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middle placers are composed of many; so much so is this the case, that it is 

 often difficult to distinguish what rocks predominate. 



The " bed rock" of these districts is composed mostly of slates elevated to high 

 angles of inclination, or the same rocks changed by heat, in some cases to that ex 

 tent as nearly to obliterate their former structure ; their transition has been so 

 complete that they have assumed the character of true porphyries ; this must have 

 occurred prior to the deposition of the drift as these deposits bear no marks of ig 

 neous action since they were deposited. In some localities the drift beds are found 

 resting upon the granite direct, the latter rock often presenting evident marks of 

 the action of water. 



In examining the gravel from this district, we will often find the stones which 

 are peculiar to the eastern range mingled with those of more recent date, and which 

 are often found in closer proximity in situ ; with the above is also found more or 

 less of the smaller gold of the upper districts commingled with that which is inci 

 dent to the middle sections of the State. 



These facts naturally lead us to the conclusion that at the period in which the 

 gravel drift of the middle placers were deposited that the country to the east was 

 subjected to the action of floods which must have been somewhat violent in their 

 character. I am not prepared to say at this time, that the deposits of this district 

 of the State, were formed during the period of the NORTHERN DRIFT, for there are 

 some features wanting to establish that point conclusively. Should the above fact 

 be ultimately established, there are attendant circumstances that will prove the 

 eastern range to have preceded that period, and which has been alluded to in 

 former reports. 



The economical value and extent of the middle placers, is the principal object of 

 their notice in this place, and we will therefore direct our attention to that particu 

 lar point. It is upon this range of country that the g eater proportion of the mi 

 ning community of the State are located, and more particularly upon the central 

 and eastern portions of the same. The cause of this is oovious, for from the nature 

 of the ground to be operated upon, segregated labor is more prosperous, and small 

 companies with limited means can prosecute mining with better success and profit 

 than in the heavier workings of the eastern range of placers. The labor and inci 

 dental expenses for facilities in the extraction of gold, are much less and more ea 

 sily obtained as a general rule than in the former case ; hence men who are pos 

 sessed of limited means usually occupy the middle sections before entering the field 

 of the more lengthy operations that are conducted in other districts. 



This district of the State is but sparsely settled, at the best ; and like many other 

 portions of the mineral and agricultural sections, there is but here and there a few 

 scattering cabins or small settlements, often for many miles. The placers that are 

 spread far and wide throughout this section, are scarcely touched, or if so, they are 

 marked by a few small shafts only, which have been sunk by some prospecting mi 

 ners, in their rambles over the State in search for richer fields than those they left. 

 It is often the case that these shafts have remained for two or three years after they 

 were driven, when they have again become occupied by others, yielding profitable 

 returns for small amounts of labor. It is from these very partial examinations of 

 traveling miners made in preceding years, that some of the most valuable placer 

 deposits have been developed ; the hints thus given in the former case have been 

 adopted by those who have subsequently followed, and have thus led to pleasing 

 results. 



The introduction of water by artificial canals into regions lying remote from nat 

 ural streams has had the effect to develop further the fact, that but limited sections 

 exist in this district in which the staple product of the State does not abound. 

 From the above facts we should be led to infer that a much larger population than 

 that at present found in these districts should follow under the circumstances : it 

 should be thus, but there are causes which at present operate to prevent such a re- 



