68  CONTKIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1906,   PAET    I. 
is  a  higher  one  about  300  feet  above  the  river,  containing  300  or  400 
acres  of  land  that  has  also  been  included  in  placer  claims.  These 
lands,  as  far  as  could  be  ascertained,  have  alight  sandy  soil  to  a  depth 
of  1  or  2  feet,  underlain  by  tough  clay  to  an  unknown  depth.  No 
traces  of  gold  could  be  found  in  either  the  surface  soil  or  the  clay. 
Benches  lying  20  to  30  feet  above  the  river  level  and  similar  to 
those  which  have  been  described  extend  along  the  left  bank  froJ 
this  point  nearly  to  Kettle  Falls.  One  of  these,  2  miles  above  Daisy, 
presents  the  following  section  in  the  cut  bank  of  the  river: 
Section  <>n  Columbia  River  I  n dies  above  Daisy. 
Feet. 
Soil 1 
[ron-stained  pay  streak \ 
Open-textured  gravel  and  -ami 18 
Fragments  of  shells  of  river  mollusks  were  found  in  the  silt  just 
below  the  pay  streak.  A  sample  from  the  pay  streak  was  panned, 
showing  a  value  of  _>  or  .'!  cents  to  the  cubic  yard,  but  the  assays  made 
at  the  concentrating  pavilion  showed  only  a  trace  of  gold. 
A  low  bar  in  the  river  several  miles  above  Daisy,  formerly  known 
as  China  Bar  and  reported  to  have  been  worked  out  bythe  Chinese! 
was  also  tested  and  the  upper  layer  of  sand  and  gravel  yielded  about 
the  same  resull      2  or  ;;  cents  to  the  cubic  yard. 
SANPOIL    VALLEY. 
The  Sanpoil  Valley  is  disproportionately  large  for  the  stream  which 
it  contains.  \i>  walls  are  terraced  to  almost  the  same  elevations  as 
those  of  the  Columbia  Valley  and  it  was  probably  occupied  by  an  arm 
of  the  same  lake  as  filled  t  he  ( Jolumbia.  It  also  resembles  the  Colum- 
bia in  that  the  lower  terraces  and  benches  are  more  irregular  than  the 
upper  ones.  AJthough  colors  of  gold  were  found  at  intervals  along 
t  his  river  they  arc  not  as  uniformly  distributed  as  along  the  Columbia 
and  are  not  concentrated  in  pay  streaks  to  the  same  extent.  A  great 
many  placer  claims  have  been  located  near  the  month  of  West  Fork, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Alkire  post-office.  Tests  with  the  gold  pan  indi- 
cated  a  value  of  about  1  cents  per  cubic  \  ard  in  one  or  two  small  spots, 
outside  of  which  colors  of  gold  were  very  rarely  found.  These  colors 
are  rougher  than  those  along  the  Columbia  and  average  0.0055  cent  in 
value.  A  sample  representing  thirteen  prospect  holes,  all  of  which 
were  well  located  to  find  placer  gold  if  present,  was  tested  by  fusion  at 
the  concentrating  pavilion  and  showed  no  trace  of  gold.  About  J 
miles  above  its  mouth  West  Fork  of  the  Sanpoil  receives  a  tributary 
called  Gold  Creek,  and  several  miles  np  the  latter  Strawberry  Creek^ 
enters.  Reports  of  miners  indicate  fair  prospects  of  gold  on  each  of 
these  latter  streams,  and  an  imperfect  examination  of  them  confirms 
the  reports.  The  deposits  along  Strawberry  Creek  are  said  to  be  of  t  he 
normal  creek-placer  type.     They  are  confined  to  the  bed  and  theimmeH 
