Creek-washd gold is sometimes found higher up in the banks from the current of creeks than the experiencd miner is aware of, but the man acquainted with the appearance of creek-worn pebbles is never at a loss to determine the agent that placd them there—and if, in such situations, he finds rounded, creek worn pebbles, he may conclude that the pebbles and gold also were deposited there by water. In such cases, it becomes the miner to examine the bearing and level of the creek above such place, and see if the creek may not some day have formd an eddy there, and deposited its various contents. If, still higher up in the bank, he finds gold entirely angular, he may conclude that it has slidden down from the hill above.
Another thing to be observd by the miner, relative to creek-gold, is, that in prospecting up and down creeks for gold,—he carefully observe where a level expanse is formd at the foot of a cascade. Near the head of such expanse, between the cascade above, and the next one below, he will find gold more abundant than toward the lower end of such expanse.
In searching for eddies of creeks, where the greatest amount of gold is often deposited, the miner should bear in mind that eddies formd in time of freshets, are most likely to contain the most and heaviest gold, from the fact that much power is requird to move heavy gold, and tertiary sediment.
Mode of searching for the Third Variety.
To obtain a knowledge of prospecting for bar gold, requires also a knowledge of the philosophy of running waters—yet gold is prospected with less difficulty in the bars of large rivers than creek-gold.
As the bar gold is very light and thin, it is subject to the various freaks of running water, in which it is mechanically suspended, during times of freshets. In prospecting therefore, for gold along the bars of rivers, the principal thing to be attended to, is the formation of eddies along those streams, which, if the edges of the water were straight and unbroken, through the length of a bar, would also be formd along in straight lines but a short distance from shore, or outer edge of the water. These eddies are the intermediate line between the downward current of the stream, and the retrograde or upward movement of the water along the shore, where water is nearly in a quiescent state.
But as the edges of streams are rough and uneven, the eddies are also formd uneven. Hence, a deposit of gold in those eddies, is not straight, but varies according to the unevenness of the shore.
Such a line of quiet water, is the only deposit of bar gold which is likely to be richest, near the heads of bars.
The best method of prospecting for bar gold, is to commence an excavation, a short distance out from the water of the river, near the head of a bar, digging downward but a short distance among the sand and gravel, occasionally washing the earth.—And if gold is found, progress toward and from the river, till the richest deposit is found. Then change the course upward and downward the river, and continue to prospect as long as gold is abundant enough to pay for working.
As this gold is subject to subsequent removals by every succeeding freshet, it never gets deeply embedded in any solid tertiary deposits. Hence, it is most usually found among loose sand and gravel, near the surface.