62 EESOURCES OF CALIFOENIA. 



a pea, never weigh more thnn an ounce, and often are so fine 

 as to be invisible to the naked eye. 



A lode has usually a peculiar kind of particles, either large 

 or small. Most of the gold in a lode is usually in a rich streak, 

 near the " foot wall" or lower side, as if the metal had settled 

 down by its gravity. The rock near the '• hanging wall" or 

 upper side of the lode is poorest. Occasionally several rich 

 streaks will be found in a lode — one streak with coarse par- 

 ticles of gold, another with fine. All parts of a lode are not 

 equally rich ; but the gold is found in spots. A lode which is 

 very rich in one place may be very poor in another not far 

 ofi"; indeed, there is no auriferous vein in the state known to 

 be regularly rich for a long distance on the surface. The gold 

 is found in streaks or pockets ; the rich streak nins downward, 

 and has a regular dip in the lode. It is a matter of very great 

 importance to the miner to ascertain the direction of this dip, 

 and here is the rule : Take out some of the vein stone, and 

 examine the wall rock carefully. In most veins it will be 

 found that the wall has little furrows, as though the lode had 

 been pushed upward. These farrows indicate the direction 

 of the dip of the rich streaks. Pockets may be considered as 

 interrupted streaks ; and when one rich pocket is discovered, 

 others may usually be found by going down into the vein in 

 the proper direction, and that is ascertained in the same man- 

 ner as for continuous streaks. This is an important rule, and 

 it is now published for the first time. I am indebted for it to 

 J. E. Clayton, Esq., mining engineer. 



§ 38. Placers. — The placers are of two kinds — diluvial^ or 

 those deposited under large bodies of water, as if in a deluge; 

 and alluvial^ or those deposited under the influence of streams 

 of water, such as the present rivers and brooks of the country. 

 It is evident, from an examination of the mining districts, that 

 large tracts of auriferous ground have been deposited under 

 diluvial influences. The same strata are found extending over 

 wide areas, and the deposition is difTerent from that made by 

 a river. The gold, being nineteen times heavier than water, 



