Volume 24 (1872) (424 pages)

24 SCIENTIFIC PRESS. . January_13, 1872. Geientific Dress, 7 sees. SENIOR EDrror. DEWEY & CO., Publishers. GEO. 4. BTRONG, a, T. DEWEY, WwW. B. EWER, JNO. L. NOONE. Office, No. 888 Montgomery St., Ss. E. Corner of California St., diagonally opposite Wells, Fargo & Co,’s. SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISING RATES. ApveRTIsINo Rares.—l week. lLmonth. 3 months. 1 year. 30 $5.00 Per line. 25 E $2.00 One-half ins $1.00 $3 00 7.50 20.00 One inch. 2.00 6.00 14,00 $6.00 Large advertisements at favorable rates. Special or reading notices, legal advertisements, rnotices appearing in extraordinary type or in particular parts of the paper, inserted at special rates. SursonteTrons payable in advance—For ona year, $4; aix months, $2.60: ie months, $125. Clubs of tan . names or more, $3 escb per annum. $5, in advanca, will pay for 1% year, Remittances by registered letters ov P. O, orders at our risk. San E'rancisco: Saturday Morning, Jan. 18, 1872. Gold and Legal Tender Rates. Sax Francisco, Wednesday, January 10, 1872.—Legal Tendara ‘buying 914; selling, 9234. Gold in New York to-day, 108%. Table of Contents, Freeman’s Grain Separator —Ill.; Hoisting Works of the Eberhardt and Aurora Co.—IIL.; The Paul Process; Academy of Sciences.17 CoRRESPONDENCE.—Mill and Mining in Plumas County; The Succession of Seasons; Unfermented Juice of the Grape; Reproduction of Forest Tress; Eureka Lakes...18 MecHanican Procress.—The Dnrability of Timber; Mechanical Progress in the United States; Experiments with Lubricators..19 Screnturio ProGcress.—Meteorites—Their Orbits; Actiou of Sulphuric Acid on PhosPhates..creeeceesdeceees Booctomtagttd 19 Minine Summary.—Stock & Exchange Board; Market Report..-++-+. at eneseese 20-21 Our Mining Prospecte; Dairying in California—Ill . Userun Ivrormation.—Advantage of Crying; Eating Without au Appetite 23 Goop Hraira.—Deterioration in Milk in Feeding Bottles; Throat Diseases.... 3 Railroad Items, Ete . The State Geological Survey—No. 2; of Altitudes; The Storm Home Industries; Hiuts to Miners, No. 6.—II1.; Sutro Tunuel; Careless Blasting... 25 Domxstic Economy—How to Make a Coal Fire; Water-Proof Boots; Mechanical Hints..26 Notices to Correspondents. Onp Quicxstnver Fuascs.—We can inform ©. S., Utah, that one firm in San Francisco pays 50 cents each for secondhand flasks. We should think it economy for many mine ownere to return them to this city. Post Office . Changes, Followiug are the Postal changes in the Pacific States und Territories during the week ending Decemher 30, 1871. Post Orrices EsranuIsHep.—Hot Spring, Siskiyou county, California — George Townsend, Postmaster; Mount Fairview, San Diego county, California —B. F. Jones, Postmaster; Schelibourne, White Pine county, Nevada—Melchoir D. Raum, Postmaster; Woodburu, Marion county, Oregon—Adolphus Mathiot, Postmaster. Postmasters APPOINTED. — Caliotoga, Napa county, California—William P. Litten; Ellsworth, Nye county, Nevada—P. QO. Tyler; Hiko, Lincoln county, Nevada —Charles G. Heath; Rock Creek, Owyhee county, Idaho—J. 5. Delavan; Rocky Bar, Alturas county, Idaho—Warren P. Callahan. Discontimvep.—Port Orchard, Kitsap county, Washington Territory. ° Name Cuangrp.—Emmaville, Salt Lake county, Utah, to Granite City, aud Joseph J. Snell appointed Poetmaster. Dury on QourioxstuveR.—A concurrent resolution has been offered in the Assembly by Mr. Everett, asking the influence of our Representatives in Congress to aid in eecuring the aholition of the duty on quickeilver. This resolution will surely find favor among all classes interested, and . should be adopted. This neceeeary article ie used so very extensively not only for milling purposes, hut also among manufacturers, etc., thatit should be hrought within easy reach of allat moderate prices, especially since we on this coast use more of it than any other part of the world. On Fiuve.—Letter om 0. H. S.; Communication from C, S. ‘fhe State Geological Survey.—No. 2. In our last week’s iseue we made some general remarke upon the character of the. Geological Survey, the purposes for which it wae instituted, and what may legitimately he expected from it. These remarks might easily have been extended to far greater length, showing how hroad and complex’ is the field which falls within the proper scope of such a work, aud how difficult are many of the problems with which it has to deal. But our space would not permit it. For the eame reasou also,in reviewing what hae already been doue we cannot attempt any detailed history of the work from its inception down to the present time; but after a brief notice of the most important publications of the survey prior to its stoppage hy the Legislature of 1867-8, we shall pase rapidly on to the work of the last two years, of which our account will he eomewhat more detailed. Those who desire fuller information must be referred to the puhlished volumes of the report, and to the printed hieuuial letters of the State Geologist to the Governor, giving detailed reports of the progress of the work year after year. Earlier Publications. The first published volume of the report was issued in 1864, and formed a portion of the Paleontology, heing devoted to a descriptiou of the invertehrate fossils helonging to the formatione lower than the tertiary. It was finely illustrated with platee engraved on steel and etono, the text being the work of Messrs. Meek & 2. /Gahb. Itis an important portion of the work, eince the fossils found in the rocks form the only sure and certain guide hy which to solve the intricate question of the relative ages of the rocke. But it pos4 . sesges little interest to the general reader. The next publication was a volume of the Geological Series proper, issued in 1865, and entitled a ‘* Report of Progress and Synopsie of the field-work from 1860 to 1864.” This volume consists of about 500 royal-octavo pages of handsomely printed text, ‘profusely illustrated with geological soctious, and sketches of our grander mountain scenery, and crowded with valuahle geological facts and data from almost every portion of the State. It ought to he placed in the hauds of every intelligent miner throughout the State. The next publication was a second volume of the Paleontology in 1867, to which the same remark will apply as to the first. In 1867 also, was published the topographioal ‘‘ Map of the Region adjacent to the Bay of San Francisco” on a scale of two miles to the inch, and covering an area about 88 miles long by 66 miles wide, whioh is nearly equivalent to the comhined areas of thetwo States of Connecticut and Rhode Islaud. This was the first really accurate map ever published of auy considerable portion of California, and is to-day the finest topographical map yet published of any equal area of mountainous country in the Uuited States. We now pass to The Work of the Last Two Years. On the resumption of the work hy the last Legislature, the ‘‘ Map of Central Califoraia”” was one of the first and most important matters which engrossed atteution. This magnificent topographical map, if the means are furnished to oomplete it, will not only bean honor to the State, but its practical value for all time to come, will only grow more apparent year by year. Its scale is six miles to one inch. It embraces the central portion of the State from Owen's Lake and Visalia on the south to Lassen’s Peak on the north, aud from Bodega Bay ou the west to Cerro Gordo on the east. It is iu four sheets, each twenty-four inches square, and covere an area of about eighty thousand square miles, of which, however, about eighteen thousand, in the northeastern portion of the map, are within the State of Nevada. = n t It covérs ahout one-third. of the whole area, and probably ninety-five per .cént. of the population of the State of California. The southwesterm quarter of this map was alréady in the hande of the engraver. For the purpose of completing the sonth eastern qnarter, a party was fitted out to explore aud map the Inyo and “White Mountain ranges and the region south of Mono Lake.,, Thie party consisted of Mr. Cc. F. Hoffman, topographer, Mr. Alfred Craven, assistant topographer, Mr. W. A. Goodyear, géologist, and Mr. Chester Averill barometrical observer. They took the field on the 20th of April 1870, and proceeded to Owen’s Yalley crossing tho Sierras by Walker's Pass. After. working up the topography and geology of the Inyo aud White. Mountain ranges, the region south of Mono Lake was explored aud mapped. They then proceeded to Aurora where Prof. Whitney joined them, and together they surveyed the country arouud and to the west of that place, and about the heads of the East and West Walker including a portion of the Sierra hetween the heads of the Stanislaus, the Tuolumne and the Walker. This whole trip occupied four months. Meantime Mr. Wackenreuder,jas alo iu the field engaged in mapping a portion of the High Sierra. And later in the season Messre. Craven and Goodyear, with two assistants spent three monthe in mapping, and working up the complex hut extremely interesting geology of the region in the Coast Rango exteuding from the head of Napa Valley northwesterly some distance into the higher mountains heyond Clear Lake. From the field-work previously done hy the survey in the northern Sierra, and from the maps of western Nevada furniehed without, expense to the survoy and in advance of their puhlication,by Mr. C. King, Chief of the U.S. Fortieth Parallel Survey, tho means are in hand for the completion of the northeast quarter of the map. To furnish the meane of completing this map, it only remains thon to work up the topography and geology of ahount oue-third the area of the northwestern quarter, i. e.,: astrip in the Coast Range northwest of Clear Lake, and a portion of Tehama county, which will require a party in the field eome three or four monthe. The beautiful engraving of this map, which is of necessity a slow and costly work, is already almost half done, and if the means are furnished the whole thing can he completed, the engraving finished, and the map a published fact within the next two years. It ie proposed to publish two editions of this map, one as a splendid topographical and geographical map, and the other as a geological map on which the different geological formations will he accurately laid down. Moreover, the geological field-work for this map is heing done simultaneously with the topographical work so that as soon as the map is finished, it will only remain to color the geology upon it, and publish the descriptive volumes, which can then be quickly done. Few people have any adequate conception of the amouut of labor involved in the prodiretiou of such a map; hut every one who travels in the mountains can appreciaie its practical value when once it is completed. It would he a great lose to California not to have this map completed and published. Ornithology. We must not omit to mention one other publication of the survey. The first volume of the ‘Ornithology of California,” devoted to the land birde of the State, made its appearance in tho spring of 1871. This beautiful volume is finely printed, and illustrated with 662 eugravings on wood aud copper. The plan of these illustrations is as follows. Ench species, over three, hundred in all—has a life-size figure of ite head colored from the life, by hand, while full length portraite illustrate the general appearance of some one repyesentative of each genus, to which are ‘also added diagranis carefully drawn, and exeouted in relief on copper by the ‘‘ Jewett Process,” which exhibit tho minute detaile of the external anatomy. This is by far . the handsomest volume yet published by the Survey. The coloring of the engravings is finely and delicately executed. It forms a most elegant etandard work, and should be found in every gentleman’s library. ‘Tn our next we shall have something to say of another, and extremely interesting départment of the Survey-work. Table of Altitudes. The following list of altitudes above the eea-level, which has heen furnished us for publication, by Mr. W. A. Goodyear, Assistant Geologist, will doubtlese be interesting to many of our readers. The localities named are most of them in the region between the North aud Middle Forks of the American tiver. The determiuations were made with the harometer bythe State Geological Survey during the summer of 1871. ‘The results are not ahsolutely exact; but most of them will be found very near the truth, and acourate enough for practical purposes: Feet above level of the sen. Colfax.. Moisi ee ese ee es 2,421 Toll-house at Rice’s Bar, North Fork of Ainerican WINCl s. wees: om teenies +r 1,146 Parker House, Iowa Hill...-.+ 2,867 Summit of Ist aE Loaf, Iowa Hill. 3,084 Mr. Teasland’e House, Wiscousiu Hill. 2,880 Highest crest of Ridge betweeu Elizabeth Hill and Wings Billoses. «cess Gye as 3,065 Crest of main ridgo betweeu Iowa Hill and Damascus, just southwest of head of Green Valley Gorge 4,139 Hotel aeDamascusy,,.ec. ee oe 4,016 Crest of main ridge immediately sonth of Damascus 2. ee es ee eee 4,691 Mouth of Humbug Canon, south branch i of North Fork, American River.. 2,051 Fork's House, on ridge, south of DamasGUS ces «sees cs « «See eats cele oem 4,789 Crest of ridge betweeu Forks House and Hog’ S BaG. io) cele ap ssctolelo els fete eee nasaL: 5,468 Sao” sk R A ee 5,486 Summit of Secret Hill..... 6,651 Yank's Cabin, Cauada Hill.... 6,229 Northwest summit of Cauada Hill, Bald Mountains. cerns cane csc ec selee Miller’s Defeat . Gust Chauce...-‘ Bottom of Canon of North F Fork of Americau River, on trail betweeu Last Chauce and Deadwood. 2,719 Crest of ridge near the Devil's Basin. 4,390 Hotel at Deadwood. ...00.05 3,943 Bottom of El Dorado Canon, on trail from Deadwood to Michigan Bluff... 1,821 Express office, Michigan Bluif... . 3,488 Bottom of Voleano Canon, on road from , Michigan Bluff to Bath.. Bo octane 2,871 Forest House, Forest Hill.... 3,230 Martin B. Tubb’s Saloon, Yaukee Jim’s, 2,574 MOdGSAVAllOY. cee cen oe eee. «oe 2,730 Ford's Bar, at mouth of Otter Creek, ou Middle Fork of American River.. 795 The Last Storm. We have heen visited, siuce our last issue, hy another storm, which set in on Sunday uight and continued with very little intermission for about [thirty-six hours. A large amount of water fell during that time, and the rain was very general throughout the State, as far south as Visalia. We append the total of rainfall iu several localitiee, the excess of which, over our last week’s report, shows the amount received during this storm: Napa, to December 29th....+ 26.99 Vallejo, to January Sth.... 19.30 DAD atael, tO Oth. mete etwas see 38.35 Stockton, to “Sth. eee. 15.17 Sacrameuto, to ‘© Sth..ccseeeneee 14.33 San Fraucisco, to Jau. 9th...24.60 ‘Shasta, to Jan. 5th. 50.14 Oakland, to * 9th. 23.18 . Woodland, to ** Sth. 20.10 . Petaluma, to ‘ Ot hemes: 23.45 Visalia, to‘ Utd Sees eeeee pond 6.15 _This storm in the mountains has also heen unusually severe and attended with a very large amount of rainfall. Lake Tahoe has risen 22 inches notwithstanding its large outlet. The average depth of snow on the eastern Summit of the Sierras is said to be about seveu feet, and about one foot on the western slope. Some considerable damago has heen done to dams and ditchee in the mountains ; but not so much as might have been expected.

24 SCIENTIFIC PRESS. . January_13, 1872. Geientific Dress, 7 sees. SENIOR EDrror. DEWEY & CO., Publishers. GEO. 4. BTRONG, a, T. DEWEY, WwW. B. EWER, JNO. L. NOONE. Office, No. 888 Montgomery St., Ss. E. Corner of California St., diagonally opposite Wells, Fargo & Co,’s. SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISING RATES. ApveRTIsINo Rares.—l week. lLmonth. 3 months. 1 year. 30 $5.00 Per line.. 25 E $2.00 One-half ins $1.00 $3 00 7.50 20.00 One inch.. 2.00 6.00 14,00 $6.00 Large advertisements at favorable rates. Special or reading notices, legal advertisements, rnotices appearing in extraordinary type or in particular parts of the paper, inserted at special rates. SursonteTrons payable in advance—For ona year, $4; aix months, $2.60: ie months, $125. Clubs of tan . names or more, $3 escb per annum. $5, in advanca, will pay for 1% year, Remittances by registered letters ov P. O, orders at our risk. San E'rancisco: Saturday Morning, Jan. 18, 1872. Gold and Legal Tender Rates. Sax Francisco, Wednesday, January 10, 1872.—Legal Tendara ‘buying 914; selling, 9234. Gold in New York to-day, 108%. Table of Contents, Freeman’s Grain Separator —Ill.; Hoisting Works of the Eberhardt and Aurora Co.—IIL.; The Paul Process; Academy of Sciences..17 CoRRESPONDENCE.—Mill and Mining in Plumas County; The Succession of Seasons; Unfermented Juice of the Grape; Reproduction of Forest Tress; Eureka Lakes.....18 MecHanican Procress.—The Dnrability of Timber; Mechanical Progress in the United States; Experiments with Lubricators...19 Screnturio ProGcress.—Meteorites—Their Orbits; Actiou of Sulphuric Acid on PhosPhates...creeeceesdeceees Booctomtagttd 19 Minine Summary.—Stock & Exchange Board; Market Report....-++-+. at eneseese 20-21 Our Mining Prospecte; Dairying in California—Ill . Userun Ivrormation.—Advantage of Crying; Eating Without au Appetite 23 Goop Hraira.—Deterioration in Milk in Feeding Bottles; Throat Diseases....... 3 Railroad Items, Ete . The State Geological Survey—No. 2; of Altitudes; The Storm Home Industries; Hiuts to Miners, No. 6.—II1.; Sutro Tunuel; Careless Blasting..... 25 Domxstic Economy—How to Make a Coal Fire; Water-Proof Boots; Mechanical Hints...26 Notices to Correspondents. Onp Quicxstnver Fuascs.—We can inform ©. S., Utah, that one firm in San Francisco pays 50 cents each for secondhand flasks. We should think it economy for many mine ownere to return them to this city. Post Office . Changes, Followiug are the Postal changes in the Pacific States und Territories during the week ending Decemher 30, 1871. Post Orrices EsranuIsHep.—Hot Spring, Siskiyou county, California — George Townsend, Postmaster; Mount Fairview, San Diego county, California —B. F. Jones, Postmaster; Schelibourne, White Pine county, Nevada—Melchoir D. Raum, Postmaster; Woodburu, Marion county, Oregon—Adolphus Mathiot, Postmaster. Postmasters APPOINTED. — Caliotoga, Napa county, California—William P. Litten; Ellsworth, Nye county, Nevada—P. QO. Tyler; Hiko, Lincoln county, Nevada —Charles G. Heath; Rock Creek, Owyhee county, Idaho—J. 5. Delavan; Rocky Bar, Alturas county, Idaho—Warren P. Callahan. Discontimvep.—Port Orchard, Kitsap county, Washington Territory. ° Name Cuangrp.—Emmaville, Salt Lake county, Utah, to Granite City, aud Joseph J. Snell appointed Poetmaster. Dury on QourioxstuveR.—A concurrent resolution has been offered in the Assembly by Mr. Everett, asking the influence of our Representatives in Congress to aid in eecuring the aholition of the duty on quickeilver. This resolution will surely find favor among all classes interested, and . should be adopted. This neceeeary article ie used so very extensively not only for milling purposes, hut also among manufacturers, etc., thatit should be hrought within easy reach of allat moderate prices, especially since we on this coast use more of it than any other part of the world. On Fiuve.—Letter om 0. H. S.; Communication from C, S. ‘fhe State Geological Survey.—No. 2. In our last week’s iseue we made some general remarke upon the character of the. Geological Survey, the purposes for which it wae instituted, and what may legitimately he expected from it. These remarks might easily have been extended to far greater length, showing how hroad and complex’ is the field which falls within the proper scope of such a work, aud how difficult are many of the problems with which it has to deal. But our space would not permit it. For the eame reasou also,in reviewing what hae already been doue we cannot attempt any detailed history of the work from its inception down to the present time; but after a brief notice of the most important publications of the survey prior to its stoppage hy the Legislature of 1867-8, we shall pase rapidly on to the work of the last two years, of which our account will he eomewhat more detailed. Those who desire fuller information must be referred to the puhlished volumes of the report, and to the printed hieuuial letters of the State Geologist to the Governor, giving detailed reports of the progress of the work year after year. Earlier Publications. The first published volume of the report was issued in 1864, and formed a portion of the Paleontology, heing devoted to a descriptiou of the invertehrate fossils helonging to the formatione lower than the tertiary. It was finely illustrated with platee engraved on steel and etono, the text being the work of Messrs. Meek & 2. /Gahb. Itis an important portion of the work, eince the fossils found in the rocks form the only sure and certain guide hy which to solve the intricate question of the relative ages of the rocke. But it pos4 . sesges little interest to the general reader. The next publication was a volume of the Geological Series proper, issued in 1865, and entitled a ‘* Report of Progress and Synopsie of the field-work from 1860 to 1864.” This volume consists of about 500 royal-octavo pages of handsomely printed text, ‘profusely illustrated with geological soctious, and sketches of our grander mountain scenery, and crowded with valuahle geological facts and data from almost every portion of the State. It ought to he placed in the hauds of every intelligent miner throughout the State. The next publication was a second volume of the Paleontology in 1867, to which the same remark will apply as to the first. In 1867 also, was published the topographioal ‘‘ Map of the Region adjacent to the Bay of San Francisco” on a scale of two miles to the inch, and covering an area about 88 miles long by 66 miles wide, whioh is nearly equivalent to the comhined areas of thetwo States of Connecticut and Rhode Islaud. This was the first really accurate map ever published of auy considerable portion of California, and is to-day the finest topographical map yet published of any equal area of mountainous country in the Uuited States. We now pass to The Work of the Last Two Years. On the resumption of the work hy the last Legislature, the ‘‘ Map of Central Califoraia”” was one of the first and most important matters which engrossed atteution. This magnificent topographical map, if the means are furnished to oomplete it, will not only bean honor to the State, but its practical value for all time to come, will only grow more apparent year by year. Its scale is six miles to one inch. It embraces the central portion of the State from Owen's Lake and Visalia on the south to Lassen’s Peak on the north, aud from Bodega Bay ou the west to Cerro Gordo on the east. It is iu four sheets, each twenty-four inches square, and covere an area of about eighty thousand square miles, of which, however, about eighteen thousand, in the northeastern portion of the map, are within the State of Nevada. = n t It covérs ahout one-third. of the whole

area, and probably ninety-five per .cént. of the population of the State of California. The southwesterm quarter of this map was alréady in the hande of the engraver. For the purpose of completing the sonth eastern qnarter, a party was fitted out to explore aud map the Inyo and “White Mountain ranges and the region south of Mono Lake.,, Thie party consisted of Mr. Cc. F. Hoffman, topographer, Mr. Alfred Craven, assistant topographer, Mr. W. A. Goodyear, géologist, and Mr. Chester Averill barometrical observer. They took the field on the 20th of April 1870, and proceeded to Owen’s Yalley crossing tho Sierras by Walker's Pass. After. working up the topography and geology of the Inyo aud White. Mountain ranges, the region south of Mono Lake was explored aud mapped. They then proceeded to Aurora where Prof. Whitney joined them, and together they surveyed the country arouud and to the west of that place, and about the heads of the East and West Walker including a portion of the Sierra hetween the heads of the Stanislaus, the Tuolumne and the Walker. This whole trip occupied four months. Meantime Mr. Wackenreuder,jas alo iu the field engaged in mapping a portion of the High Sierra. And later in the season Messre. Craven and Goodyear, with two assistants spent three monthe in mapping, and working up the complex hut extremely interesting geology of the region in the Coast Rango exteuding from the head of Napa Valley northwesterly some distance into the higher mountains heyond Clear Lake. From the field-work previously done hy the survey in the northern Sierra, and from the maps of western Nevada furniehed without, expense to the survoy and in advance of their puhlication,by Mr. C. King, Chief of the U.S. Fortieth Parallel Survey, tho means are in hand for the completion of the northeast quarter of the map. To furnish the meane of completing this map, it only remains thon to work up the topography and geology of ahount oue-third the area of the northwestern quarter, i. e.,: astrip in the Coast Range northwest of Clear Lake, and a portion of Tehama county, which will require a party in the field eome three or four monthe. The beautiful engraving of this map, which is of necessity a slow and costly work, is already almost half done, and if the means are furnished the whole thing can he completed, the engraving finished, and the map a published fact within the next two years. It ie proposed to publish two editions of this map, one as a splendid topographical and geographical map, and the other as a geological map on which the different geological formations will he accurately laid down. Moreover, the geological field-work for this map is heing done simultaneously with the topographical work so that as soon as the map is finished, it will only remain to color the geology upon it, and publish the descriptive volumes, which can then be quickly done. Few people have any adequate conception of the amouut of labor involved in the prodiretiou of such a map; hut every one who travels in the mountains can appreciaie its practical value when once it is completed. It would he a great lose to California not to have this map completed and published. Ornithology. We must not omit to mention one other publication of the survey. The first volume of the ‘Ornithology of California,” devoted to the land birde of the State, made its appearance in tho spring of 1871. This beautiful volume is finely printed, and illustrated with 662 eugravings on wood aud copper. The plan of these illustrations is as follows. Ench species, over three, hundred in all—has a life-size figure of ite head colored from the life, by hand, while full length portraite illustrate the general appearance of some one repyesentative of each genus, to which are ‘also added diagranis carefully drawn, and exeouted in relief on copper by the ‘‘ Jewett Process,” which exhibit tho minute detaile of the external anatomy. This is by far . the handsomest volume yet published by the Survey. The coloring of the engravings is finely and delicately executed. It forms a most elegant etandard work, and should be found in every gentleman’s library. ‘Tn our next we shall have something to say of another, and extremely interesting départment of the Survey-work. Table of Altitudes. The following list of altitudes above the eea-level, which has heen furnished us for publication, by Mr. W. A. Goodyear, Assistant Geologist, will doubtlese be interesting to many of our readers. The localities named are most of them in the region between the North aud Middle Forks of the American tiver. The determiuations were made with the harometer bythe State Geological Survey during the summer of 1871. ‘The results are not ahsolutely exact; but most of them will be found very near the truth, and acourate enough for practical purposes: Feet above level of the sen. Colfax... Moisi ee ese ee es 2,421 Toll-house at Rice’s Bar, North Fork of Ainerican WINCl s. wees: om teenies +r 1,146 Parker House, Iowa Hill......-.+ 2,867 Summit of Ist aE Loaf, Iowa Hill.. 3,084 Mr. Teasland’e House, Wiscousiu Hill. 2,880 Highest crest of Ridge betweeu Elizabeth Hill and Wings Billoses. «cess Gye as 3,065 Crest of main ridgo betweeu Iowa Hill and Damascus, just southwest of head of Green Valley Gorge 4,139 Hotel aeDamascusy,,..ec. ee oe 4,016 Crest of main ridge immediately sonth of Damascus 2.. ee es ee eee 4,691 Mouth of Humbug Canon, south branch i of North Fork, American River.... 2,051 Fork's House, on ridge, south of DamasGUS ces «sees cs « «See eats cele oem 4,789 Crest of ridge betweeu Forks House and Hog’ S BaG. io) cele ap ssctolelo els fete eee nasaL: 5,468 Sao” sk R A ee 5,486 Summit of Secret Hill......... 6,651 Yank's Cabin, Cauada Hill....... 6,229 Northwest summit of Cauada Hill, Bald Mountains. cerns cane csc ec selee Miller’s Defeat . Gust Chauce.....-‘ Bottom of Canon of North F Fork of Americau River, on trail betweeu Last Chauce and Deadwood.. 2,719 Crest of ridge near the Devil's Basin.. 4,390 Hotel at Deadwood.. .....00.05 3,943 Bottom of El Dorado Canon, on trail from Deadwood to Michigan Bluff..... 1,821 Express office, Michigan Bluif..... . 3,488 Bottom of Voleano Canon, on road from , Michigan Bluff to Bath.... Bo octane 2,871 Forest House, Forest Hill....... 3,230 Martin B. Tubb’s Saloon, Yaukee Jim’s, 2,574 MOdGSAVAllOY. cee cen oe eee. «oe 2,730 Ford's Bar, at mouth of Otter Creek, ou Middle Fork of American River.... 795 The Last Storm. We have heen visited, siuce our last issue, hy another storm, which set in on Sunday uight and continued with very little intermission for about [thirty-six hours. A large amount of water fell during that time, and the rain was very general throughout the State, as far south as Visalia. We append the total of rainfall iu several localitiee, the excess of which, over our last week’s report, shows the amount received during this storm: Napa, to December 29th.......+ 26.99 Vallejo, to January Sth........ 19.30 DAD atael, tO Oth. mete etwas see 38.35 Stockton, to “Sth.. eee.. 15.17 Sacrameuto, to ‘© Sth...ccseeeneee 14.33 San Fraucisco, to Jau. 9th......24.60 ‘Shasta, to Jan. 5th.. 50.14 Oakland, to * 9th. 23.18 . Woodland, to ** Sth. 20.10 . Petaluma, to ‘ Ot hemes: 23.45 Visalia, to‘ Utd Sees eeeee pond 6.15 _This storm in the mountains has also heen unusually severe and attended with a very large amount of rainfall. Lake Tahoe has risen 22 inches notwithstanding its large outlet. The average depth of snow on the eastern Summit of the Sierras is said to be about seveu feet, and about one foot on the western slope. Some considerable damago has heen done to dams and ditchee in the mountains ; but not so much as might have been expected.