*Includes asbestos, fuller's earth, mineral paint, platinum and silica. COLUSA. Population: 7,732 (1910 census). Location: Sacramento Valley. Colusa County lies largely in the basin of the Sacramento Valley. Its western border, however, rises into the foothills of the Coast Range of mountains, and its mineral resources-to a great extent undeveloped -include coal, chromite, copper, gypsum, manganese, mineral water, pyrite, quicksilver, sandstone, miscellaneous stone, sulphur, and in some places traces of gold and silver. The value of the 1915 production was $16,003, a decrease from the 1914 figures of $32,251, giving it fifty-first place. Commercial production for 1915 was as follows: Contra Costa, like Alameda County, lies off the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay, and is not commonly considered among the mineralproducing counties of the state. It stands eighteenth on the list in this respect, however, with an output valued at $1,309,505 for the calendar year 1915. Various structural materials make up the chief items, including brick, cement, limestone, and miscellaneous stone. Among the others are asbestos, clay, coal, gypsum, manganese, mineral water and soapstone. Population: 2,417 (1910 census). Location: Extreme northwest corner of state. Del Norte rivals Alpine County in regard to inaccessibility. Like the latter county also, given transportation and kindred facilities, this portion of the state presents a wide field for development along mining lines especially. Its chief mineral resources, largely untouched, are chromite, copper, gems, gold, graphite, iron, platinum minerals, silver, and miscellaneous stone. Commercial production for 1915, giving it fifty-fourth place, was as follows: Location: East central portion of the state; northernmost of the El Dorado County, which marks the spot where gold was first discovered in California, comes thirtieth on the list of counties ranked according to the value of their total mineral production during the year 1915. In addition to the segregated figures here given, a large tonnage of limestone is annually shipped from El Dorado for use in cement manufacture, and whose value is included in the state total for cement. The mineral resources of this section, many of them undeveloped, include asbestos, barytes, chromite, clay, copper, gems, gold, iron, molybdenum, limestone, quartz crystals, quicksilver, glass-sand, slate, soapstone, silver and miscellaneous stone. Commercial production for 1915 was as follows: Area: 5,950 square miles. Population: 75,657 (1910 census). Location: South central portion of state. Fresno County, third in importance as a mineral producer among the counties of California, reported an output for 1915 of nine mineral substances, with a total value of $8,152,300, an increase over the reported 1914 production, which was worth $7,484,231. The great bulk of the above value is derived from the petroleum production of the Coalinga field. The mineral resources of this county are many, and, aside from crude oil, are far from being fully developed. They include asbestos, barytes, brick, chromite, copper, gems, gold, graphite, gypsum, iron, magnesite, natural gas, petroleum, quicksilver, silver, and miscellaneous stone. Commercial production for 1915 was as follows: GLENN. Glenn County, standing forty-eighth, owes its position among the mineral-producing counties of the state to the presence of large deposits of sand and gravel which are annually worked, the product being used for railroad ballast, etc. In the foothills in the western portion of the county, deposits of chromite, copper, manganese, sandstone, and soapstone have been found. Commercial production for 1915 was as follows: Area: 3,634 square miles. Population: 33,857 (1910 census). Location: Northwestern portion of state, bordering on Pacific Humboldt County is almost entirely mountainous, transportation within its limits being very largely by wagon road and trail, and until recently was reached from the outside world by steamer only. The county is rich in mineral resources, chief among which are brick, chromite, coal, clay, copper, gold, graphite, iron, mineral water, natural gas, petroleum, platinum, silver, and miscellaneous stone. Seven mineral substances, as shown by the table given below, having a total value of $358,686, were produced in 1915, as compared with the 1914 output, worth $233,574, the marked increase being due to the large amount of stone being used on the Eureka Harbor breakwater. Humboldt ranks thirty-second among the counties of the state for the year. Commercial production for 1915 was as follows: IMPERIAL. Area: 4,089 square miles. Population: 30,000 (estimated by board of supervisors). Location: Extreme southeast corner of the state. During 1915 Imperial County produced six mineral substances having a total value of $77,433, as compared with the 1914 output, worth $239,140. Its rank is forty-sixth. This county contains large undeveloped deposits of gold, gypsum, lead, marble, pumice, salt, and silver. Commercial production for 1915 was as follows: Location: Lies on eastern border of state, north of San Bernardino Inyo, the second largest county in the state, and containing less than one inhabitant per square mile, is extremely interesting from a mineralogical point of view. It is noted because of the fact that within its borders are located both the highest point, Mount Whitney (elevation 14,502 feet), and the lowest point, Death Valley (elevation 290 feet below sea level), in the United States. In the higher mountainous sections are found many vein-forming minerals, and in the lake beds of Death Valley saline deposits exist. Inyo's mineral production during the year 1915 reached a value of $2,771,042, the county standing ninth among the counties of the state in this respect. Its mineral resources include antimony, asbestos, barytes, bismuth, borax, copper, gems, gold, gypsum, lead, magnesite, marble, molybdenum, mineral water, nitre, platinum, pumice, quicksilver, salt, silver, soda, sulphur, talc, tungsten, and zinc. |