New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-06-13
4 Dead River.

4 4 Dead River.
! Though ono know little OF the science {
geology, he can not look but with great il
q terest upon snch marked object a. dea,
s volcano. fragment of seashOre or sea
q | floor far inland. the remnant of y lax
basin, the worn remains of mountain o
1 other ike prominent feature 10 the process
: OF world building.
Next to the views Of the mountain
, crossed and the deserts trayersed b,
r the transcOntinental railway, the rive
scenery-which is SO large and eminent il
the bordering landscape-perhaps linger
cleavest and FULLEST, G. rtainly preepest. II
the travellers memory. The Mlssissipp
and Missouri, with their magnificent bridges
} Dale creek, Green and Bear rivers, ths
: American, the San Joaquin, and others OF
} less note that are crossed: the Platte, Bit
ter creek. Echo Canyon, Weber, Humboldt,
and Truckee rivers, followed thr0ughou,
most OF their extent, each presents its char
acteristic picture or pictures which. once
seen. are not soon forgotten.
But there is one river crossed by this
railway which is noted by but few travel
ers. Ii questioned with reference to q
river IL the locality most who have crossed
| IL would scout the idea of its existence
And we'll they might for there are no pecu.
llar1tles OF timber or other vegetation TO
mark its course: no bridge spans it; you do
AOb IL dA river 1TOD YOUR suneT.
fetal view Of it. nor do your ears catch the
swash Of its, current or the thunder of its
falls; its shores present no external views.
its bed no noticeable depression of surface.
1t is dead river.
Overtaken by the disaster Of a grea. geo.
logical change, it's waters found other chan
! nels; its bed was dried up and deeply Gov
cred, and soon began to be cut away by a
| new system OF small transverse streams
| Knit all this OPcurrp0 an far haoR fouor1 "a,
time the morning stars sang together
that 1t was very old event when the hui
man race was young. These new streams
have cut through not only the everything
volcanic ash and sand, but the deep gravel
| bed OF the ancient stream and 1000 to 5000
feet into the solid granite beneath, scooping
| ont canyons or chasms of such great depth
that the brain becomes dizzy as you look
into them from the intervening ridges
! This old river bed lies ON the California
| slope OF the Sierra Nevada mountains,
thirty to forty miles below the summit, and
| parallel to the central ridge. 1t has been
| definitely traced some sixty five miles: from
Little Grzz'y. IN Sierra county, at an eleva-
| zion OF 5000 feet above the sea, south through
Nevada county. and TO Forest Hill in Placer
county, at an elevation of $500 feet, cross
ing the Pacific railroad ridge at Dutch Flat
and Gold Run. Some held that there are
gravel beds south Of Forest Hill which be
lOug to this stream; bnt others doubt this
and assign them to some ether North of
Little Grizzly il is supposed to be deeply
buried beneath volcanic material
The direction Of the flow was southeou,h
east. and the elevations given above .how
that the portion traced had an average fall
of nearly thirty four feet to the mile. if the
fragments that remain have the same rela-
tive heights as when the river carried a
current, which OF course can not be known.
The new rivers run at right angles to the
old time stream, which cuts their separat
ing ridges from 200 OF 300 to 1000 feet below
their summits. Its gravel is mostly capped
with volcanic material. but at Gold Run
there is no everything accumulation, and the
Pacific railroad track iests immediately
upon the old river gravel
The streams cutting through it have re-
distributed along their own courses and the
country between large portion of its ma
terlai The Chief OF these are: In Sierra
county. Canyon creek, GuNdyear's creek.
North Huba, Rock creek. Oregon rsvine.
Wet ravine and Middle Yuba; in Nevada
county. South Hubs. Rock creek. Deer
creek. Greenhorn. Sheep Hollow. Bear
river. the boundary between Nevada and
Placer. and washing tho north base of the |
Pacific railroad ridge: washing the south, or !
rather southeast, base Of this ridge, tho |
north fork OF the American; and south of |
Thsra - a,,;a.. Us. 20 ."o s"ino river
NOE. i..,a .,,a c. 'n 20. tno ancicns river
orav., ;s b,If = ,,;i. ~; ~ ": eano MI"
Srea, hodr sc 80 "'t &C., wa. .n ~ carried
honlSavs =, o,, 'or ~: .n'i" arg MANY
in. !, Ta;',ht go pai W ..e 'engtn. rang
tons, evenly distributed between its shores.
showing that the current was Of sufficient !
:, awo5 81 $50 $50 sioH. tnasses' that
~. "ses. ioi us deposit is OK enor'
tao. P ~ ,n one !" 'hfee hnnorea
.,non+hIm no ses. nasse" "a TUCK are
""'o' "ofn'
III Is inc opinion or some who have ex-
ahmed u with reference to determining its |:
character, that 1t was a stream like the
Columbia river for size. 1t has all the
OF the bed OF q modern
~ateY-worn gravel, bars.
bends with eddles on the short curves.
rifles. rapids. falls. Hat stones with the
points down stream, water worn drittwoOd.
trunks OF trees with the butts upstream.
tributary PROOFS, etc.
that this ancient river bed is Of interest
only to Che eeologist, and is curious to
know why this somewhat extended
description OF 1t, when 1t Is wholly worth
less Tor any OF the many uses to which q
Ii wing stream may be put.
Ihough OF great interest TO the geologist.
" mas been ana continues 70 be OF Tar
greater interest 10 thousands who know
niue ana care less lof the science OF Peol.
ogy. Dono1iess many tunes more Tune and
money III the aggregate nave oeen expend
{. . ~ nun,ing ZOE tHe t'aglnents tnat remain
ol Inls SKI hve mlles, ana me extensions
, ohu 'ne points 20 "nicn IL Is traced imam
W HIo yen d 40 searching lcf 1ne source OF the