The Blue Lead gold bearing channel that runs through Little York was reckoned to be "[o]ne of the richest auriferous gravel channels in the Sierra."Greenland, p. 61. The channel was hundreds of feet wide and the gold lay buried in hard cemented gravel which had a blue sheen.Union, March 14, 1866. The first emigrants to mine around Little York were able to pick nuggets out of the streams and ravines. Gold was even discovered on the town's public plaza, where one pan yielded $45.Sacramento Union, May 9, 1853; Young America, December 14, 1853. That was quickly followed by coyoteing, which involved digging holes into the ground to retrieve the gold bearing gravel and then washing it to try to release the gold.Nevada Journal, May 1, 1852, August 7, 1852. Early in 1852, the local miners enacted a series of mining laws under the rubric of the Blue Rock Mining District.Nevada Journal, April 22, 1852. At another meeting, the miners resolved that "no foreigner shall hold a mining claim in this district."Nevada Journal, May 8, 1852.
