USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 63
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Relative Level above Valley or River.
Absolute Level above Sea.
Salinas River Valley
Two river bottoms.
I
6
About 30
Terrace 70 miles up
20
180
Pass to Monterey
140
170
San Benito River.
40
Santa Margarita
1 2
962
Santa Maria Valley
1 No.
30
1680
San José Mountains
No. 2
150
1680
Santa Lucia Range
150
1530
Panza-First terrace
12
1612
Second terrace
70
1682
Santa Inez-Ancient valley
25
425
First terrace
20
445
Second terrace
100
545
Santa Barbara shore
COAST MOUNTAINS.
Having dwelt thus much on the character and age of the several ranges known as the Coast Mountains, it only remains to notice somewhat in detail their direction or trend. A few of these ranges are not continuous, but drop down into high rolling land for a few miles, rising up again and pursuing the same direction. This is very common in the granite ranges. Some of the serpentine ranges have their continuity only indicated by an elevated butte, which may be connected by the compass with its congener several iniles apart. It is probable that at a former period these chains were more connected as a whole, and have since suffered from the effect of exten- sive denudations, their detritus forming the local con-
2
7
1500
245
GEOLOGY.
glomerates. The ranges may be enumerated in the order commencing at the last and passing westward; thus the range most eastward would be
DIVISION I .- GRANITIC.
GROUP I .- Gavilan, or Monte Diablo Range. This forms the boundary between Tulare Valley and the coast. It may be traced from the Agua de Paleta, near the Cañada de las Uvas, to the Gavilan Peak, in Monterey County, southeast of the bay. In its course it forms the eastern limit of Estero Plain, the elevated land of Car- risa and Panza, and the eastern border of the Salinas Valley. It is a coarse feldspathic granite in its northern, and porphyritic in the southern terminations. Its gen- eral direction, north 45° west.
GROUP 2 .- San Emidio, San José, Point Pinos. These three series of mountains lie in the same direction and have the same mineral characters. Very lofty in the south, where they give rise to the Santa Maria River; they form the eastern boundary of its valley, assist in giv- ing rise to the west fork of the Salinas, from the eastern boundary of Santa Margarita Valley. North of the Mis- sion San Miguel they lie on the west side of the Salinas, where, as the Point Pinos Mountains, the northern ter- mination occurs at Monterey Bay. The course of the whole chain is about north 47° west. Granite, with epi- dote, adularia, and a serpentine paste intermingled with flesh-colored feldspar.
DIVISION 2 .- (Serpentine and Trachyte.)
GROUP 3 .- Santa Lucia Range, the longest and most elevated chain possessing this mineral character, may be traced from the head-waters of the San Buenaventura River to Punto Gordo, on the coast of Monterey County. Through a great portion of its extent it forms the west boundary of the valley of the Santa Maria River, sepa- rates Santa Margarita and San Luis Obispo Valleys, and is lost by running into the ocean further north at Punto Gordo. Direction, north 46° west. Serpentine, trap, amygdaloid, trachyte.
GROUP 4 .- The buttes of San Luis Valley, San Rafael Hills, near Mission Creek; the Sierra at Carpenteria, and the protrusions at Rincon, on Santa Barbara shore, are points all in one line, north 48° west. Serpentine, trachytic lava.
GROUP 5 .- Another series of buttes and low hills, extending from Corral de Piedras, San Luis County, by mouth of Arroyo Grande, near Nipomo Rancho, and the range at the head of Guadalupe Largo. Further south the volcanic rock may be traced into the Santa Inez Range, above San Marcus, and runs into the sea four miles south of the town of Santa Barbara. Direction, north 47º west. Trachytic porphyry, amygdaloid, tra- chyte.
GROUP 6 .- First seen near Camp Nineteen, then at head of Rancho de los Alamos, and at San Marcus Pass, where it runs towards the pueblo of Santa Barbara. This is one of the least clearly marked ranges; direction, north 47° west. Serpentine, trachytic lava.
GROUP 7 .- Punto Sal, Rancho Todos Santos, Alamos Hills, Camps Twenty-one and Twenty-four, on Arroyo Honda, near Ortega's Rancho. Directions, north 48º west. Serpentine, talcose clays.
GROUP 8 .- An indistinct line of force observed west of Sal-si-Puedes Rancho, at mouth of Santa Inez River, and lying seven miles east of Point Concepcion.
BITUMEN OF SAN LUIS VALLEY.
This deposit is situated about four miles southwest of the village of San Luis Obispo, along the road leading
down the river to the port. The road, as it leaves the valley, passes between a series of low hills, which cut off the valley from the shore. About half a mile below the ranch, Corral de Piedras, which is located close to the edge of the valley, the asphalt is met with in situ. The rock is a fine quartzose sandstone of a brownish color, and decaying under the finger, darker on the surface than inside, and forming a pepper-gray colored soil; this bed is not fossiliferous. The strike, north seventy de- grees west, crosses the road, the rock dipping southwest twenty degrees. The bitumen here oozes out from the rock fissures, and is spread over a space of 350 yards from the creek; one opening has a basin diameter of thirty inches; eight inches below the surface is the well of bitumen, which rises and flows over the edge, cours- ing down toward the creek in a small stream, which solidifies some distance below, forming a layer of pitchy hardness, over which the fresher outflow wends its way. Another spring, twenty inches in diameter, resembles the former, being a hole in the superficial sand rock. This well has the bitumen in a more fluid condition; a six-foot pole was pushed down through the center of this fluid mass, and found its way readily until, from its pliancy, it no longer resisted pressure. The liquid hard- ened readily at the edges of the spring, and on the soil around, which is partially liquified by the mid-day sun, rendering it plastic, but not fluid. A third spring close by gave off carbureted hydrogen, which was inflamed and burned brilliantly, but unsteadily, owing to the insuf- ficient supply. During its combustion a distinct gurg- ling sound was heard, noticeable twenty yards off, show- ing that the superficial spring was in communication with underground chambers, partly filled with air, and partly with fluid, through which the gas, bubbling in its passage through to the external air, produced those gurg- ling noises. In this well the bitumen appears to have varying levels; thus, upon one day it was found within three inches of the edge of the well; in visiting two days afterward it was found five inches lower down. Probably the gaseous pressure of the lower chamber made the fluid assume a higher level. These springs, four in number, are all found on the north side of the creek; on the south side the same sandstone rises in a hill nearly 400 feet high, at the base of which the creek cuts a channel forty feet long, twenty feet deep, and six feet wide, having a natural look. Still further to the north, in the dry bed of a small creek, a large accumu- lation of solid asphalt is found, in places four feet in depth by twelve feet wide. On following these up 120 paces the upper limit was reached, but no spring or well appeared. A thin shelf of sandstone stretched from this on the creek; on following the exposed edges of which, the bitumen was observed to ooze from between the lamina of deposition of the rock, which here is of a darker tint than the beds higher up or lower down. There is no tilt or apparent rupture of the strata at this point, nor any evidence of igneous rock in the vicinity. The whole area of the surface occupied by the spring and overflowed by the deposits might be about thirty acres. The springs are collected together in an area of 200 yards, close to the road and the creek.
BITUMEN OF NIPOMO RANCHO.
This ranch is built upon a terrace of white sand, from twelve to fifteen feet deep, below which is the white clay rock, a stratum superior to that described as the asphal- tic rock of San Luis Valley. Trappean rock is found northeast of the ranch, about 500 yards distant, toward the foot-hills of the Coast Range. The overflow of asphalt is very limited; there are no distinct wells or springs, the mineral appearing to be forced up through the seams of the strata. The strata dip southwest.
246
HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXVIII. MINES OF SAN LUIS OBISPO.
Antiquity of Mining-The First Steps in Mining-Pre-American Gold Discoveries-The Mineral Wealth of San Luis Obispo- San Simeon Coal Mining Company-Quicksilver Discoveries- Great Mining Excitement in Cambria-The Gold Mines of La Panza-Our Placer Mines-Gold Mines of San Luis Obispo- Gold on the Beach-Mining History by P. A. Forrester-Quick- silver-Cinnabar in San Luis Obispo-Pine Mountain Mines- The San Jose Mines-The Chief of Quicksilver Mines-The Oceanic Mining Company-New Bodies of Ore-Chromium -Chromeca Reduction Works-Claims Bonded-Silica Pol- ishing Rock-The Pacific Mines-Asphaltum-Gold-Silver -Lime-Iron-Copper-Gypsum- Alabaster-Onyx- Salt- Beds of Asphaltum-A Rich Mine.
THE history of mining is coeval with the earliest civ- ilization on the earth. Far beyond all written history is the history of the rocks, of caves in the earth, of mounds built by human hands, and of tombs. These simply tell us that in some remote period of unde- fined time, man lived, and in successive ages of develop- ment used implements of stone and then of metal to aid the work of his hands. Few of the metals that are abundant and of use can remain in a pure state through unnumbered years. Copper, tin, and gold exist pure in nature, and these would be the first to be utilized by man, but the gold being in small quantities, and not equal in usefulness in the manufacture of weapons or other implements, would be most neglected by the sav- age. In caves, tombs, and mounds, are found imple- ments of bronze, and archæologists have given the name of the "Bronze Age" to the period when the first miners lived. Quite an advanced stage of civilization must exist when metals are mined and manipulated, and un- doubtedly writing of some character soon followed. In our own time is seen man in the various ages of devel- opment, from the era of the "Stone Age." The Indian, as he was originally found in California and Nevada, liv- ing in a country abounding in minerals and metals in their pure state, was literally of the "Stone Age." The Indians of Mexico, at the period of the Spanish Con- quest, were so far advanced as to make slight use of gold as ornaments, and copper in use, but it is disputed and doubtful if they had ever mined for silver, or had the knowledge to extract it from its ores, although the romancists who accompanied or followed Cortez, told of a high civilization and an abundance of silver. The oldest written history speaks familiarly of gold and silver as money and ornaments, and of iron and brass in vari- ous uses. Mining and the refining of metals were arts practiced before the days of Abraham, and the exact pe- riod when the discoveries of the methods of converting the ores into useful metals is lost in the obscurity of past and unrecorded time.
THE FIRST STEPS IN MINING.
During the last quarter of the eighteenth century, while great activity existed and rapid advance was made in the study of chemistry and mineralogy in Europe, almost nothing was accomplished in the United States. There were no text-books to aid the inquirer nor collec-
tions of minerals to stimulate the student. The first step in the science of mineralogy, says Prof. Geo. J. Bush, was in 1798, in the formation of the American Mineralogical Society in New York. It announced as its object, "The Investigation of the Mineral and Fossil Bodies which compose the Fabric of the. Globe, and more especially for the Natural and Chemical History of the Minerals and Fossils of the United States." A com- mittee of the society issue la circular "earnestly soliciting their fellow-citizens to communicate to them orr all min- eralogical subjects, but especially on the following," viz .:---
I. Concerning the stones suitable to be manufactured into gun-flints; where are they found? And in what quantity ?
2. Concerning native brimstone or sulphur, or the waters or minerals whence it may be extracted.
3. Concerning saltpeter; where (if at all) found native? Are the soils which produce it in the United States?
4. Concerning mines and ores of lead; in what places? The situation? How wide the vein? In what kind of rock is it imbedded?
The special inquiry was for war material entirely, but other minerals were also called for, the society promising to analyze them, reserving specimens for exhibition. Such were the first steps in the development of mineral- ogy in the United States. In 1818 Professor Silliman, of Yale College, wrote: "Notwithstanding the laudable efforts of a few gentlemen to excite some taste for miner- alogy, so little had been effected in forming collections, in kindling curiosity and diffusing information, that only fifteen years since (1803) it was a matter of extreme dif- ficulty to obtain among ourselves even the names of the most common stones and minerals." This ignorance pervaded all classes. Enlightenment proceeded slowly. A few wealthy individuals and occasionally a college · professor had paid the subject some attention, but gener- ally the people were as ignorant of mines and minerals in 1848, when gold was discovered in California, as when Professor Silliman had declared the fact.
PRE-AMERICAN GOLD DISCOVERIES.
A work was published in London, England, in the year 1818, by Mr. Philipps, entitled "Lectures on Miner_ alogy," where it is stated that gold is found in large lumps deposited in the soil, a few inches from the surface, in California. This is found throughout an extensive district bordering on the sea in that country. Among American documents, the most entitled to consideration in this matter is a publication at Boston, in 1822, which states that Mr. Ellis, a merchant in that city, had ob- tained from California a mass of gold and quartz of con- siderable amount. Again, in the year 1830, Alfred Robinson, also a merchant of Boston, received $10,000 worth of gold in lumps. Prior to this latter date, and in the year 1832, Capt. John Bradshaw took home some $18,000 from this coast to his employer, Capt. Joseph Peabody, of Salem, Massachusetts, for whom he had been engaged in trading in the Pacific during many years. His present residence is in the town of Beverly, Massachusetts. Captain Bradshaw is well known to the older residents of the southern portion of California, and
247
MINES OF SAN LUIS OBISPO.
the buildings erected by him for curing of hides and furs, are still standing on the Island of Santa Catalina, and known as Bradshaw's Fort.
These discoveries and shipments of gold from Califor- nia, of which there were many in fact and many in fable, prior to the acquisition of the country by the United States, were from the southern part of the State, from the placers of the San Gabriel, Santa Clara, and San Francis- quito, Piru, and other streams of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties, and from the Cuyamaca and other mountains of San Diego, where mines still exist. But the discovery, which set the world ablaze, was made by Marshall, in 1848, which has been told in the early pages of this book.
THE MINERAL WEALTH OF SAN LUIS OBISPO.
The county of San Luis Obispo from its earliest his- tory has ranked as pre-eminently pastoral and agricultural, and its development in those industries has brought it to the front rank in productiveness and wealth in propor- tion to its population. With the fertile and everlasting soil, the favorable position for receiving the winter rains, and the genial climate, these resources will continue per- petually, improving with development under the inereas- ing intelligence of the people. But to these are added mineral resources of an extraordinary character. It seems presumptuous for the chief of the "cow coun- ties" to claim a prominent place in the list of "mining counties," but an examination of this resource shows the fact to have been established by the developments of the past, with promises of greater importance in the future.
"Iron is heaped in mountain piles, And gluts the laggard forges; But gold-flakes gleam in dim defiles And lonely gorges."
So wrote Holland, and of the useful iron and precious . gold poets love to sing; but it is not of those metals that San Luis Obispo boasts her wealth, although both are found in her limits, and the mining of gold is one of her industries. In the review of the geology of the county the rocks are shown to be such as are most favorable for many classes of the most valuable and useful minerals.
In the extreme sense the word mineral includes every inorganic substance flowing from or taken out of the earth, as springs or wells of water, clay for bricks, sand for mortar or glass, etc .; but in a more limited applica- tion of the term it refers to metals and metalliferous rocks; oil, salt and medicinal springs; sulphur and asphaltum beds, extending to silicious deposits, gypsum, onyx, ala- baster, and ledges of lime, and quarries of ornamental and building stone and kindred matters, but whether in the limited or extended sense San Luis Obispo can elaim its abundance of wealth of minerals. Tradition says the missionary fathers obtained large quantities of gold, sil- ver, and lead, from mines within the region now com- prised in this county. However that may be, modern developments show a wealth of which the padres had no knowledge.
Baron Von Humboldt has said: "The influence of mines on the progressive cultivation of the country is more durable than they are themselves." This influence is
plainly shown in the impetus given to the settlement, prosperity, and cultivation of the soil in this county by the mining operations of 1862-63, and again by the quick- silver mining of 1872-73 and later. The good effect still remains. Agriculture being the most stable interest takes precedence; but there need be no conflict between them. The mineral wealth lies buried deep beneath the soil, and while the surface is furnishing its stores of food and clothing, the hidden rocks are yielding their varied treasures, neither interfering with the other, but both ren- dering mutual assistance. Above and below, agriculture and mining, these are the twin sisters of wealth, develop- ment and progress of which the county boasts.
The minerals of San Luis Obispo are alone sufficient to endow a county with great wealth were they the only resource. The list of those already known is long, while development indicates a greater variety and of promis- ing value. . Known to exist, are gold, silver, lead, copper, quicksilver, chromium, asphaltum, gypsum, onyx, silica, salt, sulphur, iron, lime, coal, alabaster, nickel, alum, and last, though not least in importance, the nu- merous hot and medicinal springs. To these might be added the wonderful fossils, particularly the ostrea titans, or gigantic oyster shells and other fossils found almost in mountain piles in several parts of the county.
The minerals mentioned are found throughout the State, but in San Luis Obispo several of them appear in more than usual wealth. The earliest period when the minerals were known or utilized it would be impossible to tell. The graves of the Indians show the application of asphaltum as a cement, and of cinnabar as a paint in the early ages of their existence, but those minerals were found on the surface and were not the product of mining. The Spanish people carried on few great enterprises, and no marks of their mining remain, although gold- dust and silver bullion were articles of commerce many years ago, as shown by the bill of lading published in the biography of Capt. Wm. G. Dana. The explorers of the Pacific Railroad route in 1854, report gold min- ing in the Coast Range west of the Salinas. The exist- ence of gold in the San José Mountains has long been known.
SAN SIMEON COAL MINING COMPANY.
Coal is mentioned as one of the minerals of the county, although few are aware of its existence. This mineral was discovered on the beach at San Simeon in 1863, by WVm. Leffingwell, who mined and used it in blacksmith- ing. Mr. C. B. Rutherford, now of Oakland, then a re- sident of the county and a gentlemen full of energy and enterprise, observing the outcrop of the coal vein and that the coal was used to some purpose, obtained an interest in the location and organized the San Simeon Coal Mining Company for its development. This was the first mining company ever incorporated for the working of mines in San Luis Obispo County. The outcrop of the vein was two feet in width, and was mostly covered by water at high tide. A shaft was sunk to a depth of about 100 feet, where the vein was found to have dwindled to a mere seam, and the mining was abandoned.
Shortly after a coal mining excitement was aroused by
.
248
HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
the discovery near San Simeon of a substance which was called white coal, and which burned fiercely. This dis- covery was made by a Mexican who was prospecting for other minerals. The substance proved to be a species of shale saturated with petroleum. After burning the rock appeared the same in color and dimensions as be- fore, and the discoverers were much puzzled to decide what it was. The same rock is referred to in the geolog- ical survey of the State and by others, and is probably valuable for gas making and other purposes.
COPPER MINING.
To find war material was the first encouragement given to mineralogy in the United States, flints for gun locks and lead for bullets, following the Revolutionary War, and again the great War of the Rebellion, set people to searching for copper, which was largely used in the man- ufacture of war material. In 1862 began the great cop- per-mining furor in California, encouraged by the high price of the metal, and the enormous wealth obtained from the copper mines of Copperopolis, in Calaveras County. In the opening of the copper mines of San Luis Obispo, Mr. Rutherford, who had organized the coal mining company, was active. The Green Elephant and the North Mexican were among the promising copper mines of 1863. Much copper was obtained and smelted in the neighborhood of the mines, and ore was shipped to San Francisco.
QUICKSILVER DISCOVERIES.
While the miners were busy prospecting for copper in 1862, a Mexican made a discovery of rich cinnabar, or quicksilver-bearing ore, in the mountains west of San Simeon. This created a new excitement, and a company was organized to develop the property, or to dispose of it to capitalists. Messrs. C. B. Rutherford and Walter Murray became the owners of a large share of the stock, and the former was dispatched to San Francisco to effect a sale. Thinking the most probable purchasers would be the owners of the New Almaden Mine, he called on some of the principal men of that company, Messrs. Davenport & Polhemus, told his story and exhibited his specimens, at the same time urging the necessity of great secrecy until the negotiations should be closed and the transfer made. The sale of a majority of the stock was concluded for the sum of $25,000, and an addition of $20,000 to Rutherford and Murray when they made the transfer. Not being then able to transfer the majority it was necessary to delay matters until further arrangements could be made. In the meantime the facts of the dis- covery leaked out, and Messrs. Bolton, Barron & Co., the former owners of the New Almaden, chartered the steamer Senator, and, hastening to San Luis Obispo, made a purchase of the controlling interest in the mine, leaving out the ambitious negotiators. This was the celebrated Josephine Mine, which is further noticed in Mr. Forrester's account of the mines.
GREAT MINING EXCITEMENT IN CAMBRIA.
In 1871 more discoveries were made, which are re-
ferred to in the following from the Tribune, of Novem- ber 18th, of that year :---
Our neighbors in the usually quiet town of Cambria are in the midst of an intense mining excitement. Some six months ago a man named Haskins was prospecting in the region known as the Pine Buttes, some eleven miles from Cambria, for a site for a saw-mill. Being an old miner, his attention was attracted to certain out- croppings on the side of a mountain, and he forthwith commenced exploring in true miner style. His research was soon rewarded by promising traces of quicksilver and streaks of fine-looking cinnabar. With a few speci- mens he returned to Cambria, and niade known the fact of his discovery to some of the solid men of that burgh, who organized a company, raised some funds, and started Haskins back to his claim with tools and supplies. Sat- isfied that a lead of cinnabar ran through the mountains, Mr. Haskins explored for it from time to time. Last week his perseverance was rewarded by a "strike," and he returned to town with quite a large number of rich specimens. His discovery created a furor, and a rush was incontinently made to the Pine Bluffs, and locations have been staked out all along the line of the lead for a great distance. To-day (Saturday) there will be a meet- ing in Cambria for the purpose of organizing a mining district, and adopting such laws and rules and regulations as are usual in like cases. By the next steamer, a trusty agent will be dispatched to San Francisco with samples of the ore for thorough assay, and arrangements will be made by him to procure such machinery and retorts as will be necessary to place the quicksilver mines in the way of working out the problem of their own value. We understand that one pound of ore from these mines was placed in a common retort this week, and yielded one ounce of pure quicksilver. Let us hope that the Pine Buttes discovery will turn out well, and that another New Almaden will be developed in that portion of our county. Quicksilver prospects in this region are cer- tainly looking up finely.
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