State Agricultural Society. 399 



Eosa to Sonoma Valley passes through the Guilucos, over rolling hills 

 of easy grade for a wagon road or railroad. The Eincon Valley 

 embraces about four thousand acres of very five grape and fruit land. 

 There are twenty-five farms in the valley. It is not more than two 

 miles from the town. There are two other small valleys in the hills to 

 the east, Eural and Alpine, each of which contains good farming and 

 grazing land. In the same district in this township lies the wonderful 

 curiosity, the petrified forest, which was visited this season by more 

 than three thousand tourists. 



Eemembering the broad plains on the west, and its relative position 

 with the rest of this great and wealthy county, some idea may be had 

 of the future importance of the Town and Township of Santa Eosa. 

 Its chief products are wheat, corn, wine, beef cattle, hogs, sheep, and 

 wool. There are thousands of acres in this township suited to grape 

 culture, and the land may be bought for from ten to twenty dollars per 

 acre. The shipments of produce from Santa Eosa are the largest on 

 the line of the railroad. 



THE MINES OF SONOMA COUNTY. 



As early as eighteen hundred and fifty-two, there were reported dis- 

 coveries of gold on Eussian Eiver, in this county. About that time one 

 of the Kelseys, pioneers in this section, led a party to the head of the 

 stream, in the Eel Eiver mountains. They met with no great success 

 and returned. The reports of gold discoveries were again revived in 

 eighteen hundred and tifty-four, but soon died out. 



After the discovery and occupation of the Geyser Springs, the abun- 

 dant indications of cinnabar in the vicinity attracted attention. The 

 price of quicksilver at the time was low — fifty cents a pound; the cost 

 of reduction was great, and the Almaden mine was producing a supply 

 adequate to the demand. For these reasons no especial attention was 

 paid to the indications of mercury everywhere visible on the surface 

 near the Geysers. 



In eighteen hundred and fifty-nine Colonel A. C. Godwin, then the 

 owner of the springs,- organized a mining district, located a number of 

 claims himself, and a number of others were also taken up. These 

 claims were afterwards consolidated into one or two companies, and some 

 work was done upon them. The low price of quicksilver, the scarcity of 

 labor and lack of skill in manipulating the ore, led to loss, and finally 

 put a stop to all work on the mines. In eighteen hundred and sixty-one, 

 Colonel Godwin, who had given the enterprise most of its life, sold his 

 interest in the springs and mines, returned to the East, and was killed in 

 the war between the States. The stock of the consolidated companies 

 went to zero, and the mines were sold at Sheriff's sale to satisfy the 

 demands of creditors. Professor Whitney, with a corps of scientists, 

 came along soon afterward, and with his " no view theory " in the Coast 

 Eange, extinguished the last spark of life in mining enterprises in 

 Sonoma for the time. 



Meanwhile, the developments in the silver regions of Nevada, in the 

 quartz and gravel mines of California, caused an increased demand for 

 quicksilver. The diminished supply afforded by the Almaden Company, 

 which had passed its maximum production, gave a further stimulus to 

 the price, and attention was again called to the indications in this sec- 

 tion, which had not been worked successfully at the old prices. 



The mountain range in which most of the mines of Sonoma County 



