382 QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS OF THE rACJFlC SLOPE. 



like that of many deposits to the north in mineral association, in structure, 

 and in the age of the inclosing rocks. 



Judging from reports of Mr. Janin, the Ocean View, Keystone, Jose- 

 phine (also called Sunderland and Luckhardt), and other mines seem to 

 have been essentially similar in the mode of their occurrence to the Rin- 

 conada and to a great proportion of the otlier quicksilver deposits of Cali- 

 fornia. The Oceanic was more exceptional, for its deposit consisted of a 

 stratum of unaltered sandstone impregnated with cinnabar. The widtli of 

 the stratum was several yards and at one time the entire body of rock paid 

 for extraction and reduction. Specimens show that the cinnabar is asso- 

 ciated with quartz as a gangue and that stringers of ore and gangue as well 

 as impregnations occuiTed. A coarse conglomerate, said to form the " cas- 

 ing of the vein," contains metamorphic pebbles, sho^^■ing that the rock is at 

 least as late as the Chico and probably Miocene, but no fossils are known 

 to have been found in it. There is nothing improbable in the hypothesis 

 that this rock is Tertiary ; for it has been shown in this report that in Cali- 

 fornia cinnabar is associated with many rocks, both Pre-Miocene and Post- 

 Miocene, and that it is known to exist in Tertiary strata in other parts of 

 the world. The appearance of one specimen from tlie Oceanic suggests 

 that the works have struck metamorphic rock beneath the sandstone. The 

 Sulphur Spring claim adjoining the Oceanic on the west yields specimens of 

 rich cinnabar. In the northwest portion of San Luis Obispo County good 

 ore occurs at the Polar Star mine. 



Santa Barbara. — Tlic Los Prictos is ou the uorthem flank of the Santa Inez 

 Range, some five miles northerly from the town of Santa Barbara. A belt 

 of quicksilver-bearing rock is said to extend from this point for about six 

 miles on a course south 50° east, or approximately in the direction of the 

 range, and upon it several claims have been located. The occurrence is of 

 the usual kind — seams and bunches of cinnabar in metamorphic rocks, 

 including serpentine and serpentinoid rocks. Specimens also show light- 

 colored limestone with cinnabar. These mines have turned out a small 

 quantity of ore, some of which has been reduced.^ Hot springs occur at 

 several points along this range of mountains. 



' This information is derivpd from Mr. .Lnnin, 



