9G 
GEOLOGICAL REPORT-THIRTY-FIFTH PARALLEL. 
when they can get water from the snows. These workers spend the greater part of their time 
under ground, living on atole, a dilute kind of corn mush ; sometimes coming forth to the 
light of day, when they wish to sell the product of their labor.” 1 Mr. Campbell stated that 
he had obtained from his wells one piece worth seven hundred dollars, and at another time a 
piece worth nine hundred. Whether these were taken from the veins or from the placer deposites 
is uncertain, but I judge that they were taken from the latter. 
Dr. Wislizenus mentions two gold mines which he says are similar, and I presume are the 
same that were visited by Lieutenant Abert, and just described. Mr. Campbell’s mine is said 
to be one and a half mile southwest from the town, near the top of a high mountain to which 
a rough and steep road leads, accessible only to pack-mules. “The gold is found, as in 
old placer, in sienite and greenstone; it runs horizontally from east to west; the gangue is 
iron ochre and crystallized quartz. The vein was from eight to ten feet wide, and was explored 
for a length of twenty feet, and to a depth of ten feet.” 2 
As Lieutenant Abert describes the last vein he examined as nearly horizontal, and also states 
its direction to be nearly east and west, I am led to conclude that the descriptions refer to the 
same locality described by Dr. Wislizenus. It is difficult to understand what is intended by 
the statement that the vein has an east and west direction, when it is also said to be nearly 
horizontal, and thus has, most probably, an extension in all directions. If it were not for the 
occurrence of pyrites and carbonate of lime, the associates of gold in veins, and the direct state¬ 
ments that the vein is in the solid rocks, we might conclude that the openings followed a layer 
of auriferous drift on the bed-rock. Lieutenant Abert states that the rock is limestone, while 
Dr. Wislizenus desciibes it as greenstone and sienite. It is therefore probable that all these 
rocks are found together ; and we already know that the mines are near the junction of the 
limestone with the granitic rocks. 
Cerbat and Aquarius Mountains. —It does not appear from the notes or collection, nor from 
any published reports, that gold is found in these mountains, or in the region included between 
the Colorado river and Hawilhamook, or Bill Williams’ fork. The metamorphic character of 
the rocks, however, and their wide extent, lead me to conclude that gold will in all probability 
be found there in considerable quantities. The subject is worthy of the attention of explorers 
when passing over that region. 
Gold in the Great Basin and Bernardino Sierra. —After quitting the Gold mountains, the 
precious metal was not found again along the route. It, however, occurs at a point near the 
Mormon road, not many miles beyond the Soda lake, in the Great Basin. The locality is 
known as the Armagosa mine, and it was noticed in my Preliminary Geological Report. It is 
exceedingly interesting not only for the peculiar association of the gold, but as the only known 
vein bearing this metal which has yet been discovered in the Great Basin. This vein was 
opened upon and worked for a time by a company organized in California, and a considerable 
quantity of rich ore was raised ; but the distance of the locality from settlements, and the difficulty 
and expense attending the transportation of supplies, caused the enterprise to be abandoned. 
The many specimens of the rock, charged with small plates and filaments of gold, that were 
obtained at the mine, and which are to be seen in Los Angeles and other places in California, 
testify to the richness and value of the locality ; and it is desirable that the vein should receive 
more attention. The specimens which I have obtained from there show that carbonate of lime 
forms a considerable part of the gangue ; the filaments of gold, some of them as large as a 
common-sized knitting-needle, are seen to penetrate this mineral, and to be imbedded in it so 
as to protrude on two sides of rhombohedrons, obtained by cleavage. The occurrence of this 
gold in place in the rocks of the Basin, so far east of the great auriferous region of the Sierra 
Nevada, has a significance of no small importance. It indicates the presence of veins throughout 
that vast and as yet almost unexplored region. We may look not only for rich veins, but for 
1 Abert. Report of an Examination of New Mexico, p. 452. 
5 Wislizenus' Memoir, p. 32. 
