MESSAGE
from
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

Communicating

In obedience to law, the Report of the Director of the Mint for the past year.

February 5, 1857. — Read, referred to the Committee on Finance, and ordered to be printed.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit, herewith, the report of the Director of the Mint, showing the operations of the Mint and its branches for the past year.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

Washington, February 3, 1857.

Mint of the United States,
Philadelphia, January 31, 1857.

Sir: I have the honor to present the following report in compliance with the 2d section of the act of January 18 1837, which contains the following enactment: “The director shall have the control and management of the Mint, the superintendence of the officers and persons employed therein, and general regulation and supervision of the business of the several branches; and in the month of January of every year he shall make report to the President of the United States of the operations of the Mint and its branches for the year preceding.”

As this report must embrace the operations of the entire year, it could not be prepared until the statistics of coinage from all the branches were received. The statement for the month of December last for the branch mint at San Francisco only reached me on the 29th instant. Hence the unavoidable delay in transmitting this report to the executive department.

The amount of gold and silver bullion received during the year 1856 at the Mint and its branches, including the assay office, was as follows: Gold deposits, $55,078,402 20; silver deposits, including purchases, $5,120,634 43. Total $60,199,036 63.

The coinage for the same period, including bars, was as follows: Gold coins, $36,697,768 50; silver coins, $5,132,240; copper coins, $27,106 78; gold bars, $22,645,596 85; silver bars, $61,430 17. Total amount of coinage, including bars, $64,567,142 30. The number of pieces of coin struck were 33,863,847; the number of gold and silver bars, 7,119.

The above statement presents the entire amount received and operated upon at all tbe mints and the assay office; but it is proper to remark that some of the bullion received at San Francisco and formed into bars is subsequently deposited at the other minting establishments, and the deposits received for coinage at the assay office are transmitted to the Mint. Deducting these re-deposits, the actual amount of gold and silver received during the year was $53,018,926 63.

The operations at the several mints and the assay office during the year were as follows: At the principal Mint (Philadelphia) the deposits were, in gold, $7,479,568 10; in silver, $1,730,917 11; total, $9,210,485 21. The coinage amounted to $14,346,762 99, comprising $11,074,388 12 in gold, $3,245,268 09 in silver, and $27,106 78 in copper coins, and composed of 25,876,288 pieces.

It will be observed that the coinage largely exceeds the deposits during tbe year. This arises from tbe fact that the operations of coinage were suspended during several months of the year 1855, during the progress of the work done at the mint, “to render it fire-proof, and to give additional security to the funds deposited in its vaults.” The bullion then received has been coined during the last year. The repairs to the Mint edifice have been completed, and it is now in all its departments entirely fire-proof. The arrangement of the rooms appropriated to the different branches of business has been also much improved, and the vaults in which the bullion and coins are placed rendered more secure. The Mint is now in a condition of great efficiency, and is capable of performing any amount of coinage which it may be required to execute.

The deposits and coinage at the branch mint at New Orleans during the year were as follows: Gold deposits, $310,925 67; silver deposits, $2,668,803 02: total deposits, $2,979,728 69. Gold coinage, $292,750; silver, $1,744,000; total coinage, $2,036,750, comprised in 5,953,850 pieces.

The operations at that branch of the mint were suspended in October last, in consequence of the repairs then commenced to render the mint building fire-proof. It is expected that the operations at that institution will be fully resumed in the early part of the present year.

The branch mint at San Francisco received of gold deposits the sum of $29,209,218 24; of silver, the sum of $246,752 92; total deposits, $29,455,971 16. The operations of coinage were as follows: Gold coins, $25,146,400; silver coins, $177,000; refined gold bars, $122,136 55; unparted or unrefined gold bars, $3,047,001 29; total operations of coinage, including bars, $28,516,147 29, comprised in 1,977,559 pieces.

The deposits received at the branch mint at Dahlonega were $101,405 26. The coinage was $102,575. The number of pieces struck, 22,120.

At the branch mint at Charlotte the sum of $173,592 53 was deposited. The coinage amounted to $162,067 50, composed of 36,370 pieces. The operations of the branches at Dahlonega and Charlotte are confined to gold.

The assay office at New York received during the year: Gold deposits, $17,803,692 40; and silver deposits, including purchases, $474,161 38; total deposits, $18,277,853 78. These deposits were paid as follows: In fine bars, $13,094,386 36; in coin, $5,183,467 42. The number of gold bars prepared and stamped at this office was 4,727, of the value of $19,396,046 89.

The amount of gold of domestic production deposited at all of the minting establishments during the year 1856 was as follows. Gold produced from the State of California, $47,509,411 08; from the Territory of Oregon, $40,750; and from the Atlantic States, $328,280 73; total domestic gold, $47,878,441 81.

I refer you to certain tables annexed to this report, which exhibit in detail the operations of the mint and its branches in the past and former years. These tables present the following statistics, viz: A.— The deposits and coinage at the mint and its branches and the assay office during the year 1856. B.— The coinage of the mint and branches from their organization to the close of the year 1856. 1. Mint of the United States. 2. Branch mint at San Francisco. 3. Branch mint at New Orleans. 4. Branch mint at Charlotte, North Carolina. 5. Branch mint at Dahlonega, Georgia. 6. The assay office at New York. 7. Summary exhibit of the coinage of the mints to the close of the year 1856. C.— Statement of gold of domestic production deposited at the Mint and branches to the end of the year 1856. 1. Mint of the United States. 2. Branch mint at San Francisco. 3. Branch mint, New Orleans. 4. Branch mint, Chailotte. 5. Branch mint, Dahlonega. 6. Assay office, New York. 7. Summary exhibit of the entire deposits of domestic gold at the mints and the assay office to the close of the year 1856. D.— A statement of the amount of silver coined since the passage of the act relating to silver coinage, approved February 21, 1853. E.— A statement of the amount of silver of domestic production, including silver parted from California gold, deposited at the several mints and the assay office from January 1, 1841, to December 31, 1856.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your faithful servant,

JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN,
Director of the Mint.

The President of the United States.

A.

Statement of deposites and coinage at the mint of the United States, branches, and assay office, during the year 1856.

B.

Coinage of the Mint and branches from their organization to the close of the year 1856.

C.

Statement of gold of domestic production deposited at the Mint of the United States and its branches, to the close of the year 1856.

D.

Statement of the amount of silver coined at the mint of the United States, and the branch mints at San Francisco and New Orleans, under the act of February 21, 1853.

E.

Statement of amount of silver of domestic production, including silver parted from California gold, deposited at the mint of the United States, its branches, and the assay office, New York, from January 1841, to December 31, 1856.