In 1863 a great excitement was created by the discovery
of copper in the county, and one really worthy of the "good times" in mining
districts. All at once, nobody could tell why, a grand copper excitement
arose, which permeated the whole community. It was reported by various
parties that the mountains were full of the ores of copper of untold,
because of unknown, richness. Simultaneously with this grand discovery
every unemployed man turned prospector. Blankets and bacon. Beans and hard
bread rose to a premium, and the hills were lighted up at night with
hundreds of camp-fires. Hammers and picks were in great demand, and there
is ocular evidence even to this day that not a boulder or projecting rock
escaped the notice of the prospectors. It was a question of probabilities
that were bound soon to harden into certainties. Indeed, it was only a
short time before copper prospects were possessed of a definite value.
Claims were opened, companies formed, and stock issued on the most liberal
scale. Everything wore the couleur de rose. As usual upon similar
occasions, there was great strife about claims. Some were "jumped" on the
ground of some informality twice in twenty-four hours. Heavy prices were
paid for "choice" ground, and it is quite safe to say that old Mount
Diablo's sides and summit have never since borne such an enormous
valuation. It seemed as though the whole community had been bitten by the
mining tarantula. The excitement lasted for several weeks, growing fiercer
from day to day. Scores of men, laden with specimens, thronged the hotels
and saloons, and nothing was talked of but "big strikes" and "astounding
developments."
Clayton was the center of these mining operations, and
town lots were sold at high prices. The ruling price for shares in the
Pioneer was $4: in the Eureka, $3.50 and up. Hundreds of companies were
formed, and each had hosts of advocates. Shafts were sunk and some ore
obtained, and, according to one assay, "there was $48.33 in gold and $243 in
silver to the ton"! The first shipment of ore to San Francisco was in
September , 1863, of one ton, from the Pioneer claim. Smelting works were
erected at Antioch, and the following prices offered: For copper of
eight-per-cent quality, $15 per ton; for twelve-per-cent quality, $25 per
ton.
Men of experience and practical skill partook of the
illusion. All at once the bubble burst. The millionaires of the day left
their rude camps in the mountains, and, with ragged breeches and boots out
at the toes, subsided at once into despondency and less exciting
employment. The hotel - and - saloon-keepers, to say nothing of the
editors, proceeded to disencumber their premises of accumulated tons of
specimens of all kinds of "shiny rocks" to be found within an area of thirty
miles square, making quite a contribution to the paving material of the
streets.
Silver mines were staked out and partially worked in
1860. The first discovery of silver was made by l. H. Hastings, and was
taken from the east side of the mountain.
Paint deposits were discovered in 1862 by Doctor Hough,
of Martinez, on the banks of the El Hambre Creek. Specimens showed a large
number of distinct tints, or colors.
Petroleum wells were sunk near Antioch in 1865, and
much land covered with claims. In 1868 oil was also found on the ranch of
Dr. Carothers, about three miles from San Pablo, and not less than $25,000
was spent in experiments, fixtures, oil-tanks, retorts, distilleries, etc.,
but from all these discoveries oil in paying quantities has never been
obtained.
Salt was found at a spring near the Marsh ranch, and a
company was formed to conduct its operation, but we do not learn that any
success followed.
Lime quarries were opened, and in 1862 large quantities
of lime were manufactured in the neighborhood of Pacheco from stone found
about six miles from Mount Diablo. These quarries, opened in 1850, were the
first discovered in the State, and were very profitable.
The cement industry of California is showing a rapid
increase. The works of the Cowell Cement Company, one of the greatest
plants in the world, are located in Contra Costa County, between Concord and
Clayton. Several hundred men are constantly employed at these works, the
average annual pay-roll amounting to upward of a quarter of a million
dollars.
A railroad was built by the company for the purpose
of connecting its great works with the outside world. The road is a
standard-gauge line and connects with the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe,
and the Oakland, Antioch & Eastern lines at Bay Point, serving the needs of
the rich and fertile Clayton Valley.
In 1859, at Horse Haven Valley, six miles south of
Antioch, William C. Israel, in cleaning out a spring on his land, discovered
a vein of coal. In connection with his father and brother George, he opened
the vein for a short distance; but not having capital to work it, they
disposed of their interest to James T. Watkins, and one Noyes, who, either
from want of knowledge or resources, failed to open the vein so as to make
its operation successful. They abandoned the mine in 1861.
On December 22, 1859, at a distance of three and a
half miles west of Horse Haven Valley, Francis Somers and James T.
Cruikshank discovered the vein of coal which since became known as the Black
Diamond vein. Somers and Cruikshank and their associates, W. S Hawxhurst
and Samuel Adams, located the lands afterward known as the Manhattan and
Eureka coal mines. George Hawxhurst and George H. P. and William Henderson,
in company with Francis Somers, opened the outcropping of the same vein,
where were afterward developed the Black Diamond and Cumberland mines; but,
believing that the expense of making roads was beyond their means, they made
no attempt to secure title. The Black Diamond Mine was subsequently located
by Noah Norton, and the Cumberland mine went into the hands of Francis Such
and others. These coal lands, with others adjoining, became noted as the
Black Diamond Coal Mines.
Frank Such disposed of his interest in the
Cumberland Mine to C. T. Cutter, Asher Tyler, Josiah Sturgis, and L. C.
Wittenmeyer, all of Martinez. It was from their efforts and capital that
the Cumberland Mine was successfully opened and worked, and roads were
constructed from it to Clayton and New York Landing (now Pittsburg). They
also assisted Noah Norton to open the Black Diamond Mine.
The Pittsburg Mine, east of Eureka, was located by
George H. P. Henderson, who entered into a contract with Ezra Clark to open
the mine, in the developing of which the vein of coal known as the Clark
vein was discovered.
The Central Coal Mine, east of Pittsburg, was
located by John E. Wright. The year following William B. Stewart became
connected with it. The Union Mine, north of Manhattan, was located by
George Hawxhurst. The Independence mine, north of the Eureka, was purchased
from Major Richard Charnoch, by Greenhood & Neubauer. The Manhattan Union,
Eureka, and Independent comprise the mines forming the basin in which the
town of Somersville was situated, and from where there was a railroad for
the transportation of coal to Pittsburg Landing on the San Joaquin River.
The Cumberland, Black Diamond, Mount Hope, and other lands comprised the
basin of the town of Nortonville. From there ran a railroad for the
transportation of coal to New York Landing, at the head of Suisun Bay. From
the mines enumerated there were about two hundred thousand tons of coal per
annum shipped. What is known as the old Central Mine, originally located by
William B. Stewart, was operated by Shattuck & Hillegas, of Oakland, and was
later sold to the Empire Coal Mine & Railroad Company, and was operated by
that corporation in conjunction with the Empire Mine.
The Empire Company opened in 1876. It has a
magnificent vein of coal, with a railroad to the mine. The mine is six
miles from Antioch, within three-fourths of a mile of the first opening made
on the coal veins of the county by the Israels. It was owned by George
Hawxhurst and John C. Rouse, who, after operating several years, hauling
coal by team from the mines to tide-water at Antioch, sold a half-interest
in the Empire and Central mines to M. W. Belshaw and Egbert Judson, and
formed a copartnership under the name of Empire Coal Mine & Railroad
Company. With the funds supplied by Belshaw and Judson, a narrow-gauge
railroad was constructed from the mine to Antioch, and thereafter all coal
was transported by rail to this water shipping-point.
After the discovery of the Oregon and Washington
coal mines, the Mount Diablo coal being of inferior quality, was unable to
compete, and eventually oil, the steam fuel of today, finished the coal
mining in this county. At the present time all the mines are closed and
filled with water, the rails were taken up, and probably the mines will
never again be operated, unless for the purpose of generating electric power
at the several mines, which probably could be done at a profit. Such a
project has been carefully considered by owners of the several properties,
who figure that the short transmission lines to the industrial centers would
counterbalance the additional cost of generating the juice as compared with
the electric companies now generating electric power hundreds of miles away
in the mountains.
The coal-mining interest rapidly became one of the
most important ones of the county. It built up four towns, viz.,
Somersville, Nortonville, New York Landing (now Pittsburg), and Pittsburg
Landing, and added greatly toward the town of Antioch. These mines produced
in 1877 108,678 tons of coal, valued at $650,000, as given by the assessor
for that year, and 3000 acres of coal lands, valued at $163,300. The
tunnels of these mines were high enough for an ordinary-size man to stand
erect and about five feet in width. They generally run on an incline to
the gangway, and the loaded cars were drawn by mules to the foot of the
incline and hoisted to the surface, where they were dumped into bunkers, and
from these bunkers emptied into railroad cars and transported by rail to the
different landings. The coal was then taken to San Francisco and other
cities by river steamers.