SOURCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE GOLD. 



359 



never has the proper " nuggety " character. The metal does not occur, as 

 deposited from solution, in solid, smooth, and rounded masses, but in scaly, 

 foliated, filamentary, arborescent, or crystalline forms. The question arises, 

 then, How has this change been brought about? And connected with this is 

 the inquiry whether there is really ground for believing that pieces of gold, 

 after being separated from their original matrix, do increase in size, either by 

 chemical or mechanical causes. 



The finding of large nuggets in the hydraulic mines of California seems, so 

 far as ascertained by the investigations of the Geological Survey, to be of 

 very rare occurrence. There have been, however, occasional statements, in 

 books and newspapers, of such lucky finds in the ordinary placer mines. 

 Most of these, of course, took place many years ago. The largest nugget of 

 which the writer has ever heard is one said to have been found at Vallecito, 



















in 1852, which weighed twenty-five pounds. Nothing is known of its form 

 or of the character of its surface. Such finds seem to be much more common 

 in Australia than they ever were in California, judging from the lists which 

 have been given in the official publications of the Geological Survey of 



4 



Victoria.! 



Large masses of gold have occasionally been found in the quartz and in 

 the bed-rock in California. The occurrence of such at Spanish Dry Diggings 

 has been mentioned. Carson Hill is another locality from which similar facts 

 have been reported. As far as the results of his own investigations in California 

 are concerned, the writer is not able to find sufficient evidence to support 

 the opinion that the large size of the nuggets in the gravel presents difficul- 

 ties requiring the aid of chemistry for their solution. If it be true, as the 

 writer believes, that quartz veins, as well as all others, as a general rule, 

 have been richer near the surface than they are at great depths, then the 

 occasional finding of large nuggets in the gravel would not be a matter of 

 surprise. Heavy masses of gold are found, even now, in some of the quartz 

 veins, and somewhat heavier ones may have existed nearer the surface. 



* It is stated by Mr. W. Birkmyre, in his list of great nuggets found in various parts of the world, that there 

 is in the collection of the Bank of England a nugget found in Carson Creek, in 18. r >0, and weighing eighteen 

 pounds three ounces. The above-mentioned find at Vallecito is given on the. same authority. 



t The largest Australian nugget — the "Welcome" — weighed 184 lb. 9 oz. 16 dwt., and contained, by assay, 

 99.2 per cent of gold, netting to the owners £9, 325. This specimen was found at Ballarat. Many others have 

 been found in Victoria weighing over fifty pounds. The writer saw in the collections of the Mining School 

 at St. Petersburg the famous nugget from Miask, in the Ural Mountains, the weight of which is given by 

 Tegoborski at 87 pounds 92 zolotniks, and by Humboldt at 36.025 kilogrammes; it is round and smooth, and 

 free from quartz or other gangue. 





