QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS IN THE GREAT BASIN. 385 



brought in by the Indians from some portion of the Alexander Archipelago. 

 It has since been reported as occurring on the Kuskokwim River. There 

 seems to me no reason to doubt that cinnabar really does occur in Alaska, 

 though more detinite information is to be desired. 



In the Great Basin quicksilver ores occur at several points besides 

 Steamboat Springs. In Idaho considerable quantities of float cinnabar 

 have been foiuid in Stanley Basin, at the eastern extremity of Boise County, 

 and along the Salmon River between the mouth of Yankee Fork and the 

 town of Sawtooth, but the ore has not been found in place.^ 



Prof W. P. Blake wrote in ISiiTr 

 Ciuuabar of a beautiful vermilion color is fouud iu Idaho abundantly spread 

 through a gaugue of massive compact limestone or marble. No quartz or other minerals 

 are visible in the .specimens. 



Professor Blake writes me that these specimens were water worn or 

 rounded fragments about the size of one's fist, and lie thinks it not im- 

 probable that tliey formed portions of a calcite vein in some other rock. 

 Judging from the frequent occurrence of cinnabar with calcite in fissures 

 in many parts of the world, this also appears to me probable. He cannot 

 recollect ever having been informed as to the precise locality from which 

 the specimens came, and they are most likely therefore to have been found 

 in one or the other of the regions referred to above. Cinnabar, then, so 

 far as known, has never been found in place in Idaho. 



Mr. Janin informs me of a very interesting occurrence of cinnal)ar in 

 the Belmont district, Nevada. Rich seams of nearly pure cinnabar were 

 found here in the Barcelona silver mine, follo\A'ing along the vein of argen- 

 tiferous ore. Cinnabar has also been reported from Humboldt County and 

 from the southeastern corner of Nevada, but with no details as to occurrence. 



In Utah the Lucky Boy claim, Mt. Baldy district, Piute ('ounty, con- 

 tains bunches of tiemannite (mercuric selenide) in limestone^ In Feb- 

 ruary, 1887, a mine was at work in the Lucky Boy claim upon a bodj' of 

 this rare ore al)out four feet in thickness. The ore sometimes contains 70 

 per cent, of mercur\^ and is said to average 10 per cent. Three retorts 

 Avere running and producing enough quicksilver to pay expenses. The 



'Emmons aud Becker, op. cit., p. 55. -^ Emmons and Becker, loc. cit., p. 463. 



'^ Am. Jour. Sei., 2d seiies, vol. 43, 1867, p. 135. 

 MON XIII 25 



