Since 1849 the Goodyears Bar Mining District has produced well over 150,000 ounces of gold. Sources of gold in this area include late Jurassic lode gold deposits, Tertiary river deposits, Quaternary and Holocene gravel deposits and modern river placer deposits. Initial mapping of the ancient North Yuba River was performed with the intention of locating a buried section of the paleochannel known as the Golden Slide Mine ore body. Using paleocurrent indicators such as clast imbrication and epsilon cross stratification, bench placers of the ancient river have been mapped, including the section of buried ore reserves. The 4 kilometer section of the river under investigation lies between the Goodyears Creek Fault and the Melones Fault within the Feather River Peridotite Belt. Paleocurrent indicators from the auriferous gravel of the ancient North Yuba, classified as a sandy pebble gravel, trend towards the southwest. Additionally, previous research on the paleoplacers of the Tertiary Yuba river show a southeasterly paleocurrent direction near this location.
