2. Navea Newcombii, Tryon.
3. Zirphæa crispata, Linn.
4. Pholadidea penita, Conr.
5. —— ovoidea, Gould.
6. Netastomella Darwinii, Sby.
7. Parapholas Californica, Conr.
8. Saxicava pholadis, Linn.
9. Platyodon cancellatum, Conr.
10. Schizothærus Nuttalli, Conr.
11. Lyonsia Californica, Conr.
12. Mytilimeria Nuttalli, Conr.
13. Macoma inconspicua, Br. & Sby.
14. Standella falcata, Gld.
15. Tapes staminea, Conr.
16. —— ruderata, Desh.
17. Tapes diversa, Sby.
18. Rupellaria lamellifera, Conr.
19. Petricola carditoides, Conr.
20. Lazaria subquadrata, Cpr.
21. Kellia Laperousii, Desh.
22. Mytilus Californianus, Conr.
23. —— edulis, Linn.
24. Modiola fornicata, Gld.
25. Adula falcata, Gld.
26. —— stylina, Cpr.
27. Hinnites giganteus, Gray.
28. Placunanomia macroschisma, Desh.
29. Doris albopunctata, Cooper.
30. Cryptochiton Stelleri, Midd.
31. Katherina tunicata, Wood.
32. Tonicia lineata, Wood.
33. Mopalia muscosa, Gld.
34. —— Hindsii, Gray.
35. —— lignosa, Gld.
36. Acanthopleura scabra, Rve.
37. Nacella vernalis, Dall (mss.)
38. —— instabilis, Gld.
39. Acmæa patina, Esch.
40. —— pelta, Esch.
41. —— Asmi, Midd.
42. —— persona, Esch.
43. —— spectrum, Nutt.
44. Lottia gigantea, Gray.
45. Scurria mitra, Esch.
46. Glyphis aspera, Esch.
47. Clypidella callomarginata, Cpr.
48. —— bimaculata, Dall (mss.)
49. Haliotis Cracherodii, Leach.
50. —— rufescens, Swains.
51. Chlorostoma funebrale, A. Ad.
52. —— brunneum, Phil.
53. —— Pfeifferi, Phil.
54. Calliostoma canaliculatum, Mart.
55. —— costatum, Mart.
56. Margarita pupilla, Gould.
57. Crepidula adunca, Sby.
58. —— navicelloides, Nutt.
59. —— var. nummaria, Gld.
60. —— var. explanata, Gld.
61. Hipponyx cranioides, Cpr.
62. Litorina planaxis, Nutt.
63. —— scutulata, Gld.
64. Lacuna porrecta, Cpr.
65. —— unifasciata, Cpr.
66. Isapis obtusa, Cpr.
67. Erato vitellina, Hinds.
68. Drillia torosa, Cpr.
69. Scalaria Indianorum, Cpr.
70. —— subcoronata, Cpr.
71. Opalia borealis, Gld.
72. Velutina prolongata, Cpr.
73. Olivella biplicata, Sby.
74. —— intorta, Cpr.
75. Nassa fossata, Gld.
76. —— perpinguis, Hds. ?
77. —— mendica, Gld.
78. Amycla gausapata, Gld.
79. Amphissa corrugata, Rve.
80. Purpura crispata, Chem.
81. —— var. septentrionalis, Rve.
82. Purpura saxicola, var. ostrina, Gld.
83. Monoceros engonatum, Conr.
84. Ocinebra lurida, Midd.
85. —— var. aspera, Baird.
86. —— var. munda, Cpr.
87. —— interfossa, Cpr.
88. Cerostoma foliatum.
89. Octopus —— (n. s.?)
_Navea Newcombii_, alive in _Haliotis Cracherodii_. Nos. 4, 5,
6, 25, and 26 alive in soft shale between tide marks. _Doris
albopunctata_, two specimens alive on rocks near low water
mark. Of the Chitons, Nos. 31 and 36, particularly abundant;
of the others named several specimens obtained, also one or
two species undetermined. 41, common, alive, on _Chlorostoma
funebrale_. 45 and 46, several living specimens between tide
marks. 47 and 48, I think, are distinct species; suggest
_Lucapina_, but foramen nearly twice as large as in shells
of the latter of same size, differing also in sculpture and
weight of shell. 49, animal lives for a long time, and affixes
itself tenaciously to the rocks after the shell is removed. 63
and 65, together living on rocks near high-water mark, and on
eel grass in pools left by the tide. 89, perhaps young of Mr.
Gabb’s species _O. punctatus_; two living specimens, as yet
undetermined, probably a new species.
Professor Silliman read a paper “On Naphtha and Illuminating Oil
from Heavy California Tar (Maltha), and on the probable Origin of
Petroleum.” This paper is omitted by the Publication Committee, as
it had already been published in the _American Journal of Science_
at the time it was read before the California Academy.
Prof. W. P. Blake read the following communications:
Note upon the Brown Coal Formation of Washington Territory and Oregon.
BY WM. P. BLAKE.
Openings recently made in the coal formations along the Cowlitz
River have shown the existence of several seams of brown
coal, ranging from two to seven feet in thickness. They are
separated by layers of sandstone, and are underlaid by a pebbly
conglomerate.
The seven-foot seam contains a few partings of clay about
six inches thick, but is chiefly a very compact coal, which
breaks out in large blocks with a conchoidal fracture. It is
very tough, and is not easily broken. It has the appearance of
cannel or splint coal. Exposure to the sun and air causes it to
shrink and crack.
It burns freely, giving a luminous flame, and a light smoke,
similar to that from wood. The ignited coals hold fire in a
remarkable manner, and with a strong draught or blast give an
intense heat. A single fragment, when ignited, will continue to
burn slowly to the center under an envelope of ash. A sun-dried
sample gave me 50.8 per cent. of volatile matter, chiefly gas.
The residue was a brilliant coke, the fragments of which were
slightly adherent, thus showing a tendency to cake. Trials
of the coal in quantity in open grates failed, however, to
show any caking qualities. Some portions of the coal expand
when burning and give a porous coke, which in many respects
resembles ordinary charcoal.
This deposit appears to be formed in great part of trunks of
exogenous trees. One trunk has been cut through that was over
four feet in thickness: a part of this was compact coal, and
another portion was in a half silicified state. Lines of annual
growth may be seen in some of the samples. This combustible
partakes of the characters of both coal and wood, and is in
fact a highly condensed wood, carbonized, without the loss of
its volatile portions.
Fossil plants are found in abundance in the adjoining sandy
beds. They are chiefly leaves of deciduous trees, but there are
some very distinct impressions of palms. This is significant of
a warmer climate.
The same formation of brown coal appears to extend along the
Columbia, back of St. Helen’s, where it is in close proximity
to beds of iron ore, and the coal may perhaps be used to great
advantage in the production of that metal.
Analysis of Mt. Diablo (California) Coal.
BY W. P. BLAKE.
A sample of Mt. Diablo coal, from the Pittsburg mine, was
analyzed by me in January last, with the following results:
Water 3.28
Bituminous substances 47.05
Fixed carbon 44.90
Ash 4.71
The sample was very pure, and apparently free from sulphur.
Color black. Fracture sub-conchoidal, giving brilliant shining
surfaces. It is very brittle, and is easily reduced to powder
in a mortar. Streak, dark brown.
This coal does not fuse so as to cake and make a compact
mass of coke. It is not therefore an economical coal for gas
production. It gives a long flame in burning; parts with
its gas rapidly and breaks up into small fragments, thus
necessitating the use of grate-bars with narrow openings. The
above analysis differs from those hitherto published, chiefly
in the amount of water and gas. Former analyses give from
thirteen to fourteen per cent. of water.
Mr. Hanks presented an analysis of the rock-salt collected by Major Lyon
on the Muddy River, as mentioned in the proceedings of the last meeting.
On Saturday, April 6th, the Academy made a field excursion to Angel
Island, about fifteen members participating in the meeting. Facilities
were afforded for the excursion by Major James T. Hoyt and General John
A. King; and to these gentlemen the thanks of the Academy were ordered to
be returned by the Secretary.
REGULAR MEETING, APRIL 15TH, 1867.
Vice President Ransom in the Chair.
Thirty-three members present.
The collections made during the field meeting on Angel Island were
exhibited and commented on.
Professor Silliman read the following paper:
Notice of a peculiar mode of the occurrence of Gold and Silver in the
Foot-Hills of the Sierra Nevada, and especially at Whisky Hill, in Placer
County, and Quail Hill, in Calaveras County, California.
BY B. SILLIMAN.
In the search for ores of copper which occurred in California
in what is now known as the “Copper Belt” of the Lower Sierras,
deposits of “Iron Rust,” as they were called by the miners,
were observed at numerous points far below the range of the
main gold belt of the Sierras. Several of these ochraceous
deposits had been previously “located” by prospecting miners
for gold, before there was any knowledge, or suspicion even,
of the existence of ores of copper in connection with them. It
was a matter of common observation that certain gulches, or
watercourses in the neighborhood of these rusty deposits, were
rich in placer gold, having been worked for gold from an early
date. The search for copper in this kind of deposit was not
commercially successful, although there were shipments of green
and blue carbonates of copper, red oxide and metallic copper,
to a limited extent from both the localities here referred to,
the metal from which was known to contain a notable value of
gold and silver, stated to be about fifty dollars to the ton
of ore. This search for copper has, however, opened up these
deposits so as to display their character in a conspicuous
manner.
The rocks appear to have been originally talcose and chloritic
schists, sometimes micaceous, inclosing masses of argillite,
and of quartz which appears to have been massive enough at
certain points to assume the character of a vein, and parallel
to the stratification which has the usual north-western strike
and easterly dip of the region. All this mass of material
which at Quail Hill is certainly three hundred feet wide, and
possibly twice that, and with a linear extent exceeding one
thousand feet, appears to have been very highly impregnated or
mineralized by sulphurets, chiefly of iron, with a portion of
copper, zinc and lead. The sulphurets have undergone almost
total decomposition throughout the entire mass, leaving soft
ochraceous deposits of a rusty red and yellow color, and
staining the rocks with brilliant colors, a peculiarity which
the miners have characterized by the name of “Calico rocks.”
This decomposition or oxidation of the sulphurets, has extended
to a point as low as atmospheric influences extend, or probably
to a point where water is permanently found, which at Quail
Hill is assumed to be about 170 feet below the outcrop of the
mass, or crest of the hill. Dykes of porphyry and of other
rocks, commonly called intrusive, are seen dividing these
great ore channels in a direction conformable to the line of
strike. But the decomposition which has affected other portions
of the ore channel, appears also to have changed them, for
they are found to be reduced completely to the condition of
kaolin and lithomarge, or kindred alterations of feldspathic
rocks. The outlines of the feldspar crystals are still easily
distinguished, although the mass of the dykes is completely
friable.
The zinc blende which is found in small quantities at Whisky
Hill, and the vitreous copper also to some extent, appear to
have escaped decomposition. The copper ores appear to have
been confined to a portion of the deposit, as is indicated
in the section exhibited, while the auriferous sulphuret of
iron has been co-extensive with the ore channel, the cubical
cavities left by the decay of its crystals being found in all
the outcrops both in the quartz and in the ‘calico rocks,’
resulting from the decomposition of feldspathic and talcose or
chloritic constituents.
Accompanying the entire mass of decomposition at both
localities, occur both gold and silver, disseminated with
remarkable uniformity in all parts of the orey ground. At
Whisky Hill, films of metallic silver are visible upon the
talcose masses stained green by malachite or chrysocolla; the
gold is rarely seen in situ, being mostly obscured by the very
rusty and highly-stained character of the associated materials.
But it is rare that on washing a small quantity of any of the
contents of these great deposits, gold is not found in angular
grains or small ragged masses, from the size of a few grains’
weight, to impalpable dust. Nuggets of several pennyweights
occur occasionally. This gold has evidently accompanied the
sulphurets and been left in its present position and condition
by their decomposition. There can be little doubt that the gold
of the gulches adjoining these deposits has been derived from
them. At Whisky Hill, the gulch gold ceases to be found as
soon as the limits of this deposit are passed, and the same is
true at Quail Hill. The occurrence of deposits of this nature
throughout the range of the foot-hills, seems to offer the best
solution which has suggested itself of the origin of the placer
gold which is found in situations so far removed from the
gold belt of the upper Sierras, and away from sources usually
recognized as those to which placer gold may be referred.
Experiments made by myself and by others on a considerable
scale, the details of which will appear elsewhere, show that
the amount of the precious metals disseminated in the average
mass of vein stuff and decomposed materials of every name at
Quail Hill, is considerably in excess of the general average
tenor of gold veins in California. The mean of my own trials
gave to the ton of 2,000 lbs. by assay:
Gold $35.14
Silver 15.08
------
$50.22
While from the working of carefully prepared averages in
considerable quantity by milling process, the tenor of the
precious metals was:
Gold $29.18
Silver 5.91
------
$35.09
The extremely friable condition of the entire mass of these
auriferous materials renders their extraction and treatment
easy and comparatively inexpensive.
At Whisky Hill, a mill of forty stamps has been set up which is
now running with satisfactory returns. The cost by contract of
delivery of the ores to the mill, being stated at forty cents
(40c.) per ton, the cost of mining and treatment in mill being
considerably less, it is said, than one dollar per ton, the
amount treated being five tons to each stamp.
The chemical results of the extensive decomposition of
metallic sulphids which has in former times occurred at
these localities, offer an interesting problem in chemical
geology. The sulphur has been removed chiefly as sulphuric
acid beyond doubt, which has combined with iron and copper to
form sulphates of these metals. These have for the most part
disappeared, being washed out by the atmospheric waters, and
have followed the drainage of the country. At Whisky Hill I
found the sulphate of iron, (Coquimbite) sulphate of copper,
(Cyanosite) and alum. The water of the shaft contains copper
enough to redden the iron tools. At Quail Hill considerable
masses of heavy spar are found, formed probably from the action
of soluble sulphates upon witherite. No gypsum was observed at
either locality.
The mineral species observed at Whisky Hill, are as follows:
Metallic Gold.
Metallic Copper.
Metallic Silver.
Red Copper.
Malachite (Green Carbonate of Copper).
Azurite (Blue Carbonate of Copper).
Chrysocolla (Silicate of Copper).
Cyanosite (Blue Vitriol).
Copper Glance (Vitreous Copper).
Zinc blende.
Galena.
Iron pyrites.
Alum.
Coquimbite.
Heavy Spar.
Hematite (chiefly the earthy varieties).
Kaolin.
Lithomarge and various aluminous and magnesian silicates
resulting from the decomposition of the chloritic and
talcose rocks.
The list of species is about the same for the deposit at Quail
Hill.
The line of division between the ore-bearing ground in these
great ore channels, and the country rock is quite distinctly
seen on both the eastern and western outcrop at Quail Hill, and
on the western at Whisky Hill. At the former place it is a dark
bluish porphyritic rock, probably metamorphic, of a sandstone
or silicious sediment. The outcroppings resemble those of many
quartz veins, and I find the moss-covered portions of this
quartzose matter full of cavities, resulting from the decay of
pyrites, and yielding, by assay, three to five dollars to the
ton in bullion.
From all the evidence presented, we seem justified in regarding
these remarkable metallic deposits as segregated veins, holding
a pretty uniform and high tenor of gold and silver, associated
with and derived from the decomposition of extended masses
of metallic sulphurets and quartzose matter, and carrying
at times, ores of copper, the commercial value of which is,
however, entirely subordinate to that of the precious metals
which are found to characterize these veins or ore channels.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 15th, 1867.
Mr. Falkenau read a communication “On the Spirit of the Age and its
Influence in the Department of the Natural Sciences.”
Mr. Bolander exhibited specimens of the _Apocynum_ found in Round Valley,
on moist land subject to overflow. The Indians make extensive use of it
for fish-lines and other purposes. The specimens presented were collected
by Mr. J. S. Silver, of Humboldt Valley, Nevada.
A field excursion of the Academy was made, on Saturday, April 20th, to
the hills near the Twelve-Mile House, on the San José Railroad. By the
courtesy of Richard P. Hammond, Esq., General Superintendent of the road,
free passes to go and return were furnished to the members participating
in this excursion.
REGULAR MEETING, MAY 6TH, 1867.
President in the Chair.
Thirty-two members present.
Messrs. F. F. Thomas, Silas A. White, B. Smith, M. J. McDonald, Wm.
Patten and Philip Prior, were elected Resident Members, and Dr. C.
L. Anderson, of Santa Cruz, Cal., Henry Walter Bates, Assistant
Secretary Royal Geographical Society of London, Prof. J. H. Balfour, of
Edinburgh University, Dr. John Alexander Smith, F.R.S., of Edinburgh,
James Haswell, M.A., of the Geological Society of Edinburgh, Capt. J.
B. Caldbeck, F.R.G.S., of Singapore, and Sir Roderick I. Murchison,
President of the Royal Geographical Society of London, were elected
Corresponding Members.
Donations to the Library: Gold and Silver Tables, by L. Garnett;
Catalogue of Casts of Fossils for sale by Prof. H. A. Ward, of Rochester
University.
The Committee on Field Meetings reported on that of April 20th, near the
Twelve-Mile House. Specimens of the fossils collected at the locality
visited were exhibited by Mr. Yale, and remarks were made on the position
and age of the strata there exposed, by Prof. Whitney, Dr. Cooper and Mr.
Stearns. Mr. Lorquin mentioned the species of birds seen and collected
during the excursion.
Mr. Stearns presented, in behalf of Mr. Rowell, the following description
of a new species of _Pisidium_, collected during the field excursion to
Angel Island:
Description of a New Species of Pisidium.
BY J. ROWELL.
_Pisidium angelicum_, Rowell.
Shell rounded oval, nearly equilateral, very convex; margin
well rounded; beaks very slightly raised and very approximate;
surface subgranulate, marked with from one to six very decided
striæ or lines of growth; teeth too minute for observation.
Long. (of largest) 2 mill., Lat. 1.5 mill.; Diam. 1 mill.
_Habitat_: Angel Island.
Of California species, it is most like _P. abditum_, but
differs in its sculpture, its less prominent beaks and its
more globular and equilateral form. Most specimens are covered
by an exceedingly persistent coat of jet black mud, making
examination of them very difficult; but some are perfectly
clean.
Mr. Stearns read the following note upon a recent
Exhibition of Parhelia.
On Wednesday, the 17th day of (April) last month, at about 5
o’clock in the afternoon, my attention was attracted towards
the heavens by an exhibition of the rather unusual phenomena
(unusual in this latitude) known as _Parhelia_.
The sky in the west at the time was somewhat cloudy, and the
atmosphere hazy. I was unable to determine the exact position
of the sun, but its altitude was approximately 22° above
the horizon; the diameter of the circle or halo was about
24°. A horizontal line, drawn through the sun and projected
sufficiently in a northerly and southerly direction to
intersect the halo, displayed at each point of intersection, a
_parhelion_ or mock sun of very considerable brilliancy, and
continued for upwards of half an hour.
A much more extensive display of these phenomena was witnessed
by me in the month of April, 1858, while residing near Boston,
Massachusetts.
The sun was not far from the zenith, surrounded by a single
broad halo, which latter was in turn inclosed by an outer
circle of many halos all intersecting with each other and with
the central halo—each of the numerous points of intersection
gemmed with a _parhelion_. So extensive was the display, owing
to the number of halos and the attendant _parhelia_, that the
whole heavens from the zenith to within apparently 30° of the
horizon, seemed covered with brilliant circles or rings, and
resplendent with numberless suns. The sky, at the time, was
obscured by a haze of considerable density, and a chilling wind
was blowing from the south.
Some remarks followed upon sun and moon halos, during which Dr. Gibbons
combated the popular notion that halos about the moon were infallible
signs of rain. His observations proved that, in some seasons, these signs
invariably failed in California, and at the East; he thought no rule
could be established on the subject.
Mr. Goodyear presented the following paper in behalf of Professor
Silliman:
Notice of New Localities of Diamonds in California.
BY B. SILLIMAN.
Every well-authenticated instance of the existence of the
diamond in the United States is of interest, since it serves
to enlarge our knowledge of the geographical and geological
distribution of this much esteemed gem.
I have the pleasure of exhibiting to the Academy four diamonds,
obtained from separate localities in this State. Three of them
are crystals, having the form of an icositetrahedron; the other
has been cut, and is set as a ring stone.
_The First Specimen_—Is from Forest Hill, in El Dorado County.
Its weight is 0.369 gramme, or 5.673 grains—equal to rather
less than 1½ carats. Its color is good, but it has a small
cavity and discoloration on one of the solid angles, and it is
less symmetrical than the second specimen. This crystal was
found at a great depth from the surface in a tunnel run into
the auriferous gravel at Forest Hill. I procured this stone
from Mr. Tucker, the well-known jeweler.
_The Second Specimen_—Is from French Corral, in Nevada County.
It weighs 0.3375 grammes, or 5.114 grains—equal to about 1⅓
carats. Its form is symmetrical, color slightly yellowish.
Its lustre has been dimmed slightly by having been subjected
to a red heat as a test of its authenticity. The _auto da fé_
is hardly the test a chemist would select for pure carbon!
It is remarkably destitute of flaws. This crystal was washed
out from the cement in the deep gravel washings for gold at
French Corral, and was found in the sluice boxes. It belongs to
Mr. Egbert Judson, of San Francisco, from whom I derive this
information.
_The Third Specimen_—Is smaller and less perfect than either
of the preceding. It was found at Fiddletown, in Amador
County. It weighs 0.2345 gramme, or 3.619 grains—a little less
than one carat. This crystal is distorted, and has several
reëntering angles and cavities. Mr. M. W. Belshaw, to whom it
belongs, informs me that since 1855, five diamonds have, to his
knowledge, been found at Fiddletown, where he then resided;
none of them weighing much over one carat. All these specimens
were found in a gray cemented gravel underlying a stratum of
“lava” or compact volcanic ashes, and were found in searching
for gold.
_The Fourth Specimen_—Is from Cherokee Flat, in Butte County,
and has been cut and set in a ring. Mr. Geo. E. Smith, of 605
Montgomery Street, San Francisco, who is an expert in diamonds
and owns the specimen exhibited, informs me that he has seen
fifteen crystals from this locality, and has authentic advices
of at least forty, all of which have been found in deep gravel
washings, and are believed to come from a stratum of about
three feet thick, forming part of a mass of twenty-five to
fifty feet of superincumbent material. When this special
stratum of sandy materials is washed, the diamonds have been
found. I have taken steps to obtain an authentic crystal from
this place, which appears to be the most prolific locality of
the diamond yet observed in California.
In the first volume of the Geology of California, page 276, Mr.
Rémond is quoted as authority for the existence of diamonds at
Volcano. If this locality is distinct from that at Fiddletown,
near Volcano, we have at present, five authenticated localities
of the diamond in California, from which specimens have been
identified by mineralogists.
If a knowledge of the characteristics of this remarkable
species was more common among the miners who work in the deep
gravel diggings, no doubt this gem would be found to be more
abundant and in more numerous places than is now suspected.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 6th, 1867.
Professor Whitney, in reply to various inquiries made by members,
remarked that there were probably some fifteen or twenty different
localities in California where diamonds had been found; but these were
all of small size, the largest which had come under his notice weighing
only 7¼ grains: this was found at French Corral, near San Juan North. It
was difficult to give any directions by which miners could infallibly
recognize the diamond when they happened to meet with this gem. The
crystalline form is very different from that of quartz, which is now,
however, much less frequently mistaken for the diamond than it was
formerly. Most of the crystals found in California, up to this time,
have been twenty-four sided. The fact that the faces of the crystals are
usually curved instead of being plane surfaces, is also characteristic
of the gem in question. The hardness and specific gravity are also
sure guides; but miners rarely have the means of getting at either of
these characters accurately. It is commonly believed that the diamond
can be struck a heavy blow, on an anvil, without breaking; but this is
a mistake, resulting from confounding toughness with hardness. It is
extremely doubtful whether washing the gravel for diamonds in California
would pay, under any circumstances; and it is believed that such washings
are not remunerative anywhere, except when performed by slave or convict
labor.
Professor Whitney read a paper on the geological position of coal. The
object of this paper was to show how completely the results of modern
geological explorations and discoveries had done away with the old idea
that valuable beds of coal are confined to any one member of the series
of geological formations. The recent investigations of geologists in
India, China, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and on the Pacific
coast of North America, were noticed and commented on. It was shown that
while the important coal fields of Eastern Europe and the Eastern United
States are of palæozoic age, those of India, China and Australia, on
the other hand, belong to the mesozoic series chiefly, although there
are important deposits even as recent as the cainozoic or tertiary.
Professor Whitney remarked on the distribution of the principal coal
fields of the world into two great groups, on opposite sides of the
globe: one of these is of palæozoic, and the other of mesozoic age. He
referred particularly to the coal of the Pacific coast of North America,
and gave a brief account of its geographical distribution and geological
age, noticing particularly the fact that most of the valuable fields
of that region belong to the cretaceous series, a geological formation
which, in other parts of the world, has been found to be one of the most
barren in combustible materials. In conclusion, the importance of coal
discoveries in the region between the Rocky Mountains and California to
the successful operation of the Pacific Railroad was explained, and the
hope expressed that the geological expedition recently set on foot by
the General Government, at the head of which is Mr. King, late of the
California Survey, might be the means of giving to the world reliable
information in regard to the coal resources of that region, of which we
now know so little.
Prof. Whitney presented an elaborate paper “On the Natural System of the
Igneous Rocks,” by Baron Richthofen; he advised its reference to the
Publication Committee, and that it should be made one of the “Memoirs”
which the Academy contemplates publishing. It was so referred, and the
committee was instructed to report on the feasibility of commencing the
publication of a series of quarto Memoirs.
Prof. Whitney exhibited a canine tooth, obtained from the deep gravel
deposits at Douglas Flat, near Murphy’s, in Calaveras County; it appears
to be different from the teeth of any animal yet found on this coast,
either living or fossil. He considered it as probably belonging to the
hyæna; if so, this was the first notice of the occurrence of this animal
on the American continent.
Dr. Cooper stated that Mr. Ridgeway, the zoölogist appointed to accompany
the Government exploration of Russian America, when on that coast, a few
years since, had found birds nearly identical with living species in
Asia—a fact of much interest, since none of the same species are found
on the eastern coast of America. There is here another suggestion of the
former intimate relations between Western America and Eastern Asia.
REGULAR MEETING, MAY 20TH, 1867.
Vice President Ransom in the Chair.
Twenty-nine members present.
Messrs. John P. Cairns, J. W. C. Maxwell, Constantine Heusch, William
Fischel, E. W. Burr, Archibald C. Peachy, J. P. H. Wentworth, C. P.
Stanford, Henry Gibbons, Jr., M.D., and P. M. Randall, M.D., were elected
Resident Members.
Donations to the Cabinet: Fossils from Mission Peak, Alameda County, by
Mr. Bosqui; and from Japan, by Mr. Lorquin.
Donations to the Library: Jahrbuch der k. k. geologischen Reichsanstalt,
Band XVI, No. 2, 1866. Bulletins de l’Académie Royale de Belgique, (2)
XX, XXI, 1865-6. Annuaire, (of the same) 1866. Meteorologisch Jaarboek,
uitgegeven door het kön. Nederlandsch Meteorologisch Instituut, 1865; two
parts, long 4to, Utrecht, 1866. Die Regenverhältnisse des Königreichs
Hannover, &c., von Dr. M. A. F. Prestel, Emden, 1864. Festschrift
der naturforschenden Gesellschaft zu Emden, 4to pamphlet, Emden.
Einundfünfzigster Jahresbericht der naturf. Gesells. zu Emden, 1865; 8vo
pamphlet, 1866. Schriften der Gesells. zur Beförderung der gesammten
Naturwissenschaften zu Marburg, Supplement Heft, (Claus, die Copepoden
Fauna von Nizza) 4to, 1866. Monatsbericht der kön. Preuss. Akademie der
Wiss. zu Berlin, 1865. Bulletin de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de
St. Petersbourg, Tome IX, Feuilles 1-36. Mémoires de l’Académie Impériale
des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, Tome IX, (complete) X, 1. Sur l’Etat de
l’Atmosphere à Bruxelles, pendant l’Année 1865, par M. Ernest Quetelet.
Geographical Catalogue of the Mollusca found west of the Rocky Mountains,
prepared for the State Geological Survey, by J. G. Cooper, M.D. Burton’s
City of the Saints, presented by Gregory Yale, Esq.
Mr. Stearns read a paper entitled “Ancient Mining on Lake Superior,”
which reading was followed by a discussion on that subject, in which Dr.
Cooper, Mr. Yale, Mr. Stearns and Mr. White took part.
Mr. Bolander exhibited a portion of a branch of _Pinus tuberculata_, and
commented on the fact that two whorls of cones had been formed in last
year’s growth. Drs. Behr, Kellogg and Gibbons discussed various questions
suggested by Mr. Bolander’s remarks.
REGULAR MEETING, JUNE 3D, 1867.
Vice President Stearns in the Chair.
Twenty-five members present.
Messrs. Tryon Reakirt, of Philadelphia, and Lorenzo G. Yates, of Alameda
County, were elected Corresponding Members; and Messrs. G. H. Mumford and
A. S. Gould, Resident Members.
Donations to the Cabinet: A Horned Frog, by G. Yale, Esq.; Specimen of
_Cladophorus_ from Fort Point, by Dr. Stivers; Section of the bark of
_Sequoia sempervirens_, by Dr. W. P. Gibbons.
Mr. Stearns announced the death of M. Auguste Rémond, a member of the
Academy, and formerly of the State Geological Survey.
Mr. Bosqui presented a communication from Mr. L. G. Yates, in regard to
the remains of an elephant found near Mission San José.
Dr. W. P. Gibbons read a communication on the remains of a redwood forest
in the Coast Range east of San Francisco. The subject of this paper was
discussed by several of the members present.
Mr. Nystrom presented a paper on the origin of the Table Mountain in
Tuolumne and Calaveras counties.
REGULAR MEETING, JUNE 17TH, 1867.
Vice President Ransom in the Chair.
Twenty members present.
Donation to the Cabinet: Specimens obtained in excavating on the Beideman
tract, by G. Yale.
Mr. Gabb presented a communication on the “Geology of Lower California,”
which was referred to the Publication Committee, and ordered printed as
one of the Memoirs of the Academy.
Mr. Gabb also communicated the following translation of part of a letter
received by him from Sr. Don Antonio Raimondi, of Lima, Peru, with
reference to some geological features of that country:
I have just received a letter from Professor Raimondi,
accompanying a very interesting collection of fossils, sent
through my lamented friend Mr. Rémond, but which I have
not yet received. After remarking that he had not time to
write a detailed account of the country to assist me in my
determinations of the geological ages, he gives the following
condensed but interesting description of the country, which I
have considered of sufficient value to warrant its immediate
publication. I translate this portion of the letter in full.
“Peru, or at least the great chain of the Cordillera which
divides the whole of America into two parts, comprises various
smaller chains, often very high, and here consisting of four,
nearly parallel. The principal of these are two, one of which
is the dividing line between the waters emptying into the
Pacific on one side, and the tributaries of the Amazon on the
other. This is what is properly called the Cordillera of the
Andes, or the Western Cordillera. The other chain is called the
Eastern Cordillera, and in some points is as elevated or even
surpasses in height the true Cordillera. In the southern part
of Peru, for example, it is entirely covered with perpetual
snow, and contains very elevated peaks, including, in that part
which is prolonged into Bolivia, the two colossi called Sorata,
or Illampu and Illimani. The Eastern Cordillera is of the
greater geological age, appearing to be entirely composed of
micaceous and talcose schists which have been metamorphosed by
the elevation of the granites, those which have also introduced
into these schists numerous veins of quartz, which in some
places are quite rich in gold. This elevated chain has been cut
very deeply by numerous rivers, which, taking their origin in
the Western Cordillera, traverse these immense formations of
schists and granite through narrow gorges, and unite to form
the large affluents of the Amazon.
“The Western Cordillera or true chain of the Andes is made
up in nearly the whole of its length of rocks of a much more
recent age. The principal formations are Cretaceous, Jurassic,
Lias and Trias. Another group of rocks, probably Carboniferous,
form the great basin of Lake Titicaca and a small spot on the
heights of Huanta. This Cordillera has been metamorphosed by
various eruptive rocks, the principal of which are porphyries
and diorites. These have introduced innumerable metalliferous
veins, rich in lead, copper and silver, and which have been
worked in many places.
“The volcanic rocks are strongly developed in Peru, especially
in the southern part, and have never been well studied.
According to my opinion, they once formed an extensive chain,
which, from its being composed of rocks easily disintegrated,
has been in great part destroyed by the action of water, so
that it is separated mostly by isolated hills; but from all
that I have been able to see, it must have formed at one
time an uninterrupted chain, as it appears in the central
part of Peru, at a little distance from the Pacific Ocean,
and afterwards it approaches almost insensibly the true
Cordilleras; so that, near Arequipa, it is more than twenty
leagues from the sea, but in following it to the south it nears
the Cordillera, extending to Cruzalia, in the broken country of
Moqueque and Tacna.
“Along the whole length of the coast, at a distance of one or
two leagues from the margin of the ocean, rises a small chain
of hills formed of granite, syenites and porphyries. This chain
is called ‘the Hills’ (Lomas) and contains in places scattered
spots of copper and a very little gold. On the same coast and
on the adjacent islands, sedimentary rocks are rare, though
they are nevertheless found at rare intervals. To the north,
sedimentary rocks extend from Tumbes to the south of Payta,
at the little cove of Tortugas, where there are many springs
of fresh water in a hardened claystone, alternating with
calcareous strata, which contain little seams of coal.
“From Secharra, to near Lima there is no sedimentary formation.
Near the port of Ancon, five leagues from Lima, in the island
of San Lorenzo, near Callao, and in Chorillo, three leagues
south of Lima, there are some stratified sandstones with a
very few fossils. These formations appear to us to be either
Jurassic or Liassic, but the study of the few fossils found
will determine better their age.
“Near Arica, and three leagues to the interior from Iquique,
where are the celebrated silver mines of Huantapaya, there have
also been noticed sedimentary rocks belonging to the Oolite and
Lias.
“In the elevated regions of the Cordillera are many traces
of stone coal which, unlike those in the formation about
Lake Titicaca, which I have already said belong to the true
Carboniferous, are all of more recent age, belonging to the
Jurassic and Liassic, as you will see by specimens from the
Springs of Pariatambo.”
REGULAR MEETING, JULY 1ST, 1867.
Vice President Ransom in the Chair.
Twenty members present.
Donations to the Cabinet: Native oysters, (_O. laticaudata_), also
varieties of _Purpura lactuca_, from Dr. Cooper; cone of _Pinus
contorta_, and branch and fruit of _Garrya elliptica_ from Port Trinidad;
eggs, cocoon, and animal of the California silkworm, (_Saturnia
Californica_) by Dr. Lanszweert; _Aristolochia Californica_, from Angel
Island, by Mr. E. Brooks.
Mr. Stearns read a note from Professor W. P. Blake, stating that the
fossil vertebræ which he exhibited at the meeting of November 18th, 1866,
were not those of saurians, as he had supposed, but of one of the larger
forms of _Delphinidæ_.
Mr. Stearns exhibited specimens of _Haliotis_ from Monterey, which
were evidently hybrid forms. Some remarks on the peculiarities and
geographical distribution of these mollusks were made by Messrs. Stearns
and Cooper.
Dr. W. P. Gibbons made some additional remarks, supplementary to his
communication, at a previous meeting, on the extinct redwood forests of
the Coast Ranges on the east side of the Bay of San Francisco. These
remarks were followed by a discussion in which Messrs. Cooper, Kellogg,
Bolander, Veatch, and Stearns took part.
REGULAR MEETING, JULY 15TH, 1867.
Vice President Ransom in the Chair.
Twenty-five members present.
Messrs. W. A. S. Nicholson, A. B. Stout, M.D., and C. W. McCormick, M.D.,
were elected Resident Members.
Donation to the Cabinet: Specimen of asbestos, from L. Ransom, Esq.
A collection of the shells of California, comprising in part the
specimens belonging to the Academy and which had been sent to Mr.
Carpenter to be named, was exhibited by Dr. Cooper, by whom they had been
arranged for the Museum.
Dr. Gibbons made some remarks on the effects of the earthquake of
October 6th, at Watsonville. He also spoke of the absence of worms from
California fruit; and his remarks were followed by a discussion of the
subject, in which Drs. Cooper and Behr took part.
Messrs. Stearns and Yale made some remarks on the ancient mines of the
Lake Superior region, and the race by which they had probably been worked.
REGULAR MEETING, AUGUST 5TH, 1867.
Vice President Ransom in the Chair.
Twenty-three members present.
Donations to the Cabinet: A specimen of a Sole, from Dr. Behr; four
hundred specimens of Chilean Plants, from Mr. Bolander.
Mr. Bolander gave an account of a recent visit made by himself to
Humboldt County, and of his botanical observations in that region. The
subject of the geographical range of the forest trees on this coast was
discussed by Messrs. Behr, Cooper, Yale, Bloomer, and Williamson.
Dr. Gibbons called attention to the meteoric display to be expected about
the tenth of the current month.
REGULAR MEETING, AUGUST 19TH, 1867.
Vice President Ransom in the chair.
Twenty members present.
Donations to the Cabinet: Fossils from Purissima, by Mr. Yale.
Donations to the Library: Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences,
Vol. I, 4to, Washington, 1866, and Annuals of the same for 1863, 1864,
1865, and 1866.
The subject of the distribution of forest vegetation was discussed by
Messrs. Bloomer and Cooper.
Dr. H. Gibbons made some remarks on the distribution of clear and cloudy
days throughout the year at San Francisco.
Mr. Stearns exhibited a species of Pholas, and made some remarks on its
methods of boring. Dr. Cooper made some observations on the same subject.
REGULAR MEETING, SEPTEMBER 2D, 1867.
President in the chair.
Twenty members present.
Donations to the Library: Washington Astronomical Observations for 1864,
4to, Washington, 1867. Report on Interoceanic Canals and Railroads
between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 8vo, 1867. Speech of Hon.
Charles Sumner on the Cession of Russian America.
A letter from George Gibbs, Esq., transmitted through the Smithsonian,
and urging the importance of collecting Indian crania on this coast, was
read and commented on by Professor Whitney. He also exhibited a part of a
jaw of _Oreodon_, sent from Montana, by Mr. Keyes. The precise locality
where it was said to have been found is about twenty miles northeast of
Bannock City, on Rattlesnake Creek, a branch of the Beaver Head. If there
is no mistake in the locality, this is a very interesting occurrence,
as the existence of these tertiary deposits characterized by bones of
extinct mammalia (the White River beds) was not before known as far west,
or at as high an elevation, as this.
Professor Whitney gave an account of his recent visit to Oregon,
Washington Territory, Vancouver Island, and British Columbia. He spoke
particularly of the volcanoes of that region, and remarked that he had
ascertained, by rough trigonometrical measurements, that Mount Hood
was at least two thousand feet lower than Mount Shasta. He was about
to ascend the first-named peak, in order to measure it barometrically;
but, on learning that Colonel Williamson was intending to do the same
thing, during the present season, he proposed to await that gentleman’s
measurement, the result of which could not fail to be accepted by
all as eminently trustworthy. Professor Whitney remarked that his
journey had been undertaken chiefly with a view to the study of the
“surface-geology,” and that he would, on a future occasion, bring before
the Academy the results of his observations.
Mr. Bolander made some remarks on the distribution of the redwoods and
Big Trees in California, and exhibited a map, prepared at the office of
the Geological Survey, on which the extent and position of the regions
occupied by these two species of Sequoia were shown by colors.
Dr. Ayres remarked on explosive sounds heard by him recently, during
perfectly clear weather, in the vicinity of Borax Lake. They seemed to
come from beneath the surface, and recalled the subterranean explosions
or noises mentioned in the Geology of California, Vol. I, as having been
heard in the vicinity of Mount Helena.
REGULAR MEETING, SEPTEMBER 16TH, 1867.
Vice President Ransom in the chair.
Twelve members present.
Donation to the Cabinet: Twenty-eight mineralogical specimens from Dr.
A. B. Stout; mineralogical specimens from Mount Hood, by Col. R. S.
Williamson.
The following paper was read:
On the Height of Mt. Hood.
BY R. S. WILLIAMSON.
Having recently formed a party and visited Mt. Hood for the
purpose of ascertaining its altitude, and as my determination
of its height is much less than previous parties have made it,
I think it proper to state somewhat in detail the nature of the
observations and the method I have pursued to arrive at the
number I adopt as a close approximation to its true height.
By the kindness of Gen. F. Steele, commanding the Department
of the Columbia, the necessary transportation was furnished
for the party, consisting of twelve persons, of whom my two
assistants, Lieut. W. H. Heuer, U. S. Engineers, and Mr. John
T. Best, were specially charged with the observations on the
summit. We left Portland, Oregon, August 20th, and on the
evening of the twenty-second arrived at a place on the slope of
the mountain, where we camped, and from which, the next day,
the ascent was made; seven of the party attempting to reach,
and six reaching, the summit, where they remained from one and
a-half to three hours.
From this camp to the summit and back ten hours were occupied,
starting at 7:30, A.M. The weather was clear and pleasant, and
had been so for several days before, and was so for several
days after.
The instruments used at all the stations were made by James
Green, of New York, were in perfect order, and most of them
new. They consisted of cistern barometers reading to two
thousandths of an inch, with attached thermometer, and open air
thermometer, (dry and wet) with large divisions, so that they
were easily read to tenths of a degree. All the barometers
had been adjusted to or compared with the standard, and all
agreed with it except the one at Astoria, which required a plus
correction of three thousandths of an inch.
The stations used were Astoria, Fort Vancouver, Fort Dalles,
camp on slope of Mt. Hood, and summit of Mt. Hood. Observations
had been taken for several years at Astoria for me by Louis
Wilson, U. S. Tidal Observer, at 7, A.M., 2, P.M., and 9, P.M.,
of every day, besides hourly observations for ten days or more
of each month. The cistern of this barometer is fifty-three
feet above mean low tide.
At Fort Vancouver observations of the same character were
commenced July 1st of this year, and are still going on. At
Fort Dalles similar observations have been made since July 10th.
The observations at the camp on the mountain slope were
commenced at 7, P.M., on August 22d, and continued hourly
(with few omissions) until 8, A.M., on the twenty-fourth.
The barometer at the summit was hung up at 1:30, P.M., and
allowed to stand a half hour in free air, but protected from
the direct rays of the sun. It was then adjusted and observed
at 2, P.M., 2:15, P.M., and 2:30, P.M., by Mr. Heuer and Mr.
Best, independently, and the two records as shown to me were
essentially the same. The mean reading of the barometer reduced
to 32° Fahrenheit, was 19,941 inches, with an _observed_ air
temperature of 41°.7, and wet bulb of 31°.3. The height of
Fort Vancouver above Astoria was computed from the mean of
the simultaneous observations taken during the months of July
and August. The height of the Dalles above Fort Vancouver was
deduced from the corresponding observations during twenty-one
days in July, together with those for the month of August. The
height of the camp on the mountain slope above Fort Vancouver,
and also the height of that camp above Fort Dalles, were then
separately computed from the daily means of the observations
taken at the three stations during August 23d. The difference
between the two should give the same result as by the direct
calculations between Fort Vancouver and Fort Dalles; but on
account of the short period observed on the mountain camp, a
plus correction of a little over eight feet was found necessary
to the estimated height of that camp to make the three results
agree.
It then remained only to calculate the height of the summit
of Mount Hood above the mountain camp. The mean of the three
observations of the barometer was assumed as the nearest
approximation we can have to the mean pressure for that day, as
the horary oscillation at the summit is unknown. With regard to
the mean temperature for that day, we have no positive data to
determine it. We cannot take the observed temperature, as the
observations were taken during the hottest part of the day.
By consulting the hourly observations of the thermometer at
the camp, I find the range there is between 63° and 43°.7,
or nearly 20°; and supposing nearly as great a range of
temperature on the summit, I have assumed the mean temperature
then for that day to be 34°.
The following is the final result of the computations:
STATIONS. INTER. ALTS. SEA LINE.
Sea level at mean low tide — 0
Astoria 53 53
Fort Vancouver 79 132
Camp on mountain slope 5,820 5,952
Summit of Mount Hood 5,273 11,225
The computations are made with new tables which will shortly
be published, and which give results similar to Plantamour’s
formula, based on Regnault’s constants. They give results
somewhat higher than if Guyot’s tables had been used, the
latter giving the height of the summit, 11,185 feet.
On our return I took a single observation at what is called
“Government Camp,” about four miles below the camp on the
mountain slope, and another at a place called Stumpville, some
eight miles further on the road towards Portland. The results
give for the former place 3,864 feet, and for the latter 1,830
feet above the sea level.
The instruments used on the mountain have been returned in
excellent order, and compared with the one at Fort Vancouver
with most satisfactory results.
It may be asked: Why is it that the results here given differ
so widely from some previous estimates? Mount Hood is said to
be, by Mitchell’s School Atlas, 18,361 feet, and the Rev. Geo.
H. Atkinson with a party, ascended to the summit in August of
last year, boiled water with a spirit-lamp, found that the
thermometer read 180°, and therefore concludes the mountain
is 17,600 feet, and Government Camp 4,400 feet above the sea.
The reason is, that the instruments used are unreliable,
and this method of computing the altitude defective. With a
boiling point apparatus (or thermo-barometer as it is called)
of the most approved kind, the results by boiling water are
far inferior to those by the cistern barometer; but if the
observations are made with a common thermometer, with small
spaces for degrees, as was the case in this instance, and the
instrument not protected from drafts of air, the results are
utterly unreliable, and therefore worse than worthless.
Apart from the observations here described, there are other
evidences to show that the determination of the height of this
mountain here given is not underestimated. Col. B. C. Smith,
one of our party who reached the summit, had this year ascended
Mount Shasta, a mountain measured by Prof. Whitney to be 14,440
feet. The Colonel states that he feels confident, from the
comparative ease with which he ascended Mount Hood, that it is
of much less altitude than Mount Shasta.
On Mount Hood butterflies were found within a thousand feet
of the summit. Finally, Prof. Whitney and others, from rough
triangulations, have estimated it be about 12,000 feet.
It is to be hoped that other parties with good instruments
will take further observations on this mountain. As the height
of Fort Vancouver and Fort Dalles are known, and as these are
now permanent meteorological stations, further observations on
Mount Hood can be referred to one of these stations as a base,
and good results obtained.
While another set of such observations may produce slightly
different results, I think they will not differ one hundred
feet from the estimate here given.
Dr. Gibbons exhibited a specimen of _Euphorbia lathyris_, and remarked
upon its distinguishing characters.
REGULAR MEETING, OCTOBER 7TH, 1867.
Dr. J. G. Cooper in the chair.
Twelve members present.
Donation to the Cabinet: Salt from a manufactory on the Columbia River,
near Portland, Oregon, by Mr. Victor.
REGULAR MEETING, OCTOBER 21ST, 1867.
President in the Chair.
Twenty-three members present.
Mr. J. G. Burt was elected a Resident, and Professor W. D. Alexander, of
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, a Corresponding Member.
Donation to the Cabinet: A large number of Californian plants, collected
and presented by Messrs. Bolander and Kellogg.
Donations to the Library: Humboldt and Bonpland’s Botanical Observations
in South America, four vols. 8vo., Paris, 1822, by Mr. Bolander.
Professor Whitney read extracts from letters recently received from Mr.
Dall, dated at “St. Michael’s, Russian America, August 14th, 1867,” and
addressed to the Academy and to himself. The following are some extracts
from these letters:
“I have traveled on snow shoes, with the thermometer from 8°
to 40° below zero, about four hundred miles. I have paddled
in open canoes up stream six hundred and fifty miles, and
down 1,300 miles. I have obtained 4,550 specimens, including
a set of the rocks from Fort Youkon to the sea, sufficient to
determine the geological formations for 1,300 miles. The only
fossiliferous beds are on the Youkon, and they extend about
sixty miles. They are brown sandstones, containing bivalve
mollusca and vegetable remains. There is a small seam of coal
thirty miles below the bend, and thin shale above and below.
The coal is of good quality; but there is so little of it that
it is worthless. These are the only fossiliferous strata I have
thus far found. The rocks above and below are all azoic and
nonstratified, excepting a little hard blue or black slate.
Granite, and especially mica, are very rare. I found a pebble
containing the well known fossils of the Niagara limestone on
the beach near Fort Youkon. Fossil wood and bones and teeth of
_Elephas_ and _Ovibos moschatus_ are common over the country.
There is a broad patch of volcanic eruptive rock on the river
near the lower bend, and it extends to the sea. The islands
of St. Michael and Stuart are formed of it, and it is roughly
columnar on the former near the Fort.”
“I have looked carefully for glacial traces, and so far have
found absolutely none.”
Mr. Dall adds that it is his intention to spend another year in Russian
America, working at his own expense, in order to finish the explorations
commenced by himself, and which the failure of the Telegraph Company
rendered it impossible for him to continue officially.
Dr. Cooper and Professor Whitney discussed the question whether the
volcanoes of Oregon and Washington Territory were to be classed as
active. The evidence on this point seemed very conflicting, so far as
showers of ashes are concerned. There is no doubt, however, of the
existence of solfataric action on Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, and
probably on Rainier and Baker.
Professor Whitney exhibited some photographs and stereographs, taken for
the Geological Survey by Mr. W. Harris, in the Upper Tuolumne Valley,
near Soda Springs, Mount Dana, Mount Hoffmann, and Mount Lyell. He also
presented the following account of a remarkable portion of the Tuolumne
Valley, which forms almost an exact counterpart of the Yosemite. It is by
Mr. Hoffmann, the head of a party of the Geological Survey, by which it
was explored last summer:
Notes on Hetch-Hetchy Valley.
BY C. F. HOFFMANN.
Tuolumne Valley, or Hetch-Hetchy, as it is called by the
Indians (the meaning of this word I was unable to ascertain) is
situated on Tuolumne River about fifteen miles in a straight
line below Tuolumne Meadows and Soda Springs, and about twelve
miles north of Yosemite Valley. Its elevation above the sea is
from 3,800 to 3,900 feet, a little less than that of Yosemite.
The valley is three miles long running nearly east and west,
with but little fall in this distance. Near its center it is
cut in two by a low spur of shelving granite coming from the
south. The lower part forms a large open meadow with excellent
grass, one mile in length, and gradually increasing from ten
chains to a little over half a mile in width, and only timbered
along the edges. The lower part of this meadow terminates in
a very narrow cañon, the hills sloping down to the river at
an angle of from 40° to 60°, only leaving a channel from six
to ten feet wide; the river in the valley having an average
width of about fifty feet. This is the principal cause of the
overflow in spring time of the lower part of the valley, and
probably also has given rise to the report of there being a
large lake in the valley. Below this cañon is another small
meadow, with a pond. The upper part of Hetch-Hetchy, east of
the granite spur, forms a meadow one and three-fourths miles
in length, varying from ten to thirty chains in width, well
timbered and affording good grazing. The scenery resembles very
much that of the Yosemite, although the bluffs are not as high,
nor do they extend as far. On the north side of the valley,
opposite the granite spur we first have a perpendicular bluff,
the top of which is 1,800 feet above the valley; the talus at
the base is about five hundred feet above the valley, leaving a
precipice of about 1,300 feet. In the spring when the snows are
melting a large creek precipitates itself over the western part
of this bluff. I was told that this fall is one of the grandest
features of the valley, sending its spray all over its lower
portion. It was dry, however, at the time of my visit. The
fall is 1,000 feet perpendicular, after which it strikes the
debris and loses itself among the rocks. About thirty chains
further east we come to the Hetch-Hetchy fall; its height above
the valley is 1,700 feet. This fall is not perpendicular,
although it appears so from the front, as may be seen from the
photograph by Mr. Harris. It falls in a series of cascades at
an angle of about 70°. At the time of my visit the volume of
water was much greater than that of Yosemite fall, and I was
told that in the spring its roarings can be heard for miles.
Still further east we have two peaks, shaped very much like
“The Three Brothers,” in the Yosemite. Their base forms a
large, naked and sloping granite wall on the north side of the
valley, broken by two timbered shelves, which run horizontally
the whole length of the wall. Up to the lower shelf or bend,
about eight hundred feet high, the wall, which slopes at an
angle of from 45° to 70°, is polished by glaciers, and probably
these markings extend still higher up, as on entering the
valley the trail followed back of and along a moraine for
several miles, the height of which was about 1,200 feet above
the valley. The same polish shows itself in places all along
the bluffs on both sides, and particularly fine on the granite
spur crossing the valley. There is no doubt that the largest
branch of the great glacier which originated near Mt. Dana and
Mount Lyell, made its way by Soda Springs to this valley. A
singular feature of this valley is the total absence of talus
or debris at the base of the bluffs, excepting at one place in
front of the falls. Another remarkable rock, corresponding with
Cathedral Rock in the Yosemite, stands on the south side of
the valley, directly opposite Hetch-Hetchy fall; its height is
2,270 feet above the valley. The photograph by Mr. Harris will
give some idea of this rock.
At the upper end of the valley the river forks, one branch,
nearly as large as the main river, coming from near Castle
Peak, the main river itself from Soda Springs. About half a
mile up the main cañon, the river forms some cascades, the
highest being about thirty feet.
The valley was first visited, in 1850, by Mr. Joseph Screech, a
mountaineer of this region, who found it occupied by Indians.
This gentleman informed me that, up to a very recent date, this
valley was disputed ground between the Pah Utah Indians from
the eastern slope and the Big Creek Indians from the western
slope of the Sierras; they had several fights, in which the
Pah Utahs proved victorious. The latter still visit the valley
every fall to gather acorns, which abound in this locality.
Here I may also mention that the Indians speak of a lake of
very salt water on their trail from here to Castle Peak. Mr.
Screech also informed me of the existence of a fall, about a
hundred feet high, on the Tuolumne River, about four miles
below this valley, and which prevents fish from coming up any
higher. The climate is said to be milder in winter than that of
the Yosemite Valley, as is also indicated by a larger number
of oaks and a great number of _Pinus Sabiniana_. The principal
tree of the valley is _Pinus ponderosa_; besides this we have
_P. Sabiniana_, Cedar, _Q. Sonomensis_, _Q. crassipocula_; also
poplar and cottonwood.
The valley can be reached easily from Big Oak Flat by taking
the regular Yosemite trail, by Sprague’s Ranch and Big Flume,
as far as Mr. Hardin’s fence, between south and middle fork of
Tuolumne River, about eighteen miles from Big Oak Flat. Here
the trail turns off to the left, going to Wade’s Meadows or
Big Meadows, sometimes called Reservoir Meadows, the distance
being about seven miles. From Wade’s Ranch the trail crosses
the middle fork of Tuolumne and goes to the Hog Ranch, five
miles; thence up divide between the middle fork and main river,
about two miles, to another little ranch called “The Cañon.”
From here the trail winds down through rocks for six miles to
Tuolumne Cañon. This trail is well blazed, and was made by
Mr. Screech and others, for the purpose of driving sheep and
cattle to the valley. The whole distance from Big Oak Flat is
thirty-eight miles.
Another trail equally good, but a little longer, leaves the
Yosemite trail about half a mile beyond the crossing of the
south fork, thence crosses the middle fork within about one and
a half miles of the south fork crossing, and follows up the
divide between the middle fork and the main river, joining the
first-named trail at the Hog Ranch.
REGULAR MEETING, NOVEMBER 4TH, 1867.
President in the Chair.
Thirty members present.
George C. Johnson was elected a Resident Member.
Donations to the Cabinet: Two packages of plants from France and
Australia, by Mr. Bolander; these plants were collected by Dr. F. Müller,
Director of the Botanical Garden at Melbourne, and by Réné Le Normand, of
Vire, France, and sent to Mr. Bolander in exchange for Californian plants.
Dr. J. Blake read the following:
On the Organs of Copulation in the Male of the Embiotocoid Fishes.
BY JAMES BLAKE, M.D., F.R.C.S.
Some months since I presented a communication to the Academy
pointing out the manner in which the fœtus of the embiotocoid
fishes was nourished whilst it was being developed within
the ovisac. (See p. 314.) I there stated that the ingress of
water into the ovisac would not take place at all freely, as
the organ communicated with the surface by a narrow canal
surrounded by muscular fibres. This structure of the oviduct
would evidently oppose an obstacle to the entrance of the semen
into the ovisac for the purpose of impregnation, unless some
means exist by which the ventral surfaces of the fish can be
maintained in contact during the act of copulation, as the
penis consists of a slightly developed tubercle which cannot
penetrate for any distance into the oviduct. From the direction
of the orifices of the penis and oviduct it is evident that
anything like a perfect contact of these organs can only be
maintained whilst the fishes are in a reversed position, so
that the head of one fish is towards the tail of the other. In
order that contact may be maintained whilst in this position,
we find the caudal fin of the male fish furnished with certain
appendages which enable it to give a firm hold to the ventral
fins of the female, so that close contact of the ventral
surfaces can be maintained. These appendages are of two kinds.
In _Embiotoca_, _Damolichthys_ and some other genera, we find
a well developed mammary elevation situated near the anterior
part of the anal fin on both sides, terminating in front by
a teat-like process. In _Amphisticus_, _Holconotus_ and some
other genera, this mammary appendage is wanting; but its place
is supplied by a bony transverse plate with serrated edges,
inserted in the fin some distance farther back and parallel to
the fin rays. In addition to these plates there are also found
cartilaginous ridges with roughened borders, placed in front of
the plates, and running parallel with the edge of the fin. I
think there can be no doubt but that these fin appendages serve
the purpose I have assigned to them, for on placing the fish
in the reversed position, with the orifice of the oviduct and
penis in contact, it will be seen that they enable the ventral
fins of the female to secure a firm hold on the anal fin of the
male, so as to keep the fish in contact during the process of
copulation. At the season of copulation, the anterior surface
of the anal fin in the male becomes covered with a thick layer
of firm epithelium. As this commences at a short distance from
the ventral attachment of the fin, a well marked groove is
formed at the base of the fin, which affords an additional
hold for the ventral fin of the female. After the season of
copulation is over, and the testicles regain their quiescent
state, this epithelium almost disappears. At the same time the
mammary sack diminishes very much in size, so that when the
testicles are reduced to their smallest size, hardly a trace of
the sack remains. One or the other of these forms of appendages
have been found on the anal fin of the male in all the species
of embiotocoid fishes I have examined.
Mr. Stearns exhibited some fossils collected by Mr. Schmidt near Orleans
Bar, Klamath County.
Professor Whitney exhibited some peculiar ores from Nevada and Mexico.
Those from Nevada were antimoniate of lead, containing considerable
silver. This occurs in Humboldt County, and in sufficiently large
quantities to be mined and smelted, with success as is stated, the value
of the silver being about $100 per ton. The Mexican ore is a pure oxide
of antimony, which will be more fully described hereafter. It occurs in
several mines in the northern provinces.
Professor Whitney made some remarks on the mineral species occurring in
California and on the Pacific Coast of America in general. The following
is an abstract of these remarks:
He stated that the number of minerals occurring in California,
and on the Pacific coast in general, taking the country from
Northern Mexico to British Columbia, was quite small in
proportion to the area of the region. Especially among the
silicates is there a great deficiency in species, and very
few of those which do occur are found of sufficiently well
crystallized form to be valuable as cabinet specimens.
The total number of species (following the fourth edition of
Dana’s Mineralogy for names, etc.) believed to exist on the
Pacific coast, including Northern Mexico, Arizona, California,
Nevada and Oregon, is one hundred and ten, of which, however,
thirteen are somewhat doubtful. Of the one hundred and ten,
there are eighty-nine which occur in California. Some of the
mineral species most common in other parts of the world, and
especially in mining regions, are either entirely unknown here,
or else exceedingly rare. Thus _barytes_, which is so abundant
a veinstone in England and Germany, is almost unknown in the
Sierra Nevada, having been only found in one or two localities,
and there in small quantity. Fluor is entirely wanting in the
Sierra Nevada, although found in some quantity in Arizona and
Nevada. Not a trace of this elsewhere so common mineral has
been found, so far as known, in California.
Among the silicates most universally diffused, but which are
up to this time entirely unknown in California, the following
may be mentioned as some of the most prominent: beryl, topaz,
zircon, Wollastonite, scapolite, spodumene, Allanite, iolite,
staurotide, kyanite, spinel, nepheline, datholite and all the
zeolites, in other countries so abundant where volcanic rocks
occur. Not a well defined specimen of a zeolite has yet been
found within the borders of California.
Another curious fact in the mineralogy of California is the
occurrence of some mineral species which are common as ores in
other mining countries, and which in California, or at least
in the mining region of the Sierra Nevada, are disseminated
through a great number of localities, but nowhere exist in
workable quantity. Galena and blende may be particularly
referred to as occurring in this way. There is hardly a
gold-bearing vein in the Sierra which has not some galena
and blende in fine particles in the veinstone; but not a
locality is known where the quantity of either of these ores
is anything like sufficient to justify mining, even were the
other conditions as favorable as in the Eastern States or in
Europe. Galena occurs in considerable quantity in the extreme
south-eastern portion of the State, or just over the borders,
in Arizona and Nevada; but no considerable deposit of zinc
blende has yet been made known anywhere in the Pacific States
or Territories; nor is any other ore of zinc known to occur in
workable quantity on this coast.
The mineral region with which ours most nearly agrees, in the
character of its ores and mineral substances, is that of the
South American Andes, especially of Chile. In Mr. David Forbes’
recent catalogue of the Chilean minerals, there are about two
hundred species enumerated, of which about sixty have hitherto
been discovered in California and the other Pacific States and
Territories. The Chilean mineral list, like that of California,
is remarkable for the absence of many of the almost universally
distributed silicates mentioned above as wanting in the Pacific
States, namely: beryl, topaz, zircon, Wollastonite, Allanite,
iolite, staurotide, kyanite, spodumene, spinel and datholite.
Many other silicates, abundantly distributed throughout other
portions of the world, might be mentioned as entirely wanting
along the whole Pacific Coast. Several of the more common
zeolites are found in the Chilean list, which are wanting in
California; while several others are equally wanting in both
countries. Among the common zeolites found in Chile which
have not yet been discovered in California are Prehnite,
stilbite, Laumontite and scolecite; while analcime, harmotome,
Thomsonite, natrolite and Heulandite are wanting there as well
as here.
It is evident, from a comparison of the mineral lists of the
States situated along the Pacific Coast of North and South
America, that there has been a most remarkable resemblance
in the conditions which have influenced the formation and
segregation of the accidental minerals now found accompanying
the stratified and eruptive masses throughout the whole vast
extent of the regions in question. This is another of the facts
which go to show the unity of the Cordilleras of North and
South America as a geological result.
Mr. Bolander stated that the absence of many mineral species from this
coast found its parallel in a similar absence of many botanical groups.
Dr. Cooper did not think there was any poverty with respect to animal
species on this coast, and suggested that the absence of certain groups
of plants might be due to the absence of certain appropriate mineral
constituents from the soil.
Dr. Behr thought that the Californian lepidoptera more nearly conformed
to European and Mexican types than to those of the Eastern States.
REGULAR MEETING, NOVEMBER 18TH, 1867.
President in the chair.
Twenty-six members present.
Messrs. R. H. Stretch and Gustav Holland, M.D., were elected Resident
Members, and Mr. L. C. Schmidt of Eureka, Humboldt County, a
Corresponding Member.
Donations to the Cabinet: A specimen of Coral from Mr. Eckley.
Donation to the Library: Mining Claims and Water Rights, 8vo, San
Francisco, 1867, by Gregory Yale.
Professor Whitney read the following communication, supplementary to the
one presented at the previous meeting.
The subject of the relation of the accidental minerals
occurring on the Pacific coast was brought forward by me at the
last meeting, and I wish now to add a few words in regard to
the elementary substances occurring in California, an inquiry
which will also afford us some interesting data for comparing
the geological and chemical conditions prevailing through the
great chain of the Cordilleras of North and South America.
I find on carefully tabulating the facts observed by the
Geological Survey, in regard to the mineral combinations
existing on the coast, that of the sixty-four elementary
substances existing in nature, so far as yet known to chemists,
there are only thirty-six which have been proven to occur in
California, in mineral combinations.
Those which are wanting here are the following: bromine,
glucinum, cadmium, cæsium, cerium, didymium, erbium, fluorine,
iodine, indium, lanthanum, lithium, niobium, norium, palladium,
ruthenium, rubidium, strontium, tantalum, terbium, thallium,
thorium, uranium, vanadium, bismuth, tungsten, yttrium,
zirconium (28.)
Of elementary substances occurring in the adjacent States,
and not yet detected in California, there are, so far as I
know, only three, namely: bismuth, fluorine and tungsten.
This would make twenty-three elements wanting on the Pacific
Coast of North America. Of these a few are extremely rare, in
general, and would hardly be expected to occur here. Among
these are didymium, erbium, indium, lanthanum, norium, thorium.
But there are others, the absence of which is indeed quite
surprising. Fluorine, for instance, is an element of extremely
wide distribution, and one which occurs in great quantity in
most mineral countries. Here it will probably hereafter be
detected in our micas, and perhaps in other combinations, and
also in mineral and sea water; but its most abundant source,
fluor-spar, seems entirely wanting in this State.
Bismuth is another element of common occurrence in various
combinations, but it has not yet been detected in California.
A few minute scales of a mineral that I determined to be
bismuth-silver, from the Twin Ophir mine, Nevada, is the only
authentic instance I know of thus far, of the occurrence of
this element on the Pacific coast. Tungsten, uranium and
vanadium, are tolerably widely disseminated; the latter,
however, less so than the former. No trace of either has
yet been found on this coast north of Mexico; of strontium,
zirconium, and glucinum, the same may be said. If we now
compare the distribution of the elements in the South American
Andes with that on this coast, we shall find some striking
points of resemblance; and to a large extent, either the
absence, or else the great rarity of several of the elementary
substances not seen in other mineral regions, is a fact which
holds good along the whole extent of the American Continent on
the Pacific side. Fluorine, in combination with calcium, is
almost as rare in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, as on this coast.
Indeed, it was formerly supposed by Domeyko not to occur at
all in Chile, but recently one or two localities, where it is
found in small quantity, have been made known. Tungsten occurs
in Peru at one locality in the form of wolfram, and in Chile
in one or two localities, also in Lower California, but its
combinations are extremely rare along the whole coast. The same
may be said of uranium. Strontium and zirconium have not yet
been discovered in Chile or Peru, although the former occurs
in one locality in New Grenada, and glucinum has only recently
been found in Chile in very minute quantity in one locality. No
combination of lithium is yet known on the Pacific coast.
Among the leading facts connected with the occurrence of
mineral substances and the elementary bodies on the Pacific
coast, and especially in the Cordilleras of North and South
America, the following may be mentioned as generally applicable
to the whole of the vast region extending from British Columbia
to Chile:
1st. The paucity of species considering the extent of the
region as compared with other parts of the world, and
especially with other mineral regions.
2d. The remarkable absence of the prominent silicates, and
especially of the zeolites.
3d. The absence of a large number of the elementary substances,
and the paucity of several others of very common occurrence in
other mineral regions.
4th. The very wide spread and abundant occurrence of the
precious metals, gold and silver, and the not uncommon
occurrence of platina.
5th. The great abundance of ores of copper, and the comparative
absence of tin, lead, and zinc.
6th. The similarity in the mineralized condition of the
silver—antimony and chlorine being prominent mineralizers of
this metal—while in Chile the rarer combinations of iodine,
bromine, and selenium occur, these latter being as yet unknown
north of Mexico.
7th. The absence or paucity as veinstone, or gangue, of one
of the most prominent minerals occurring as such in other
mineral regions, namely, fluor; to which it may be added, that
both calcite and barytes are extremely rare as veinstones in
California, and to judge from all the Mexican and Chilean
collections that I have seen, well crystallized specimens are
very rare in those countries.
8th. There is no elementary substance, and but few mineral
species peculiar to the Pacific coast, so far as yet
ascertained.
Professor Whitney remarked on the depression of Death Valley, the sink
of the Amargosa River, below the level of the sea. Recently it has been
repeatedly stated in the newspapers that no such depression really
existed, and that, in point of fact, the valley in question was several
thousand feet above the sea level, Mr. Gabb being cited as authority.
The valley visited by Mr. Gabb, however, was not, it appears, the real
Death Valley, but one to which that name was given by an explorer by
mistake. The true Death Valley is the sink of the Amargosa, while the
one visited by Mr. Gabb is near the head of that river. The barometrical
observations on which the statement of the depression of the real Death
Valley is based were taken, in 1861, by a party of the California
Boundary Survey. The observations were made with a barometer, which
was compared before and after being used, with a standard, by Colonel
R. S. Williamson, by whom also the computations and reductions of the
observations were made; there was also a station barometer at the time
on the Colorado, at no great distance, and this instrument was in good
order. Thus it will be seen that the conditions were, in most respects,
exceptionably favorable for a correct measure of the altitude of the
valley, and it may be safely assumed that its depression below the sea
level is not far from one hundred and seventy-five feet, as stated on
Colonel Williamson’s authority, in the Geology of California, Vol. I.
To secure a more reliable result, it would be necessary to have a long
series of observations taken there with a well-adjusted instrument, and
it would be desirable also to have a station barometer on the Colorado,
or at some other not too distant point. It will probably be a long time
before these favorable conditions are secured; and, in the meantime, Col.
Williamson’s result must be received as a close approximation to the
actual amount of the depression of this very remarkable locality.
Mr. Bolander, referring to a previous enumeration of pine species in
California, submitted by him, stated that he must now reduce the number
of true species by one, leaving the total at only fifteen. He also
remarked upon the species of fir in this State, enumerating four only as
being strongly marked. He showed the leaves and seeds of two species,
and commented upon the mistake of Murray in asserting that there is a
fifth species, which he calls _Picea magnifica_, but which is really
_Picea amabilis_. Mr. Bolander thought the tendency to multiply species
erroneously was attributable to a desire to make a market for seeds,
those of new species being always in demand at good prices.
SPECIAL MEETING, NOVEMBER 27th, 1867.
President in the Chair.
This meeting was called for the purpose of hearing from Mr. George
Davidson, Assistant U. S. Coast Survey, an account of his recent trip
to Alaska, at the head of a party organized by Professor Peirce,
Superintendent U. S. Coast Survey, to make a partial scientific
reconnoissance of that region. Mr. Davidson gave an interesting account
of the operations of the party, and a synopsis of their observations.
These will be found at length in his official report, to be printed by
order of Congress.
At the conclusion of Mr. Davidson’s remarks, the Academy passed a vote of
thanks to Mr. Davidson and Professor Peirce, Superintendent of the Coast
Survey, for the opportunity which had thus been afforded of hearing the
results of an expedition of so much interest to the scientific world.
Dr. Kellogg, who accompanied the party as botanist, added some remarks on
the Flora of the northwestern coast of America.
REGULAR MEETING, DECEMBER 2D, 1867.
President in the Chair.
Thirty-five members present.
Messrs. S. W. Holladay, Henry R. Goddard, and Henry K. Moore, were
elected resident members.
Donations to the Library: Bulletin de la Société Imperial des
Naturalistes de Moscow, 8vo., Moscow, 1866.
Professor Silliman read the following notices:
Note on three new Localities of Tellurium Minerals in California, and on
some Mineralogical Features of the Mother Vein.
BY B. SILLIMAN.
(_a._) TELLURIUM MINERALS.—It is well known to mineralogists
and others that in the Melones Mine, on Carson Hill, there
occurs, in considerable abundance, a tellurium compound which
has been called Sylvanite by some mineralogists, but apparently
without sufficient authority. It occurs in one of the veins
on the Melones property, associated with Dolomite and quartz,
in what appears to be a gneissic rock; but the mine being
under water I am dependent on the specimens kindly furnished
me by the intelligent proprietor, Mr. G. K. STEVENOT, for my
knowledge of the gangue.
At the “Golden Rule” Mine, on the mother lode near Poverty
Hill, in Tuolumne County, I detected in August last the same
tellurium minerals which are found at Carson Hill in the
Melones. The veinstone here is an argillite, with thread-like
veins of quartz crossing the cleavages of the slate, and in
these _filons_ of quartz gold is seen in beautiful specimens.
It was in this association that I detected two or three small
groups of brilliant crystalline plates, identical in appearance
and physical characters with the Melones mineral, which
has been called Sylvanite, and affording the same blowpipe
reactions.
At the Rawhide Rancho, a mine near Jamestown, on the mother
lode, of which I have had occasion to make a careful study,
there occurs a deposit or shoot of very rich sulphides
containing copper, antimony, iron, arsenic, with gold, silver
and tellurium. This ore has in general a bronzy, blackish
appearance; shows often free gold in scales of a blackish
yellow color, and appears to be a kind of fahlerz, or
gray-copper ore, the value of which in silver and gold rises
to one thousand dollars per ton, (2,000 lbs.) or even higher.
Associated with this ore are brilliant sectile, flexible scales
of the same tellurium compound which occurs at Stanislaus and
Golden Rule, but in the Rawhide Mine intimately blended with
the blackish sulphides before-named—occasionally in nests
or small bunches with metallic gold. The blowpipe readily
detects in this ore antimony, arsenic, tellurium, copper,
iron, manganese, lime, magnesia, chromium, aluminum, gold and
silver. It is only in portions containing dolomite and the
peculiar greenish mineral, so characteristic of the mother
lode, that lime, magnesia, alumina, and chromium are detected.
In portions of the fahlerz-like mineral which appear nearly
pure, the blowpipe detects only antimony, arsenic, copper,
iron, and manganese.
Having transmitted characteristic specimens of these ores,
with other interesting California species, to Professors Dana
and Brush, at New Haven, these mineralogists inform me, by
letter just received, that the tellurids above-named appear
to be referable to a new species hitherto undescribed, and
Prof. Brush proposes to undertake an analysis of it upon the
specimens transmitted by me, which are barely sufficient for
the purpose. It is a tellurid of silver and gold, containing
more silver than gold. Associated with it is a white cleavable
mineral which Prof. Brush thinks may prove to be native
tellurium; this is in the Melones and Golden Rule specimens.
_Hessite._ I obtained from the Reist Mine, on the northeasterly
end of Whisky Hill, Tuolumne County, a very small crystal
corresponding in its physical characters to the extremely rare
telluric silver, known to mineralogists as _Hessite_. It occurs
in the auriferous slates to the east of the main vein; the
slates being opened here for a width of seventy-five feet as
an open cut. My attention was called to the existence of this
species at the Reist Mine by Mr. D. T. Hughes, of Tuolumne
County, who informed me that there was an interesting mineral
species there containing, as he believed, tellurium, and that
masses of it, half an ounce in weight, had been obtained some
years since. Unfortunately these specimens fell into ignorant
hands, and were destroyed in idle attempts to determine the
nature of the substance. On visiting the locality, which is
within one mile of the Rawhide Rancho, and on the opposite side
of Table Mountain, I found that the proprietor was exploring
in a different part of the open cut from that where this
species was found, the place being under water. Fortunately
in a collection of minerals from Whisky Hill, formed by Mr.
Williams, one of the proprietors, and preserved in his house
there, I was able to detect one small mass of the Hessite which
Mr. Williams divided with me. This Mr. Hughes recognized as
identical with the larger masses he had obtained at this mine
some years since.
Prof. Bush, in his letter to Prof. Silliman, of October 29th,
recognizes this species as Hessite. The specimen was associated
with native gold which had been amalgamated and heated, but the
constitution of the Hessite did not seem to be affected thereby.
“_Tellurid of Silver_” is mentioned by Blake, in his list of
California species, as found by him near Georgetown, in El
Dorado County, in 1854, washed from the gold drift, but the
parent vein had never been found.—Ross Browne’s Report, 1867,
p. 209.
It appears therefore, from the present state of our knowledge,
that a compound of gold and silver tellurium belonging probably
to a new species has been detected in three localities upon
the mother vein, and associated with it in two of these,
probably also native tellurium; and that Hessite (the tellurid
of silver) has been found in place in one locality and in
the drift in another. I have also detected the foliated
tellurium in extremely minute quantity in one of the mines
at Angels, and I mentioned in a publication, in 1864, its
probable occurrence among the ores of the Josephine and Pine
Tree Mines of Mariposa. A careful scrutiny will probably
detect those compounds of tellurium at other points when the
mother vein is opened, as at Blue Gulch, Quartz Mountain, and
Whisky Hill. I have already recognized the blackish antimonial
copper sulphides at the App Mine and Silver’s Mine, and in the
croppings on the surface of Whisky Hill. Indeed it may not
be too much to state that these ores appear to be somewhat
characteristic of those portions of the mother vein occurring
south of Angels, and especially wherever it is inclosed in
magnesian rocks.
Genth has named a species _Melonite_, from Melones Mine, which
he says is a tellurid of nickel. I have not been able to
recognize this compound among those ores of the Melones, which
I have seen.
(_b._) SOME MINERALOGICAL FEATURES OF THE MOTHER VEIN.—From the
opportunity I have had of studying the mother vein, I arrive at
the general conclusion that its mineralogical characteristics
vary greatly with the chemical constitution of the rocks which
inclose it. Wherever the serpentine or talcose and calcareous
rocks from the inclosing walls, or are near it, the mineral
contents of the vein are essentially different from those
observed where the inclosing rocks are argillites, or syenites
and diorites.
These we find at Mariposa, in the Josephine and Pine Tree
Mines, at Peñon Blanco, Maxwell Creek, Blue Gulch, Quartz
Mountain, Silver’s, Whisky Hill, Rawhide, Chapavele Hill,
Carson Hill, Angels, and Placerville—at all which places I have
examined the mother lode with more or less care—a peculiar
light apple-green mineral, occurring in scales, associated with
iron pyrites in small and brilliant pentagonal dodecahedrons
and implanted in a gangue of dolomite mingled with quartz.
The dolomite is of the variety known as ankerite, and by its
decomposition, which seems hastened by the oxidation of the
associated pyrites, gives origin to those highly characteristic
masses of brown and reddish-yellow iron gossan which form the
characteristic feature of the outcroppings of those portions of
the mother vein just enumerated. These gossans always retain
the bright green mineral before alluded to unchanged, as also
cellular quartz which discloses in its rhombic cavities the
form of the decomposed crystals of dolomite or ankerite whose
removal has left the vacant spaces. Before decomposition this
triple carbonate of lime, magnesia, and iron is brilliantly
white, and its real chemical character would never be suspected.
The green mineral, so far as I can ascertain, has never been
described, although it has often been noticed. It has been
called by some, _nickel gymnite_, and I have once distinguished
it by this name in a mining report. But this is a misnomer
which I take this occasion to correct; nickel gymnite of Genth,
found at Texas, Penna., is a hydrous silicate of magnesia,
lime, and nickel. The species so characteristic of certain
portions of the mother vein is anhydrous, and contains no
nickel.
MARIPOSITE (Provisional Name). Before the blowpipe it yields
evidence of the presence of the protoxides of iron, lime,
magnesia, and potassium; of the sesquioxides of chromium and
aluminum with carbonic, silicic, and sulphuric acids. The
oxide of manganese and sulphuric acid exist only as traces.
The mineral is probably new, and must be referred to the
mica section of an hydrous silicate. Should it, on a careful
chemical examination, prove to be new, I would suggest the name
_Mariposite_ as an appropriate name for it, as it was on the
Mariposa estate that it first attracted my attention, and where
it exists in great abundance.
This species which is so characteristic of the mother vein, in
connection with magnesian or chloritic rocks, occurs nowhere
so far as I have observed in this vein when it is inclosed in
argillites or syenites.
Of sulphides occurring in the mother lode there are two classes
which deserve special mention, beside the ordinarily occurring
pyrites of iron and copper.
These are the (1) antimonial copper sulphides, and the (2)
antimonial lead sulphides; both are arsenical and are rich in
both gold and silver.
To the first class allusion has already been made in the former
part of this paper. Besides the Rawhide Mine, they are found
in most of the openings on Whisky Hill, in Tuolumne County, in
the Silver, App and Josephine, and Pine Tree Mines. The lively
stains of blue malachite, seen at Williams’ Mine, on Whisky
Hill, and occasionally elsewhere, are derived from atmospheric
decomposition of the antimonial copper sulphides. The blowpipe
detects the presence of iron, antimony, arsenic, copper,
sulphur, tellurium (in certain cases) sulphur, gold and silver.
The vein is so abundant as to give to the raw ore, in some
cases, magnetic properties; and the button from the blowpipe
assay becomes strongly magnetic.
The antimonial lead sulphides occur in considerable abundance
at the Trio Claims, on Whisky Hill. The appearance of this ore
recalls that of granular galena. The gold and silver value of
this ore is very high, but no portion of it can be saved by
the ordinary mechanical treatment with mercury. The blowpipe
detects the presence of antimony, lead, iron, arsenic, sulphur,
gold and silver. There is no trace of copper, and the quantity
of arsenic present is slight. The ore is therefore essentially
an antimonial lead sulphide, rich in gold and silver.
There is good reason to believe, that as this remarkable vein
becomes more thoroughly explored, it will disclose other new or
rare compounds containing gold, and that these already noticed
will be found to be more widely diffused when proper care is
applied to the study of the mineralogy of the lode.
In Amador County the mother lode is found in connection with
argillaceous slates and syenite. Thus at the Eureka Mine, of
Hayward, known as the Amador Mining Co., the vein has a soft,
black slate for its foot wall and a heavy, firm syenite or
greenstone (called _granite_ by the miners) for the hanging
wall. The mineralogy of the vein is extremely simple, being
in fact nothing more than iron and copper sulphurets, chiefly
the former, with rarely galena or blende. I sought in vain
for any of the species mentioned in the former part of this
paper. There are no magnesian minerals, and the _Mariposite_
is entirely absent. The other mines of that range, as far
as I examined them, all partake of the same simplicity in
mineralogical character. There can be but little doubt, as it
appears to me, that the inclosing rocks in each case exercise
an important influence on the mineral contents of the vein.
SAN FRANCISCO, December 2d, 1867.
Mr. Stearns read the following:
List of Shells collected at Bodega Bay, California, June, 1867.
BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS.
In pursuance of the idea mentioned in my paper on the shells
of Baulines Bay, of examining the bays and coast to the north
of San Francisco, I made a brief trip to Bodega Bay in company
with my friend Dr. Newcomb, on the thirteenth of June, 1867.
Most of the species enumerated were collected within a very
limited area, between tide marks, at the extreme point of
Bodega Head, as the arm of land is called, which extending
in a southerly direction from the general line of the coast,
incloses what is known as Bodega Bay. The bay itself is, for
the greater part, left bare at low tide, and the flats then
exposed, composed of sandy mud, contain abundance of the common
bivalves of the coast, principally _Macoma_, (two species)
and _Tapes_, in all its varieties: _Saxidomus gracilis_ may
also be found here in considerable quantities, and is at
certain seasons dug by the Indians, together with the other
so called “clams.” At the spot where the principal portion of
this collection was made, the outcropping rock is a coarse
granite, upon which _Litorina planaxis_ is found in great
numbers. The limited time at my disposal, at the season when
the trip was made, was only sufficient to admit of a brief,
and therefore unsatisfactory reconnoissance; nevertheless, at
least seventeen species were detected which have not heretofore
been found (or reported) so far to the north. Many of these
species I failed to find at Baulines, and some of them have
not been reported north of the Bay of Monterey. At Baulines,
the rocks are principally shales, and contain many species of
pholads, which as will be seen by a glance at this list, if not
entirely absent, must be rare at Bodega; the various “nestlers”
which are found associated with the borers are also wanting;
_Haliotis rufescens_ is abundant upon the rocky islets off the
coast, but not even a fragment of _H. Cracherodii_ was met with.