ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 



and character. In my report on the geology of Maine, I have described 

 the supposed continuation of this formation as proba.bly auriferous; and 

 it may be connected with the gold rocks upon the Upper Chaudiere and 

 St. Francis rivers of Canada, described by Sir W. E. Logan, and said to 

 have yielded masses of gold weighing 126 pennyweights.* 



The first discovery of gold in Lyman was made by Prof. Henry Wurtz, 

 of New York, in August, 1864. Prof. Wurtz visited the locality and the 

 neighborhood in July and September, 1864, and in December, 1866. He 

 sent several specimens of galena to Dr. John Torrey, to be assayed, re- 

 questing that they might be tested for gold as well as silver. The third 

 sample submitted to Dr. Torrey, coming from the Orchard vein of the 

 New Hampshire Silver Lead Company, contained silver at the rate of 

 56.95 ounces, and gold at the rate of 1.006 ounces to the ton of 2,000 

 pounds. Wurtz' s reports were issued by the Silver Lead Company in 

 1864; and subsequently he prepared ior the American yournal of Alin- 

 ing \ a full account of his connection with the discovery, and suggested 

 very appropriately that the whole auriferous district be called the Ammo- 

 noosuc Gold Field, as it is drained by the Ammonoosuc river and its 

 tributaries. He remarks of the Lyman district, that the "history of this 

 gold field presents, probably for the first time, the peculiarities of a first 

 discovery in the solid rock, and not, as usual, by the tracing up of gulch 

 gold to its home in the lodes." The appropriateness of the name, coming 

 from so high an authority as Prof. Wurtz, led us to extend it over the 

 whole area of the group in New Hampshire and Vermont, as has been 

 often mentioned in the previous volumes of this report. 



In 1865, both J. Henry Allen and Charles Knapp, independently of 

 each other, discovered free gold on the David Atwood estate in Lisbon. 

 This led to the organization of the Lisbon Gold Mining Company, on 

 the 28th of February, 1866, with a nominal capital of ^240,000. Previ- 

 ously to this organization a little work, or "prospecting," had been done, 

 and subsequently three considerable excavations were made in the vein. 

 The first is in a swampy piece of land on George brook. This has been 

 sunk to the depth of 94 feet, the first 35 vertical, and the remainder at 

 an angle of 45° or more, upon the supposed dip. It is said that a dyke 



* Geological Survey of Canada. Report of Progress from its Co}jivienceinent to 1863, p. 437. 

 t Sept. 12, 1868. 



