THE 



PROSPECTOR'S HANDBOOK 



CHAPTER L 



PROSPECTING. 



Prospecting for valuable minerals. In alluvial deposits. In veins 01 

 deposits other than alluvial. Age of lodes. Shoding. Detached 

 portions of a lode. Proving continuity of a lode. Vicissitudes 

 of mining. Necessity for a proper assay. The value of a lode 

 dependent on several circumstances. 



IN prospecting a country for mineral wealth, it is most im- 

 portant to search very systematically and carefully among 

 the sands and rocks of river beds, in dry creeks, and at the 

 bottom of valleys, as well as on the sea-shore. Not only 

 does the action of running water and glaciers grind down 

 masses and particles, and, through the never-changing law 

 of gravity, deposit the debris on the lower ground : but also, 

 as on the shores of California, Oregon, New Zealand, and 

 elsewhere, the tides of the ocean distribute the disintegrated 

 heavy metals in a regular fashion. The prospector should 

 observe the characteristics of loose rocks found in ravines 

 or gulches, more especially in eddies or dry waterholes 

 where heavy matter is left during freshets, such as are of 

 frequent occurrence in mountainous districts ; for the holes 

 and channels and fissures in the solid rock over which a 

 stream runs, or has run, are frequently well worth examin- 

 ing. All earthy deposits being the result of either chemical 

 or mechanical action, they usually serve as a guide to the 

 nature of the constituent parts of the earth's crust in the 

 immediate neighbourhood. 



Prospecting for heavy metals left in the form of a deposit 

 is based on one and the same rules, and, consequently, the 



