Centre Valley Hot Springs 



small white pebbles of quartz which we had found 

 associated with the nuggets near the camp, a fact which 

 determined us first to explore this stream and then 

 pursue our researches in the main valley, should time 

 permit. 



The stream below the fall was cutting through 

 gravels, and nowhere could we find solid rock, the 

 surface of which was evidently below the level of the 

 stream bed. Under these circumstances it was, of course, 

 impossible for us to sink a shaft or pit down to the rock 

 surface, as such an excavation would at once fill with 

 water, we being unprovided with any pumping apparatus. 



This was unfortunate^ in view of the fact that it was 

 at the base of the gravels in contact with the solid rock 

 that we had found most of the gold in the other sections. 



The climb up the cliff-like side of the valley was a 

 stiff one, and it was with considerable difficulty that we 

 were able to transport even our light equipment to the 

 top. Arrived at the summit we saw stretching out 

 before us a broad V-shaped valley, very unlike the one 

 we had just left. For some distance from the head of 

 the fall there was nothing but bare surfaces of gneiss, 

 the stream rushing with great violence down a narrow 

 gorge towards its plunge into the valley below. 



Following the edge of the gorge, we at length entered 

 the normal valley, and here there appeared to be much 

 the same arrangement of the alluvial deposits as in the 

 valley below the moraine. 



This was a hanging valley, and the great U-shaped 

 trench in which the main stream flowed appeared to 

 have been eroded by the glacier, as at several points 

 on the cliff face we had observed striations, such as are 



239 



