; 



168 



THE AITEIFEBOUS GEAVELS OF THE SIEEEA NEVADA. 





Garber's, which is only a few hundred feet distant up the canon. If there ever was a deep chan- 

 nel from Red Dog to Waloupa, there must have been subsequent important changes of level, unless 

 some such explanation as the one which will be proposed farther on (page 172) be adopted ; for, 

 as the rock now lies, the water must have run up hill at some part of its course. That the rock at 

 Eed Dog is not exceptionally low (as might possibly be supposed) is clear from the fact that the 

 exposures at Independence and Bunker hills are only a few feet higher, — enough, barely, to give 

 an easy grade from the north. The discussion of the question of probable change of level I will 

 not enter upon ; for it will lead too far, and involve too many considerations with which I am only 

 imperfectly acquainted. As far as our observations extended, however, the weight of evidence 

 seems to be against any theory of great change of level ; and for the present it will be assumed 

 that the position of the slate-rock is essentially what it was at the time of the deposition of the 



gravel. 



On this supposition it seems more natural that the course of the — or a — deep channel was 



from Cozzens and Garber's towards Eed Dog. At a later day, no doubt, the whole of the region 



between Eed Dog and You Bet was covered with water, and channels may have been cut in a 



great many directions. Having met this difficulty in our attempt to trace the course of the old 



channel, two questions arise : lirst, if the stream which flowed to the southwest from You Bet 



is not a continuation of the Eed Dog channel, where did it come from 1 and, second, if a channel 



flowed from Cozzens and Garber's to Eed Dog, where was its outlet, and what was its source 1 



It may be thought possible that the lowest points at Cozzens and Garber's and at Mallory's have 

 not yet been reached, and that there is still a chance for a nearly level bed-rock all the way from 

 Eed Dog to Mece and West's. Such a supposition is, to be sure, possible, but I can see no in- 

 dependent evidence in its favor. 



In attempting to find the continuation of the You Bet channel at some other point than at Red 

 Dog, attention is naturally turned first to the east and northeast, to see if there is any chance for 

 tli o channel's having come down either under or to one side of the present Sugar Loaf and Chalk 

 Bluffs. A careful exploration was made of the whole extent of gravel from Chicken Point to 

 Boston Hill, which led to the conclusion that the main channel could not have come through this 

 way. The observations on which this conclusion was based were substantially as follows. 



At the extreme southern end of Chicken Point the gravel reaches out on a narrow spur for 

 about a quarter of a mile beyond the main body. The banks are not very high, and there was 

 never any great depth to bed-rock. I took no special observation at this part of the mines, but 

 the altitude of the hill at the end of the gravel will not be far from 3,050 feet. A spot near the 

 middle of the Chicken Point mines, where bed-rock was to be seen, was pointed out to us from 

 the bank by Mr. Heydliff. When I went to the spot, I first saw the rock in a pit twenty-five or 

 thirty feet across and twenty-five feet deep, through which a tunnel had been run as an outlet for 

 a claim higher up. The bed-rock had been cut into about fifteen feet. Following up the line of 

 this tunnel in a direction about K 10° E. (magnetic), the bed-rock was seen to rise regularly for 

 a distance of two or three hundred feet. Farther east I saw no bed-rock in the Chicken Point 

 mines; but the sandy strata dipped to the north and east, as if the rock might possibly slope off in 

 that direction again, — though of this there can be no certainty. The altitude of the highest point 

 of rock seen I determined to be 3,0G6 feet. 



Previously to this I had taken an observation with the barometer on the rim-rock at the head of 

 Sardine Eavine, at a point 350 feet south of the high flume. Its altitude I made 2,907 feet. It 

 dipped to the north, — that is, under the gravel, — and shortly disappeared from sight; hut, not- 

 withstanding, the dip of the strata of clay and sand near by w r as mainly to the south and south- 

 west. The gravel in this neighborhood contained considerable sand and clay, — some black and 

 indurated, and some more yellowish in color. The presence of large and rather angular boulders 



was also noticeable. 



These were the only two places on Chicken Point south of the ridge of gravel along which the 



Chalk Bluffs road runs, where the altitude of bed-rock could be measured, though there was plenty 





