The record-union., 1894-09-27
TELLING HIS EXPERIENCE.
Prospecting for Gold up in Long
Canyon.
One Miner Who Has Had Enough Ex-
perIence and Quiet the
Business

A correspondent writing from Michi-
gan Bar says:
To many prospector and miner in the
State Long Canyon is looked forward
to as the locality of possibilities; to others
it may be looked back upon as the initial
of hopes realized, while to many its re-
membrance is bitter apple OF the Dead
Sea variety, recalling hopes deferred,
vanished gruD-stakes and depleted wal
lets.
Long Canyon is situated in the south
era part OF Placer County, and IS trlbu-
tary to the Rubicon, or Middle Fork of
the American River, and a rougher
stream is TO be found nowhere in the
California mountains. The canyon is
about thirty miles in length. and the
twenty miles next to its mouth are
stamped by the fiat of the miner as min
eral land, and while all agree that gold
abounds, each miner has his theory re-
gardlng its presence, and no two theories
exactly correspond. After having spent
some time with pick and pan in the Long
canyon country, l have taken those the
orles which seemed most logical, from
which, in conjunction with my own OBJ
servations, l have deduced number of
conclusions, which l submit, with the
view of assisting others who may have
an eye to this particular locality.
TO begin with: Seekers after the illu-
slve goid-seamed quartz lead may turn
their Durro's head in another direction,
Tor they will not find their idol here; and
the searcher for gravel deposit will be
likewise disappointed, for the gold of.
Long Canyon Is ''old channel gold," de-
posted in prehistoric river previous to
the volcanic eruptionS which preceded
the final upheaval of the Sierra Nevada
Mountains. That great upheaval, by
breaking up the bed of the old river, has
given rise to the prevalent opinion that
not one channel, but many, cross the
present streams and mountains at various
angles. 1t seems clear, however, that
one large stream was the feeder of the
Long Canyon country when It's general
trend is considered, and from the fact
that the channel disappears upon a
mountain top only to reappear and inter-
sect the canyon below.
The bedrock of the ancient channel is
blue gray limerick, which is, in many
instances. overlaid by from four to fifteen
leet OF gravel, which shows an entire
absence OF country wash" Above this
Is deposit OF volcanic ash from five TO
twenty feet IN depth, then more gravel,
then more ash, and finally the red dirt of
the country overtopping ii all.
When one finds healthy deposit of
gravel upon the bedrock, he will, pro-
vided the bedrock be ''soft," find more or
less gold; but it is safe To affirm, after
having examined a number of drifts,
some of which were several hundred feet
in length, and having worn out my
hands. patience and good clothes in assist
ing to sink number OF holes in quest of
the aforementioned bedrock, that the
SOFT variety is as scarce as proverbial
hens teeth. Further than that, Wher-
ever there were rapids in that old river
there Is, or course, no gravel upon the
bedrock, and the pliable ash has, during
the hrst eruption, spread itself over the
hot Il
To be covered by the gravel of the period
preceding the last great eruption, thus
precluding even the possb bility of finding
pay gravel at that point. Further still,
the shallow diggings have played out
Indeed, few ever existed in that section
and a drift is the only chance left TO
the miner OF '94.
All this may seem discouraging to pros
peclve prospectors, but ii at least bears
the stamp of truth, which is the point
aimed at. Owing to the difficulty of
locating the pay spots upon the bottom,
The rlnrock is sometimes worked with
success. This Is the method of William
Anderson. who is crossing the channel at
rlght-angles on the ridge between Dun
can Canyon and the north fork of the
Rubicon. he is in nearly 200 teet, with
scarcely trace of gold; but the rimrock
manages to pay his expenses, and be
drills and blasts and digs, upheld by the
hope that he will strike IL yet before he
dies.
The Buck Horn Mine, which promised
so much when It was first opened, and
Which cost Job Pierce, who located it. his
lie, has left three of its four owners with
nothing to show for their labor and ex-
pendltures, except very pronounced cases
OF rheumatism and a barrel of expert
ence. McPherson's has not paid and is
now shut down. In short, but one mine
on Long canyon pays. The lucky one
is the RattIesnake, owned by Mike"
Corcoran, and is situated on the north
side of the canyon, opposite to the former
site OF Blacksmith'S Flats.
Formerly there were a few mines that
paid. If one is to believe old-timers. The
Goggings diggings paid for a time Ne
Vada Point and Black mith's Flats NAV
have paid, and Rahlston's might have
paid had not an injunction been served
upon him before his ditch was completed:
but all of these are now deserted, even
Cinnamon declining to take the risk. In
early times many man, no doubt, dug
cosy little fortune from the beds of Long
Canyon, Duncan Canyon and the Rubi-
con, below the point of intersection,
which had been deposited there from the
channel of the river that once flowed from
the base OF the great volcano.
Admitting The theory of geologists,
that Lake Tahoe was once the crater OF a
monster volcano (active at two several
times, at least, between which periods
ages must have rolled), the ash deposits
are accounted for, but the source of the
gold remains to be discovered.
The dust of Long Canyon is coarse,
and three-fourths fine. being worth at
the mint SIS %. That there is plenty of
gold therein Long Canyon, L mean, not
the mint do not doubt; but that it is
hard to find, l am positively certain. L
think poor man should ''stand from
under" or risk losing his time; and
while should like TO hear of rich one
pushing his luck in that direction. I
should expect TO hear, later, that he had
dropped his lucre' in the ancient chan
mel III Long Canyon. 5. p. L.