Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1897 — A GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY. [ARTICLE]

A GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY.

California to Commemorate the Min* eral Discoveries in That State. Although California no longer has a monopoly of the precious mineral it is still called the “Gold State.” California has produced more than $800,000,000 of gold since the first discovery of it in 1848. The exact date of this discovery has been fixed officially as Jan. 11*. and some Californians are now preparing to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of that day on Jan. 19, 1898. It is intended to erect a monument designed to perpetuate and further extend the distinction of California as a State rich in minerals and to revive some of the earlier memories of the Argonauts who poured into California in the winter of ’49 and the spring of ’SO after the fame of California’s gold fields had become national. The monument is to be composed of as great a variety of mineral substances produced in the State as is possible. It is assumed that the ores, building stones, etc., will be given freely by counties, communities and individuals, and for the artistic features of the monument it is proposed to raise a fund of SIOO,OOO. The mineral wealth of California, though chiefly, is not wholly gold. The silver product of the State, though not as large as that of Nevada or Colorado, is considerable, and California produces more than one-quarter of the whole world’s supply of quicksilver. Copper and antimony are also produced, though not m amounts as large as in some other States. The monument for which the foundation will be laid on Jan. 19 will not be the only feature of the proposed observance of this anniversary, for there is also in view the establishment of a permanent museum of minerals, designed to show not only what California has done in this line, but what, aim, it is likely to be able to oo in the future.