Doc. No. 9.] 55 



rowed in; the whole having occurred within the term of two-hundr d 

 and seventy -three days. 



As soon as this fact became known, settlers were soon found to be oil 

 their way thither, and at that time there was not a farm to be found 

 vacant for a considerable distance . around. There is no reason for the 

 supposition that land on the west side of the river and toward the moun 

 tains is unsuited for cultivation, for the fact before us is a sufficient proof 

 to the contrary. 



Having noticed the more general characteristics of the geology of that 

 part of the country embraced in the examinations of the past season, 

 and also their more general adaptation to the industrial departments of 

 agriculture, it now remains to speak of their resources and the uses to 

 which they may be applied. 



MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE COAST MOUNTAINS'. 



The minerals of these mountains are widely dispersed throughout 

 their entire extent ; they consist principally of copper, iron, lead, silver, 

 gold, rnickel, and antimony, with agates, calcedony, and many others 

 too numerous to mention here, but will be found under their proper 

 head. 



The metallic minerals are widely distributed ; the ores of copper are 

 found in the form of carbonate, sulphuret, and silicate, among the Santa 

 Cruz Mountains ; in the vicinity of Rincon Point, south of San Francisco, 

 it is found sparingly disseminated among the trap and metamorphosed 

 rocks of that section. In the mountains, south of Monterey, it is also 

 found over a limited area, and again in the lower hills on the east side 

 of the Salinas Valley, near the Rancho Alisal. At this locality it occurs 

 in an extensive quartz dike that has forced its way through all the other 

 rocks both igneous and sedimentary ; the forms in which it appears are 

 the blue and green carbonate, in crystals, the sulphuret, the latter found 

 in small masses detached from the gangiie. In the same rocks is to be 

 found considerable quantities of iron p < yrites, generally disseminated and 

 containing a small quantity of gold. The above ores of copper are often 

 met with in these mountains, their occurrence over so wide a range and 

 the trapean rocks with which they are so often associated leads to the 

 belief that at a future day they may be found in sufficient quantity to be 

 profitably worked. 



SILVER. In the county Monterey, this metal occurs in the form of 

 argentiferous galena (or lead and silver) this mineral is found in the 

 primitive and transition limestone abounding in this section; it is found 

 in small veins and disseminated ; the range in which it occurs, extends 

 from the Gabilan Peak to the Chapedero on the south, a distance of 

 twelve miles inclusive. The limestone in whicfi it is found, and the 

 granitic rocks adjoining have been disturbed by the intrusion of trapean 

 rocks to the east, and from the opportunity that was offered for its ex 

 amination it dips under the valley of the west at a considerable angle. 

 A cross-cut has been driven from the west side of the hill for the pur 

 pose of intersecting the line of the view, but was abandoned before 



