MILDING AND ORNAMENTAL STONES. 375 



specimen ; that a small block of fine and even texture, pure white color 

 and excellent quality, said to be from near Talladega. 



Arkansas. — Black and variously colored marbles mottled with white 

 fossil shells and erinoids are stated by Owen* to occur in Independ 

 ence, Van Buren, Searcy, Carroll, and Marion Counties. The author 

 has seen none of the material and has no more definite information on 

 the subject than that given above. 



California. — Owing to the violent geological agencies that have been 

 in operation since the formation of the marble deposits in this State, 

 the stones found are said to be so broken and shattered in nearly every 

 case that it is impossible to obtaiu jneces of large size free from cracks 

 and flaws.t Near Indian Diggings, in Eldorado County, there occurs a 

 fine-grained white, blue-veined marble that closely resembles the Italian 

 u bardiglio," from the Miseglia quarries, but that the groundmass is 

 lighter in color. It has been used only for grave-stones and to but a 

 slight extent at that. In Kern County are deposits of marbles of vari- 

 ous shades, but all so broken and shattered as to be very difficult to 

 work. Near Colfax, in Placer County, are also beds of a dark blue- 

 gray mottled magnesian limestone that takes a good polish and might 

 be utilized as marble. Other deposits occur in Los Angeles, Monterey, 

 Nevada, and Plumas Counties, but none of them are at present worked. 

 The most beautiful of all the California marbles is the massive arago- 

 nite, or so-called " onyx," from San Luis Obispo. This stone, which is, 

 as I understand, a travertine, is identical in composition and structure 

 with the celebrated Oriental alabaster (wrongly so-called) from Blad 

 Kecam, near the ravine of Oned Abdallah. In color it is pearly white, 

 and it is made up of fine, wavy parallel bands like the liues of growth 

 upon the trunk of a tree. This stone is now being quite extensively 

 introduced for small stands and ornamental work, which are often of 

 exquisite beauty. No other travertines that can compare with this are 

 at rjresent quarried in the United States, though a beautiful variety is 

 found in extensive deposits at Tecali, State of Puebla, Mexico. 



Another travertine marble occurs in very limited amounts near the 

 town of Suisun, Solano County. The quarry lies in a low hill near the 

 town, and has been quite extensively worked, but no large pieces of 

 even texture are obtainable, watch is of course a drawback to its exten- 

 sive use. | 



Specimens of this stone received at the National Museum are of a 

 dull red or amber-yellow color, resinous luster and somewhat porous. 

 A far more beautiful stone, but which alsooccursin very limited amounts, 

 is found near the falls of the Sacramento River in Siskiyou County. 

 This is also aragonite and is of a beautiful emerald- green color. The 

 color is however so delicate that pieces of considerable thickness (an 



* Geol. of Arkansas, First Annual ReporJ;. 



t Rep. Tenth Census, p. 279. 



JRep. State Mineralogist ofCal., 1884, p. 73. 



