The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-09-10
FORMATION OF THE GOLD VEIN
Truth In Regard to the Finds of tho Pre-.
cious Metals.

| cious Metals.
| San Francisco, Sept 8-The frost
bound auriferous placers Of the Klon-
dixie district are the latest and best evil
| dence so far obtained of the big share
! that ice has had in the formation OF gold
leads on the Pacific Coast. These froz-
en- placers are in close proximity to great
| living glaciers that are to day growing
out valleys, grinding down the gold
bearing quartz-riobed states and depos-
| iting the heavier substances contained in
| them-tne precious metal and its base
| associates-in the furrows carved out by
| their respective toes. II would not be at
all surprising If in this hospitable reg
| ion the last link in the chain of evidence
| as TO the glacial origin Of auriferous
placer leads should be found in the form
Of living glacier at work creating one
in the morsine a, its toe. Moraines are,
of course. nothing more or less than the
wreckage Of the irresistible force ex-
| erted by the moving mass Of ice from it's
source in the everlasting SHOWS Of the
higher elevations in its slow but never
casing drift to the lower attitudes or
the sea.
In the Klondike district this natural
phenomenon OF valley carving. mountain
reduction and gold lead making has been
almost caught, it might be said, in the
very act. The recession of the ice sheet
from the Yukon valley and its tributar-
les is OF so recent dase that the frost
which is put in the ground has actually
not had time yet to leave it. No matter
h.,-x to no ioip nf 0tt
placer deposits on the Pacific Coast, the
Yukon placers are. geologically consid-
cred, the product Of yesterday, and, as
result Of the big rush just started for
the North, some Of the host of prospec-
tors, that will surely take to the field TO
search for other deposits outside those
already preemptej are just as likely as
not to discover the birth of a new aurif-
erous lead at the base Of some glacier
now grinding down the gold-bearing
slates in the Yukon mineral belt.
A better knowledge than we now pos
sess OF the Klondike gold deposits will
undoubtedly show that the bulk Of the
gold lies in a ribbon, as il were in the
narrow gutter in the bedrock at the bot
tom of the V-shaped valleys in the min
time to make any other disposition of it.
Volcanic action has not occurred. Water
has not had an opportunity to do its
work and revise what ice has done
There may be some gold found on the
steep slopes of the Klondike valleys, but
the bulk of it-that which is known in
miners parlence as ''leads"-will be con-
centrated through its own specific grav-
ity. That any gold should be left on
these slopes is merely evidence of the
imperfection of the work OF concentra-
ton and the fact that water-the foods
CT the short summer season-has not yet
had time to do its perfect work.
The agents which have created and
are now creating the euriferous leads OF
the Yukon region have had their day in
California. They have, however, in this
state been followed by the belching vol
cano, from which a sheet OF lava has
been spread over a large part of the
region once occupied by active glaciers
from Tehachpi to the great gorge OF the
Columbia river. The beds Of the so-caIl-
ed dead rivers OF California were carved
out by glaciers during the ice age, and
the auriferous deposit is the wreckage
which was not carried out OF the ranges
10 form the floor Of the great central
basin of the state. The Mount Shasta !
the Lassen Buttes, and other volcanoes
now extinct on the northern border |
came into activity and belched forth a
flood OF molten lava over the land. bury
ing the ancient glacier moraines ana |
their golden treasures. Aftervard there |
came some other agent, either ice or |
flooi, or both, and carved out the pres |
ent canons in the Sierra. cutting deeper |
than the dead river beds into the earths |
crust and carrying off some % their con-
centrated wea!thto enrich the new de- |
posits created by the erosion.
II is interesting 10 note the regular pro-
gression in the passage OF the ice age as |
in the record il has left be- |
hind in these auriferous deposits. By |
gradual stages We may follow The reces-
sion Of the glaciers from the extreme |
southern Limit OF :he ice shee: in this 4
state. where glacial action was first COM |
pleted, 20 the extreme northern liai; in 1
the Yukon basin. where glacial aSsion 1
IS still a. work In California. as a. /
ready noted. the elements which succeed |
the gklaciers have cut down the beds OF /
the ancient dead rivers. for those ele-
msn,s begkan frs 10 operate as the ice 1
shea; receiei. th-ougkh some chankge in /
climate or in the ear;h's position on its !
own axis In southern Oregkon the beds
~ the modern streams and those % tae
dead rivers are nearly on level. some-
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