esdlich.] ECONOMIC GEOLOGY GOLD. 147 



during' several months. In Strawberry Gulch several miners were en- 

 gaged in washing' "dirt." Having found better pay about two miles 

 distant, where there was no water, however, the gravel was carried over 

 to the Strawberry and there washed. The miners appear to be satisfied 

 with the results obtained. French Gulch, in the immediate vicinity of 

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

 and inches in diameter tapped 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 was washed, but the water supply soon gave out. Most 

 of the gravel will furnish "colors" upon panning, but it requires careful 

 manipulation to save the metal. 



Near Miner's Delight. 



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

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

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

 quantity of coarse gold. It is stated that miners here wash out $6 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 Meadow, 

 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 yield good results. 



From the observations which I made while examining this region, I 

 am persuaded that a large amount of gold exists in the various deposits 

 of drift and "dirt." It seems, however, that the washing of small quan- 

 tities, with an insufficient supply of water, prevents the gulches from 

 proving generally remunerative. Were it possible to obtain an adequate 

 water-supply, and to carry on the work on a large scale during the en- 

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

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

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

 lected in all such places where we would naturally expect to find either 

 fluviatile or local glacial drift. So far 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 free there, and ero- 

 sive agents have removed it to such localities where it could most con- 

 veniently accumulate. 



SILVER. 



Argentiferous veins have been reported as occurring on the western 

 slope of the Wind River Eange. So far as I am able to determine, this 

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

 region, a number of veins 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 

 archaean 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 special 

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



