The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-01-30
THE MOTHER OF GOLD.
Where tho Yellow Dust Found Along
the Upper Columbia Orig ina ted.

Il. 8. Back, in Northwest Mining Review.
the placer gold found In the northern part of
the state OF Washington. on the backs of the
Columbia river. is very fine scale gold. The pay
dirt is only six inches In thickness, except in
places where IL has been lately wesned down
from the original deposit The sausc level on
each side OF the stream, about six feet above
high water mark, IL seen the strata 81 red and
brown earth and gravel that carries the dust.
The gravel IL about the size OF q pm head %
boulders that are from four 70 eight inches in
size each way. generally fa;tened On both sides
and twice the width in length. tbs coarse
gravel is made of several kinds of ros+s, granite
predomina,ing. considerable qusrtz,so green.
stone and slate, but few of the birthstone, ioio.
mite. So the character of the graves helps TO
determiEce whence the gold came frotn. There
in no gold found higher up on the benches. 80 we
must conclude that the deposit YVES made st
one period OF time and at q comparatively
late date. There are no large nuggets fonnd,
only one kind of gold and nearly OF one size;
the shape Of this dust gives ii a peculiar motion
under watsr None II found on bare rocks In
low water, but very little in deep chasnels that
have become dry; the most favorable place is in
shallow water with but little curreat and at
high water mark, and 1t is spread evenly with
the gravel on benches OF 800 feet or less In width
all of these things must be taken into accoun.
In order to determine where 1t came from and
how far 1t travelled before resting.
In early days an ounce per man per day with
sluices was the best pay reported froya reliable
sourcss, generally one-fou-th that rauch was
taken out: finally the Cinnamon worked large
fields of it, not making over 80 per day, and
even less. No doubt there places on the
Colvile reservation side of the river aad ia that
portion soon to be thrown open to the explorer,
many good bars that will Yemuners.e with
sluice and rocker.
The summer Of 90 1 concluded to try and find
the source Of this deposit. thinking 1t might
lead me to the mother lode GoiEg up the
Pend d. OreIlls river found the same deposit OF
rock and gravel, the same gold with another
kind that was much coarser and darker in color
and more valuable. The same deposit vas found
on the Columbia river above the nosth OF the
Pend d'Oreille. So concluded the source was
not q mother lode, but large aad extensive
bel: Of gold bearing rock at or near the head of
the several streams putting into the Columbia
from the east Going up Little Salinoa river the
same deposit was found a, the forks of the
stream, showing plainly that both forks had
their supply of gold from the same field. there
fore 1t was to the north and east. Sullivan
creek. that empties into the Pend d'Ogeille sew
eral miles above the Salmon, has the reputation
OF having the same kind of gold in q lesser de-
gree, and that stream comes from the northeast
go by the map one can locate this gold field,
that found to pe from three to fitssn miles
wido and OF unknown length, at least thirteen
miles long. Following up the so1th fork