Though the broad belt of ground which has been here described is named the gold region, it is by no means to be supposed that the precious metal is found equally distributed over its surface, as if it had rained down, or been thrown broadcast by some volcanic action over the whole country. The placers where the auriferous dust is found are, in comparison with the whole extent of the country so named, exceedingly limited. The miner often travels many miles over this region--he wanders for days along its river banks and over its bars, and turns aside into some of its numerous ravines--he often pauses to examine spots which appear to him favorable, and with his pick, shovel, and knife--always his companions--digs his fifty holes, testing each with his pan, without success. And even when he comes to the favored bar or placer from which many pounds of gold may have been taken, there is perhaps one chance in fifty in favor of his collecting any considerable amount of gold. Upon these very localities thousands of industrious miners barely make their living. The hopeful miner eagerly hastens, with high expectations, to the diggings. He chooses his bar, and marks off a claim; this he faithfully “prospects,” then abandons it for another and another, till he comes to the conclusion that the whole business is a lottery. The primitive formations prevailing through the gold diggings are the soft granite and the talcose slate. The superstrata are various, and depend upon the formations in the hills adjoining. The first in importance, as being intimately combined with the gold, is the quartz. This is found in broken fragments, from the fine pebbles to the huge masses, over the whole surface of the country. It is often seen crowning the hill-tops, and sometimes is found in veins in the valleys. There can be no doubt that the quartz and the gold were formed in combination. This is now so universally admitted as not to require to be substantiated. It is also placed beyond a doubt that the gold of the mines has been attrited, and taken to the various deposits by the action of water; and the gold is found in coarser or finer particles, according as it is exposed to a greater or less degree of this action. In some cases, the gold has been found running in veins, more or less rich, through the quartz, and so closely combined that they must be reduced to powder before they can be separated. With but few exceptions, however, the working of these veins has not proved profitable.