When this gold mania ceases to rage, individuals will abandon the mines; and then there will be a good opportunity for companies with heavy capital to step in; there will be enough of profitable work for them; and it is then that the country will enter on a career of real progress, and not till then. Such companies, with superior mechanical facilities to do much labor, in a short space, will be enabled to go over the whole mineral field, although already dug over by individuals, and reap yet a rich reward of their efforts. And when there will be no more gold washing to be done, then a new era in the mining of the country will commence--we mean a regular system of mining by sinking shafts into the very bowels of the rocks will be entered upon. Spots for this system of mining are to be found in the auriferous region. (Since our return from the mountains our statement already is farther corroborated, as we learn that Col. Fremont, who just arrived from Stockton, has also found a regular vein of gold in the rock on the river Mariposa, which he proposes to work in the regular mining fashion, as it is a very promising one we understand.) If we had a voice in the Legislative Halls of the Union, with the knowledge of the whole country in general, and the mineral region in particular, we have--seeking to gratify no men nor set of men--we would say, divide the whole _elevated_ portion of the land enclosed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin into a set of lots to be sold to mining companies at a very moderate price. The low lands or the plains of the same region should be divided into a separate set of lots, to be sold to those only who wish to establish themselves as farmers. To avoid all difficulty and confusion in giving boundaries to these lots, we would adopt the following plan: In the mining district proper, the elevated portion of the land, every lot should have for its centre the whole extent of one of the streams that fall either into the Sacramento or San Joaquin; the lateral boundaries of these lots would be the ridges on both the north and south side, that turn the minor streams and ravines into the principal ones selected as centres of the lots. These lots, unless they are as large as this division would make them, would not be worth the having; the land is worthless for any other purpose, except mining; and if this even should fail, then the only means left for the unfortunate buyers to save themselves, would be to turn their attention to the making of turpentine, for which they would find an extensive field. The other set of lots, comprising the low lands, should have for their bases the banks of the streams that run through the plains. There should be but two lots between two neighboring streams, so that they would have the same line for their common boundary while their respective bases, would rest on their respective streams. The reason for such a division is, that the central portion