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158 



THE AURIFEROUS GRAVELS OE THE SIEREA NEVADA. 



of the bed-rock at Empire Hill. This indicates that the old river possibly spread out to this ex- 

 tent at one time : in which case Manzanita Hill must have stood out like an island in the broad 

 stream. Southward and eastward from this gravel-patch there is nothing but slate bed-rock to be 

 seen. But at the saddle between the heads of Nigger and Cariboo ravines there is a mining claim, 

 called the Cariboo, which presents some curious and interesting features. 



The course of the small ravine or gulch, in which the Cariboo Claim is situated, is nearly due 

 north, for the distance of about a quarter of a mile, the fall in that distance being a little over 300 

 feet. At the upper end of the ravine the slate has its ordinary, nearly vertical, dip to the east. 

 To the east and west the bed-rock is seen in its usual position, within two or three hundred feet 

 of the ravine ; while, to the north it is hardly necessary to go beyond the mouth of the ravine to 

 find the slate with its ordinary dip. But in the ravine itself the slate bed-rock lies nearly horizon- 

 tally, or with an inclination to the west not exceeding 15°. Near the shaft mentioned above 

 there is an easterly dip to the slate on the east side of the ravine, and a dip in the opposite direc- 

 tion on the west side. Accompanying this horizontality of the slate are other anomalous features. 

 The deposit is frequently spoken of as a " channel " by the miners at Little York ; but if it be a 

 channel, it is one lying on its side. On the east side of the deposit, and resting against the hori- 

 zontal slate, is a vertical stratum of heavy boulders ; while the fine gravel, which ought to be on 

 the top, forms a vertical stratum on the west. On the side where the heavy boulders lie the 

 crevices in the slates in which the nuggets are found are also horizontal, like shelves cut out of the 

 rock. From one such crevice in the eastern wall, eighteen inches long and eight or ten deep, 

 there were taken (as is stated on good authority) three pans of dirt, which yielded $ 29.00. Rela- 

 tively to each other, then, we have bed-rock, boulders, and fine gravel in the position they would 

 have occupied, had there been a true channel. The width, which corresponds to the thickness in 

 ordinary channels, is not much more than thirty feet at the top, and diminishes as we go down. 



The cross-section of the slate, observed going up the ravine, is peculiar. This rock occurs 

 all the way up to a point about fifty feet north of where the shaft was sunk. Previously to 

 reaching that point, however, there was a crevice met with, which was about twenty feet deep, and 

 which had been worked out, by sinking several small shafts and refilling them with rock. The 

 slate which is seen to be nearly on a level with the top of the shaft, at the point mentioned as fifty 

 feet to the north of it, suddenly pitches almost vertically for sixty-nine feet. Beyond the shaft, as 

 we go southward up the ravine, the slate appears again, at a point about 350 feet distant, and ten 

 or twelve feet higher than it was when last seen to the north. Above this point rises a vertical 

 wall of slate thirty feet or more in height, beyond which there is, again, a little gravel to be seen. 

 A north and south section on the line of this ravine is represented on Plate E (Fig. 4), the whole 

 distance included in it being about three eighths of a mile. The section also includes the tunnel run 

 in from Nigger Ravine, to which reference was made on the preceding page. In opening this de- 

 posit of gravel, a tunnel 600 feet long (b in the figure) was run in the slate-rock at the west side 

 of the ravine. From the head of this tunnel it was necessary to rise twenty feet before gravel was 

 struck, and the deposit was found to be forty-eight feet thick at this point. To the west of the 

 shaft, and as low, or lower, than its bottom, there is said to be gravel still, although the amount 

 appeared not likely to be large. As nearly as could be ascertained, the gravel near the bottom of 

 the shaft was quite narrow, probably not exceeding eighteen inches in width, and, in fact, present- 

 ing, in some respects, the appearance of a vein. 



The quality of the gold found at the Cariboo Diggings is poorer than that of the product of any 

 of the other mines in the neighborhood ; it sells for from $ 16 to $ 16.50 per ounce, the average 

 price paid by Messrs. Moore & Miner for Gold Run gold being nearly $ 19.00. At the Cariboo, 

 also, there was both coarse and fine gold; some pieces being smooth and rounded, others "like 

 tacks," to use the expression of those who worked in these diggings. The nearest gold of a simi- 

 lar kind being found, as was said, at Secrettown, has led to a belief, on the part of some persons, 

 that there was once a connection between these two places ; a theory which is supported by the 

 fact that the country between You Bet and Secrettown is generally low. Above the shaft, at the 



