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SUPPLEMENTARY INVESTIGATIONS IN THE GRAVEL REGION. 





The water for these mines is Drought from two small lakes upon the northwestern slope of Spanish 

 Peak, near its summit. The capacity of the ditch is 1,500 miners' inches, measured with a head 

 of six inches. 



Along the ridge to the north and northwest of Spanish Ranch, for a distance of five or six miles, 

 there are said to be deposits of high gravel, upon which more or less mining has been done. In 

 Quien Sabe Ravine the gravel is said to be capped with lava ; and lava also appears in the ditch 

 at intervals for a couple of miles farther eastward. Above Bean Hill, which is about two miles 

 distant from Spanish Ranch, the gravel is free from any volcanic capping. These deposits, with 

 the exception of Chaparral Hill and Fales's Hill, I did not find time to visit. As nearly as can 

 be estimated from the known grade of the ditch between Badger Hill and Bean Hill, the bed-rock 

 at the latter place must be about 800 feet higher than the store at Spanish Ranch. At Bean Hill 

 there is further evidence that faults have been formed since the deposition of the gravel. See the 

 sketch (Plate V, Fig. 6) which was drawn for me by Mr. Edman. 



Between Spanish Ranch and Chaparral Hill I followed the so-called wagon-road, — a road, which, 

 taken all in all, is one of the worst I have ever ridden over. The surface boulders seen on the route 

 were in part serpentine, which is probably the country rock ; in part metamorphic rock of several 

 different kinds; in part a porphyritic rock of peculiar structure; and, to some extent, volcanic 

 tufa. At several places, on the higher spurs between the small ravines, the surface was covered, 

 over a limited area, with well-washed gravel. The gravel deposit known as Chaparral Hill lies at 

 the head of one of the branches of Spanish Creek, near the old Mountain House. The bed-rock 

 exposed to view is serpentinous in character. Its altitude at the eastern end of the hill I made to 

 be 4,980 feet, which is about 1,400 feet higher than Spanish Ranch. The mining done here 

 must have been almost entirely confined to shallow diggings, for there are no high banks to indi- 

 cate extensive hydraulic operations, if the large, sloping bank on the southern side of Spanish 

 Creek, light in color and looking like clay or sand, be excepted. Chaparral Hill has been practi- 

 cally deserted for several years, save by Chinamen, who work the ground over and over again 

 every winter, with aid of the small supply of water obtained from the melting snows. Large 

 amounts of gold are said to have been taken from the shallow diggings. Fales's Hill lies on the 



<->o © 



opposite side of the ridge, near Mill Creek, in a westerly or northwesterly direction from Chaparral 

 Hill, and about one mile distant. The gravel is generally supposed to be continuous across the 

 ridge ; at least, I was told that no bed-rock is to be seen between the two places. The width of 

 this supposed channel, which may be taken as 1,000 feet at Chaparral Hill, narrows to 500 feet or 

 less at Fales's Hill. The bed-rock at the latter place is very uneven ; the supposed southern rim 

 stands at an unusually high angle. I made its average altitude, where exposed to view, to be 

 4,880 feet, indicating a grade of a hundred feet to the mile from east to west. The gravel both 

 here and at Chaparral Hill is quite different in character and appearance from any that is seen in 

 the Yuba basin. The general color of the exposed bank at Fales's Hill, for at least ten feet from 

 the surface of the ground, is a bright crimson, something like the color of cinnabar. The boulders 

 and pebbles represent many different kinds of rock. Some of the layers of fine crimson quartz 

 sand and rounded pebbles of various kinds have a dip as high as 15°. Neither pipe-clay nor lava 

 is to be seen here. Of the extent or probable value of these deposits I can say nothing. Mr. 

 Keller, of Quincy, told me that in 1854 a shaft was sunk on Fales's Hill, to a depth of ninety feet, 

 without reaching bed-rock. There is some prospect of an early resumption of mining operations 

 at one or both these hills. 



South of Spanish Creek the first locality to be mentioned is Hungarian Hill, a point about three 

 miles west of Quincy, and nearly opposite Shores Hill. Within the area included under this name 

 gravel is found in several places at widely different altitudes and under conditions so diverse that 

 it is difficult, if not impossible, to see how the several deposits can ever have belonged together, 

 or have been formed at the same time or by the same agencies. The map of Hungarian Hill 

 (Plate W) I was allowed to copy from one belonging to Messrs. Peter and James A. Orr, the 

 owners of a large extent of mining ground on the southern side of the hill. Hungarian Hill is 



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