The tertiary gravels of the Sierra Nevada. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1911. 29 cm, pp. [1-2] 3-226 [227-228: blank], 28 inserted plates (with photographic illustrations), maps (some folded, some in color, two in rear pocket), 16 illustrations in text, original tan wrappers printed in black. First edition. At head of title: "Department of the Interior / United States Geologic Survey / George Otis Smith, Director / Professional Paper 73." In The Tertiary Gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California, Waldemar Lindgren presents "an account of the Tertiary formations of that range and deals especially with the origin and distribution of the gold-bearing (auriferous) gravels which made these mountains one of the treasure houses of the world." The paper specifically focuses on the Sierra Nevada to the eastern Great Basin. Lindgren, as a member of the United States Geological Survey, worked in the California gold district from 1886 to the early 1890s. He published this classic work on the gold-bearing gravels in 1911. The first part of the work describes the general topography, geology, and fossils of the Tertiary auriferous gravel district (including the "Calaveras Skull" hoax of 1866). This introductory section describes the nature and distribution of gold in the gravels, the methods of gold mining in California, and the production of gold by hydraulic, drifting, dredging, and surface mining for 1897-1909. The second part of the paper contains general geology and detailed descriptions of the Tertiary gravels and mineral deposits of 18 quadrangles from the Geologic Atlas of the United States. These quadrangles cover the central and northern Sierra Nevada and notably the Yosemite region. The paper includes several photographs of the Sierra showing the gravels, areas that had hydraulic operations, and views of large areas. Several maps and sections are included in the text, along with an oversized compiled geologic map of the northern Sierra Nevada. Closed tears along spine folds professionally repaired, split along bottom edge of map envelope closed, a very good copy with fine interior. Enclosed in a cloth clamshell box with leather spine label. (#165519).
No statement of printing.