NORTH AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 15 



notes on comparatively little-known deposits rather than on those whicli 

 have been most frequently described, and I have altogether omitted a con- 

 siderable number of unimportant occurrences in Germany and Austria, de- 

 scriptions of which are readily accessible in standard works on mining 

 geology. Two reviews of the quicksilver deposits of the world have been 

 of great use to me. These are by Mr. A. Noggerath' and Prof A. d'Achiardi" 

 respectively. 



The sketch-map of the world (PI. II) accompanying this chai)ter will be 

 of some assistance in following the text, but its prlncl[)al j)urposc is to illus- 

 trate the larger features of thu distribution of ciiuiabar. 



NORTH AMERICA. 



Away from the Pacitic 8lo})c the United States pos.sesses no known 

 deposits of cinnabar. Tliere is, indeed, a settlenuMit named (•innal)ar near 

 the Yellowstone Park, buti am informed that no mercuric sul[)hide has 

 been found there. A telluride of mercury, coloradoite, is found with tel- 

 lurides of gold and silver and with free gold in some of the mines of Poulder 

 county, Colo, but only in small ([uantitles.' In notices of the distribu- 

 tion of quicksilver the statement has often been made that cinnabar is fouiul 

 in Connecticut in river sands. I have not found a citation of the original 

 authority for this statement. Prof J. I). Dana writes me that he knows of 

 no such occurrence, and it is safe to assume that no discovery of cinnabar 

 could have been made near the home of this famous mineralogist without 

 coming to his knowledge. 



Towards the beginning of the century cinnal)ar was reported at nu- 

 merous points in the Eastern States ; it was even said to be ver\' abundant 

 in the beach sands of the Great Lakes. Had these assertions been correct 

 they certainly would have been confirmed, (iold amalgam has been found 

 at Plymouth, Vt., and the native copper of one of the mines at Lake Su- 

 perior is said by M. Hautefeuille to contain a little mercury.^ 



' Zeitscbr. fiir Berg-, Hiittcn- und Salinenwosen ini preuss. Staate, vol. 10, 1862, p. 38ij. 

 ■ I motalli loro minerali e raiuierc, vol. 1, 1883, p. 100. 



^Emmoiwauil Becker: Statistics and Tecliuology of the Precious Metals, Tenth Census Repts. 

 U. S., vol. n, p. 66. 



•' Geological Survey of CauaJa, Geology of CauaJa, 1863, p. 518. 



