WITH THE CHARACTERS OF EACH DEPOSIT. 109 



but unsteadily, owing to the insufficient supply. During its combustion a distinct gurgling 

 sound was heard, noticeable twenty yards off, showing that the superficial spring was in com- 

 munication witli underground chambers, partly filled with air and partly with fluid, through 

 which the gas, bubbling in its passage through to the external air, produced those gurgling 

 noises. In this well the bitumen appeared to have varying levels ; thus, upon one day it was 

 found within three inches of the edge of the well ; in visiting two days afterwards it was found 

 five inches lower down. Probably the gaseous pressure of the lower chamber made the fluid 

 assume a higher level. These springs, four in number, are all found on the north side of the 

 creek ; on the south side the same sandstone rises in a hill nearly 400 feet high^ at the base of 

 which the creek cuts a channel 40 feet long, 20 feet deep, and 6 feet wide, forming a natural 

 lock. Still further to the north, in the dry bed of a small creek, a large accumulation of solid 

 asphalt is found, in places 4 feet in depth by 12 feet wide. On following these up 120 paces, 

 the upper limit was reached, but no spring or well appeared. A thin shelf of sandstone stretched 

 from this to the creek ; on following the exposed edges of which, the bitumen was observed 

 to ooze from between the lamina of deposition of the rock, which here is of a darker tint than 

 the beds higher up or lower down. There is no tilt or apparent rupture of the strata at this 

 point, nor any evidence of igneous rock in the vicinity. The wliole area of the surface occupied 

 by the spring and overflowed by the deposits might be about thirty acres. The springs are 

 collected together in an area of 200 yards, close to the road and the creek. 



3. Bitumen of Napoma ranch. — This ranch is built upon a terrace of white sand, from 12 to 

 15 feet deep, below which is the white clay rock, a stratum superior to that described as the 

 asphaltic rock of San Luis valley. Trappean rock is found northeast of the ranch, about 500 

 yards distant, toward the foot hills of the Coast Range. The overflow of asphalt is very 

 limited ; there are no distinct wells or springs, the mineral appearing to be forced up through 

 the seams of the strata. The strata dij) southwest. 



4. Bitumen of La Purissima. — Evidences of this deposit were found in the low range which 

 divides the valley of La Purissima from that of Santa Inez. The wagon road to Santa Barbara 

 crosses these hills, which are all tertiary strata. On the Santa Inez valley slope of these strata 

 the white argillite was found. In these were found the minute vertebrate casts alluded to 

 in describing the argillite, which contains the casts of area ohispoensis. 



These layers were of a light fawn color ; lower down they were blackish, and had a bitu- 

 minous odor. Thin crusts of bitumen lay between the layers, and where the rocks were fissured 

 they were cemented together by the asphalt. These dark layers contain the impressions of the 

 fish skeletons equally with the fawn colored layers. Although no distinct deposit of bitumen 

 was found here, yet it is highly probable, had time been devoted to it, that it would have been 

 found in this locality. 



5. The bitumen of Santa Barbara. — This bed is one of the most extensive and best defined in 

 the State, lying 6 miles west of the town of Santa Barbara, among the low hills along shore. 

 The terrace land of the shore further west has here almost disappeared, and in its place are low, 

 flat-topped hills, or swelling land, forming a small terrace at the shore edge, with vertical cliffs 

 70 feet high, at the foot of which is the sea beach. Along this cliff, for 1^ mile to the west, 

 the asphalt may be traced. Eight distinct veins are found to pass up and overflow above, so 

 as to form a coating of solid bitumen on the surface of the terraces, in places 8 feet deep. Occa- 

 sionally grass grows over it, owing to a slight sprinkling of clay overlying the bitumen ; but 

 in most places the bitumen is uncovered, and destitute of vegetation on its surface. Several 



