Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-14

Whitney, In many places these ancient
channels have been covered with large top
deposit of lava or crepacioss lava, and it ia
impossible to say what is their exact position.
The grade of the ancient rivers was more
than thst Of the present. The gold that was
taken out of the first mining in California
came unquestionabiy from these gravel de-
posits. TheLpresent miner is able TO estimate
the amount OF gold contained in these chan
nels by the result Of past experience in min
ing therein.
Afternoon Session.
Hamilton Smith Ito Mr.. Dibble)-I would
like to call the attention of the Court to the
position of the gravel channel between Gold
Run and where it elneTges frem the plains
near Marysville. You find the gravel below
tide water in some places. Near Smartsville
the bedrock is 800 or 400 feet above tide
water. This gravel channel has been worked
upon as far up as Muddy Flat. where it dis
appears. You find the gravel channel again
at Butchers Hill, where it has been washed
away about four or FIVE miles by the Yuba
river. From Butchers Hill the channel con-
tinues to Columbia Hill. The bedrock of this
ancient river is of regular grade, or of irreg-
ular grade rather; varying from 20 to 80 feet
up to 200 feet a mile. In portions it is COW
cred with the flow Of lava. There is some
| slight deposit of lava at Smartsville. From
there up to Lake City none is to be found.
At Lake City there is q deposit of 20 feet
Between Bloomfield and Wolsey Flat there
is deposit of 600 or 700 feet of lava under
meath the gravel. That section of this an
Gent channel is pretty we'll shown on this
map of Mr.. Uren's, where it has width at
the bottom of 800 or 400 feet. and width on
the surface of some 1000 or 2, 200 feet. The
ground in the lower portion Of the channel is
called
THE BLUE GRAVEL
Generally from its color, which is blue. The
upper gravel is called surface gravel. The
| surface gravel is sometimes red. l have seen
red banks $50 feet deep, of almost pink color.
Generally they are white. The gravel in the
upper portion Of the deposit is small, as
general thing, with large bodies of pipe-clay
frequently occurring on one side or the other
of the channel The ground in the lower por-
ton, or the blue gravel, contains much larger
powders, and in places great numbers of
them. These powders are generally near the
bedrock, at the bottom of the channel,
though in many places L have seen these
ancient powders, of very large size indeed,
at 80 to 60 feet above the bottom of the chan
mel. These gravel channels are known to be
over 200, and probably 300, miles in length.
Small ravipes and creeks empty into those
channels. They are also filled with gravel.
Very frequently even comparatively small
ravines or rivers are found TO be rich indeed,
containing large quantities of gold. The
gold is deposited with pretty fair uniformity
throughout the length of this entire deposit,
which in some places has depth of as much
as 600 feet. In other places it is very much
hallower-sometimes only 20 feet in depth.
The top gravel is poor. compared with that
on the bottom. The gold in the top gravel is
also finer. The lower you descend the chan
mel and the nearer you approach the plains
THE FINER THE GOLD.
1t does not follow from that that the gravel
is any poorer. for the richest gravel 1 have
seen at any point is at Smartsville, in mine
which is almost the nearest to the plains Of
any that has been worked. The yield per
yard is almost as much, if not as large, as at
any other place l have observed. In some
gravel channels, especially in Sierra and Pla-
Ger counties, the gold is found quite close to
the bedrock. The gold in those mines is de-
posted pretty uniformly, and gradually gets
poorer and poorer as you come from the bed
rock. Surface gravel in nearly all cases is
lighter than that lower down. Immediately
below these ancient gravel beds, where it had
been washed away by the opera
ton Of system of rivers, is
where the richest bars were formed.
The rich washings in the rivers, as general
thing, were found immediately below where
the present rivers had washed away these
ancient channels. The miners having worked
these bars where nature had deposited for
them, and after having pretty well cleaned it
up, proceeded to search for the source Of the
gold. They went upon the banks, and found
= L. -
mediately alongside and above the river beds.
They worked these for while, but soon
found that they were not Of large extent, but
were bounded on the side by the bedrock of
the river on the river side. Then they passed
up higher and higher, until at last they found
themselves in the gravel channels from which
the gold originated which they had first
found.
THIS FIRST MINING
Was all done by the action of water; by the
use of water in the river beds. Mining IS
practiced at the first and as practiced now
to some slight extent in fumes on the river,
was by backing up all the water in the river
ard taking out the gravel and running that
through siuices, the water being carried
around the gravel bed while this mining was
going on in the bed. Small bitches were con-
structed to carry water along the banks and
used in what was called bank mining. When
these river and bank mines were somewhat
exhausted and the ancient river channels
found, bitches of great extent were con-
structed. In order to work these old channels
it was necessary to drive long tunnels. The
yield of gold from 1913, when it was first discov-
cred in California, up to- June 20, 1881, has been
81, 154, 900, 600. This amount has come di-
rectly or indirectly from these ancient river
channels, including that 10 which the Gold
Run claim is situated. About 5000, 900, 900
came from those channels. All gold mining
in California is nothing but hydraulic min
ing, because there ID the same principle in
each kind. In all the different kinds of min
ing the same general principle is worked
that is, by the action of running water
What is technically known as hydraulic
mining is the washing away of the material
in which the gold is found
BY HYDRAULIC POWER.
Water is brought to an elevation above TIE
point at which it is desired to discharge it,
and thence taken down to the mine either by
hose made of rubber or of cotton, or through
ircn pipes, and discharged under pressure
against the bank. Here witness described
seam, quartz and all the different classes of
mining, and said they were actually all n.y.
draulic processes. Any kind or class Of gold
mining, wherever practiced, necessarily re-
suits in the muddying or polluting of the
stream. To successfully mine it is necessary
to have gravel beds with gold enough in them
to pay for working The mine must be sit
uated at an elevation securing good dump.
1t is necessary to have water with which to
wash, and large bitches and reservoirs, on ac-
count of the dry season in California, are
necessary. There has been a diminution
rather than an increase in the amount of ma
terial washed out from hydraulic locations or
districts. These ancient river beds in which
in this State the hydraulic gravel mines are
situated or located are generally bounded on
either side by a rim or bedrock. In order to
wash the lower gravel it is necessary to run
tunnels, and in many places these tunnels
have TO be of very great length. The bed.
rock is very hard, and these tunnels are very
expensive. The first mining that was done
ia these ancient river channels was done in
the surface and was easily reached. Most of
the mining which was done prior to ten years
ago was in the top surface gravel, which was
easily washed, being of light character, con-
tanning but few powders, and was washed
through sluices with steep grades, which ma
terially increased
THE AMOUNT OF MATERIAL
Which could be washed away after the sur
face had been washed off in these mines, as
has been the case with the God Run mine.
It was necessary to run these long tunnels
and as general thing it was impossible to
give them much grade. This bottom gravel
IL ful1 of bnUiders which x,-o Shoe olou,Ixy ond