MONTE CRISTO AND CRAYCROFT’S. 465 
The position of this channel, being, as it is, directly under a comparatively low sag in the vol- 
canic capping, suggests some interesting inquiries. Just above and to the north or northeast of 
the mines there is a steep and abrupt bluff of solid and compact rock, which Mr. Wadsworth’s 
microscopic examination has shown to be an andesite. The altitude of the crest of the sag, above 
the channel, I made to be 5,492 feet, not quite 500 feet above the bed-rock in the mines. The 
volcanic material at the sag is much broken up, and the common surface boulders have more the 
appearance of an altered rock or a tufa than of a compact andesite. At first sight it seems as if 
it might be possible that the excavation of the channel was posterior to the lava-flow ; but the 
absence of pebbles of voleanic rock from the deep gravel furnishes a very strong argument against 
this supposition. Whatever may be the explanation, it is certainly a very striking fact that many 
of the gravel deposits, like those at Hepsidam, Potosi, Bunker Hill, Eureka, Monte Cristo, and 
the Bald Mountain channel between Forest City and City of Six, either lie uncovered between 
high points of rock of volcanic origin, or, covered only with a loose tufaceous material, can be 
traced beneath some low sag in the ridge, where frequently there are bluffs of lard and compact 
lava on either side. 
The gold at Monte Cristo is usually coarse in the lower strata and fine in the upper. There 
are also two grades of fineness : the gold of the “old mine” used to bring from $17.80 to $18.00 
per ounce, while that of the so-called “ back channel” is worth only $16.75. 
About a mile below Monte Cristo some prospecting has been done at Mount Holly, at the head 
of Sailor Caiion, the richness of the caiion having led to the belief that there was a lower channel 
to be found somewhere in the vicinity. The mines at Fir Cap, about two miles up the ridge from 
Monte Cristo, are said to have been extremely rich. The stories told of them sound like fable. 
One report put the yield at 120 ounces to the car-load. No work has been done in them since 
1874. Between Monte Cristo and Fir Cap there has been no successful mining on the west slope 
of the ridge. Wood’s mine is on the eastern slope, nearly north from Excelsior and below Fir 
Cap. I saw the bank only from Craycroft’s, on the opposite side of the caion ; I did not have 
time to visit it. 
Upon the hill known as Crayeroft’s there are two deposits of gravel which appear to be distinct 
from each other. Their relative positions are shown in the diagram (Plate V, Fig. 3), which rep- 
resents a longitudinal, or north and south, section of the ridge, with a vertical projection of the 
lower gravel upon the plane of the section. The upper gravel lies directly upon the crest of the 
ridge, which is here between three and four hundred feet in width. The gravel covers in all an 
area of not over five acres. It seems to lie in a basin-like depression, towards whose centre the 
bed-rock pitches from all directions. The bank exposed to view was about eighty feet in height. 
With the exception of some pebbles of a bluish color, the gravel was composed of clean, well- 
washed, bright, white quartz, resembling very closely the gravel of La Porte. There was nothing, 
however, to resemble the “ bogus” gravel of La Porte. 
The lower deposit, owned by Messrs. Eggleston and Mowry, is ninety rods from the upper gravel, 
and is seventy-five feet lower in altitude. It lies upon the northwestern slope of the ridge, some- 
thing more than 200 feet below the crest. The highest point of the Downieville trail, where 
it crosses the ridge from the southeastern side, has an altitude of 5,370 feet. The altitude 
of the mouth of the tunnel I made to be 5,137 feet. The bed-rock is an easily worked slate, 
whose strike is nearly north and south, and whose dip makes a high angle to the east. At the 
principal opening the deep channel in the bed-rock is irregular and narrow, not exceeding one 
hundred feet in width, and has a course of S. 25° W. (magnetic). The greatest thickness of 
gravel seen was fifty feet. There is said to be a thickness of nearly ninety feet in a shaft near the 
southwestern extremity of the deposit. The gravel is reddish in color, and contains, besides some 
large boulders, considerable angular quartz, some pieces of float bed-rock, some lava pebbles, and a 
very little clay, thus differing in almost every particular from the upper gravel. It contains neither 
fossilized wood nor impressions of leaves. The deposit can be traced along the ridge towards the 
southwest for more than half a mile. The surface gravel at the lower extremity of the deposit is 
