﻿14 
  PROCEEDINGS 
  OF 
  THE 
  CALIFORNIA 
  

  

  foramen, 
  7 
  in. 
  Teeth 
  in 
  one 
  specimen 
  three, 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  other 
  four 
  on 
  each 
  side 
  

   near 
  the 
  tip, 
  pointed, 
  sohd, 
  shaped 
  lil<e 
  an 
  orange 
  seed, 
  and 
  extending 
  forward 
  

   and 
  outward. 
  

  

  Fuller 
  descriptions 
  of 
  this 
  and 
  the 
  last 
  species 
  will 
  be 
  given 
  in 
  the 
  work 
  

   referred 
  to. 
  The 
  present 
  species 
  is 
  dedicated, 
  by 
  Capt. 
  Scammon's 
  wish, 
  to 
  Mr. 
  

   R. 
  E. 
  C. 
  Stearns, 
  of 
  San 
  Francisco, 
  well 
  known 
  for 
  his 
  researches 
  in 
  Natural 
  

   History. 
  

  

  Remarks 
  on 
  the 
  Auriferous 
  Gravel 
  Deposits 
  in 
  Placer 
  County, 
  

  

  BY 
  J. 
  M. 
  WILLEY, 
  M. 
  D. 
  

  

  Having 
  had 
  occasion, 
  in 
  August 
  last, 
  to 
  visit 
  the 
  celebrated 
  mining 
  region 
  

   •which 
  centres 
  in 
  Forest 
  Hill, 
  I 
  went 
  with 
  expectation 
  of 
  finding 
  confirmation 
  of 
  

   the 
  usual 
  theory 
  concerning 
  the 
  formation 
  of 
  this 
  gravel 
  deposit. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  hardly 
  necessary 
  to 
  say, 
  that 
  the 
  gravel 
  beds 
  of 
  the 
  central 
  counties 
  of 
  

   California 
  are 
  supposed 
  to 
  present 
  sufficient 
  evidence 
  of 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  a 
  system 
  

   of 
  large 
  but 
  extinct 
  rivers 
  ; 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  course 
  of 
  these 
  ancient 
  rivers 
  is 
  be- 
  

   lieved 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  oblique, 
  and 
  often 
  at 
  right 
  angles 
  to 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  

   streams, 
  and 
  to 
  their 
  tributaries, 
  flowing 
  through 
  the 
  various 
  canons 
  which 
  

   have 
  their 
  sources 
  on 
  the 
  western 
  slopes 
  of 
  the 
  Sierra 
  Nevada 
  range. 
  

  

  Although 
  it 
  is 
  possible 
  that 
  such 
  a 
  mode 
  of 
  explanation 
  may 
  account 
  for 
  

   even 
  so 
  widely 
  spread 
  a 
  deposit 
  of 
  gold-bearing 
  gravel 
  as 
  exists 
  in 
  Placer 
  and 
  

   adjoining 
  counties, 
  I 
  think 
  there 
  are 
  certain 
  features 
  in 
  this 
  deposit 
  difficult 
  to 
  

   reconcile 
  with 
  the 
  theory 
  of 
  the 
  ancient 
  river 
  system, 
  and 
  that 
  a 
  closer 
  study 
  of 
  

   the 
  subject 
  reveals 
  a 
  problem 
  of 
  a 
  very 
  complicated, 
  though 
  interesting 
  nature. 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  thing 
  that 
  arrests 
  the 
  attention, 
  after 
  looking 
  at 
  the 
  large 
  excava- 
  

   tions 
  which 
  hydraulic 
  power 
  has 
  worn 
  in 
  the 
  gravel 
  banks, 
  in 
  some 
  places 
  leav- 
  

   ing 
  precipices 
  from 
  one 
  to 
  two 
  hundred 
  feet 
  deep, 
  is 
  the 
  profusion 
  of 
  boulders 
  

   of 
  pure 
  quartz, 
  which 
  cover 
  the 
  worked-out 
  portions 
  of 
  the 
  ground. 
  These 
  

   boulders 
  lie 
  on 
  the 
  bed 
  rock, 
  in 
  some 
  places 
  many 
  feet 
  in 
  depth. 
  At 
  Forest 
  

   Hill 
  and 
  Michigan 
  Blufis, 
  the 
  eye 
  is 
  dazzled 
  in 
  the 
  sun-light 
  reflected 
  from 
  heaps 
  

   of 
  rounded 
  quartz, 
  some 
  masses 
  of 
  which 
  will 
  measure 
  several 
  cubic 
  yards. 
  The 
  

   smaller 
  boulders 
  are 
  in 
  general 
  washed 
  away 
  ; 
  but 
  I 
  looked 
  with 
  surprise 
  at 
  one 
  

   portion 
  of 
  an 
  unworked 
  bank 
  at 
  Michigan 
  Bluffs, 
  observing 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  com- 
  

   posed 
  almost 
  entirely 
  of 
  quartz 
  fragments, 
  from 
  pebble 
  size 
  upward, 
  all 
  having 
  

   the 
  usual 
  rounded 
  or 
  ovoid 
  form. 
  

  

  There 
  will 
  be 
  little 
  doubt, 
  I 
  think, 
  that 
  we 
  have 
  here 
  the 
  origin 
  of 
  the 
  gold 
  

   which 
  occurs 
  so 
  plentifully 
  in 
  connection 
  with 
  the 
  gravel 
  of 
  this 
  section 
  of 
  

   country, 
  but 
  the 
  question 
  remains 
  as 
  to 
  how 
  the 
  attrition 
  has 
  been 
  performed 
  

   which 
  liberates 
  it. 
  

  

  What 
  tremendous 
  powers 
  have, 
  in 
  the 
  first 
  place, 
  dislocated 
  from 
  their 
  orig- 
  

   inal 
  casings 
  the 
  gold-bearing 
  quartz 
  ledges, 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  next, 
  ground, 
  to 
  so 
  

   perfect 
  a 
  smoothness 
  and 
  rotundity, 
  the 
  hardest 
  specimens 
  of 
  white, 
  blue, 
  and 
  

   rose-colored 
  quartz 
  fragments? 
  

  

  Mere 
  fluvial 
  action, 
  however 
  violent, 
  will 
  account 
  not 
  at 
  all 
  for 
  the 
  first 
  con- 
  

  

  