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Pyrolusite.-Red Island, Bay of San Francisco, in vein or bed 3' to 4' wide, in the metamorphic jaspery shales-the "prasoid" rocks. This is a remarkably pure ore of manganese, and has been extensively mined for shipment.

Pyrophyllite occurs in the gold region; locality not known.

Pyroxene.-In fine crystals, dark green, near Mud springs, Eldorado

county.

Pyromorphite, (phosphate of lead.)-In Nevada, in the outcrops of the Comstock lode, especially the back ledges of the Ophir ground, giving green coats and crusts on the surface of the quartz.

Pyrrhotine, (magnetic pyrites.)—Mariposa county, at the Iona Copper Company's tunnel, north side of the Merced river, on the trail from Bear valley to Coulterville.

Quartz. This abundant mineral is obtained in fine crystals in the quartz veins in various parts of the State, and in the mines of Washoe. Some large and well-formed crystals, from three to four inches or more in diameter, have been found at Red Hill, in Placer county, (cabinet of C. W. Smith, Grass valley,) and in the placer claims in the vicinity of Placerville, where, also, a fine large crystal of smoky quartz was found. Mariposa county, on Whitlock's and Shirlock's creeks, in the quartz veins, in fine groups of crystals; also at the Mariposa mine, and in the eastern parts of the Princeton vein. Calaveras county, at the Noble claim, on Domingo creek. Nevada county, in the Grass Valley mines, often supporting gold between the crystals, and at the "French lode," (Eureka?) crystals of a light greenish tinge, like that of datholite.

Red oxide of copper occurs sparingly in thin crusts and sheets with the surface ores of the principal copper mines in Calaveras county, especially the Union and Keystone. In Mariposa county, at La Victoire mine, with green and blue carbonates of copper. Del Norte county, at the Evoca, Alta, and other mines, in very good cabinet specimens, the cavities being lined with crystals. In Plumas county, and in the upper parts of most of the copper veins of the State. Arizona, at the Arizona Copper-Mining Company's claim, near the Gila river, in large masses, with native copper and thin crusts of green carbonate. At the claim known as No. 15, Yavapais district, with native copper. Ruby silver, (pyrargyrite.)—This beautiful ore of silver was first discovered in the Daney mine, Washoe, by the writer, in eighteen hundred and sixtyone, and has since been found sparingly in the Ophir and the Gould & Curry. In the latter mine some very fine specimens were obtained by Mr. Strong, and are deposited in the cabinet of the company, at the office in Virginia City. This ore is abundant in the veins about Austin, Reese river, and is often so thoroughly spread through the quartz of the gangue as to give it a decided reddish color. It is generally associated with sulphuret of silver. No good crystals have yet been found.

Salt-rock salt.—Abundant in the dry season as an incrustation throughout California. Found in large quantities in Nevada, in the beds of desiccated lakes at numerous places. About twelve miles north of Armagosa mine, in large masses. In the Wasatch mountains, southeast of Lake Timpanogos, on the headwaters of a small creek tributary to Utah lake, in thick strata of red clay. (Frémont's Geog. Mem., 67.) This is said to be the same locality mentioned by Father Escalante in his journal, and noted by Humboldt on his map as Montagnes de Sel Gemme." Salt crystallizes from the spray of the waters of the Great Salt Lake, and is found abundantly on its shores, and on twigs and shrubs. The Great Salt Lake is a saturated solution of common salt. The shores in the dry season are incrusted with salt, and shallow arms of the lake present beds of salt for miles. Plants and shrubs are incrusted to a thickness of an inch or more with crystallized salt deposited by the spray. Five gallons of the water taken in the month of September, and evaporated by Colonel Fré

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mont over a fire, gave fourteen pints of salt, which analysis showed to have the following proportions (Frémont's Memoir, 9 :)

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Schorl, (see Tourmaline.)-Selenite.-In beautiful stellar crystallizations on the crossing of the Little Truckee, Henness Pass road. The blades composing these aggregates are from half an inch to two inches in length, and from one-eighth to one quarter of an inch in width. They are perfectly clear, and most of them hemitroped so as to form arrow-headed crystals. (Cabinet of C. W. Smith.)

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Selenid of mercury—In large masses from the vicinity of Clear lake. Silver, native.-This metal, in its native state, is rare in the State of California. At Silver Mountain district (formerly Eldorado county) it occurs in the decomposed surface ores. Los Angeles county, in the decomposed parts of the Maris vein, Soledad, covering surfaces of syenite. Sonora, at the celebrated Planchas de la Plata, just south of the Arizona line, and near the meridian of Tubac. According to the best Mexican and Jesuit authorities, large masses of native silver were discovered there in 1769. One mass is reported to have weighed three thousand six hundred pounds. No vein has been found; the deposit is a placer. (Pumpelly.) (Pumpelly.) Nevada Nevada Story county, in the Comstock lode, in filaments, and matted, hairy masses-"wire silver," usually closely associated with silver glance and stephanite. At the Burning Moscow claim (Ophir) some large masses of ore were taken out in 1864 completely charged with the metal. Occurs also at the Daney mine, with native gold and sulphuret of silver. Lander county, in the veins about Austin, associated with the surface ores, such as the chloride and bromide of silver, and green and blue carbonates of copper. Idaho Territory, in large masses at the "Poor Man's lode," or Candle-box mine," where it was said. the lumps of silver were as large as candle boxes. That a great quantity of large masses of the metal was taken out there is no doubt. It is common in the silver lodes of the Owyhee, and is usually very filamentous and finely divided and embedded in granular quartz.

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Silver, (telluret of)-A single specimen was obtained by the author in 1854, near Georgetown, in Eldorado county. It had been washed out from the gold drift, and the parent vein has never been found.—(Rep. Geol. Rec. Cal., 302.)

Smoky quartz.-A large crystal about six inches in diameter, from Placer county, and in the cabinet of Dr. White, Placerville.

Sphene. In small hair-brown crystals in the granite of the Sierra Nevada. Stephanite, (brittle sulphuret of silver.)-Very fine crystals of stephanite were obtained from the Ophir and Mexican mines, Nevada, soon after they were opened. These crystals were from half an inch to two inches in length, but were generally imperfectly formed. They greatly resemble the crystallizations of vitreous copper from the Bristol mine in Connecticut. A large collection of these was made by R. L. Ogden in 1859 and 1860, and were noticed by the writer in the Mining Magazine. They are now more rare, but have been found in nearly all the principal claims upon the Comstock lode. Some very good specimens were taken from the Gould & Curry, preserved in the cabinet. by C. L. Strong, in 1864 They are frequently implanted among quartz crystals in nests or geodes, and are covered with a hairy growth of wire silver. Crystals of silver ore.from Silver Mountain district are probably this species. Stibnite.-Tulare county, in a large vein near the Pass of San Amédio H. Ex. Doc. 29———14

(vide Rep. Geol. Rec Cal., pp. 292-3.) It occurs in large, solid masses, boulders of which are numerous in the beds of the arroyos leading from the vein. In Nevada, at or near the Gem mine, Dunglen; at the Sheba mine, in beautiful needle-like crystals, and at the De Soto and other mines in that vicinity; in Russ district, Great Basin.

Stroymeyerite.-Arizona. Heintzelman mine.

Sulphur.-Colusa county; Napa county, at the Geysers. In Nevada, in extinct solfataras, Humboldt valley.

Sulphuret of silver-Nevada, Comstock lode; occurs with stephanite in the Ophir, Mexican, Gould & Curry, and other mines upon that line of claims. It is also present in the ore of the vein at Gold Hill, and appears to be the chief source of the silver in those ores. It has not been observed in crystals. In the large chamber of the Ophir mine, in eighteen hundred and sixty-one, it was very abundant, in irregular masses ramifying through the fragmentary white quartz so as to hold it together in hand specimens. Large masses of vein-stuff could be broken down, in which the sulphuret of silver constituted at least half of the whole weight. Native gold was commonly associated with it in that part of the mine. It is now more frequently found associated with copper pyrites and galena. This species is also found in small crystals in the ore of the Daney mine, associated with native silver, gold, and ruby silver. It is common in the ores of Reese river, associated with ruby silver and manganese spar. It is probably the chief ore of silver in the Cortez district.

Sulphuret of iron-(See Iron pyrites.)

Telluret of silver.-El Dorado county. (See Silver.)

Tetrahedrite, (gray copper.)-Mariposa county, with the gold in the Pine Tree vein; also with the gold in the same or similar vein at the Crown lode, Emily Peak, and at Coulterville in several claims. Calaveras county, at Carson Hill, in the large vein, and associated with gold. This ore, in decomposing, leaves a blue stain of carbonate in the quartz, and where it is found the rock is generally rich in gold. In Nevada it occurs abundantly in the Sheba mine, Humboldt county, massive and rich in silver. It is associated with the following species, which were noted from time to time by Mr. Moss, the superintendent, and in part by the author: Ruby silver, argentiferous galena, antimonial galena, iron pyrites, blende, cerusite, calcite, quartz with acicular antimony, sulphuret of antimony in delicate needles and massive native silver, bournouite. Found also in Lander county, with the silver ores of the veins near Austin; at the Comet lode, Veatch cañon, south of Austin. Los Angeles county—at the Zapata claim, San Gabriel mountains. Arizona-at the Heintzelman mine, containing from one to one and a half per cent. of silver. (Pumpelly.) Also, at the Santa Rita mine, associated with galena.

Tellurium and gold, (tetradymite?)-At the Melones and Stanislaus mines, one mile south of Carson Hill, Calaveras county. Very beautiful specimens of native gold, associated with tellurium, were taken out of a vein from six to eighteen inches thick, and at a depth of two hundred feet from the surface. This telluret has a tin-white color, and is not foliated like the tetradymite from the Field vein in Georgia. Its exact specific character is not yet determined.

Tin ore, (oxyd of tin.)—(See Cassiterite.)

Topaz. In clear, colorless crystals, finely terminated, from one-eighth of an inch to half an inch in diameter, found in the tin washings of Durango, Mexico. (Cabinet of the author, 1864.) Noticed by C. F. Chandler, American Journal of Science, 1865.

Tourmaline.-San Diego county, north side of the valley of San Felipe, in feldspathic veins, (for description and figures see Rep. Geol. Rec. Cal., Blake, p. 304;) Tuolumne county.

Tremolite.-White and fibrous in limestone, Columbia, Tuolumne county.

Tungstate of manganese.-With tungstate of lime, in the Mammoth mining district, Nevada. (C. T. Jackson, Proc. Cal. Acad., iii, 199.)

Variegated copper ore, (" Horseflesh ore.")—Sigel lode, in Plumas county. Vitreous copper.-(See Copper Glance.)

Zinc.-(See Blende.)

Principal public and private mineralogical and geological collections in California, known to the author.

I.-PUBLIC COLLECTIONS.

STATE GEOLOGICAL COLLECTION-Sacramento and San Francisco; not arranged, and in part destroyed by fire in eighteen hundred and sixty-five, at the Pacific warehouse.

STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY's-At Sacramento; partly in cases, but not classified or arranged.

SAN JOAQUIN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-At Stockton; collected chiefly by Dr. Holden; not large, nor well arranged.

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES-At San Francisco; not arranged; in boxes, and stored, awaiting a suitable room or building for their display. This collection was made in great part by and through the exertions of Dr. J. G. Trask, and has many valuable specimens taken from our mines soon after their discovery.

COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA-At Oakland. A collection of minerals and fossils of California; partly arranged.

SANTA CLARA COLLEGE. (No particulars known.)

ODD FELLOWS' LIBRARY ASSOCIATION-At San Francisco. A valuable miscellaneous collection of minerals, ores, fossils, and curiosities, chiefly the donation of the members of the Order; arranged in cases, at the Hall. The Order is indebted, chiefly, for this valuable addition to their rooms, to the zeal and enthusiasm of their president, S. H. Parker, esq.

OCCIDENTAL HOTEL-Lewis Leland, San Francisco. A collection containing many very choice and valuable specimens of ores and precious metals of the Pacific coast.

II.--PRIVATE COLLECTIONS.

W. P. BLAKE—At San Francisco and Oakland. A collection of minerals, ores, geological specimens, and fossils, from California, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Mexico, the eastern States, Japan, and China, with some European minerals. About sixty boxes of this collection were destroyed in the Pacific warehouse, by fire, in eighteen hundred and sixty-five. A portion, stored at the college and elsewhere, was uninjured. It is now partly in boxes, and partly in cases, in San Francisco, and at the College of California, Oakland. There are probably five thousand to six thousand specimens, a great part of them selected by the owner at the localities. It contains a valuable and extensive suit of crystalline gold.

Dr. J. M. FREY-Sacramento. A large and valuable miscellaneous collection of Pacific coast minerals, including a fine suit of gold in crystals. Arranged in part, in cases, in Sacramento.

Dr. JOHN HEWSTON, Jr.-San Francisco. Miscellaneous collection.

Dr. JONES-Murphy's, Calaveras county. A miscellaneous collection, chiefly local.

A. P. MOLITOR-San Francisco. Miscellaneous collection.

R. L. OGDEN-San Francisco. A miscellaneous collection of copper and gold ores. A large collection made by this gentleman up to eighteen hundred and sixty-one, was purchased by W. P. Blake, in eighteen hundred and sixty-one.

AUGUSTE RÉMOND-San Francisco. (No particulars known.)

Dr. SNELL-Sonora, Tuolumne county. A rich and valuable collection of fossils and aboriginal relics from the auriferous gravel under Table mountain, and of minerals and ores from that region. This is the richest collection of relics of the mastodon and the mammoth in California.

T. J. SPEAR-San Francisco; formerly at Georgetown, in eighteen hundred and sixty-two and three. A small miscellaneous collection, which included an ammonite, from the gold slates of the American river; valuable to science as one of the evidences of the secondary age of the gold-bearing rocks of California. Dr. STOUT-San Francisco. A miscellaneous collection of Eastern and European specimens, arranged in cases.

C. W. SMITH-Grass valley, Nevada county. An interesting collection, arranged in cases, and containing some choice specimens from the mines of Grass valley.

Dr. WHITE-Placerville, El Dorado county. A miscellaneous collection, containing many interesting specimens from that region,,and some foreign mine- ́ rals, by exchange.

W. R. WATERS-Sacramento. ores, arranged in case.

Miscellaneous collection of minerals and

Notes on the geographical distribution and geology of the precious metals and valuable minerals on the Pacific slope of the United States.

If we attempt to delineate by colors upon a map the geographical distribution of the gold, silver, copper, and quicksilver localities of the Pacific slope, we obtain a series of nearly parallel belts or zones, following the general course or trend of the mountain chains and of the coast. So, also, if we enter the Golden Gate and travel eastward across the country to the Rocky mountains, we pass successively through zones or belts of country characterized mineralogically by different metals and minerals.

In the Coast mountains, for example, quicksilver is the chief, and the highly characteristic economical mineral. The localities of its ore are strung along the mountains through the counties north and south of the Golden Gate. We have also petroleum, sulphur, and calcareous springs, nearly coincident in their distribution. Passing from this grouping of minerals eastward over the coal beds of Mount Diablo, and crossing the great interior valley of California, (probably underlaid by lignite,) we rise upon the slope of the Sierra Nevada, and reach the copper-producing rocks. These form a well marked zone, which has been traced almost uninterruptedly from Mariposa to Oregon, following the lower hills of the Sierra Nevada.

East of the copper belt, (and in the central counties, over a chain of hills known as Bear mountains,") we find the great gold-bearing zone, characterized by lines of quartz ledges, following the mountains in their general northwesterly and southeasterly course. This gold belt is composite in its character-the veins traversing either slates, limestones, sandstones, or granite.

Crossing the snow-covered crest of the Sierra, where in some parts iron ores have been found, we leave the region of gold and enter that of silver, mingled with gold, extending up and down the interior eastern slope of the Sierra throughout California, into Arizona and Mexico on the south, and Idaho on the north.

At the Reese River mountains, further east, towards Salt Lake, the gold is replaced by silver, associated with copper, antimony, and arsenic; and this grouping is in its turn replaced by the gold-bearing sulphurets of the Rocky mountains. This is the general distribution of the precious metals. There are, doubtless, local exceptions.

It is evident that this distribution of the metals and minerals in zones has been determined by the nature of the rocky strata, and by their condition of

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