was, in fact, the bed of a dead river upon which
Russell had stumbled without knowing it. My readers are probably aware
that in the beds of rivers or creeks the early miners found their first
harvest of gold, and, that, where practicable, these were mined by
turning the stream in the dry season, when the water was low. As it may
not be so well understood what is meant by a dead river, I quote a
passage from an article in the "Overland Monthly," as found in the pages
of the "Pacific Coast Mining Review," for the year 1878-79:--

"A dead river is one which formerly existed, but exists no longer. In
volcanic regions it sometimes happens that the liquid lava, seeking the
lowest ground, fills up the beds of the rivers which die and are
replaced by water-courses running in other channels and in different
directions. These dead streams are so few, and of so little importance
elsewhere, that, as yet, I believe, no class name has been given to
them; but in California they are among the chief source of its mineral
wealth, and among the most remarkable features of its geological
formation. They take us back to a remote era, before the time of Rome,
of Greece, or of Egypt; far back beyond the origin of history or
tradition, before our coast had taken its present shapes; before Shasta,
and Lassen, and Castle Peaks had poured out their lava floods; before
the Sacramento river had its birth; and while, if not before, the
mastodon, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the horse, the mammoth bull, the
tapir, and the bison lived in the land. They are indeed among the most
remarkable discoveries of the age, and among the greatest wonders of
geology. They deserve some common name, and we have to choose between
'extinct' and 'dead.' We speak of 'extinct volcanoes,' and of 'dead
languages,' and, as the latter is Saxon and short, we prefer it. They
have been called 'old channels;' but this name does not convey the
proper idea, since a channel is not necessarily a river, and an old
channel is not necessarily a dead one. A dead river is a channel
formerly occupied by a running stream, but now filled up with earthy or
rocky matter, and is not to be confounded with a channel that is open
and remains dry during the greater part of the year because of a lack of
water, or that has been abandoned by the stream for a deeper channel
elsewhere. A dry river-bed is not a dead river.

"The dead rivers of California, so far as are known, are on the western
slope