Those creeks of intermediate size between dry ravines, and the large rivers flowing down from the mountains, though dry or nearly so at some seasons of the year, are powrful in times of heavy rains or the rapid melting of snows, as is evident from the position of some heavy rocks in those streams, which none other agent the powr of a mighty stream could have placd there.
In prospecting for gold in those creeks, the miner may select a position which he judges to be the channel of the creek, or that portion of it where the greatest powr of water is exerted, and commence digging downward, till he arrives at the rock over which various tertiary sediment has flowd, and if he finds the coarse gravel and sand through which he passes, entirely down to the rock, cleanly washd of alluvium, he may fairly conclude that he is in the current of that stream, or where the water passes with greatest force. In those situations, he rarely finds gold, or if he does, it is in sparing quantities.
If upon arriving at the rock, he finds a cross reef or ledge rock, rising one foot or more above the rocks downward stream from his position, he may then prospect outward either way toward the banks of the creek, keeping close to the rock on the lower side, till he arrives a little outward from the current where the waters formd an eddy, as denoted by a mixture of alluvium with the sand and gravel of the creek. In those situations, he may expect to find gold. If he finds gold in such a locality, he may prospect outward toward the banks of the creek, till he has exhausted the whole deposit.
As the tilted rocks of the gold district have universally one course, and as creeks meander across them in nearly every possible direction, there are chances in many places for reefs of rocks to traverse the beds of creeks, directly along their channels. Under such circumstances, but little gold has been deposited. If the miner continues his search along the creek downward, till he arrives at a bend in it, where the water is forcd over such reefs, a little outward from the channel, gold is often found in great abundance—watching carefully whilst excavating the earth in such places, to prospect the lower side of any reefs that may be found there.