GOLD-BEARING   RIVER    SANDS    OF    N.  E.   WASHINGTON.  67 
At  the  upper  end  of  these  old  Chinese  workings  an  attempt  was 
made  last  summer  to  hydraulic  this  deposit,  a  small  stream  of  water 
under  a  30-foot  head  being  used.  The  pay  streak  was  estimated 
from  panning  to  contain  about  9  cents  per  cubic  yard.  Two  fusions 
were  made  of  the  sample  sent  to  the  concentrating  pavilion,  giving 
from  1  cent  to  13  cents  per  ton.  Half  a  mile  above  this  point  a  pay 
streak  2  feet  thick  lies  on  the  surface  of  the  bench,  with  no  overburden. 
It  extends  back  from  the  river  300  feet  to  the  foot  of  the  escarpment 
from  a  higher  bench.  Panning  here  indicates  that  this  pay  streak 
has  a  placer  value  as  high  as  9.5  cents  per  cubic  yard.  Two  fusions 
were  made  of  the  sample  taken  from  this  place,  one  showing  no  trace 
and  the  other  15.5  cents  per  ton. 
Attempts  at  mining  have  been  made  on  the  lower  terrace  at  inter- 
vals above  this  point  for  several  miles,  but  the  workings  are  now 
abandoned.  Mining  by  hydraulicking  was  in  progress  on  a  bench  at 
the  mouth  of  Stranger  Creek,  which  enters  the  Columbia  opposite 
Gifford.     The  section  exposed  here  is  as  follows: 
Section  on  Columbia  River  at  mouth  of  Stranger  Creek. 
Feet. 
Sandy  soil 7 
Pay  dirt,  consisting  of  clay  and  gravel 1-3 
Loose  open-textured  gravel  and  sand 20 
The  pay  streak  was  tested  by  panning  at  several  places  and  is  esti- 
mated to  contain  from  40  cents  per  cubic  yard  at  the  richest  spot  to 
5h  cents  at  the  poorest.  The  sandy  silt  above  the  pay  streak  carries 
a  small  amount  of  gold,  which  is  concentrated  with  that  from  the 
pay  streak  in  hydraulicking.  Prospect  holes  at  other  places  on  this 
bench  seem  to  indicate  that  the  pay  streak  is  not  of  very  great  extent. 
A  sample  cut  from  the  top  of  the  overburden  across  the  pay  streak 
at  its  thickest  part,  thus  including  pay  streak  and  overburden,  was 
tested  by  fusion  at  the  concentrating  pavilion  and  gave  results  vary- 
ing from  14  to  32  cents  per  ton.  This  placer  is  located  on  the  bank  of 
the  river  just  below  a  ledge  of  rock  which  must  have  always  acted  as 
an  obstruction  to  the  current,  and  the  rich  deposit  here  bears  the 
same  relation  to  this  obstruction  as  do  the  deposits  at  Hell  Gate  ana 
Wilmot  Bar  to  similar  ledges. 
For  several  miles  above  the  Stranger  Creek  placer  a  terrace  at  the 
same  level  that  extends  back  from  the  river  a  distance  of  S00  or  900 
feet  has  been  located  for  placer-mining  purposes.  The  sections 
exposed  in  the  river  bank  and  in  prospect  holes  indicate  a  deposit  of 
gravelly  soil  about  2  feet  thick,  resting  on  an  iron-stained  pay  streak, 
below  which  there  is  open-textured  gravel.  Panning  tests  of  these 
deposits  indicate  a  possible  value  of  a  fraction  of  a  cent  per  cubic  yard, 
to  a  depth  of  2\  feet,  but  samples  tested  by  fusion  at  the  concentrat- 
ing pavilion  showed  no  trace  of  gold.     Back  of  the  lower  terrace  there 
