prospecting new ground, for many times a claim has been deserted after
cleaning up the "bottom," and another man has got far better gold
considerably higher up on the sides of the gutter. For shallow alluvial
deposits, where a man quickly works out his 30 by 30 feet claim, it may
be cheaper at times to "paddock" the whole ground--that is, take all
away from surface to bottom, but if he is in wet ground and he has to
drive, great care should be taken to properly secure the roof by means
of timber. How this may best be done the local circumstances only can
decide.



CHAPTER III

LODE OR REEF PROSPECTING

The preceding chapter dealt more especially with prospecting as carried
on in alluvial fields. I shall now treat of preliminary mining on lodes
or "reefs."

As has already been stated, the likeliest localities for the occurrence
of metalliferous deposits are at or near the junction of the older
sedimentary formations with the igneous or intrusive rocks, such as
granites, diorites, etc. In searching for payable lodes, whether of
gold, silver, copper, or even tin in some forms of occurrence, the
indications are often very similar. The first prospecting is usually
done on the hilltops or ridges, because, owing to denudation by ice or
water which have bared the bedrock, the outcrops are there more exposed,
and thence the lodes are followed down through the alluvial covered
plains, partly by their "strike" or "trend," and sometimes by other