

466 



SUPPLEMENTARY INVESTIGATIONS IN THE GRAVEL REGION. 



a mixture of rolled and of angular quartz. Some of the gold is very coarse, the nuggets not 

 unfrequently being worth from ten to fifty dollars. Good " pay " has been found high up on the 

 southeastern rim-rock, where the dirt was only two or three feet in depth. The supply of water 

 is brought in two ditches, four miles and eight miles in length respectively. The working season 

 extends from the last of April to the middle of July. 



These deposits have no obvious or necessary connection with any of the others that have been 

 described, though there is nothing to prevent there having been a former channel from Craycroft's 

 to Excelsior. On the higher points to the north or east I know of no gravels, and have heard of 

 none, that can be supposed to have any connection with those at Craycroft's, except possibly those 

 in the vicinity of Gold Lake. At the Germania claim, as Mr. Eggleston told me, a mile above 

 Craycroft's, on the southeastern slope of the ridge, a tunnel was run, but without finding gravel ; 

 the volcanic cement rested immediately upon the bed-rock. The gravel on Rattlesnake Creek, 

 nearly due north from Craycroft's, is, as 1 also learned from Mr. Eggleston, quite different in char- 

 acter, and is, moreover, at a considerably lower altitude. I did not have time to make any personal 

 examination of that district. 



In regard to the possible connection of these gravels with those lying to the south of the North 

 Yuba, nothing definite can be said. City of Six, it is true, lies at a lower level than either Eureka, 

 Monte Cristo, or Craycroft's, but the intervening distances are so great that the grade of any con- 

 necting stream would have been much less than we know the average grade of the old channels to 

 have been. I am more inclined to think that the outlet from these deposits was by way of Good- 

 year Creek and the North Yuba, and that a junction may have been effected with the more westerly 

 streams near Indian Hill. 



The following statements in regard to the fineness of the gold from the mines treated of in this 

 section, and from a few other localities, were given me by Mr. Briggs of Downieville. 



Eureka 920-.930 



Fir Cap 836 



Monte Cristo 914 



Craycroft's .939 



Gold Lake 925 



North Fork of North Yuba 885 



South Fork of North Yuba . , 865 



Hog Canon . . .864 



Jim Crow Canon 926 



American Hill 934 



From another source I learned that the gold of the North Yuba ranged in fineness from .835 to 

 .890, that of Goodyear's Bar being .884. 





Section VIII. — A Portion of the Feather River Basin. 



The only portions of the basin of the Feather River that I had time to examine were a small 

 district near the head-waters of the South Fork ; the region lying between Spanish Peak and 

 Quincy ; and, very hastily, a few points near the stage-road in the valley of the Middle Fork 

 between Quincy and Sierraville. It will be convenient to treat these different districts in separate 



sub-sections. 



A. Little Grass Valley and Vicinity. 



Little Grass Valley is easily reached from La Porte by the trail or road which crosses the narrow 

 divide that separates the streams belonging to the Yuba system of drainage from those that are 

 tributary to the Feather River. Its position is shown on the map (Plate R). The position of the 

 Davis Point gravel on the ridge between the South Fork and Fall River is given on the diagram- 





