210 The American Geologist. April, 1891 
comprising nearly five hundred patented claims and almost as 
many unpatented ones. 
The Lode follows, in a general wa}-, the northwest and south- 
east trend of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The veins invariably 
conform to the strike of the rocks but not to the dip. The dip of 
the latter varies from fifty to ninety degrees, while that of the 
veins is from forty to eighty degrees. In direction it ranges 
from north 60° west to a little east of north in places. The 
elevation is that of the middle foothills, being as low as seven 
hundred feet in the river canons. In Mariposa county it is two 
thousand feet, and in the northern part of El Dorado count}' two 
thousand four hundred feet. 
The surface of the region traversed by the lode varies greatly ; 
near the rivers it is cut up b}' deep, rocky canons, overgrown with 
brush and generally quite difficult of exploration, while back some 
distance the country is rolling or hilly, more free from brush and 
more or less timbered. 
The topography and other physical aspects appear in striking 
accord with the geologic structure. The foothill region is one 
which may be styled metamorphic. The more or less altered 
strata of slates, schists and sandstones being usually in excess of 
the eruptive rock. It is characterized by ranges of hills running 
parallel with the axis of the mountains, and often having between 
them long, deep valleys, or where the rock is of comparatively 
uniform hardness the hills and valleys are irregularly disposed. 
The larger rivers flowing from the high Sierras follow a compar- 
atively direct course to the San Joaquin valley. At times their 
channels will lie for several miles in the strike of the softer strata, 
and when a stratum of hard crystalline rock is encountered, they 
turn and take the shortest course through it. Their canons are 
deep and narrow, with scarcely any bottom land. The tributaries 
of the main streams have generally cut their courses in the strike 
of the rocks when there exists any decided difference in the hard- 
ness of the strata. 
Ordinarily this middle foothill belt is well watered ; springs are 
numerous, and a large part is susceptible of cultivation. Timber 
is quite abundant, sufficient for ordinary purposes, though material 
for good lumber is to be found mostly higher up. Willow or nut 
pine, black pine, live oak, and white and black oak are the prin- 
cipal trees ; while manzanita, chaparral, scrub oak, greasewood, 
