CALIFORNIA. 517 



proper position by skilful palaeontologists — that the upheaval of the 

 Sierra Nevada took place between the Jurassic and Cretaceous epochs. 



In like manner, the age of the strata making up the Coast Iiunges of 

 California has been shown, by discovery of fossils in numerous localities, 

 to be Cretaceous and Tertiary. These strata have been uplifted at 

 various times during the Tertiary epoch, in some regions even as late as 

 the post-Pliocene.* 



Of course, such being the case, there can be no rocks in California 

 which can be properly said to belong to the Azoic system (Archa?au). 



In view of these facts, for the purpose of throwing further light on 

 the methods and theories of Dr. Hunt, as set forth to some extent in 

 the preceding pages, it will be well to quote some of the remarks pub- 

 lished by him at various times in regard to the rocks of California. 



In 18GG Dr. Hunt stated : — 



" The notion that gold belongs only to rocks of Lower Silurian age, was 

 many years since disproved by its discovery in the Upper Silurian slates of 

 eastern Canada, and more recently, it has been shown that the great gold 

 mines of California are in .strata far more recent, and chiefly of the Jurassic and 

 Triassic periods." (Geol. of Canada, 1866, p. 196.) 



In 1868 Dr. Hunt again states : — 



" The auriferous rocks of California belong to the Mesozoic period, being of 

 Jurassic age." (Gold Region of Nova Scotia, 1868, p. 11.) 



In 1877, however, Dr, Hunt visited California for the first time, and, 

 having spent several days in the Sierra Nevada, published the following 

 statement (Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1877, XXVI., p. 2G6 ; Proc. Bost. Soc. 

 Nat. Hist., 1878, XIX., pp.276, 277; Macfarlane's "Geologist's Trav- 

 elling Hand-Book, " p. 13 ; Azoic Kocks, p. 244) : — 



" Eruptive granites are found in California, Avhere they abound among the 

 foot-hills of the Sierras, in Placer and Nevada counties. The crystidline 

 schists observed by the speaker in these counties, and in Amador county, are 

 Huronian, and have all the characters of the Huronian series as seen in the 

 eastern regions of North America, and of the inetri verdi of the Alps. To this 

 horizon are also to be referred tlie similar crystalline rocks of the Coast range 

 of California, as seen near San Francisco and San Jose. The auriferous veins 

 which, in the Rocky Mountains, intersect the Laurentian gneisses, are found 



* See Geology of California, Vol. I. passim ; and, for full information in regard 

 to the geological age of the rocks of the gold-bearing belt, " The Auriferous Gravels 

 of the Sierra Nevada of California," Contributions to American Geology, Vol. I. 

 pp. 34-39. 



