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154 



THE AURIFEROUS GRAYELS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA. 



The following is a synopsis of Professor Pettee's observations made in ex- 

 amining the region around Little York and along the spur between Bear 

 River and its branch called Steep Hollow, below the Camel's Hump. 



The Dutch Flat gravel was found chiefly on three hills, — Gray's Hill, Thompson Hill, and 

 Ellis Hill • the latter two being at the southwestern extremity, below the point where the change 

 of channel in the direction of Gold Run is supposed to have taken place. The altitude of the bed- 

 rock at the bottom of Teaff s Shaft, at Dutch Flat, was ascertained to be 3,004 feet, which is a 

 trifle too high, on account of the shaft's not having struck the lowest point. The rim-rock which 

 is visible at the Iowa Claim rises to a height considerably greater than 3,000 feet. What the 

 form of the bed-rock will be when uncovered is purely a matter of conjecture, but there must be 

 a sudden fall, as if there had been rapids, or a cascade, in the original river, as we go to the south- 

 west from the Iowa Claim. The next point in that direction where there was an opportunity to 

 take an observation was nearly or quite at the end of the diggings on Thompson Hill ; its altitude 

 was determined to be only 2,838 feet ; unexpectedly lower than the bottom of Teafl's Shaft. But, 

 though this is the lowest rock measured north of Dutch Flat Canon, it will be seen to be decidedly 

 higher than the bed-rock at the Cement Mill below Indiana Hill. In no way can we find other 

 than an up-hill course for the river if it flowed northward from Indiana I [ill. 



In regard to the course of the channel between Dutch Flat and Little York, the following 



facts are to be noticed. 



Directly opposite Thompson Hill, on the other side of Dutch Flat Canon, at an elevation of be- 

 tween 350 and 400 feet above Bear River, was a spur of gravel known as Eastman Hill. This has 

 been washed away pretty cleanly to the bed-rock, which, however, is almost hidden from view by 

 the piles of boulders which have been left. The gravel was, in 1870, not entirely gone ; for there 

 were still two or three men at work at the upper end of the hill. Eastman Hill is one of the 

 spurs leading down from Plug Ugly, but there is a long distance of slate bed-rock between the 

 two deposits of gravel, so that no intimate and immediate connection can be traced between them, 

 the distance across the canon being hardly a quarter of a mile. 



As we descend into the canon of Bear River, and ascend on the other side by the wagon-road 

 from Dutch Flat to Little York, we find, at a distance of about half a mile from the latter place, 

 at a point where the road bears more to the west to follow up the line of Scott's Ravine, a spur of 

 gravel known as Missouri Hill. This point was not in sight from Thompson or Eastman Hill, and 

 no direct comparison with the hand level was possible. The barometer shows, however (by a 

 mean of two closely agreeing observations taken on different days), an altitude of 2,753 feet for 



the Missouri Hill bed-rock. 



Standing at Missouri Hill, it was seen that a level line would strike part way up on the face of 

 the gravel banks on Independence Hill, below Little York, which proved that the bed-rock in 

 Scott's Ravine was, at all events, a little lower than that on Missouri Hill. This observation was 

 confirmed by subsequent barometric measurements, by means of which the altitude of the deep 

 bed-rock in Scott's Ravine, east of the town of Little York, was shown to be only 2,704 feet. To 

 the west of the town no bed-rock is found uncovered, until the claims on Empire Hill are reached. 

 Between the last-named place and Scott's Ravine a high ridge of gravel has been left standing, 

 along which the road to You Bet runs. From this ridge it is not quite easy to decide on which, 

 side the deepest bed-rock lies. A number of rough measurements have been made, from time to 

 time, with discordant results, some indicating that the Empire Hill bed-rock is a few feet higher 

 than that in Scott's Ravine, while the majority point to a slope in the opposite direction, but differ 

 among themselves as to the amount. At Empire Hill there is a considerable body of bed-rock 

 exposed, over a length of nearly a thousand feet, along which there is a narrow channel of blue 

 gravel, between one and two hundred feet wide, which is a few feet deeper than the average 

 bed-rock of the rest of the claim. The observation with the barometer was intended to be taken 





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