Weekly Trinity journal. [volume] (Weaverville, Calif.) 1857-1972, 1869-01-23
Phad its birth, and while, if not be
HHu ItS DIrtH, anu WHLe, ii HUC Ue-
dastodon, the elephant, the rhinoceros,

dastodon, the elephant, the rhinoceros
i, the mammoth bull, the tapir and the
bBUn, lived in the land. They are, indeed,
among the most remarkable discoveries of the
age, and among the greatest wonders of geology.
They deserve some common name, and we have
to choose between "extinct" and "dead" We
speak of "extinct volcanoes" and of s'dead Ian
guages," and as the latter is Saxon and short,
we prefer it. They have been called 'told chan
nels, " but the name does not convey the proper
idea, since q channel is not necessarily river,
and an old channel is not necessarily dead one.
A dead river is a channel formerly occupied by
| a running stream, but now filled up with earthly
or rocky matter, and is not to be confounded
with channel that remains dry during the
greater part of the year because of lack of wa
ter or that it has been abandoned by the stream
| for deeper channel elsewhere. A dry river bed
| is not dead river.
| The dead rivers of California, so far as known,
are on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada,
from FIVE hundred to seven thousand feet above
the sea. They are all auriferous, and therefore
they have been sought for and examined. They
have yielded probably $500, 600, 900 in all /; they
now produce perhaps So ,000, 900 annually
They are not less interesting therefore to the
miner than to the geologist, not less important
to the statesman than to the antiquarian.
| The largest river is known as the g Big Blue
Lead, and has been traced from Little Grizzly,
about latitude 80 degrees 45 minutes in Sierra
county, to Forest Hill, about latitude 3S degrees
55 minutes in Placer county, distance of sixty
| five miles. The course is south-southeast the
position about thirty miles west of and parallel
| with the main divide of the Sierra Nevada. The
elevation is 5000 feet above the sea at Little
Grizzly. and 300 at Forrest Hill, showing an
average fall of thirty-three feet per mile. The
live rivers of the Sierra Nevada run at right an.
giles to the course of the range, and have cut
canons from 500 to 5000 feet deep, and they
are separated by ridges which are from three to
six miles apart, and are as high as the canons
are deep. The Blue Lead runs across these
ridges from two hundred to one thousand feel
below their SUBMITS.
The traveller does not see any signs of dead
river in these ridges, which are as high and have
the same general appearance at the Blue Lead as
at other places. l shall presently tell how the
miner discovers the lead, but before coming te
that / want to give you clear idea now the
dead river crosses the ridges. Take piece o.
common ruled cap paper put your pen on line
draw it up at an angle of forty-hye degrees tc
the second line above, then down the first line te
/ the same angle, and SO on until the line made
by your pen looks like eight rectangular sa"
teeth, which are about an inch high ConsldeI
those teeth as the ridges of Sierra Nevada on the
line of the Blue Lead in Sierra county, and th'
| intervals between them as the canons. "ritt
over the hrSt canon 10 the leIt1 Cu<on u w.
the next Qpodyear's creek and over the other:
consecuhvely, Northfork of the 1uoa river
Rock creek, Oregon ravine, West ravine, ane
Middle Yuba. Now draw horizontal line across
all the ridges quarter of an inch from thei
tops That line is the Blue Lead. The diagram
made as directed represents perpendicular sec
ton of the ridges and canous Of the Sierra Ne
vada, on the line of the Big Blue Lead IN oierr'
county as seen from the west.
| have said that the traveller would see no slgi
of dead river in riding over the country I'M
ridges are as high on its line as elsewhere 10
canon sides present the same appearance. iear
elapsed before the miners discovered the exist
ence of the ancient channel. But 1t required
only few months for the discovery that the nv
rivers were very rich in gold up to a certai!
point that the abundance and size OF the par.l
cles increased as they ascended up to that point
and that beyond, east OF that point, .n
streams were poor. These points on the dlner
ent streams were nearly on line. Just tner
the ravines on the sides of the canons were YER
rich, and they were comparatively poor else
where. The miners followed up the raSines
washing the dirt in their beds, and the Or
where the ravines were not too steep was 100
or two deep over the slate rock. At last, whe
the miners got near the top of the ridge, the
found that the narrow, shallow rock bed OF tn