172 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITOEIES. 



down tlie gulch the finer it becomes. The width of the ^ilch will aver- 

 age about 200 feet, and the hills on either side are rounded. The coun- 

 try rock is gneiss, presenting the same characteristics as that 1 have be- 

 fore noticed, being in many places garnetiferous. The gravel is washed 

 through a flume and the gold caught at various parts of its length. One 

 of the greatest wants for the successful prosecution of mining here is a 

 water-supply. There are a number of quartz-mines about Virginia 

 Gity, but all unite in saying that more capital is needed to make them 

 pay well. I was shown specimens of argentiferous galena and of cop- 

 per ore, which will no doubt one day add much to the prosperity of 

 Montana. The copper, I was told, was being mined and sent to Cali- 

 fornia to be smelted. In Alder Gulch I obtained good specimens of 

 garnets and precious serpentine. 



We left Virginia City on the 6th of July, and crossed the hills to the 

 Madison River, traveling in a northerly direction. We passed over dark 

 igneous rocks, which were in contact with coarse ferruginous sandstones. 

 We followed the river until its passage through a narrow canon neces- 

 sitated our turning from it and crossing the mountains. Soon after 

 leaving the river we crossed Meadow Creek, which flows through an ex- 

 ceedingly beautiful and fertile valley. We now began to ascend rapidly, 

 and passed by three deserted shafts sunk in the granite beds. Besides 

 granites there are here quartzites and gneiss. Soon after crossing the 

 summit, we encamped in the Hot Spring district. Near our camp were 

 some hot springs, which, however, presented but little of interest. The 

 highest temperature was 76° F., and the lowest G4P F. ; the temperature 

 of the air being 48° F. The largest spring was only about a foot and a 

 half in diameter, and four inches in depth. The rock at whose base 

 they have their origin is a reddish syenite. A few miles farther on 

 we passed some larger springs, situated close to the road. Their size 

 was about 4 feet by 10 feet. The highest temperature here was 124° F., 

 and the lowest 110° F. : the atmosphere at the time of observation being 

 50° F. They were filled with Confervoidea. We passed by a number of 

 mills all working, being supplied with the gold ore from quartz-mines 

 in the neighborhood. One of these mines, the Eed Bluft' lode, I visited. 

 The lode, which is. owned by J. J. Lown, dips to the north, the strike 

 being east and west. Its width varies from 2 feet to 7 feet. The coun- 

 try rock is mainly gneiss. The hanging wall is a gray granite, and 

 its foot-wall gneiss. There are two shafts 100 feet apart, the first one 

 reaching the depth of 105 feet, and the second 110 feet. They are con- 

 nected by a passage, which extends 45 feet beyond the second shaft, get- 

 ting below the water-level. The ore is principally a red jasper, with 

 the particles of metallic gold disseminated through it and plainly visi- 

 ble. Below this jaspery ore there are galena and i^yrites. I also ob- 

 tained some beautiful pieces of blue chalcedony and some semiopal, the 

 latter being almost all dendritic. Approaching the hanging wall the 

 ore passed into a porphyritic rock, with large masses of bright-red jas- 

 per. The mine had been worked for six months, and in that time had 

 averaged $60 to the ton. There were about eight men employed, at the 

 rate of $3 each per day. Leaving here, a ride of a few miles brought 

 us, a second time, to the Madison River, which having cut its way 

 through the mountains, here spreads out and flows smoothly between 

 low rounded hills, from whose grassy slopes ridges of gneiss and horn- 

 blende schist project. On examination these latter proved to be gar- 

 netiferous. Following the Madison but a short distance, we turned to 

 the right and crossed the hills to the valley of the Gallatin River. This 

 is the garden valley of Montana. It will average fifteen miles in width, 



