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CALIFORNIA ILLUSTRATED. 
where it is deposited during freshets, or at the confluence of 
ravines, which sweep down the side of the mountains uniting at 
the base, where the gold naturally deposits during the rainy 
season. “Bars/ 7 in California parlance , are the low tongues of 
land at abrupt bends in the river. (See Plate.) They are gen¬ 
erally formed in whole, or in part by freshets. During the 
rainy season, torrents rush down the sides of the mountains, 
freighted with gold, dirt and stones, which, when coming in con¬ 
tact with the main stream, are borne along until an abrupt bend 
in the river checks the current, an eddy sets back a certain dis¬ 
tance, at which point the heavy substances are deposited. A 
canal is cut across the root of the tongue, at the head of which 
a dam is thrown across the river, which turns the water from its 
natural channel, enabling miners to work below water-mark. 
