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58 [APPENDIX 



pentine rocks south of Tulecita and near San Antonia in the county 

 Monterey, among the large beds of chronic iron from the San Benito, 

 and the Panoches, of the Gabilan range. These localities afford the 

 largest amounts yet found in this State, and it is to be hoped that those 

 explorations which are now in progress in this part of the country may 

 result in the development of this mineral to a much greater extent than 

 yet known. 



GOLD.- This metal has been found in the Coast Mountains, from the 

 County San Francisco on the north to Luis Obispo on the south. The 

 slates and serpentine formations which have been noticed in the preceding 

 pages of this report are found to be receptacles of gold here as in the 

 Sierra ^Nevada ; these rocks are extensive in the Coast Mountains, often 

 comprising an entire ridge for miles, they are usually flanked by the gran 

 ite. During the past summer, the placers in the County Santa Cruz were 

 much worked ; the gold found here was principally on the San Lorenzo 

 and its tributaries ; it was fine, and much resembled that found in the Caoti 

 Hill, near Nevada; under the glass it had all the appearance of having 

 suifered but little from attrition by water, the surface of the grains being 

 rough, as though just detached from their ' original matrix. The slates 

 and serpentine rocks occur on both sides of this creek, with small veins 

 of quartz running through them, and from what we know of auriferous 

 districts of this and other countries, the presumption that gold in situ 

 exists here, amounts nearly to a certainty. 



On the upper portions of the Carmello, in the county' Montery, gold 

 is also found, in the immediate vicinity of the Eancho Tulecita. far 

 ther to the southeast, near the head waters of the creek, it is also found 

 on the tributaries of the main stream, that flow from the western ridge 

 of these mountains. On the Francisquito, a tributary of the Carmello, 

 coming from the southwest, and twelve miles from the coast it is also 

 found near the house of Barondo. Three or four Mexicans were work 

 ing with the battaya at the time I passed that ranche. The serpentine 

 rocks are largely developed on the east flanks of -the granite ridges, and 

 from their course they may be considered as forming the northern part 

 of a series which occurs at the- Mission San Antonio fifty miles south. 



I was informed by Mr. Meadows, who has traversed the interior of 

 these mountains probably more than any' other man in this part of the 

 country, that the same class of rocks are -found throughout the distance 

 inclusive between the Carmello and 'the above Mission. Near San An 

 tonio there were several persons at work during the past summer, in the 

 placers in this vicinity. This was no new discovery, for the existence 

 of gold at this locality has been known since 1850. Those at work at 

 this place were mostly Mexicans, and while traveling on the Salinas I 

 frequently met companies of five or six, with their camp material and 

 tools, wending their way to this section. 



Qn the Pescadero Creek, a tributary of the Pajaro Eiver, gold was 

 found -during the past summer; it was first observed a short distance 

 above the bituminous springs lying on the north bank of this stream ; the 

 serpentine rocks abound in this vicinity, and also some of its subordinate 

 members ; at this place the Magnesian Group of the Santa Cruz Moun 

 tains, which run north into San Francisco, have their southern terminus. 



