Doc. No. 9.] 43 



except the tertiaries, in which no coal beds of extent have yet been 

 discovered. 



From a careful examination of this part of the country, with this 

 object in view, I feel no hesitation in saying that coal will riot be found 

 in any part of the Coast Mountains south of the thirty-fifth parallel 

 of north latitude ; what there may be south of this point, I know nothing 

 having never visited it. 



It is not unfrequeiit in passing over the country to hear of beds of min 

 eral coal ; during the past season I have visited four such localities, and, 

 as was anticipated, each of them proved to be merely small beds of lig 

 nite, and two of them hardly deserving that name. One of these deposits 

 proved to be but a bed of leaves, having a thickness of about three 

 inches|>resting upon a tertiary sandstone containing marine shells, and 

 covered with twelve feet of a sandy alluvium. This is 'one of those coal 

 beds which has figured so largely in the public prints of the State during 

 the past year, and has induced several gentlemen to pay the locality a 

 visit, and to return as deeply disappointed as their previous anticipations 

 were elevated. 



The report of coal veins in the Coast Mountains must be received with 

 many grains of allowance, and at the best, none but tertiary deposits 

 will be found, and these, even should they exist, would be capable of 

 supplying but a limited demand, and that usually of an inferior quality. 



SOILS OF THE VALLEY SANTA CLARA AND SHORES OF 

 THE BAY SAN FRANCISCO. 



The character of mountains on the borders of valleys, afford a good 

 criterion to judge of the capabilities of the soils found at their base. It 

 is therefore not difficult to form a correct opinion of the constituents of 

 a soil, once knowing the nature of the rocks in adjoining sections, and 

 consequently their adaptation to the various purposes of agriculture. 



The more rapid disintegration of some classes of rocks compared to 

 others, will form a striking feature in the productiveness of the soil with 

 which they enter as a component part, their chemical constituents, adapt 

 ing them to agricultural employment, or rendering them totally unfit for 

 these purposes, without the addition of some agent not found as an inte 

 gral of their composition. It is therefore not surprising that in passing 

 over a range of valley, or mountainous district, to find so many and 

 diversified features presenting themselves often in adjoining localities; 

 it is not unfrequent to find a perfect transition in the indigenous pro 

 ductions of the soil, occurring in the distance of a few hundred yards. 



These peculiar features are best exhibited among the native grains and 

 grasses, and occur alike, on the valley bottoms or on ascending a hill 

 side. Thus, on ascending a hill, at whose base may be found a calcare 

 ous rock, resting on any one of the plutonic series, the native product 

 at the base, and within the direct range of the limestone, may be the 

 wild oat, almost as soon as these rocks are passed, and you enter the 

 granite or trapean group, the cereal ceases to grow, and is replaced by 

 the native grasses in some of their varieties, or if the rocks succeeding 



