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THE AURIFEROUS GRAVELS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA. 



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feet wide, and very -shallow, yet it has been followed for three fourths of a mile, and is said to 

 have been pretty rich. It runs directly through the ridge, a little to the west of Bottle Hill, its 

 general course being about M". 10° W. magnetic, with a decided fall in that direction. There is 

 also said to be, in Gravel Hill, a channel as well-defined as the one just described. It is described 

 as coming into the hill from the south, and running northerly for a distance of 700 or 800 feet, 

 then bending to the west and going about as far in that direction before making its exit from the 

 hill. This channel has been distinctly traced for the distance mentioned, with a decided down 

 grade to the north and west. It is supposed to be a branch of the Roanoke and Jones's Hill 

 channel, which it may have joined in Jones's Hill at the Columbia Claim. 



At Flora's Mine, two miles west of Volcanoville, there is said to be a well-defined channel, with 

 high rim-rocks on each side, and which has been worked from 100 to 150 feet in width. The grade 

 of this channel is descending towards the west, and it appears to be pretty heavy. 



At Densmore's Claim, a mile and a half a little west of south from Startown, on Grouse Canon, 

 the channel is narrow, ranging from thirty to fifty feet in width, and it runs nearly parallel with 

 the ridge, or in a direction a little south of west; it has been followed for about 100 feet in the 

 tunnel at Densmore's. It is said that the same channel has been traced in a southwesterly direc- 

 tion along the right bank of Grouse Canon, for some two miles. 



At Peckham Hill there appears to be a broad and well-defined channel, with high rims on both 

 sides, but which has not yet been much explored. There is considerable reason for believing that 

 this is the continuation of the great channel at Forest Hill. 



At Castle Hill, two or three miles above Georgetown, and near the Clipper Mill, a tunnel has 

 been driven in Robbins's Mine, for 400 feet in a direction of S. 5° E., and then 250 feet farther 

 S. 20° E., following a channel up stream. This channel is narrow, so far as followed in this mine, 

 having been worked only about fifteen feet in width ; it is well-defined, with distinct rim-rocks. 

 It is stated that at some distance to the southeast this channel is wider, having been worked in 

 places to a width of sixty or seventy feet. 



At the Excelsior Mine, near Placerville, the channel is supposed by Mr. Aldcrson to run diago- 

 nally through the main ridge in a northeasterly direction, passing just southeast of the ancient 

 village of White Rock, and coming out in the canon of the South Fork of the American River just 

 above that place. This channel at Coon Hollow seems to be very wide, exceeding 2,000 feet ; above 

 this, it is said to be still wider. A little below White Rock, there is another channel, called the Blue 

 Lead, which is supposed to lie beneath the other broader channel. This blue lead channel, which 

 runs through the main ridge, with a direction a little east of south, is said to be from 400 to GOO 

 feet in width, and from thirty to forty feet deep, with a well-defined rim on each side, and the 

 grade or fall is said to be towards the southeast. 



7. The Channels ; Recent Changes of their Position. 



The Golden Gate Canon is a little branch of Damascus Canon, on its east side. Following 

 down this canon, on its left bank, and running parallel with it for a distance of 1,500 feet or more, 

 and from twenty-five to one hundred feet above the bed of the present canon, is an older bed of 

 the same stream, now buried in the bank, and with a rim of bed-rock, varying from a few to forty 

 feet in height, separating it from the present canon. This older channel is filled chiefly with frag- 

 ments of bed-rock and soil, with more or less volcanic boulders, and a few of quartz. It has been 

 drifted and worked considerably, and has paid well. It contains an abundance of trees and wood 

 of various kinds, which seemed to be similar to those now growing in the region. One cedar log, 

 in perfect [(reservation, measured three and a half feet in diameter. 



In El Dorado Canon, near Deadwood, there are many old channels parallel with the present 

 canon, and some of them several hundred feet above its bed, on the mountain sides. 





