SCENERY. 155 



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of labor on it. In Hayes Canon and Moraga Valley, east of 

 Oakland, and at Saucelito, we find romantic nooks as wild in 

 vegetation as if there were no city within a hundred miles. 

 The variety and fullness of natural scenery, which people else- 

 where must travel for weeks to see, we have here collected 

 within a narrow space, which the land, the sea, and the sky 

 have conspired to bless with peculiar favor. 



112. Geysers. The Geysers, in the northern part of So- 

 noma County, are among the wonders of the State. They are 

 in a deep and steep ravine, amid a district filled with the 

 marks of violent volcanic action. Down the western slope of 

 the mountains which separate Clear Lake from the basin of 

 Russian River, runs a stream called the Pluton River ; and 

 near this, at an elevation of seventeen hundred feet above the 

 sea, are the Geysers, a multitude of springs, boiling with heat, 

 and emitting large quantities of steam, with a hissing, roaring, 

 and sputtering noise. Near them are many tepid and cold 

 springs, which add to the wonderful character of the place. 

 Hot and cold springs, quiet and boiling springs, are found 

 within a few feet of each other. And then the waters differ 

 as much in taste, odor, and color, as in temperature and action. 

 One is almost as fetid at times as rotten eggs ; another has 

 black water, resembling ink ; a third is called the " Eye-water 

 Spring," and its waters are reputed to be excellent for curing 

 sore eyes and cutaneous diseases ; and the waters of others are 

 strongly purgative. The ground in the ravine is in places 

 deeply covered with the minerals deposited by the springs; 

 among these, sulphur, sulphate of magnesia, (Epsom salts) 

 sulphate of aluminum, (alum) and various salts of iron, pre- 

 dominate. The chief feature of the Geysers is called " The 

 Steampipe," an orifice about eight inches in diameter, in the 

 hill-side, from which rises a large volume of steam to a height 

 varying from fifty to two hundred feet. The steam roars con- 

 tinuously, sometimes bursting out in puffs louder than that 

 made by an engine's escape-pipe. It deposits flowers of sul- 



