Collection: Books and Periodicals

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Title: A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California (1891) Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Publisher: Lewis Publishing Company Published: 1891 Copyright: In the public domain or published before 1925 Source(s): Google Books # of Pages: 713 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-07-22 00:25:09 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 03:11:29 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 06:30:36

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

Page: of 713  

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 149 deposits of copper, borax, sulphur, and chromic iron being also met with. In Paradise Valley, “about five miles from the Sulphur Banks, a shaft has been sunk to a depth of sixty feet on a ledge of quartzite. The ore, which is much copperstained, carries considerable pyrites, and assays from $3 to $9 in gold per ton, with a small percentage of silver. Gold-bearing quartz has been observed in the vicinity of Mount St. Helena, also near the Bradford quicksilver mine, and at a point between Anderson Springs and the Geysers. The croppings of these quartz veins contain a small amount of silver. One mile east of Bradford much copper float is to be seen, and near Harbin Springs a shaft has been sunk to a depth of sixty feet in a cupriferous vein, but the ore is of too low a grade to warrant further sinking. Situated about a half mile east of the lower end of Clear Lake is a pond, the water of which is highly charged with the biborate of soda. During the dry season this water mostly disappears, through evaporation, and the borax erystallizing out is found in the mud on the margin of the pond. Twenty-five years ago large quantities of this salt were manufactured here, the first made in the United States said to have been produced at this place. There has, however, no work been done here for a long time, the business having been given up on the discovery of more extensive and productive salines in the southern part of the State and Nevada. In Jerusalem Valley, gight miles east of Middletown, occur several large veins carrying chromic iron. Owing to the cost of transportation to market, nothing except a little prospecting work has been done on these deposits. The presence of this mineral has been observed, also, in the serpentine near the Bradford mine. Some twenty years ago a good, merchantable article of sulphur was produced in considerable quantities from deposits of this mineral, several of which occur on and near the eastern shore of Clear Lake, and at some of which solfataric action is still going on. Works for the distillation of the crude material were put up at one of these deposits, and run for several years, but, the cheapness of the imported commodity rendering operations here unprofitable, they were finally suspended, and have not since been resumed. The water obtained by artesian boring, on the outskirts of Kelseyville, proves so highly charged with natural gas that the latter burns readily. The well put down here is one hundred and fifty seven feet deep, and being lined to within a few feet of the bottom, this gas evidently comes from a lower stratum. Five other wells sunk in this vicinity to a depth of sixteen feet each, though they yield no water, emit gas, which under a slight pressure burns freely, with a colorless flame, giving off the odor of sulphuretted hydrogen. These wells are in an adobe soil, about two hundred feet above the level of Clear Lake. This gas is to be collected and utilized in a fruit drier. A well put down near Upper Lake also gives off natural gas. LASSEN COUNTY. This is one of California’s trans-Sierra counties, being situated wholly to the east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The western third of Lassen, reaching at some points the summit of the Sierra, is elevated and rugged, the remainder consisting of valleys, alkali flats, and sage plains, over which are scattered numerous short mountain chains, straggling hills, and isolated buttes. Although much of the soil is sandy «nd barren, or rendered unproductive through the presence of alkaline deposits, the most of it is naturally rich, and can be made tu produce good crops of grain and the hardier fruits, by the aid of irrigation. Without this, however, these products cannot be matured, owing to the shortness of the warm season, the elevation of this region ranging from four to eight thousand feet. While truit, vegetables, and the cereals are grown here to some extent, stock-raising forms the principal business of the inhabitants. There are heavy forests of pine and spruce on the mountains to the west,