The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-11-08

CONSIDERED to nave come down the main
Trinity Valley, a long distance, per-
haps from beyond SCOTS Mountain
The present Trinity River has erod-
ed the old channel deposits above Trim
ity Center, nearly destroyed them and
scattered their coarse gold along the
bedrock in the deepest channel in the
| rock floor of the present valley below
Trinity Center, Some of this gold has
been carried on down the river and
into the sea, but much of it must re-
main. Furthermore, Coffee Creek and
other streams above Swift Greek have
continued to supply gold to the Trinity
River of the present day, just as they
did to the old Miocene river, thus add
ing many nuggets to those derived di-
rectly by the erosion of the old channel
deposits.
In short, so far as the geological evil
son to believe that under the alluvial
gravels Of the Trinity River, between
the Comstock bank and Crooked Bend,
the lowest channel in the bedrock con-
tains a considerable amount of coarse
gold, constituting it a good proposition
! to work by any method which will en-
able this lower gold bearing level to be
reached. So confident am l of this,
that | am willing to stake my future
reputation as mining geologist, upon
my argument of the fact. I am not
willing to assert that it is as rich as
is the old channel from Minersville
south, but yet as compared with the
average of gold-bearing river graveIs
the world over, it stands well up to-
wards the front rank.
The few tests that have been made
of the bedrock under the Trinity Val
ley, are no safe criterion of the real
/ value of the proposition Obviously, a
few miners without capital or machine
| cry could reach the bedrock in such
places only as the river is cutting into
the solid forma ton of the valley sides.
i where the rock floor of the valley is
relatively high, and where the tendency
of the action of the river is to remove
the gold rather than to deposit it.
The real channel, the deep channel
which must be somewhere under the
valley bottoms, and have course IRE
| spective of the present river, has never
been touched, and no one knows how
much gold it may contain. Only q
dredger can reach it.
The alluvial gravels above the present
low water level of Trinity River are not
phenomenally rich in gold, but / have
myself prospected them enough to know
that they compare favorably in this re-
spect with many other river deposits
that are considered good dredging prop.
/ oSitions. At least, if economically
mined and on a large scale, they will
pay profit upon the capital invested.
AS for the "biack sand" phase of the
project, know but little about it. l
know that the entire alluvial deposit of
sands, and it is probable that in the
deeper portions considerable beds of it
will be found. The samples for assay
have been taken at random, and are
fairly representative of the whole. They
indicate rather high values, and it
seems safe to say that if the sand is
carefully saved sufficient quantities OF
it may be secured to make its working
profitable.
On the whole. see no reason for not
considering the dredging proposition.
There are other rivers on which the
conditions are similar to those on the
Trinity and when one dredger is sue
cessfully at work on this side of the
Trinity range other companies will be
formed, other dredgers set up, and the
present activity in the mining camps
OF Trinity County will be reinforced by
such cause for prosperity that Trinity