veins, as they are sometimes called, making the total width nearly one
hundred feet. Nor is the direction of the lode always in a straight
line. Though usually found within half a mile of what may be considered
its normal course, it is sometimes found as far as two or three miles
from it, and there are cases of other lodes (three, in all) entirely
distinct, which in some instances approach so close as to be confounded
with it."

There are numerous mines along the whole length of the lode, famous for
having yielded their millions. One quartz ledge is said to have yielded
for a long time, two-thirds gold. They say of the Morgan Mine, at
Carson's Creek near Melones, "It appeared to be rich beyond parallel. On
one occasion $110,000.00 worth of gold was thrown down at a single
blast."

Many expeditions were made in search of the fabled Great Lode but all
attempts were vain.

'The old spread-eagle judge said: "Yes, sir; the Mother Lode dips up in
a bit of a circle with no beginning and no end, in the western foothills
of the Sierra Mountains. Down about Melones, and Sonora, and Angel's
Camp it goes, and through Table Mountain, and under Jackass Hill. It
comes north, and north, past Coloma, and Auburn, to Nevada City and then
it disappears."

I remembered the engineer's statement, but was silent.

"It was the haunt of Harte, and Twain, and Canfield in the north; it was
the bank of such men as Hopkins, Crocker, Huntington and Stanford; the
foundation of one of the greatest states in the Union, the Mother Lode,