108 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., i, 1899
velop — something that would open the way to a final settlement of the great questions at issue.
In September, 1898, 1 received instructions from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to visit California for the purpose of making collections and of prosecuting anthropological investi- gations along such lines as might promise to be of value to the National Museum. It was arranged that the work should be con- ducted under the auspices of the Director of the Bureau of Amer- ican Ethnology. A short time before setting out I learned that Prof. W J McGee was contemplating a trip to the southwest a little later in the season, and I succeeded in inducing him to join me for a short time in the Auriferous gravel region ; I thus had the advantage of conjoint work with him in a section of superla- tive interest geologically, archeologically, and scenically, and one that has been made classic in science by Whitney and in song by Bret Harte.
HISTORY OF DISCOVERIES
The auriferous, or gold-bearing, gravels, with which we are especially concerned, are scattered over a vast area in central California, extending from the high sierra on the east down the far-reaching ridges and canyons to the lowlands of the coastal belt, and from the Yuba on the north to the Merced on the south, an area equal in extent, perhaps, to that of the state of Connecticut.
The great gold discoveries began with the influx of miners in 1849, and during the two or three succeeding decades the gravel deposits were dug over to an extent without parallel in the his- tory of mining operations. They were first attacked by pick and pan, then sluicing was introduced, and later hydraulic operations were conducted on a grand scale. Tunnel mining was also ex- tensively carried on, and the mountains were pierced by count- less shafts, sometimes so close together and so profound that it seemed almost that the mountains might collapse. This work had not continued long when reports began to be circulated,
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