1 



THE GRAVEL: NEAR BLUE CANON. 



163 



absence of pipe-clay. Between these two claims there is a pretty continuous 

 body of gravel ; at least, rounded pebbles were seen, on the surface, all the 

 way along the ridge between Blue Canon and the North Fork of the Amer- 

 ican. In both the Boston and Slumgullion claims, as was stated by the 

 Superintendent, Mr. Coyn, there is no line gold 5 but nuggets of considerable 

 size have been met with. 



In regard to the origin of this rather isolated and very elevated mass of 

 gravel Professor Pettee remarks as follows : 



The question now arises, whence came this gravel 1 My first impression was, that its source 

 was to be sought in the ridge above the railroad. But the gravel differed, in almost all respects, 

 from anything met with in the railroad excavations ; it was not easy to trace any connection 

 between the two. There is a considerable mass of slate intervening between these two gravel 

 mines and the railroad, on which no gold, has been found. The conclusion to which I was finally 

 led was, that this old current came independently from some point farther east. The fact that the 

 bod-rock on Lost Camp Spur is some 350 to 400 feet below the slates, was also a ground for 

 thinking the gravel in question has no connection with the channel above the railroad. Standing 

 at Mr. Coyn's house, near the Slumgullion Mine, it was clear to the eye that there was plenty of 

 room for this gravel to come down the valley of the present North Fork of the American; and 

 Mr. Coyn informed me that there was, or had been, a claim on the left bank of the North Fork, 

 known as the Texas Claim, from which gold of the same quality and of similar character had been 

 taken as from the Slumgullion. The altitude of the Texas Claim would be considerably higher 

 than that of the Slumgullion, and would admit of a reasonable grade between the two places. If 

 this channel came in the direction supposed, it probably continued farther down to the west. In 

 support of this view, Mr. Coyn said he had traced a similar gravel along all the spurs between the 

 Boston Claim and Blue Bluffs, If this theory proves to be substantiated, it would seem as if this 

 was a relic of an old channel in which the North Fork of the American used to run before cutting 

 out its present deep canon. 



A small patch of gravel will be noticed on the map at Blue Bluffs, a short distance northeast of 



Shady Bun Station on the Central Pacific Railroad. At the locality called Blue Bluffs Point, 



there is said to be a hard mass of cement, of a dark-brown color, which cannot be worked without 



the aid of blasting. The Blue Bluff Diggings proper are about a thousand or fifteen hundred feet 



from the Point, on the south side. A shaft is said to liavo been sunk there seventy-five feet deep 



to bed-rock, and all the way in gravel, with the exception of a stratum of clay, three feet thick, 



met with at a depth of thirty-five feet below the surface. The bed-rock at this place is estimated 



to be 400 feet lower than the railroad track, at a point a quarter of a mile above Shady Run Sta- 

 tion. 



g on 



Leaving, for the present, the consideration of the gravel claims lyin 

 the ridge between Bear and Steep Hollow creeks, but considerably higher 

 up than those already described, we pass to the very extensive deposits 

 which cover the region between the last-named creek and the Greenhorn. 

 -Hie towns of Yon Bet and Red Dog are the most important mining centres 

 °* tins district, the description of which here follows, as drawn up by Pro- 

 fessor Pettee. 



