OBDEB OF STBATA. . 241 



failed to give a trace of gold on panning, but on descending the branch and 

 testing the gravel, as soon as we had entered the mica and quartz schists, 

 small colors of gold were obtained. 



The different strata were encountered in the following order in pro- 

 ceeding down this branch : 



1. Coarsely crystalline white feldspar granite of the Harney Peak 

 range. 



2. Metamorphic schist (gneiss). 



3. Mica-schist, with segregated quartz veins, containing traces of amor- 

 phous graphite. 



4 Quartz-schist, having a slaty structure alternating with strata of 

 mica-schist; the whole formation dipping 45° west. 



In descending Spring Creek, the first gravel bars are seen about five 

 miles above Newton's Fork, elevated from 20 to 40 feet above the present 

 level of the stream on flat points and benches of mica or quartz schist. 



On making an open cut into these bars on bed-rock the gravel is found 

 to be almost exclusively composed of quartz, and to yield, on panning, 

 small quantities of gold, from one color to half a cent to the pan. Better 

 results were obtained from drifts run in on bed-rock in the flats near the 

 edge of the stream. The gravel is full of mica and small garnet crystals, 

 resulting from the disintegration of the schists, and the gold is associated 

 with black sand and bright scales of iron ore. 



To test the deeper channels in the flat, a shaft 5 by 8 feet was sunk with 

 considerable difficulty to bed-rock, which was reached at a depth of 13£ 

 feet, passing through the following deposits : 



Feet. 



Black peaty soil 4 



Brown-colored, loose light gravel 2 



Compact white quartz-gravel, containing about half a cent to the pan of coarse scale 



gold 2 



Loose quicksands with bowlders, yielding only fine colors of gold 4 



Decomposed bed-rock, with colors of coarse scale gold 1£ 



Bed-rock ; lamellar, talcose-schist. 



The quicksand was so loose that water flowed in such quantities into 

 the shaft as to keep one man employed constantly bailing to enable the 

 others to work. The gravel was panned regularly for every six inches' 

 16 B H 



