the Big Banner vein, 10 feet 4 inches by 5 feet 8 inches in the clear, timbered throughout with sawed lumber, with two compartments. From this shaft crosscuts have been run at the 200-foot level 45 feet to the Little Banner vein, where the pay shoot was cut, and drifted on north for a distance of 200 feet (all in pay), and 75 feet to the south, but nothing was met with on that side. The pay shoot on the north dips in that direction rather flat. The crosscut on the 300-foot level reached the Little Banner in 38 feet, but did not strike the north pay shoot until 140 feet had been drifted. From there for a farther distance of 110 feet the drift was continued, mostly in pay. Beyond that the vein seems to break up in small feeders that branch out fan-shaped, but presumably come together again, as the vein is found solid on the surface farther north. Where the vein is split up the country rock is softer and appears to be broken up. The slate between the two Banner veins quarters on them and carries with the cleavage small seams of quartz, containing more or less water. These seams, where they terminate against the vein, usually form small pockets of gold. Of the two Banner veins the Little Banner, with her northeast dip, is undoubtedly the principal and true fissure, carrying as she does a distinct gouge for the whole distance explored.

At the 300-foot level a crosscut was likewise run east a distance of 600 feet to the Amoskeag vein, and was carried through the vein into the slate beyond. The formation around this vein resembles greatly the so-called porphyry belt in El Dorado County, though not as thoroughly decomposed as that is. It is mineralized, carrying 2 per cent of sulphurets, and will some day prove a valuable low-grade proposition. For the present this part of the property has been abandoned, and as it furnishes the largest part of the water that has to be pumped from the mine, the connecting crosscut is being bulkheaded.

The plant at the shaft comprises a double reel winding gear, with 4-inch steel rope, cages and water-hoisting tanks, a Rand air compressor to run two machine drills, and an air pump run by a fifty horse-power steam engine.

The rock, hoisted in a self-dumping bucket, discharges into a car run by hand to a breaker, from whence an incline double track conveys the quartz to the mill.

The mill, likewise run by steam, contains ten stamps of 750 pounds, supplied with Tullock feeders; also a 6-foot Huntington roller quartz mill. The battery frame is built for ten additional stamps. Concentrators have not yet been erected, but the power to run them, also the space for erecting them, is prepared.

Beneath the boarding house is a tunnel that will ultimately be continued to cut the shaft, which it will do at about 100 feet vertical. Conveniences for the men and officials, in the shape of boarding houses, sleeping houses, offices, etc., are well and conveniently situated.

As soon as the mine has been a little further exploited it is the purpose of the owners to reduce the cost of production by supplanting steam with electricity, for which purpose a dynamo would be erected on the river three quarters of a mile away, and the power transmitted to the mine. At present use is made of electricity to fire the blasts in sinking the shaft, which is being extended down another 200 feet, when it is expected to find the vein crossing the shaft.

About twenty-nine men are employed at present in and around the

mine. Miners' wages are $2 50 per day; skilled machine drillers, $3. A large force will be put on as soon as the mill is started again, it being at present idle.

DEFIANT MINE-SPRING VALLEY MINE.

About 1 mile above Oregon City to the northeast is the Defiant Mine, also idle at present. The vein courses 80° west of north, with a pitch of 40° to the east, averaging 2 feet in width. The ore is free milling. A double compartment shaft 90 feet deep, with a small upright steam hoist and -inch wire cable, and a plunger pump, besides a five-stamp steam mill, constitute the plant.

In T. 21 N., R. 4 E., M. D. M., is a large body of quartz, known as the Nisbet ledge, which is being worked in a small way by the owner and his sons. At the foot of the ledge is a small valley containing a body of gravel that pays well to work by the hydraulic process. This whole property is known as the Spring Valley Mine.

All of these properties would well repay the investment of some capital.

What was formerly one of the largest hydraulic mines in the State, as well as one of the most productive, is situated due north of Oroville. This is the Cherokee Flat Gravel Mine, and was, when visited, lying idle under the law enjoining the working by the hydraulic process, but active measures are on foot to try and work a part of the property by the drift process. In the meantime, parts of the ground are made to yield several thousand dollars a month by ground sluicing and the use of the rocker and pan.

CHANNEL OF SPRING VALLEY HYDRAULIC MINING COMPANY.

The channel which has been worked by the Spring Valley Hydraulic Company lies at the north end of Table Mountain, pitching with the bedrock, which is largely slate, intersected with dikes of diorite, coursing northeast, and extending partly under the basaltic plateau. It was a break in this gravel, at the head of Morris Ravine, that furnished the

latter with much of the gold for which it was famous in the past. A lava cap covers the channel, in places, from 80 to 100 feet in thickness; also a stratum of pipe clay that attains a depth of from 200 to 300 feet. A section through the channel shows on the bedrock a dark cement, above which is a blue gravel from 10 to 15 feet thick, which carries the greater quantity of gold. Overlaying this and formed apparently by SECTION THROUGH WALDEYER INCLINE UNDER

a separate flow, is what is known as the rotten bowlder layer, which yielded from $1 to $8 per cubic yard. The whole is covered with a deposit of fine white quartz sand and gravel, with a capping of pipeclay several hundred feet deep. The present course of the channel is somewhat in doubt, and is one of the important questions that have to be considered in deciding the possibility of working the claim by means of drifting. Those intimately acquainted with the working of the ground differ in their opinions.

A

The sketch on page 157 shows the different ideas as to its course. shaft has been sunk in front of the present bank to a depth of 140 feet, through the bedrock, from whence a tunnel, known as the L. Glass tunnel, has been run 900 feet under the bank. It is argued that if this were carried forward on the present grade of the pay channel, it would strike the level of the same at a farther distance of 800 feet. At the present termination of the tunnel, an upraise was made to the rotten bowlder level, which was drifted on for a distance, until daylight was reached in the face of the bank, having followed the rotten bowlder strata continuously. In connection with the idea of working the mine by drifting, the possibility of running a tunnel from the north side into the mountain was discussed, in furtherance of which the McCann tunnel was projected. Another suggestion was to run a tunnel from the Waldeyer reservoir. Years ago an incline was sunk in this neighborhood, which demonstrated the presence of the rotten bowlder and blue gravel strata in that locality.

If the Morris Ravine, which lies to the south of this claim, is really fed from a break of the Spring Valley channel, it would prove it to run 1 miles beyond the point where it has been worked up to date.

In going from Oroville in the direction of the west branch of the North Fork of Feather River on the stage road, after flanking Table Mountain, and passing through Pentz, where the slates first show themselves, the road traverses Masilla Valley, where a couple of small lime

kilns are burning limestone from a vein of black marble that extends down the west branch on the right hand side of the river. This limestone incased in the slate can be traced for miles through the country, and is from 10 to 15 feet thick. There are some quartz veins being prospected in the neighborhood of Masilla Valley, with encouraging results.

At Yankee Hill, on the west branch of the North Feather, just north of Cherokee, is a very large vein of quartz coursing 17° east of north, dipping 32°, with a width of 50 feet, showing very bold, heavy croppings. It is known as the Yankee Hill ledge. The surface has been hydraulicked, and has paid extremely well, but for several years no work has been done. Another large ledge not worked at present lies east of the town of Yankee Hill, and has a course 55° east of north, dipping at an angle of 50°.

About one mile from town is a peculiarly formed hill, known as the "Hump," which seems to be the result of a local upheaval. It is traversed in all directions by small quartz veins; the rock itself seems to be a decomposed diabase. Considerable surface prospecting has been done here, but evidently without paying results. On the west side of Yankee Hill there have been rich surface diggings, the gulches having been worked right up to their heads, and are said to have yielded several hundred thousand dollars.

Three miles from here is Jordan Hill, where several promising quartz. veins are being opened, notably,

THE RAINBOW AND THE CHRISTY.

These mines are situated 24 miles to the northwest of Oroville, at an altitude of 1,875 feet; they average about 24 feet in width. The country rock is slate and serpentine. The ores are free-milling gold quartz, with iron sulphurets. The Rainbow has a five-stamp steam mill, with 750-pound stamps, which crush 14 tons to the stamp per day. The apron is silver-plated, 5x6 feet, and has a pitch of three fourths of an inch per foot. The quartz from the Christy Mine is said to average about $12 per ton.

Crossing Con Cow Valley and the west branch of Feather River, the spur of the Sierras, known as Dogtown Ridge, is encountered, running north and south, with the west branch of the Feather River on the east and Butte Creek on the west. This is a slate ridge, traversed in part by serpentine, more especially just north of Dogtown, where the serpentine crosses the ridge in a belt half a mile wide, coursing northwest and southeast, and forming on the east bank of the west branch of Feather River a conspicuous peak, just opposite the town, known as Sawmill Peak, 3,200 feet high. About 2 miles above town, on the right hand bank of the river, a tunnel has been driven under the ridge 400 feet, at a point where there is a lava capping 300 feet thick; the direction of the tunnel is about 70° west of north. At a distance of 100 feet from the mouth a 30-foot wide gravel channel, containing coarse gold (ounce pieces), was cut through. The tunnel was continued to reach the main channel that runs under the ridge; the water being handled by a syphon.

Across the river at this point are two adjoining mines, known as

THE WILLARD AND RED HILL MINES.

The river, when running on a higher level than at present, caused a big eddy at and above this point, forming an extensive bench, where extremely large bowlders are found on the bedrock, with considerable coarse gold, some pieces weighing from 5 to 11 pounds avoirdupois. There is a record of one piece having been found on the Willard ground that brought its owner $13,312. These mines are at an altitude of over 2,000 feet, about 2 miles from Magalia or Dogtown, and are reached by trail only. The country rock is clay slate and decomposed serpentine. The vein of the Willard has a northwest course, dipping at 42°, and with an average width of 2 feet. On account of lack of capital the work of opening up this mine proceeds but slowly. In former days the surface has been hydraulicked with paying results. Since then a shaft has been sunk to a depth of 56 feet, and a tunnel run 200 feet, connecting the two mines at the bottom. The prospects are favorable, and the present owners would be glad to get capital interested under favorable conditions, to expedite the work.

A number of other mines, more especially on the right bank of the river going north, are driving tunnels under the lava to open out the gravel channels known to exist under the Dogtown Ridge, and some of them are meeting with good success. The workings of these mines were fully explained in the last report.

Seven miles north of Magalia is the stage station Lovelocks, southwest of which, 14 miles distant, is Todtown. In the early 70's a five