EXDiitri.] ECONOMIC GEOLOGY GOLD. 147 



during several montlis. In Sfran-herry Gidch several miners were cn- 

 gaj^ed in washing- "dirt.'' Ilavinji; Ibund better pay about two miles 

 distant, Avliore tliere was no water, liowcver, the gravel was carried over 

 to the Strawberry and tliere washed. The miners aji^iear to be satisfied 

 witli the results obtained. French Gnh-Ji, in the iunnediate vicinity of 

 the post, has been worked for several years. A hose COO feet in length 

 and G inches in diameter ta])i)ed the creek, giving it a head of about 35 

 feet. The nozzle was an inch and a half in diameter. With this ap- 

 pliance the washing-down of gravel banks was rapidly accomplished. 

 Gold was caught in a long sluice-box. Here the gold was somewhat 

 coarser than is usually the case. On several other small streams near 

 the post, gold Avas washed, but the water sui^ply soon, gave out. Most 

 of the gravel will i'uruish "colors" uiwu panning, but it requii-es careful 

 manipulation to save the metal. 



Ifear Mmer''s Delight. 



In the neighborhood of this town a large number of gailches have 

 been and are worked. Prominent among them is tipring Gulch. The 

 gravel is rather coarse, loosely cemented, and contains an appreciable 

 quantity of coarse gold. It is stated that miners here wash out $0 to 

 $7 per day. All the work is carried on, on a comparatively small scale. 

 Other placiers that have been worked in this vicinity are Meadoto^ 

 Promise, Irish, and Beaver Gulches. Horace Gulch is considered as one 

 of great promise. Twin Gulch is supplied with water by a ditch several 

 miles in length, and is said to yiekl good results. 



From the observations wiiich 1 made while examining this region, I 

 am i)ersuaded that a hu'ge amount of gold exists in the various deposits 

 of drift and "dirt." It seems, howe\'er, that the washing of small quan- 

 tities, with an insufiicient su])ply of water, prevents the gulches from 

 proving generally rcnnmeratixe. AV'ere it possible to obtain an adequate 

 water-sui^ply, and to carry on the worlc on a laige scale during the en- 

 tire length of the open season, I have no doubt that placier-miuing would 

 here be a paying operation. The gold which we tind so widely distributed 

 has been carried downward from the more elevated regions. It has col- 

 lected in all such i)laces where we would uatm^allj^ expect to find either 

 flmiatile or local glacial drift. So tar as can be determined, the origi- 

 nal places of deposition of the metal are to be looked for in the outcrops 

 of auriferous veins. Decomposition has set the gold fi-ee there, and ero- 

 si\'e agents have removed it to such localities where it could most con- 

 veniently acciunulate. 



SILVER. 



Argentiferous veins have been reported as occurring on the western 

 slope of the Wind Iliver Ilange. So far as I am able to determine, this 

 report is not founded npon facts. We observed, while surveying that 

 region, a number of A'ehis of varying size containing specular hematite. 

 It closely resembles some of the silver-bearing minerals, and its occur- 

 rence has probably given rise to the current rumors. Upon examina- 

 tion of several specimens, either no silver or merely a trace of it was 

 found. From the features that we have noted in connection with the 

 archfcan as well as metamorphic area of the entire region, we are justi- 

 fied in concluding that no prominent systems of metalliferous veins will 

 be found anywhere except in the old schists where they have already 

 been discovered. The term "metalliferous" is here used with si)ecial 

 reference to gold and silver. Wherever lodes have been found they obey 



