The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-09-07

trimming with a pan as practiced b,
the pocket hunters for gold.
Gold pockets are concentration
near the surface, or at least in tn,
oxidized zone. They commonly occu
by small space such as vug in {
quartz stringer or in a small, partly
open fissure The gold is usually
loose and free from gangue, which i.
likely to be clay and decomposed rocl
minerals mixed with oxides of iron
and manganese and, in the deeper
true pockets the proportion of gold tc
the gangue is considerable, amounting
to solid metal in extreme cases. Large
placer nuggets are probably derived
from such pockets. There is abund-
ant evidence that these pockets are
secondary deposits derived from near
by low grade primary deposits. The
gold pockets are found in iron seams
and iron bearing quartz veins and less
often in calcite stringers. The pocket
hunter pays special attention to yellow
spots or streaks in the alluvium as
these indicate a concentration of iron
Sufficient ferrous sulphate may be
present to form a gold pocket and not
make distinct celebration in the soil.
Hence in a favorable looking region
or near where pockets have been
found in the past, it is customary to
do systematic prospecting over con-
siderable areas regardless of the color
most common precipitant of gold
chloride in solution in meteorc water
the gold having been dissolved by
chlorine set free by The action of OK
ides of manganese on soluble chlor-
ides, this being the theory of forma-
ton, u
The word trace is used as by pocket
hunters, meaning the spill of gold in
the Surface soil The process of sam
ping a trace is called trimming or
tracing. When the pocket hunter
finds yellow spot on an otherwise
favorable hill side he spades up a
shovelful of earth and pans it care
fully. The presence of one or two fine
colors is enough to cause him to thor
oughly investigate the neighborhoOd
He takes a row of samples along the
hill side three or four feet apart and
following a contour. If he is on
real trace several of these probably
will show more or less gold, while the
end samples of the row will be barren.
If large number show gold, that Is,
If the trace is wide, II will mean one
of three things: % that the pocket
is some distance up the hill, CD it is an
unusually wide one, and (3) the gold
comes from a vein in which 1t Is not
concentrated in pockets. The first
contingency is the most probable, and
the third next; big pockets are rare.
The pocket hunter then takes another
row of samples a short distance high
er up the hill than the first row. 1t Is
not necessary this time to take the
Gnu MUM wy Chu N'iN
limits of the trace as shown by the
first row Of samples. If the pocket is
nearby the strip of soil carrying gold
will narrow rapidly as one goes up
hill If the trace comes from true
pocket it will contract to width of a
few feet as the prospector takes sue
cessive rows of samples. Here he
must move slowly and cautiously as
the pocket may be in the surface soil
and contained in space no bigger
than a shovelfuE 1t is easy to over
look such a pocket or unwittingly
shovel it down the hill. However, the
pocket is usually round in the bed
rock. A point will be found where no
gold appears on the surface. Deeper
digging for the next row of samples
will show that the trace is still there
and a careful examination reveals
layer in the soil of a different color to
the rest, commonly more yellow. The
gold will be confined to this yellow
layer and to narrow strip of it. At
this point tne ehpeIlenCeu poSho'
hunter begins to pan the entire gold
bearing streak instead of only sam
pies, to avoid shoveling the pocket
over the dump. inexperienced pocket
hunters lose much gold by neglectins
to observe this precaution. The gold
bearing layer will be found to APP
proach bed rock as it is followed un-
til it lies upon it, and finally stops at
an iron seam or quartz stringer or
vein of calcite After finding the vein
that contains the gold, the prospector
continues to dig and pan all the gold
bearing material until the pocket or
pockets are unearthed. single
stringer will often contain several
pockets.
If the ground is flat the surface soil
is likely to be deep, and the amount
of digging below the surface will be
extensive If the hill side is steep,
the surface soil will be thin or absent
in spots and when trace passes over
a bare spot 1t is difficult to follow.
Surface slides often complicate traces.
A close inspection of the colors with
a lens will tell the experienced pocket
hunter whether a trace Is worth fol-
lowing. True pocket gold is rough