D1LLER. 
OLD VALLEYS. 53 
ment road to the north end of the reservation is upon this old stream 
bed for nearly a mile. The gravel is well rounded and many of the 
pebbles are as large as 4 inches in diameter. The gravel rests upon 
slates, which form a prominent hill between Hoopa Valley and Klamath 
River. From this ancient stream bed the gentle slopes of the old 
valleys rise to the peneplain 
Only the surface of the gravel deposit was seen, so that no definite 
idea of its thickness and structure could be obtained. Its position 
too, so near the junction of the two rivers, raises doubt as to whether 
it is really a bit of the old Klamath River bed or belongs to the Trinity, 
but this is of small moment, for being practically at the junction it 
may be used in determining the ancient level of both streams. Both 
streams had corresponding earlier valleys merging at this point. 
From this point the divide west of Klamath River to the coast at 
Gold Bluff is capped by gravel and marks the ancient bed of the 
Klamath. It was then approximately parallel to its present course, 
almost directly northwest from the Hoopa Reservation. The writer 
did not follow it all the way, but has been informed by a number of 
miners that the deposit is continuous. Along Prairie Creek by the 
coast road, opposite Gold Bluff, it is exposed upon the flat summit at 
an altitude of nearly 700 feet. 
The Gold Bluff beach has long been celebrated for its rich aurif- 
erous sand and gravels, and affords fine exposures of the associated 
rocks. The oldest is an altered shale containing calcite in blotches 
and streaks and quartz in short veinlets. 
Resting 1 on the shale, which is about 500 feet thick, is gravel, and it extends to 
the top of the mountain, some 2,000 feet above sea level. Immediately below 
Butler Creek the black shale disappears below the surface and on it lies a bed of 
very crumbly gray sandstone 150 to 200 feet thick, a vein of lignite 6 inches thick, 
and soft, gray, clay shale 80 feet thick. The whole dips 80° S. Nonconformably 
upon these beds lies the gravel, dipping 15° S. for a short distance, and then 
assuming a horizontal position. Near the bottom it is slightly cemented, while 
higher up it is not. The gravel bluffs stand. nearly perpendicularly and are from 
100 feet to 175 feet high. Going south along the beach 1| miles the bluffs grad- 
ually change. The gravel becomes finer and the percentage of sand increases. 
Bands of soft gray sandstone appear and grow thicker as we go south. Above 
the buildings of the Pioneer mine a section shows from the bottom upward as 
follows: 
Feet. 
Gravel, slightly cemented 10 
Very soft blue sandstone 15 
Gravel, slightly cemented . . : _ 30 
Very soft blue sandstone 10 
Small gravel and sand 85 
The bluff maintains the same character 31 miles down the coast, to a small lagoon, 
where the works of the Union mine are located. Below the lagoon for three-fourths 
mile th-3 bottom stratum of clay shale is visible, carrying here and there pieces of 
J Stat3 Mining Bureau of California, Thirteenth Report of the State Mineralogist, p. 172. 
