Mohave County miner., 1893-02-25
Where the Columbia River Cold Come.
From.

ern part OIL the state of washington. or
the banks OF the Columbia river, il YER,
line scale gold. The pay dirt is onl,
six inches in thickness, except In place,
where il has lately been washed down
from the original deposit. AT same Level
on each side OF the stream, abou, six
feet above high water mark is seen the
strata OF red and brown earth and gravel
that carries the dust. The gravel Il
about the size OF pin head to boulders
that are from four to eight inches in size
each way, generally flsttened both sides
and twice the width in length. This
coarse gravel is made Of several kinds Of
r,cks, granite predominating, consider.
able quartz, some greensboro and slate.
hut few OF the birthstone. dolomite. So
the character OF the gravel helps de-
iermine whence the gold came from.
There is no gold found higher up on the
benches, so we must conclude that the
deposit ives made at one period Of time
and 1t comparatively late date. There
are no large nuggets found, only one
kind OF gold and nearly Of one size the
shape OF this dust gives it peculiar
motion under water. None is found on
bare rocks in low water, but very little
Ia deep channels that have become dry !:
the most favorable place is in shallow
water with but little curren, and At high
water mark, and IL is spread evenly with
the gravel on benches OF 800 feet or less
iD ~idth-all Of these things must be
taken into account in order to determine
where IT came from and how far it trav-
eled before resting.
Ia early days an ounce psr man per
day with sluices was the best paw re.
ported from reliable sources, generally
oae.iour,h that much was taken out;
finally the Cninamen worked large fields
Of il. not making over $3.50 per day,
anil eren less. No doubt there are
places on the Colviile reservation side OF
Inc river and in that portion soon to he
thrown open To the explorer. many good
bars thai will reinunerate with sluice aud
rocker
The summer Of '92 concluded TO try
and lad the source OF this deposit, think.
ing IL mi ,ht lead me to the mother lode.
G ling up the Pend dOreills river found
the siue deposit Of rock and gravel, the
simc gold with another kind that Was
mash coirser and darker in color and
more vAiuapie The same deposit was
found ON the Columbia river above the
mouth OF the Pend d'0reilIe So 1 con.
clu iei the source was not a mother lode,
bat u large ami extensive pelt vi gold
te iriHg rock AT or near THE head OF the
several streams putting into the Colnm.
bia IRON the east. GJins mp Little Sal
mon river the same deposit was foand At
tn. forks OF the stream, showing plainly
that both forks had their supply of gold
from the same field, therefore u. was TO
the north and east. Suilivan creek, that
empties into the Pend d'OrelIle several
miles above the Sal non, has The reputA-
ton Of having the same kind Of gold 10
a lesser degree, and that stream comes
from the northeast. So by the map one
can locate this gold field, that found to
be from three to fifteen miles wide and
Of unknown Length, at least thirteen
miles long. Following up the south fork
Of the Salmon river, q will say here
that the coarse gold on the Salmon river
is supplied by ledges within six miles of
the 10 ,sith of that stream, as none oil that
kiad vi gold is found above that point,
pfouaoly in or near the mineral belt dis.
covered by Death-oD-the-Trail Proctor
last season, } most Of the country rock for
the first Is miles is dolomite, not much
show for a gold ledge in such rock then
cHnes dyke Of mia slate with large
se,as vi quartz miles in length. Here
wss spppose1 - bs the mother lode, bat
= e,cli one proved 10 I've barren, yet mp the
stream inio doloni,e az ain ionnd coiors
10 every pan VI the same character ss
that f,nni on the Columbia. As ~e APP
pfoach the head OF the south fork the
sulches are deeper, the timber larger,
The mountains higher, the Sullivan inter
Io:ks with the 5ilrnon and Priest rivers,
sharp divide between each that runs mp
into Jagged peaks where snow rem aims
the year round. Here ali the panning
iails TO raise color. Had | passed the
mother lode? To pe sure there is a dyke