GOLD REGIONS OF STRAIT OF MAGELLAN 



693 



found, though it may be said that, in a region so difficult as this is 

 to prospect, gold-bearing veins might readily be overlooked. The 

 alluvial deposits may be divided into two classes, those in beds of 

 creeks or on hillsides, and those on sea beaches where they are sub- 

 ject to the action of the sea during rising and falling tides and during 

 storms. 



The alluvial deposits in beds of streams or on hillsides vary in 

 gold contents from a few cents to a dollar or more per cubic yard. 



Fig. 8. — Gold-bearing alluvium on the Rio Verde, Tierra del Fuego. 



and sometimes, though less commonly, are considerably richer, but 

 most of the ground that is now worked is said to range from twenty- 

 five cents to fifty cents per yard. Under the conditions existing in the 

 region, it is difficult to make very low grade groand pay, but some 

 of the operators expect eventually, with steam dredges, to make a 

 profit on very considerably lower-grade ground than they are working 

 now. The gold-bearing beds vary from a few feet to many feet in 

 thickness, ten to thirty feet or more being not uncommon. (See 

 Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.) An "overburden," or capping of barren 

 ground, of variable thickness often occurs. 



