



432 



SUPPLEMENTARY INVESTIGATIONS IN THE GRAVEL REGION 



Fineness. 



Value. 



.930 -.935 



$18.35 



.940 



18.40-18.50 



.940 



18.40 



.925 



18 25 



.925 



18.25 



.910 



18.00 



.925 



18.25-18.35 



of the signs which ordinarily point to a river- wash. The fineness of the gold is also very low, at 

 least much lower than that of any of the true river channels. There is no reason to believe that 

 this deposit has any connection with the gravel higher up on the ridge between Oregon Creek and 



Kanaka Creek. 



The following statistics in regard, to the yield of the Camptonville district, and to the quality of 



the gold, I obtained from a trustworthy source at Camptonville. 



From 1860 to 1875 the gross yield of the Camptonville gravel district, exclusive of the gold 

 obtained by quartz mining, amounted to $8,000,000, an average of half a million dollars a year. 

 Since 1875 the average yield has been about $150,000 a year. Since 1869 the quartz-mines have 

 yielded in addition over $ 400,000. The average yield per cubic yard of gravel cannot be ascertained. 



The fineness of the gold and value per ounce at the different mines have been on the average 



as follows : — 



Loeality. 



Camptonville 



Galena Hill ...... 



Young's Hill 



Weed's Point 



Railroad Hill 



Depot Hill ........ 



Indian Hill • 



In the ravine diggings at Oak Valley and Dad's Gulch the quality of the gold has not been so 

 good, ranging from .890 to .880, or from $17.50 to $17.00 per ounce. 



The gold at High Point, on the southern side of Oregon Creek, has a fineness of .940, or from 

 $18.50 to $18.75 per ounce. That of Oregon Creek will have an average fineness of .880; and 



that of Pike City of only .750, or $16.00 per ounce. 



In this connection I will give, on the same authority, the fineness of the gold from two quartz- 

 mines in the vicinity of Camptonville. The gold of the Alaska Company, Pike City, is only .740 

 fine, and that of the Brush Creek Company, near the new Mountain House, is .820. 



I made frequent inquiries for animal or human fossils, but could not learn of their existence 

 near Camptonville. I was shown a part of a mastodon tooth, which was said to have been found 

 under thirty feet of gravel, near bed-rock, at Indiana Kanch in Keystone Valley, nine miles in a 

 direct line to the southwest of Camptonville and on the opposite side of the North Yuba. It did 

 not seem worth while to take the time for a visit to the locality. The tooth is in the possession 



of Mr. J. K, Young of Camptonville. 



On the ridge road from Camptonville towards Forest City and Downieville the lower limit of 

 the lava capping is seen at an altitude of 3,900 feet, over eleven hundred feet above the hotel at 

 Camptonville. The road follows upon the Java capping with a steady ascending grade to the sum- 

 mit, near the old Mountain House, of which the altitude is 4,765 feet. The altitude of Nigger 

 Tent I made to be 4,465 feet. Between the summit and Forest City there is a depression in the 

 crest of the ridge, along the " backbone " which forms the water-shed between the tributaries of 

 Oregon Creek and the water-courses which discharge into the North Yuba, near Goodyear's Bar. 

 The lava capping disappears entirely before the new Mountain House is reached, the altitude of 



which is 4,440 feet. 



It is the theory of many persons that the lava cap between the old Mountain House and Camp- 

 tonville covers a gravel channel. T see no reason for adopting that theory, the preponderance of 

 geological evidence going to show that the former drainage was not longitudinal, but transverse to 

 the ridge. Considerable work has been done on the southern slope of the ridge in a, search for 

 such a channel. The only place that I found time to visit was Mr. I). H. Dalmeko's tunnel. The 

 altitude of the tunnel's mouth I made to be 3,875 feet, very nearly the same as that of the lower 

 end of the lava cap. The tunnel is in bed-rock at its mouth, but at the distance of 525 feet the 

 bed-rock pitched off to the north at a high angle, and the tunnel has been driven sixty-five feet 





