110 



THE AURIFEROUS GEAYELS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA. 



the strike of the slates (N. 30° — 40° W., magnetic) i. e. N. W. or S. E. \ but which way the 

 water ran is not so clear ; the probabilities are that it flowed southeast. 



In the deep channel at Iowa Hill the direction of the flow was probably from the northwest 

 towards the southeast, as the bed-rock in the North Star Claim, on the southeast side of the pres- 

 ent ridge, appears to be somewhat lower than it is in Wiessler's Claim on the northwest side. 



Northeast of Independence Hill the surface of the bed-rock in the interior of the ridge, beneath 

 the gravel and the volcanic capping, is said to be furrowed by a system of nearly parallel channels 

 which have a southwesterly course. 



At the Mountain Gate Tunnel, near Damascus, the course of the pay-channel, which has been 

 followed by a tunnel for a distance of 3,900 feet, is about S. 45° E. (magnetic). 



The course of the Canada Hill Channel, so far as it has been worked, is S. 87£° E. (magnetic). 



At Nick Anderson's Claim, near Startown, the course of the outer channel is S. 40° W. (mag- 

 netic), and the back channel runs nearly S. 23° E. (magnetic). 



In the Morning Star Claim at Startown the tunnel runs S. 12° W. (magnetic) some 1,300 or 

 1,400 feet, being parallel with the tunnel in Yule's Mine, and only about 300 feet west of it. 

 Near the mouth of this tunnel there is a so-called "outside channel," which runs nearly parallel 

 with the present river canon, and has been richer in spots than the interior of the hill, but has not 

 paid so uniformly. This channel is said to have been traced along the mountain side towards the 

 west and southwest as far as Last Chance, and it is generally believed by the miners at Last 

 Chance to be identical with the so-called outside channel in the Nick Anderson Claim just below 



that town. 



At the Reed Claim, near Deadwood, and on the southeast side of the ridge towards the North 

 Fork of the Middle Fork of the American River, a tunnel has been driven about 200 feet in the 

 bed-rock, then on its surface about 1,450 feet, N. 35° E., then about 2,000 feet S. 85° E., then 200 

 feet N. 23° E. (all magnetic); this tunnel, follows the channel, and is driven on the surface of the 

 bed-rock, and has a grade of about two and a half feet in the hundred. 



The mouth of the Rattlesnake Mine is situated nearly east of Deadwood on the eastern side of 

 the spur between Black Canon and the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the American River, 

 and not more than a fourth of a mile distant in a direction nearly magnetic east from the last bend 

 of the long tunnel in the Reed Mine. The Rattlesnake Tunnel runs S. 75° W. (magnetic) about 

 300 feet, following the course of a well-defined channel from 30 to 40 feet wide between high 

 rim rocks with a descending grade towards the west. The course of the Rattlesnake Tunnel if 

 continued towards the west would carry it but very little to the south of the bend just referred to 

 in the Reed Tunnel, so that it is extremely probable that the Rattlesnake Channel actually unites 

 with the Reed Channel at or near this bend. 



The general course of the Basin Channel at the Devil's Basin for a distance of 2,150 feet in the 



tunnel is S. 70° W. (magnetic). 



The present face of the tunnel in Hornby's Mine near Deadwood, which has followed up the 

 course of the channel for a distance of 1,500 feet, is not more than 400 or 500 feet distant from 

 where the Reed Tunnel first strikes the channel, and the course of the Hornby Tunnel at the face 

 is directly towards the latter point, showing that it is in all probability on the same channel. 



At Wilcox's Claim, on the North Fork of Long Canon, the course of the channel seems to have 

 been from northwest to southeast. 



Mr. Silas Griffett's Claim at the Devil's Basin, between Last Chance and Deadwood, follows the 

 channel in a southwesterly direction. At Plornby's Tunnel, near Deadwood, the direction of the 

 channel is from northeast to southwest. From a point near Robertson's Tunnel on the northwest 

 side of the ridge, near Deadwood, a channel has been followed in a direction about N. 70° E. for 

 a distance of 800 to 1,000 feet through the mountain to Kaylor's. 



At Weske's Claim, near Michigan Bluff, they are following the channel in a northwesterly direc- 



tion with a down grade. 



At the Dam Claim, in the west branch of El Dorado Canon, the tunnel runs nearly straight for 



