Commercial production for 1914, giving it fiftieth place, was as fol Location: East central portion of the State northernmost of the Mother Lode counties. El Dorado County, which marks the spot where gold was first discovered in California, comes thirty-ninth on the list of counties ranked according to the value of their total mineral production during the year 1914. The principal mineral resources of this section, many of them undeveloped, are: Asbestos, barytes, chromite, clay, copper, gems, gold, iron, molybdenum, limestone, quartz crystals, quicksilver, sand-glass, slate, soapstone, silver, and stone industry. Commercial production for 1914 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 1914 of seven mineral substances with a total value of $7,484,231, a decrease from the reported 1913 production, which was worth $8,438,810. 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 stone industry. Commercial production for 1914 was as follows: Glenn County, standing forty-seventh, 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 traces of chromite, copper, manganese, sandstone, and soapstone have been found. Commercial production for 1914 was as follows: Miscellaneous stone Substance Value $30,553 Humboldt. Area: 3,634 square miles. Population: 33,857 (1910 census). Location: Northwestern portion of State, bordering on Pacific Ocean. 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 stone industry. Five mineral substances, as shown by the table given below, having a total value of $233,574, were produced in 1914, as compared with the 1913 output, worth $471,052. Humboldt ranks thirty-fourth among the counties of the State for the year. Population: 30,000 (estimated by board of supervisors). During 1914 Imperial County produced four mineral substances having a total value of $239,140, as compared with the 1913 output, worth $95,054. Its rank is thirty-third, and the substantial increase is due to gold, resulting from the reopening of mines at Ogilby. This county contains large undeveloped deposits of gold, gypsum, lead, marble, salt, and silver. Commercial production for 1914 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 ancient lake beds of Death Valley saline deposits of all kinds exist. Inyo's mineral production during the year 1914 reached a value of $2,091,362, the county standing eleventh 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, quicksilver, salt, silver, soapstone, soda, sulphur, tungsten, and zinc. Commercial production for 1914 was as follows: Population: 55,000 (estimated by board of supervisors). Kern County, because of its immense productive oil fields, stands pre-eminent among all counties of California in the value of its mineral output, the exact figures for 1914 being $28,047,957. This is larger by more than nineteen million dollars than the succeeding county on the list. This figure also exceeds the value of the total gold output of the entire State by approximately $7,000,000. The 1913 mineral output for the county was worth $28,406,193. Among the mineral resources, developed and undeveloped, of this section are: Antimony, asbestos, asphalt, barytes, borax, brick, clay, copper, fuller's earth, gems, gold, gypsum, iron, lead, limestone, magnesite, marble, mineral paint, natural gas, petroleum, potash, salt, silver, soapstone, soda, sulphur, and tungsten. 7-18655 Area: 1,159 square miles. Population: 16,230 (1910 census). Location: South central portion of State. Little development has taken place in Kings County along mineral lines to date. Deposits of fuller's earth, gypsum, mineral paint, natural gas and quicksilver, of undetermined extent, have been found in the county. In fifty-third place, commercial production for 1914 was as follows: Area: 1,278 square miles. Population: 5,526 (1910 census). Location: About fifty miles north of San Francisco Bay and the same distance inland from the Pacific Ocean. On account of its topography and natural beauties, Lake County is sometimes referred to as the Switzerland of America. The mineral resources which exist here are many and varied, actual production being comparatively small, as shown by the table below. Some of the leading minerals found in this section are borax, chromite, clay, gems, gypsum, mineral water, quicksilver, and sulphur. |