Volume 11 (1865) (424 pages)

SCE Lik Ws 4 Sats — DEWEY & CU., PUBLISHERS And Patent Sulicliors, ————— SAN FR RANCISCO, SATUR DAY, OCTOBER ml, 1865. VOLUMEXE. umber 16, TABLE OF CO CONTENTS. ~Tnteresting Chomical Facts. Earthquake Phenomena, A tare Fine of Furnace pers Desulphurtziug Prool ‘Prospects Ia Unmbold: Mechanical Items, County. od ae Finavelal Practico— Pictured Rocka. ¢ Romance of Insurance. The Great Earthquake o wall, Mintny lu Wales New Nadri Titeresting Fossil Rematns, ay “for Coal Where! Fat und Flesh Come rata ATrip to the Mou stains, . Mining 3 Sa Noteacf aTrtp tu thie Mines) Kdlorial and Selecle er Callfornta and maine Monee DirecArizoita, a stock Sales and Report The Lo-s of the Alexandrlan. san Francisco Fricvs Current bibrary a Aleatey. New Mining aod Owen Ad: Nature's Pro a amited: yortisoments, Hints about Heal Tne Late Eantuquake on Tue Water.— A, Sacramento gentleman informa the Bee, of that city, that at the timo of the late severo earthqaake he wns enjoying a sail ina pilot boat, off the heads, and says that just as the shock occnrred the pilot boat was abont two miles inside the hur, crossing which was a hrig from Oregon. The sea was nuusually smooth and the wind light. Just as the shock came, the hrig on the har was observed to plunge violently, the waves runaing monntain high for a few moments. The sea-swell abated considerahly when it struck the deep water where the pilot boat was, hut the pilots estimated tho hight of the first wave at ten feet. The effect on the watera of the Mission Bay, which is very shallow with a soft muddy hottom,is described hy eye witnesscs to he such as to cause the water to surge and hoil, not rolling, hut apparently hursting op as though there wasa violent vertical agitatiou of the earth beneath the water. The mud was evidently disturhed and the water rendercd black by admixture therewith. Statistics recently published show that the deposits in the savings institntions of San Francisco amount to nearly six million dollars, for which money the depositors receive an ayerage interest of oue per cent. per month. Out of the city there is not a single savings bank in the State. Neither is there one in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho or Utah. Geaerally speaking, the iudustrial classes of San Francisco, as well as the clerks and suwall tradesmen, are prudent and forehanded, as their hank accounts attest. Gop at tHE Mixt.—The total amonnt of gold and silver coined af the San Francisco Mint, during the quarter ending Sept. 30th, haa heen $6,781,300, which is $5,531,000 more than the calculated capacity of the Mint building when erected. Compared with the corresponding quarter in two previons years, the colaage account stands as follows: Quarter ending September 80, 1865. Quarter euding Scptember 80, 1861, Quarter ending Seplembor 30, 1863. .$6,781 ,300 . 5,945,300 6,648,000 a Tne following is the amount of quicksilver produced hy the quicksilver mines withia the Second Collection District of California, for the month of September : No, of Fi'ks, No, of Ibs, New Almaden ...6+ 3,606 $52,359 Now Iria. 293 22,7144 Guadalupe. + 120 9,180 CUB veee cs cree ee sened 5,019 884,25314 Low Warer.—Tbe Connecticut river at Hartford was forded by a team on Saturday, Sept. 2d, a circumstance which was never known to have taken place before. he river is atill very low. EARTHQUAKE PHENOMENA. It is not only a pnrdonable, but ever a most laudable desire on the part of thinking people that lends them to inquire into tho causes, nature nnd effects of the varioas phenomeua which nro taking place aronnd them. ‘here is nothing in nature, from the most minate inicroscopic object or effect, to the most distant sphere which rolls in space or the grandest phenomena of enrth which are brought within his reach of observation, that man may not consider and study with profit to himself and his fellows. The phenomena of earthquakes havo of late years engaged much atteation among scientific men; hut owing to the physical difficulties nttendant upon careful nnd close ohservations, sufficient facts have not yet been collected to afford any very definite conclusions ¢ither as to the cause or the particular effects which theso convulsions exert upon the surfaco and soperficial crust of the carth. Tho most prevalent opiaion, however, is that which connects them with the great supposed central beat of the earth—the residue of that incandescent state in which it is probahle the entiro glohe existed at an early period ia its development. Under this hypothesis it is assumed that the crust of the earth is of varied thickness, and that itis extensively fissured and contains vast caverns, produced by unequal contractions in cooliag. Through these fissures water at times is supposed to find its way tothe heated mass within, from which explosive gases are formed similar to those generated when water is hrought iu contact with molten iron; or perhaps explosive steam is suddealy formed such as occasionally produces the terrible cffects we witness at some of our most violeut steam hoiler explosions. Some have referred the causo of these coavulsions to electrical agencies ; hut the effects usually atteadaat upon them are such as to afford very little basis for any such supposition. The oaly other hypothesis, than the one first uamed, which has met with any coasiderable degree of coaatenance from geologists aud scieatific mea generally, is that which merely qaalifies the character of the interior heat— referring it to a chemical origin, rather thau that of internal incandescance. It ia well kaown that some of the metalic hases of the alkalies and eartha, such as potassium, tor instance, aud more remotely sodium, produce a violent explosion when immersed in water, particulariy if that water be heated to something more than the hoiling point. The vast amountof alkaline matter that moderu geographical discoveries have shown to exist upon and near the surface of the earth, haa given rise to the very reasonable supposition, that these hases may exist ia large quantities within tbe earth, in the same form in which they are prepared for chemical and commercial purpoaes. Should auch he the case, and should they Ealick wo , speak may exist there, and that thoze conditions may produce all the plienomena which are recorded of both enrthqnuakes nad volcanos. Modern researches aud ohservations, in this direction, have recently added a new branch to the exact sciences, which has received the appellation of seismology (from seismos, the Greek term foran earthquako). The inimediate and inost important applications of this science relate to the discovery of the nature of the decyp interior of our planet, of its more superficial exterior, and of the reactions of tle one upon the other, and of the component parts of the latter upon each other. In connection with the kindred subject of volcanic phenomena, it seemingly nffords usn most ready path to a knowledge of the depth from which the shocks proceed, and aay hecome a key by means of which we may approximately arrive at the probable or even possible force of any shock which cau he delivered heneath any given locality. Observations thus far havo demonstrated, to a great degrec of certainty, that earthquake movements are produccd by heat, that great source of power and motion. The manner in which heat is hrought to hear in producing these effects, has already been sufficiently explained. Admitting the sonrce, we will now endeavor, hy aid of various authorities hefore us, to poiat ont how the tremendous power displayed is couvayed from point to point. If we fill a tabe of any moderate length, perhaps not to excced a mile, with water, and close both ends, say with a piece of tin or thin iron, and give even a very light tap upon the covering of one end, the effect. of that blow may be distinctly perecived at the opposito end hy u slight quiver of its thin covering. ‘his force is conveyed through tho water by a pulse or wave of force, originated hy the origiaal impulse or blow. This movement of a nop-comcompressible elastic hody, like water, is readily conceived ; but if we substitute in place of the tuhe a solid iron rod, it will require hat a slightly iucreased impulse or blow to produce the same result. The transfer is made through hoth the solid and liquid on the same principle. This elastic wave is merely a continuous forward movement, or displacement and replacement of the particles of matter, affecting ia aueccssion the whole maas of material upon which the impulseis given. ‘Ihe size of snch a wave—or the volume of the particles of matter iu motion at once, depends upon the elastic limits of the substaace acted upon,and the amount of power expended in the originating impulse. The experiment may betried upon a line of railroad, more readily over a short section where tho rails may be successively in close contact, hy striking a blow with a heavy hammer at one end while the observer notices the effect at tho opposite extremity. The same effact may he produced through a volexist where they can he reached hy any con-. ume of stone—take a loag alah of marble or sidcrable hodies of water, thera is no aeed of granite. any internal natural fire or incandescence, to The movement of the impulse is the same explain the usual phenomena of earthquakes whether we are made conscious of it by sound and volcancs. Aa yet our knowledge of the . or vihrationa. Notice whbea a hilast is fred in This may he favorahly observed in n anderground blasting for mining purposes. From these observations it will he rendily perccived that when the originating impolse is very violent, ad the mass of material acted upon very great, asin case of the supposed carthquakes producing gas explosions, the wave of impulse or force mnst be proportioaally great, aud so large ia factas to causc a perceptible undulation of the surface of the carth, and by the transit of which across the country precisely the same effect is producet as is cnused by tho transmission of a wave, or series of waves, across a hody of water on which aship may he riding at aachor. From these considerations the fact is considered fully established that an earthquake, so far as it is developed on the surface, is simply the transit of a wave or waves of elastic compression in any direction from vertical to horizental, through the crust or surface of the earth from any centre or centres of impulse. There are some phenomena, attending earthquakes, which at first thoaght may appear inexplicable as derivable from snch an impulse ; amoag which we may mention a seemingly tortuous motioa, the occurrence of which is inferred from the occasional twisting of heavy hodies on or from their basis, as projecting chinineys, columns, ete. ; the spouting of water from earth crevices, and the occasional gyratory motion imparted to water in confined places, the ‘atter class of phenomena being particularly referred tohy a correspondent of yesterday's Alta, in support of the electvical theory. We propose to examine these phenomena, with others, iv oar next issue. Tor Seven OLrn ano Sevex New Wonngrs or tHE WortD.—The Egyptian pyramids, the Mausoleum of Mausolos, the Temple of Diana, the walls and banging gardens of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Statne of Jupiter, at Athens, and the Pharos or lighthouse of Ptolemy Philadelpbus, 500 feet high, have long been considered as tho seven great, mechanical wonders of the world. The aeven modern wonders of the world are: tho Steam Hagine, the Priuting Press, the Telescope, the Microscope, the Electric Telegraph, the Chemical Laboratory, and the Photograph. The superior utilitariaa character of the moderns over the ancients, is moat remarkally exemplificd in the ahove enumeration of the chief efforts of the highest mechanical genius of tho two classes separately considered. Parronizixo Home Manuractones.— The Pacific Railroad Company daily uso two hundred kegs of hlasting powder in thcir operations on the line ofroad. The whole of this is nade by the California Powder Mills, which are kent fully employed ia filling orders. The qnality of the powder being hetter, and the price lower, than the imported article. Tur Acron Correr Ming, in Canada, owned by a Boston company, and whose ahares once atood high on the list, haa recently hcen sold at auctioa, iu Bostoa, for $20,500. The eapital stock was $500,000. c egrth’a crust is qnite too limited to eaahle us . a quarry or mine; a wave impulsa is aent off Gry. Rosecrans expects to leave this city j to say more than that all the conditions of . in every direction—the effect of the explosion. for the East on the next steamer.

SCE Lik Ws 4 Sats — DEWEY & CU., PUBLISHERS And Patent Sulicliors, ————— SAN FR RANCISCO, SATUR DAY, OCTOBER ml, 1865. VOLUMEXE. umber 16, TABLE OF CO CONTENTS. ~Tnteresting Chomical Facts. Earthquake Phenomena, A tare Fine of Furnace pers Desulphurtziug Prool ‘Prospects Ia Unmbold: Mechanical Items, County. od ae Finavelal Practico— Pictured Rocka. ¢ Romance of Insurance. The Great Earthquake o wall, Mintny lu Wales New Nadri Titeresting Fossil Rematns, ay “for Coal Where! Fat und Flesh Come rata ATrip to the Mou stains, . Mining 3 Sa Noteacf aTrtp tu thie Mines) Kdlorial and Selecle er Callfornta and maine Monee DirecArizoita, a stock Sales and Report The Lo-s of the Alexandrlan. san Francisco Fricvs Current bibrary a Aleatey. New Mining aod Owen Ad: Nature's Pro a amited: yortisoments, Hints about Heal Tne Late Eantuquake on Tue Water.— A, Sacramento gentleman informa the Bee, of that city, that at the timo of the late severo earthqaake he wns enjoying a sail ina pilot boat, off the heads, and says that just as the shock occnrred the pilot boat was abont two miles inside the hur, crossing which was a hrig from Oregon. The sea was nuusually smooth and the wind light. Just as the shock came, the hrig on the har was observed to plunge violently, the waves runaing monntain high for a few moments. The sea-swell abated considerahly when it struck the deep water where the pilot boat was, hut the pilots estimated tho hight of the first wave at ten feet. The effect on the watera of the Mission Bay, which is very shallow with a soft muddy hottom,is described hy eye witnesscs to he such as to cause the water to surge and hoil, not rolling, hut apparently hursting op as though there wasa violent vertical agitatiou of the earth beneath the water. The mud was evidently disturhed and the water rendercd black by admixture therewith. Statistics recently published show that the deposits in the savings institntions of San Francisco amount to nearly six million dollars, for which money the depositors receive an ayerage interest of oue per cent. per month. Out of the city there is not a single savings bank in the State. Neither is there one in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho or Utah. Geaerally speaking, the iudustrial classes of San Francisco, as well as the clerks and suwall tradesmen, are prudent and forehanded, as their hank accounts attest. Gop at tHE Mixt.—The total amonnt of gold and silver coined af the San Francisco Mint, during the quarter ending Sept. 30th, haa heen $6,781,300, which is $5,531,000 more than the calculated capacity of the Mint building when erected. Compared with the corresponding quarter in two previons years, the colaage account stands as follows: Quarter ending September 80, 1865.. Quarter euding Scptember 80, 1861, Quarter ending Seplembor 30, 1863.. .$6,781 ,300 . 5,945,300 6,648,000 a Tne following is the amount of quicksilver produced hy the quicksilver mines withia the Second Collection District of California, for the month of September : No, of Fi'ks, No, of Ibs, New Almaden .....6+ 3,606 $52,359 Now Iria.. 293 22,7144 Guadalupe.. + 120 9,180 CUB veee cs cree ee sened 5,019 884,25314 Low Warer.—Tbe Connecticut river at Hartford was forded by a team on Saturday, Sept. 2d, a circumstance which was never known to have taken place before. he river is atill very low. EARTHQUAKE PHENOMENA. It is not only a pnrdonable, but ever a most laudable desire on the part of thinking people that lends them to inquire into tho causes, nature nnd effects of the varioas phenomeua which nro taking place aronnd them. ‘here is nothing in nature, from the most minate inicroscopic object or effect, to the most distant sphere which rolls in space or the grandest phenomena of enrth which are brought within his reach of observation, that man may not consider and study with profit to himself and his fellows. The phenomena of earthquakes havo of late years engaged much atteation among scientific men; hut owing to the physical difficulties nttendant upon careful nnd close ohservations, sufficient facts have not yet been collected to afford any very definite conclusions ¢ither as to the cause or the particular effects which theso convulsions exert upon the surfaco and soperficial crust of the carth. Tho most prevalent opiaion, however, is that which connects them with the great supposed central beat of the earth—the residue of that incandescent state in which it is probahle the entiro glohe existed at an early period ia its development. Under this hypothesis it is assumed that the crust of the earth is of varied thickness, and that itis extensively fissured and contains vast caverns, produced by unequal contractions in cooliag. Through these fissures water at times is supposed to find its way tothe heated mass within, from which explosive gases are formed similar to those generated when water is hrought iu contact with molten iron; or perhaps explosive steam is suddealy formed such as occasionally produces the terrible cffects we witness at some of our most violeut steam hoiler explosions. Some have referred the causo of these coavulsions to electrical agencies ; hut the effects usually atteadaat upon them are such as to afford very little basis for any such supposition. The oaly other hypothesis, than the one first uamed, which has met with any coasiderable degree of coaatenance from geologists aud scieatific mea generally, is that which merely qaalifies the character of the interior heat—

referring it to a chemical origin, rather thau that of internal incandescance. It ia well kaown that some of the metalic hases of the alkalies and eartha, such as potassium, tor instance, aud more remotely sodium, produce a violent explosion when immersed in water, particulariy if that water be heated to something more than the hoiling point. The vast amountof alkaline matter that moderu geographical discoveries have shown to exist upon and near the surface of the earth, haa given rise to the very reasonable supposition, that these hases may exist ia large quantities within tbe earth, in the same form in which they are prepared for chemical and commercial purpoaes. Should auch he the case, and should they Ealick wo , speak may exist there, and that thoze conditions may produce all the plienomena which are recorded of both enrthqnuakes nad volcanos. Modern researches aud ohservations, in this direction, have recently added a new branch to the exact sciences, which has received the appellation of seismology (from seismos, the Greek term foran earthquako). The inimediate and inost important applications of this science relate to the discovery of the nature of the decyp interior of our planet, of its more superficial exterior, and of the reactions of tle one upon the other, and of the component parts of the latter upon each other. In connection with the kindred subject of volcanic phenomena, it seemingly nffords usn most ready path to a knowledge of the depth from which the shocks proceed, and aay hecome a key by means of which we may approximately arrive at the probable or even possible force of any shock which cau he delivered heneath any given locality. Observations thus far havo demonstrated, to a great degrec of certainty, that earthquake movements are produccd by heat, that great source of power and motion. The manner in which heat is hrought to hear in producing these effects, has already been sufficiently explained. Admitting the sonrce, we will now endeavor, hy aid of various authorities hefore us, to poiat ont how the tremendous power displayed is couvayed from point to point. If we fill a tabe of any moderate length, perhaps not to excced a mile, with water, and close both ends, say with a piece of tin or thin iron, and give even a very light tap upon the covering of one end, the effect. of that blow may be distinctly perecived at the opposito end hy u slight quiver of its thin covering. ‘his force is conveyed through tho water by a pulse or wave of force, originated hy the origiaal impulse or blow. This movement of a nop-comcompressible elastic hody, like water, is readily conceived ; but if we substitute in place of the tuhe a solid iron rod, it will require hat a slightly iucreased impulse or blow to produce the same result. The transfer is made through hoth the solid and liquid on the same principle. This elastic wave is merely a continuous forward movement, or displacement and replacement of the particles of matter, affecting ia aueccssion the whole maas of material upon which the impulseis given. ‘Ihe size of snch a wave—or the volume of the particles of matter iu motion at once, depends upon the elastic limits of the substaace acted upon,and the amount of power expended in the originating impulse. The experiment may betried upon a line of railroad, more readily over a short section where tho rails may be successively in close contact, hy striking a blow with a heavy hammer at one end while the observer notices the effect at tho opposite extremity. The same effact may he produced through a volexist where they can he reached hy any con-. ume of stone—take a loag alah of marble or sidcrable hodies of water, thera is no aeed of granite. any internal natural fire or incandescence, to The movement of the impulse is the same explain the usual phenomena of earthquakes whether we are made conscious of it by sound and volcancs. Aa yet our knowledge of the . or vihrationa. Notice whbea a hilast is fred in This may he favorahly observed in n anderground blasting for mining purposes. From these observations it will he rendily perccived that when the originating impolse is very violent, ad the mass of material acted upon very great, asin case of the supposed carthquakes producing gas explosions, the wave of impulse or force mnst be proportioaally great, aud so large ia factas to causc a perceptible undulation of the surface of the carth, and by the transit of which across the country precisely the same effect is producet as is cnused by tho transmission of a wave, or series of waves, across a hody of water on which aship may he riding at aachor. From these considerations the fact is considered fully established that an earthquake, so far as it is developed on the surface, is simply the transit of a wave or waves of elastic compression in any direction from vertical to horizental, through the crust or surface of the earth from any centre or centres of impulse. There are some phenomena, attending earthquakes, which at first thoaght may appear inexplicable as derivable from snch an impulse ; amoag which we may mention a seemingly tortuous motioa, the occurrence of which is inferred from the occasional twisting of heavy hodies on or from their basis, as projecting chinineys, columns, ete. ; the spouting of water from earth crevices, and the occasional gyratory motion imparted to water in confined places, the ‘atter class of phenomena being particularly referred tohy a correspondent of yesterday's Alta, in support of the electvical theory. We propose to examine these phenomena, with others, iv oar next issue. Tor Seven OLrn ano Sevex New Wonngrs or tHE WortD.—The Egyptian pyramids, the Mausoleum of Mausolos, the Temple of Diana, the walls and banging gardens of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Statne of Jupiter, at Athens, and the Pharos or lighthouse of Ptolemy Philadelpbus, 500 feet high, have long been considered as tho seven great, mechanical wonders of the world. The aeven modern wonders of the world are: tho Steam Hagine, the Priuting Press, the Telescope, the Microscope, the Electric Telegraph, the Chemical Laboratory, and the Photograph. The superior utilitariaa character of the moderns over the ancients, is moat remarkally exemplificd in the ahove enumeration of the chief efforts of the highest mechanical genius of tho two classes separately considered. Parronizixo Home Manuractones.— The Pacific Railroad Company daily uso two hundred kegs of hlasting powder in thcir operations on the line ofroad. The whole of this is nade by the California Powder Mills, which are kent fully employed ia filling orders. The qnality of the powder being hetter, and the price lower, than the imported article. Tur Acron Correr Ming, in Canada, owned by a Boston company, and whose ahares once atood high on the list, haa recently hcen sold at auctioa, iu Bostoa, for $20,500. The eapital stock was $500,000. c egrth’a crust is qnite too limited to eaahle us . a quarry or mine; a wave impulsa is aent off Gry. Rosecrans expects to leave this city j to say more than that all the conditions of . in every direction—the effect of the explosion. for the East on the next steamer.