332 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVEKY. 



orado at the ferry below the fort. The ore is principally the red oxyd of cop- 

 per associated with the pure metal and green crusts of carbonate. The speci- 

 mens that I saw ought to yield about ninety per cent, of pure copper. This 

 is probably the ore that has recently excited so much attention in California, 

 and has been reported to be highly charged with gold. 



Antimony Tulare county. A large vein of the sulphuret of antimony (an- 

 timony glance) exists in the high granitic range that borders the "Tulare val- 

 ley on the south. It is about eighty miles from Los Angeles and is most readily 

 visited from the Tejon. By observations with the barometer, I found the 

 out-crop of this vein to be at an altitude of about 6000 feet above the 

 sea. It is on the side of a precipitous ridge of granite, and not favorably 

 situated for examination. Its thickness was estimated to be ten feet or more- 

 A steep chasm or channel extends from the top of the ridge to its base, and 

 is partially filled with rocks and the debris of the vein. Solid blocks of the 

 ore were found with this accumulation, having been broken out from the vein 

 above ; one of them was twenty-seven inches long and sixteen to eighteen 

 wide. 



The ore is associated with quartz, and where it has decomposed, an abund- 

 ance of antimony ocher is found, together with crystals of selenite. Speci- 

 mens of quartz traversed by long prismatic crystals of the ore were obtained. 



Chromic Iron Monterey county. Massive chrome ore of excellent quality 

 was shown me in San Francisco and reported to be from a short distance 

 south of the Mission of San Juan. It is an interesting fact that it is almost 

 identical in its appearance with the ore from "Wood's pit" in Maryland and 

 like it, is partly covered with green coats and crusts of emerald nickel. 



Salt. Salt is found in small quantities as an incrustation or efflorescence on 

 the soil along streams or on the margins of ponds in nearly all parts of Cali- 

 fornia. It appears to be most abundant in connection with the tertiary strata 

 and in the streams that flow from them. It is doubtless the fact that a great 

 pai't of the incrustations called soda, consist principally of common salt. 



Tulare county Canada ck las Uvas. There is a small shallow lake near 

 the central part of this pass fed by springs and streams from the adjoining 

 valleys and ridges which are partly of tertiary strata. During the summer 

 season the water of this lake evaporates, and its bed becomes covered with a 

 white crust of salt which glitters in the sunlight like a field of snow. 



Taheechaypah Pass. A lake of a similar character to the one just described 

 is found in one of the elevated valleys of the Sierra Nevada near this pass. 

 At another locality in that vicinity and near the margin of the Great Basin, 

 salt occurs in a thick bed, from which one hundred mule loads have been 

 taken, and carried to the Tonjon Indian reservation for the use of the 

 Indians. 



This salt is perfectly white and amorphous, being reduced to a fine powder 

 by simple pressure. It is sufficiently pure for table use. 



