Collection: Books and Periodicals

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Title: The Tertiary Gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California by Waldemar Lindgren (1911) Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Source(s): Google Books # of Pages: 301 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-07-14 06:26:22 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 05:53:20 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 05:53:20

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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16 TERTIARY GRAVELS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA OF CALIFORNIA. andesite tuffs. A well was recently bored on the Blair mining claim, about 2 miles south or southeast of Roseville, and coal seams, as well as ‘‘white volcanic ash,’’ were reported to be found. The beds belong undoubtedly to the Ione formation (Miocene), but the report of the interstratified ‘‘voleanic ash’ needs confirmation. On the Haggin ranch on Arcade Creek, 5 miles east-northeast of Sacramento, a well was bored in 1872 in an unsuccessful search for artesian water. It attained a depth of 2,250 feet and encountered only soft formations. This is only 13 miles west of the first outcrops of the “Bedrock series” of the Sierra Nevada, and indicates a steeper slope of the pre-Cretaceous rock surface west of the valley border than east of it. In 1891 a well was sunk in Wheatland, Yuba County, to a depth of 500 feet, mainly throughgreenish sand. At Sheridan, Placer County, a well was bored to a depth of 734 feet through clay and sand. Below 600 feet the drill passed through several hard strata of ‘‘cement”’ (tuff ?) and a 1-foot layer of ‘‘crystallized quartz” (possibly a quartz bowlder). Two miles southwest of Sheridan, on the Lucas ranch, a depth of 600 feet was attained; below 100 feet of quicksand there was 500 feet of gray and blue clay, containing 4 feet of gravel in the middle.! Neither at Wheatland nor at Sheridan was artesian water obtained. At Marysville wells have been bored to depths of more than 200 feet through clay and sand with a little gravel, without finding artesian water. A well bored in the tule lands south of the Marysville Buttes disclosed 400 feet of clay (with sand), in the middle of which was a thin stratum of gravel. No flowing water was obtained. Under the term ‘‘alluvium” are classed the fluviatile deposits of clays, sands, and gravels formed by the present rivers during the progressive erosion of the older formations. The alluvium of the Great Valley has largely been formed by the erosion and redeposition of the older Quaternary strata covering the valley. The alluvial beds occupy a large space in the center of the valley, but there are good reasons to believe that their depth is relatively slight, probably at few places exceeding 100 feet; the lake of the Great Valley was drained only a relatively short time ago. In the center of the valley Sacramento River pursues a winding course with numerous oxbow bends and cut-offs. The stream has built up embankments 1 to 15 feet higher than the land on either side; the slope from the banks toward the low lateral basins is in places as much as 12 feet in 1,000 feet. The main channel is of very irregular depth and width and has not sufficient capacity to carry off the winter floods; in consequence, during high water much of the flow escapes through sloughs and crevasses into the lateral basins on the east and west, converting them for the time into vast shallow lakes. The banks are from 1 to 2 miles wide and are formed in the main of comparatively solid sediments. Levees following the river protect these fertile bank lands at many places, but there is a noticeable lack of a systematic plan in the regulation of the river. MINING DEBRIS. FEATHER RIVER. The traveler approaching Feather River from the center of the valley begins to meet the effects of the débris from the hydraulic mines in the Sierra Nevada. The Sacramento carries practically none of this débris, but the Feather, the Yuba, the Bear, and the American are loaded with large quantities of gravel, sand, and silt. The general character of Feather River has changed considerably since 1850. The influence of the tide formerly reached up the Sacramento to the mouth of the Feather; now it is felt only to a point some distance below Sacramento. Prior to 1850, Feather River was a clear-water stream with well-defined banks, its bottom consisting of gravel and sand. At Yuba City the banks were 15 feet high and not subjected to overflow, except at certain places on the east side below the city. At the present time the river between Rio Bonito, a few miles below Oroville and Marysville is pretty well defined between banks from 6 to 20 feet high, flanked, as a rule, by low bottom 1 Eleventh Rept. State Mineralogist California, p. 319.