11 



ease and sometimes in abundance. The ferruginous, cavern- 

 ous or drusy quartz that is found in veins, in the talcose, or 

 contiguous rocks, is often so friable as to be crumbled by pres- 

 sure with the hand, its structure becoming schistose, a mixture 

 with surrounding rock is apparent. The roads are mended 

 with this mineral, and, as we have observed, it is common upon 

 the surface of the ground in all directions in* the neighborhood 

 of these talcose, chlorite, argillacious schist and limestone for- 

 mations. These rocks, as also do the contained quartz, bear 

 a very strong resemblance to those of the gold belt of Georgia, 

 North and South Carolina, and Virginia ; and so great indeed 

 is the analogy between specimens of auriferous quartz from the 

 several southern states and those of this county, as not to be 

 distinguished but by reference to the label. My friends, Mr. 

 Calvin Mason and Dr. Fisher, of whom I speak with a lively 

 feeling of pleasure, remembering with gratitude their polite at- 

 tentions to me whilst in York, these gentlemen, after frequent 

 and close research, have discovered gold in quartz at different 

 times and different localities within the limits of the formations 

 we have just had the honor to describe. 



No mines have yet been worked for gold in this county, and 

 it was owing to the above named gentlemen having found 

 some particles of this precious metal in quartz, that a loose no- 

 tice gained its way into some of our public journals. A short 

 distance above Columbia, on the Susquehanna, and in the 

 county of Lancaster, a horizontal drift has been run into that 

 hill known here by the name of Chicky's rock. This work is 

 of trifling importance, not being in length above fifteen feet; it 

 was then abandoned ; some ore lay at the mouth of the work, 

 and that which was pointed out to me as being good, was a 

 heterogeneous mixture of chlorite, quartz, oxide of iron, feldspar 

 &c. The gentleman who had superintended these workings 

 informed me that the quartz here found contained sufficient 

 gold to pay and yield. He was then engaged in researches 

 for auriferous quartz, in the vicinity of Keysie's ferry, in Hel- 

 lam township. The country hereabout is rugged and romantic, 

 the rocks back of the ferry exhibit indications of copper, and 

 the gentleman who caused to be assayed many specimens of 

 quartz found in this vicinity, discovered the gold to be most 



