, and was a most excellent officer of artillery. I know that he left California in 1846, and never returned. I have heard, and believe, that he was killed at the battle of Cerro Gordo. His name was Lazaro Piña.”—Trans. 2599.

By this officer, who was under Castillero's orders, and who was dispatched by him to the Government, Castillero doubtless. transmitted the letters written from the Mission of Santa Clara, on the 19th and 22d February, 1846, to the ex-President Herrera; a copy of extracts from which, together with a copy of Castillero's letter to Don Tomas Ramon del Moral, dated Mis

sion of Santa Clara, February 19th, 1846, were by the latter laid before the Junta de Fomento de Mineria on or about the 21st April, 1846, giving them the first information of Castillero's discovery. The specimens of cinnabar furnished to the Junta at the same time by Señor Moral, were also, beyond doubt, taken to Mexico by Sergeant Piña.

Castillero in a short time followed Piña to Mexico. He sailed from Monterey on the 3d April, 1846, in the barque Don Quixote, John Paty, master, under charter by the Mexican Government, and arrived at Acapulco on the 21st of that month. Castillero went to Mexico, where he must have arrived in the first days of May. The barque remained at Acapulco till the 18th May, awaiting his return to that place; his intention, when he left there, being to come back in her to California. Paty's Dep. ans. 4, 25; Trans. 424, 427.

Castillero's arrival in the capital had been preceded by the letters and specimens which he had sent by Piña. When he got there, he found that the Junta de Fomento, having on or about the 21st April been put in possession of such parts of those lettters as related to his important discovery, and of the specimens which accompanied them, had already caused the latter to be assayed by the Professor of Chemistry in the National College of Mexico, and ascertained their surprising richness; so that, when he reached the Capital, the Government fully appreciated the great value of the mineral deposit he had discovered. Accordingly, on the 6th May, 1846, he presented himself in person before the Junta de Fomento, and made a verbal report concerning the mine, stating what aid he required from the Government to develope its resources. The Junta, at its session of that day, requested him to make his propositions in writing. On the 12th May, he handed in to the Junta his propositions in the desired form. They consisted of nine articles. The first six related to the advance of a small sum of money, and certain flasks, by the Junta. The seventh was, that the Supreme Government should approve the mining possession which had been given him by the authorities in California. The eighth, that the Supreme Government should grant him, as a colonist, two square leagues of land on his mining possession.-Trans. 1800.