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, Professor 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 heds 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 
pecuhar 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 
