USA > California > Amador County > History of Amador County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 32
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MINERALS.
Iron is abundant; and the day is not distant when the inexhaustible iron deposits of Amador will be profitably worked.
Wood is abundant for the manufacture of char- coal; limestone of the best quality for smelting purposes without limit; and iron ore of a good grade beyond computation. It is on every hand; in the limonite that binds the gravel beds in solid conglom- erate to lodes or deposits of great extent ; in masses of dark steel-gray hematite, and lodes of magnetic iron ore; in speeular iron; in masses of iron and black oxide of manganese; in ocherous earth and jaspery croppings; in stalaetites and small beautiful specimens of titanic ore; last but not least, in the blood-red soil of the environing hills.
GYPSUM.
Small deposits of sulphate of lime have been found at various points in the county, but not in paying quantities. The future explorer may develop quan- tities of the mineral.
ASBESTOS.
Small veins of the above mineral exist all over the county, changing from the fibrous to immense ledges of steatite of a coarse variety.
MARBLE.
Marble of a good quality, and of different shades from bluc-veined to crystalline white, is found along the limestone belt. Small quantities of onyx are also found in the same vicinity.
MANGANESE.
Small veins of the above mineral are also met with.
KAOLIN.
A good quality of potter's clay is found in hori- zontal deposits near Carbondale, and around Ione Valley. A good deposit of the same mineral exists at Aqueduct City.
Accompanying the quartz veins, in many instances forming selvedge or " gouge," as it is ealled by the miners, is a fair quality of kaolin; formed from decom- posed feldspar.
AGATE-CHALCEDONY.
In Soldiers' gulch, back of the town of Volcano, is a quartz vein passing through the gravelly deposit, formed, by the action of water holding silica in solution, since the deposition of the gravel. It is a ferruginous, jaspery vein of geodic chalcedony and agate. Some of the cavities are most beautifully lined with silicious crystalline deposits of these minerals.
About one hundred feet to the north of the above- described curious jaspery formation, is a dike or trap, which, when erupted, baked the clay on either hand for a distance of fifty feet into porcelanite, a species of jasper. Near this dike we found several casts of bones of the megatherium (?)-a gigantic animal that existed in the tertiary period. The casts are of porcelanite, and very large.
In some of the clay slates, all over the county, we found tracks and borings of worms and rain-drop impressions, and in the hard blue slates along the Mother Lode, we frequently find the wave marks left by the receding jurassic sea. In a mining claim (at Volcano) near the junction of the slates and lime- stones, we found some fine specimens of ferruginous lignite, or in other words, fossil woods changed to iron ore, the fibre of the wood clear and distinct. Here we also found a similar sample of palm wood, the bark still remaining on the wood. The other woods found presented a fibre similar to alder and maple. We also found fossil plants, two in number, all of which probably belonged to the triassic slates. In the high volcanic ridge, known as Shake ridge, about three miles north-east of Volcano, is the tunnel of W. Q. Mason, which has been driven under the volcanic matter or lava, through the channel rim of slates, eutting an ancient river bed, or lacustrine de- posit. The thinly laminated clayey deposit, has been formed in still water, as may be determined from the position of the fossil vegetation. Charred wood and ferruginous lignite, or wood changed to iron ore, is abundant. Mr. Mason has a pine cone-a beautiful
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
specimen, changed into sulphuret of iron. Here we found between the thin, clayey layers, the leaves of the following trees: Alder, willow, oak, maple, fig, and a very large leaf we could not determine. These leaves, and what appeared to be the fronds of a species of fern, are abundant, forming a deposit in some places two or three feet thick. They are very fragile, and all attempts to preserve them, even for a few days, were futile.
The fossil plants belong to the tertiary period, and the volanie flow, that ended their existence, car- bonized and preserved their varied forms intact. Similar leaves and fossil woods are found, in and around Jackson and Ione valleys, beneath the hori- zontal clay strata that form the hills.
Fossil remains of the elephant and mastodon have been found at various places in the county by miners and others.
In Jackson valley they have been upturned by the plow. At Grass Valley a tusk of a mastodon, nine feet long, was washed from the auriferous gravel deposits.
At one period of time in the geological history of Amador, the rhinoceros (an animal allicd to the hippopotamus), an extinct species of horse, and an animal allied to the camel, wandered through the palm groves and tropical woods of Arcadian Ama- dor; none of these survived the grand catastrophe that swept them from the earth and buried their bones with the destroyed groves through which they wandered under the great lava-covered ridges, in the ancient river beds of to-day.
The feathery palm lifted its proud head to a trop- ical sun; the wild fig dropped its fruit along the streams, and the maple flourished on the gently rolling hills; gigantic ferns grew in rank luxuriance around the margin of the placid lake; birds of gay plumage winged their flight through flowering groves, and the air was rank with heated vapors.
But a change came over the spirit of the dream; a geological epoch had been accomplished, and the rising Sierras, with their teeming volcanoes, lit up the eastern heavens with a lurid glare, sending down streams of lava and volcanic material, burying the remains of those animals beneath the fiery flood. Later the elephant and the mastodon wandered over the hills and valleys of our county, only to be swept away by the seas of ice, or ground to atoms beneath its accumulated weight, leaving their remains as evidence of their existence.
BOTANY OF AMADOR COUNTY.
Sugar Pine (Pinus Lambertina )-The first and grandest tree of the Sierras, which should have been named pinus saccharina, an appropriate and suggest- ive name. It deposits a sugary mass, similar to the manna of the druggist, but a mild cathartic, although pleasant to the taste.
This majestic tree, with its long horizontal branches and pendant cones of twelve to twenty inches in
length, towering high above its fellows, forms a most attractive figure in the landscape. The white pine lumber from this tree is the best met with in the Sierras.
Pitch Pine ( Pinus ponderosa )-Comes next in value, and immense quantities are sawed into lumber and shipped to the valleys, or floated down the ditches to the mines at Sutter, Amador, and other places.
Arbor Vitæ ( Thugia gigantea )-Or the noble fir, is found in the deep cañons a few miles east of Volcano.
Red Fir ( Abies Douglasii )-Is also found on the volcanic ridges, and down the cañons.
Balsam Fir ( Picca grandis)-Is also met with, and used for economical purposes.
The White Cedar ( Labrocedus ducurens )-Is a beau- tiful tree, and many attempts have been made to transplant it to the valley homes, for ornamental pur- poses, but with only partial success.
Nut or Rock Pine ( Pinus sabiana )-Is found grow- ing on the rock lands of the western part of the county, and along the carboniferous limestones, bear- ing a large cone full of edible nuts. The wood is poor, even for fire-wood.
Nutmeg Tree ( Torreya Californica )-Which grows into a stately tree in the Coast Range, here only reaches a small shrub. The nuts are not like the nutmeg of commerce, except in outside appearance. The meat is edible, but the squirrels usually get it.
Western Yew (Tacus brevifolia)-Found in the eastern part of the county, as also the mountain spruce.
Bay Tree, or Mountain Laurel ( Oreodaphne Califor- nica )-A beautiful, spicy tree, which grows to an immense size in the Coast Range, but here, only to a respectable shrub.
White Oak (Quercus Lobata)-Differs from that found east of the Rocky Mountains.
Quercus Agrifolia-Quite plenty on the ridges, and around Ione valley.
Cañon Live-Oak (Q. Crysolepsis ) - A valuable wood for ship timbers.
California Chestnut (Castanopsis Chrysophylla )-A shrubby tree; grows on the rocky lands.
Hazelnut (Corylus Rostrata )-In the cañons and north hill-sides; bears nuts in small quantities.
Alder ( Alnus Viridis )-Found growing along the streams. In the Coast Range is used for powder- wood.
Common Willow (Salix Biglowii )-Found in large trees along the crecks and streams.
Cottonwood Poplar ( Populus monilifera )-Large trees; in some instances along the creeks.
Bayberry or Wax Myrtle ( Myrica Californica )- On moist hill-sides and streams.
Leather Wood ( Dirca palustris )-A bush six to ten feet high; grows on dry ridges; very tough.
Alder Buckthorn ( Rhammus Californica)-From five to ten feet high; called Wild Coffee from the fact the berry contains seeds that resemble coffee, and
Richar Webbs.
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have been so used, but it is distinct from the true coffee plant.
Mountain Lilac (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus )-Two va- rieties, blue and white; a fragrant, handsome tree or shrub.
Ceanothus papillosus-Resembles the last; found in the mountains; the body of the tree is full of nobs made by the attacks of insects; used for canes on account of this peculiarity.
ROSE FAMILY.
Wild Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia ).
Mountain Holly ( Heteromeles arbutifolia )-Grows as high as twenty feet, with beautiful red berries, which ripen in January or February; much sought by birds.
Service Berry ( Amelanchier alnifolia )-Grows high in the mountains.
Chaparral-Chemisal ( Adenostoma fasciculatum)- Grows from five to twenty feet high; covers the rocky hills to the exclusion of all other trees.
MAPLE FAMILY.
Buckeye Horse-chestnut ( Esculus Californica)-A beautiful tree in the Spring when in bloom; nut used by the Indians for food, who soak the poison out with water.
Big Leafed Maple ( Acer macrophyllum )-Grows into a small tree.
Poison Oak ( Rhustaxico dendron ) and (Rhus diver- silolla )-Either variety of which will make the visitor wish he or she had not met with it. This obnoxious shrub grows all over the State.
HEATH FAMILY.
The Madrona or Strawberry Tree of the Spaniards ( Arbutus Menziessii)-A beautiful tree with orange colored branches and deep green varnished leaves; bears a red berry of which the wild pigeons are fond.
Manzanita ( Arctostaphylos tomentosa) and (A. Glanca )-Two varieties; bears berries, which the Indians gather in large quantities, of which they make a kind of cider.
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus Nuttallii)-A beauti- ful tree when in bloom.
C. Californica-Grows mostly along the streams; another species of Dogwood.
Elder ( Sambucus glauca )-Bears edible berries.
Californicum Rhododendron -Is found in some parts of the county.
Of plants, we have, lilies, saxifrages, orehides, equiseto, sedges, etc., ferns in variety, wood mosses, and lichens; there are lupines, orthocarpus; the poppy family is represented by three or four beauti- ful species, and the lilies by as many.
There are two or three species of violets.
This list might be extended much farther.
CHAPTER XXVII. ORIGIN OF MINERAL VEINS.
Plutonic Theory-Ocean Floors-Other Theories Considered- Function of Wall Rock and Gouge -- Surface Veins - Probable Depth of Veins-Methods of Deposit-Jurassic Gravel-Course of the Blue Lead.
IT may seem presumptuous to offer any ideas on the formation of the various metaliferous veins that ramify through our mountains; but between those who think God called all things into existence just as they are, and those who can readily explain every- thing(?) there is quite room enough for many persons, however different their opinions, to stand without jostling each other. Notwithstanding all the dis- coveries in science, and they are many and of great importance, we are but on the boundaries of the infinite field, for natural science, in any of its thou- sands branches, is an illimitable expanse which would require an eternity to explore.
An elaborate treatise on the formation of mineral veins would be out of place in a volume of this kind, even if the writer were capable of such a work; henee only matters pertaining to the industries of the county will find place here. Thirty years' experience in gold and other mining, much of which, for want of knowledge, has been unprofitable, has left many valuable hints, which, like trees blazed by the pioneer through the pathless woods, serve to guide those who come after. An abandoned shaft or mine should tell its tale of warning, and when properly interrogated will probably do so.
PLUTONIC THEORY.
It was formerly held that all mineral veins were the result of internal heat, which out of an immense amount of material always hot, molten, sent some small fragments to the upper earth. Nearly all the rocks were supposed to have the same origin; but the inexplicable difficulties which this theory led to, soon eaused its abandonment. The metalic veins were too finely ramified, reticulated through the roek, to admit of that method of deposit. If the metaliferous lodes had been raised to the necessary degree of heat for fusion, the wall rocks or easings would have been destroyed or vitrified; whereas, the slate or other rocks in the vicinity of a vein are frequently unchanged. The ribbon quartz, consisting of parallel layers sometimes not thicker than paper, and extending for hundreds of feet in length and depth, would be impossible by the Plutonic theory. Then again, known eruptive rocks are entirely differ- ent from the rocks in which minerals are found. Lava beds contain no gold or silver.
OCEAN FLOORS.
It is now a favorite theory with many that metal- iferous veins are deposited in floors of the ocean pre- vious to their upheaval into mountain ranges, and that the metals are precipitated by chemical action; in proof of which we are cited to the precipitation
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
of iron by vegetable matter on a sca-shore. The sca of Sargasso, which is an immense field of sea- weeds in mid-ocean, near the tropies, must be, according to this theory, a vast mineral bed, perhaps of gold and silver. We hope no one, in consequence of this suggestion, will get up an expedition to stake off and work this mineral bed, although it might prove fully as profitable as a Cocos island investment. It is certain that nature is a unit in all her works, and that all things work together for final results. Wc have seen in the deposits at the foot-hills, which probably have an extension into the plains, or former bed of the bay, the deposits of silicious matter in the shape of infusoria, which forms beds several feet in thickness. Mid-ocean, which receives, though slowly, the same material, held in suspension by the water, is consequently reprodueing a similar formation in the bottom of the ocean. Let us suppose that the Sacramento valley be buried twenty thou- sand feet deep,-in slickens, if you please,-and that after remaining long enough at that depth for the layers of sand, clay, and gravel, to become indurated or solidified, it begins to slowly emerge as a mount- ain range. Let us now consider the minerals likely to be found in the roeks. The best statisties of the eomposition will be a list of the materials which have been dumped into the bay by the rivers. According to the best authorities, twenty thousand feet, at least, of rocks have been ground or torn away. Mueh of this was gold-bearing; indeed, there is mueh evidenee in favor of the opinion that the rich- est portions of the quartz veins were on the surface. No twenty-five pound lumps have been found in the veins. The gold found in the gulehes may have been the eoarser partieles, rounded by attrition of all this tremendous denudation. How much of the gold was originally eoarsc? How much of that now found in the quartz veins, if ground in a cañon of rocks like those found in any mountain river, would leave eoarse rounded gold ? Frcc gold is usu- ally found in threads and spangles. The Hayward vein, the Keystone, the Plymouth, did not enrich the gulehes to any extent. The series of rieh surface veins, near Maee's ranch, hardly make a ravine worth working, so fine is the gold. The fine gold of the veins, as well as the particles worn off the sprangly threads, leaving the rounded dust or nuggets, has gone into the valley, and is deposited in an impalpa- ble state in the sand, elay, and gravel, or, perhaps, more finely divided, has gone to sea, to be deposited in the mid-oecan beds of earthy deposits. We may traec it farther than this; some of it may be held in solution. The Platner process of dissolving gold in hydrochlorie aeid, has shown how it is possible for the sea-water to hold it in solution, and has, perhaps, given us a hint of its possible recovery therefrom. How about the proportion left in the gulehes ? When one looks at the operations of a glacier, which reduces everything in its grasp to the finest clay; and to sueh eañons as the American, Mokelumne, or
Cosumnes rivers, which take in tons in weight of hard, flinty rocks, reduce them to powder, and send them out on the plains as slickens, and asks what has become of the soft gold, it must be answered: It is not destroyed, but not one per cent. of it is left to be mined out in the rivers; not a quarter of one per cent. even. For every million that goes to the mint, more than five hundred has been lost as far as the present raec is concerned. It may be worked out when our Sierras and the deep sea shall exchange places, but not before.
To continue the illustration of the formation of quartz veins: the layer of rock over and, perhaps, under the ranges of sand or gravel containing the gold, shall be firm, consistent, holding water, and forming a subterranean channel, such as the water in our artesian wells flows through, these tight floors and roofs becoming the wall rocks of our future vein. When these strata are upheaved so far as to have one portion of the " U " several hundred feet, or perhaps a thousand feet, higher than the other, the lower portion reaches down to depths where the heat may be mueh above the boiling point, this being reached at the depth of twelve thousand seven hun- dred and twenty feet, or an inerease of one degree for each sixty fect of deseent. The iron, sulphur, potash, soda, and other minerals, usually found with all ores, were not mentioned in connection with the gold, supposed to be in the soil of the Saeramento valley, for the reason that they are so common as to be perecptible in every soil. When this arrange- ment has been completed, the process of depositing mineral veins may be considered to have eommenecd. It is not essential that more than one end of the " U," or sueeession of them, shall be exposed. We only stipulate for such an arrangement as will allow the rain-water which falls on the top of the mount- ain to sink into the earth and carry along whatever mineral it may be able to hold in solution, parting now with a particle of potash or sulphur, taking up a partiele of magnesia, silex, or other minerals, until it reaches the alembie, erueible, or laboratory, where heat comes in as a stimulant to its holding or solvent powers. It is impossible to overestimate the eapacity of a eireulation of this sort. When the water reaches the opposite end of the " U," and again encounters the cooler temperature of the surface, it must gradually part with the greater portion of the mineral which it pieked up in its long journey, though not quite all, for every spring contains more or less mineral matter, especially if it emerges in sueh quantity as to exceed the eapaeity of the ground for cooling it, as is the ease with thermal or hot springs. What would be the consequence of a break or craek in the roof or floor of this channel ? Would it not result in the formation of a side or braneh vein? An irregularity of upheaval which shall separate the roof of the subterranean channel into numerous parts, would result in setting up new lines of deposit, and a consequent weakening of the
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ORIGIN OF MINERAL VEINS.
main lode. Now, it is a fact, so common in quartz mining as to amount to a certainty, that, without a good hanging-wall not far away, a vein is almost sure to fail. If it were truc that the minerals are deposited in veins on ocean floors, this condition would not be so imperious.
A cross fracture in the roof-wall would produce a cross-vein like the Gate vein, the one east of the Zeile mine, and others that might be named. How can such veins be accounted for on the supposition that the precipitation is while the locality is yet a floor? Why should quartz be the vehicle for gathering and retaining gold as well as most other metals ? The solution of gold by the Platner process, beforc referred to, may give us a hint as to the chemical agency of common salt and sulphur in gathering up the gold scattered in impalpable particles through the soil and concentrating it in veins; the precip- itation by the sulphuret of iron, tells its own story also, as this form of iron is constantly associated with gold. The free gold and large lumps still remain to be accounted for. Some miners of intel- ligence believe that gold grows-by accretion-both in quartz and gravel. Possibly it does. Who can tell when, if ever, the particles of matter, even in the hardest rocks, ceased to adjust themselves to each other ? J. T. Burke, the oldest and most experienced quartz miner in the county, thinks that the quartz veins are still receiving gold. It is said that the silver mines of Mexico, which were worked three hundred years sinee, have again become rich from the flowing through them of water containing silver in solution. The copper mines in the lower part of the county are known to be in an active condition, gaining or losing ores all the time.
The mineral belts of Amador county are various and extensive, but there are many reasons for believ- ing they once were one floor. Beginning with the lower veins nearly on a level with the ocean, as the last formed, we have the Arroyo Seco lead ncar Muletown on the west, and the Newton lead on the east; thence across the axis of elevation (the scr- pentine range near the Mountain Spring House), we have another extension of the same, but a few miles in width, and by no means continuous from north to south. Some rich quartz is found in this range, and considerable eopper, the latter in chimneys of small extent. Next is the Mother Lode, which has been fully described, the upper end or east side of the "U" being near Volcano. East of Volcano is the last one to be considered, for the reason that by denudation the upper and older lines of elevation are nearly crased. Why the lower belt near the foot- hills should have copper instead of gold; why the middle belt should have the eustody of the richest quartz veins; why the upper or Volcano range should have its veins transverse or at angles, vary- ing with the cleavage of the slate, is among the many, very many, mysteries.
So far, we have only taken into account the fissure
or true veins, which may be considered as those that reach the bottom, or continue through the inverted syphon. The true fissure vein may be in the shape of a chimney, wide, with a short run north and south, or it may be continuous for hundreds of feet, with about the same thickness; but in either case it may be poor or rich, the essential condition of its wealth being, that it must be located in a gold-bear- ing soil or lode. A vein of quartz by itself may not be rich in gold any more than a ravinc. There are quartz mountains in New Hampshire, as well as in California; but no gold in them that is known.
SURFACE VEINS.
These have an entirely different origin, and in general pinch out at no great distance from the surface. They are probably produced by the pre- cipitation of gold and quartz, held in solution by surface streams. Some surface veins are quite rich; little fortunes are often made out of them. This is the character of many of the veins in the vicinity of West Point. A surface vein is characterized by a nearly total want of gouge. What this has to do with a quartz vein, may not be apparent to the gen- eral reader. In all fissures of any extent is found a clay, sometimes several inehes in thickness, which is said to be produced by the slow grinding or rub- bing of the walls against each other. The rocks and clay are striated, the lines showing the direc- tions of these oscillations, which are not necessarily perceivable, in a generation even. There is apt to be a heavier deposit of ore along the gouge, which, as a usual thing, also is a water-course. If the fis- sure is but temporary, extending down a few hun- dred feet at most, below which the rock is solid, there can be no grinding or rubbing of the walls together, and, consequently, no gouge. These sur- face veins are in constant formation, though some of them probably are eontemporancous with the true fissure veins. A small quartz vein will sometimes form in a lava bed; also in the coal veins, or beds of lignite, in the foot-hills. They are found in the tertiary or sandstone hills of the Coast Range, some of the veins having considerable gold in them. These hills, by the way, though in some places thousands of feet high, bear marks of a birth long subsequent to the Sierras, and are, probably, in great part com- posed of the debris from the summits of the Sierras, when they had not yet bared their heads of granite. The cement of old buildings sometimes contains thin veins of crystallized quartz. The gold-bearing veins of steatite near Ione, probably were enriched the same way; that is, by surface action. Let our future chemists take a hint from this in the reduc- tion of gold quartz.
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