GOLD-MINES OF VIRGINIA. 333 



that the gold deposites follow the primitive forma- 

 tion from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. At Som- 

 erset, in Vermont, Pro fessor Hitchcock thinks there 

 is every indication of a gold region, and that it prob- 

 ably extends south into Massachusetts, as it has 

 been discovered at Deerfield. 



The gold is chiefly found in veins of quartz, 

 which penetrate the gneiss and other rocks com- 

 posing the primitive formations which we described 

 in a former chapter as extending from New- York 

 to Alabama. It occurs also in the alluvium com- 

 posed of the detritus of these auriferous veins and 

 the adjoining rocks. 



GOLD-MINES OF VIRGINIA. 



Gold is found through several of the western 

 counties of Virginia, particularly Spottsylvania, Or- 

 ange, Louisa, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Culpepper, Gooch 

 land, and Buckingham counties. It occurs in losse 

 pieces in gravel, and also in veins with quartz, in 

 mica, talcose, chlorite, or argillaceous slate, as 

 these all seem to pass into each other. Professor 

 Silliman, who examined the gold region of this state 

 in 1836, states that the gold, when in place, occurs 

 in beds or layers instead of veins which conform to 

 the regular structure of the slaty rocks, and, like 

 them, probably descend to unknown and unfathom 

 able depths. " The material of the veins," says 

 Professor Rogers, "is a variegated quartz, some- 

 times translucent, at others opaque. It is generally 

 of a cellular structure, fractures without much diffi- 

 culty, and, in many instances, contains a consider- 

 able proportion of water dispersed through its sub- 

 stance. Its surface, recently exposed, displays a 

 variety of tints of brown, purple, and yellow, of such 

 peculiar aspect as to resemble a thin lacker spread 

 unequally over the rock. The cavities are often 

 filled with a bright yellow ochre, a hydrated per- 

 oxide of iron, which generally contains gold in a 



