Every gravel- and boulder-bed has been desperately riddled over and over again.

But in this region the pick and shovel, once wielded with savage enthusiasm, have been laid away, and only quartz-mining is now being carried on to any considerable extent.
The zone in general is made up of low, tawny, waving foot-hills, roughened here and there with brush and trees, and outcropping masses of slate, colored gray and red with lichens.

The smaller masses of slate, rising abruptly from the dry, grassy sod in leaning slabs, look like ancient tombstones in a deserted burying-ground.

In early spring, say from February to April, the whole of this foot-hill belt is a paradise of bees and flowers.

Refreshing rains then fall freely, birds are busy building their nests, and the sunshine is balmy and delightful.