212 



THE ATJEIFEEOUS GEAVEL8 OF THE SIERRA NEVADA. 



are at work and where many millions have been produced. The most west- 

 erly channel of the Slate Creek Basin also enters Sierra County under Pilot 

 Peak, according to Mr. Hendel, and passes through Gibsonville, where it has 

 been extensively worked. From there on, it has not been much developed 

 until it reaches Laportc, in the vicinity of which place placer mining is very 

 active. A little below this the channel crosses Slate Creek to Poverty Hill, 

 near which it unites with the easterly branch previously mentioned ; and the 

 main channel then passes on to Brandy City and Camptonville, the latter 

 being on the south side of the North Yuba, connecting (as Mr. Hendel thinks) 

 with the channel at San Juan. The identity of the various ancient rivers 

 in Plumas and Sierra counties with the channels on the south side of the 

 Middle Yuba is a matter in regard to which our data are far from sufficient 

 to justify any decided expression of opinion at the present time. The sub- 

 ject is one which must be reserved for discussion after further investigation., 

 Mr. Hendel has published various statements in regard to the very large 

 yield of the mines on the Slate Creek Basin channels.* According to his 

 authority, the total shipments of gold dust and bullion from Laporte, in 

 the eighteen years previous to 1873, were equal in value to $ 60,000,000, 

 of which nine tenths are believed to have come from the Slate Creek Basin 

 mines.! Four companies at Howland Flat and Potosi — the Down East, 

 Union, Hawkeye, and Pittsburgh — took from 2,365,000 square feet of sur- 

 face $ 2,251,653.95, the pay gravel being estimated at four and a half feet in 

 thickness. This would give an average of ninety-five cents per square foot 

 of surface, or $ 5.70 per cubic yard of gravel washed. This material was 

 mined, it is stated, at a cost of forty-seven cents, leaving a profit of forty- 

 eight cents per square foot. At Grass Flat, in the Pioneer Company's ground, 

 the yield per cubic yard of gravel is said to have been $ 1.59. The mines 

 in the Slate Creek Basin are mostly hydraulic claims ; but a portion of them 

 appear to be on regular channels, and a part are of the nature of placer 

 mines. The bed of Slate Creek itself has been the reservoir for more than 

 twenty years of the tailings poured from the rich diggings on all sides. This 

 deposit of tailings is more than twenty miles in length, extending as it does 

 to the Yuba River, and is from 150 to 800 feet wide. Two companies, at 



• 



* See Fifth and Seventh Reports of the United States Mining Commissioner. 



t These statistics arc very vague ; but those who endeavor to collect information in regard to the prod- 

 uce of our mines in the United States soon find that accurate figures in regard to these matters are of 

 extremely rare occurrence. 





