

THE GRAVEL : NEAR SMARTSVILLE AND TIMBUCTOO. 



191 



granite, rose to the south at an angle of nearly 45°; and other excavations in 

 the opposite direction showed a similar condition of things, there being here 

 a deep and narrow ravine in the granite, filled with gravel and pipe-clay. 

 In this gravel the drift-wood was found on the west side of the boulders, near 

 which the gold was accumulated on the north and south edges, as would have 

 been the result, if the course of the channel had been from east to west. 



Near the Key-Stone saw-mill on Owl Creek,* six miles west of Nevada 

 City, there is a small outlier of volcanic materials covering gravel. A short 

 tunnel has been run under the lava and a few shafts sunk ; the gravel, ap- 

 parently, has not proved to be very rich. The elevation of this lower edge 

 of the lava at this place is 2,133 feet, and its thickness about thirty feet. 

 About three eighths of a mile east-northeast from the saw-mill are some old 

 surface diggings, the work of Portuguese miners, which are said not to have 

 been rich. 



§ 5, Smartsville and Timlmctoo. 



The gravel deposits in the vicinity of Smartsville and Timbuctoo are inter- 

 esting on account of their great extent, and because they are at such a low 

 altitude. They arc also comparatively isolated ; as a reference to the map 

 will show, there being only occasional patches of lava along a line connecting 



■ 



the Smartsville gravels with those great deposits between the South and 

 Middle Yuba. In describing this district the notes furnished by Professor 

 Pettee, of his examination of the region, in 1870, will be chiefly relied on.f 



In attempting to give a list of the different companies in this neighborhood a difficulty is met, 

 arising from the changes of name and ownership, as well as the consolidations of title which have 

 taken place at various times. In some instances, the new name has not entirely superseded the 

 old ones, and in others an old name has been made to cover more ground than formerly. In 

 either case, it was not always clear that two persons had the same claim in mind when using the 

 same term, or that they meant different grounds when using different names. 



Beginning at the most westerly end of the Timbuctoo deposit, we find the names of the compa- 

 ss, in 1870, to have been nearly as follows : Warren Company; Gallagher Claim; Bourgoyne; 

 Wolf; Antone; Union; Michigan; Hyde; Estner ; Greenhorn; Live Yankee ; Babb ; Iventuck ; 

 I'ennsy; Marlow ; Maple; O'Brien (probably the same as the Pactolus) ; Rose's Bar; Pittsburg 

 and Yuba Eiver; Blue Gravel; Blue Point ; Smartsville Consolidated; and perhaps one or two more, 

 such as Campbell's, around Sucker Flat. The names given in italics are those which are most in 

 lls ^ As near as could be ascertained in 1870 the length of channel owned by the different com- 

 panies then at work was as follows : Antone, 205 feet; Babb, 1 , 800 ;, Pactolus, 900 ; Hose's Bar, 

 UKM); Pittsburg and Yuba Eiver, 1,500; Blue Gravel, 1,200; Blue Point, 1,200; Smartsville 



I 



. * 



f 



* In the southeast quarter of Section 1. T. 16. N. ; R. 7. E. 



t Professor Pettee mentions Mi*. Ackley and Mr. McAllis of Smartsville and Mr. Redfield of Timbuctoo as 

 < ving furnished valuable information Concerning the claims in their neighborhood. 



