STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 359 



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OF THE 



PRECIOUS METALS AND VALUABLE MINERALS 



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PACIFIC SLOPE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



If we attempt to delineate hy 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, follow- 

 ing 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 countiy 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 com- 

 posite 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 



