meanwhile tom and his party, pursuing their journey by easy stages, for they sensibly determined not to overtask their strength, reached at last the spot of which russell had spoken. ferguson and tom soon found that he had not exaggerated. the new diggings were certainly far richer than those at river bend. it was, in fact, the bed of a dead river upon which russell had stumbled without knowing it. my readers are probably aware that in the beds of rivers or creeks the early miners found their first harvest of gold, and, that, where practicable, these were mined by turning the stream in the dry season, when the water was low. as it may not be so well understood what is meant by a dead river, i quote a passage from an article in the "overland monthly," as found in the pages of the[pg 251] "pacific coast mining review," for the year 1878-79:—
"a dead river is one which formerly existed, but exists no longer. in volcanic regions it sometimes happens that the liquid lava, seeking the lowest ground, fills up the beds of the rivers which die and are replaced by water-courses running in other channels and in different directions. these dead streams are so few, and of so little importance elsewhere, that, as yet, i believe, no class name has been given to them; but in california they are among the chief source of its mineral wealth, and among the most remarkable features of its geological formation. they take us back to a remote era, before the time of rome, of greece, or of egypt; far back beyond the origin of history or tradition, before our coast had taken its present shapes; before shasta, and lassen, and castle peaks had poured out their lava floods; before the sacramento river had its birth; and while, if not before, the mastodon, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the horse, the mammoth bull, the tapir, and the bison lived in the[pg 252] land. they are indeed among the most remarkable discoveries of the age, and among the greatest wonders of geology. they deserve some common name, and we have to choose between 'extinct' and 'dead.' we speak of 'extinct volcanoes,' and of 'dead languages,' and, as the latter is saxon and short, we prefer it. they have been called 'old channels;' but this name does not convey the proper idea, since a channel is not necessarily a river, and an old channel is not necessarily a dead one. a dead river is a channel formerly occupied by a running stream, but now filled up with earthy or rocky matter, and is not to be confounded with a channel that is open and remains dry during the greater part of the year because of a lack of water, or that has been abandoned by the stream for a deeper channel elsewhere. a dry river-bed is not a dead river.
"the dead rivers of california, so far as are known, are on the western slope of the sierra nevada, from five hundred to seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. they are all gold-yielding, and therefore they have been sought and[pg 253] examined. they have yielded probably three hundred millions in all; they now produce perhaps eight million dollars annually. they are not less interesting to the miner than to the geologist, not less important to the statesman than to the antiquarian."
at the risk of being considered tedious by some of my boy-readers, i will transcribe the writer's explanation of the existence of these dead rivers. for the reason we must go back to a remote geological epoch: "the main cause must have been the subsequent rise of the sierra nevada. suppose that a range of mountains, seven thousand feet high, were upheaved thirty miles east of the mississippi; that the bed of that stream were on the mountain side, three thousand feet above the sea, and that thirty miles west the country maintained its present level; the result would be that the present mississippi would soon be a dead river; it would be cut across by streams running down the mountain side, and flowing into a new mississippi, thirty miles or more west of the present one. we know that the sierra nevada[pg 254] has been upheaved; that a large stream ran on what is now the mountain side, and that it has been succeeded by a new river farther west, and we must infer that the death of the old and the birth of the new river were caused by the upheaval."
reference is here made to the big blue lead, the largest dead river known in california, which has been traced for a distance of sixty-five miles, from little grizzly, in sierra county, to forest hill, in placer county. the original river, however, is thought to have run for many hundreds of miles. eventually traces of its existence may be found elsewhere.
it is not to be supposed that tom and his friends knew anything about dead rivers, or troubled themselves as to how the rich deposits had been made, or how long they had been waiting discovery. they were chiefly engaged with more practical considerations. they found a rich harvest in the ravines, and they went to work energetically.
the work was monotonous, and a detailed account[pg 255] of their progress would be tiresome. what we chiefly care about is results, and these may be gathered from a conversation which took place some five months later.
under a tent, at night-fall, reclined the three friends. they looked contented, and on good terms with the world; but, though prosperous, they certainly did not look it. in fact, they were all three exceedingly, almost disreputably, shabby. they looked more like tramps than respectable gold-miners.
"tom, you are looking very ragged," said dick russell, surveying our hero critically.
"i know it, dick. i feel as though i had just come out of a rag-bag. i can't say that you look much better, nor ferguson either."
"this rough work is hard on clothing," said russell. "i wish there were a ready-made clothing store near by."
"so do i. i would pay a high price for a good suit."
"if our friends at home could see us, what would they think, eh, tom?"[pg 256]
"that we were candidates for the poor-house."
"that's so. i've been into several poor-houses in the course of my life, but i never saw any of the inmates quite so poorly clad as we are."
"you are right," said ferguson; "but there are generally compensations. i was taking account of stock, and i estimate that i have from sixteen to eighteen hundred dollars' worth of gold-dust."
"i have nearly as much," said tom.
"my pile won't vary far from tom's," said russell.
"that is a pretty good showing for five months, my friend," said the scotchman.
"it will make up for the old clothes," said tom.
"i have been thinking," said ferguson, "that we need a vacation. what do you say to starting next week for san francisco?"
"i agree," said russell, promptly.
"and i," said tom. "i should like to see john miles."
"very well. we will continue our work about a week longer, and then start."
