26 The Commissioner of the General Land Office, in his official Report of the 29th December, 1862, states as follows: “ The great auriferous region of the United States, in the western portion of the Continent, stretches from the 49th degree of north latitude, and Puget Sound, to the 30Q 30' parallel, and from the 102d degree of longitude west of Greenwich, to the Pacific Ocean, embracing portions of Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, all of New Mexico, with Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington Territories. It may be designated as comprising 17 degrees of latitude, or a breadth of eleven hundred miles, from North to South, and of nearly equal longitudinal extension, making an area of more than a million of square miles. “ This vast region is traversed from North to South, first, on the Pacific side, by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains, then by the Blue and Humboldt; on the East, by the double ranges of the Rocky Mountains, embracing the Wasatch and Wind River Chain, and the Sierra Madre, stretching longitudinally and in lateral spurs, crossed and linked together by intervening ridges, connecting the whole system by five principal ranges, dividing the country into an equal number of basins, each being nearly surrounded by mountains, and watered by mountain streams and snows, thereby interspersing this immense territory with bodies of agricultural lands, equal to the support not only of miners, but of a dense population.” “ These mountains,” he continues, “ are literally stocked with, minerals; gold and silver being interspersed in profusion over this immense surface, and daily brought to light by new discoveries.” In addition to the deposits of gold and silver, various sections of the whole region are rich in precious stones, marble,
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