Centre Valley Hot Springs 



for lining purposes. Constant care had to be exercised 

 lest the sides of the trench should collapse and bury the 

 worker, but it was a fortunate circumstance that at the 

 point we had selected the gravels were only 16 feet 

 thick. From top to bottom these gravels yielded well, 

 and the lowest bed was again richer than those above. 

 The actual yield of gold was small, owing to our being 

 unable to treat most of the "dirt" excavated, but one 

 small nugget served to show that we were still on the 

 track. 



This excavation took some time, as we had only two 

 shovels in our outfit and only a small prospector's pick, 

 and now as the season was far advanced we had to con- 

 sider the question of getting down the river before the 

 floods of late autumn made navigation dangerous. The 

 temptation to complete the exploration of this valley 

 was, however, too great for us, and we determined to 

 spend another week upon it. Our provisions were 

 running low, but we were able to shoot a number of 

 grouse, which were very good eating, while an occasional 

 wild sheep also replenished our larder. 



At the mouth of a tributary stream we made the 

 richest discovery of gold that had as yet fallen to our 

 lot. This stream had recently, from some cause or 

 other which at the time we were unable to investigate, 

 changed its course, and had cut a channel through the 

 upper gravel terraces. 



The materials thus excavated had for the most 

 part been carried into the main stream and washed 

 away, but some of it remained in pockets in the bed of 

 the tributary and as spreads of gravel in its immediate 

 leighbourhood. This action had resulted in a con- 

 Q 241 



