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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1886)
148 THE WEST SHORE. THE BNAKB RIVER PLACERS. flHE April number of The Weht Shoue ooutainod I an entertaining legend of the origin of the lava A beds of Hnake river. In connection with that the oiinion of a practical miner upon the source of the flue plaottr gold found along tlmt stream for a din lance of five hundred miles, will lie socially iiiUiroHting. Mr. James (I mm recently contributed the following to the columiiM of the II W Mvrr Timrti: As there is an unusual interest mnnifeHted Bt tlie present time in the Hnuko river placers, iftid hh there ap pear to Ini a wide diversity of opinion ait to the source of thiH gold, Home maintaining that it cornea from the adjoining lava IhhIs, I thought it would not 1)0 uuinter eHting to many of your readera to) give my own viewH on thin deeply interesting subject Ah tho Snake river placers are, and will continue to be for many future years, a aource of revenue to tho eoplo of Idaho Torri lory, anything that will lead to au intelligent discussion, and from that to an intelligent uiideretaiidin ;, of the problem, can not fail to be of more or less value to a great ninny of our copla During the apriug and aumiuer of 1SH5 I prospected the headwater f Huako river, leaving Kaglo llock early in May, and not returning until the fall snow-strms drove me out At that time I wan a believer in tho theory euUrUined by a great many eopo-thut this gold came from quarts 1hKom situated far up in the mountains, Hour tho fountain-head of the river. I prog peeled the gravel bar for hundreds of miles, and made numerous incursions into neighboring mountains. Ho iar aa i am concerned i have definitely Hettlod the Huako river gold problem. It may Im possible that no other ix mou uow viewa the subject in the same light, but I aiu aatii.fi.sl that iu time my oiliou will be generally acccpUxl as correct Twenty mile above Eagle Hock, Hnako river branch es inU two large channel, one known a the North Fork (sometime call.! Henry's F ork ), and the other known a the Houtb Fork. I followed the hitter fork above Jackson's ke, and found placer ground at inter vals along iU Uuks and on many of it tributaries, until I reached the upor extremity of tho lake, ami then loet trace of the Huako river fine gold. I went from the South Fork northward, crying the Teton mountain at I rail creek mum, and descending tho North Fork to my iuitial H,i,,t, vis.: Eagle Hock. On tho latter stream I found no gold fwm which it is quite evident that tho gold has it origin on the Houth Fork or it tributaries, lbs prineial branches on which colors were found were the (In Ventre, lluffalo Fork, Ocean creek, and a small stream aUvo Ooeau crock, tho name of which I was un able to fiud out The formation of the country i. volcanic from Eagle IU to Couard valley, a distance of aUut forty mil,, and then the country rock u lime, graniU., porphyry and aamUtouo, lnue predominating, except in the Tetons. which are granite From Coouard valley up all trace of volcanic action is lost sight of, though the placers con tinue, as before stated, to the upper end of Jackson's lake. I submit that this effectually disposes of the the ory that the gold emanates from the lava, for the pros jxtctor can travel over one hundred miles above where the lava ceases to exist and the gold will still continue; while when you crosB the Tetons and strike the North Fork, which is still bounded by lava, and continues to be well up to its source, there is not to be found a soli tary color. if we next turn to the theory that it is the product of quartz we are beset by dilliculties, for all prospecting that has been done in that quarter, and it is not a little, has failed to discover a singlo paying mine. So we are of necessity driven to other expedients to account for the presence of auriferous gravel scattered over such a vast extent of country. It requires no savant to tell that the country now drained by the upper tributaries of the Snake, and bounded on the north by the Tetons, and on tho south by the Wind river mountains, was at one time the bed of an inland sea. Nature has left its work as plainly stamped upon the surrounding country as though the records of the past were handed down to us iu plainly-writtou characters. Water-worn gravel covers the summits of the highest mountains, lines their sides and chokes up the gulches, while the remains of shell fish can bo found iu the outcropping sandstone. With out any very great strotch of the imagination, one can picture to himself the time when the lofty peaks of the Tetons nud the Wind river ranee were but iH1nn.la standing seutiuol o'er the wide expanse of waters. lowara the center of this region there is a range of gravel mountains, in altitudo about as hieh as the hilla that lino Wood river. This range is composed eutiroly 01 gravei 01 varying sizes, such as one can find in the bods or on the banks of any of our streams, by some process of nature cemented togother with a dark gray sand The Gros Ventre and Buffalo Fork, together with all their tributaries, cut through these mountains, in many places channeling out almost perpendicular canyons, ami as the winter snow and summer rain de seoud ujh)!! them, little by little they are worn down, the wiu.li finding its way into the small streams, then into the larger ones, finally into the Snake, and in the course of the ages deposits on its bauks for hundreds of miles to the south and west Colors can 1 easily found in this wash and high up on the hillsides. I found fine gold five hundred feet above the valley on the mountain slo)o. To my mind it is clear that here we have the source of the Snake river fine gold. If yon follow the river above this gravel range gold can not be found It can not be found on the North Fork. From where the wash of this region enters the Snake gold commences, and continues on down. Tho country around thoae 0rvl - O" -' MiuuuvniUB 19 AU11 or interest to the intelligent prospector. It is possible that at no distaut day important discoveries may be made in this vicinity. That is whore we should look for the source of the Huake river plaoers-not in the lava