Weekly journal-miner., 1909-10-06
(From Saturdays Daily)

4A lHlS iSIIllOIg lS IHdL tlIOIJ al present. under headway at the north
 ern end of Rich Hill, to make deter
 animation of the source of the flow of gold that fed that famous center iH the earlier days when fabulous sums were taken out. This project IS under the personal direction of John L. c. Mclaughlin and in his operations he is assisted by Harry Yarnell, who is the original locator sf the famous Yarnell mine, about four miles distant. MT. Yarnell is the person who brings MT. McLaugh- lin to that field and back of his knowledge of the ground he has req sOnable theories to advance in the prosecution of the present work.
 In becoming identified with the en- terprise, MT. Mclaughlin informs the Journal-Miner that he was for years a placer miner in Alaska and other sections of the Pacific coast, and af- ter inspecting the ground it appears to him as a reasonable undertaking and he will make a thorough exami- nation of the underground conditions in an endeavor to establish his belief that the bulk of the yield at Rich Hill on the old workings came through the source of a channel that was ere ated at some prehistoric time. To do this he has selected a point on open ground up Weaver gulch, and less than one mile distant. His initial point of operating is on the west side of that gulch up the mountain and on the west side lines of the old Johnson mine and about three hun dred feet from the summit, in a de- cline of the ground. About one month ago he started to drive a tunnel and up to the present time has reached a point about 10 feet in. His desire is to erosscut that region at that depth and if the work does not demonstrates the existence of channel carrying the yellow metal he will select an other location. Virgin ground is be- ing run into in this work and SO far the indications seem to him to be favorable. Wash gravel has been en- countered and after the tunnel reaches greater distance it will be tested. the soil at the present time, in banning tests, carrying an abundance of black sand, a favorable indication and one that invariably accompanies the exist ence of placer dust. MT. Mclaughlin after an inspection of that section and coupling the fact that on the north side of his working base there is placer gold and that it originally was fed through the source of either Antelope or the Placeritas creeks and that both of these streams converge at practically the point he is work ing, feels enthusiastic that sooner or later he will make the channel theory a certainty and that he will also prove that the big deposits 10 ihe south on Rich Hill proper came through that influence.
 The work now going on to establish this theory is a decidedly interesting one and in all the years of work that has been given in. that section to prove the source of the heavy flow this is the first extensive work along practical lines that has ever been in {, 
 In the original working of the sum ! init of Rich Hill or when the fabulous ! discovery took place in 1862, the I amount that was virtually taken by the six men who washed the ground | ran to over $3OO,OOO in nuggets rang ! ing in size from a pea to an egg. 1! All of this product showed the wear i of long travel and was considerably | worn in its rough usage. Since that historic day the old ground has been worked over and over, and new ground mined. Water is near the
  that is more elevated han any other point in that section, his fact has also been commented 1pon as a favorable theory that at some time in the ages gone it was he source of a channel.
 No definite figures are obtainabIe IS to the total value of the gold mined along and above this creek, but t is conservatively estimated thai at east S2,OO0OOO is to its credit. Even t this late day large nuggets are l 'eing yielded and several MexicaDs l re successfully plying their old time ! oeations of placer miners, in turning he boulders over and in digging on ( eu ground adjacent to the rich find